Finishing Soccer and Continuing Dentistry

Just minutes before Sabrina's last soccer practice she was running on some asphalt and tripped in her cleats.  She managed to tear up her knee pretty badly.  Her last soccer game was the next day, but she had developed a fever so she missed out.  Poor kid!  Thankfully she healed up pretty quickly after that.  

On the day of the last soccer games the girls were waiting for Grandma Jensen to come.  Sabrina got to dress up in her soccer gear even though she didn't get to play.  Over the course of the season Grandma came to one of each of the girls' games.  They loved having an extra audience!

Kate's team this year was called The Skittles.  I was at her last soccer game (with Grandma and Sabrina) while Daddy was at Lizzie's last game.  

 It's too bad the games overlapped, since the rest of us missed an award ceremony after Lizzie's game.  After all the other trophies were distributed the coach called up the two remaining girls: Lizzie and another girl her same height.  He said that they were the two smallest girls in the entire league, but played the hardest and had the most heart and courage in the game.  In the team of wildcats those two were proclaimed the Lionesses!  I'm sure glad we had the opportunity to do soccer this fall!  It was a great experience for all of us.

(Sabrina and I cuddled up at one of the chilly game near the end of the season)

I made one of these trays for each of the girls for watching General Conference.  Muffin tin with little goodies / prizes in each spot, washable glue stick + tissue paper, pictures of each general authority glued on top.  When they noticed a member of the Quorum of the Twelve speaking they could come tell me what he was talking about and then could find his picture on their tray (they were all random) and pull the picture off to reveal their prize!  It worked beautifully.  When one of the First Presidency spoke they could still come tell me what he was speaking about, then they got a gold chocolate coin from me.

While Lizzie was up at the Conference Center for the morning session (!) of conference, I was texted a few pictures of what they were doing.  (I'll have to include pics of here in a separate post). So I sent back a picture of what I was doing.  This is me at orchestra rehearsal early (for me) on a Saturday morning :)

Finally, here are a few pictures of Sabrina and Lizzie at their first major dentist appointments.  They both were pretty zoned out on laughing gas and video entertainment.  I asked Lizzie a question at one point (when we were waiting for the dentist) and she kept talking about the same things over and over in a very loud voice.  They were both fantastic, though!  No complaining or freaking out.  No shrieking or wiggling.  And their half-smiles afterward with half numb faces were very silly.  Thankfully, even after some pretty extensive, and occasionally rather painful, dental work -- they all still like the dentist!  Thank goodness.  Apparently I'm the only scaredy cat in this family when it comes to dental work!

Sabrina Loves...

 Paperclips.  Sabrina loves paperclips.

Silly girl.

Soccer, berry picking, soccer spaghetti, field trips, dentist visits, carnival, tooth fairy, and women's conference!

Okay, so we got Andrew home from his mission, all three girls back to school, and some of our fall soccer season.  Next up: 

Soccer Pictures (we skipped the packages and I took picture of the girls instead.  Way more fun!)

Raspberry picking (It's so much more exciting with a two year old and a baby!  Actually M. did an awesome picking berries and was absolutely delighted to discover real reindeer on the other side of this fence!)

More soccer.  Including eating spaghetti out of thermoses because that was the only way to avoid yet another night of Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready $5 pepperoni pizza.  Other parents were jealous of our real meal, naturally.

First grade field trip!  We went to the fire station, bank, library, and post office, followed by lunch at a park.  And then I slept for a week.  Phew!

Dental cleanings / check-ups for Lizzie and Sabrina.  Lizzie: 8 cavities, Sabrina: 7 cavities -- 6 of which require pulpotomies (root canal on a baby tooth).  (*breathing slowly into a paper bag*)

School Carnival!  The girls got their hair sprayed pink!!!  (I did it ahead of time at home.  Smart mama!).

I'm always impressed at the way these girls can scale a rock climbing wall.

 *side note -- while waiting in line an obnoxious older boy kept trying to sneak ahead in line.  Lizzie politely, but firmly, put him in his place.  Despite the fact that she didn't even come up to his shoulder!  It was excellently done on her part.

Lizzie lost a tooth and left this note to the tooth fairy:

 "Dear Tooth Fairy, Here is a tooth for you.  Please, before you leave, leave some evidence so I know you exist.  (P.S. Use pencil above).  Love, Elizabeth"
"This pencil is so very large for a little fairy like me!  Thank you for the tooth, Elizabeth.  Love, Your Tooth Fairy"
Apparently she believes again.

For the General Women's Conference, Mom and I went to watch with Michelle at her place.  It was very relaxing to sit together and listen to the words of such inspired leaders.  Little J was enthralled.  He sat for several minutes just staring at the speakers!

I believe this takes us through the end of September.  Life is good.

Soccer Games, pt.1

Soccer.

It has been a real adventure.

Dinners have become more rushed and more important at the same time.

One of our camp chairs has been upgraded, but the other one needs to be.

I've learned all the tricks to finding less expensive sports gear, cause with 3 sets it adds up FAST.

Half-dozen games every week.  Plus practices.

Driving circles around town a few nights a week uses a lot of fuel.

As exhausted as we've been, it has also been fantastic!

There is nothing funnier than watching a bunch of 6 year old girl playing soccer.  Okay, I suppose 3 and 4 year olds would be quite entertaining as well.  But 6 year olds are still pretty great.  

Sabrina is a very strong goalie.  She has played goalie a few times (they rotate through) and never let a goal through.  She's fearless about throwing herself on top of the ball!  This morning she was mid dive and even took the soccer ball to the face.  No worries.  She grabbed it and ran to throw it out again.

Sabrina plays a reasonable defender.  She is not yet an inspiring forward.  She doesn't like all the running.  And doesn't like chasing the ball.  She prefers for it to come to her!  

I have ended up attending mostly Sabrina's games.  Often there are two games at the same time and the transportation issues become complicated.  Sabrina's games are usually a little shorter than the others, so I have ended up at hers several times so that as soon as it is over we can run back to pick up after one of the other girls' games.  I've been to Kate's the least often.  And I don't think I have any good pictures of her games yet.  I need to work on that.  It's not because hers aren't impressive, just that she's the easiest to send with a friend.

Note Sabrina jumping, spinning, falling, singing, doing hand stands, reading the print on her shirt....  all during game time!  The huge white shirt was the goalie's shirt.  She was fascinated with playing with the goal's net.  She does a better job of paying attention now.  Most of the time.

I still think the snacks are her favorite part.

One of the funniest things (I really need to teach her how to do this properly...) is the way Sabrina kicks.  As you can kinda see in the bottom, second from left, photo -- Sabrina kicks the ball with both feet off the ground.  Hard to get a lot of force behind a kick that way!  

Lizzie really surprised us all!  She's a scrappy player.  Small, but determined and impressive.  In the top right picture, below, you can see her and one of the coach's daughters.  They're about the same size, and the two smallest on the team.  They're also the strongest players!  As far as I've seen or heard (when I don't get to watch the whole game), Lizzie and S make most of the goals, and move the ball the most.  They get right in there and take the ball from the bigger girls and just take off!  It's really funny to watch.  Apparently during the game a couple of days ago Lizzie broke off with the ball and took off down the field with a girl from the other team right on her heels.  The other player was at least a foot taller than Lizzie, but couldn't get the ball away!  The goalie saved the shot, but I heard about it again today from one of the other parents, lol.  I saw the last few minutes of Lizzie's game today and kept hearing people yelling "shoot it to Lizzie!".

Notice that these girls (below) are standing practically right next to each other.  Yes, she is just that much shorter.

This is the grin of the girl who just made her first goal!  In her first game!

I really do need to get pictures of Kate.  All I can say is that if we had Sabrina as goalie, Kate as defender, and Lizzie as forward, I think that would be a pretty solid 3 person soccer team!  Amazing.  Especially if you know the extent of my athletic (non-dancing) "skills".

Our Favorite Things 2012

  

First Day of School 2012-2013

This summer seemed to just fly by.  In no time at all we went from spending days at the library and visiting with cousins to getting back on a decent sleep schedule and preparing for soccer.  I'm exceedingly grateful that all three girls still love school.  They were excited to go back and spend time with friends and learn new things (no, seriously!).  Sabrina filled out an "about me" paper at the open house.  It asked what her favorite thing is about school.  Her answer?  Homework.  I'm not even making this up.  She was sad that she doesn't get her first homework packet until tomorrow.  Of course, I remember hoarding times tests and grammar sheets to play school during the summer, so I guess it's just in her blood ;)

Sabrina and Lizzie still look more like twins than older / younger sister.  In fact, Sabrina's teacher assumed Lizzie was a friend tagging along since she looked the same age.  You also can't see it, but Sabrina's shirt has a silver butterfly on it.  I made them each a shirt with their own symbol on it.  Daisy for Kate, sunshine for Lizzie, and butterfly for Sabrina.  Three of the prettiest, happiest things I can think of.

Monday night the girls each got a chance to take a bubble bath in my huge tub, then I painted their fingernails and toenails.  As shown in the bottom right picture, above.

 Michael stayed home "late" so he could walk the girls to the bus stop.  Fortunately I'm not the only mamarazzi.  There were nearly a dozen mothers with various cameras and recording implements.  We were waiting on the wrong side of the street, so when the bus stopped the kids all ran across.  (Upper right corner, below).  Lizzie was on the bus before I got to the right side of the street to get a picture.

There's something about a bright yellow bus and "early" morning sunshine that chokes me up a little.  Probably to do with the fact that it keeps carting my children off!

Michael ended up working from home all day.  We went out to breakfast together (well, ran through a drive through since we were short on time).  I finished baking brownies, went visiting teaching, ran errands and did some shopping, ran back out because I'd forgotten the flowers, and got home just in time for us to go back to the bus stop to pick the girls up.  I have met the girls at the end of the first day of school every year with flowers.  It's a good thing I didnt' forget them this year.  They were expected!  I also cut out brownies with a heart shaped cookie cutter (also for VT because it was a birthday) and the girls got fancy after-school treats.

It is impossible to properly show (though if I slowed the shutter speed down a bit you might get a better idea) how very many words were coming out of the girls' mouths at such a great rate!  (Side note: that top left picture above makes me laugh.  Kate appears to be levitating off the bus!).  They all loved their classes, their teachers, their friends, and so on.  All in all, a very successful first day!

One more note: I was talking to Sabrina that evening about her first long day at school.  I was asking about lunch and how much she ate and where she sat..  She was relating to me how excited she was to see someone who was sitting alone.  I couldn't figure out who it was, though obviously she expected me to understand.  I finally understood.  Sabrina had walked into the cafeteria, looked for someone to sit with, and seen one of the aides for the special ed students sitting alone.  She said that [the aide] looked lonely so she asked if she could sit by her.  Then Sabrina went on about all the great friends who came to sit at the table too.  All special ed students with varying physical and/or mental disabilities.  She thought one boy might be blind because he poured his juice over his corn, then in retrospect mused that perhaps he just didn't realize that it wouldnt' taste very good.  It was absolutely delightful to hear her talking so comfortably and lovingly about these students, using their names and everything.  This is a part of Sabrina I have seen before (can you see why I represent her with a butterfly?) and hope she never loses.  She loves people no matter how they may be different from her.

I'm so glad my girls are happy with school!  We've made it through one full week now.  They're long since asleep, getting ready for another new week.  Bring on the homework!

Welcome Home, Elder Jensen!

 Last Sunday those who were able in my family gathered to celebrate my nephew's return from a two year full-time LDS mission to Bangkok Thailand.  We're delighted to see him again and to hear more of the work he has been doing.  I loved listening to his testimony of the gospel and the love and service that he has spread among the people of Bangkok.  I remember him as a rambunctious toddler and child I babysat regularly.  He's certainly mellowed with age ;)

 Lizzie wanted to play some Old Maid, so Michael and I played a game with her.  She won.  I lost.

These two brothers (cousins on Elder Jensen's other side) were playing a delightful game with cars.

You can't blame me for having a few pictures of J.  He's such a pleasant child and very cute.  These are my favorite of the.... 60 or so picture I took.  What's an auntie to do, though?!

Welcome back, Elder Jensen.  Good luck getting used to "real life" again.