Mark Morris tournament

We took Parker with us to the Mark Morris Challenge volleyball tournament this morning.  In between matches, Parker and I ran some errands and he talked me into taking him to the pawn shops to look around.  He watches the TV shows about the pawn shops so he wanted to see what they had to sell.   It was a long tournament, lasting until evening so I finally took Parker home about 3, he was  bored and wanted to get home and do some weedeating for me.

The girls played great and ended up winning the tournament, beating Capital in 2 sets.  They had split with them in pool play, their only loss in the tournament.



Little crafters

This was a week of crafts, for Ava and Harper are craft-loving girls and it's a daily thing now.   First thing this morning Ava asked if they could do some cutting,  I pre-cut the paper into strips for them so it is easier for them to cut through and that makes it less frustrating.  They also worked on shapes, I cut them out a "daddy, mommy and baby" circle, triangle and square and let them glue them on and then they drew faces on them.  I also cut their names out of construction paper and they glued them on, and they practiced writing the letters around them.  Harper can make an "H", "a" and "r", but they don't go in order, just random practicing.  Ava makes both upper and lower case "a".  
After their bath they made the rest of the pumpkins out of the craft kit from last week, but today they wanted to add arms and legs to their pumpkins, which turned out cute.

After their nap it was back to more cutting and drawing with markers, they really love their markers. 

Rielee's doll/James E.'s birthday

 Rielee got this cute little "Trudy Traveler"porcelain doll with a wooden carrying case full of dresses and accessories from a garage sale, for just $3.  We decided it wouldn't survive the twins playing with it, so she only gets it out when they are napping or not here.  She said she needs a boy doll now, for Trudy to date. 

We took Parker with us when we went to Papa Pete's tonight for James' 15th birthday party.  We had to leave early to get to the volleyball game, but hopefully, Alan will bring us some cake if they had any left over.  Steve didn't think Alan could actually do that though, without eating it himself, cake lover that he is.

Sandbox fun

This afternoon after delivering the cupcakes they made for Uncle Alan, the girls made a bee-line for the sandbox.  They took really long naps today, so they were ready to have some fun.  Harper grabbed the hose to make a "river" and promptly got her shirt and pants wet and then asked if she could take them off.  Ava got wet, too, but was kind of cold and left her shirt on.   They had a great time.  Alan came over and we sat there watching them and laughing at their antics.

Emmy's 21st birthday party

We went to Emmy's party today, and yet I still find it hard to believe that she is turning 21!

We have watched her grow up right before our eyes into such a beautiful, kind

and thoughtful woman, she really is amazing.  So proud of her.

CWU volleyball

 Emmy-with her trademark "big bun" hairdo (she wears it that way so we can recognize her on some of the poor quality live video feeds from her matches) waiting to be introduced before the start of her match tonight at home against 13th ranked WWU.  They won it in 4, Emmy was on fire and the kill leader with 16.  It was a huge win for them, and a fun match to watch with a big, noisy crowd, we were so happy we were there to see it.

Giving Mom a big hug afterwards, she was so happy!

Caterpillars/volleyball

 Before they even had breakfast this morning, the twins were asking me if they could paint more caterpillars, they said their Papa Mike and Grandma Barb wanted some--"please, they really like caterpillars, Grandma".  Rielee was home sick from school, so it also made her happy since she had been wanting to paint one since she saw the ones the girls made earlier in the week.   They also made Halloween pumpkins out of a kit, a little early for Halloween crafts, but Rielee really wanted to and I couldn't say no. 

This picture was before the start of the volleyball match tonight, CR beat Kalama in 3, it was a nerve-wracking match with each set a little too close for comfort, but they got it done.  There were a ton of noisy kids there, trying to out-shout each other, fun match with lots of tension!   Papa was a calling lines, too.

Lexi volleyball

Union played volleyball at Mark Morris tonight making it convenient for us to see Lexi play. We took the twins and met Kelly there.  The only problem was that Mark Morris only had 6 freshman players, so the Union coach decided to let her 2nd string play the first 2 sets, but Lexi played in the last one.  She played really well and they won easily.  Ava and Harper kept busy during the match,  making 3 trips to the bathroom and one trip to concessions for popcorn!  

Hosing down the sandbox

 It was so hot out this afternoon when the girls were playing in the sandbox that I gave them the hose and let them get messy.  Ava held back some because she didn't want to get her Princess dress dirty, but Harper went for it.  When it was time to go in they gladly stripped down to get all the sand hosed off.

Ava and Harper practicing the Pledge of Allegiance

Bridget came to play

Cathy brought Bridget up this morning to play with Ava and Harper.  She is so cute and talking up a storm.  I think she and the girls sat down together for maybe a minute to have some "tea" and goldfish crackers, and they met up again in the sandbox and in the treefort, but otherwise they were all just doing their own thing.  Bridget's thing for quite awhile was to go down the slide and then get a goldfish, pour a little water and drink some, and repeat.  They all had a good time, enjoying the nice weather and being outside...as did their Grandma and Grannie.

Play date and volleyball

It was a fun morning when the girls went down to Cathy's to play with Jillian and Briget.  They played with the doll houses a bit before heading out to the new sandbox.  Then it was on to the play tents that were set up on the deck.  After that they went to play on the helicopter teeter-totter, but it made Ava and Harper a little nervous and they quickly bailed off.  

 They played with some of the ride-ons but not the battery operated ones since my car was in the way.  Harper and Ava liked riding the 3-wheeled scooter and did really well on it.  By now, the girls were starting to tire out, so after a quick tea party, with blue Gaterade (Ava and Harper wouldn't try that and wanted water instead), it was time to head home for a nap.

I went to watch Auna's 7th grade volleyball game this afternoon.   They won it in 3 and Auna even jump served, and did well at it, too!  It was on her bucket list to jump serve in 7th grade, so now she can cross that off.
The Rockets played Toledo at home tonight, won that one in 35 minutes so we were home in time to watch Emmy's match, they played Alaska Anchorage, it went to 5 sets but they lost it.  Emmy was the kill leader though with 17.

Parker's game vs. LaCenter

Parker #13 on the right

We dropped the girls off to Barb and Mike this afternoon and then went to watch the Pirate's beat LaCenter 32-6.  Parker played really well, recovering a fumble and making some great tackles. 

Crafts and volleyball

 First thing this morning, Ava got some paper to draw a picture of Luke.  She said he was sad and crying in the picture because he missed her at home.  Before their bath we decided to do a messy craft where you paint their hand and arm and then make an impression of it on paper and it makes the trunk and limbs of a fall tree.  Harper thought that was a cool thing to do, Ava not so much.  Harper finished her tree by finger-painting the leaves, but Ava didn't want to, so I gave her paper to cut out some leaves.  Harper wanted scissors, too, and they both did pretty well with them.  Papa took them for a lawn mower ride afterwards so they could look at the fall leaves outside.

 We took the girls back to Kelly at Union this afternoon and went to Costco before going to the Castle Rock vs. Woodland volleyball match.  The girls played great and easily beat Woodland in 3.  A great start to their season.

A relaxed and happy Macee talking to Nicole before game 3.

. 

Riels soccer

Rielee, #1, just before she scored

Rielee's soccer jamboree was this morning.  She is playing 8U, which means she is on an all-girl team.  She was anxious to get out there, and also played goalie during the 20 minute game. 

Mommy and Baby

The girls have been playing a lot of "Mommy and Baby".  They seem to trade off being the Mommy.  In the picture, Harper was Baby and Ava was reading her a book.   This game went on all day, even when it was potty time and Papa went to take Harper in the bathroom, she said "No, Mommy will take me!", so Ava had to sit on the side of the tub like Papa does and monitor Harper as she did her business.

Parker-7th grade football

Parker, #13,  going in the game

Parker's 7th grade football team played their first game against Woodland this afternoon.  They scored on their first possession but then made some defensive mistakes and ended up losing.  Parker played most of the game and had some good tackles.  While I was there, Papa took the twins to watch some of Auna's first home match before he took them back.  He said they didn't pay any attention to Auna at first but then in the second set, they noticed her and both cheered loudly for her.  They also both told him they had to go potty but actually must have just wanted to check out the bathroom, because neither one had to go once they got there.

Auna is a Pirate

 Auna played her first game as a Pirate today at the Red and White game, usually the 7th and 8th grade play each other but this year they had enough kids to have each class play separately.  Auna did great!  Reminds me of another volleyball player in the family...


Em's CWU roster picture for 2012

 

Auna's 1st day of school

 Auna came over this morning before her 1st day of 7th grade.  Ava and Harper were so happy to see her and happily posed for a picture with her.  After Auna left they took their bath and then Ava asked if we could make cupcakes.  She helped me stir the batter and then helped fill the baking cups.  They both helped with the frosting, every time I went to take a picture, one or the other was licking the frosting off their knife.   Ava likes a lot of frosting on her cupcakes, as well as a lot of sprink-ka-kulls, as they called them.  Harper's cupcakes didn't get much frosting because she kept eating it.  When they were finished, they took  two cupcakes over to Vera and Alan, then played in the sandbox.   

Macee's future coach

Today was an exciting day for Macee as her future Gonzaga volleyball coach Dave Gantt came to visit.  We were invited over to meet him, too.   We heard a lot about the volleyball program, his coaching style and his family.  He is a personable guy and was open and honest about what Macee can expect there.  They had pizza and he ended up staying for over 3 hours.  Macee will have her official visit at Gonzaga next month.