Upward Awards ceremony

As awards ceremonies for children's sports leagues go, they are generally pretty boring. The 2 we have been to this year were actually pretty good. The football ceremony had a former professional player from the area. He spoke and took pictures with all the kids and signed autographs.

If that wasn't good enough... the basketball awards ceremony was a special treat for us (being from KC and all). KC Wolf, the mascot of the Kansas City Chiefs was the entertainment and speaker for the evening. He came out and interacted with the crowd before the ceremony began and then showed a highlight reel and then took off his costume and spoke to the kids about being an Christian and what it's like being a professional goof-ball. He even let one of the kids put on his stinky costume. Jakob didn't raise his hand for that. It was pretty cool. Every couple of days Ben says that he wants KC Wolf and his friends to come to our house... Sorry, don't think that's gonna happen, kiddo.

St. Patty's Parade '09

We took our 2nd annual trip to Dublin, OH, Saturday for the parade. The boys had fun, the dogs not so much. Keely barked at every other dog she saw, and even jumped over Noah to get at one. Bocce was afraid of the drums - which are kind of my favorite part.

After the parade we headed to the Brazenhead Pub again. The entertainment was dancers from the Dublin School of Irish Dance who were trying to earn money for a trip to Ireland. Those girls had some fast feet!

We dined on garlic fries and fish and chips. And Jakob ate most of a cheeseburger that was as big as his head! It was a great time.

BocceThe boys waving at a fire truckKeely and SteveNoah in a moodHead-sized cheeseburgerSteve and Noahpooped pooches on the way home

spring fever

The weather has been so nice lately, that I have been trying to get the flower beds and boxes. Ben was a big help yesterday picking up the dead branches in the flower garden. Bocce was wondering what was going on because her chew toys were disappearing, but she got over it. Today, I took on the boxes on the back porch. I cleared out all the dead plants and moved one plant to a different box. Then, I decided to do what I have wanted and needed to do since we moved in. Apparently, the bottom had fallen out of the large box so the dirt was falling out. I took all the dirt out and it filled 5 planters, boxes and tubs. Steve will figure out how to fix it and get it all done so I can finally get flowers back in it and beautify the porch. And I demolished the broken trellis and pulled up the dead ivy.

This is the planter box from the top with the falling bottom still in it

This is the rotten particle board bottom

I also planted some seeds in peet pots a few weeks ago but now I'm afraid I did it too soon and they will die before I can get the garden ready to plant. I guess I should start tilling soon.
I hope my thumb of death starts turning a little greener soon!
Noah and Ben also played outside a lot while I was working. They played with the tire swing in the woods and also sat the giant log at the edge of the woods and turned it into a motorcycle. It was fun. They played with the dogs and rode their scooters. I hope the weather holds so we can play outside more.

So I closed the back of the car...

...and the glass shattered! I never realized I was so strong! I took the recycling to the drop off and put the bins back in the car. I closed the door and got the scare of my life. The glass shattered all over the back of the car and the ground. It was a good thing that no one was sitting in the back seat or they would have been littered with glass. I cleaned up all the glass and it's getting fixed tomorrow. Hopefully the rain will hold off!

Beautiful Saturday afternoon

Jakob played his last basketball game today. He did really well. He doesn't remember how many baskets he scored, but that's ok. He was a good team player today. Everyone worked well together and they did a great job today.

Pre-game huddle and prayer Going back in after some coaching from Dad

Patiently waiting for a rebound

Noah and Ben got to eat PushPops

which made them very, very sticky

After the game, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful, 80 degree weather and go to the park. We had a little picnic and the kids got to play. There were a lot of people enjoying the day. We took the dogs and they had a nice time too. Keely was pretty mellow and took it all in. Bocce enjoyed all the petting from the kids and did not like it when people would walk away from her, even if they hadn't been with her in the first place. She did a lot of barking and whining, but it tired her out sufficiently.
It's been a pretty good day.

Soccer

Noah had his first soccer game of the season last night. He was so excited and was even mad when he had practice because it wasn't a real game. He did great and his team won 2-1! He played 2 quarters and seemed a little timid during the first but he almost scored a goal. During the 2nd quarter he played he got to kick the ball off to start. He did a lot of tripping over the lines and falling on the floor. We went out to eat pizza after and he ate a whole 6 inch cheese pizza that he was supposed to share with Ben. Last week we went and got them the same thing - Ben ate 3 pieces, plus 2 pieces of Steve's pizza and Noah would only eat 1 piece. The video we have of the game isn't very good so I'm not going to post it right now. We may do a highlight reel at the end of the season (in 3 weeks).