1st Soccer Game

Thanks to all the rain we have received over the past few weeks, our soccer games have been cancelled. Thankfully, the rain FINALLY stopped and we were able to play our 1st soccer game a couple nights ago! It was so much fun! With this being Jack's 1st year to play, I had no idea what to expect. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed in the laughter department. It was so much fun watching those little boys and girls run up and down the field trying to kick the ball. Most of the time, if they got the ball they would just trip over it...so stinkin cute! I brought a chair to sit in, but I did not sit at all...it was way too much fun to sit and watch...nope I had to stand =)
Jackson did so good! He started off as goalie! I was so surprised! He did so good though. He played it for the first half of the game, then he changed to a field position (sorry I do not know what the correct term is) The whole time Jack was goalie, only 1 ball came to our end (mostly because the kids could not figure out which goal to kick it in. HA!) But the one ball that did come toward our goal, Jack blocked! And I do mean block...He literally dove on top of ball and stopped it. (turns out his daddy has been working with him on that and he actually listened and remembered to do it!) I was so proud of him!
The league we are playing in does not keep score for this age group...well let me tell you...this mommy kept score =) Sorry, I see nothing wrong with competition. Our team won 5-1! YIPPEE!
Below are some pictures from the game: (these pictures were taken by my wonderful friend Kelly, who is a GREAT photographer! I am so glad she was able to catch these great shots!


Jason giving Jack some pointers =)


Go Jackson!


Way to hustle Jack!


Defending the goal


Jack and Charlie...2 of the cutest little boys ever! Charlie is Kelly's (the great photographer) little boy. Charlie is also a great soccer player! He scored 3 of our goals!

Jessica

Fall Decor

Well Fall is offically here =) And I am soooo excited because I love to decorate for fall! In a previous post I gave y'all some ideas for decorating. Well I have finally got my house deocrated and those pictures have really come in handy for me. Below are some pictures of decorations throughout the inside of my house as well as the outside.


Fall scene in our yard. This is not quite complete. I am going to be adding some more pumpkins after our trip to the pumpkin patch. Plus I will be adding some mums.


Lamp on the kitchen counter.


Close up of the larger pumpkin


Close up of the smaller pumpkin


View of the left side of the kitchen


View of the right side of the kitchen


Close up of the fall plate


Close up of the pumpkin


Side table in the living room


Close up of the pumpkin on the side table


Dining room table


Close up of urn on the table


Scarecrows by the fireplace


HA! Sign says "No Crows" HA HA!


Close-up of pumpkin sitting on the mantle


View of the mantle


Full view of the fireplace and mantle


Close up of pumpkin sitting on urn by the fireplace


Wreath hanging on the front door. My mom made this for me =)


Set up on the front steps. The mum will be yellow once it blooms =)


A view of the front entrance way...I can not wait for the mum to bloom.


Another creation by my mom. This is by the front flower bed.


Door hanging going into the kitchen from the garage. And yep, another creation by my mom. =)

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my fall decor. As I add more mums to the fall scene I will take more pictures. Thanks for stopping by! =)

Jessica

More Tastey Tailgating Recipes

It's Saturday...which means College Football...which means consuming lots of yumm-o food =) Today I am going to share 3 recipes that I am making today. These are VERY easy and hardly ever do we have leftovers after I make these.



EASY CALZONES
2 loaves frozen bread
1/2 lb salami, sliced
1/2 lb ham, sliced
pepperoni
mozzarella cheese, sliced
Jar spaghetti sauce (shhh don't tell my grandmother I did not make it from scratch)

Thaw bread and roll out to about 8 1/2 x 11 size
Layer meats and cheese in the middle of the bread
Roll dough over meats and presses edges together
Bake 375 for about 20-25 minutes (until bread is fully cooked)
Heat spaghetti sauce for dipping




Spicy Black Bean Dip
1 pkg of Tastefully Simple Spicy Black Bean Dip
water
shredded cheddar cheese

Mix water with Spicy Black Bean dip
Heat in microwave for 2 minutes
Stir
Let stand 10 minutes
Put shredded cheese on top




Nilla Dippers
Vanilla Wafers
Peanut Butter
Semi Sweet Chocolate Bakers Squares

Spread Peanut butter on a vanilla wafer and top with another wafer
Melt chocolate squares in the microwave
Dip wafer sandwiches in the chocolate
allow to cool on wax paper in fridge for about 10 minutes (or long enough for chocolate to set)


Enjoy and WAR EAGLE! =)

Jessica

Field Trip

Today, I had the honor of accompanying Jack on a field trip to the library. It was so much fun. Jack loves to go to the library.


Jack with some of his classmates. There are a couple missing because they had not made it to the library yet. There was also 4 out with the flu (3 kids plus the teacher...ick...I guess it will start making its way around the preschool now)


Waiting on story time to begin. The children got to listen to 2 cute books. =)


After story time the kids got to make a craft.


The finished product =)


My little man and me


Jessica

Homework...

Who knew that k-5 would have homework??? Not me! I seriously can not remember having homework until I was in like middle school (but knowing me, I probably finished at school or on the bus so that I did not have to do it at home)
Well, so far Jack has had homework every weekend. Not much homework...but homework nonetheless. (I guess I need to get prepared huh?) It has just been little things like practicing writing, reviewing Spanish, and whatever else they did for the week. Right now school is still in the "review and recap" stage so I am sure as the weeks go by, it will get a little more involved. Over this past weekend Jack's assignment was to make a family tree. The idea was to decide what kind of tree our family was, complete a sentence about it, and then each member of the family make something on the tree. Fun right??? Yes =) The suggestion was to choose a fruit tree. The only rule was we could not use "Nut Tree" Well there went my idea right out the window. HA! The sentence to be completed was " We are a _______ tree because we are _______ " After much discussion, we agreed on being an apple tree. (original huh?) Below is our Family Tree:


We each drew our own apple and cut them out. I crinkled up green tissue paper for the leaves and then used pop dots for the apples so they would stick up (kind of 3-D) We had to write our name on the bottom so I just colored the tree trunk.


And here is our sentence..."We are an apple tree because we are sweet to the core" HA! OK quit laughing everyone.... =)

Now for the really silly stories:
1. We were working on this project during a really big NFL game...so Jason was in the hurry-up mode. =) You know the one where he is rushing us through the project and telling me to just color the tree and not take the time to crinkle up tissue paper. He even remarked that he was having flash backs to studying for tests in high school...seriously...doing a craft project reminds you of studying for a test??? He makes me laugh =)

2. Jason did not find the apple tree very original, nor did he think it truly described our family. Want to know his idea????
"We are on Oak Tree because we are a hunting family" He suggested we draw people sitting in tree stand holding bows pointed at a deer standing beside the tree.
I wonder what the school would of thought of us had we actually done that???


Jessica

Family Day

Today was Army Family Day for the Reserve unit that Jason is in. This year it was held at a park close to our house so it was nice not to have to drive too far. Over the past week, it has rained every single day (today included) When we woke up this morning it was raining...all I could think was "oh great, how am I going to entertain the kids under a pavilion at a park that they can not play on?" Luckily, the rain stopped and held off during the Family Day. The kids LOVED playing at the park (and we have the muddy shoes and shorts to prove it) We had a great cook-out, held a drawing for prizes (which we won an outdoor game set), played on the playground, and fed the ducks. It was great to see the guys and their families that Jason was deployed with. I became close with several of the family members over the course of last year so it was really good to see them (and for us to all have a smile on our faces) I am getting a little choked up thinking about last year and how the kids and I along with another family went to Family Day last year with out our guys to show support for them. That was so hard....... So glad that we are a complete family this year. Please take a moment to say a prayer for all our soldiers who are deployed and for the families who are left behind holding it all together.
Below are some pictures of our fun Family Day:


Jack and Madi


Jack waiting on Jason to bring his food.


Does this face say "I am having fun or what" =)


Madeline sitting in the hum-v


Jack "driving"


Jason and the kids (before they pulled him over to the swings)


Time for a push on the swings.


Playing on the playground


Jackson feeding the ducks.


Madeline feeding the ducks.





Madeline and me


Jackson and me

Jessica