Strikz

We bought a few coupon packages through John's work because they had great discounts. We have yet to use the ones for Medieval Times--kinda scared about how that will go :) 

But this weekend we used the ones for Strikz bowling Alley. The prices were cheaper than Main Event, and the arcade was better too. The kids enjoyed a few games of bowling with dad, and then we spent some money at the arcade.

 Look at my handsome boy--he smiled naturally finally :

 This smile Olivia is doing below is the smile my mom hated when we did as kids for school pictures :P

 One of the coolest games was the huge connect 4---one of Lucas' favorite games to challenge daddy at home:

One of the longer-lasting prizes the kids picked from their arcade tickets was this popper toy--Frankie was in one of those moods when he gets really tired; he's either hysterically laughing or crying. At this point he had been laughing hard at this popper jumping up--of course it wouldn't work right for the video though:

And more soccer..

Here's some video of Lucas' 2nd practice this week. It's always fun to watch. This time the coach disciplined players who weren't paying attention or touched the ball with their hands and made them run a "lap" around the disks. I was just waiting for Lucas' to get his turn, but he focused the whole time! I am very proud. He also followed semi-complex directions of running one way, and at 2 whistle blows turning around to run the other way, and at 1 whistle, to stop. He enjoyed it the whole time too.
   Next week should be pretty busy; Olivia practices monday, Lucas practice tuesday, L & O gymnastics/Olivia practice Wednesday, Lucas practice thursday, Lucas practice scrimmage friday, and both of them play a game on saturday :)

  I found these old pictures of when Coach John was really into soccer as a kid. Cute:

More Soccer Practice

Team Washington

Yesterday was Lucas' turn to practice soccer with his team of 5 yr olds. He did so well at paying attention to Coach Kevin! He had a great time and already feels like part of a team. Coach Kevin and his wife Amanda did a great job at keeping the fun going and we even stole some of their practice tips for John to use with Olivia's 4 yr old team :P It's kind of funny because John and Kevin look like they could be twins :)

    He really had them working hard to run fast and stop on a dime, and then kicking the ball back to him. Lucas is excited for his next practice tomorrow!
Here are a few pictures:

 Lucas did a great job of kicking the ball to his partner:

 Here he is ready to take a break--he always says, "I meed a nap!"

Team Kansas City 

And we had our second practice today, where we tried the "whistle/stop" game---it's a fun one!
With 4 yr olds, it's a little more difficult to keep their attention but John did a great job--especially since I sat with little Franko the whole time :)

 For the last 15 minutes, we got to play a little practice scrimmage with the other 4 yr old team! We used our practice jerseys. They all did a great job and both teams scored! We should do pretty well on next saturday's game!

We also picked up our real uniforms today--I got a quick picture of daddy and Olivia trying their's on before practice:

(Kansas City is for you guys Shawna!! :P )

Soccer!

John is on a 'relief' schedule at work for the fall, so no more shiftwork---this permitted him to volunteer to coach Olivia's U5 soccer team :) It's really fun to see him coach 9 four year olds. We had our first practice yesterday afternoon and I think it went well! We have a couple 3 yr olds, one 5 yr old but mostly 4 yrs old. They are all adorable and really tried their best. It's a much better sport for their age than say, teeball because there is no waiting in line!

  Olivia played with Jasper before practice started:

 Getting to know everyone's names, and jersey numbers--we have a set of twins on the team, so it might take a little work to remember!:

 Teaching them to "get the ball home" in a goal, without using their hands:

 Frankie was entertained the whole time too:

 Coach and I getting worn out !

 Passing the balls to our partners:

 Little Max & Kali are our youngest, but they did well! I think homeschooling the past year, has helped me have more patience with the attention spans of 3/4 yr olds :)

 London's mommy even helped with Franko :)

 London needs a water break!

 And they were all helpful in clean up too !

     John was excited to get to do it, and we bought pop up goals, cones, extra balls, and I got the official clipboard and whistle for him :) We tried to keep things moving to keep their attention, and also tried to keep everyone hydrated because even at 6pm, it's still pretty hot here. Soon we will get the official team jerseys (Olivia picked Kansas City, in honor of her boyfriend Alex who lives there!) and so our team colors are baby blue and white.

   Every player showed up with their cleats and shin guards on and we had a great time. I'm excited to see what happens in the first game in a week or so, when they see they are playing with another team, and there is only ONE ball :) I'm sure there will be lots of cute pictures and memories for all of us to remember this adorable age. Lucas has his first practice with his U6 team today. He is excited to play!

  I may have been a bit overbearing as "assistant coach" to John, but he said he liked it. Thankfully Susan was there to watch my little squishy boy Frankie, who behaved well playing on the blanket the whole time. I know John and I will be getting some exercise now too---2 practices a week with each team, plus gymnastics. I mean, I'm 22 weeks now, and I know the last trimester is going to be when I pack on more weight..I am ready for Christmas time already :P I just want to lose some of this weight I didn't lose after having Frankie last November!
   Oh! I find out sex for sure on Sept 11th :)

Homeschooling update & stuff

We are in week 7 of the Kolbe Academy (close to finishing first quarter already!) syllabus and I think they are doing well. We average about 4 days of school a week. Olivia was being defiant about writing her name correctly (she was drawing huge circles as the 'dots' above her "i's") but has since fixed that. Lucas does really well when he is motivated. His spelling and reading has been amazing to me! I am so proud that we started last year. I really was unsure that what I was 'freestyling' with was sufficient, but now that I see him as a 5 yr old starting to read, spelling and doing math easily, I am sure it was the right thing to do. He wants to impress daddy so much :) He takes pride in his writing and all his work. Even though 8 'subjects' seemed like a lot, they are all different and therefore keep things exciting for him. Especially science. I'd say the only thing he has a little trouble with is religion, but that's a more complex topic, and it's not so important for him to memorize answers, as it is to for me to be helping shape his conscience and faith.

In Science, we are learning about life cycles. I bought these lima beans, soaked them in water and we did an experiment. We put a few in a bag with a wet cotton pad in the sun, some in a bag without wet cotton in the sun, and some with wet cotton in a closet without light. It was interesting how fast some grew roots! The ones in the sun with water obviously did best, but it was surprising that the ones without light grew roots too! I guess water is more important than sun:

Just a few days later, I took the 3 that grew the best roots and planted them. The next day, the seed pod opened and already started sprouting leaves!

By the next night it looked like this: 

 Pretty cool to watch, since it was so fast that it sprouted.
I want to do school with them as often as possible now, since baby #4's arrival will complicate things more. In other news, Frankie now has 4 teeth and is eating more 'adult' foods :) He is pulling up to stand all the time, and therefore falling a lot as well...
    Oh and I put up this shelf in the downstairs bath. Many walls in this house are still bare, and we need more places to put things that are not within Frankie's reach!

 We also used to use a wooden bench to put all our shoes on downstairs, which became Frankie's favorite place to go. So I bought these shoe holder things at Ikea to get our shoes off the floor--very convenient. We didn't have room for the kids' soccer cleats so we just put them on top. I also took apart the bed in the downstairs room, so Susan can use it as her workout room (and she uses the old shoe bench too!)

 I also turned 30 yrs old this month--Johnny surprised me and bought me this microkorg synth I've wanted for over a decade :) It's just ironic that I have it now and don't have the time to really use it. I've played with it and will upload bits of it soon. I need another keyboard to get a good beat going though! With all my equipment, I miss being able to play live music and make some $$ on the side, but i'd much rather be homeschooling and making memories anyway. At some point, I might be able to find that balance and play at NYLO again, or try new venues.

 Thanks for spoiling me John :)

Short News Clip

Rallies Accompany Start of Abortion Trial: Rallies Accompany Start of Abortion Trial
(you can only see me holding Frankie and Olivia next to me as I am talking to a pro-choice girl on the right side of the screen at the 00:33 second mark)

John was reading articles online on nightshifts tonight, and texted me "I saw you on a news clip for a second". And I said, "oh, was it one of those fat people shots for an obesity article?" but no, it was not.
 It was this video on the abortion protests in Austin earlier this month. I can't really complain because they did actually interview both sides, but it's always uncomfortable when they make the pro-life side out to be crazy fanatics when most of us are just compassionate and logical human beings.

   At the same time, I suppose not all pro-choicers are atheist blood-hungry butch-dikes screaming their heads off...but I could be wrong. What is so annoying is that they argue against pro-lifers as if motherhood is a disease that we are trying to inflict upon them, when it's already a choice (their favorite word) they are free to make. When a life has already been created, you are a mother; an abortion only makes you the mother of a dead baby. Just because you don't want something, doesn't ever give you the right to murder. These women's views have been so obscured by empty rhetoric and lies that they won't acknowledge that what they are saying is their lifestyle is more important than life. And they call these bottom of the barrel abortionists heroes, saying countless women would be dead if not for them. I bet Christin Gilbert, Jennifer Morrelli, all the women on this list, and of course the millions of babies they diced, vaccuumed, or burned from the inside out, would beg to differ.

   I mean come on...painted coat hangers "represent terror [we] prolifers enact"? That's like the robber who sues his victim when he gets cut upon breaking in. If anyone can be called a terrorist in this mess, it is the doctors being paid to lie and kill. Can you imagine any country not as fortunate as we are, seeing this and being stumped at these angry women yelling about "forced motherhood?" And the terror of pro-life law, and our 'war on women' that won't pay $3 for their own contraceptives? Meanwhile girls in Europe and Africa are having their vaginas mutilated, raped, forced to marry, whole families being tortured, murdered for their faith...and these women want to spend their time and energy making sure casual sex doesn't have consequences, and pretending babies are disposable semi-humans.

  I was interviewed by a local publication, North Texas Catholic recently--I talked the guy's ear off! Article is not up yet but I'll keep checking :)

The Happy Part of the trip

We stayed in a nice 2 room suite for the 2 nights we were in Austin. The kitchen was fully equipped! However, all of the water in the hotel was turned off when we arrived for a maintenance issue and wasn't turned back on for an hour or so. By the time we got back from dinner at Magnolia Diner, all the faucets worked except for our bathroom sink...even after calling for a repairman, his 'fix' didn't hold and the water shut off again. So we used Susan's bathroom.

 First we went swimming, then got ready for dinner.

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   My hands have been too full to be able to take as many pictures as I normally do on trips, especially because Frankie is now mobile and impatient and eats everything he can find! But on our last night, we went to a delicious dinner with Norman and Emily called Mandola's. I can't say for sure because i've never been to Italy, but the italian food seemed really authentic! The dishes they had have been made for me by John's italian grandmother, and they tasted as delicious as hers. The desserts looked and tasted amazing too.

  It was a short trip, but we are glad we went to represent the side of life, and to visit Norman and Emily. Austin is now checked off the list of cities we've been to. :)