Soccer Season

Marshall had a blast playing soccer this fall. It only lasted 6 weeks, so Mom was glad of that. But basketball starts this week, and we're so very excited!

This post is mostly pics with some comments. I just posted a LOT more photos on my Shutterfly site, so check those out, too!

Making a goal! Not many of those, but he improved a lot, and made 3 in the very last game of the season.

They don't have goalies at this age, but apparently Marshall thought they needed one, and so appointed himself. Spent a lot of time "guarding" the goal; meanwhile, the other players were at the other end of the field.

Here's what he spent a great deal of time doing: playing with his jersey. Hmmm.

And here's what he spent most of the rest of the time doing: standing around talking.

Audra loves balls of any sort, especially those too big for her, so she was pretty excited when she got her hands on one during a game.

Playin' soccer with Charlie (our neighbor).

And here is what kind of pictures we usually get of Hunter these days. This, or him screaming not to take his picture. Takes after his Mama and Grandmom, there!

Audra's 1st Birthday

Audra's first year just flew by. She's no longer a baby, but a little girl, and she certainly acts like it, too. Wants to be just like big brothers - if they can do it, so can she! Here are some pictures from her party. (More at my shutterfly site!) Can you tell she really likes balloons?

And here is her cake. Three tiers of Caramel Cream cake with Vanilla-Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting (my new favorite frosting, by the way!) Chocolate transfer butterflies and a LOT of royal icing flowers. (There are a ton more pictures from all different angles on Shutterfly.)

This next one was her own personal little cake.

This entry is actually a forwarded email that I received. Now, I hate, hate, hate, forwarding email, in fact I usually don't even read those that are forwarded to me. But my Dad sent me this one, and he doesn't usually forward, so I figured it was worth reading. I decided to share it here instead of by forwarding so that I don't contribute to overloaded Inboxes! It's pretty awesome that someone put so much time and effort into this project. I hope you enjoy it.

This is about 70 miles from Amarillo outside of town called Groom, TX (This must have been
an awesome labor of love.)
Read message at the end of the pictures!

These are the pictures of the crucifixion of Christ
sculptured from metal by a man near Amarillo, TX.

The crosses are made of metal also. The man did
this out of the kindness of his heart.
Someone donated the land
On which to erect them.

Who is Jesus?

IN CHEMISTRY, HE TURNED WATER TO WINE.

IN BIOLOGY, HE WAS BORN WITHOUT THE NORMAL CONCEPTION;

IN PHYSICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF GRAVITY WHEN HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN;

IN ECONOMICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN BY FEEDING 5000 MEN WITH TWO FISHES & 5 LOAVES OF BREAD;

IN MEDICINE, HE CURED THE SICK AND THE BLIND WITHOUT ADMINISTERING A SINGLE DOSE OF DRUGS,

IN HISTORY, HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END;

IN GOVERNMENT, HE SAID THAT HE SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, PRINCE OF PEACE

IN RELIGION, HE SAID NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM;

SO, WHO IS HE? HE IS JESUS!

JOIN ME AND LET'S CELEBRATE HIM;
HE IS WORTHY.

THE EYES BEHOLDING THIS MESSAGE SHALL NOT BEHOLD EVIL,

THE HAND THAT WILL SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYBODY SHALL NOT LABOR IN VAIN,

AND THE MOUTH SAYING AMEN
TO THIS PRAYER SHALL SMILE FOREVER

REMAIN IN GOD AND SEEK HIS FACE ALWAYS. AMEN

IN GOD I'VE FOUND EVERYTHING!

The Greatest Man in History Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer

He had no army, yet kings feared Him..

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

I feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us! If you believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son .. Send this to all on Your buddy list.
If not just ignore it.
If you ignore it, just remember that Jesus said. 'If you deny me before man, I will deny you before my Father in Heaven.
Louis H. O'Bannon

Well, we're in the middle of week number two of school. Marshall is doing GREAT! He's so excited every day, and loves doing his schoolwork. He's on the verge of reading: we're doing 1 to 2 phonics lessons per day, whereas a typical schedule is 3 lessons per week with the program we're using. And he's having no trouble retaining any of it! I could probably do 3 or 4 lessons per day, but we do have other things going on, you know. Here he is on his first day. Monumental stuff in our lives!

As for me, although it is amazing to watch him learn, I was taken aback at how tiring it can be to teach a kindergartener! We get all of his lessons done in about 2 hours a day, 99% of which I am talking and trying to keep him focused. Not to mention, since Audra is such an attention hog, we're having to do this during her naptime, which was formerly when I would get stuff done. So now my days are much busier, and I am more tired at the end of them. But it's worth it when I see how much he is learning.

The boys had a fun-filled weekend. This past Friday Marshall, Hunter and Daddy got to "camp" in our backyard. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores for dinner, then Mommy and Audra got to go back inside for bed, while the boys "slept" in the tent (I'm not sure there was too much actual sleeping going on). They were very tired the next day, but Daddy was brave, and took both of them up to Fenton Lake to go fishing. He didn't think they were paying much attention to his instructions, but they've been practicing every day since, and are actually getting pretty darn good at casting.

Of course, Audra can't be left out of anything, so we have to let her carry around a pole, too.

She is now officially a toddler, I think. We've been very struck this past week or so what a big girl she's become. It won't be long before she's talking!

Don't forget: I've added new pictures to my Shutterfly site this week!

Marshall is 5!!

I can't believe my baby is 5 years old!! And starting school. Wow. I'm just speechless. Here are some photos of his Wall-E birthday party, and a few of him from years past.

Baby Marshall, just one week old!

His first birthday.

Marshall and friend, Ethan Reed, at Marshall's 2nd birthday party. This was right after we moved to Tennessee, and little did we know what good friends these two would be!

Birthday number three.

Fourth birthday party. Arrr, matey!

Back row: Katyana and Sydney Reed

Middle Row: Ethan Reed, Hunter (none too happy about taking a picture), Dmitri

Front Row: Nathaniel and Marshall

(I'm not even going to try to spell Dmitri and Nathaniel's last name, because apparently I don't have it written down anywhere, and I'm sure to get it wrong...sorry!!)

And finally, here's a couple of pictures of the Wall-E cake I made, which I am rather proud of. It's definitely the most elaborate cake I've done to date. It was 3D, and consisted of 6 layers (that's 3 whole cake mixes!). The eyes, arms, wheels, etc. were made from carved styrofoam covered with fondant icing. The body was cake. The cake flavors were Triple Chocolate, Decadent Strawberry, and Caramel-Vanilla-White Chocolate. The icing was Vanilla Bean, flavored with real vanilla beans. Yum! (If I do say so myself). My cake philosophy: If you're going to eat cake, and all the calories therein, it may as well be very good cake!! Otherwise, why bother?

To see more cakes I've done, visit the My Photos link on the left. I've also added more NEW pictures from Marshall's party and from the last few months. It's about time, isn't it?