Our Soccer Stars

Evan and Caroline both had soccer games today. Here's Evan (to the left of the boy in the blue jacket) starting the game.
Caroline was so proud of him as she watched from the sidelines. He stayed right by the ball!
Evan and his team mates trying to block the ball
Sooooo thirsty from his big game!
A team meeting with his assistant coach. (Dave is the head coach, but he is camping with Henry and his Boy Scout troop this weekend.
The handshakes with the other team at the end of the game
Here's Caroline at the start of her game today.
I'm so proud of her as her soccer skills have really improved this year. (She's to the right of the girl in red.)
Look at my young athlete in action! She's just to the left of the referee.
She played goalie today too and didn't let ball get past her.
The score wound up being 0-0!
The handshakes at the end of Caroline's game

Good job, Caroline and Evan!

An unwelcome visitor

While Dave was working from home today, he spotted this coyote from his office window.
It was IN OUR BACKYARD!
We sometimes HEAR the coyotes in the middle of the night (so eerie!), but to SEE one in the middle of the day in our backyard is downright SCARY. When the kids heard about this, they were worried about Moxie, that she might get attacked when she goes outside. Dave joked by saying, "Oh, Moxie could totally take that coyote!"

Hmmm...I'm thinking that I'm glad Dave saw that coyote, and that we know to take precautions for the kids and Moxie even during the day.

Not to be outdone...

Here is Seth's version of Jolly Old St. Nicholas. (Yes, I know it is April and the kids are learning Christmas carols. That's just the way their piano book rolls. By the time December rolls around, we will be soooo ready, lol.) Seth saw that I had posted on my blog a clip of Caroline playing the piano, and decided he needed to be in the spotlight too!

Untitled from Sarah Nosek on Vimeo.

I think that Aunt Shirley would be proud of these kids! :)

I think that it is safe to say...

...that Evan has recovered. What do you think?

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The kids kindly decided yesterday that we should wait to have the Easter egg hunt until Evan felt better. After seeing Evan running around and goofing off like that, we decided that he was well enough for the postponed hunt. ;)
And because I didn't want the mud from our yard inside our house, we hunted in the basement.
Caroline was happy with her loot.
Here they are checking out what was in their eggs, and doing a little sampling. :)
Then it was time for dinner, where Henry and Evan entertained us with their rendition of The Gummy Bear Song. Evan makes me laugh because he sings ALL THE TIME!

Untitled from Sarah Nosek on Vimeo.

.After dinner, we enjoyed some more music, this time from Caroline. Henry, Seth and Caroline started their piano lessons on Friday, and have been practicing every day since. Here's Caroline playing Jolly Old St. Nicholas...

Untitled from Sarah Nosek on Vimeo.

That's all for now...got to go run on my treadmill and watch Dancing with the Stars! Have a good night!

Well, now, that makes sense.

The Easter bunny did visit our house last night, ate up the carrots we left for him, and left us a note, much to Caroline's delight.
The kids loved their Easter baskets, with the big hits being Lego Minifigures, their favorite movies (Tangled, Megamind, Despicable Me and How to Train a Dragon), and a Webkin Lamb. The Easter bunny hid the baskets in tough places this year, because he's tricky like that. ;) The kids all helped each other find their baskets.
Unfortunately, the older kids had to find Evan's for him. Remember how I said he was particularly cranky yesterday, and that he fell asleep for the night before he even ate his dinner? Wellllll...it all makes sense now. Poor Evan woke up with the stomach flu. As soon as the kids found his basket, they kindly set it by him, but he didn't even want to move to look at it!
After the older kids played with the treasure and ate too much candy from their baskets, they got ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa Nosek's house.
I stayed home with Evan and Moxie. While we were sad to miss out on the fun, it was sweet that they called to tell us they missed us, but that they were having a good time.

Evan slept most of the morning, and was feeling well enough by mid-afternoon that he could blow bubbles (from the Easter bunny) in the backyard with Moxie. That was pretty entertaining. ;)

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Now that he's feeling better, it seems to be cruel and unusual punishment for my 4 year old to be kept from his candy. He's having a hard time understanding that the stomach flu and sweets are not a good mix.

That's it so far. You are officially up to the minute with our Easter. :) Hope your Easter was a happy one!

Easter Egg Eggstravaganza and Exhaustion

Right before dinner, after a sleepover the night before, playing with friends, signing Seth up for football, and playing baseball in the park, we sat down to dye our Easter Eggs.
The older three did great...


...but the youngest? Well, let's just say that his crankiness might have been due to being tired. The poor kid, after dyeing a few eggs, curled up on the couch and fell asleep for the night before he even got a chance to eat dinner!

Fifth Grade Friends

My friend, Patti, just sent this picture to me, and I thought that the boys pictured were too handsome not to post it. How in the world did these young men transform from kindergarteners to almost middle schoolers overnight?

Help.

My poor, ever-tolerant Moxie.
She puts up with a LOT, especially from this canine-obsessed boy. Most of the time, he'd rather be playing with her than any of his toys.

She's game most of the time, and a good sport the rest of the time. The expression on her face in this picture cracks me up. God bless her!

How many kids can you fit into a McDonald's booth?

According to our careful research, we believe the answer to be 9, if you include the two standers. Which we do. ;)
I was a brave woman tonight. (Some would switch out that word "brave" for "crazy".) I took the kids to McCare night at our local McDonalds. (Some of the money from meals sold there tonight will go to our school.)

It was a MOB SCENE. However, the kids had a ball with their friends. With smiles like these, I could probably be convinced to brave a McCare night again. :)

A Field Trip to the Fire Station

Today was the day Evan and I have been anticipating for a long time. We got to go on a field trip with his preschool to the fire station!

The kids were so good! They were so interested in what they were being taught about fire safety.

Evan and his friends were able to sit in and learn about an ambulance.
Evan and his field trip buddy, Dylan.
The kids also got to go in a fire truck!
After that, the kids were able to tour the firemen's living quarters. They saw were the firemen eat, sleep and relax!
Then they were able to see...
a real fireman putting on his gear!
The kids were so impressed! And Evan now knows what he wants to be for Halloween!
This activity was so good because it taught the kids not to be afraid of uniformed fireman. That is so important for them because if they were ever in an actual fire, they hopefully won't hide from the firemen out of fear. They'll know that a fireman is just a man under that scary mask, and that firemen can help bring them to safety. I loved that the kids were able to go up and touch the gear, and that many kids gave the fireman a high five! :)
Here I am with my two field trip buddies...
...who insisted on walking backwards for a lot of the walk back to their preschool!
And finally, here's Evan with his fellow firefighters!

All you need is the proper motivation...

...and in Evan's case, the proper motivation is a McDonald's playdate with his cousin, Robbie. :)

You see, I've been struggling with encouraging Evan to do more things on his own (getting dressed, putting on socks and shoes, etc.) He can do these things "all by himself", and is very proud at times when he does. However, sometimes he claims that he "can't" or "doesn't know how" even when he's done it many times before. Sometimes he just wants my help, and especially when we need to be somewhere with our busy family schedule, it's faster just to help him.

So, last night I told Evan that we would be seeing Robbie in the morning. He is always very happy when I tell him that, but apparently he was even more excited than usual. Before he came out of his room this morning, he got himself dressed from head to toe ALL BY HIMSELF! That included new underwear, new socks, fastening his pants, and putting on his shoes. He even packed his backpack full of his special toys that he wanted to bring with him. With the proper motivation, this boy can do big things!

All I had to do was comb the bedhead out of his hair. I was a happy mom and he was a proud boy...
...and an "excited to see his cousin" boy too!
I think that Evan loves Robbie a little bit. ;)

Where did you learn to dance like that, Evan?

From watching Looney Tunes, of course!
Bet you didn't think that show was so educational...especially if you want to learn how to do a Russian dance. ;)

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Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Orton

Yesterday we went to my parents' house to celebrate Easter with them and my sister Karen's family. We started with an egg hunt in my parents' yard...

Here's my sister and my nephew collecting eggs...
The two youngest cousins searched by their Grandpa's garden.
Here's Evan showing off one of his finds.
Moving on to the front yard

The older cousins were showing Robbie where some more eggs were.
Cousins
posing
Grandma and Grandpa gave them a package of candy.
Robbie loved driving Grandma and Grandpa's car.
We sat and enjoyed my parent's front patio for a while...
and then went out for pizza. (My parent's living and dining room are being painted, so going out made things easier.)
Yum...pizza!
Oftentimes, the photographer isn't in the pictures, so I was glad that my mom took this picture of Dave and me.
My sister and her God daughter
My sweet daughter and me!
Thanks for such a fun day, Mom and Dad! Love you!