Summer Sostice

We celebrated the official beginning of Summer over the weekend at a friend's Summer Solstice party for the second year in a row. The city lets them close off part of the street so the kids can run around more wild than usual and the adults hang out sipping drinks and chatting. Or if you're Pat, you impressively master the art of the Razor Ripstick. At the end, sparklers were brought out and some fireworks were set off. We decided to call it a night after Paige's glow stick broke and some got in her eye but the night was pretty incident-free until that point!

Soccer Camp-Paige Edition

We signed Paige up for soccer camp only a few days before it was supposed to start because we weren't sure if she would get enough out of it. I was unsure even up to the point where we had already arrived and then I saw there were only two other kids in her group! It ended up being great and I think it did wonders for her confidence. She has played soccer in our city on Saturday mornings but there are so many kids that it's easy for her to get lost in the crowd. They had a good mix of games and soccer skills practice. One of the favorites was when they would sneak off to scare another coach and then run as fast as they could back to their field. Another time they played keep-away from each other and Paige kept her ball from the other kids for so long that the coach had to step in to help them:)

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Shaking hands and receiving her evaluation

The whole group!

Soccer Camp-Owen Edition

There's more to say about camp! At the beginning of the morning the kids would be divided by age and go off with their group coaches. Owen's coach this year was from Brazil (especially exciting because that's where the World Cup is happening right now!) and she did a great job teaching the kids. In the second half of the day, the kids were divided into teams that covered all ages and each team got to choose a country for their own World Cup competition. Owen's team chose Portugal (which meant he had to wear orange all week) and they ended up winning the whole competition on the last day!

Owen working with his age group

The teams with their flags (categories were biggest, smallest and most creative flags)

All the campers!

Team Portugal wins!

Camp!

The kids had soccer camp all last week! Owen's camp was 3 hours every morning and Paige had it for one hour and then spent a lot of time playing on the playground. Owen went last year so he was excited and knew what to expect but this was Paige's first year and we questioned if she would enjoy it enough to make it worth it. She did! She was super proud to be going to camp like her big brother and I loved getting to see her soccer skills against other kids her age. I have more pictures and stories to share but for now here are the shots I have of the two of them together.

Waiting for camp to start

Taking a break on the playground after camp

Ready to play!

Ready for Wacky Wednesday

Father's Day!

Pat did such an amazing job with Mother's Day that the pressure was really on for Father's Day this year. We started early by gifting Pat with some Corn Pops for breakfast (a rarely seen product in our house). Then the kids were eager to give him their gifts. Owen had made a couple things in school and Paige drew a lovely picture. They also colored some mugs and we gave him an assortment of fun-flavored pops. Later, we got together with family and had a picnic. I made some "amazing" cookies (Pat's word, not mine) but forgot to take a picture! They were vegan chocolate chip cookies, I'll just have to make some more so we can have a picture...

Paigeangelo

We got a children's guide to art book from the library and after talking a little bit about the Sistine Chapel I set up some paper so Paige could try painting like Michelangelo. It was a success, and not as messy as I feared! Paige actually rejected the name Paigeangelo but I'm planning on trying out Paigecasso when the time is right.

Last Day of First Grade!

Owen's last day of school was a tearjerker! Ok, not for him, for me. I cried twice, both in front of/because of his teacher. The first time she was addressing the class and complimenting them on their kindness towards Owen. When he couldn't run around at recess a lot of his friends sat down too so he wouldn't be lonely. The second time was when Paige and I were leaving the school and I ran into his teacher in the hall after she had taken the class to Art. She was just such an amazing teacher that I really was sad Owen would have to move on. I'm good now though-on to Second Grade!

Owen got to be pulled around in a wagon for all of our long walks that day!

Owen and Mrs. Mandato!

The first graders had another mini field day! Owen couldn't join in on the regular Duck, Duck, Goose game but a couple friends played a version with him that involved crawling:)

I wanted a end of year picture of Owen after he came out of school and he insisted it be without his crutches!

We promised the kids we would get slushies on the last day of school just like last year.

Happy Summer!

Jokester

Pat and I came across this scene in the bathroom the other day. The note says, "Ha! I got yah this time!" We're not quite sure if we should retaliate but I saved the note just in case.

Ouch!

I promised some Owen blogging and here's the first one! Owen sprained his ankle on our neighbors trampoline (that was so long ago that it's healed now!) and was pretty sad (of course!). These pictures were from before we took him to Urgicare and he got an aircast and crutches! He did not like the crutches and preferred to hop around on one foot to get places but eventually realized he wouldn't be able to get to as many places that way. He missed some baseball, some soccer and even a zoo field trip but overall he was a pretty good sport about it.

Poor Owen!

Pat showed Owen all of his ankle paraphenalia so Paige and I tried to commiserate by trying some on.

The next morning Paige built Owen this castle because he needed to rest and keep his ankle elevated.

Soccer!

Owen was sort of able to play in his last soccer game. He was mostly healed but was doing a funny little hop to avoid his ankle every few steps. I think it was more precautionary then anything. He missed the team photo the week before because of his injury but I convinced some adults to help me round up the kids for one more!

Barbie Fashion Show!

Pat pointed out that a lot of my posts have been very Paige-centric lately, but don't worry! I have a lot of Owen-centric posts coming up soon! 

We were at my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday a couple weekends ago when my mom helped Paige organize a Barbie fashion show. It was extremely cute. They gave out tickets and lined up a row of chairs for us to watch from. Paige made sure to tell us that we could come if we wanted to but we didn't have to...everyone came though:)

Memorial Day!

Memorial Day seems like a distant memory now! I know we definitely went to a parade because I have the pictures to prove it. Then we had our traditional visit to the fire-station. That trip seems to get shorter every year...fire trucks don't change much but kid's interest in them do...After we walked back from the fire station we packed a picnic lunch, a soccer ball and some kites and went to the park! I specifically left my phone at home for that trip so I wouldn't be able to be distracted by taking more pictures (something I'm trying to do a little more of!)

Last Day of Preschool!

Paige's first year of preschool concluded last week with a picnic at a nearby park. The kids played on the playground while the parents tried to figure out who their kid would want to play with over the summer:) it wasn't too sad to say goodbye because Paige will have the same teachers next year but I do think she's going to miss preschool. I'm really going to try to get her some time with her friends instead of just tagging onto Owen's play dates!

Paige Photobooth

I couldn't resist posting all of these group shots from Paige's dance recital. It made me think of a photo-booth where Paige was the prop:) I should also note here that all the kids were given medals and Paige was very pleased about it. She's checked out my running medals and some medals Owen has and had asked me when she was going to be getting some of her own. Turns out it was sooner than we thought!