golden springtime: T's soccer party

Happy New Year! We are back in the swing of things around here, back to work, back to school, back to the grind. We are busy, busy, busy with school, and church callings & life and trying to get everything done. I think about this blog all the time, and it just seems overwhelming sometimes to catch up. But I'm determined to get at least the big stuff on here. Here's an especially great day, T's 5th birthday!

T invited the whole family to come and watch his early morning soccer game. He's directly to the left of Coach Amanda in the above picture.

Getting directions from the referees before the game. T is #8. He's so tall compared to some of his teammates.

Action shot, he's the one jumping. He LOVED soccer, and was much more successful than his first season of t-ball. He never complained about the running, looked forward to practices and games, and made lots of friends.

It was a chilly morning, but N & A were troopers.

S & K were too, all bundled up in blankets.

I didn't want to interrupt Nana & Papa's view of the game, so I stood behind them and snapped their picture.

Uncle Andrew, Auntie Shelley, Auntie Joan and baby J all came too. It was the whole crew!
#godragons #itfinallyfeltlikefall #soccerparty

T happily greeted N after the short drive back to our house.

The cousins played with balloons while we got brunch ready, lime green for T's team color.

Pancakes are one of T's very favorite foods, so we celebrated his big day with stacks of fun shapes.

Gathering around the food. Grandma is in there!

His highness, the five year old, wearing his birthday shirt & stuffing his cute face with pancakes.

K eating one of Nana's homemade Aussie sausage rolls. Those are a family favorite!

T is always right at home on Nana's lap. Two peas in a pod.

After our yummy meal, we played a couple of pancake themed games. Here's tic-tac-toe breakfast style. This little game is now a favorite of the kids' during church.

The kids played a pancake game relay race while the adults looked on.

These guys watched intently. :)

Me & my sweet boy.

So proud of that toothy smile!

All of the kids liked this pancake game, it's so fun to watch them play together.

Cake time! Of course it had to be a soccer cake for our soccer lovin' little.

The birthday boy, ready for his song & cake.

Finally it was present time. Andy helped him read his cards. He sweetly opened each one.

While T opened, the kiddos played school buses with baby J.

Pieface! Cool!

Reading a card from N, it had a joke in it.

It was funny!

After much present opening and hug giving, Andy got to open his birthday presents, he loves sharing his bday month with T. My parents gave him a ticket to the BYU vs. UC game. It's tough to know who to root for. ;) Nah, #gobearcats!