Lia's Last Soccer Game of the Season

We were all able to attend Lia's last soccer game of the season today since it just happened to fall between Emmett's morning and afternoon nap.  Once again, it was held at Lia's school which has been such a blessing and coincidence as over half her games have been at her school this season.  In fact, besides her one game in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, and Vashon Island (which she didn't play in), all of the games in our town have been at her school with the exception of one.  With all the running around that we do juggling everyone's schedules, I will take it!  It's hard to believe, but this is the end of Lia's fifth season playing soccer--one indoor season at the Park & Rec Center in 2nd grade and then four seasons with Rainier Soccer Alliance.  She has been on the same team for the past three seasons with her wonderful Coach Dave and the majority of the same girls, too.  She has really enjoyed her overall soccer experience and the camaraderie that she has had with this team.  Lia has tried again to play more aggressively this season even while struggling with her left ankle that she sprained in track last April.  With the exception of missing two practices and one game due to reinjuring it a few weeks ago, Lia has powered through the pain and benefited from wearing an ankle brace for extra support.  Last Saturday, Lia also made her one and only goal of the season in Gig Harbor while Ron's Aunt Blanche was visiting.  Unfortunately, I had stayed behind in Puyallup with the three younger children so that Ella and Logan could attend their Primary Program practice at church.  But I am so grateful that she was able to make another goal for the second year in a row.  This might be her last year playing soccer as we are considering putting her in cross country at her junior high school next year, but we will just have to wait and see.  Overall, I am grateful for the wonderful experience she has had playing this sport over the years and all of the positive memories that she has made.

Lia chasing down the ball on her home, soccer field.

Charging for the ball in a pack of girls.

Kicking away!  I just love this picture.

Running after the ball.

And chasing it down again.

A close-up of Lia running down the field.

Walking across the field during a break in the game.

Looking our way.  I just can't get over how grown up she looks in this picture.

Kicking the ball across the field.

Taking a break on the sidelines with some of her teammates.

Looking straight at us from across the field.

Lia posing with her siblings after the end of her final game!

Aunt Blanche's Visit

After Emmett was born last winter, Ron's Aunt Blanche got in touch with us asking if she could visit us last May after she flew into Portland to attend a wedding of a friend.  Since we rarely are treated to visits from any members of Ron's family, we jumped at the opportunity to host her!  However, four days before her scheduled arrival, Logan threw up in the garage on the way to the car to drive to school.  Although he seemed fine two days later, I came down with the flu that Friday evening and spent half of the night in the bathroom.  It was awful.  By Saturday morning, I was like the 'walking dead' and so Ron and I made the decision to NOT have Aunt Blanche fly in the very next day to stay with us.  This turned out to be a very good decision as Lia then came down with the flu by Saturday night.  So, Aunt Blanche changed her plane ticket and flew back to San Francisco on Sunday instead of flying up to visit us for a few days. 
Fast forward a few months later, we were able to reschedule Aunt Blanche's visit for Veteran's weekend.  This turned out to be the perfect weekend for her to come as everyone (including Ron) got to have three days off of school.  In addition, Aunt Blanche was able to attend a play off football game with Ron for his high school on Friday evening, go to both Lia's and Logan's soccer games on Saturday, and come to church with us on Sunday to see all three children perform in their annual, Primary Program.  She had specifically wanted to come at a time when she could see the children participate in some of their activities--so having her visit this weekend worked out great.  In addition, she babysat for Ron and me on Saturday evening while we went out on our first date, post-Emmett, without any of our four children.  We used a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory that I have had for several years and had a great time eating out without a wriggly Emmett in our arms.  We also enjoyed having her meet my parents and hosting them all for an early dinner on Sunday afternoon after church since my parents also had come down to see the children perform in the Primary Program. 
Although it was a funfilled and great few days, I didn't take a single picture which is fine since I sometimes enjoy just living in the moment and not being stuck behind a camera.  However, I did manage to take a few pictures on Monday when we dragged the entire gang into Seattle for a few hours.  We enjoyed meeting up with my brother, Eric, on his amazing, Amazon campus near Lake Union to get a tour of the incredible Amazon Spheres and "Amazon Go" store that are only accessible to Amazon employees and their guests.  We had to be checked in at the front desk of his office building and issued badges that were scanned everywhere we went.  It was quite fascinating and interesting to compare the massive differences between working in public education and working for cooperate Amazon.  After we finished spending an hour with Eric, we moved on to spend the rest of the afternoon walking around Pike Place Market where we enjoyed a seafood lunch and a trip to the infamous, gum wall that the children have been begging to visit for years.  Although it was a bit chilly, the sun was out that day and we had a great time being outside enjoying this local landmark.  After being stuck in awful traffic on the drive home, we managed to get back in time to have a quick pizza dinner while watching the Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.  Although this is Aunt Blanche's home team, she is not a fan and gladly jumped on our bandwagon and rooted our Hawks to victory in overtime that evening.  It was a great way to finish up a fabulous 3.5 day weekend with Aunt Blanche.  We were so sad to see her go Tuesday morning, but are already looking forward to another promised visit from her again.

Ron, Aunt Blanche, the kids, and me posing in front of the Amazon Spheres.

Uncle Eric leading the kids around a path built into this amazing conservatory that houses over 40,00 plants and serves mainly as a glorified, employee lounge and workspace.

We took a family photo inside the suspended bird nest that is located on the top floor of the Spheres.

And another shot with Aunt Blanche, too.

Aunt Blanche and the kids standing next to the 4-story, living wall that is home to 25,000 plants including carnivorous species from Asia.

And a close-up of the wall and the kids.  It was quite an impressive sight to behold!

One more group shot in front of "The Spheres" sign.

Ella skipping over some rocks on our way out.

The kids posing on the famous, "Rachel the Piggy Bank" statue located at the front entrance of Pike Place Market.

After some shopping and walking around, we stepped outside onto a viewing area to take in the stunning, Puget Sound with the ferries coming and going in the background.

After lunch, we finished off with a trip to the gum wall which is just a short walk from Pike Place Market.  It is located on both sides of an alley way and is quite an impressive and disgusting sight.  We each chewed some gum to put on the wall (except for Emmett, of course).  Here are the older three kids with Aunt Blanche putting their gum on the wall.

And finishing off with a smile!

10 Months Old!

This little turkey of ours turned 10 months old today!  I just can't believe how fast this first year of his life has gone by.  With the busyness that always comes with the holiday season, Emmett is going to be turning one years old before I know it.  Wah!  Baby Emmett has continued to grow and progress this past month.  He is still a crawling and standing machine, but has yet to really start standing on his own without holding onto a piece of furniture or someone's hand.  I am really fine with this as I would like to get the Christmas tree down before he starts walking!  Emmett crawls all over the house and has discovered the stairs this past month.  When we stand behind him, he will crawl up as many stairs as we allow him to.  He also has developed a type of "turbo crawl" where he will crawl super fast when he wants to get to a toy or something else laying on the ground that has caught his eye.  It's super cute.  Emmett has also replaced baby food with regular, table food almost 100% which has made my life so much easier.  He eats the majority of the food that the family now eats for the three meals of the day.  I don't remember any of our other three children being done with store-bought, baby food at this young of an age, but I think that he has made this transition earlier since he is the fourth child and it is just so much more convenient for me.  Emmett is really growing so fast and is looking so big and grown-up these days.  He is wearing his 12-month clothes quite comfortably and probably weights close to 25 pounds (since he weighed 22 pounds at his 9-month check-up).

We also moved Emmett full-time into his crib in Logan's room last month, so he now is a nightly roommate for Logan which his older brother loves (since Logan is afraid of sleeping alone in his bedroom right now).  Emmett still faithfully takes a morning and an afternoon every day and sleeps through the night about 50% of the time.  I never had him 'cry it out' last month since he flip flops every week between falling back asleep after having his pacifier plugged in and needing to be nursed back to sleep.  He usually will sleep one way for 2 to 3 nights at a time before flipping back to the other way for 2-3 nights.  It is a vast improvement from the previous, two months when I had to nurse him back to sleep every night.  So, as of  right now, I am just nursing him when he needs it and am grateful for all of other times that I can just 'plug him in' to get him to fall back asleep in the middle of the night.  Emmett also continues to smile and laugh a ton and loves interacting with his siblings and parents.  He loves to clap his hands and pat us on our hands or on the back.  He also has started to throw little tantrums whenever we take away something from him that he isn't happy about.  It is the funniest thing, especially when he lays face-down on the floor and cries his little heart out.  Oh this boy.  We just love him to pieces and can't wait to enjoy our first holiday season with him!

Baby Emmett smiling for me while holding a little, wooden turkey.

Lia's Church Solo

Lia had the chance to sing a solo in her primary program two years ago when she was nine years old.  It was the first time that she ever had a chance to do such a thing and we were all blown away by what a great job she did and by the amount of compliments that she got.  Ever since then, we have wondered if this is a talent she should pursue, but didn't have the time to fit it into her schedule.  We decided last Spring that she would finish off piano lessons in June and replace them with singing lessons in the fall.  I asked around and found a reasonably priced voice teacher in the area and Lia has been meeting with her once a week ever since September.  A month or two ago, I also asked our primary music leader if Lia could have a chance to sing another solo in her last primary program.  Luckily, the music leader agreed and arranged for Lia to sing a solo and then a quartet (with the three other girls her age) in a section of a wonderful, new primary song called "The Miracle."  Lia was able to practice singing her solo the last few weeks with her voice teacher and at home and did an amazing job today.  We got to church early with my parents and Ron's Aunt Blanche who is visiting from San Francisco and were able to get good seats at the front of the chapel.  Lia was so brave and did such a wonderful job.  She sang her solo with such clarity and confidence.  She then did a great job singing in her quartet after her solo was completed with the other three girls her age.  It made my mom and me totally cry as I was so proud of her and felt the spirit so strongly while she sang.  I was so impressed with Lia as I never would have had the courage to do this when I was eleven years old.  I can't wait to see what she does with this talent of hers in the years to come!

Logan's Last Soccer Game

We wrapped up Logan's soccer season today with his last game at the Rec Center.  This is the third season that he has been able to play on a team with several kids from his school and with a wonderful, energetic coach who we know from church.  This has been a great group of kids and parents to be with and I love that Logan has had this consistency with this sport--especially since he is not the biggest fan of change.  It has been such a joy to watch him play this fall as he works so hard out on the court and plays so aggressively.  His hair and face are just dripping with sweat by the end of every game due to how hard he runs and plays out there.  Unfortunately, he had to miss one game this season so that he could go to the coast with his cousin for a 3-day weekend, but of the five games he did get to play in, he scored in three of them.  In fact, he even made three goals in one game and two goals in another game.  Any game that his coach allowed him to play offense most of the time was a game that Logan scored a goal.  Unfortunately, he played defense for most of today's game, but we were all there (for the first time this season since Lia's game was really early this morning) and we cheered our little heats out for him.  Good job, Logan!  We are so proud of you and can't wait to see you play on a large, grassy, soccer field next year when we move you up to Lia's outdoor, soccer league!

Logan chasing down the ball.

Logan dribbling the soccer ball down the court.

Going after the ball with a bunch of teammates at his side.

Following up on a kick.

Logan walking over to the sideline.

Getting ready to block the ball (with Lia walking into the gym in the background of the picture).

Chasing down the ball again.

Logan talking to his teammate, Ellie, about an injury he got on his knee after taking a bad fall on the court.

Logan pointing to his 'owie' while talking to Ellie.  I just love this picture.

Logan giving Coach Thomas a 'high five' at the end of their last game!

As team mom, I was in charge of ordering participation trophies for every member of Logan's soccer team again this year.  The kids are always so excited to get their own trophy to take home.  Here is the entire team posing with their certificates and trophies after their last game.

Our boy Logan showing off his certificate and trophy up close.

Celebrating Papa!

We celebrated Ron's 51st birthday over the weekend.  Luckily, his birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so we started off his day by letting him sleep in as long as he wanted to.  He then joined us for a waffle with strawberries and real whipped cream and sausage breakfast.  Ron then chose to take the three older kids on a hike in a local park since he felt like he hasn't "seen the sun in three weeks" due to the crazy, work schedule he has had lately.  After they returned, Lia went to a friend's house to play while I took Logan and Ella to his soccer game.  Since Lia reinjured her sprained ankle last Sunday, she skipped her soccer game which allowed Ron to take a long, afternoon nap with Emmett.  I think that worked out pretty nicely.  After we all got home in the late afternoon, Ron and I went on a date  and left Lia in charge of the two older kids for the first time in our parenting career which was amazing!  We took Emmett and drove to Tacoma where we met our friends at our favorite, authentic, Japanese restaurant in the area for an evening of dining on sushi and other delectables.  We had a great time and Lia did a great job watching the kiddos.  We continued Ron's celebrations today so that the children could feel like they were a part of the celebrations.  After church and a Seahawks football game (which luckily they won in overtime), we all gathered in the dining room for a Filipino feast and homemade carrot cake that I had spent most of the afternoon making.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and some gift opening before singing to Ron and finishing off the evening with cake and ice cream.  Between the nap and an extra hour of sleep (thanks to day light savings) and the Seahawks win and all of the planned festivities, I think that Ron had a pretty good birthday weekend.
Here are a few pictures from our Sunday evening celebrations at home as a family...

Baby Emmett waiting in papa's lap before opening gifts.

Ella showing daddy the 'beaded snake' that she had Lia make for him.

An adorable picture that Lia took of Emmett while he was on the floor playing with gift bags and tissue paper.

The hilarious smile Emmett made after seeing the flash go off in his face!

Papa and his kiddos.  What a precious picture!

Our oldest and youngest together.  Oh, how Lia just loves this baby of hers!

Ron reading a card from my parents.

Emmett showing off his mad, standing skills.

Ron and the gang getting ready to sing 'Happy Birthday.'

The kids and Ron singing away.

Papa blowing out his six candles with Emmett looking on.