Soccer Ian

I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a soccer mom. So far we've had 2 games & I've had a hard time watching both of them. Ian had fun his first game. Here he is before the game:



and, of course Leah had to have her picture taken too:


These beautiful sunny pictures are from Ian's first soccer game. It was a glorious day & Ian's team wound up winning 6 - 2. Ian had more fun pushing around the other kids than actually kicking the ball, but it is pewee soccer. His # is 11.


This foggy, kind of hazy picture is from today. Ian still had more fun pushing around the other kids until the coach told him to not push his own players also...sigh,
so Ian wound up in a bad mood & didn't want to play in the game anymore. Hopefully next week will go better. His team won 2 - 0 this week.


At the end of the games, they were taught to go & tell the other team "good game".



So, we'll see what this week brings. We have 8 more games still to play! Hopefully I'll survive the season. I'm sure Ian will. His skills get better with each practice, so maybe one of these weeks he'll actually focus for the game & enjoy chasing the ball a bit.

My Paris Pictures

Since I've been nagged on Facebook for my pictures from Paris, here they are! I actually took a few, but wish I had taken a few more in Normandy. Oh, well I think I had 8 total & here are 4 that I thought were decent.



Here is the view of the Arc de Triumph from our spot on the double decker bus.



Here are Ian & Lynne listening to the talk on the bus explaining where we were.


Leah also listening in to the tour (I think). She just liked having the ear bud in her ear for awhile.

Here is my daytime shot of the Tower. The red dot at the bottom is the traffic light we had gotten stopped at. I may have to have Marc photo shop it out, I actually thought this was the best picture I took. Hope everyone likes seeing my shots of Paris!

Catherine

Picking Up Ian From His First Day of School

I could barely get Ian to stand still long enough for me to get a picture of him after school. He thought that he was going to get to ride home on the bus for some reason (we walked both ways, we're only 4 blocks from the school basically). We also had to get Leah over to dance class today, so we went from the school to the playground and then over to dance class, dropped off Leah & then Ian and I came home for about 20 minutes before heading out again.




Here he is after I told him to stand in the corner of the doorway for me for a minute.

Here is Ian just before I could get him to stand still. He was still engrossed in everything going on around him at the new school.

He had a fantastic day playing and learning with his friends. We made sure to do his homework and part of his learning is by my reading to him, so I have started to log books that I read to him.
All in all a good day. The kids fell asleep right away at 8 and I'm off to bed shortly myself!

Catherine

Ian's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the big day & Ian was really excited to get to Kindergarten! He had a hard time sleeping last night he couldn't wait to get into his class.



So, here he is getting his sneakers on before we headed out the door to walk over to the school.


Waiting outside for Mrs. Obermite to come take the kids into class. Yes, it was a bit chilly this morning in the 50's or so.


Finally time to go into class. He's the one with the red sweater/spider man backpack. He was third in line & ready to go! I'm not even sure if he said bye to me. He just went & had so much fun.

My last post for a couple of months . . .

For my last day in Germany, before I head back out to Iraq, I fixed up Leah's bike, we took a trip to the Naturwildpark just a little ways outside of Baumholder, and took Ian to his soccer practice. So this will be my last post for several months - hopefully Catherine will post some while I'm away ; )

This photo is of Leah and her baby. Open it for the large photo and you'll notice that she and her baby are wearing the same outfit. Thank you aunt Arlene! Leah loves the princess outfit and the fact that her baby can wear the same thing is just the icing on the cake.

This morning before we left, Ian and Leah were enjoying some cartoons. Ian was oblivious to me, and as I like this sort of shot I ran to get my camera and snap a ton of photos. This was my favorite of the bunch.

And finally, to close out my posts for a while, I figured I'd include a shot of both kids. This one is from the Naturwildpark. They had goats, pigs, cows, donkeys, horses, deer, elk, moose, hawks, eagles, owls, ducks, chickens, swans, geese, raccoons, foxes, lamas, ibises - the list could go on. All in all a fun little walk - especially as the domestic animals were so friendly (beggars is closer to the truth) and the walking path was pleasant.

I hope everyone is well out there. I'll post more to the blog once I'm back from Iraq for good. Cheers!

Marc

Leah the ballerina

Yesterday Leah had her first ballet and tap class. She was very shy at the beginning, despite that she knew the teacher from gymnastics - but was having a great time by the end. Catherine and I actually were encouraged to leave (all the parents were), so these photos were taken at the very end of the practice session. Here Leah is practicing a move in the mirror.

And here Leah is twirling.

Enjoy!

Marc

Another Day in Paradise

My days in paradise are almost over - then I'll go back to Iraq. I am so lucky and grateful that I only have 2 maybe 3 months left in Iraq, then it will be paradise for good for me!

Ian had another soccer practice today. I took loads of photos but decided to only upload these. Here Leah was playing with a pretty flower she had found.

And here Ian is running off the pitch after his soccer practice. He may have actually played more soccer than playing in the dirt today, though it would be close to make a final call : )

Tomorrow is swimming (sorry, no photos) and ballet for Leah. Yeah, expect some photos from that. Cheers,

Marc