Ross Reflections. . .

Logan had her first soccer practice today and it was all I could do to stop smiling. Logan spent the third year of her life saying, "when I turn 4, I can play soccer." She has gone to soccer games pre-birth and today was FINALLY her day to shine. She laced up her cleats at 2:00, practice beginning at 4:30 and was in uniform, head to toe in Noah's old stuff from when he was four. She was SOO excited and loved every minute. During practice she would look over to me and shout, "Look mom, I'm playing soccer." She has spent her life cheering for Gary's team and Noah's team, now it was her turn and she didn't care that it was only practice, in her mind, it was the World Cup finals. Her uniform is purple and yellow, so of course I am so excited for her to wear it to Taylor's games. After practice we talked to her coach, who also happened to coach Noah a few years ago. He was amazed at how talkative Logan was and he thought it was funny how she would...

We stayed at Gary's parent's house and had a great time. Thank you so much mom and dad!!! We might just have to make this a yearly trip if you'll allow us. Funny side note, right before I took this picture I threw my keys in the grass but failed to pick them up. My brother-in-law happened to be staying at the house and arrived later that afternoon to find my keys. What luck is that??? Thanks Dan!! This day was to be another marathon shopping day. We headed to IKEA and then to Jeffersonville Outlets somewhere in Ohio. Kristin and Dez had the biggest finds of the day. We were determined to pack it all in which required UNpacking everything first in the parking lot. The picture below shows Dez sitting in her new bedroom chair, bought on CLEARANCE for quite the deal. Below captured our third and final trip to Graeter's in Dayton. This is my favorite picture of the weekend because it is the only one with all five of us.

This day can quickly be summarized in just a few words, 12 hours of shopping, no time to take pictures, a few detours, and yummy food. A few of us discovered Noodles n Company? (Is that the right name?? We called it Noodles,) So delicious. We had a late afternoon snack at Graeter's (2nd time), of course, and even had free cones due to our lovely colored pictures.

We didn't get very far before we stopped to eat and shop, Muncie. (25 minutes away) We ate at Qdoba and went to Target. I can't think of a better way to start off a girl's weekend. We made it to Cincinnati and headed straight to Graeter's. This was my only request of the weekend, Graeter's ice cream everyday!!! I didn't have to twist any arms. Thanks girls. Pictured: Dez, Beth, Traci and Kristin

Our nephew, Jack, has a goal to receive his black belt within this next year. As I write, I am so proud of him and know he will definitely reach his goal. Watching Jack test for his red belt was one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. Noah and Logan were silent and still the entire hour watching everyone test and spar. They were amazed and mesmerized. Jack did incredible and I was so glad to be a part of this night. Noah will be signing up for Tae kwando (however you spell it) after soccer season, inspired by Jack!!! I look forward to having a nephew with his black belt, you never know when that could come in handy. Ha, Ha. Just a cute picture of the girls.

Jack and Noah had a lot of fun jumping off the diving board. Here are a couple of the creative ways they chose to jump. Ally is SOOO good with Logan and really takes great care of her. They swam for hours and had so much fun. Logan is getting very comfortable in the water and she learned to jump into the water off the side with Aunt Luci. This was Isaiah enjoying his first bag of Cheetos. Does he look happy or what?? He didn't move for about 20 minutes, until every kernel was gone. We had a great afternoon and perfect weather. We had to pack up around 4 to get home and rest, Jack was getting tested for his red belt later that day.

You decide, who had more fun??? Gary or his niece and nephew, Ally and Jack??? Noah and Logan both enjoyed singing High School Musical songs with their cousins. Logan wanted to do whatever Ally did. She loves Ally. We drove over to Lafayette to spend the night at Gary's brothers. Dan and Luci are always so fun to be with and once we put the kids to bed we had some Wii time ourselves. Dan and Gary would have played for hours and it was so fun to watch them. Gary was singing at the top of his lungs and Dan was strumming right along. They were having so much fun but then Dan had to go to the course and take care of an alarm that was going off. That was around 11:30 when the guys left and Luci and I decided to play the Wii . Well, all that I can say is that when Gary and Dan got home close to 1 am, we were still playing. It was so fun!! I am terrible at the drums and the guitar and knew better than to try singing but we had a blast.

Amanda and I commented that these boys were made especially cute by God because they are trouble. It is their age and stage not their personalities but this picture may have been their only time playing peacefully. Landin has a wonderful vocabulary but can't understand Isaiah's limited word bank. They will be good friends soon, but Landin spent a good amount of time with Logan and Livy. Landin and Isaiah reminded me of Noah and Caleb at this age, Noah and Landin being the instigators , although Isaiah managed to get Landin in a head lock on the beach at the lake the last day. I look forward to watching their relationship grow as the years go on. I am very thankful Amanda came and that we are committed to getting the kids together a few times each year so they can be friends and grow up with fun memories of seeing each other . It is a lot of work on our part, but we saw the fruit of this work in the older four this visit!!!

Livy and Logan are such a blessing to us. Amanda and I comment a lot during our visits that girls are just easier. These two are usually off playing, having a tea party on the porch, playing games, cooking food for pretend, playing in the sand, etc. I love the picture of Logan and Livy in matching swim suits. Every summer Amanda and I shop together and occasionally end up buying matching things. The boys, Noah, Caleb and Landin also sported their matching suits at Taylor lake during their visit. It was very cute. Amanda also is so generous and thoughtful giving Logan Livy's clothes. Logan loves the fact that her friend Livy wore the clothes and Logan kept asking Amanda to show her everything she brought. I had to hide the winter coat and matching hat because is was 90 degrees and Logan was insisting on wearing them.

Sunday night Amanda arrived with her three kids. She hadn't visited my house since I was pregnant with Isaiah. I was so excited for her to be here for three days. I so love my time with Amanda, even if we don't get time to really talk until late at night when the kids have finally settled down and we look back on our day. A lot of times it is CRAZY and chaotic, but our kids pair up so well that there are more peaceful times than not. Today's post features Noah and Caleb who are so very different but they love each other and enjoy playing together. Caleb always says that Noah has been his friend the longest of anyone, since they were born. It is fun to watch their relationship go from Noah pounding the crap out of Caleb at 1 1/2 years old to Caleb spear heading adventures in the snow at his house and this building project in our garage. The really new thing in the boy's friendship is playing webkinz together. Noah gave Caleb a webkinz for his birthday and this visit was ...

This afternoon we were interrupted visited by the Demorest family and the Heths. We hadn't seen either family since we arrived home from Michigan. The Demorests popped in unannounced, we sat around and laughed while the kids played. The Heths joined us all and Justin showed us his new circus act bike. It seems Justin is starting a gang in Upland with Brad Yordy and Steve Morley who also have these two framed bikes. Gary and Pete each took a spin. My kids were so excited Cooper came over and Logan kept asking Hannah if Cooper missed her when she was on vacation. We are thankful for both of these couples, they are truly a blessing to us.

On our last day we asked the kids what they wanted to do, pick one thing! Fishing was the answer without a doubt. So Gary, Grandpa, Noah and Logan headed to the rock pile one more time. They only caught one fish but it was a BIG small mouth bass, the largest fish caught at the rock pile in years. I love Grandpa's boat because when I stay back at the cottage with Isaiah, he has a special tank in his boat that fills up with water and they bring the fish home with them to show me. I was very thankful they caught a fish and Logan finally caught her "whopper."

For the record, I was in the water and my hair was WET!! I promised Noah I would swim in this lake, I had been putting him off when he kept asking me to swim in Taylor Lake. The sandbar is our family's favorite thing that we do during our time up at the cottage. Today the entire lake was like glass and it was hot, in the 80's. Gary said he couldn't remember a more perfect day in all his years up north. We packed up a picnic lunch, towels, sunscreen and more and piled in the boat. We took about a 15 minute boat ride and then lowered our "hanchor" as Logan called it. This sandbar is so great because Noah can touch and we are still far from shore. We turned up the radio which seemed to be playing "oldies" to us, all music from our high school years which was fun to sing along. We ate and swam, threw a football and frisbee and then Grandpa and Grammy rode the wave runner to come and join us. This was a first and it was great because Grandpa took the kids on...

Raven Hill Discovery Center was the first activity today. We woke up to clouds and decided to take a field trip. We hadn't been here since Logan was Isaiah's age. We met Grammy and Grandpa there and had a great time. My favorite part is the animals that the kids get to see and hold. I was very proud of Logan, she surprised us by holding everything that was offered. Isaiah was brave and touched the lizard, but felt like the snake was too scary. Gary's mom always says, "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute." And it is soo true. By the time we left Raven Hill the sun was shining brightly and Gary was itching to get out on the water. We spent the afternoon waverunning and playing more games. After dinner we took a boat ride. Logan and Noah always like to help Gary drive the boat. The evening was so pleasant that it seemed the perfect night for a campfire. We put Isaiah to bed and headed back to the beach to enjoy the sunset and eat s'mores. Logan too...