And more Water Polo...

We've had a busy week.  Work, school and sports and band.  

David has been busy.  His friend Paxton had a birthday this week, on his birthday, his mom took him and David and another friend to a bowling alley/arcade and David had a blast and came home with lots of prizes.  Then the next day, they had a little birthday party at the park near their house with pizza and ice cream and electric scooters and all sorts of fun stuff.  

Friday was the school's Fun Run fundraiser.  David set a goal to do 14 laps which is two more than last year and he made it to 17!  He was amazing and we had fun watching him and cheering him on!  

Unfortunatly, Eileen didn't get the movie theater job, so we are on the look out for another job idea for her.  

Aaron and I are still busy with water polo.  We had a game on Tuesday - against Sunset and lost, but it was a good learning experience.  This weekend was the girls tournament - there were only 4 teams - including the one we played on Tuesday.  So the girls got lots of good experience and grew a lot and played hard this week - they did amazing in hard circumstances.   We had a little tent area set up outside with snacks and blankets and chairs and fun to hang out at between games and we had a fun time being together as a team.  

Our Friday practice time was different than usual, and the head coach needed help getting his lifeguarding shift covered to make it to practice, so I picked it up, then headed over after.  He guards up at Sunset though, so it was fun hanging out with Luke and Rachel for a bit!  

Evelyn had her first Marching Band competition this weekend.  Dan and I were able to go listen to it.  Their band really sounds amazing and their show is awesome!!  She is loving it and having a blast with friends!  

Today was crazy - between the tournament and church and choir practices, it feels like I've been running all day, but church was awesome and the choirs are really souding amazing!  

Lots of Water Polo....

 We've had a fun and busy week. 

Evelyn is busy with tutoring and marching band and school.  She is loving marching band and hanging out with her friends.  She also had the Encore retreat this weekend.  Monday was her 15th birthday.  We celebrated with ice cream cake and a birthday dinner of fettuccine alfredo.  She finished her first week of being 15 by passing the test for her driving permit.  Look out world - here she comes.... 

James has been busy with school.  He is frustrated with some of school, but is generally doing well.  He doesn't like it when other kids don't follow rules.  

David has also been busy with school.  He also has a busy social calendar.  Wednesday, when I had a water polo game in the early afternoon, he went on the bus after school to hang out with his friend Anna.  They had a blast building blanket forts and eating yummy food.  Friday after school he went to hang out with Paxton, then had a sleepover with him that night.  Then went to Paxton's football game the next day and to another friends birthday party.  

Aaron and I have had water polo all week.  Practices Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  Wednesday, we had a game out at Forest Grove.  The girls won and the boys won in double overtime by 1 point.  It was an exciting game.  Even better, we got done in time for me to get the kids all home and get to go play with Masters that night!  Friday and Saturday was the boys Tigard Tournament.  The boys had 4 games over 2 days and won all of them.  They ended up winning the tournament and are still undefeated.  It was a fun weekend.  A bunch of the girls game on Saturday to cheer them on and hang out with us and we all had a great time together!  Then that night, I went to play at Open Polo - but Aaron was tired.  :)  Then today, Aaron and I went to help out with the water polo car wash fundraiser for a bit today.  

Eileen is keeping busy at home, but this week Dan talked with her about getting a job.  She applied to the movie theater and had an interview yesterday.  We will find out if she get the job soon! 

Dan has been busy with work and family and exercise.  He is such a help during this crazy water polo season!  

Anna is still doing well at school.  She has started a job as a custodian and is liking it so far.  She is doing well in school and getting along with her roommates.  We get glimpses of her life on Be Real and she calls once in awhile.  We got to do scriptures with her the other day! 

Fun and Games

Monday was Labor Day, so the kids were off school, but we didn't really have any exciting plans.  Weather was kinda cold and rainy, so Dan took some of the kids to the pool to swim while I did the grocery shopping.  It was kinda nice to have a day off, but other than that, it was a nice easy day!

Dan and Eileen went out to pick blackberries late Sunday and made this yummy cheesecake that didn't last long....  

Tuesday was back to regularly scheduled school and band and water polo and friends.  David has been having fun getting together with Paxton after school whenever possible and Evelyn is keeping busy with band stuff in the evenings.  Aaron and I have water polo in the evenings.  

Thursday was the boys first game.  They didn't have a girls team, so just the boys played, but they did a great job and won 24 to 7.  We were able to get the new players some good game time and have some fun.  

Thursday, while I was at the game, David went over to play at his friend Paxton's house and they had a blast splashing around in the pool together in the heat.  

Friday was a typical day with the usual stuff.  Then Saturday was crazy...  I swam in the morning, then Dan and Aaron and I went to watch Evelyn in the Beaverton Parade, then Aaron and I went to Parkrose to play water polo.  David went with Paxton to watch his friend play flag football.  After water polo, I went to an inservice at Connestoga and had fun practicing and refreshing skills.  Then home to make dinner.  Evelyn had Band day after the parade and Dan picked her and David up in time to help get dinner ready  for when our friends the Balageers came over for dinner.  We made the Sundried Tomato Pasta - Evelyn wanted to help make it and she did great!  We had a fun dinner and dessert and scriptures with friends.  Then I went to open polo.  Then I crashed....  

Church today was wonderful!  We had a nice quiet morning, the Sacrament Meeting talks were wonderful and Primary was fun!  The kids loved getting to catch paper bugs!  Then ward choir - Dan made Evelyn go, so she brought her friends and it was wonderful!  

Tonight was also the beginning of the new Encore season.  We had the parents meeting and it's going to be an awesome season - Evelyn is so excited to have her friend Ashley with her this year!  

Starting School

The kids started back to school this week!  David started Monday morning, so we got him up and off to school.  Even though school starts 15 minutes earlier than last year, since there are free lunches and breakfast through the school, David is getting up about the same time as last year.    This week was mostly about finding and getting into our new routine.  Monday was a bit of a soft start since it was just David starting school.  I also had to check David out on his first day for a dentist appointment.  It felt a bit silly, but it was the only one we could get.  He's got a couple cavities and we are trying to work with him on remembering to brush more.  

So here is David starting 2nd grade.  He no longer wants to give me hugs and kisses when I drop him off and he is constantly trying to see how far I will let him go with out me...  

Tuesday, the rest of the kids started school and Aaron and Evelyn started Seminary.  It turns out that it works well for me to go swim, then take the kids to seminary, then get back and take David to school, then go work out.  Despite everything that has changed since last year things seem to have worked out well with what stayed the same.  

Aaron and Evelyn are starting their Junior and Sophmore years (respectively) and are both already busy with after school activites.   James is starting 7th grade and is not super excited about some changes in the school schedule this year, 

Tuesday morning was also when Anna left with Melissa and Seth for BYU.  She has been busy packing and trying to get everything ready.  She is amazing and I'm super excited for this new phase of life for her!  But we miss her already!

Tuesday, I also started back at my regular work schedule.  It was fun how many people noticed I was gone and welcomed me back!  One of the things I love about this job is the people!  Water Polo is back to it's usual 7:30 - 9 time slot at Aloha pool.  It's starting to feel like the regular season is beginning.  We've got a full 10 people on each team and it's an exciting beginning.  Our first game is next week and it's been exciting so far!  

Wednesday it was starting to feel like we were getting back into the regular swing of things.  Anna's road trip was going well and it's been fun to watch her Be Real posts.  James and Dan had their youth activity and Evelyn had band and Aaron and I had Water Polo.  There are other teams using Aloha before us for a couple weeks while their pools are being worked on, so it's been fun to see friends during transition.  

Thursday was regular routines now, and Friday also.  We are getting back into the fun of hanging out with friends after school.  David and Paxton are getting together as often as possible, and with the weather getting hot this week, they have ended up in the pool at Paxton's house a couple times.  I went over with them Friday to give Nicole a bit of rest and the kids had fun splashing around.  

Friday, Dan went out to get his final jumps in to get certified.  He can now go whenever he wants.  He's been having a fun time with this and it's been neat to see him get excited about doing somthing he enjoys!  

Saturday, became the day of the big(ish) move.  We switched the boys and girls bedrooms.  We worked in the morning moving the boys out and putting their stuff in the hall, then I took Aaron to water polo and we had fun.  He had some really great shots and I had some really great blocks.  While we were gone, the girls began moving their stuff into the old boys room.  I got home and Eileen was stressed and Dan was stressed out too, so I took over getting Eileen moved - we ended up getting her some organizational stuff at Walmart and got it all figured out, then we got the boys moved into their new space.  David is so excited to actually have a real bed now.  He is super excited about having his own space and it was nice to get everything cleaned up and tons of garbage thrown out!  Evelyn got moved then went swimming with friends.  Aaron and James watched Princess Bride and I went to open polo.  Numbers were low at everything this weekend because of the holiday, but we still had fun!  

Church today was great!  I woke up when I forgot to turn off my early swimming alarm and couldn't get back to sleep, so I was tired, but the fast and testimony meeting was wonderful and primary went great.  We had a great time chatting with Anna this afternoon and making way too much food, David has been having fun cutting up cardboard boxes and making a pretend computer for him to play games on.  He carefully copied my keyboard and made a mouse and everything.  It's super cute!  

Anna let David have her giant bear and he is SO excited about it.  He has been carrying it everywhere and playing with it and snuggling with is all over the house.  

And some fast Sunday silliness!