Yummy Strawberry Jam

Today during the younger girls naptimes, Kylie and I made jam!

She was so excited about it, and she was such good helper. I gave her a plastic knife and she now knows the proper way to cut a strawberry.

Kylie was also in charge of the masher. (better her than me)

And... Voila!

We have JAM!Baby Kadyn woke up at the very end :)

We were licking our fingers, the jam tastes so good!So, somewhere along the lines I got the numbers mixed up. I needed less fresh fruit and more pectin. (I love the summertime fresh fruit sales!) So I've got loads more fruit left and we'll be making a pectin and jars run first thing tomorrow morning.

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Next on the list is another batch of strawberry, then a batch of blueberry, then a mixed fruit batch (of everything leftover!).

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Matthew had long meetings this morning so no family picture.
Big thank you to Grandma for the pretty blue and white polka-dot dresses! Kylie took this picture of us so that's why it's a little blurry, but it's my "Happy Half-Birthday Present to Myself" outfit :)

*right about now, my husband's documenting and counting when his half birthday is... so he can take advantage of the half birthday present to myself holiday :)

Thankful Thursday

A plate is probably appropriate for this post :)

I love the fresh fruit that comes with summertime. My refrigerator is loaded with yummy strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. I'm eating them all the time, and savoring every yummy minute of it!

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side note: Kacey is better, the fever went away leaving us with the stomach bug. Kylie then got the fever, but she responds much better to the fever reducer. It seems the stomach bug has missed her, I'm very thankful for that!

Matthew's Vacation Post

He felt I deliberately left out a very important picture, on purpose of course.

So let me right my wrong and post the picture. I added the second two pictures for him also!

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Busch Gardens

He's on this ride, in the very front.

Wildwood

Loads of Vacation Pictures

Vacation highlights (in chronological order): Got a beautiful rental car~ which we deemed to be "our next vehicle" within our first hour of driving it, we went to Wildwood beach, went to NJ to visit with my cousins, went to Hershey Park, had a traditional big family dinner with Matthew's grandparents, drove to Southern VA to see my Oma, went to Busch Gardens, went to Dutch Wonderland, and hit the outlets and did big time shopping... because you all know we are clothing deprived.

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Saturn Outlook, which we ended up not enjoying. Story at the end.

Our family photo on the beach,

Matthew's brother, Bryan, is waving in the back :) Hi Bryan, we love you too!

Playing at night on the pier...

On the Tram Car

I'm childless on the Tram Car :) .... ahhh....

Uncle Bryan took Kylie on this, it was a window fun house/maze.
And a slide at the end..
Kylie only went on it because she knew Uncle Bryan would have so much fun :) Then we left the beach and drove to my cousins in NJ. These are her boys, G and Frankie.

My Aunt Chiarina

Kadyn and FrankieAll of Us Our trip to Hershey Park

Kylie's height was a Reese's... my fave!

The girls with their cousin, Addy, on a ride. Kylie and Kacey just loved playing all week with Addy!

More...

The Chocolate World tour with Grandma and Grandpa... you get free chocolate at the end :) Kacey and Grandpa watering the flowers. This is one of the only pictures I had from Sunday! The morning went by so fast we didn't have time to take any Sunday Pictures :(
Kacey's doing my hair.

Monday morning we drove down to visit my grandmother. The Washington DC Temple, where Matthew and I were married, overlooks the 495 Beltway.
My Oma :) and her 3 great-granddaughters.

Busch Gardens here we come!!!!

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks!

Kacey getting her face painted.

Kylie getting her face painted.

On the log flume. Kacey and Oma at Das FestHaus. The best place to eat at Busch Gardens!

The girls were very entertained by everything.

In the grape buckets in Italy.

Kacey screamed her head off each time this ride went down. Poor Kacey.

Back up in PA, Kylie beat Matthew at Wii bowling. It was awesome, he's not the type of person to let someone else win. Ever. Not even he's 5 year old daughter. So this was great :) Kylie really was freakishly good.

Now at Dutch Wonderland...

Group shot, for the matching ladybug outfits of course!

Look at Kacey's mouth. SO FUNNY! Again poor Kacey. And she goes so willingly ON the ride. She knows what's going to happen :) Sweet little thing, we hardly ever heard a word out of her.

Matthew's pretending he's Emmett.

The kiddie waterpark in Dutch Wonderland.

Kylie was pretending to be Ariel, from Little Mermaid. She seriously, would NOT get up.
We had to bring Kacey to her for a photo.

Before we left for the airport, we went over to see Matthew's Grandparents one more time... we got a nice photo.

*** It was a fun trip. We packed the days with family and adventures, we definitely made the most of our trip! We had lots of fun seeing family and friends that we don't see on a regular basis. It was fun catching up. And big hug to Kaylan (my college roommate who married Matthew's brother, Brad's friend). I didn't get any photos of you :( but I love you and miss you.

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If you still care to read...Here are the lowlights, well 1 lowlight. Our fancy shmancy, "this is going to be our next car" died on us. Not just battery died type of deal, but steering wheel won't turn, car won't go in reverse, now it's dead and let's sit in the 90 degree, 100% humidity for 90 minutes waiting for Budget to replace our vehicle and we're 5 feet away from hitting another car... real bad. Ugh. Did I mention we'd just spend the day in an amusement park, we were tired and dirty and hot and just wanted to shower, but again... had to wait 90 minutes and the quickest thing they could get to us was a Nissan Murano, which was smaller than our rented vehicle. We only had 1 day left on our vacation, so we took what we could get. I did however get a 10% discount and an additional $30 credit to my already great rental deal... and we got a free gas tank out of it. But still, it was ridiculous!

Back from Vacation

So many pictures to choose from (500+), I'm not sure where to start.

But we are home- Kacey spiked a fever. For the past 24 hours, she hasn't gone below 100... mostly around 102-103, but as high as 104.8. :( She's cranky and tired. So let me just post one picture for now from our trip, and I'll do more later when I can sort through...

Going across left to right: Rosie and Bryan, Brad and Amanda, Addy, Grandpa, Kacey, Kadyn, Grandma, Kylie, Aaron and _______ (insert girlfriend/wife here, we're waiting Aaron!!!), me and Matthew

Thankful Thursday

So we're coming back into town after a vacation... and how great do I have it???!!!!

While we were away, my mom did all my ironing (and the worst- Matthew's dress shirts that need all the starch and whatnot, I probably had 2 dozen shirts hanging up in the laundry room), she cleaned and organized my pantry, my refridgerator, my freezer, my 2 other cleaning/storage closets... she took care of our Maggie Moo Moo's, which includes medication every 12 hours and all the various potty breaks, she started my cars... found my van battery dead, called AAA and waited for them and got a new battery (which was FREE because her and I together as a team are unstoppable!), wiped down all 4 bathrooms just to make them "sparkle," picked up my contacts from Sam's Club, picked up the girls' new ballet slippers I ordered from the dance store when they finally got delivered, added various chemicals every few days for maintenance of the pool, and got my mail... AND is stocking me up with fresh milk, bread, etc... how awesome is my MOM!!!!!! :) Momma, you're the best! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

No matching dresses today, I know... shock of shocks!

But they had other cute dresses we needed to bring out of the closet :) Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!
All the girlies!

Thankful Thursday

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We had Enrichment a week ago, a fabulous one if I do say so myself... the food alone was to die for I digress, anyway one of our sisters taught a motivation class about the Power of 30. Essentially, it's how dedicating just 30 minutes a day, or a week, or a month, can really organize you and make you feel like your accomplishing things and progressing in your life... instead of always being behind.

Anyway, this sister did such a great job and I (as well as I think everyone else) was truly motivated. I've done so much this past week in short little spurts, really organizing myself and getting things done-- not just ordinary weekly tasks like laundry and ironing... but digging deep in the closets, and Kylie's school supply corner, and cleaning on the top of my fridge (which accumulates so much junk because that's our go to place because the munchkins can't reach it!!!).

This week I've had a great feeling because I've been making more with my time, and taking control to get things done. I'm really grateful for Sister Gee and her fabulous lesson!

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Oh goodness... we finish lunch, get ready for pictures... and the camera battery's dead. So we go to the second choice camera. That battery's dead. Come on. I dressed the girls adorable, festive for Flag Day... so best option was to take pictures when we came home from chuch. But I think everyone's tired and disshelved. Anyway, you see how cute and patriotic we are. (Matthew even came home from his earlier morning meetings and changed his tie to a flag, to match us.)I love this one of Kacey Lacey!!! (that's not her middle name, Matthew and I aren't that cruel!) :)

Thankful Thursday

I have had an overwhelming response to my "Coupons to Troops" post. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm getting batches in the mail from people I don't even know... it's so wonderful to see people using their time and effort to show support and to help make the temporal needs of our soldiers' families more easily met. I've got families just getting the paper to clip the coupons and send them my way. How great! In my opinion, the annual pay that these military families get is not sufficient for their duty they dedicate to us and our country! So it's great and easy to help out.

Again, if you're interested.... get me your expireds!!! It's such a waste to throw them away! I ship to a naval base in Guam and an army base in Germany. The military families (well, mostly wives gives the feedback) are so appreciative. And it's nice for them to know that we care... even when it's a whole bunch of coupons!!!!

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Matching Gymboree Dresses!!!

(not me- them)

Originally, I had these dresses for Kylie and Kacey but thank you ebay! I was able to find a larger one for Kylie, and Kacey went up to Kylie's size and Kadyn got Kacey's!

A moment of silence for the shoes. Seriously, no lie... my favorite pair of shoes. I like them so much, they don't go on the ground with my other shoes. No No. These go up on the top shelf, away from the other shoes (or children wanting to walk around in my heels).

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The girls went to their first baptism on Saturday. They were very excited. Kylie regularly talks about how the Daddy hold his hand here, and you hold your hand here... and dunk. In fact, she likes to pretend in the pool. So I was thrilled for her to be able to see one for the first time and even more fun, it being her friend Bryan who was getting baptized. (that and I secretly hope Kylie will marry Bryan- but that's another story) Kacey was also very attentive during the baptism.. to the point that I was afraid she was going to jump in... she was a little too close for me. I had to go up and grab her.

Soccer Season Comes to an End

And today was our last soccer game. We had a fun season, and Matthew looks forward to coaching us again next year. This year we seemed to be on the younger end of the age bracket... so next year, we're gonna be awesome!!!

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Here's our Team Photo

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For the last quarter, Matthew put all the girls in for 4 minutes. And then all the boys in for 4 minutes. It was fun seeing all our cute girls out there :)

Ummm...

Naptime's been rough in our house over the last week. Kacey's been reluctant, and I'd give up and say she's outgrowing it (like I did with Kylie)... except for the fact that she really needs it! If she's doesn't get her nap, you can tell... and she cries all afternoon long. Everything will set her off. So I try desparately to get her down to nap.

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I used to be able to shut her door. No good. She's walks out, I put her back in. She walks back out in 5 minutes. Repeat routine 100 times.

So we use a baby gate. No good, she's learned to climb over it.

So we double baby gate it. Oh yeah, Matthew and I are pros. We learned this trick from Kylie.

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I walked up the steps and this is what I found.

So I peek in, and this is what I see. Now I'm nervous. I didn't hear her at all, so I'm not sure where she is.

And this bed is JUST right!

At least she's asleep.

Although this isn't a habit I want to create. It's bad enough she wanders in the middle of the night and I usually wake to her head on my pillow. But she's staking claim now! :)

Coupons to Troops

Check this out!
http://thefinancelady.blogspot.com/2009/06/coupons-to-troops.html

Thankful Thursday

My greatest daily challenges are definitely my most valuable blessings.

It's funny how that works.

(too bad that doesn't make the challenges any easier)

1. We were in the store, and Kacey heard someone take the Lord's name in vain--- which she knows is not allowed. She said quiet loudly, "No, we don't say that. That's bad. We say 'Oh my gosh or oh my golly." Good job Kacey! Of which, she smiled at me that sweet little adorable smile and then said, "I'm a good girl."

2. Kadyn's crawling! Last week, it was more of an army crawl but she's learning fast. Now she's working on getting her behind up in the air... but she's a quick little slider on the ground. It's happening really fast; all of a sudden she could sit up on her own, then the rolling, now this... I can't believe she's nearly 9 months.

3. Kylie is really maturing right before my eyes. (Truth be told, I just hate it. I will be the Mother sobbing outside the kindergarten room that dreaded first day, reluctant to leave in case my super independent child needs me... haha... so someone be there to walk me out). Don't get me wrong, Kylie has her fair share of attitude. But all in all, she's such a big help around the house and with her sisters. She'd give Kadyn the food out of her mouth, or more appropriate- the toy out of her hand, if that's what Kadyn wanted from her. The love she has for her sisters, and her willingness to take care of them as the "big sister" is just great to watch.

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~~~~Little sidenote story: I've noticed that at Ballet, Kylie's very mothering to Kacey. In fact, no way no how Kacey would be able to be in that ballet class without Kylie. She'd be too scared. But Kylie's always one step ahead of her, helping her with this or doing that. At one part in their routine, all the girls hold hands to make a circle. Kacey's a little slow, while Kylie's one step ahead of everything and knows when the circle part is coming. No matter what, Kylie will stop and wait to be sure she's got Kacey's hand during the part. Even if other little girls that are around try to grab Kylie's hand, Kylie won't do it. She waits until Kacey realizes what's going on (and Kacey always goes right to Kylie, even if Kylie's further away- I mean there are 12 little girls in the class, but Kacey finds Kylie) and Kylie then takes Kacey by the hand to do the circle part. It's small and simple; no one else would notice... but I notice. I notice it every time. It's precious.

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

We finally figured out how to get Kadyn to not look at Daddy anymore in the pictures. Matthew literally snaps his fingers in front of her face as he sits down with us (running from setting the camera timer) and then hurls a toy over our coffee table (right in front of the camera) before it clicks for a picture. It works! Genius!

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SIDENOTE: Loved, Loved, LOVED, the New Moon trailer. Here it is if you're living under a rock and missed it, or if you're like me and just want to watch it again (and again) and maybe again :)

http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities_blog/2009/05/new_moon_trailer_watch_it_now.html

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Daddy got some cute pictures of the girls this morning. But then they were burnt out and family pictures were rough!

Keep scrolling, you will see... This was before I got to her... Matthew's unskilled in the bow department. Love those blue eyes!

Love my baby's curls. That's completely natural, just a little detangler spray!

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Okay, so come join us in our little morning photo shoot...

Focus girls... Kacey, put down the milk. Kadyn, camera, look! Kylie, good girl... keep it up!

Everyone say, Tinkerbell. Kacey what are you looking at? Put the milk down.

Somebody take her milk, Kadyn look at the red light... not at Daddy.

And affirmative... we hid the milk.

Yup. That's it, we're done.

Thankful Thursday

This is probably implied in nearly every post I do, but I am SO THANKFUL to have 3 beautiful little girls. I never thought I'd have girls, Matthew's from a strong line of boys... who have sons... So I figured I signed up for boys and there was nothing that could be done.

When we found out Kylie was a girl, I was THRILLED. And I thought it was a fluke. I figured I'd had my one girl that I could do prom with and whatnot, but the rest would be boys. Then we found out Kacey was a girl... ECSTATIC! You all know the crazy levels I hit trying to find out Kadyn was a girl. I'm truly blessed to have 3 little girls, I consider it to be an honor to be the mother of my 3 beauties.... and I'd gladly take more little girls if Heavenly Father would have it that way!

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

We went orange today,

I love Kylie's face~ she's so happy to be the pickle in the middle.Matthew even accommodated us with his orange and blue tie. My tan little babies...

You learn something new everyday

*Quick Soccer Game Update*

We survived the hot sun and heat of a noon game... the big highlight was I learned something about myself today that I really didn't know before.

Kylie was goalie for a little while. She must have blocked 6 goals in that quarter! She was really awesome, we were so proud of her! At this one point (all you moms that were there, know) this punk of a kid on the other team kept kicking the ball, it just wouldn't go in because Kylie kept blocking him... every time, she kept blocking him. But it was too close for comfort for me; this kid was overly aggressive. I'm not crazy, he intentionally pushed some of our players. Matthew (who was right in the thick of it) said there should be a rule that they can stop it because with 5 year olds and their "coordination," it could be dangerous. (This was all a matter of like 5 seconds by the way.)

So this little brat of a boy let out a grunt (Matthew said, being on the field) and kicked hard as anything in frustration... totally whacked Kylie's hand. She was squatting, so we were lucky he didn't kick her in the face. I was outraged to say the least! I mean... come on, they're 5. That's ridiculous. It was all I could do to not go and smack this little boy and then go over and knock the living daylights out of his mother! I probably would have if Kylie wasn't running over to me with a puffy, red hand. (I'm Italian, my blood boils very quickly. Mess with my kid, and I'm going after you. And you're lucky if it's me, because if it's my dad... then it's really going to be ugly.)

Yeah, so I learned a little something about myself today. Maybe this isn't a sport we should pursue. After all she's only 5. It can only get worse.

(PS- the ball didn't even go in, she blocked it even while getting kicked)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Mother's Day, Pretty in Pink

POOL time!

The pool got up to 90 today, so that's where we spent our afternoon! SO fun!

This was Kadyn's first pool experience- well not being in my belly. It was nice not being pregnant and being in the pool.

PS- Okay, it's summertime so we get asked all the time. That red mark on her arm is called a hemangioma. It's a benign self involuting tumor that appeared when she was about 2 days old and has gotten larger (typical). It will eventually disappear by age 8-9-10 leaving minimal to no visible marks. It's more common in boys, and most often on the face or trunk. SO we consider Kadyn very special for having it-- and it being on her right arm. (It's probably because I read too many vampire books while pregnant.) But it looks like lip marks. I tell Kylie and Kacey that Kadyn was kissed by Heavenly Father before she came to us and that's why she has it. But now we won't be asked another 500 times about it, not that it bothers us, but we repeat it alot :)

This made me smile...

So keeping track... this is the 6th night in a row that I've done bathtime/bedtime by myself. Matthew's been gone for what seems like forever. And I feel like I deserve an award... Kari (one of my fabulous roommates from BYU... Kaylan obviously being the other fabulous one!!! love you girls!!!!!) must have been in tune with me, because she sent me this and it totally made my day! Thanks girl, Happy Mother's Day to you too!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=Hw5T6cqGh2NQ_jL1e_DTnjM4NjM5Nw--&referred_by=16021997-lY47R6x&p=moveon

Green Day

A whole new meaning to going green...

Thank you Aunt Judy for all the pretty dresses!!!

We miss you Daddy, try to survive the humidity (hehe!).

He's been there for 12 hours and he's already complained about 8 times.

Kylie took this one, she wanted her picture she took on the blog... this was the best one~~ my head was cut off in the others :)

Sunday

*Quick Week's Highlights*

-Soccer Game yesterday... we WON! Kylie even scored a goal yesterday, WAHOO! (yes, she got $5)

- Yesterday, we used the pool for the first time! Matthew's already sunburnt (not kidding). I just can't wait for my babies to be tan again, I love that.

-Kacey developed a fever out of the blue. She's got no symptoms at all, other than being really hot. Needless to say, no church for her.

-Matthew's already left for a business trip in Boca Raton all week. He was just gone 2 weeks ago, for an entire week. This stinks, but Kylie's excited because when he's gone I let her sleep in my bed.

-With all that said, no Sunday afternoon pictures which is a shame because I had cute outfits picked out... :)

Anderson Dairy Field Trip

Yesterday, Kylie's Preschool went to the Anderson Dairy. There's free ice cream at the end so I sacrificed and decided to be a chaperone! Cookies and cream, if you're curious... :)

It was really fun, the kids loved it!

More Ballet Pictures

So this might be ballet overload for you, but it was just the cutest little thing watching the 2 girls. And it was awesome being able to pull it off and have that hour just sitting there chatting it up with Missy and our babies.

Look at Kacey in mid-air...

Ballet Girls

The girlies after their ballet and tap class~

So cute!!!

Kacey, Chloe, Kylie, Riley

* Thanks for the picture Missy (she remembered her camera, I however did not)

Mid-Week

So we really do exist other than Sundays... and we have other clothes, besides matching Sunday dresses.

I put Kacey in Kylie's ballet class on Mondays. It's for 3-5 year olds- no comment. Kacey fits in fine :) and they love it. Kacey sticks by Kylie, always behind her ready to follow. Kylie's a good big sister toward her, she was always trying to help her or hold her. I was just happy we didn't have any "accidents"- one being potty and two letting it slip that she's really only 2. shhhhhhhhh!

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This is us in our Nike shirts :)

(Don't laugh, it will get worse. Kylie, Kacey and I have matching navy blue Paris shirts and white jackets... I coudn't get one small enough for Kadyn)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Kadyn looks at him in nearly every picture... he thinks it's because he's her favorite (fyi: she says Dada like there's no tomorrow)... Really she's looking at him because he's just ran from the camera- to set the timer- and into our picture. :) I keep trying to teach her Mama, it's not working so well.

Sailor dresses, gotta love it!!!

*The funny thing is I have 4 of these dresses.

Thankful Thursday

1. Dare I say it, could it be true... Kacey's potty-trained. (?) I'm really shocked, Kylie was sooooo much harder.

2. It's take your daughter to work day! Kacey's going with Daddy in the morning, then we'll trade off... Kylie's got Preschool in the am, so she'll go in the pm and Kacey will come home for her nap.

3. That brings me to be thankful that Kacey still takes a nap. She'd be an ornery little devil if she didn't!

4. My super great, fabulous friend from high school is in town on business and we get to hang out ---- shut up Aaron/Bryan, it is the biggest high school east of the mississippi :P--- ANYWAY, she's obviously super fabulous because she's worth keeping in touch with for over 10 years! (we bonded in sophomore p.e.) And she's gorgeous, so ladies... send a brother (or cousin, etc) her way!

I'm so excited to see you Heather! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Kylie and Kadyn, look at the camera!
Kacey, camera...look!

Kadyn, don't eat Mommy's hair...

Kadyn Daddy's tie isn't food!

Let's zoom in...

Alright then, I'm thinking it's lunchtime!
(this is my dress count #2... and yes, you're seeing short hair)

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How many pictures do we need to take to get 1 of everyone looking at the camera? :)

1st Soccer Game

We had our first soccer game. It was really fun, and I'm excited this is going to be our regular Saturday morning routine for a while now.

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This is them getting ready and warming up... Go BLUE! Kylie loved being goalie...
She even blocked a goal, although one did get by her.
(explanation: They had a phenom on their team, 5-6 year old my behind! This girl was a head taller than the rest- now Kylie's tall (usually she's a head taller than her friends), but this girl was a head taller than Kylie... and she was missing both top teeth! NO way that's 6 years old. I wasn't the only parent that noticed, we were all talking about it... but we tried to remind ourselves that it was just 5-6 year old soccer and it's all just for fun, although my competitive nature seems to be right on the surface...) And right about here, Matthew was telling her that she wasn't goalie the whole game (they all have to share turns)... She's #1, she cried.

It was really fun. I bribed Kylie that if she makes a goal, she'll get $5 bucks. (Thanks for the idea Missy!) She almost got a goal, so close... she asked at the end of the game if she was getting $5 bucks, I said no. My dad thinks I'm horrible, and he's got $5 waiting for her the next time he sees her.