At last.... ballet!!!

Ms. Keeley is so excited to FINALLY be able to take ballet!
She was going to start back in February, but fractured her collarbone instead. :(

Anyway, she is taking a short summer ballet/tap class, and she is absolutely loving it!!

The studio has large windows into each room, but they are a weird 2-way kind of mirrored window, so the photo quality is horrible. Oh, well!!



Outside the room, switching into tap shoes.


Before the tap portion started up, I snuck in to snap a couple of quick photos.




Here's Luken, looking through the window at his cute little sis!!






Getting a stamp on her hand at the end of class.


Showing off her stamp.


I asked her to sneak back into the room with me for a few more photos. :)












That's all I have for now... I hope to get some better photos later this summer. :)

Soccer Practice

Keeley's soccer team has been having practice once a week, and I thought I'd bring my camera along to the last one, as it's outdoors, which is more ideal for photos!

This time, Todd came prepared to help out, and had some fun drills for the girls to do!

Before practice, he took Keeley out to get some new shoes, and some cute pink shorts, as well. Doesn't she look so very cute????!!!!







Keeley got pretty frustrated during one drill (and she was already starting out overtired...) and melted down for a bit.




She took a long water break, and then got back in it for a super fun drill called, "Kick the Coach!"

The girls all thought that one was fantastic! :P



Soccer sweetie. :)








This drill was called "Score a Goal!"








Too cute.




Receiving instruction.

(It's so cute that soccer balls double as seating!)



Keeley and her friend have lots of silly times together!




Time for a scrimmage!




And some more silliness.






After practice, our family went over to have a picnic dinner at an outdoor shopping complex across the way, where they play live music every Friday evening. There are some steep grass hills there, and kids were sledding down them on flattened cardboard boxes. We had so much fun, but we were so hot and tired when we finally got home! We hit the showers, and put those tired kids to bed!

The next day, Keeley's team had their second soccer game, and they won that one, as well! It's so fun watching them! (I left the camera home for that game - just wanted to watch!)

Roller Skating Fun!

Last weekend, Keeley's very good friend, Hailey, had her 5th birthday party at a skating rink in a neighboring city.

Keeley had been there a couple of times before, and Luken once. Both kiddos were invited to the party. :)

The kids were raring to go when we got there. Once they were all laced up into their skates, they wanted to get right onto the rink. I didn't set them up with trainers right away (they are two planes of pvc piping on wheels,) as I wanted to see if they could skate without them. Both kids did really well! They both fell many, many times (and have the bruises to prove it!), but they both stuck with it and kept trying and trying!

Keeley stuck mostly to the smaller side rink, but Luken braved the big rink with the big kids!







Unfortunately, the air circulation in there wasn't very good, especially in the back on the small rink, and Keeley was a sweaty mess!




There's Luken!






They had sooooooo much fun, and can't wait to go back! We'll just dress a little more comfortably next time! :P

Meet the Golden Girls!

Ms. Keeley has expressed an interest in playing soccer, so we signed her up for an indoor summer league. Yes, indoor. This is Texas. There is a great sports complex just a few miles from our house that offers a TON of different activities, all indoor, and this is such an awesome option for summer!

Last week, we found out our team assignment, and it turns out that the coach lives just up the street, and I used to play in a neighborhood Keno group with his wife a few years ago, when Luken was still pretty itty bitty. This is a fun reason and time to reconnect, and their little girl will be heading off to Kindergarten with Keeley in the fall. :D

The team name is Golden Girls, and we have a sweet bunch of girls on the team! Several of them are real go-getters.

Their first game was this past Saturday. There is one regulation-sized soccer field in one section of the building, and they have sectioned it off into 4 small fields, and it is all surrounded by a wall of plexiglass. This makes for a less-than-ideal photographing situation, but I did my best!

Keeley chose jersey #5, because she is 5 years old. :)

Goooooooo Golden Girls!!!






The games are 4-on-4, no goalies, and substitutions are on the fly.
Here is Ms. Keeley during a rest.


She spied me looking at her, and flashed a sweet smile! :)


Woohoo! She got in on the action!




At halftime, Luken played waterboy. :)




I switched to a different vantage point.


Gooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllll!




Here comes another one!




After 2 20-minute halves, the game was over. Our Golden Girls had scored 20 goals!!!!! Wow!

Here is a proud Daddy with his sweet soccer player!


Cutie!


Enjoying some celebratory Dippin' Dots. Yum. :)


That's it for game 1. We are enjoying watching Keeley learn to play. In that first game, she didn't get in there and kick the ball a whole lot, but she ran and ran and kept up with everyone just fine. I think once she gets a bit more comfortable with the whole concept, she'll be kicking away!