Year 2, Season 3...Bring on the soccer!

Today we began Eli's third season and second year of soccer. In Sugar Land, TX, we have a spring season of soccer and a fall season. Last year, he played both the spring and fall in a league called FFPS (Fun Fair Positive Soccer). But this year, we wanted him to get to play with his best friend, Max, so we signed him up for a league that is in one of the neighboring sub divisions. I love living in Sugar Land, but one of the things I definitely do not like is that there is no city parks and recreation as far as youth sports goes. You have to find leagues to play in and these leagues are pretty expensive. To cut down on costs, Bill is Eli's assistant coach. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Bill and Eli together, which I meant to do, but perhaps I can do that at another game.

Photo 1: Max and Eli warming up for their big game. And their first game was on Bill's birthday!

Photo 2: Getting a pep talk before the game. Bill (in the orange) is standing while Gretchen (Max's mom) is bent over talking to the team. Eli is next to Gretchen, then Max, then that cute little blond child in the all orange is Brady! He was so cute out there, he got to warm up with the team and then listened to Gretchen so intently. He was pretty upset when he found out he didn't actually get to play. The other two children on the team are Jalen (next to Brady) and Ryan (#10 ). Ryan and Jalen are both 4, and the difference is obvious between them and Eli and Max.

Photo 3: Eli going after the ball, Max running along side him waiting for a pass. I will admit, Eli and Max passed the ball to each other better than any 5 year old's I've ever seen!

Photo 4: Eli chasing the ball trying to get a goal.

Photo 5: Eli dribbling down field, Max next to him.

Photo 6: Eli dribbling through 2 defenders. (Ryan behind him and Max in the rear.)

Photo 7: Max and Eli after a hard fought game. While Eli and Max were together on the field, we were winning. When one of them came off, we started losing. The final score of this first game was 7-7. Eli had 3 goals, Max had 3 goals, and Jalen had 1 goal which he scored on a kick off. (Hey, that still counts, right?) In this league, there are only 3 kids on the field at a time and there are no goalies. High scoring is the norm around here.

Photo 8: Max and Eli, best friends since they were 18 months old. We look forward to many more years of playing sports together!

Daddy's 34th Birthday

Bill turned 34 today! Yesterday, Friday, we celebrated by having his parents, Big Daddy and Gran Betty, over for some hamburgers and watching the Elite 8 on TV. We ordered an ice cream cake from Ben and Jerry's, but they had made us the wrong kind. So I called back and got another one made for free! Yay for 2 ice cream cakes in our freezer!! Yum yum! Here are some pictures of the birthday boy.

Photo 1: Bill and his mother, Betsy AKA Gran Betty

Photo 2: Bill and Betsy with Brady and Eli (standing). And yes, all 3 boys have on the same shirts. We have to wear the same shirt at school on Fridays. I didn't see any reason to make them change. :)

Photo 3: Brady with Daddy and his first ice cream cake. (And Gran Betty's foot sticking out. :) ) I didn't have 34 candles, so I have 3 together and 4 together to represent 34 candles.

Photo 4: Blowing out his candles. Happy Birthday!

For his birthday, Bill got a Playstation 3 (which we purchased at an auction a month ago) from myself and the boys. He has been playing lots of football. From his parents, he got Best Buy gift cards and he got $200 from kids at school, so he bought a Sony home theater system with it. He also received a very nice white polo from my parents. Then today, we went out to Lupe Tortilla (his favorite Mexican restaurant) to celebrate. I think he had a good birthday! We love you, Daddy! :)

Max's Western Birthday

Eli's best friend, Max, turned 5 in January, but just had his party today! The Granville's had it out on this little farm type place called the "Hitching Post". It was so cute and the kids had a GREAT time!! They got to ride a pony, take a tractor ride, pet the animals, and play all sorts of other games that the owner had set up on his property. It was sunny and in the mid-70s today, so everything was perfect!

Photo 1: Eli petting the pony that they got to ride later, Sugar. You can't tell very well in this picture, but this pony's hair was dyed pink and purple!

Photo 2: Brady and Eli swinging.

Photo 3: Eli and Max fishing in the swimming pool for fake fish with plastic fishing rods. I'm not sure they actually caught anything, though. :)

Photo 4: Brady's way of catching things...with a net! Forget this fishing rod stuff!

Photo 5: Eli trying to lasso a fake calf. Daddy is to the side trying to give him directions. Sadly, all their attempts were unsuccessful!

Photo 6: A different view of Eli trying to rope the calf.

Photo 7: Tractor rides! Eli is in the first compartment behind the tractor (riding alone). Brady is in the next one behind Eli with the orange shirt on. He is sitting with a boy in blue. Brady rode this thing every time the man took it out. It was his favorite part of the whole day.

Photo 8: Bull riding. The kids had to hold on to this "bull" while the man who owned the property had it buck around like a bucking bronco for 8 seconds. Brady would not try this one.

Photo 9: This is me trying to Eli's picture with the horses. There was always more interesting things to see and do, so this is the best I could get. Oh well.

Photo 10: Horse riding time! Here is Eli riding Sugar.

Photo 11: Eli, a real cowboy.

Photo 12: Brady's turn to ride Sugar. He had such a hard time waiting in line. He loved getting to be on the horse!

Photo 13: Sweet little cowboy Brady!

Photo 14: Eli and his friend, Riley, trying to work together to get the water and the ducks back to the duck racing station. When they got the bucket back to where it belonged, Eli told Riley to let go, he'd put them back by himself. When he did so, Riley exclaimed, "Eli, you're so strong!!" Impressing the ladies at age 5.

Photo 15: Eli, Max, Grant, and Riley fishing.

Photo 16: When they took the real pony away, Brady had to find his own to ride. I think he would have stayed there all day if we would have let him. :)

Rodeo Day

One of the things that the boys get growing up in Texas that I didn't is a certain amount of western culture. (Although Houston is hugely western, it is more so than Mississippi or Nebraska!) The Houston Rodeo is a huge event through the month of March every year. To celebrate this heritage, Cornerstone had a Rodeo Day. The kids were supposed to dress up as cowboys and then they made bluebonnets and sang western songs and painted cowboy boots and hats and things like that. Here are my little cowboys on Rodeo Day...

Photo 1: Cowboy Brady and Cowboy Eli

Photo 2: YEE HAW!

Boys and Performances

One of the joys of getting to stay at home is getting to watch my boys play so well together. On Monday after school, daddy bought both boys a new book from the school's book fair. They still haven't put those things down! Here are a couple of pictures of Brady and Eli "reading".

Photo 1: I guess this part must be pretty funny. (Brady and Eli)

Photo 2: More reading (Brady and Eli)

Photo 3: After a little more than a month, I finally actually have their beds together correctly. Not that the beds weren't together, but I didn't have sheets or anything for them! So here they are in their matching brown sheets with their blankets that Nana made for them. They have been aptly named the "Nana blankets". :)

Photo 4: Eli and his best friend, Max at their Patriotic Pre-school Program. They did such a great job. It was for the 4 year olds through 1st grade, so Brady didn't get to participate.

Photo 5: "Keep your eye on the grand ol' flag!"

Photo 6: I wanted to get all the other kids in this so you could see how cute they were looking like a flag. There were a lot more kids to the right, but I have to be able to get my Eli in the shot, too. He is on the bottom row, sitting, next to the last.

Photo 7: Eli and Max singing "God Bless America"

Photo 8: After the performance...best friends...

Photo 9: Last shot of the day, poor Brady had to get in one! Brady, Eli, and Max

Welcome to the Family, Major. Love, Eli

This post is to Major from Eli. Please see below.

Dear Major,

I am so happy you are going to be my little brother. I cannot wait until you are here because I'm going to show you how to read the book, "Lion's Lunch", how to color, and how to play games like football. I will take care of you and protect you always. I will be going to kindergarten soon after you are born, but I will take care of you, play with you, and hold you just as soon as I get home. I made the picture (see below) for you of your new family. I can't wait to play with you!

Love, Eli

Major, this is your family. From left to right is Mommy, Eli, Brady, Daddy, and you. I only put an "M" for your name because I don't know how to spell it. I put you next to Daddy. I love you!

Eli

One Last Time

For a while now, I've been wondering if I would have the chance to have a baby again. One last time...one last time to hold a little one, take care of a little one, and love a little one. I am so thankful and so blessed to get to do this one last time. We discovered in November that we were going to have another precious baby! On February 16th we found out that the baby is going to be a boy! His name is Major James Moore. Major was the first name of both my great grandfather and my great-great grandfather. James was my grandfather's names: James Doyle Jones AKA "Pops". Pops was one of the greatest men that I have ever known. He died on July 2, 2002, 2 days shy of being 82 years old. I am so thankful that my sweet baby boy will carry on the name of such a wonderful, God-fearing man. Here are the ultrasound pictures from February 16th:

Sweet Major sucking his thumb. Neither Eli, nor Brady were thumb suckers, we'll have to see if this is something that Major does, or if this picture was just a fluke. :)

The profile of Major's face.

It is a little hard to see here, but that is Major's fist.

Major's face, looking right at us.

Major is due on July 13, 2011; however, since I have to have a c-section, he will probably be born sooner than that. We have not set the date yet, but regardless of what date it is, come mid-July, I'll be holding a baby again, one last time!