Kristiana Soccer '14

Kristiana was such a trooper this season and spent much of her Saturdays cheering on her siblings as they played.  She loved shouting "Go Katie" Or "run" to her brothers!  She also enjoyed kicking the soccer ball around on the sidelines with her siblings, eating LOTS of snacks and drinking all our water.. haha! :)  Only two more seasons and she'll be officially playing too!

Trenton Soccer '14

I loved coaching Trenton this year!  Towards the end of the season he had greatly improved on his skills... learning how to stop the ball, kick it in the goal, do a throw-in, not kick out of bounds and pass to team members.  He also just mainly had fun :) 

 In the middle of a game... what can I say... he's only 5 :)

Tys Soccer '14

Tys is always such a joy to watch play soccer! He ALWAYS has a smile on his face while running up and down the field!  He also greatly improved his skills this year and had lots of fun playing.  His highlight was making some goals and seeing what snacks his teammate brought :)  He met quite a few nice new friends!

Katie Soccer '14

I'm so proud of Katie and the hard work she displayed this season! She worked very hard running up and down the field.. always giving her best.  Her soccer skills greatly improved and she has a strong kick!  Her main position was defender because she can kick the ball so far down the field and she's not afraid to get in the "action" to defend the ball.

 A little art-time while watching her siblings play...

 Her turn at being goalie!

Soccer Mom

I can now officially call myself a "soccer mom"! I/we just spent the last 8 weeks with our lives revolved around the Nampa KID Soccer spring season.  This year I decided to coach Trenton's 5 yr old team.  Having never played soccer myself I was alittle unsure about it at first but, hey, teaching little 5 yr olds to kick the ball into a net can't be too hard, right?  So, I went for it and had a super fun time! Every Wed I spent 45 minutes teaching the cutest 6 little kids how to shoot, pass and play the game.  Thankfully, I didn't have to teach them very technical things :)  There were 5 very energetic boys and 1 girl.  At first I wasn't too sure how she'd do with being the only girl on the team but, she actually ended up "showing up" the boys on numerous occasions! I loved getting to watch their skills and teamwork improve over the course of the 2 months.  I had one little guy that would participate in practice but, refused to play in the actual game (at first)  Throughout the season I worked slowly with him and by the last game he actually got right in there and made 2 goals! So awesome!  We celebrated the end-of-season with a fun pizza/cupcake party at the park. The kids loved the trophies I got them!  Casey and I are now thinking about coaching Trent's U6 team next year... it's a little more work with teaching more technical skills but with Casey's help, I think I can do it :) 

So, Tys had practice for his team on Tue evenings and Katie's was on Tue/Thur.  So, Casey mostly took Tys to his and I took Katie to hers.  Then, every Saturday was spent pretty much all day at the soccer fields for games.  We packed lunches and would just hang out in between games (if the timing was right.. no use driving all the way home for just a half an hour) It was nice getting to know other soccer families... and Tys' coach was a homeschooling family too!  Idaho spring weather could always be alittle crazy; either we froze from the cold or we fried in the heat.

My parents were able to make it to some of the games.. along with Casey's parents (when they were here visiting) and our dear friend Vera even came with for one of those Saturdays.

ZCS Spring Program

The end of April was the Zion Christian School's spring program... and, as like every year, it was a patriotic theme.  I'm so thankful their programs are centered around Christ and love for our country!  It was filled with patriotic songs, humor and solo parts.  They each had solo parts in a song and, memorized lines to say.

 Towards the end of the program they ask any veterans to stand so they could bring that person an American flag... here my dad is standing for his flag. So very proud of him for serving our country!

Afterwards we went out for a special ice cream treat with my parents to our local Dairy Queen... fun, fun!!

Happy Birthday Casey!

I'm a little late in posting a couple of pictures... On May 12 we celebrated Casey's 36th birthday.  We had incorporated his birthday celebration in with Mother's Day the day before so, we kept his actual birthday (Monday) low key.  After arriving home from work the kids gave them each a little gift and we enjoyed one of his favorite pizzas for dinner.  I am so very thankful for my hard working, loving, Godly husband!

Piano Recital

Right after Jackson's baptism at the Dayspring church, we headed right over to the Nampa URC church for Katie & Tys' piano recital.  They each had 4 songs to perform. Katie did super!  This was Tys first piano recital and he got a little too nervous to perform in front of so many people (plus, we accidentally forgot one his piano books and that got him a little upset to begin with) So, he waited until after the recital and performed his piece for just his close family members.  They both had been practicing for quite a while on their songs and did great! I'm so proud of them and am thankful they have a such an amazing, patient teacher, Rachel!

 Their awesome teacher, Mrs Larson

Jackson's Baptism

This last weekend was a BIG one!  We had everything from last soccer games to piano recitals to Jackson's baptism going on!  And, Dad & Mom arrived late Friday night for a 3 day weekend to join in all the festivities.  It was nice to have the family all together and celebrate little Jackson :)

 Jackson ~ 6 weeks old

 I love being an "auntie"!

Mother's Day 2014

I was so blessed on Mother's Day with the love shown to me by my husband, kids and family!  Casey and the kids went out of their way to do things such as cooking and the dishes.  They were so sweet! After church that morning, we went over to my parent's house for a yummy lunch with them and Jake & Krystal.  We all took part in the cooking and cleaning up so that it wasn't a lot of work for just one person.  We also celebrated Casey's birthday since it was the next day.

I am continually thankful to have been given the gift of being a mommy to 4 sweet kiddos and, cherish these younger years with them!

 My mom... my best friend, my inspiration, my running partner

My Four Little Blessings!