Spring Soccer Academy

Starting in the first part of April, Avery started the spring soccer academy through the MRC.  All I have to say is BRRR!  The first few sessions were very chilly, to put it politely.  When we didn't get rained out (which happened at least once a week for the first 3 or 4 weeks), we were all bundled up in as many layers as we could fit on our bodies.  The camp was only supposed to last through April, but because of rescheduled sessions, it was mid-May when we finally wrapped it all up.

 

 

Avery before the very first practice.

 

 

Everyone trying to stay warm.

 

She's a natural.  Unlike either Chris or me.  Neither of us EVER played soccer so I have no idea where she gets it.

 

 

At the last session.  They were lining them up to hand out medals and I'm not sure what Avery's doing.

 

Receiving her medal.  I believe her coach's words for her were "If I could give an "A" for effort, that's what Avery would get."

 

Showing off her medal.  Very proud of this little growing girl!  Avery did such a good job listening to her coaches and doing everything they asked of her, which is pretty unheard of in this age group.  She only stopped to take water breaks when the coaches told them to, and then she was right back on the field, ready to play some more.  She's already talking about playing again next year!

All School's Day Week 2013



Anyone who lives in or has visited McPherson in the middle of May knows what this time of year brings: All School's Day!  It's one of our favorite times of year, and it's not just because of the carnival...



 

Little brother is finally big enough to handle some rides now.

 



 

 

So SWEET!

 

The parade is pretty special too.  Every year (minus 2011 when we were at Wesley in Wichita), we watch for all the floats to wave at anybody we might know.  We always look for Meema on Washington's Kindergarten float and this year we were pretty excited to see Ms. Becky on the Angel Depot float.  It's very hard to believe that next year Avery will be riding!

 

She ends up with the best view every year too.

 

Grandma's not quite as tall, but will do just fine.

 

Charlie with Grandpa.

 

Dancing cousins.

 

Rylan pulling Charlie back to Grandma and Grandpa's house after the parade.  He looks so big here.  Maybe it's the flannel?  Reminds me of his daddy.

 

 

2013 Walk to Cure

Way back in April, we headed to down south for our second year in a row to participate in the 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes in Wichita.  Several family members joined us on our team again, and it turned out to be a beautiful morning for walking.  It started out a little chilly, but since we avoided any wet weather, we weren't going to complain. 

Here she is, ready to roll!

With our stroller loaded up.  No one rode in it.

Jody and Charlie

Grandpa, Scott, and Paden with Meema in front.

Sam, Gramps, and Zach

Avery with Grandma and Evan (Team Avery and Evan)

Avery, Rylan, and Charlie dancing before the walk started.

Lots of hand holding.

After we finished the walk.  Avery walked the entire 2 miles and Rylan walked the majority of it.

After the walk was over, they were serving chicken nuggets from McDonalds.  Rylan (for the first time ever) chowed down on some nugs.  Then we headed (once again) to good ole' Chucka Cheese for lunch and some more fun.  Our team ended up raising over $3300 and the walk raised over $100,000 to be used for research for curing and treating Type 1 Diabetes.  Thanks again to everyone who participated and/or donated money to make it all happen-we couldn't have done it without you!

Chucka Cheese

In early March, Avery had her latest doctor's appointment in Wichita, so like always, we were up very early in the morning to get there in time for her 8:50 appointment.  After a glowing report, we took Avery and Rylan to experience one of the funnest places for a kid. (And two adults that are addicted to skeeball.)   Enter Chuck E. Cheese, or as Avery calls it "Chucka Cheese."  We arrived about 10 minutes after they opened, so we basically had the run of the place on a Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.  Everyone had a fantastic time.  Avery loved playing all the games; Rylan loved trying to stuff tokens into anything he could think of, and he also got quite adept at grabbing the tickets as they were being spit out of the machines. 

We had this issue for most of the morning.

The issue continued.

And some more.

Luckily we didn't get kicked out of the place.  Good thing too because we are definitely planning a trip back sometime in the near future.  We all had way too much fun. 

Sledding and George

Since the snow in February didn't immediately melt, we were able to go sledding for the first time with the kids the following weekend.  We scouted the entire town for the perfect sledding hill, but couldn't come up with anything new so we headed to the standard sledding hill over at Wall Park.  Everyone else in town also decided to sled there that Saturday afternoon, and since we didn't want Avery and Rylan's first experience with sledding to involve getting plowed into by a bunch of 12 year olds, we moved to the north side of the park.  There we found the perfect hill for a 3 and 1 year old, and there was NO ONE else to have to share with.  We had an absolute blast; Avery and Rylan took to sledding like old pros, and we were able to spend about an hour having fun in the snow.

Every time Rylan would get to the bottom of the hill, he would yell "Guck, guck!" (Stuck.) Avery figured out very quickly how to get herself back up the hill dragging her sled with her.  After many, many trips down and back up our little hill, we headed home to change out of snow clothes.  Or so we thought.  We pulled into the garage and the little ones beelined it to the front yard for some more fun outside.  Avery had never built a snowman before, so we decided to all work together to create one.  And then we had George.

After we finished the snowman, I asked Avery if she would like to give him a name, and she promptly answered "George," as if she had given this name quite a bit of thought.  So every time we looked out the window for the next few days, George was there standing guard in front of the house.  It didn't take too long for George to melt away, and Avery wasn't too upset about that.  All in all, it was a very fun snow day for all four of us to get to hang out.