Already Rockin'

You can't tell from the picture, but the girls are wearing shin guards (not leg warmers) and soccer cleats.  Today was our FIRST practice!  It went way better than I expected.  I am coaching with my friend Heather, who has a son my girls' age.  Therefore they are on a co-ed team.  Well, two boys and six girls.  Don't tell anyone, but I can't believe the difference in this team and Brayden's team that I helped coach for two years.  I think this team is already ahead of that other team after one practice.  The big difference is this team (we don't have a team name yet) LISTENS!  It's crazy, all in one practice they learned each others names, learned how to pass with the inside of their foot and stop the ball!  They don't have these skills mastered, but they GET IT!
Their names crack me up, they are all very similar, so I'm sure I will struggle when they're on the field.

Emma/Emmett
Ellie/Ellie
Ally/Alex
Austin
Dani

Our team name will be decided next week.  Some of the suggestions were:

Ponies
Ponies and Dolls
Babies
SMASH babies
WAAAHHH
Waterfall

I told them to think about it, I hope they can come up with a little something different.....we shall see.  I love these FOUR year olds.  Check back in a week though.  :)

Seriously??

I had one of my moments this morning.  I finally closed out my accounts at Chase and I am switching everything over to Spokane Teachers credit union, so now no fees!  I went into Chase, which I have been dreading!  When I went in a few weeks ago to talk about the charges the lady was not nice.  However, today I talked to a guy, who wasn't overly friendly, but he went ahead and closed everything out for me.  I was shocked to not have some kind of fee attached to this.....

I took my cashiers check and cash from Brayden's account and went onto the next bank.  I was somewhat flustered and kind of just shoved all my stuff into the tube-thingy in the drive thru.  The bankers computer wasn't working right, and I didn't have any of B's info. so it took FOREVER to get everything situated.  Cars were lining up like crazy behind me, which stresses me out.   I am always ultra aware of holding people up and I feel like I am always hurrying my kids along......

Anyway, the tube thingy finally comes out, and I have to sign something and send it back.  Meanwhile in the back the girls are asking over and over and over to get stickers.  I said, ok, because they waited so nicely during this whole 10 minute ordeal.  I was trying to grab their stickers, my 3 receipts, and the form I had to sign.....when, whoosh, the tube goes flying out the window into the parking lot.....great.

I pull forward so I don't ram my door into the console thing (quick thinking), I hop out, oh, van is still in Drive (not so quick thinking), it's slowly rolling away.  Hop back in and put it in park.  Get back out and search for the damn tube thingy (girls still screaming for stickers), can't find the tube anywhere.  I am wearing a cute summer skirt, which did not help matters as I'm crawling on the HOT asphalt.  Finally spot it UNDER my tire!  Get back in the van and reverse it (at this point I count in my head 6 cars lined up and watching the entertainment).  Back it up, and notice the lady behind me giving me the stare of death.  Park it, jump out AGAIN, grab the tube thingy.  Of course the tube is squished, cracked and broken.  I sign the damn form, shove it in the tube and shoot it back through the tunnel, all without making eye contact with the banker.  How much do you think one of those tubey things cost?

Pretty sure I won't be back to that branch......I guess I need to do some research and see where the next closest branch is located....I'm sure they're thrilled to have me and all my money at their bank!  :)

Another BIG step

It's that time of year, back to school!  I have a FIRST grader.  I can hardly believe it, when did I get this old?  Brayden will be in school ALL day, gone for 7 hours (including busing).  I'm not sure what  Dani, Ellie and I will do with all this girl time.  We will miss him!

 A BIG yummy breakfast.  Belgian waffle with blackberries, whip cream and cheesy eggs.  (Tomorrow will be the standard frozen waffle with peanut butter).

 New school clothes and new shoes.  I made him stand this way so I could see his adidas sambas.  I LOVE these shoes, navy and orange.  Hopefully he will like them as much as I do!  :)

                                              In line for the bus.

You can't tell in this pic. but there are TWENTY kids at his bus stop.  I LOVE it!

On his way......

I am a little broken hearted that I will be working when he gets off the bus today, but I can't wait to hear all about his day when I'm done!  I love you Brayden GOO!

Another big step for the girls:

We survived the trip to my parent's house over the weekend.  We all worked hard and packed, trashed and reminisced over lots of stuff!  We were fortunate enough to get my brother's bunk bed!  I tell ya,they made stuff a lot more sturdy back in the day.  This bunk bed is going to last forever, or at least until the girls are 18 and outta here!  We broke down their toddler beds and assembled this:

The bottom bed is supposed to make an L shape, but with it directly under, we get a lot more space for two little bodies and lots of toys.  They are THRILLED, and so far so good.  No accidents yet, but I did take the ladder off and hide it for the majority of the day.  That's normal, right?

My baby girls are in BUNK BEDS!

My Baby

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy Brayden!

 

                                                                                Brand new

                                                                        Around 1 year

18 months

                                                                             2 years

                                                                         3 years

                                                                                4 years

5 years

.....and today he is 7 years old!  I can not believe 7 years have gone by since he came into this world and changed my life forever.  I never knew the depth of love that can grow instantly, until he was put into my arms.  He has been by far my easiest child (possibly because he came all by himself).  He came into this world a happy go lucky baby, and he has mostly kept that personality.   Brayden is a sensitive, loving, funny, energetic, smart boy.  I am so  proud him, he is a wonderful big brother and son!  We love you Brayden Goo!
     

Thanks G & G!

We got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Wagener!  New school clothes and new first day of school books!  We were all SO excited, who would have thought to do that?  My mom, that's who!

 Here are my girls in their new outfits,does this scream 80s to anyone else?  This looks like something I would have worn in elementary school, crazy!  Although we didn't have those cute hats!

Brayden got new school clothes too, but he wasn't dying to try them on.  He did LOVE the books though!  One week in counting before B starts, 11 days for the girls, but who is keeping track?  :)

Other big news with G & G, they SOLD their house!  Out of nowhere a realtor knocked on their door and asked if they wanted to sell.  They thought about it, and decided, YES!  A few weeks later it was a done deal.  We are heading over this weekend to help pack up the colossal piles of STUFF, wish us luck, it will be an adventure!  Maybe I'll post some pics.  (They will be thrilled)! 

Enjoy your long three day weekend, Summer is coming to a close.  :(

Race the River/Girls weekend!

                                                                  Pi and Jocey

                                                                   Kym, Lins and Megs 
                                                             Missing:  Kathy and me

Girls, girls, girls!  On the last weekend of July my 'Couve girls headed my way so we could compete in the Race the River triathlon!  1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike and 3 mile run.  We were all stoked and so excited to spend the four days together!  There was seven of us here and five of us ran the race.  Pi had little Riley in May, so she wasn't quite up for the training, and Jocey didn't compete because the race was held on a Sunday.  Such a bummer, but it was so nice to have fans cheering us on!  They made all the difference in getting me across the finish line!  Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get all of their great pics. onto my blog, so I am using Kent's, which are great, but he doesn't have quite the fancy camera that those chicas had.

 Me heading out uphill on the bike....sorry girls, I didn't have access to any of your shots on the bike.....

                                            Meghan Simmons finish time of 1:24.  She ROCKED it!

Kathy Fry:  finish time of 1:27. Way to go Kathy, she was a SPEED runner!

Christy Phillips: Finish time of 1:32

                                                            Kym Langford: finish time of 1:40

                                                             Lindsey Kralj: finish time of 1:42

We all agreed it felt like a tremendous accomplishment to complete it, but we could do without the horrendous swim in the freezing river.  Next year, no triathlon, just a girls weekend away, Lins, do you have the house all squared away for us????  Sunriver here we come!?!

It was a fun filled weekend, that included lots of catching up, laughing and filling our souls with "goodness" that only lifelong friends can fill.  It's amazing how many people come into and out of your lives and I feel very fortunate to have great friends in my life right now that surround me and support me, but it's these girls that have been through it all with me!   I had to laugh at how we are now moms and have families of our own, but we are all the same as we were in high school.  The planners, the stressers, the easy going ones, the pleasers, the care takers, we all have our little quirks or personality traits that make us us, and we all love each other for them! 

I can't wait for our weekend next summer where there will be no anticipation or stress involved with a race.  Maybe just spa treatments and giggling with my 'Couve girls !

The best cheer team ever!

Dirty Dash

The first annual 10k  Dirty Dash was held in Spokane this year!  I'm pretty sure I was one of the first ones to sign up, our number was 65 and there were 4000 participants!  Let me just say, it was a little nutty!  Luckily we were one of the first heats so we were there before 9 and outta there by 1......yes that was quite a while but it got crazy!    

 We were supposed to wear costumes and do fun stuff, this hair do was about as wild as I got.  The girls thought it was soooo cool, so I did theirs too.  I included this pic. cuz it's my new favorite one of Dani.  I think her eyes look so gorgeous in it....Ellie and I are struggling a bit, but Dan looks beautiful!  Love that girl!

Kent and I did the race with our neighbor friends, Jackie and Chris.  They came to pick us up and Chris bounded out of the van looking like this!  Kent and I were dying,  pretty sure he chose this "bro-zeer" because Kent HATES having attention called to him... there were def. lots of comments throughout the day!  :)

 Kent and I gearing up for the 6.2 miles through the woods.

 Jackie and I ready to roll.

 First obstacles, hay barrels, Chris attacked them!

 After the first mud obstacle, pools of mud then crawling through huge pipes!  No way around that.

 This was less than 1 mile into it.  These girls already had ditched their shoes and were going bare foot.  I couldn't believe it, we were in the woods, lots of rocks, branches.....owies!  However, little did I know a mere 3 miles later I would be walking it in my socks.  The problem is, once the mud is encased inside your shoe it hardens and there is no room for your little tootsies.  I had a few blisters that were something fierce, and mind you, I was doing the sprint triathlon the next morning.  Not so good....my feet were so bruised and hurt after walking 2 miles in socks, it made for a difficult tri.

 Jackie scaling the wall.

 Balance beams, I really love this guys swim cap.  I so want one, I just don't know what I would do with it....

 Pit stop!  At mile 4 they had kegs and root beer.  Lots of people hung there for a while!  :)

After the final water slide and mud pit!  It was a GREAT time and I would definitely do it again.... with different shoes, maybe Keens?  Let me know if you're in for next year!