sweet girl

Elise's first soccer game

soccer practice

Elise is getting into soccer, running faster and going to the ball. She still, however, doesn't quite get the whole goal part of the game or that kicking toward the goal would be helpful. Oh well... she's having a blast. :)

Determined and focused! (Check out her tongue Aunt Tarami!) :)

girly girls :)

Our walker.

I'm calling it. Today was the first day Claire walked more than she crawled. At 13 1/2 months she's officially walking.

(Soccer practice video to be posted soon!)

Maroon Bells

Toby had BOTH Saturday and Sunday off - big deal these days - so we had to take advantage of his free time and do some exploring. We stayed in Carbondale and played at the Maroon Bells. Here are the best shots...

This week at the Longs...

33 weeks pregnant

a new trick

wearing Avery's hat and insisting on STANDING on the steps

fun in the backyard

Claire loves the sandbox!

So sweet when all the girls play together.

reading buddies

typical scene after a meal

world's tallest sunflowers???

Kicking the ball around with Daddo...

Are there rules against high-kicking in soccer???

Nice view of the Bookcliffs. Not a bad location for practice.

Proud Papa and his oldest. (The Grand Mesa is in the background.)

water break :)

soccer

I really do have good intentions about not over-scheduling our family. I do.

But... having said that... anyone who has read my blog in the past few months knows that after dance classes ended in May, Elise had swim lessons for four weeks and then started gymnastics in July. And now Elise is testing out her interest in soccer. I'm not really sure how this all happened, but thankfully there hasn't been much overlap, and each activity (other than swimming which is over anyway) is only once a week.

Okay, so now that I've explained my over-scheduled four-year-old... here are photos from Elise's first soccer practice...

First Pres VBS

VBS: round two. Our church in Grand Junction held an evening vacation Bible school last week, and Elise had an awesome time. No surprise - it was a smaller production than what she experienced at Gramma's church last month, but it was wonderful nonetheless. She was at a familiar place, our home church, enjoying all the fun activities with a bunch of her close friends and in the care of a great group of loving volunteers. (OH, I'm going to miss this church when we move next year.) Here she is in the preschool classroom...

Then on Sunday the preschoolers got to sing one of their favorite songs in front of the congregation. They did a great job and were super cute of course. I was a proud mama. :)