Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day. We had some gifts that we gave to Donnie, but what was so thoughtful was that Donnie surprised us and gave us each a card. Inside the cards to David, Machella, Elyssa and Joshua, Donnie told them how much he loved them and how they were special and how grateful he was to be their Dad. He also included a little extra "surprise" in the cards for them. The kids loved the cards and leave it to my wonderful husband to think of everyone else on his special day. Later in the day we went to Donnie's families house and had a lot of fun. It is so great to have family close. The kids love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I am so grateful to be married to someone who truly loves being a Dad and is so involved in his kids' lives and is such a great example to them.

Our Soccer Princess

Kella started playing soccer this summer. She's never played before, but since her brother was playing basketball she wanted to do something and thought soccer looked fun. We let her know that there would be a lot of running ... but this didn't dissuade her. So ... we took her to buy soccer cleats, pads, shorts and her own pink soccer ball.

She has never played before ... so it has been a lot of fun learning how to dribble, pass, shoot and all the other soccer rules. She has great ball control and has picked up on the game really fast.

All the running hasn't been too big of a deal for her. She's tired after the practices, but can really move and keep it moving the entire time (it probably helps that her father is on the sidelines yelling "encouragement" at her the entire time).

Her team put up a good showing at their game on Saturday, but fell short of the victory. Kella played goalie the 2nd half of the game and no one scored on her. She blocked quite a few shots and didn't let anyone intimidate her (way to go girl!!!). It's fun watching her learn the sport and push herself.

David's First Basketball Game

David started playing basketball with the YMCA this summer. He's always had an interest in basketball and played on the intramural teams at school in Bakersfield ... and now gets the chance to take it up a notch. His practices are at least 2 hours a day 2 days a week and he has games every Saturday. His coach runs and drills the team hard ... which paid off since they won their first game this past Saturday.

David is one of the fastest kids on the team. He is aggressive on the court and doesn't let any of the bigger boys or boys with more experience intimidate him. He keeps up with them and gets in their face. During the game on Saturday he had some great rebounds, blocks, steals and passes.

We're really proud of David and happy that he is really getting into basketball.