Our Soccer Stars

Alden & Emmett both played soccer this winter. It was a bit much for Emmett, who had played in the fall too, but he learned a lot & we convinced a bunch of his friends from the ward to join our team for the 2nd session. We had Alden play with his old team, back in our old neighborhood, because we love his coach! But it got a bit old driving him out there for practice. But we did enjoy seeing some old friends every week. And we sometimes had dinner with my parents, which is always fun.

I love these pictures of Emmett, who is always good for some funny faces or interesting hand positions. That kid is awesome! He has been making so many new friends too. Between our ward and his soccer team, I think he'll know at least 18 new kindergartners at the elementary school next year.

I NOT TREE, I TWO

For about a month before his birthday we asked Roland daily how old he was. Which he knew. But when we would talk about his birthday coming up and how he would turn three, he was always angry and said, "I not tree, I two!" But by the time the big day rolled around, we had finally convinced him.

The day before, Papa Carpenter had a big birthday party, which he graciously shared with Roley. We took Spiderman cupcakes with bright blue frosting and Nana gave Roley his own Spiderman! Can you tell he's obsessed? His preschool teachers tell us he also talks of Spiderman constantly at school. At least he can pronounce it fairly well now, for the last six months it's been my-a-man.

He woke up the morning of his birthday in his Spidey jammies, holding his new Spiderman. I made him a cute pin to wear to church over his fancy corduroy suit. He's like a little man.

We had the Blasnek family over for cake, ice cream & presents. Ma'am & Grampa got him a canopy for his new loft bed and we gave him some Toy Story Legos. Buzz & his Alien friend still get in a little playing time with Roley, especially since Spidey is too noisy to take to church.

The last year with Roland has been fabulous - he is a sweet and fun boy. He will give Mama loves and kisses anytime and runs bawling to me 10 times a day after "Emmett hurt me!" Yet he's the tough one who jumps his brothers constantly and loves to wrestle. He is more and more interested in book and reading stories and can sit still for a movie at the theater now. He is going to be a star soccer player next year, and wants to play golf too. We can't wait to see how he develops in the next year. We love our Ro Ro!

The Semi-Frozen North

My parents invited our family to share their timeshare in Flagstaff again this year and we were happy to take them up on it. It's been a few years since we've been and I'm a little glad we waited - I think things were much easier now that the boys are a little older.

We scrounged snow clothes for the boys and the boys played in the quickly-melting snow around the condo. When we arrived at 8pm, Roland wanted to go right out. We obligingly left him on the porch in his PJs, where he shivered for a minute and declared it too cold that night. But the next morning we suited the boys up and sent them out. While the sun wasn't great for the snow, it made it much more comfortable to be outside for more than few minutes.



I couldn't resist this picture of Roley crying with a face covered in snow. His brothers got a little rough.



We had a great few days, hitting McDonald's, Bookmans, church, redbox, etc. And on Monday we went sledding with the Rasmussens, who drove up just for the day. It was a beautiful, warm day, with lots of slushy hills. We left our camera in the car, but imagine Alden as the young daredevil, who would go off the tallest and steepest hills face down! He loved it so much and we're pretty sure he's going to become an Olympian in some winter sport. Emmett and Roland had fun too, going down the hills plenty of times. Roley constantly wanted to have a snowball fight and would throw handfuls of snow constantly while giggling - he's a cutie. Alden went off with the Rasmussens to build a snowman and have a real snowball fight. Kirk & Jody said that even when he had a faceful of snow, he was smiling wide and laughing. Here are a few shots from the car afterwards. We were all soaking wet because of the barely-there snow, and I loved Alden's face covered in dirt from going face first down the hills.

Thanks for inviting us, Ma'am and Grandpa - we want to go again next year!