Clip from Noah's latest game

Gooooooal

Noah scored a goal last night!!! He was so happy. You have to watch the high-fiving and celebration all the way down the field. We're so proud of him. He had 4 or 5 shots on goal before the score and he finally made it! Ice cream was called for after all that.

Gotta love it!

Finally...

Finally, this planter box is fixed and planted! After the dogs and the kids dug in the dirt and spilled a lot of it all over the porch, Steve fixed the bottom of the planter and I got it filled back up. I bought plants at the Amish Nursery and got it put back together. I might still go back and get a few more small things, but it's pretty much done. I need to put more dirt in some of the other planters along with some smaller plants. The tall plants are 'Moonbeams" and they will have yellow flowers, the 2 medium plants have green and burgundy leaves and should have purple flowers, and the 4 small ones will have white and apricot flowers.

Keely and Bocce have decide to try and dig their way to China - or at least find the snakes and rabbits that are along the way. They have been digging all over the yard and getting very dirty in the process. Keely was tired after I interrupted her latest attempt. I started their frontline yesterday, so they should be safe from the ticks.

Bocce thinks she owns the place. I guess the chairs are more comfy that the grass, but hey, at least she not on the table... this time.
Steve set up the croquet set Sunday. He even mowed the grass low.
Noah and Ben were taking a break from playing.
We've been spending some more time outside in the evenings because of the nice weather and even eating on the porch when it's warm enough. The boys like it and it's a nice change of scenery.
The boys have even kind of enjoyed doing their chores around the house. It's not too much for them to handle so they are getting used to pitching in around the house. They really don't complain about setting the table and feeding the dogs as much as they do when they have to clean their toys up. Noah and Ben have been helping make dinner, and made veggie kabobs the other night. And Jakob has been checking the garden for strawberries every night. I bought some watermellon plants today for Jakob to plant so hopefully in about 2 months he'll get to start checking for them too.

Buggy

After soccer and the Mutt Strut today, we went to the Amish Nursery for free home made ice cream! The boys really wanted to have a buggy ride, and when it was their turn the still wanted to go on it! (Which is a big step for all of them!) The nursery has tons of flowers and trees and vegetable plants to choose from. We didn't get anything this time, but I will definitely go back and next year I'll try to get most of my plants there.

For the Mutt Strut, I took Bocce to the park and they had some little contests, biggest paws, cutest costume, most mixed breeds, most like owner, and so on, none of which she won. It was a fundraiser for the Humane Society. One little girl won the prize for highest donation with $500! And then there was a quick walk around the downtown area to promote the cause. It was fun, but I again got sunburned... oops! And Bocce was so tired when we got back that she couldn't muster up the energy to jump into the chair with me before she zonked out.

Upward Soccer

Noah has played 3 outdoor soccer games. He enjoys it as long as it isn't muddy or wet on the field. Last week it was very wet - the rain stopped just in time for the games to start. Noah didn't like to get wet and muddy so he avoided the puddles to the best of his ability. We told him not to worry about the mud but it takes a while for him to change his ways and he tried to stay clean. Today, it was wet on the field, even though they pumped a lot of water off and put down straw. He did a little better and his shoes were pretty muddy when he was done. He did a great job and really kicked the ball hard.

So Cathy was bored...

Cathy was bored one day after I sent out these pictures a while ago and made this cute comic strip out of them. I thought it was neat and finally decided to put it on the blog.

Yough Extreme Adventure Race

A rare post by Steve.
Last weekend Court and headed to Ohiopyle State Park (SW Pennsylvania) for an adventure race. The Yough Extreme Adventure Race consists of trail running, mountain biking, kayaking, rappelling and (very little) orienteering. It was a long, hilly race (took us almost 10.5 hours) and exhausting! Overall, we traveled about 40 miles. We ended up placing 8th for our division. I'll let you guess how many (few) teams there were in our division :) Here are some pics of the area.