Hope as a spectator

To not leave anyone out this is what Hope does during the soccer games...

I'm blessed with two highly entertaining children.

Soccer Star

These are two different games, but I wanted to post them because I actually got some decent pictures this time. The first game you can see Holden in the top picture on the far right agaist three kids from the other team. Holden doesn't worry so much making his uniform match so much as just having the right shirt on. This is his sixth season playing with as many shirts.






The second picture his the ball bouncing off of him. He's pretty funny to watch because he's figured out how to get the ball to go off his chest and head and he can't just kick the ball gently, he has to bomb it at someone. You can tell this girl is a little worried when she sees he's got it.

Our biggest goal for Holden is to keep him from being a ball hog. He's a lot more aggressive than a lot of the other kids and he'll just go after it. We can be heard yelling at him from the sidelines, "Same team!"














In the two games I've posted here he managed to knock down three kids. I told Tom he needed to be with the bigger kids but he didn't listen to me. In one game he scored a goal off the goalie's head. Which would be impressive to see if it wasn't your kid and all the parents turn and look at you afterward. Are you supposed to be proud after that or concerned someone's going to go after your tires in the parking lot. In the game against the orange team one girl went after the ball Holden was taking down field and then she saw him and turned around and ran off in the other direction. Again, be proud or concerned? We've talked about passing the ball which he's doing much better at and not drilling every ball he gets into someone's head, but we also want him to be a good player. We'll see how things turn out. I think it might be time for a traveling team with some older kids and coaches that can train him a little better. Goodness knows we don't know what's going on half the time.

Lot's Going on

Cheerleading for Hope has kept us pretty busy. She has practice twice a week and then cheers for the K-1 football games on Saturday. It's generally pretty entertaining. Being the lightest on the team generally earns her a spot on top of the pyramid. At 36 pounds, I don't think the 'base' girls mind too much.
























I had the pleasure of going with the kindergartners on their field trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park last Friday. I always get a little nervous about the kids riding on a bus on the interstate, but there seemed to be no incident. There were lots of other parent volunteers and we had to drive seperately. I didn't mind because when we were done it gave Hope and I a chance to go shopping in the city.
We had a great time on the field trip. Hope chose Jacob to be her partner and he is easy to keep track of and doesn't talk much. Eli came with us too because he's a lot of fun. Of course, at the end of the day Hope finally mentions that Eli didn't have the shirt tied around his waist that he started with. We looked all over for it and found lots of shirts and jackets, but none that were Eli's.




Hope's other big news is that she has lost two teeth now. She is thrilled the tooth fairy has come and left her money. The second tooth she just lost this week and she was very concerned because she lost it on the way home from school. There was a fear that the tooth fairy didn't pay out if there was no tooth. Fortunately, the tooth fairy is understanding in matters like this.

Peter Pan Park

 

I can't believe how much Peter Pan Park is still the same. I don't even remember the last time I was there since taking the kids, but I was amazed at how things are still the same. Though there is more modern playground equipment there is still the old stuff I remember playing on and according to the local paper they are getting ready to tear it down. Kind of sad, but necessary too. I love that the monkey house is still there, but completely filled in with grass. We had Holden run through it so there would be a "monkey" in the monkey house. My favorite shot of the more than 300 I took on the trip is this one with Tom and the kids leaned over feeding the lone duck that would come near us. I think they spent a good half hour with it. I loved it enough to want to move back :)!

First Day of School

Last Thursday marked the first day of school for the kids at Whiteman Air Force Base Elementary. Holden started second grade with Miss Slagle (who is wonderful) and Hope started kindergarten with Mrs. Jones (we don't know much about her).














I wish this girl would smile without making it look so painful. Though she could be tired. She also started cheerleading for the little boys football team this week as well. So far, so good. It's not as painful as dance was!
This is Ms. Karen, their fabulous bus driver. She is wonderful about keeping the kids in line and making sure they go where they are supposed to.

Baby Jonathan is here!

Sally and Randy had their baby on June 30th! He's adorable!

Jonathan David

8 lbs 10 oz

Congrats!

Hopi Rides without Training Wheels!

Last week Tom decided it was time for Hope to start riding without her training wheels. We've been trying to ride our bikes to everything on base to save gas and improve health. For the most part it works well, but when we get to a hill you can't help but feel bad for Hope while she's standing up and pumping those little legs. I've never heard her complain, but I do worry when I can't hear her training wheels skimming the ground anymore. I don't know what I'm going to do now that she's getting the hang of it.

They spent about an hour going up and down the street. She started getting the hang of it when they would go up the slight hill. I think it helped her to slow down a little. You have to give Tom credit because he ran beside her the entire time.
We thought it would be a good idea to use Holden's old bike instead of taking the training wheels on and off her bike until she's got the hang of it. I went off riding my bike, but when I got back they said she rode around the block twice and I missed it :(

I have a feeling the training wheels will be off of her bike before the end of July!

Father's Day

We spent Father's Day at my grandfather's house in Olpe, KS. It was nice to be with a lot of family on the farm. We all had a good time and I did not fill up the car with goodies to take home with me. In fact, I think we left with less than we came with. I did find The history of Stratton, Colorado book in the barn when I was looking for a pair of pliers that I felt needed to be rescued. For some reason it was wet even though it was in the barn.

I felt the need to walk to the back of the property, but didn't get past the silo because it hadn't been mowed. It's amazing how much gas prices affect everything.

We did get as far as the mulberry tree and even tried a few but they weren't as good as the ones at Tom's parents farm. Holden had fun just trying to get them down.

It has been officially mandated by Deb Sue, aka the rock, that we need to come and build Papa a fence or kennel for the dog he does not yet have. I don't have a problem with that. We also need to come and help get some firewood for him for the winter. I'd like to do it before it gets god-awful hot, but we'll see how schedules work out.

Just before we left we found a super odd looking caterpiller?? on the ground behind the van. Even Papa said he'd never seen one that looked like that. This isn't a very good picture but the head had what seemed like a fan on the front or maybe it was the back??

On our way home we stopped at Dad and Gails to see the two new miniature donkeys they got. They are about the same height as Holden and Hope. This one in the picture is Antoinette and she is very, very preggers. It was weird to see her belly move. We can't wait to see how tiny the baby is! How exciting, babies everywhere. Aunt Sally is due at the end of the month too.

Our trip to Holden, MO

We knew moving here over a year and a half ago that there was a town near the base called Holden. It took us until a week ago to finally drive over. First, we went to see Shawnee R-III the school where I will be librarian on Tuesdays and Technology coordinator on Thursdays. The rest of the week will be working at the college or substituting locally. Anyway, we decided to see the town for ourselves.

We first came upon the high school which apparently is getting renovated. It's located on the outskirts of town and as we drove to the town center we saw more and more businesses with Holden's name. I'll add more pictures in another post. The most thrilling part of the day was stopping at Sonic. He was so excited that Holden had a Sonic-- we needed ice cream by then.

Birthday Girl!

For Hope's big 5th birthday she had a lot going on. She'd been asking for a while to get her ears pierced and I promised her for her 5th birthday she could do it. The week before the big day we went to Lee's Summit and did some shopping. I asked her if she was ready and she said she needed to go eat, she was a little nervous.
After lunch we went to Claire's Boutique where getting your ears pierced is a lot more than I remember. She picked out lovely earings that look like flowers with a blue center. The girl that got her ready was very nice and helped her through. Hope was quite brave the whole time. They did both ears at once and the look on her face was priceless. I think she really wanted to cry, but she got through it. Once it was done she went on a shopping spree looking at all the things she "needed"-- butterfly wings because she's having a butterfly party, an earring holder, butterfly tattoos, etc. Even Holden was a fabulous big brother and when she saw a Hannah Montanna microphone she really, really needed, he snuck off and bought it for her. What a good big brother!

On the night before her birthday with Daddy home we opened her piggy bank. It's a tradition to open your super special piggy bank that Papa Smith made every five years. She was money bags with over $300! She had to put half in her bank account and she could spend the other half. I'm pretty sure there isn't a Littlest Pet Shop out there that she doesn't have now. Even her friend found the elusive horse she'd been looking for.
Her other present from Mom and Dad was a new bicycle and helmet. Isn't she cool!

We've been busy!

I've finally taken the time to sit down and get posted what we've been up to. Here are some photos from last month of all our discoveries. First Hope found an empty robin's egg on a walk, but it didn't make it home. Later, Holden found one in our yard.

Then one evening we found a frog that had to be played with incessantly. Poor thing! Holden was good about checking him out and then letting him go. Hope on the other hand wanted to touch him and pet him and squeeze him all over. She kept tracking him down as he attempted to make a run for it. Some frogs will never learn :)








I wish I had put a ruler by this HUGE moth Hope found on the neighbor's tree. She kept hollering at me to come and see what she'd found and I kept putting it off assuming she'd discovered another roly poly (really, how many can you ooohhhh and aaahhh over?). A few minutes later I saw her poking at a tree with a big stick and noticed what looked like a bird trying to flutter away. It caught the attention of a cat and he tried to eat it. This thing was huge. I've promised that we will try and find out what kind it is on the internet. This is on my list of projects to do.







The other picture is of Holden playing golf. I signed him up for lessons because he's been interested since he saw the kids from Rancocas Valley play and had Mr. Turner (the golf coach) make him feel cool when they played at McGuire. He's assured me since he was two that he knew all there was to know, but lessons would be nice. For two weeks he was able to play with the pro and he got a golf bag, shirt and hat as well. Hope was thrilled that she could run around collecting random golf balls and broken tees.
I found out on the second to last day that there was a parent/child scramble. My only familiarity with golf was my freshman year in college when my volleyball coach made me take 2 credit hour golf class taught by the football coaches. Our day was quite interesting, didn't know where we were going, didn't know that golf carts don't make noise when you start them, didn't think to bring a ball with us to the first tee! Once we got started, we had a great time. I'm on the lookout for super cheap clubs (think thrift store) to take him out to play everyonce in a while. We'll likely do it again in July. :)

Parent Child Olympics

At the last minute I signed Holden up for the Parent Child Olympics at the Youth Center. I felt bad asking the director to do me yet another favor and let us sign up late. He was great about it. I thought for sure this would be swamped with kids but there were only two other kids in Holden's age group. Which was nice, he's sure to medal! Tom was a great sport about it and they did quite well.

Thursday they did:
Push ups- took 3rd
Medicine Ball Put-2nd

Friday
Standing jump-2nd
Sit ups- 1st
Shuttle run (actually this was a suicide)- got 1st

Saturday was supposed to be the running events, but as it was snowing it has been postponed to next Saturday. They did do the bowling and they got 2nd.

I'll have to double-check this with Holden, but I think I have the placements right.