Soccer!!!!

 

Oh what a proud day for us all...first soccer practice!  Mac was so thrilled.  A couple of friends and I signed our kids up through the Y.  They decided to try something new this year.  Instead of playing games with the 3&4 team, they decided to have "mini clinics" each Monday night to teach the basics and scrimmage play.  Sounded good enough to me!  Mac was super proud the day we went to Springfield to pick out his soccer gear.  You just about can't find anything cuter than a tiny pair of soccer cleats!

 

Ready to leave for the very first practice! He loved the idea that his "kindergarteners" would protect his shins :)

Look at those moves!

Mac and "coach"

Well, what sounded like a good idea amounted to a lot of chaos at the first practice.  Good idea for a team of, say, ten...bad idea for a team of around twenty-five!!

Despite the sure craziness of that many kids and parents on the field, Mac did pretty well.  He loved running and kicking the ball (for about the first thirty minutes of practice.  Then he and Sam made up their own game to play.)

Getting some encouragement from Daddy

Drew hung out with Abby's little brother, Lawson.

Sweet baby wanted so badly to go play "koccer."

 

My mom snapped these shots when she was here recently.  She had asked Mac to pose with his ball, and when she looked over at Drew, he had run over to get his own ball to pose with.  That little thing wants to be his big brother so bad :)

 

 

 

-Since the first practice, things are a little better organized, but still not ideal for a 3&4 year old team.  Mac is usually good for about thirty minutes and then loses interest because of the large number of people.  Poor coach doesn't even have any clue what any of the kids names are...how could you??  But Mac thinks it's great, and so great it is!

Easter Day

 

Easter pictures were not our best this year!  This ended up being our only family pic that was taken by a random bystander at church.  Whatcha gonna do??

 

We were so excited to have some very great friends join us for lunch.  None of us have family in town, so we joined forces and had a blast...and a delicious lunch!

The kids getting ready to go outside for a little more egg hunting.

Drew and Mac could do this over and over all year long

 

Oh if you could see that face from the front.  It's his pouty face.  I think I had told him he had ventured far enough...he didn't like that :)

Jamie with some of the kiddos

Our lunch and egg hunt fun lasted so long that we weren't able to fit in a nap.  And the bunny visits us during naptime on Easter.  So...

while the boys played downstairs, he made a delivery at the door!

Mac has a slight obsession with "Anger Birds," one that I'm personally ready to pass on :)

Drew has a major obsesssion with marshmallows, one that I know will not pass! Lol

This was not long after playing outside, hence the red cheeks and missing clothes.  They got so dirty "digging for treasure" outside that I made them shed clothes before coming in. 

 

One little boy was delighted to receive a "costume" so he could play superheroes.  He currently loves to pretend to be Spider Man (he and Sam throw slinkys around like they are webs) and Thing-a-ma-Bob from Incredible Vegetables. 

 



Well, I Tried...

 

Well, I sure tried my best to get a good picture of the boys before church on Easter Sunday.  Unfortunately, I have to try alone since Sam has to leave for church so early.  Mac was doing pretty good; Drew, not so much!  I needed my mom there to act crazy and make him smile :)

 

Look at that face!

We love our baskets that Aunt Cheryl gave us last year!

A sweet hug...

and a kiss.

Finally, Drew has a kinda smile

This is Mac's "anger" face.  He's so silly

Still trying...

 

One can only do so much with a one and three year old, I suppose. 
There's always next year! haha

A Hunting We Will Go

 

Though we had our fun egg-hunting at Bass Pro, we went to a "real" hunt on Easter weekend.  Because my friend and I wanted a hunt for our kids to attend, we worked together to organize one with a mom's group we have at church.  Of course, crazy Ozarks weather was cold and rainy, but we got our hunt in just before the rain started to fall hard.  The boys had a really good time, and both were totally into finding eggs!

 

You can barely see Drew's little head sticking out by Sam's hand :)

 

Our hunt was at a local campground, so eggs were scattered all about tables, camper hook-ups, and fall/winter leaves :)

We did a fun craft while dads hid eggs and finished up with a snack.

 

Since the boys had some matching blues, we figured we'd all join in the matching attire

Things I Want To Remember...

I want to remember Mac's first self portrait on his "drawing board"

That is one handsome little guy!

Oh, how I hope Drew always makes these faces!  It truly melts my heart.

Getting ready to head out to church

My silly Mac.  A Kanakuk intern taught him to make that face last year.  Drew was quick to copy after taking the picture.

Mac's first ever time to use scissors!  He was so proud yesterday at school that he cut out the egg all by himself.  His teacher even brought him to show me in my office.  She was very impressed and proud too :)

He feels so big getting to play Thomas games on Daddy's computer

Mac is truly the best big brother.  Always including Drew in what he is doing.  My favorite is to hear Mac say something like this, "It's ok little pumpkin...you'll be ok" after Drew falls down or something.  Think Mac has heard that said a few times??

 

I want to always remember my house with little boys...anything can be turned into a game!

It's Officially A Taylor Tradition

 

Well, I figure once you do something for three consecutive years, it can officially be deemed a tradition.  And a tradition is what we have when it comes to the Easter Egg Hunt at Bass Pro!  We originally went two years ago for lack of a better hunt in the area when we first moved to Missouri.  It was such a hit with Mac that we've continued going and went for the third time this past Saturday.

 

The Easter Bunny hangs out in the store during the hunt and hands out Mac's favorite candy, Smarties.  He may not be the most handsome bunny ever, but it sure is fun...and I can take pics with my own camera! :)

Hunting for eggs hidden in camping, fishing, and hunting gear.  It's so neat to have store customers get into it and help the kids find the eggs.  Both boys LOVED it! 

Found some!

My monkey was refusing to look and smile...but my big boy sure did :)

Yay, an egg!!

Putting an egg in the bag...when you reach the limit, you turn them in for candy.

No trip to Bass Pro is complete without a 4-wheeler ride...

Or a look at giant fish

Mac and Drew had fun following the tracks around the store

Drew would like a tackle box, or two for that matter! haha

 

And if we go to "the fish store," we have to go next door to the candy store to see the train that goes around the top of the store.