Soccer Finally!

With all the rain we have had soccer was a bit postponed.

Jillianne and Ireland each played their first game of the season today.

It was cool and windy, but at least it wasn't snowing like last years first game.

So the first thing we had to do this morning was go through our barrettes to get some soccer essentials.

I very much enjoy watching the seven and under division which Jillianne is in, because they all run and congregate around the ball, it so funny to watch.

This year Jillianne is actually getting into the game, the first two years she was too busy socializing on the field or picking all the clover off the field.

I wondered if she even liked going but she would tell me after how much fun she had had and she was smiling. I guess that's all that mattered. (Oh and they all got really cool snacks after the game)

Jillianne's team has come up with the name

BANANAS

and their pre-game cheer goes like this:

Let's play safe

Let's have fun

Let's Go Bananas!

Yeah!!!

Kind of catchy if you ask me.

Ireland has enjoyed soccer right from the beginning.  At first she was apprehensive about getting hit but after a few games, dug right in.

This year she has moved up to the thirteen and under division.

She is now on the big field and the games are longer.

They are quite competitive and play really well at this age, makes for a tense sideline sit.

Although her team didn't win today, she played a great game.

The night before her first practise she was pretty excited as to what number she was going to be and she said " Oh I hope I get to be number one."

When the coach pulled out her jersey and said "Oh, you get to be number one"

The smile that spread across her face was pure delight.

In other exciting news Kerrington, I and some friends went grad dress shopping last night at the mall.

We looked for about three hours and Kerrington tried on about five dresses.

She picked out a really sweet dress.

I am not allowed to tell any details or post any pictures.

I was told "Mom it has to be a surprise."

So you'll have to wait till June 11th for the big reveal:)

Until next time,  Joceline



The Fire Family Room

My dream family room would have a stone fire place and some sort of fluffy plaid couch with cream coloured coffee and end tables.

Since I love my husband immensely our family is room black, grey and red.

You guessed it. Fire Fighter colours.

Funny when I was a child I remember greatly dis-liking my grandparents black leather couch and yet that is what is sitting in our family room and I'd have to say it has grown on me.

It is quite fluffy and remarkably cozy.

So moving on, Mark's ideas for the room where quite unique, like putting a light bar from a 1953(?)

Fire truck on the ceiling. He rewired it and it will flash when we turn it on.

The girls have danced to many songs with this light going.

It is really cool.

The border around the room is an actual fire hose.

This poor guy has ended up wearing a pink night gown occasionally due to a certain red head who is under four and a half feet tall. Daddy didn't find it as cute as she did :)

This is Mark's favorite piece in the entire room. His birth-mother cross-stitched it for him.

The detail is incredible.  It is so well done and full of love, it thinks that's why he loves it so much.

Until next time,  Joceline

Our Egg-stra Special Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend.

We started it off right with a terrific Easter egg hunt.

A local church in our community holds a huge Easter egg hunt for the children of the town.

They have 16,000 eggs to be collected, all with chocolate inside and some with tickets for prizes.

We have brought the girls to this special event for quite a few years now and it always gets them so excited.

This year it was held in the arena because of all the rain we have had.

The fields are so full of water the eggs would have floated.

We dyed some Easter eggs Saturday afternoon, which we always use as our centerpiece for our Sunday dinner.

On Sunday morning we had our own little mini egg hunt, and whoever found the special egg got to open the present for them to share.

We bought the movie Tangled, the girls have wanted this movie since we saw at the theater. 

They have watched it about six times already!

Such a cute movie.

After our egg hunt was done we prepared for church.

Mark was on to play the bass and I was on for singing, so we needed to be at church by 9:00am.

Our hunt took more time than I had anticipated, so we off course rushed out the door.

We had just finished our worship time when I remembered the ham, which was still sitting on the kitchen counter.  Oops :)

So I slipped out of church to come home and put our Easter dinner in the oven.

It turned out just fine.

Dinner was great and then off to my Grandmother's for a visit with all my extended family.

Then after that off to my mom's for a Hallmark movie night.

By Monday I was spent, but the house needed some TLC.

Monday night we took the girls to see the movie Hop. 

It was a great way to end our Holiday weekend.

I'm glad to be back to routine because I need a break! 

Until next time,  Joceline

Cozy Little Kitchen

My most favorite room in our home is probably the kitchen. Next to the dining/school room, it is where I spend the most time.

When we were choosing colours for this room, I wanted to see something soft and creamy.

Since the house is old, I also wanted an old farm kitchen feel to it.

The colours we chose were cameo mist and olive green. The wall paper is covered with fruits and vines. This was the second room we re-finished because I couldn't wait to get my dishes out of their boxes. It has been ten years since we painted and hung this paper and I still love it.

This adorable clock followed me home from Hobby Lobby last year;)

I don't like my water cold so instead of a water cooler we went for a counter top water pot.

This definitely helps with the old farm kitchen look.

When we were looking for a new kitchen table, I had a picture in my head as to what I wanted and I literally could have drawn this set out.  It is what I had been dreaming about. Who knew Tepperman's could read my mind!

Well, you all know how I feel about this little fella.

I suppose now that you've seen the kitchen you can be more sympathetic to my desire to have a cream coloured mixer.

Thanks for being so understanding:)

Until next time,   Joceline

Playroom

We are very glad that our house has a little room that we turned into a playroom.

It is nice to have a place for all the Littlest Pet Shops, My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcakes,

well you get the picture.  With three girls we have alot of things girly and pink, which really raises my appreciation for the term "a place for everything and everything in its place." 

This adorable little room actually sits right off the dining room, which is a really unlikely place for a playroom and kind of concerned me when we chose it.

All I can say is that this was a wonderful choice for me as a mom.

I have so enjoyed the past ten years of listening to my girls play.  The stories, the imagination, their creativity astounds me, the sweet little songs they sing (most of which are made up),

I would have missed all of this had we of chosen another room. 

Sweet little moments that have stopped me while I busily worked in the kitchen one room away, have been so worth it.

So if any of you are contemplating a playroom off your dining room, don't hesitate. Do it!

But one word of advise, we do have a set of doors to close off the playroom, just in case the creativity turns into a giant mess.

Until next time,  Joceline

Dining Room

Having a dining room was a requirement that Mark and I had settled on when we were house hunting.

When we had seen the for sale sign in front of this house we said to ourselves

"If the staircase is straight ahead from the front door and there is a dining room, we want it."

Well if you remember from the foyer post, the staircase is straight ahead and to the right of that is the dining room.

Mark and I had purchased a formal dining room set about a year before and we didn't want to have to sell it or cram it into a kitchen area, it just wouldn't fit.

So a dining room was a major selling feature to us, not alot of homes now days have this lovely area.

We are also very fortunate because having this extra table space has turned this room into our school room as well. During the week we have A-frame bulletin boards set up on the table so each girl has a

private space of her own to work in.

I have always wanted a room specifically just as a class room but our home just doesn't have that one extra room, but we have made the best of this and I actually enjoy being in the centre of the house because if the girls are all working independently I can slip into the kitchen or laundry room and catch up on some small household chores. 

So this works for us.

Until next time,  Joceline