soccer stars

This Spring Nolan and Heath both played their first seasons of soccer! 

Heath played indoor at the Parker field house. 

And Nolan played outside at a field at an elementary school in Parker. Outdoor Spring Soccer is definitely a commitment...the weather was crazy. Warm one week, snowy the next! 

Here are a bunch of random photos of their season. 

Heath had fun but struggled with independence. He wanted Mark out on the field during most practices. And he preferred to be goalie, still hesitant to get in the mix and chase after the ball during their scrimmages. 

Nolan did great and really grew in his skills. For this being his first team sport, he really was very independent. He tried so hard, chased after the ball, and by the last practice he was actually bumping a kid or two to get to the ball. 

Heath loved the fun drills and games that his team played and doing a little team cheer at the end of each practice was one of his favorite things as well.

The first couple of practices, Nolan was so careful to do the drills just as the coach instructed. He even said to us, "I'm the only one doing it perfect." Ha! The son of a Type A Mommy. So we worked really hard on getting him to let go, to not worry about being perfect, and to just go for it! We'll continue to encourage him to "Be aggressive, Be, Be aggressive, B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E, BE AGRESSIVE, YEAH!" Sorry the cheerleader in me just came out! 

Heathy playing Monsters vs. Aliens! 

working on passing

The lighting in the field house wasn't great for pictures and I take most of my photos on my iphone now, so this pic isn't the best, but if you look closely you can see a HUGE smile on Heathy's face! I think he just liked running around like a crazy person more than anything else! OH, and he loved jumping over cones and doing headers too! 

If you zoom in on this one as well, you see Nolan giving me a thumbs up! He is a kid who THRIVES off of positive reinforcement. So he often checked in with me during the games for a "Two Thumbs Up"! Just this little signal always gave him a boost of confidence to keep playing hard! 

Both of the boys teams did not play formal games. They worked on skills and played games and then scrimmaged their own team. 

Both of their teams also had a wide variety of abilities. Some kids had played before, some hadn't. Some kids ran around in Lightening McQueen pajamas because they didn't want to wear their jersey, and some had real cleats. Some kids laid down on the field, and some scored goals. Some kids cried or pouted, and some kids gave it their all. Some kids looked for bugs and spun in circles, and some kids relentlessly chased the ball. And some kids were all of these things in just one hour! But it was fun to see them all have fun, work hard, work together, and grow in ability.

After a great practice one day, I treated Nolan to a little FroYo! 

At Heathy's last practice, Nolan joined in, he practiced for 2 straight hours that day and was completely exhausted by the end. (Check out Heath's cool kick in the background!)

Heath showing off his ribbon that he earned on the last day! He was so proud of his "tificate", you know, slang for certificate. Love this kid!  

This is what kept Brooks happy during most of Nolan's games. He was a trooper hanging out for 2 practices in a row, each Saturday, during his normal morning nap time. 

Nolan definitely preferred playing offense.  

Nolan got a ribbon too! I love this picture of my two big guys! 

Team Photos...

Nolan had a stomach bug on the day of his formal pictures, but I think these ones that I took one day turned out pretty good too. 

And here are Heath's...

(I took pictures of his pictures quick on my phone, thus the poor quality!)

In true Heath fashion...he's pouting in one...

and happy in the next! Oh, that boy of ours! 

It was a fun season and the boys grew to really enjoy the game. Nolan is choosing to play again this summer. Heath wants to try t-ball instead. 

We are proud of their effort and look forward to watching them continue to try new things and discover the activities they really love! 

a wiggly jiggly loose tooth

Nolan lost his first tooth. 

Did I just say that? 

How in the world is he old enough to lose a tooth? 

He is only in Preschool! 

When Nolan went to the Dentist in November they told us that his bottom front teeth were a little wiggly. But I couldn't tell at all. And then two weeks ago, he mentioned to me, "Mommy, my tooth feels funny." So I checked it out and sure enough...it was pretty wiggly. Each day we wiggled it a little bit more until the point where it was hanging by just a thread. Neither Mark or I wanted to pull it. So we just let it do it's thing. 

Last Thursday, when Nolan woke up I asked him if I could check to see how his tooth was doing. When I peeked inside his mouth...it was gone! I couldn't believe it! And neither could he! I was worried that he had swallowed it in his sleep. So, we ran to his bed to see if we could find it. And sure enough, there it was, right next to his pillow! His tiny little tooth! He was SO excited, not only that he had lost it, but that we found it as well! 

Look how old he looks now with that big ol' gap! 

He told me that he thought the Tooth Fairy came in the middle of the night and pulled it out and left it for him to see. 

We put the tooth in a baggie and brought it to school so that he could share his exciting news with his class. Since he kind of lost it early, some of the kids in his class thought it was so weird that he lost his tooth. They didn't even know that it happens! So his teacher had to explain to the class about how and why kids lose their teeth. Then, of course, we had to take it to Oma & Opa's house that afternoon as well! 

Later that night, Nolan carefully tucked his tiny tooth underneath his pillow and went to bed. 

When he woke up in the morning, he found a dollar underneath his pillow and a certificate and book by his bunk bed ladder. The Tooth Fairy was so good to him! 

The dollar bill was even sparkly! Special Tooth Fairy money! He thought it was so cool! His little brother, on the other hand, had a rough time understanding why he DID NOT get a special present too. He kept looking for his dollar and his book and his certificate. Ha! 

 I asked Nolan if he wanted to save or spend his Tooth Fairy money. That special, sparkly dollar was burning a hole in his pocket! He chose to spend it, I think he was just so excited to buy something with his OWN money. So we talked about how you can't buy much with just a dollar and that's when he suggested the Target Dollar Spot! Perfect...great idea buddy! So after soccer the next day, we headed to Target for a little lesson in the value of a dollar. It was a tough choice...candy, keychains, pool toys, Spider Man stuff...we spent a good 10 minutes digging through all the bins. He finally settled on a light up purple ball...purple for the Rockies of course! He is his Father's son! 

Oh my, I still can't get over how old he looks with that big hole in his head! I love it! And I love him! Being his Mommy is the best. And I love making memories and family firsts with him! 

TRU

Last year Nolan participated in Awana at our church on Wednesday nights. This year they changed the children's programming to a class called TRU. Since Nolan has gone to a public preschool, we loved having these classes as a way for him to learn more about God, to hear Bible stories, to memorize scripture, and to sing "Jesus Songs", as he calls them. And I continued to volunteer this school year, like I did last year. It is a nice way for me to serve at church and to be able to have a little "Mommy and Nolan Time" as well. I enjoy our evening drives to church where we sing in the car, and talk about his day, and I answer 50 million of his questions. 

We had our last class about a week ago, so I brought my camera to snap a few pictures throughout the night. Nolan has made some nice friends, played some fun games, learned more about the Bible, and best of all, deepened his relationship with Jesus! 

The evening always starts with some small group activities that pertain to the Bible story the kids will be learning that week. Here they are doing a puzzle of the world. Each kid colored their piece and then they worked to put it together. We then talked about working together to spread the message of Jesus throughout the world. 

After Small Group time, we head down the hallway to meet with the Kindergarten class to hear "The Big God Story" and to sing and dance to some praise music. 

Then we head back for games, a response time, and reciting verses. 

This is Nolan's cute little class. 

A silly group of 3, 4, and 5 year olds! 

Here is Nolan reciting his verse for the week...

and he's showing off his completion certificate too! 

These kiddos learned so much and grew tremendously in their faith this year! So we celebrated with popsicles! 

 Here are a few photos of some activities we did throughout the year...

The program really focuses on the children's response to "The Big God Story". We always apply what we learned from the Bible to our own lives. 

The lessons always have a time for the kids to worship through art in various forms. 

There were things that we loved about each program. Awana had a great take home book for families to complete during the week, they had fun group games and cute characters that taught the lessons, the kids memorized so many verses, and they LOVED their vests and earning patches. And TRU has really helped Nolan to understand who Jesus is and how much He loves him! It truly focuses on having a relationship with Jesus. 

We are so proud of our little guy who LOVES to learn! We love that he asks so many questions and is so curious. We pray that he will always love learning, not only about our world and in school, but that he will use those gifts to seek after God. We pray that his sweet heart will always be open to Jesus.