Logan's 1st Pandemic Soccer Game

Since the pandemic hit almost a year ago, Logan has been the one of our three older children to suffer the most in the way of not having after school activities or sports to participate in.  With the exception of the second shutdown that lasted seven weeks from November through January, Ella has been able to participate in ballet and gymnastics since the beginning of the school year.  In addition, Lia has been able to continue to attend her weekly voice lessons and her bi-monthly Girl Scout meetings since September, too.  On the other hand, Logan has only been able to participate in the most pathetic or watered down soccer season this fall which consisted of exactly 12 practices and no games.  Besides this disappointing soccer season, he has done absolutely nothing in the way of organized sports and activities for almost a year.  As a result, it really should come as no surprise that the pandemic has affected him the most out of our children.  Since the fall, I have really noticed that he can be very mopey as he walks around with hunched shoulders complaining about how bored he is.  He also has become very clingy to me and constantly wants to know where I am going if I leave the room or how long I will be gone if I leave the house.  Needless to say, I was starting to worry about him.  Due to these concerns, it was a total blessing that I had two different conversations with my friend Heather in January about a soccer league that I had never heard of in our town starting up a winter season for their club soccer organization AND about swim lessons starting back up at the YMCA for the first time since last March.  I immediately looked into both and, within a matter of days, Logan was allowed to join a soccer team for his age group and registered in a swim class.  It was a total blessing and answer to prayers.  Logan now has an activity three days a week after school which has helped a lot.  He has started to get some well-needed exercise and has become "busy" again.

Today marked the first of eight soccer games that Logan will play which will be every Saturday through the end of April.  The one catch is that all of them are being held at an amazing soccer facility (where the Sounders practice) up in Tukwila which is a 30-minute drive each way.  Luckily, since most of our Saturdays are still pretty open at this point, it isn't much of a sacrifice with the exception of it interfering with the last month or two of ski season.  So, we left Emmett at home with Lia since Logan's game was scheduled during lunch and nap time, and drove up to Tukwila with the two middle children to attend his game today.  Luckily, since Tukwila is half way between our house and my parent's house, my mom agreed to drive down to watch his game which normally does not happen.  After a very rainy and windy week, we were blessed with a mild and cloudy day to watch the game.  Although Logan was not able to play in two of the 15 minutes quarters of the game, he was assigned to play defense for the first quarter and offense for the second quarter.  Since Logan has always preferred to play offense over defense, he saw very little action during his 15 minutes of defense.  However, Logan played a ton during his 15 minutes of offense and did a great job going after the ball every time it came his way.  A ton of the action ended up being in the area right in front of where we were sitting.  It was just so exciting to watch him compete in a sport after so long and to be able to root him on from the sidelines.  Although Logan was disappointed that he didn't get to make a goal during the game, his team did win and we are just so proud of him for playing so hard whenever he had the chance!  Let's hope the next seven games are just as fun and exciting to watch!

The first drive Logan made down the field after going in to play offense.

Logan continuing to kick the ball down the majority of the field.

Logan running back down the field.

Logan going after the ball before anyone else got to it.

Logan kicking the ball as an opponent rushes up to him.

Logan sending the ball off to another teammate.

Logan chasing the ball down the field again.

Another awesome action shot.

Logan kicking the ball sideways.

Waiting for the referee to start the game again.

Logan and a group of his opponents chasing after the ball.

Logan posing for me after the game had ended.  He did such a great job playing while wearing a face mask the entire time.  I can't even begin to imagine how uncomfortable that is!

Lia's 13th Birthday!

We kept the celebrating going yesterday by hosting my parents for Lia's family birthday party.  We decided to celebrate one day before Lia's official birthday to prevent my parents from having to drive down to P-town in rush hour traffic on Monday evening.  As always, Lia requested breakfast for dinner for her birthday dinner followed by gift opening and her traditional banana cream pie.  She loved opening her gifts and was thoroughly pleased with everything she got--especially her new books and the beautiful, Gryffindor quidditch sweater that I purchased from the Harry Potter store in New York City.  Since I decided that Lia needed a little something to make her actual birthday feel special, I made her another round of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries this morning and picked up Chick-Fil-A for dinner which we ate after Ella was done with ballet and Lia was done with her voice lessons.  We finished off the evening by eating a little cake that I had purchased from my grocery store bakery and watching Lia open up her one and only birthday gift today--a bag full of seven clues to help her realize that she and I are going on a trip to meet and visit her penpal, Lacey, who lives in Baltimore with a side trip to NYC for a total of five days during Spring Break.  Needless to say, Lia was so excited to open up this "gift" and learn that she is going to finally meet her penpal and travel to the city that she has wanted to visit for years!

Lia and the rest of the family enjoy her breakfast-for-dinner on Sunday evening.

Emmett now asks to have his picture taken all the time when I have my camera out.  Here is the pose he gave me after asking me to take his picture while eating dinner.

Lia getting ready to open her presents.

Emmett joining Lia before the present opening started.

Lia's happy reaction after opening up another set of books.

Lia checking out the latest book written by her beloved, J.K. Rowling.

Ella and Emmett surrounding Lia while she opened her next gift.

Typically, Logan builds a blanket and pillow fort in the small couch in the living room during the gift opening session of any of his siblings (I have why he does this).  Tonight, he decided to mix things up and piled all of his blankets inside the play tent while trying to balance laying in it on the stairs.  Oh, that kid.

Ella looking on while Lia opened up another gift.

Lia reading a card from grandma and grandpa with Ella at her side.

Lia getting ready to blow out another set of candles.

Blowing away!

Ella and Emmett waiting for their banana cream pie to be served up.

Lia posing with her beloved grandparents before they headed home at the end of the party.

Ella and Emmett decided to join in for one last picture before the party ended.

Lia getting ready to blow out more candles on her birthday waffles this morning.

After Chick-Fil-A for dinner tonight, we gathered around Lia in the living room to watch her unwrap the one gift that had mysteriously appeared today.  After lifting out the tissue paper stuffed at the top of the gift bag, Lia found seven little packages wrapped inside with a number on each of them.  Here she is holding up gift #1.

As Lia started to unwrap her seven gifts, she stared to put the clues together and figure it out.  The gifts included a toy airplane, a picture of Lacey, a "Welcome to Baltimore" postcard, a stack of Lacey's letter, a Statue of Liberty Tsum Tsum stuffie, a doll shirt from the AGD store in NYC, and a printout of our plane itinerary.  Lia was so excited!

Lia holding up the picture of Lacey with the little Tsum Tsum on top of her head.

Lia and her siblings posing around her third birthday cake all lit up with 13 candles.

Lia, Logan, Ella, and Emmett singing their hearts out!

Lia getting ready to blow out her candles.

Happy Birthday, Lia!  I can't believe that you are officially a teenager.  I can't wait to see what the next five years of your life bring!

Lia's 13th Friend Birthday Party

Just like Logan's friend party, I decided last month that we would go ahead and host a small friend party for Lia.  Since Lia has been begging to have a slumber, birthday party for the last many, many months, this turned out to be the perfect thing as hosting a small party is the only way, in my opinion, to allow a slumber party to happen at the same time.  As a result, Lia chose to invite her five closest friends (one from church/neighborhood and four from her old elementary school).  Luckily, every parent felt comfortable sending their daughter and so everyone was able to come.  We decided to go with a more mature, mermaid theme for the party since Lia still loves mermaids.  Lia dictated the agenda of the entire event which was such a welcomed break for me as I am pretty burned out on planning parties.  It turned out to be such a pleasant and nice party for Lia, her friends, and the rest of us.  These girls are all growing up and becoming so mature that it really was quite easy to host them for an entire evening and the following morning.

The girls arrived at 6 p.m. and we fed them a pizza dinner with several sides while Ron and I ate in the dining room with our other three children.  After dinner, the girls moved into the family room where Lia led them in filling out a questionnaire that asked them questions about themselves that we will put in a "time capsule" for an entire year to be read again at Lia's 14th birthday party.  All of the girls had such a fun time answering the questions and then sharing them afterwards.  They spent so much time sharing their answers that Lia decided to skip the one game (Guesstures) that she had planned on playing with the group.  Instead she went ahead and opened up her gifts with the girls before eating cupcakes and ice cream.  All of her friends gave her such thoughtful and wonderful gifts. I could tell how much her friends really know her by the kind of items they chose to give her for presents.  After eating dessert, the girls loaded up with popcorn, licorice, and Capri Sun drinks before heading down to the basement rec room to watch Lia's current favorite move, Soul Surfer.  Since none of her five friends have ever seen it, this turned out to be the perfect movie for them all to watch and Lia was so excited to share it with them!

Although one of her friends went home at 10:45 when the movie ended, the rest of the girls spent the night with Lia in the basement.  They talked, sang, and laughed hard until midnight when I shut the entire thing down.  I think that they all fell asleep pretty quickly at that point, but I really have no idea since I never went back down to the basement until the morning.  Ron and I then made a big breakfast of homemade waffles, whipped cream, and strawberries with bacon for breakfast this morning.  All of the girls came up from the basement really happy and chipper, so hopefully they got some decent sleep.  All of the parents came promptly at 10 a.m. to pick them up leaving a very happy and pleased Lia behind.  I could tell that she really enjoyed every minute of her party and spending time with these special and close friends--especially during a time when she no longer gets to see them on a regular basis!  I am so grateful that we were able to pull off hosting her 13th birthday party in the middle of a pandemic.

Lia standing outside next to her 'welcome' sign and bouquet of balloons before her friends arrived.

Lia surrounded by balloons!

The simple decorations I put up in the family room.

The mermaid themed decorations in the dining area of the kitchen.  As simple as they were (compared to previous parties that I have thrown for Lia), I thought that it turned out quite darling.

The jellyfishes hanging from the ceiling.

The turquoise cupcakes that also served as a centerpiece for the table.

The table all set and ready to go!  Lia spent about two hours on Friday after she finished school helping me clean up and decorate for her party.

Although Lia's friend, Sienna, had to come late from volleyball practice, the rest of the girls arrived on time and enjoyed eating dinner together.

The girls working on their time capsule questionnaire after dinner.  Here is Lia sitting between Rian and Elle.

Although we tried to keep the younger kids away from the party, Ella had a hard time not wanting to be 'one of the girls' the entire evening and next morning.  The bigger girls kindly let her sit with them on the couch for the activities after dinner.  Here is Ella sitting between Mollie and Alyssa.

As always, we had the friend come and sit with Lia while she opened presents.  Here is Lia reading Alyssa's card.

Lia making a funny face while opening up one of several tissue-wrapped items in Rian's gift bag.

Lia hugging Mollie after receiving two books from her.  These two girls are total bookworms and they love recommending books to each other.  Please notice how Emmett had pulled up his own stool during this time to join Lia and her friends.  Such a funny boy!

Lia and Sienna striking a funny pose.

Lia getting ready to blow out her candles!

The girls enjoying their cupcakes and ice cream.

All six of them settled into the basement rec room ready to watch the movie.

Lia and Alyssa.

Mollie and Sienna.

Elle and Rian.

The girls enjoying their breakfast this morning before heading home.  Since Alyssa was not there to join them, Ella was allowed to take her spot at the table and eat breakfast with the big girls.  You can tell by the smile on her face how she felt about being allowed to do this!