The Vance's

football and futbol.

>> May 30, 2017

We are now halfway through the spring sports season and even though 4 days a week seems crazy (yes, it is!) it's been so much fun watching the kids learn new skills, make new friends and get more confident. 4 days a week we load up the car with water bottles, snacks, footballs and soccer balls and head over to a field somewhere around town. The siblings from the other teammates all run around and get dirty, usually scrape a knee or two and end up needing to use a honey bucket for a potty break(eewww). Matt wrangles up the teams and gets to work. And I try to watch a play or two while managing the herd of little ones running around the sidelines.

Dinners are random, hands and feet are oh so dirty but I really do think we are all having a fun time. Matt has been such a great coach to both of these teams and I'm so glad the kids have him as a role model to look up to.

While it'll be nice to have some of our weeknights back in a few weeks I will definitely miss these sunny spring nights running around with friends and playing games. So glad both kids have enjoyed these sports!! Go Team Thunderhawks (Carter's football team) and Elephant Goalies (Lucy's soccer team)!

spring has (finally) sprung.

>> May 3, 2017

The weather is slowly improving and we couldn't be happier around here. Playtime outside, park dates, sand boxes, eating dinner on the back deck, running dates with friends...it's all so nice!! We are taking full advantage and spending basically every waking moment outside.

Lucy could swing all day long and is getting more brave at jumping off. The other day she just kept going higher and higher...crazy girl! What was more impressive, though, was how she landed on her feet every single time!

Soccer practice on sunny nights are so much more fun than windy, cold, rainy nights.

This past weekend Lucy and I got to have a little girl time at a local cooking class. We met another good friend and her son there and made homemade bowtie pasta, salad and cookies for dessert. So fun and such a great class for kids. Now I'm inspired to make homemade pasta at home (in all my spare time!).

Early mornings before school have shifted from playing in the playroom to coloring at the kitchen table. It's fun to watch all 3 kids sit together and get along...at least for a few minutes.

I got ambitious the other day and convinced the kids to help me with a little project so we could surprise Matt when he came home from work. While I work really hard to keep the inside of the house clean and tidy I'm not so great on the outside. I've never enjoyed yard work, struggle with gardening and hate pulling weeds. But the front porch needed some serious cleaning so my littler helpers were up for the challenge! We scrubbed the porch over and over again, sprayed it off (while spraying each other...oops!) and then cleaned out the flower pots. After a quick trip to Costco for some new flowers we came home and planted them all just in time to get Carter off the bus.

It looks so much better and got us all even more excited for warmer days ahead!

recap of a good week.

>> April 22, 2017

Spring is still struggling to arrive around here but we are doing our best to get outside when the sun peaks out. I think there have only been 6 sunny days in 2017....sheesh! I'm so ready for more sun, longer nights and outdoor play.

Anytime it's not raining we head outside for an after dinner family walk. The kids love this and usually beg to do it each night. We put dishes on hold, grab random shoes and walk our loop around 3 nearby neighborhoods.

Another fun activity lately? Coloring. All the time! We've been busy printing off random coloring pages every day and Simon's usually involves some sort of sports theme. It's so funny how at such a young age his interest in sports has already come through.

He's also finally mastered building a train track. These little wooden pieces are somewhat of a morning ritual for him. We build choos choos together and he just loves pushing his little trains around. The other kids enjoyed this but never really got into it so it's fun to see him learn how to put them together all by himself.

Carter started flag football this week too! He's been great about wanting to try new sports this year and we love having him learn some new skills and meet new friends. He did great his first night and now we'll have 2 nights a week of practices and games....plus an extremely supportive Dad who volunteered to be the assistant coach this season!

Simon, Lucy and I headed to the Children's museum this week too. While all the exhibits are fun the water room is always a favorite. I think we spent over half our time just in this room alone.

Lucy is taking a break from tennis lessons and started her 3rd year of spring soccer this week too (yep, our weeknights now consist of sports 4 days/week....oh.my.goodness.). Matt is the head coach and they named their team the Elephant Goalies...ha! She is playing with 3 other friends who she loves and some other really great kids too.

And luckily the sun came out for the first hour of practice!

Yesterday we needed to take baths before a trip into Seattle to meet Matt at work. I got Simon out and dressed and let Lucy play for a few more minutes. Little did I know that Simon snuck back into the bathroom to jump right back in the bathtub while I put his other clothes in the laundry hamper. He quickly realized it wasn't such a great idea but had Lucy and I laughing hysterically.

Yesterday was beyond beautiful! I think everyone in the PNW got outside and soaked up all the vitamin D. It's such a tease since today's forecast calls for more rain but we were so happy to be outside all day long. The Space Needle was beautiful, lots of sun, no clouds and plenty of time getting dirty in the sandbox. Carter's teacher even let the kids have an extra recess in the afternoon so they could enjoy the sunshine...only in the PNW!