Yay! Soccer season is here, once again, and we LOVE soccer season! This year is going to be extra fun because, after 3 years of sitting on the sidelines and watching her Bubba play, Cady finally gets to join in the fun! Monday evening was their first practice and they were both excited, but especially Cady. She was fully dress (including shin guards) a couple of hours early, even though I tried talking her out of it. The socks and shin guards only lasted about 30 minutes, though, and then she decided to wait until practice. :-)
Colin is once again coaching the older, U8 team. Three out of the seven players have been there since the team was started in 2006: Colton, Mckaela and Ethan. This year, Colton is so excited to have Travis and Tyler, his two best friends from daycare (when he was younger) as fellow Red Rangers! His friend, Taylor, from school is also back and there is a new little girl named Alex that joined the team. I love the fact that he is still a Red Ranger, wearing his black and red uniform. I don't know too many others that have been with the same team since they were 4!
Cady is also a Red Ranger, but on the U6 team that is being coached by our friend, Michael. I guess you could call them sister teams because they practice at the same time, same place and hopefully, their games will be back to back like they were last year. I think it is great that they are both Red Rangers and will have the same uniforms! She is playing with Mckynze, so that is a big deal to her!! This is Mckynze's second year, along with Cameron and Brevin. New ones to the team, besides Cady, include Max, Kaci (another good friend of Cady's), Carly, and Taylor, a friend of Mckynze's from school. Here some of them playing a name game with Coach Michael at the beginning:
The funny thing is all the "c" and "k" names on the team and those are the girls that have them! From left to right it is Kynze (actually Mckynze, but everyone calls her Kynze), Kaci, Carly, Cady and Cameron!! Good luck to Michael on not getting tongue-tied! I know I will!
One of their first drills was to do the crabwalk while kicking their soccer balls:
I was excited for it to be Cady's first soccer practice, so of course, I was out there with my camera. I promised Michael that wouldn't happen every time, especially when my daughter stops in the middle of a drill to look at the camera and pose for me!! Whoops!!
In this drill, they called each others names and kicked the ball back and forth:
She had a great time and I know she wishes that every day was soccer day! Games begin the weekend after Labor Day. GO RED RANGERS!
He even took some old pavers we had lying around and made her a foundation, complete with a little path leading to her door, which I thought was a very nice touch!
She is so excited to play and cannot wait for Bubba to get home from school so he can join her. I actually think he is just as excited - he already has his holster and pistols hanging in there, so he has made himself at home!
Thanks, Daddy! You are the best!
Now she needs to furnish it - although she won't have much room left after that!!
The back window is open and there is a little shelf with a bench.
Cady's cute and cozy casa:
I have also been working on many projects (with the kids, too) and will post some of my accomplishments later. Although, none of them were as big as this one (thank goodness)!
Cady knew we were doing something special because I felt more guilty about waking her up so early since she didn't start back until today, but we never said anything to Colton and he never noticed the time. Finally, on the way there, Colin asked him if he got any breakfast and he said, "Oh, no! But I will be fine until lunch" and then Colin asked how he would like to go get breakfast and then he put it all together and was excited!
He was all smiles when I picked him up yesterday and couldn't wait to tell me about his day! I was so glad he had a great time! But, the honeymoon was definitely over this morning, as he was cranky before he even crawled out of bed!! Happy days are here again! :-) I snapped one more picture of him this morning with his lunchbox (he bought yesterday):
Cady's first day was this morning and she could hardly wait!!! So excited last night - even letting me french braid her hair after her bath so it would be full and curly this morning ("Taylor Swift hair" is what she calls it)! While her brother was moaning and groaning about having to get up and go to school, Cady crawled out of her bed on her own, before 7, and ran into our bedroom and said, "Boo!" with a smile! She didn't have to be to school until 9, but she got dressed right away and was ready to eat breakfast! Here are her first day pics:
The lunchbox she chose this year can be worn as a backpack and since she doesn't really need a backpack until Kinder, it is perfect! 
Since I cannot get her hair to hold a curl, I love it like this every once in a while and think it is a nice change from flat and straight!
We saw rockets, rocket engines, capsules and they even had a whisper station that Colin and Colton enjoyed! Then we moved inside with the air conditioner.
This was an actual case that carried rocks back from the moon:
The kids' favorite level was the one that had part of a shuttle that they could enter and all kinds of buttons and switches to play with.
They also had a simulator that let you try flying a shuttle that Colin and Colton both tried multiple times. Colin didn't want to leave, though, because he crashed on every attempt while another little kid probably around the age of 12, got it off the ground every time he tried!
The kids loved the exhibit with a stream of air blowing a ball up! They laughed and giggled like crazy! 
Below, Colton is posing with a picture of Mr. Clyde Tombaugh, a hometown hero who discovered the planet, Pluto. The school Colton attends is named for him. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.
Colin used tires on his:
And, here is Colton with his:
Cady and I each made one, too, but I didn't get a picture loaded of Cady's and mine fell apart into a bunch of pieces before Colin could take my picture! It was the best, though - trust me! ;-)
It is a nice museum and we all really enjoyed it and learned a lot! 
Colin has to honk EVERY time we drive through there, and I really don't know who enjoys it more - him or the kids!! Sometimes other cars join in the honking with us and sometimes I worry we just annoy them!! It is tradition, though, and I am the biggest tradition person I know, so how could I just sit there and smile!!
One of the neatest things to play on was this:
