Birthday Party

Allie's birthday isn't for another 2 weeks but since we won't be here she really wanted to have a friend party....and a party that Dad could go to as well. We decided to have it this weekend since next weekend will probably be crazy making sure we have everything packed for the trip! It was sort of a last minute decision and we only gave her friends a week notice.....so thankful that a few of her good friends were able to make it. She had such a good time!

 

oops! Trick candles!

 

 

 

Afterwards we let Allie pick a restaurant to go to for dinner. She chose Frankie & Benny's. They do big birthday celebrations there! :)

Footy Stars

Still trying to remember that soccer is called football (aka footy) here. :) The girls were so anxious to play and we were excited to see them play! The season started back in the middle of March and just ended at the end of May. Boy were those couple of months busy! Avery had games on Monday, Allie's games were on Wednesday and she had practice on Thursdays. There were also a few games on Saturday. On practice/game days I would have to pick the girls up from school and go straight to the base that the game was being played at that day......so super long days for the girls! Derek was able to be an assistant coach on both teams. If he wasn't a coach for Avery's team I don't know if she would have played. For as aggressive as she is at home, I was so surprised at how reserved she was on the soccer field! Although when she is playing with us at home she is not like that at all. They both had a great season.....and, of course, amazing coaches. :)

{Red Eagles}

Allie's team was pretty amazing for 7-8 year olds. Both coaches really knew the game and the kids picked up on how to REALLY play as a team really well. There was so much improvement from start to finish. I especially noticed this with Allie. Right in the middle of the season Allie and I worked on shots on goal and staying with the ball. I don't want to take much credit but after that practice is when we really started noticing her MAD skills! :) Allie ended up scoring 3 goals. She scored the first goal and last goal of the season! And then the other goal was actually not for her team. It was during Avery's game and the team that Avery was playing didn't have enough players so she volunteered to play for them and scored right away. I think she gained a lot of confidence after doing that......and that just so happened to be right after her and I had that practice. :) haha. After Allie scored Avery wasn't very happy. She hadn't noticed that Allie was playing for the other team and did not like that her sister scored against her.......so she let her know how she felt and called her a "poopy head." It wasn't too long after that that some more players showed up. Allie was bummed but was happy to have scored on her sister (who was on defense).

 

Parent vs Kid Game

 

 

Celebrating one of her goals!

 

{Red Bulls}

Avery's team was still kind of young....so they were a bit tougher to coach. The head coach did not know much about soccer and was really quiet so Derek pretty much took over. Lots of bumble bee soccer at this age and they had a hard time getting away from that but we really noticed such an improvement especially when going back and watching the video I took of their last game. They stayed in their positions so much better than the other team. So I think the season was a success. Avery, like I said earlier, wasn't very aggressive. It didn't help that she got hit hard in the neck by the ball during the first game. She was so afraid of the ball after that. There were at least 3 games where she got hit by the ball and came off the field crying saying she was never playing again. Luckily she did continue to play and in the 2nd half of the last game she finally agreed to play forward! Before she always wanted to play defense because she thought she didn't have to do anything on defense. I think she realized that there is less chance of getting hit if she's a forward....and more chance to score! Maybe she will still be up for playing next year. We will see.

 

 

 

I can't leave Blake out. Here are some of him and his shenannigans while the girls were playing.

Just going through pictures and posting some that I never got around to.

May was a fun month at school for the kids. Avery had a field trip to Banham Zoo, Allie had 2 field trips....one to Dinosaur Adventure Park and another to Audley End House and Gardens. I didn't go to any because I obviously have Blake. Derek was actually off the day that Allie went to Audley End House but I secretly didn't want to go to that one because everyone, even the chaperones, had to dress up like they were in Victorian times. No thank you! :) We had a heck of a time trying to figure out an outfit for Allie. We finally put something together that I thought was pretty cute.......and she LOVED it. It's actually one of my dresses so she thought that was pretty cool.

Of course Avery and Blake wanted to get their picture taken too.

 

I had lunch at school with the girls at the last Hedgehog Hangout.

 

They had their Spring Fling........

Blake and Avery spent a good chunk of their tickets on getting their faces painted.

ROAR!!!

 

At the end of the Spring Fling there was a basket auction. We almost didn't go but there were a couple baskets that we were interested in. Didn't get them because they were way too expensive BUT halfway through the auction they said they had awards for the top boy and girl in 1st thru 5th grades in a program called Reading Counts. Allie was so hopeful that she would get one. They read the 2nd grade girls name and it wasn't her. She broke down in tears. I kinda figured it wasn't her because I knew nothing about this award and thought if she was to get one we would have been notified. She was so upset we gathered up our things to leave....but Derek really had to go to the bathroom so we stood at the back as they finished up. Then all of a sudden I heard "Allison Hoober" and a bunch of kids correcting the lady by yelling, "Huber." haha. We aren't even sure why she got it. Was she the top overall? Not sure, very possibly could have been. We know she is the top in her class......by a long shot. At any rate, it made her night and she was so happy. She deserved it!!

 

 

Bus Stop fun....climbing trees

 

Birthday party fun, painting pottery. All of the kids were there. I just got a pic of Blake because I couldn't leave his side (just so he wouldn't fall off of that chair). He LOVED it!

 

Playing at a new park we found

 

A London taxi.....nowhere near London

 

Afternoon bike ride

 

Whenever Blake takes a nap he has to pick out 2 cars. Then he will just lay there driving his cars around on his pillow until he falls asleep. It's so cute!

 

I'm not sure if I have already posted this or not. Derek's squadron had a picnic a couple weeks ago. Derek put on a cornhole tournament and we made these mini cornhole boards to give away as trophies. We got about half way through the tournament and a big storm rolled in. :(

 

Lastly, a couple videos. Mom -- this is why I want you to join Facebook or at least Instagram......because it's so easy for me to quickly post this stuff there........and these are old videos/pictures!

 

 

10 year Anniversary

Derek and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. In some ways it seems the 10 years have flown by......yet, at the same time, it feels like it's been a lot longer. We have been through a lot together and it has not always been easy, sometimes putting a strain on our relationship but, no matter what, we stick together and work through things.....and we always will. Derek said it best when he said "it's been a great 10 years with 3 amazing kids and tons of great memories."

Thursday, May 29th was our actual anniversary. Avery had her last soccer game last night so we spent the night doing what we all love....watching/playing soccer. Friday night was already filled up with the school's Spring Fling so we decided we would do something on Saturday. Derek said he would take care of finding a babysitter and planning the day. I was very pleasantly surprised with the date he put together for our anniversary! He found a sitter for the entire day and we set out on a day in London.

The date started off with lunch at Chipotle. Then we made our way to the Apollo Victoria Theater and we had amazing seats to see the musical Wicked!

 

He had even made dinner reservations for after the show and planned the route we would walk to the restaurant from the theater. The walk took us through St James park, along the river and past Buckingham Palace, and then by Trafalgar Square.

 

The restaurant he booked us as at was on a boat on the river Thames that is docked right across from the London Eye. We both had really yummy steaks!

 

It was a great date. Of course we talked about our wonderful kids a lot and worrying how they were (we don't leave them anywhere ever, really). It was so good to be able to get out just the two of us though and the kids were fine, well-behaved and were very happy to be getting a break from Mom and Dad! :)