1 Weekend, 2 Wins.

Well it is officially soccer season again even though we started off playing in the snow this weekend. What better way to start the season with a pair of wins. That is nothing new for Maddux but Brooklyn's team matched their win total for all of last year; and they did it in their first game of the season. It was a very good way to start the season and hopefully will be a sign of things to come. You have to love Maddux's haircut in the above picture.


Maddux beating the rest of the kids down the field for the ball.


Here is Maddux leading the fastbreak on route to one of his 7 goals. I don't know what the final score was but I do know that Maddux's team didn't allow a single goal.


Maddux again racing down the sideline with the ball.


Brooklyn playing some stellar defense in helping her team to a 3 - 1 victory.


Brooklyn practicing her dance moves trying to keep warm. Notice the left hand position. Remind you of anyone? It is not uncommom to see Jennie strike the exact same pose.


Brooklyn measured this one up and kicked it with all her might. It is actually a very good play as long as she is on defense, which she was. An easy way to get the ball out of your area and back towards the other teams goal. She just has to make sure that she doesn't wind up and miss the ball. She has been known to do that from time to time.


The pregame huddle. It was a very cold morning and even featured moments of snow fall. Nothing like starting off the season in 40 degree weather.


Brooklyn was not a fan of the weather as it took my sweater to get her to stop crying and get on the field. Once she started running around she realized that if she wanted to stay warm that was all she had to do. She ended up shedding the sweater during the first half.


Payton and Maddux doing their best to stay as warm as possible. They made it through the first half and then sat in the van for the rest of the game.

We did have some beautiful weather the days leading up to the cold weekend. It was in the 80's for much of the week which allowed Payton to take a ride in her swing. She loves the swing and does not like it when others are in her swing. I love the facial expressions she has in these pictures. She is having the time of her life.


I think this is probably my favorite one.


Another good one. We are all hoping that the weather comes back soon so we can get back out there and enjoy the sun.

Grandma Wendy Visit

Last week my mom came for a visit with Blake and Ashlynn. It was their spring break and we were happy to have them for a visit. I just feel bad because I couldn't take any time off of work and the kids were in school so they had to find stuff to do on their own during the day. It was still good to see them for a week and I know that our kids loved having their cousins around to play with.


Grandma Wendy with Payton.


The grand kids minus Payton. She was not in a picture taking mood that morning and we were not going to fight with her to get in the picture.


We were lucky that the weather was so nice and the kids could spend most of the time outdoors. The trampoline, basketball hoop and water hose got a lot of good use last week. Here is Maddux clamping down the defense on Ashlynn.


The kids were very creative in turning these storage bins into miniature pools. The water was extremely cold but the kids didn't seem to mind getting in. Look at those muscles. Maddux has free tickets to the gun show if anybody is interested.

In addition to all the playing outside Blake and Ashlynn got to go to the Great Lakes Science Center as well as the Natural History Museum. I think they were a little bored with them but we tried to make up for it on Saturday when Grandma Wendy and I took all the kids (minus Payton) to the IX Indoor Amusement Park for a whole day of roller coaster riding and games. It was a long day and the kids were spent by the time we got home but we all had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the day.


Dad and Nolan on the giant indoor ferris wheel. Nolan and Ashlynn were the only kids who were brave enough to get on.


Here are Nolan and Ashlynn enjoying the ride. They really liked it when the ferris wheel went above the roof and was actually outside.


Here are the boys on the spinning bears. I use to be able to ride those all day long but now I will limit myself on the number of spinning rides I go on.


Brooklyn and Ashlynn getting ready to spin around and around and around.


Blake and Maddux on the twirling dragons. This is one of the two spinning rides that I actually did go on. It was mainly so I could get some good action pictures. You can tell by the look on Maddux's face that he is having a blast.


Maddux was very hesitant to get on his first ride but once he did he was ready to go on anything. This is about the third adult ride that he went on and I was very surprised that he went. This was the inverter and was a ride that swung you to the top upside down. There was one point when we hung upside down for about 10 seconds before the ride came down. I felt bad for Ashlynn who really wanted to go on the ride but was about 1/2 inch to short and the guy wouldn't budge. Maddux had a lot of fun and had no issues with this ride at all. It is funny because he is so hesitant to go on the rides but after he actually gets on the first ride that is all he wants to do the rest of the day.


Maddux and Ashlynn going on a caged ride that you can spin around and around in circles. I didn't think they would actually cause the cage to spin around but that was all that they did.


Here are Blake and Brooklyn waiting for the kiddie rides. They had zero interest in going on any of these adult rides and had to just sit and wait them out. I felt bad for Nolan because he wanted to go onto all of these rides but was too short. The two people who wanted to go on all the rides, Nolan and Ashlynn, were the two who couldn't go because of their height and the two tallest, Brooklyn and Blake, wanted nothing to do with these rides.


This was the ride that started it all for Maddux. Once he went on this he wanted to go over and over again and then wasn't afraid of anything. I was actually surprised that Brooklyn actually went on this one. I love Nolan's look while on this ride. He had his arms raised the whole time he rode this and most other rides. He is a true roller coasterer.


Here is everybody getting ready for take off. Notice that Nolan's arms are raised and ready to go.


They had a live tiger show which the kids really enjoyed. Well I should say all but Nolan. He fell asleep about 2 minutes into the show and slept on my shoulder for the next 20 minutes. I guess he just needed that power cat nap to get his second wind. This is a white tiger standing on her hind legs with arms folded.


This was Maddux and Nolan performing in the backyard circus as a lion and a tiger. They got to play dead and then jump through a hoop.


Brooklyn and Maddux feeding a baby goat. They had this huge petting zoo where you could fee some goats, sheep and cows.


Nolan feeding a sheep. He was hesitant at first but had no problem after the first bite.


Brooklyn, Maddux, Blake and Nolan on the caterpillar roller coaster. Ashlynn wanted nothing to do with this as it was "boring".


Brooklyn, Maddux and Nolan racing down the giant slide. As you can see Maddux won quite easily. I also think that he might have gotten a little bit of a jump on the other two.


Brooklyn's reflection in a mirror on the carousel.


Blake riding the carousel and you can see Maddux's reflection in the mirror.


Brooklyn riding her horse.


This was one of the last rides that we went on and one that I hope I never have to go on again. The only reason I went on was because they weren't going to let Nolan on without an adult and I couldn't break his heart. I barely fit into the seat and it was very herky-jerky.

Well we all had a lot of fun with Grandma Wendy and the kids and just wish that we didn't live so far away. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and already miss them. We thank them for coming and hope that they has as much fun as we did.

This is Why You Don't Mess With Maddux

If you think Nolan looks bad you should see the other guy. This is what happens when you mess with Maddux. Nolan and Maddux were jumping on the trampoline when all of a sudden Jennie heard Nolan crying and holding his head. She didn't think too much of it until a couple minutes later when he was still crying. When she saw his face this is what it looked like. He had a bump the side of an egg on his eyebrow. His whole eye was almost swollen shut. I can't believe that it didn't cut him as hard as he hit. That kid has the hardest head.


A view from another angle. The pictured don't do the size justice. I couldn't believe how big that bump was. The funny thing is when I got home and noticed it I thought he had just woken up. When I got closer I noticed that his eye was huge. It didn't seem to bother him too much until I asked him if he wanted to see what it looked like. As soon as he saw his eye in the mirror he started to cry. I think he actually scared himself.


This is about 3 days later. The eye was still swollen and had started to turn a little purple. Never mind the scratches on his neck. He had a rough run in with a tree.


Here is Nolan 6 days later. The swollen was gone but the eye colored up quite nice.


If the eye and scratches weren't enough Nolan decided to take on Maddux one more time. Once again he lost that battle and ended up splitting his bottom lip open. They somehow knocked heads again with Nolan taking the worst of it. Why not add fat lip to a swollen eye and neck scratches. I am just glad that he didn't have a doctors appointment at all during this time because someone would have thought that Jennie and I were beating him. It is amazing how much punishment he took in a week and still just keeps going on. He is one tough kid. However, as big as Nolan is it will only be a mater of time before the roles are reversed and he is the one dishing out the bumps and bruises.