Fall Soccer Champions!

This Fall soccer season flew by!  Practice started in August and we ended this weekend with 4 wins in the post season tournament and 1st place in Lauren's age division.  Way to go girls!  Lauren has grown to love the game of soccer and is an incredible athlete.  

I love this picture.  Her best one yet.  I wish she would wear her hair in a ponytail more often.  It's so cute!  Plus, that smile is incredible.  She loves soccer for sure!  

Here they are after the win Sunday afternoon.  The game went into overtime tied at 1-1 and ended in a shootout.  Talk about exciting!  

The weekend of games started out very early Saturday morning when we had to be at the soccer fields at 7:40....and it was cold!  But, well worth it as Lauren scored a goal in game 1 of the tournament!  Way to go Lauren.  

Addison was a trooper this weekend at the soccer field for several hours and reminding me many times she was bored!  

We ended up winning the early game 5-2.  Which was a great start to the tournament.  The girls came out early with lots of energy!  

These 3 are some of the fastest girls on the team.  The three of them can really hustle!  

The 2nd game of the day was a tough one.  We ended up winning 3-0!  

It's really fun to see the progress Lauren has made in 1 year and 2 seasons with the team.  She gave it a try and found that she loves soccer.  It is a great group of girls that she plays with and she has a lot of fun at practices and games.  

Sunday morning was game 3 and it was a big one.  Twice this year her team has played the pink team and twice this year they lost to the pink team.  The pink team is full of kids from her school and neighborhood.  They are some of her best friends from school, church class, and neighbors.  It has been tough losing to the pink team this year.  But, when it mattered most in game 3 of the tournament Lauren's team won.  2-1.  It was a tough game.  Lots of hustle by both teams.  I am so glad they came out with a win!  

Throwing the ball in has became a favorite skill of Lauren's.  Each time it needs to be done, she hustles to the sideline.  It's like she has found her skill to perfect and shine.  

After our win against the pink team we headed to Orange Leaf to celebrate and have an end of the year soccer party!  The girls received their participation trophies and the coach handed out soccer pictures....which I loved!  

Then it was time for the championship game and it was a  good one.  It ended in a 1-1 tie, 5 minutes of overtime, then a shoot out that we won by 1 point!  Lauren hustled and played her heart out.  She gave it her all and had a blast all weekend.  I know all the girls were tired at the end of the game as they played 4 games this weekend.  Wow!  

After the 1st place win, the girls got to spray paint the coaches hair!  Each girl got to spray a little pink and a little blue on the coaches. They loved it!  Their faces and smiles tell the story.  

Can't forget about Addison.  She is the team mascot.  A few of the girls on the team really love Addison.  The girls on the team that love Addison don't have a little sister, so they enjoy having Addison follow them around and play with them.  Lauren doesn't like having her little sister around her friends, but that's how it goes sometimes! 

Here they are with their 1st place medals.  Great team.  Great coaches.  Great group of girls.  We had a great fall season.  Can't want for the spring!  Way to go Lauren and you whole team! 

Lauren's Love For The Royals

I  can't pinpoint exactly when her love for the Royals began, but I can only imagine it started last fall when this Royals team brought life back to Kansas City with their amazing run last year, their entire amazing season this year, and now this incredible play off run.  

This girl was able to attend a play off game with her Daddy and definitely brought some luck to our Royals.  Mark picked her up from school early (yes, we took her out of school to go to a Royals game) and there were able to see a WIN from the Royals.  Mark said it was amazing for both of them!  

Then I was lucky enough to be Mark's date to the next playoff game.  Game 1 of the ACLS series against the Blue Jays.  So much fun.  

But let's back up to last season.  At some point in the playoff run, I went to the sporting goods store late at night to pick up Royals shirts for the girls.  I decided we all needed new Royals apparel.  These shirts have been worn over and over and over again with the winning season these Royals have given us.  

We went to 5, or maybe 6 games this year.  Last year I think we went to 1 (maybe 2.)  Addison's love for the Royals is simply not there.  She thinks the games are boring, only wants to go to the playground (which means I am missing the game as well) and asks me almost every night "Do we have to watch the Royals game again."  Um, yes.  Yes we do.  We watched every single game this year at some point or another.  (Live, TV, online, etc...) This game we headed out early and got an autograph from Greg Holland.  

It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon when Mark and Lauren went to the game.  Lauren knows all the players, all their numbers, every position, and almost all of the pitchers. This past summer when a game of Jeopardy was played and the topic was the Royals players, Lauren trumped all the boys and got all the answers right. The teachers were impressed.  We were not at all surprised.  She loves the Royals. 

Lauren even did a presentation this fall about the Royals.  She had to choose a topic she was passionate about...and you guessed it. She chose the Royals.  Specifically, Alex Gordon.  Who is her favorite player....most days. Some days it's Salvy, Cain..and if you know Lauren you know that Hosmer is her crush :) 

I even got the opportunity to attend a post season game last Friday.  It was awesome.  It was a gorgeous Friday evening, although a little chilly when the sun went down.  All 3 of us now own Take October sweatshirts.  I bought mine first, then Lauren bought hers, and Mark decided he needed one as well.  We love our Royals. 

The post season atmosphere was amazing.  

We even saw Marlin's Man.  If you don't know about him...click on the link.  He has become a Kansas City favorite.  

It's all in who you know.  That is how Mark got tickets for this game and the game with Lauren.  We were able to purchase tickets from friends.  We were able to go to the Budweiser tailgate and drink as much as we wanted...for free...because of someone we know!  

Then there is Moose man...who apparently lives in Lee's Summit, less than a mile from us!  Crazy small world.  

Of course, I had to get a picture with him.  Everyone does.  Can you believe he brings those antlers to every single game.  Every one!  

Attending a play off game with Mark was amazing.  I really hope we can attend more together and I know Lauren does too.  She loves to Royals.  

We are hoping the excitement with the Royals continues for years to come.  Maybe, just maybe, Addison will come around and love these Royals as much as the rest of us!  But for now, lets take the crown and head to the  World Series for a 2nd straight year!  Go Royals!

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Sunday was a gorgeous day to be at the pumpkin patch.  With our crazy busy schedule these days, we had to find a way to fit it in sometime and Sunday after church was prefect.  It got a little toasty in the afternoon, but at times there was a nice breeze and overall a gorgeous day.  

The girls seemed to love this scarecrow.  I have no idea why! 

We got to see piglets born 2 days ago.  Even though they were pigs, they were absolutely adorable.  

The inflatable pillow is always fun...for the 4 whole minutes they get to jump.  They could have stayed there all afternoon! 

Lauren actually went back a second time when Addison and I went back to see the piglets. We also watched pumpkins being shot out of a cannon way up into the sky (like super high) and splashing down into the water.  The girls went though a playground maze thing several times, climbed on an old fire truck, and played in the sand a little bit as well.  

The sunflowers were gorgeous.  

If you look real close you can see a bee in the middle of the flower.  The girls were not thrilled to be near the sunflowers. 

The hayride out to the pumpkin patch was fun. Both girls enjoyed it.  There was a nice breeze and we talked about last year when we came out to the pumpkin patch.  It was so muddy and wet, there was mud coming off the tractor tires and getting all over us.  Yuck! This year was much better.  

It was pretty warm by the time we were out finding pumpkins.   But, we were on a hunt for orange pumpkins (of course,) green and white pumpkins.  We were successful in finding all of those. 

Lauren wanted to take a picture of us with my big fancy camera, so I let her...not to bad, huh? 

We searched and searched for the perfect pumpkins and found them.  

After searching for pumpkins we hit the corn maze which ended up being one of the favorite things for the girls. Mark and I could hardly keep up with the girls as they dashed through the maze.   At the end, we were pretty hot and tired, but then it was time for lunch.  After lunch the girls hit a few more things for a second time before heading home.  Such a fun day at the pumpkin patch! 

Happy 7th Birthday Addison

Our sweet Addison has gone from this...just a few days old...

To this:  

Here are 7 things I love about Addison:

1. She is confident.  She does not let anyone push her around and that will take her very far in life.  
2. She has an incredible imagination and that leads to a variety of creations and projects she comes up with on her own.  
3. She is smart.  Her math skills are amazing.
4. She loves to cuddle and recently has climbed in our bed in the middle of the night and is usually asleep on top of me or snuggled very close to me.
5. Addison truly adores her big sister, even though she would never admit to that. 
6. Her sense of style.  I don't know where she gets it from, but she likes to match head to toe and completely accessorize....everyday.
7. Her love of animals.  Which reinforces my plan to keep searching for a new puppy!  

Happy 7th Birthday Addison.  I hope it is a great day full of amazing memories!