Waiting for Kiara

When the weather is nice, Mckenna, Ava, and I like to go outside to wait for Kiara to get home from school.  The other day, I took my camera with me to capture the welcoming we give to Kiara everyday!!!

Being silly waiting for the bus!  Baby is doing it too :)

 

Bus is here! 

 

So happy!!!

 

My girls (and baby)!!

 

Craig & Kristin

Craig and Kristin arrived in Ohio on Thursday night.  Our family has had trouble finding time to carve pumpkins, so thank goodness for Craig and Kristin's help.

Which one should we choose?

 

Getting started!

 

Smile :)

 

Kristin was fantastic and helped MC.  Mckenna was SO happy with "her" creation!

 

For me the best part was the pumpkin seeds.  Kristin found a recipe and her and Craig made the best seeds!  Seriously - so good!

 

On Friday afternoon, Tom took Craig on a couple of errands so that we could decorate the house for Craig's birthday!  Friday was actually Craig's birthday (his 28th) which made the night SO fun. 

Yes - that is a football pinata! 

 

Happy, Happy Birthday Craig - E!

 

Look at those flames.  Kristin and I laughed about this picture later that night because neither of us remember the flames being that huge :)!

 

What a great looking group!

 

PINATA TIME!!!

 

Ava

 

Kiara

 

Mckenna

 

Uncle Craig (he looks like he is going to do some damage)

 

Kristin

 

 

After the pinata we played Minute to Win It games.  One of the games we played was to empty a tissue box as fast as you can.  After we played that game the following happened.  It is too great to not share!

 

Everyone grab all of the tissues and on the count of three lets toss them in the air

 

One, two, three

 

Look at those faces!

 

Later that night....

 

This picture cracks me up.  The best part - this is one of about 10 that we took of the two of us.  What are we doing with our legs :)

 

On Saturday night the four of us went to Triv's for a drink and then to the B Spot for dinner.  The food was fabulous and the company was of course even better.

 

FOOTBALL SUNDAY! 

It was windy, it was freezing, it was raining, but there was no stopping these girls from going on the sideline before the game.

 

 

 

There is no way to tell from these pictures what the weather was like but I can assure you it was bad!

 

Love this pic.

We ended the weekend with a Browns win! 

 

Craig and Kristin - thanks for a great weekend!  Loved every minute!

 



 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Every night for the past couple of weeks Tom and I have been reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory to the kids before bed.  We just finished it and we are all so excited to watch the movie together.   About half way through the book, Tom and I began to argue about who was going to read to the kids because we were both enjoying it so much :). 

Last chapter night - they were so excited!!

Pumpkin Patch/Apple Orchard

A mom of a child in Mckenna's class organized an outing for any Kindergartners that were interested to go to Mapleside Farm after class yesterday.  Mckenna, Ava, and I went out to lunch with a few girls and moms from her class and then headed to Mapleside Farm.  I thought/assumed we were going to a pumpkin patch but we were there to take a tour of the apple orchard.  The kids got to see the orchard, got to see how they pick apples (however it is a little late for apple picking so they just explained the process) and got to see how they cleaned and sorted all the different apples.  They had a blast!

Here is the group that made the trip.  Mckenna is in the top row with the cute hat on!

 

Ava's first whole apple.  She spent an hour on this thing, it will definitely not be her last!

 

 

Ava look up the the camera.  Never mind - just keep playing!

 

After the tour the kids got to jump on this giant bubble - this was the highlight of course!

 

My little cutie!

 

 

Browns! Browns! Browns!

Way to go Brownies, way to go!!!  We got to the game at half time after Kiara's soccer game.  It was so fun to be in the suite with some other wives and families to celebrate a great Browns win!

 

These two are so much fun to watch the game with!  They hung out with the ladies, giving high fives and cheering their little hearts out!

 

Great Browns win that followed 2 great soccer games by the girls.  Mckenna had a good game, was a little spacey :) but scored a goal and of course had a lot of fun!  Kiara played a great game.  In the travel league Kiara is in, they are the only U8 team competing with U9 girls.  Today they played the best team in the league and lost 5-3 but it was a really close game and they were in it the whole time.  The best part - Kiara had 1 of the 3 goals!  Way to go Mckenna, Kiara, and Browns!!!!!  Tom was in New York, scouting the Colts and just got home.  All is good :)!

Soccer Mom

I think I am officially a soccer mom minus the mini-van (thank goodness)!  We are at soccer practice 4 nights a week and have 2 games a weekend.  Since the majority of practices are Kiara's, here is what Mckenna and Ava look like a lot of the time.

Fun in the back of the car!

 

Smile!!!

 

We watch a lot of movies, consume a lot of suckers, play a lot of soccer (which means I play with Kiara or Mckenna while holding Ava), do homework, listen to music, and anything else that sounds fun at the time.  I can get tired of the schedule but the girls absolutely LOVE soccer.  As for going to all the practices, I apologized to Mckenna for having to go to another soccer practice and she answered "Don't worry Momma, I like going to practice! I get to kick the ball around - it is fun!"  SWEET!! 

 

Mckenna had a soccer game on Saturday and she played amazing!  To be honest she has never really had a great soccer game.  She gets a little overwhelmed and doesn't like everyone chasing 1 ball (her words :)).  She has an amazing coach this season and not only enjoys playing with her team, she loves playing with Kiara and her friends when she has the chance.  Well, the hard work payed off!  Mckenna had 3 goals, 2 assists, put a move on a girl during a fast break, and performed 2 foot skills to get the ball out of the pack.  Great job Mckenna!

 

Mckenna taking a water break and talking to Kiara about the 2 goals she just scored.

Kiara said "You are playing GREAT Mckenna!"

 

 

Kiara played on Sunday and had a lot to live up to after her sisters amazing game.  Kiara had an awesome game as well.  She scored her first goal this season with a left footed kick in the 1st minute of the game.  She played mid-field the whole game and one of Kiara's best attributes is seeing the whole field and making great passes to her teammates.  She made some moves on defenders and had a handful of really great passes.  Her U-8 travel soccer team is playing girls ages 9 & 10 from all over Cleveland.  They have competed with these bigger, more experienced teams and have played really well.  Way to go Kiara!

 

Told you, I am officially a soccer mom :)!

 

One more great pic of Ava - love this little girl!



 

 

Kiara's 8th Birthday

Kiara's birthday was on a Sunday and it was going to be a very busy Sunday so Tom and I decided to have a surprise family party for her on Friday night.   Tom took her to soccer practice and Mckenna and I (and Ava) decorated the house.

 

 

Tom ran in from the car to join us and when she walked in the house we yelled "SURPRISE!!" 

 

She was surprised and very happy!

 

Ice Cream Cake

This party happened after 8, so Ava was in bed.

 

Present time!

This was an exciting one for Kiara and Daddy.

 

Her reactions were awesome.  She was so excited about everything, it took me back to her opening her stocking presents when she was 2 years old and screaming every time she saw what she got!

 

My big 8 year old.  It is difficult for me to lift her and she doesn't want me to hold her hand in public but she is still my baby and I tell her that as often as I can sneak it into the conversation.

 



For Kiara's birthday party we decided to invite 2 of her closest friends to go to Swings-N-Things and play.  We left Ava with the babysitters and headed out to play putt putt, ride in go-carts, do the bumper boats, and play in the arcade.

Kayla, Kyie, and Kiara

 

Go-Carts (they actually went pretty fast)

 

The putt-putt crew

 

Kayla and Mckenna in the bumper boats.

Mckenna had to ride with someone and these two had a lot of fun together

 

Happy 8th Birthday Kiara Clare!