3v3

This weekend both Carter and Brady are playing in a 3v3 soccer tournament. A lot of people love these tournaments, however, I do not :) The games are played on small fields and they last just 24 minutes....which means they play more games than a normal tournament. Between the two boys, they played seven games today (and another 4-6 tomorrow). We were at the fields from 8:30am-3:30 and it was very very hot. We took our easy-up tent and set it up next to teammates for a total of 7 tents and plenty of shade. But it was still ridiculously hot!!!

Brady's team played in the u7 division. It was his very first time playing 3v3 and he played great. Won some, lost some and scored four goals....not a bad start!

Carter's team played in the u13 division. They won 2 and lost 2. Carter scored several goals, but I'm really bad at keeping score at this level. In their 9-6 victory, I had them losing 3-1. Clearly, I am not cut out to be an official scorekeeper.

Cate loved playing with the other little sisters. I do not need to obsess over it anymore than I already have but Lylah (the little girl in white) and Cate are the same age. Do you notice the difference in hair length? I made Lylah rub her ponytail over Cate's hair to encourage growth!!


Coach Broshow giving the boys a half-time pep talk! I'm gonna guess Carter was zoned out and thinking "what in the hell are you wearing on your head?"

Carter played on field #20 and Brady on field #1. Of course it always works that way. So, we set up camp at Brady's fields and walked over to Carter's games. During one of Carter's games, I looked around to find Cate had hijacked another teams tent and portable bench!

During half-time of Brady's game, Carter and Cate took the field. Cate wanted nothing to do with the ball, she just wanted to run fast in her new running skirt and dri-fit tank.

Cate (notice the wardrobe change...the boys had water guns out) loves to ride on our "game day" wagon-as we like to call it. It comes in very handy when needing to haul a tent, minimum of three chairs, at least one cooler, toy bag, and one toddler. It has mesh pockets up front for my phone and the best part is that it folds down accordion style to a very small square which saves a lot of space in the van. Need to give a shout-out to BauBau for buying it for Scott for Father's Day. He appreciated the food gift card, I appreciated this!!!!

Yes, we're back to this. See Lylah's hair in this picture? THAT'S JUST HALF OF IT! The other ponytail is still on the other side of her head. Her dad is a minister, so maybe he spent extra time praying that Lylah's hair would grow thick and long. Funny story: at one point this morning when the girls were playing, Cate did not want to share her Disney princess dolls with Ella (girl in the pink) so she picked the dolls up and put them in the wagon so no one could get them. That sent Ella running to her mom crying...which Cate couldn't have cared less about. Ugh! About an hour later, Ella walks up to me and says "your sister over there doesn't know how to share very well". And I said "my sister?!! Why you're the smartest little girl I've ever met and you're right, my sister doesn't share well at all, but you can play with whatever you want! " DUH! Of course she would think we're sisters...Cate is 3 and obviously I look no older than 18. Damn, that made my day!!!!

Grants Farm

On Wednesday, Grammy, Fran, and Bau Bau joined us for an afternoon at Grant's Farm. It was very hot and very humid but we all had a great time.

Carter fell asleep on the tram ride until an animal walked right up and nearly licked him in the face :)

These buffalo were hanging out on the bridge and we had to wait until they moved before we could cross. Brady thought that was very cool!
Cate, Brady, and Carter enjoy feeding the goats...Bennett, not so much

The elephant show was a hoot...Budweiser, the main attraction, was not cooperating at all. He refused to participate in any of his stunts and then urinated about 10 gallons all over the place. He then pooped 50lbs of crap and continued to pick it up and throw it all over himself. His keepers were less than thrilled

Starting to flood the stage

Stomping around in his poo

Did I mention it was very very hot? Cate spent a lot of time in the misting sprayers

Lunch in the Tier Garten

Carter danced and sang all day long. He always does. I finally yelled "Carter! Your life is not a stage!!"

The music inspired Fran to teach Carter how to dance for real....POLKA!

Happy Birthday America!

We went all out this year for the 4th of July....even decorated the exterior of our home with good ole' red, white, and blue. We spent our first celebration of the day at Scott's Grandma's house swimming and eating lunch. Brady and Bennett raced the entire time and Cate showed off her underwater swimming skills.

Brady, Reece, and Cate looking for frogs...there's a family that lives in the hot tub :)

Bennett diving in to torture Uncle Josh

Dang White Boy...get some sun!!

Cate loves when Aunt Fran pushes her in Bau Bau's wheelchair! They took a lot of rides :)

For dinner, we headed to my moms. Minus me. When we got home, I came down with a case of the pukes and stayed in bed. Scott said her Italian Chicken was delicious and he didn't bring me any leftovers :(

Celebration #3-Granite City has a really fantastic 4th of July celebration and an awesome fireworks show to end the weekend. Best in the area and this year was the best I've ever seen. We set up our seats in the Coolidge field with Grammy and Bau Bau and patiently waited for the sun to go down and the fireworks to start.

Cate looking all festive in the shirt I made her. Uh, huh, that's right, I sew.
What's not to love about The Rive?
Cody and Brady chillin' before the show starts

Fireworks started and so did Cate's dancing....
By the end of the show, both Bennett and Cate were nearly asleep.

It took us about ten minutes to drive the 1.6 miles home. We are always trying to figure out the fastest route to get through the ridiculous traffic and this year wasn't too bad!

Braggin' Rights

I'm going to do a little braggin' on Brady. This weekend he played in the 7u State Championships in Jacksonville and hit FOUR home runs!! And not a "hit-a-good-ball-but-infielders-overthrew-it-so-he-made-it-home" either...more like a "hit-the-heck-out-of-the-ball-to-the-fence-and-ran-really-fast" I got to see his first HR on Friday and Scott and my parents witnessed numbers 2,3 & 4 on Saturday. This is four more home runs than either of his brothers ever scored (something he loves to let everyone know!). So proud of my lil' 6 year old slugger!!!