End of Season Soccer Party

*Coach Anna presents Bethany with her "Winner" medal.

*Bethany and Bailey enjoying their cupcakes. (Aunt Anita and Mallory, too.)

*Soccer ball pinata.

*Team photo - I don't know all of the kids' names, but the coaches were so sweet. Anna, the tall one, is going to be doing some speech therapy with Mallory, and the assistant coach - Angie - is pregnant with her third baby and due in October, like a few Mann girls that I know :) She made the cupcakes for the party which were so cute because she put them together in a ball shape, and iced them to look like a big soccer ball.

Bethany scored her one and only goal of the season in the last game, thanks to her coach trying to help the kids assist the other kids who hadn't scored yet. We were all very excited. Brad said he was about to take a picture, but he was too busy cheering for her to follow through. What a cute, proud Daddy.

Action Shots of Spring Soccer Season

I think my favorites of these are the last two, which Brad happened to take at her last game of the season. Good job, Brad! These soccer games were fun to watch, even though they spent most of the time kicking the ball out of bounds and throwing it back in. We can't expect too much from 4-6 year olds.

More field trip pics.....

Yes, I did take a picture of the kids singing grace - because I was already focused in. I wasn't trying to be irreverent, but notice my daughter is the one with her eyes open. We talk about that alot, but we'll just keep on talking until it clicks. I posted most of these pictures so that Bethany can see the photos of her friends on my blog. The little boy with the curly hair is Luke, and Bethany told her dad that she wants to marry him. What?! He is a cutie, but come on! Really, I'm surprised it took her until May to say that because I've been hearing all of the little girls say stuff like that since September. And, since there are only three boys in the class - each boy is betrothed to at least 4 girls. (hahaha) The last picture is of her and Kylie, her good friend - I think that is because Kylie is the youngest in the class, so she would play what Bethany wanted to play and how she said to play it. I think it's an oldest child and only-child-for 3 1/2 years thing.

Bowling Field Trip

The preschool kids went to the bowling alley for a special field trip outing, including pizza afterwards. Brad and I went and took Mallory along, too. She loved all of the attention from her big sister's friends. The kids had a blast, and we had fun coaching them a little bit.

Preschool Graduation

Well, I went to download my pictures from the big graduation assembly and found that most of them were blurry. So, I don't have any of her accepting her "diploma" or showing off her trophy. Bummer! I'm posting some of the kids in their hats, though. Bethany took her trophy and diploma everywhere with her all day on Thursday to show everybody. She was so excited about her "1st trophy ever"! She's pictured in the last photo with her friend, Emily, who has got to be one of the sweetest little girls I've ever met.

Macaroni Salad

Today was, yes, "Preschool Graduation". I do think it's kind of silly, but the kids just ate it up. Even though it was called a graduation, I was excited for the milestone in Bethany's life. Our firstborn is moving on to real school after this, and I still can hardly believe it. I'll post pictures tomorrow, I hope, but I won't promise. I spent an hour and a half last night making a macaroni salad for the picnic celebrating this last day of preschool, and I must say - it was a hit, which, kind of pathetically, gave me a boost in the "feeling good about myself" department. People were asking, "who made the macaroni salad in the blue bowl? it's so good!" and then other people would go & try it, and say, "It is really good!". Then , I would say, "Thank you! That's the way my mom makes it. We use Marzetti's dressing." (by the way, it took me an hour and a half to make this salad because i made a huge Thatsa bowl of it, and cut the cucumbers and green peppers and onions and eggs into very small chunks. I'm not really slow....that's the point of this explanation.) Anyway, more later on the big "graduation day"....

More pics of the kiddies....

My nephew, Jaxson

We visited Arizona because my brother, Daniel, lives there with his wife, Elizabeth, and his sons, Matthew and baby Jaxson, who I hadn't met yet. I took tons of pictures with the little ones together for their first visit. It was great to be with my brother and his family for a whole week and to get to know his pride and joy. Isn't he so beautiful? (I'm quite proud and probably overly boasting, but he's the first baby born to one of my siblings, and that makes him especially exiciting to me!)

Yes, we're alive!!!

I was just getting ready to post when I received a reminder from Rebecca that I hadn't posted for a whole month. I'm sorry! Time has flown by, and life has been busy. I still can't believe it has been more than a month, though. I took some time to catch up on your blogs, friends, and now I'm ready. From April to now, I've been busy with Cub Scouts, primary meetings and responsibilities, soccer practices and games, date nights, special family events, and a vacation to Arizona with my girls! I finally downloaded pictures yesterday, oh yes, and I've been making special gifts online for special people, but I can't say who because it would give away the surprise. So, I'm just gonna post a bunch of stuff, okay?