Soccer Season

 We've begun our second year of soccer in a different place and along with that comes, well, differences.  The girls had their first game this past weekend, of course the weekend in which triple digits were expected (its fall now...NO MORE, OK?!).  Jonathan said it was kinda nice being on the sidelines watching and cheering for his daughters.

 The girls are not on the same team this year due to their ages, so we have 2 different practices during the week and then 2 different games on Saturdays.  Luckily, only one weekend do they have overlapping games and the fields they play on are right next to each other.  I was worried how it was going to play out, but it seems like it'll be fine!

Ava went first.  She was spunky and sassy as usual.  She often looked back at us during the game and I think she maybe felt naked not having her daddy out there.  She also fiddled with her hair the majority of the time.

 

 

She's a quick little runner---totally gets that from her daddy!

 The Blue Jays won their firs game!

 After Ava's game, we then had an hour until Kylie's game started.  This really wore her out-she was out in the heat 2 hours prior to starting her game, so she wasn't on her A-game.  Next time, we'll probably drag out our awning and bring a cooler with lots of cold water and snacks.

 We kinda wondered why the league couldn't come up with more colors for uniforms, unless it was just a coincidence there were lots of blue teams on the field that day.

 There are 2 other chairs girls.....

The Cheetahs won their first game as well.

My parents will be in town next weekend so they'll get to see the girls play for the first time!

Cool Sky View

Jupiter has been in the eastern sky for about the past week.  Last week during soccer practice on the 23rd, the Harvest Moon (first full moon after Fall begins...which happened to be the same night just few hours apart) and Jupiter were both up.  Such a cool sight since we're learning about the Solar System.

On the 24th after the kids went to bed, Jonathan and I were hanging out in the back yard and we could see the moon and Jupiter.  I had mentioned I wish I had binoculars or a telescope to be able to see Jupiter and its moons and Jonathan suggested our camera and long lens.  Great idea!  We pulled it out and got some cool shots.

 The pic is so small because I had to zoom in on the photo we took.  Jupiter was approximately 370,000,000 miles away.  This is the closest its been to the Earth since 1963.  You can barely see some of her moons-one is at the 8 o'clock position and the other about 2:30.

The Earth's natural satellite.  It was only about 240,000 miles away.

Craftime...UUGH!!!

I'm not a crafty person.  I just don't enjoy them.  I'm a math/science kinda gal, so when the girls ask to do crafts, half the time I say "no" and the other half I cringe.  Maybe its more the mess they make and the fact that cleaning that mess up isn't nearly as fun as doing the craft.  See for yourself.

The girls managed to half way empty a bottle of glue each, and not all if it was on paper.  Some was on their desk, some on the floor, and after they posted their work on the fridge, some of it was running down the front of the fridge door.

Gone shootin' again.

Grammy and Grandpa came into town last weekend and we went shooting again.  Jonathan and his dad found a great spot behind our development at the base of the mountains (a sign suggested "Do Not Leave Roadway", but they did anyway) and we found a nice, secluded area in an old river bed/current flash flood wash area.  Luckily no clouds loomed overhead-we were safe for the time we'd be there. 

The boys loading up.

Destroying clay pigeons.

The girls were entertained with a can of soda.

Grandpas turn.

Grammy's turn.

I have not fired a shot gun in years.  I didn't hit anything.

We wanted to show the girls what a gun can do to a watermelon.  Jonathan wanted me to avoid telling the girls a watermelon looked liked a person's head....maybe that's a little too much for little girls.

Ava thought it would "break into a million pieces".  It only broke into 5.

Then we showed them what the shotgun could do.

Now that's a million pieces.

BB gun time again.

 Kylie did it all by herself.  She had awesome aim. She even shot down a soda can we placed on top of the box.

Ava was brave enough this time to give it a try.  She hit the box too.

We walked away from Kylie and she really did it all on her own.

Grandpa helping Ava.

Juliet wanted a turn, so I helped her.

Daddy, Grandpa and Kylie.

Enjoying breakfast on our new dining room table that seats 8!

Playing Simon Says.

Year Two Week One

We began our school year last week the day after we got home from camping.  I just couldn't stand to start school in August!  After one week, things have gone very well!  We're busy a lot more since I've got both big girls needing real education, so it takes a little bit longer than last year, but we're usually done for naps and have the afternoon to play and do other things.  I spend a lot of the day in our office/school room so I like to keep it clean and want to spruce it up a bit so it isn't so boring. 

Kylie is in 1st grade this year.

Her classes include Math, Handwriting, Grammar, Spelling, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Social Studies, Astronomy and Art.

I know, all parents say this, but Kylie is a smart little kid.  She remembers facts very well and can recite them with ease.  Her spelling needs work especially when she just writes a story on her own.  All rules go right out the window-she's all about writing phonetically.  Her reading is incredible though.  She never hesitates and doesn't ever need to sound out words, and I'm talking big words.  My main struggle with her is the crying and whining when she doesn't want to do something.  She isn't like this with other people (at church, in sports, etc.) so I know its just that she's used to doing it with me.  She's just really girly but I don't give in...if anything I threaten with more work.  She has yet to catch on.

Ava is in Kindergarten this year.

Her classes also include Math, Handwriting, Spelling, Reading, Social Studies, Astronomy and Art.  

Ava is the quiet smart kid.  Don't get me wrong, she's a loud little girl, but when she's figuring things out, she keeps quiet.  I'll start to help her because I think she's not understanding and she'll say "hold on, I'm thinking" then give me an answer.  She's a great little reader too.  She's remembering what certain letter combinations say so there is less sounding out each individual letter, and she's got quite a few words memorized.  When reading, she sounds out a word and after figuring it out, she goes back to the very beginning of a sentence and re-reads it all over again.  She likes to read "fast" like I do when I read to them so that is my guess as to why she does that.  It works because she in fact can read "fast" after she's figured out all the words in a sentence.  She's mainly just following along in Astronomy-I don't expect nearly as much out of her as I do Kylie since she's still learning to learn.  Kylie is too, but she's got an entire year on Ava....year and a half age wise and I can tell the difference  She did memorize the planets in order (yes, we include Pluto...for now anyway) in a matter of minutes to her own little tune.  She aced her first spelling test yesterday.  She doesn't whine much, but she gets easily distracted.

 Then there is Snow White, I mean Juliet.  She likes to be right in the thick of things.  She tries to invade her sisters' desk spaces with her own school work (usually coloring).  I let her get into our school cabinet and grab out whatever she wants to do.  She's doing much better with her letters and she actually colors in the lines very well.

 Whatever she does whether it be stickers on a paper or playing with shapes, they usually end up in a line of some sort.  You can see that in both of the photos of her.

Here is another rare moment of sweetness. They had taken a break and were watching Little Einsteins (since we now have DVR, I have 20 episodes taped...its awesome when there are no kid appropriate cartoons on mid afternoon) and I caught them snuggling.  I told them to look and smile and Kylie didn't, so Ava helped her.

Camping part 2 ~ Grand Canyon

Upon leaving Zion, we drove a few hours to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  I visited the south rim plenty as a child, but never the north rim.  It looks pretty much the same!

We had originally booked a single camp site because we were going to bring Bailey, but upon arrival, we and a few other families jumped onto the group site (no dogs allowed) instead (all the other families with dogs boarded them as well).  It was awesome!  We had a giant area complete with 3 fire pits, 3 picnic tables and a sewer pipe running below.  We kept feeling booms and after a few ridiculous theories on what they were, we finally asked.  The jokes about the poo running below our site never got old....are we adults or what?

Our fun campsite.  

We had 5 families and a total of 20 people.  

We were told our tent is the Duggar tent-the one with the yellow rain fly.  Its pretty big.

6 of the 8 kids. 

The other two were too small and innocent to be involved in the dinner time shenanigans.

Kylie and J.  After their first meeting and few hours together a couple of weeks back, they declared to be each others new best friend and J called Kylie his "girlfriend" to his mom.  Its super cute, but Jonathan heeded plenty of warning to J and his dad.  Here they are playing Yahtzee.

Look at these blue-eyed beauties!  

Juliet and the other little girl are 1 month apart in age (both peanuts), however big D, being only 14 mos. old most likely outweighs them and wears bigger clothes.

We usually ate meals at the same time with the other families and were never in a food shortage.  The first morning we had a fully "catered" pancake breakfast.  The instant coffee wasn't half bad either.

The next morning we took a hike along the rim to the lodge.  The girls did well considering it was about 3.5 miles round trip, and unlevel a lot of the way.

J & Kylie again on the start of our hike...at one point they were looking over the rim with their arms around each other.  No one got their cameras out quick enough.

Us at an overlook.  

Why the girls cannot look at the camera is beyond me.  Its always right in front of them!

Stopping to do a little dead tree climbing.

Of course its way more magnificent in person.

 

Enjoying the view from a bench.  Kylie is singing, maybe??

At the lodge.  A better attempt a picture.

I got very sick to my stomach when the girls got close to the edge to look over.  I guess since becoming a mom those things just bug me a lot more than when I was a kid.  And no, I didn't plan their outfits.  I packed one kid at a time (we had a 70 degree temp change so I packed a lot of clothes), and had you seen me in the morning getting the girls dressed in a mad dash to get them out of the tent to take them potty, you'd know I didn't plan it.  But it makes for cute pictures!

Just a tad windy up here at 8000 feet.

Planning something mischievous, I'm sure.

The hike back seemed much longer than the way out and the girls fell often, so here they are skipping with Jonathan singing their rendition of "A Spoonful of Sugar" and how it "Makes The Trail Go By Faster".

We hadn't done a squadron camping trip since our Wild Boar days back in Idaho and it was so much fun.  We are planning one for the spring to another nearby campground.  Our squadron here is tiny but filled with wonderful people.