The Bartlett Fair

A friend of mine told me about a really cool website called midsouthmoms.com . It lists all kinds of events, restaurants, activities, etc for families to do in Memphis. So yesterday after school I checked it out. Sure enough...there was an event listed that we just couldn't pass up...the Bartlett fair. About 20 minutes from our house was a fair that had free admission....just what we need...free. Of course the ad didn't tell us that rides were about $3 a piece per person. Good thing we prayed for content babies during each pregnancy. The boys were happy to ride the hot air ballon ride twice and the ferris wheel once (with daddy, of course) THey had a ball. Other highlights include, but are not limited to:

---real hot air balloons

---blue grass bands (and boy can my kids cut a rug!)

---free balloons

---free toothbrushes from a local dentist (who knew how excited a 3 year old would be over a toothbrush....but he clutched that thing like it was pure gold!)

---yummy fair food (although by the end of the night we didn't have enough cash left for a funnel cake...mommy was so sad)

It was a great time. I am so thankful for my sweet family and all the wonderful memories we are building together. I can't imagine a much better life than I have now....except maybe one with a housecleaning service...but hey, a girl can dream, right!

It's official...

...I am a soccer mom...and proud of it! I've got the sweat pants and mini van to prove it! Today was the boys second soccer game and it was so much fun. We are playing for the Arlington City League. It's about 20 minutes from our house and we love our team and our coach. The boys are on the black team and they decided as a team that they wanted their team name to be the "Panthers". Rayden and I have caught ourselves several times shouting out..."Go black panthers"...then we quickly let out a small gasp and silently remind ourselves that we should not ever do that again.

As a proud soccer mom I need to tell you that while our league does not keep score, the Panthers have totally dominated both of their games so far. And as my pride swells within me I must also add that one of the goals that we had tonight was scored by none other than Kaleb Josiah Hollis. I am pretty much hoarse from all the screaming I did at the game. I wish I could have captured Kaleb's face the exact moment he realized that he had just scored a goal. It was so amazingly priceless. I missed the moment however because I was jumpoing around and screaming like a total dufus. Oh well...the precious look of amazment and elation will forever be etched in mind to enjoy always.

"we're a team"

Tonight was our very first soccer practice. We are playing for the Arlington Recreation League with our good friends, the Lees. Danielle is a great friend of mine and her little girl, Gracie, is right between the boys ages. They have about 8 kids on their team and we practice every Tuesday night for 35 minutes and will have 8 games on Saturday mornings starting on the 20th. For our first attempt at organized sports we did pretty well. They were super pumped at first...Gracie, Nathan, and Kaleb all put their hands together and jumped up and down chanting, "we're a team, we're a team". Then when things got rolling and you had to stay in line and take turns, Kaleb got very distracted. He began rolling around in the grass and spinning in circles. He took a turn every once in a while, but for the most part he played his own version of soccer. Nathan waited in line very patiently...but when it was time for a scrimage he quickly pooped out and ran off the field yelling, "I need a drink of water....these guys are too fast." I think it will be a great learning expereince for all of us. And Rayden and I are excited to be doing something outside of church. Being a minister really sucks you in and it's hard to be involved with anything else. We are anxious to meet some new people. You can enjoy these pictures and look forward to more and more updates as the season progresses.



Coach Angela taught them 3 soccer rules tonight. #1 no hands #2 don't steal the ball from your teammate #3 keep the ball close to you