Neon Ninjas Soccer

Justin went to the bulk of the girls’ soccer games this year.  I only went to a few of Abigail’s and either I didn’t bring my camera or just didn’t use it, but here we are the season is over and I don’t have a single picture from her games.  Major bummer.  I found this one I’d taken at one of Carly’s games, but I don’t think it counts.

Thankfully someone took a good picture of the team and emailed it to all the parents.

Abigail’s soccer season was frustrating.  She has had cruddy soccer teams ever since we moved here and we haven’t been willing to commit the time and cost to put her on a select team.  Her team lost six players to select teams this year.  By the end of this season she was frustrated and ready to be done.  Hopefully next year we will see more competitive and skilled playing when she can play through the middle school program. 

She had her last soccer game on the 9^th, but their end of the season party wasn’t until this past Saturday since they were waiting on ordering sweatshirts for the girls.  A fun alternative to useless trophies though I’d rather have them at the beginning of the season so they could wear them while they were a team.  Oh well, Abigail loves her new sweatshirt.

Sayonara Neon Ninjas – I think this is goodbye for good!

Bracing for the Future

Big day at our house today!  

She's smiling now, but I don't think she will be tomorrow!

(Justin came up with the title, isn't he clever?)

Gummy Bear Soccer

The girls’ final soccer games were this past Saturday.  It was a divide-and-conquer kind of day.  Justin took Carly to her 9am game and was able to stay for most of it before needing to leave with Abigail to get her to her game.  I picked up Carly as her game was wrapping up and headed over to the train depot for her end of the season party.

I think it surprises some people with how athletic Carly is.  She is a competitor and is easily one of the strongest members of her team.  She played a great season, scored in multiple games, and most importantly had fun.  We were glad that her coach from last year decided to coach again.  Her expectations for the girls are high and we’ve enjoyed having her coach these last two years.

While passing out signed soccer balls and pictures to each of the players, the coach commented about how Carly is a strong team player and how she can count on Carly to play well in any position.

Good Season Gummy Bears!

Sunday

I love Sundays.  Justin usually gets up with the kids so I get to sleep in.  Church doesn't start until 1pm so there is plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast (Justin typically makes pancakes; though if strawberries are in season we make waffles instead and waffles are my domain).  Justin and I even had time to take a little nap this morning before church.

Today was extra special in that we had our annual primary program during sacrament meeting.  The kids had been practicing for many months and were excited, but I was the most excited.  The primary program is my favorite Sunday of the year.  I love hearing the children sing and share the simple truths of the gospel.  The spirit is always so strong and it always ends up being an emotional week for me in a wonderful way.

We had 114 children performing today - that's a lot for one ward.  If I remember correctly, at our last stake conference the stake presidency shared that our ward has 25% of the children in the entire stake and there are eight wards in our stake!  I love our ward.  Not only do we have a solid primary organization with lots of friends for my kids, but our youth program is excellent as well.  With that many kids to squeeze into a 45 minute program the kid’s parts are small, in fact Carly actually shared a part with three other girls.

Like most wards, our ward has a shortage of adults that can play the piano.  Earlier in the year there wasn't a pianist during singing time so the presidency asked if anyone could play the piano.  Abigail raised her hand and accompanied the primary kids as they sang, "Heavenly Father Loves Me."  She did so great that they asked her to play the song during the program as well.

As we were getting ready for church I expressed to Justin how I was concerned about whether I would be able to keep Drew content and still be able to watch the program.  As a primary teacher Justin was required to sit on the stand with his class.  And since Drew prefers his caregiver to stand while they hold him it's been many, many weeks since we haven't had to stand in the halls during sacrament to keep him happy.  As I was getting settled in our usual pew in walked the Carman family, our friends from Auburn, who had just happened to pop into our church while they were in the area.  Barb loves babies and offered to take Drew out if he got fussy (in fact she said it would be my "gift" to her).  She whisked him out just minutes later and I was able to watch the entire program without a baby to care for.   She was my Angel!  Apparently Drew did awesome with her and she even got him to sleep for most of the hour.

The program was awesome.   There were so many times I had tears in my eyes listening to these sweet children share their testimonies.   Loved it. 

The primary presidency wanted to do something special during primary to celebrate after the program so they arranged a talent show.   The kids sat on blankets, ate popcorn and pretzels while they watched their friends share various church appropriate talents. 

Carly and Abigail have been playing duets on the piano and flute lately so we decided Carly would play "I am a Child of God" with Abigail on the flute.   

I bribed Abigail to also play the piano piece that she played at Carly's baptism over a year and a half ago.   It’s a medley of “Amazing Grace/Now we take the Sacrament/How Great Thou Art” I love the arrangement, which Abigail knows, but she won’t ever play it.  I recorded their songs this morning so next time I want to hear Abigail's song I can just hit play instead of beg and bribe her.  

They both did great playing during the talent show, such a proud and emotional mom moment for me. 

Justin usually cooks dinner on Sundays and tonight he cooked one of our favorites, we call it “Susi's meal” after our friend who founded it.  There was no complaining tonight about all the mushrooms and tomatoes, it was delicious.

After we cleaned up dinner there was a game of dominos and then we all gathered to watch the finale of Masterchef Junior, which left Justin and I wondering how we can get our kids cooking gourmet meals by the age of 9 or 10.  Can you imagine?

The kids were all in bed by 8:30pm and then Justin and I finished watching a movie we'd checked out from the library.   The perfect end to a nearly perfect day.  I sure do love Sundays.  Sure there are days there is more bickering than bonding, but today wasn't one of those days.  Today was pretty great.

Haircut

Katie and I got haircuts yesterday.  I was just thinking I’d have my hairstylist trim up Katie’s ends while we waited for my skunk line to vanish, but Katie wanted her hair cut short.  I think it turned out cute – goodness, how I love this girls smile!

Halloween 2013

My Halloween lunch date was yummy, Katie is always thrilled to go out to eat with her Dad, and Drew was content in his car seat carrier.  We ventured to the newly developed Issaquah Highland shopping area and ate at the RAM, checked out the new HomeGoods/Marshalls, and then Justin dropped me off at the kids’ elementary school so I could volunteer at Jason's Harvest Party.  This was my first time helping in Jason's classroom this year, with a nursing baby it's hard for me to go in as often as I'd like.  I was impressed with how well organized his teacher was.  I manned the snack table as the kids rotated through five different fun (or yummy) stations. 

We had pizza for dinner and then the kids got ready to hit the neighborhood.    I think I had the best looking group of trick-or-treaters out there. 

Seriously, just look at that adorable little monkey a little closer! 

Actually the monkey stayed home all night with either me or Justin, but still, so cute! 

Our beautiful Cinderella (though I just noticed we didn’t have her crown on yet and she’s slobbering profusely)

Dorothy and her little dog Toto who had to stay home as to not take up precious space in Carly's basket.

Love this picture of Katie!  

She had a blast!  I was surprised that she wasn’t shy and had no problem saying trick-or-treat and used her manners saying “Thank You!” and “Happy Halloween” Though it was funny she’d get mixed up and after getting candy from someone she’d turn around and yell “Trick-or-Treat”.  She had no problem keeping up with the other kids and lasted over an hour before she declared she was ready for bed.  Love that girl!

The trick-or-treating logistics this year were quite different then in years past.   Each of the three big kids wanted to go with their friends, we started out together, but after a little while Abigail was off on her own in the with a friend, Carly and two friends went off with one of the girls mom's, and when Katie was ready to head home Jason went with a group of boys (and a dad) until Justin could catch up to him.  Lets face it, with five kids spanning over 11 years were not going to have the same pace and trick-or-treat together for an entire evening. 

At the end of the night we had more candy then should ever been allowed.  I was surprised that Jason and Katie were both in bed before 8pm after enjoying just a few treats.  The girls stayed out a little longer and then got to sorting as soon as they got home. 

Abigail was excited, as I suspected, for my "fun" post-trick-or-treating activity - Halloween Statistics.  Carly indulged me and assisted me with her compilation and I handled Jason and Katie’s stats after they were in bed.

Abigail’s:

Top 5 Most Popular Candy:

#1 – Starburst

#2 – Laffy Taffy

#3 – Whoppers

#4 – Snickers

#5 – Kit-Kat

Approximately 14.5 pounds, 548 pieces

Carly’s:

Top 5 Most Popular Candy:

#1 – Jolly Ranchers

#2 – Milky Way

#3 – Snickers

#4 – Twix

#5 – Smarties

Approximately 12.6 pounds, 502 pieces

Jason’s:

Top 5 Most Popular Candy: (none of which he can eat)

#1 – Snickers

#2 – Milky Way

#3 – Twix

#4 – Almond Joy

#5 – Reese’s PB Cups

Approximately 2.4 pounds of nut-free candy, combined total with Katie of 11.2 pounds, 287 pieces

Katie’s:

Top 5 Most Popular Candy:

#1 – Snickers

#2 – Kit Kat

#3 – Gobstoppers

#4 – Almond Joy

#5 – Crunch Bars

Approximately 0.8 pounds of nut-free candy, combined total with Jason of 11.2 pounds, 121 pieces

An interesting tidbit of information is that of the candy Abigail collected she could eat approximately 54.4% of the candy due to nut allergies.  

In contrast Jason and Katie could only eat 28.5% of their candy.  I think this is due to Abigail being more familiar with what she is able to eat so when presented with a bowl of candy to choose from she would grab something she knew she could eat.  Jason and especially Katie aren’t nearly as familiar with what is safe and what isn’t.

That brings the Fletcher’s total 2013 Halloween candy collection to approximately 38.3 pounds, 1458 pieces with the Top Ten Most Popular Candy being as follows:

#1 – Snickers

#2 – Milky Way

#3 – Jolly Ranchers

#4 – Starburst

#5 – Kit Kat

#6 – Twix

#7 – Laffy Taffy

#8 – Whoppers

#9 – Twizzlers

#10 - Gobstoppers

I gotta admit the excitement of such a large loot is tainted a bit by the fact that we purchased a large bag of candy at Costco on Halloween and still have over half of it left over.   And unlike Halloweens past we bought a huge bag of chocolate candy bars so three of our kids can't even eat any of it.  We usually buy the big (and less expensive) variety pack with Nerds, Laffy Taffy, and Starbursts. So to bring home loads of chocolate candy isn't as awesome when you have loads of chocolate candy already (and no way to return it).   This also means I have very little trading power if I want any non-chocolate candy.  Make sense? Turns out we didn't get much foot traffic on our dead end street.  In hindsight we should have sent the kids out for 20 minutes, given out what we didn't like from that and skipped buying anything.  Or if we really needed to buy candy ourselves we buy stuff all of our kids can eat so what we have leftover doesn’t have to be eaten by just the few of us that are allergy-free.  Yes, I know I'm a bit crazy.  Despite the chocolate catastrophe we had a wonderful Halloween and I’m sure somehow we’ll manage to get through it all.