Soccer Ladies

The girls just finished this season of soccer. They had so much fun and the weather was great for the whole season. Both girls have gotten so good at soccer. It was so much fun to see them progress in the game and bond with their teammates. Here is a sneak peek at the fun we have had these last few months.

 Tess Age 9.  Team: Pink Widows.  Best position: Defense

Alexa age 6.  Team: Dragonflies Best position: Goalie (if they had one)  At age 6 there is no goalie yet.  Lexi would see the opposing team coming with the ball and run in front of the goal!

 What a kick!  Too bad it was blocked and did not turn into a goal :( 

 The LOUD cheerleader!

 Alexa in action.  I did not get a picture of it, but Lexi did score one gaol this season!!!

Another one of Tess' "almost" goals.  She never got a goal but blocked many!



Trick-or-reat

Displaying the pumpkins they Papa carved!

 All ready to go trick-or-treating.  The weather was warm enough that no coats or umbrellas were needed!!  Brooklyn did not quite say trick-or-treat properly, but who wants to correct a three year old that's so excited.  She would proudly yell "trick or reat" at each house.  The girls had so much fun and are still giddy about the amount of candy they have!

Doesn't Brooklyn's face say it all??  Let me go already!

Back to School

September is here and that means back to school time!  Here are a few pictures of the girls on their first day of school.  Brooklyn and I are now good buddies seeing that we spend all day together, just the two of us :)

Let the good times begin!!!!

SAY WHAT?????

We are moving! Joshua was offered an incredible opportunity at a new company and we are taking it. The move is only 3 hours away to Portland, OR. We are definitely excited for the changes and new friendships to come, although it is very bitter-sweet. With the new opportunity we are leaving the family business behind, as well as the family we lived so close to. The friends we have now feel just like family and will truly be missed as well. Hopefully 3 hours will not feel too far for us to visit each other often.


I am taking a much needed break in packing to update the blog….we are officially out of our current house in 5 days!! This summer will go down as one busy busy summer for the Hollinger family. Immediately after school ended we took off on a road trip to the beach…or was it? We told the girls it was a beach trip to California and actually ended up at Disneyland!! They were in shock for about fifteen minutes before the squeals started. It was fun to surprise them, but I was really bummed I did not get screams out of them! While driving to California Josh got a call from a company he was communicating with about a job offer in Arizona. We were considering a job change and it was looking good that the new company, Highway Technologies, was interested in Josh. Highway Tech. then told Josh there was an opening in Portland and they wanted to meet with him for that position. Yay! That is not a far move and he knows Oregon laws and restriction’s when it comes to road construction. Oh, wait they want to meet with you in three day’s……crap! Here we are on our way to a nice family vacation. My parents and sister are flying in to meet us, and Josh needs to leave? Once the shock wore off we purchased a one way ticket for Josh to fly from L.A. to Portland and decided that the girls and I would drive home without Josh, gulp! Josh did get to enjoy a couple of day’s at Disneyland with the family before flying off. As you can guess, he got the job, the girls and I got home safely, and we are very glad we did the necessary sacrifices to get the job. He got the job and was told he would start in two weeks! Let the craziness begin!!!

Our first task was to find a home in Portland to rent. We found a lovely home that is quite large. The girls are excited because it has stairs! Everything has worked out so well and Joshua was able to live in the new house as he started work, while the girls and I stayed in the current home to pack. We move items onto the new house on the weekends and Josh is able to work late and really get into his new position without the wife nagging him to come home. This next weekend is our final trailer load out of here. My sister, Courtney, is even flying in to help me with all the craziness of moving with three kids. I thought it would be much more hectic and stressful, although everything has been so smooth. I know my Heavenly Father is looking out for us and we truly feel blessed.

So, now you know why I have been absent this summer. As for the rest of the blogging year….Time fly’s when you are having fun! I will get better about blogging with all the new places to explore and see in Portland.

Here are a few pictures of the new house!  Oops...I went to the house today and forgot to get more pictures.  I guess I will have to update the blog with them later.

Little Miss Bee

Brooklyn has definitely been a busy girl lately!  She is growing like a weed and all the baby chubs are disappearing.  She is talking nonstop, although most of the words nobody can understand.  She does say "ball" ,"Momma", "Papa", "Tess" ,"Alexa", "doggie" "u-oh" and tons more.  She is signing a lot more than talking right now.  It is so cute to see her sign please and thank you.  My favorite thing is that she signs milk when she wants to get a bottle and go to bed.  Her favorite thing lately is toothbrushes!  I think it might have something to do with all four of her molars coming in right now, maybe?!  We find her throughout the day with one to three toothbrushes in her possession.

 

 I just put her hair in a pony tail for the first time.  I am sure I could have done it earlier but I did not want to hurt her.  She reminds me soo much of Tess with a pony tail in.  The hair in the back is pretty curly and that is most likely why it brings me down memory lane.

Brooklyn loves escaping to the front porch...don't know why?  She usually sits on the porch and waits for to come get her.  She just recently dared go to the front grass.  Promise, I am watching her closely the whole time.  Below is a few pictures of her playing hide-n-seek with her sisters.  We did not realize she was playing until I found her like this in the bathroom!  So stinkin cute!!!!!

Unfortunately Bee has had a rough few months and has seen the doctors a little too much.  First she tripped over a large piggy bank that was left on her sister’s bedroom floor.  She had just started walking instead of walk sometimes and crawls when you need to get somewhere fast.  We noticed her starting to crawl again and not putting any weight on her right leg when standing (supporting herself with a table or couch).  I brought her to the doctor and found out she had a green stick fracture!  My poor baby!   The doctor thought it would heal on its own within a week, If not than we would be talking a cast.  Luckily it did start to heal and is now completely in the past.  Then she fell at a playground and hit her eye in just the right spot...black eye.  The picture below is the second day.  The first day her poor little eye was swollen and she was not a happy baby.  The poor thing is my only child (so far) to have a black eye and a broken bone!  I promise I do not beat my child!  She is a pretty happy baby most of the time and I feel there is no need to tell you how active she is!

 

Soccer

This year the girls decided they wanted to do soccer.  I thought why not, that will be fun.  Boy was I in for a surprise; soccer is a lot of work!  They had fun and it was definitely worth it, but wow, it is time consuming.  It ended just in time.  The weather started to get cold and wet and I am glad to say we will be staying inside and lounging around for a few Saturday mornings!

 

Tess really surprised us with her athletic talent.  She soared at soccer and so did her self-esteem.  At first I just signed her up because Alexa wanted to play.  Tess wants to do soccer each year and I will support her on this one.  She made so many great friends (as did I) and got tome exercise in.  Tess' team name was the Red Leopards.  They were a great team and won most of the games, but who is keeping score?  At this age they play 5 on 5 and rotate through being the goalie, defense and offense.  Tess was good at all but definitely best at defense.  She took it so seriously when she was told not to let the ball get close to her team’s goal.  I think her favorite thing was being the goalie.  Tess did make one goal this year and was SO excited when she did.  She made many attempts at each game but the goalies always seemed to block her.  Toward the end of the season she realized she could trick the goalie and made a goal!

Alexa surprised us with soccer as well.  Many of you know Lexi is always moving, a fast runner, and very competitive.  So clearly she would love soccer and be a natural right?  Wrong, she did not get into soccer the way we all thought she would.  Lexi was on a team called the Blue Thunder.  They were an awesome (as awesome as 3-4 years old go) team.  There were only two girls on her team and many very athletic boys.  The boys were incredible and each got about 5 goals each game.  Lexi was able to make 3 goals for her team and one for the opposite team!  Lexi cracks me up, I told her to get the ball and kick it to the goal and her response was "mom, the boys will get the ball for me" She would wait patiently for her teammates to pass the ball to her, which rarely happened.  On her first game she was confused because I was telling her to take the ball from a child; she quickly corrected me that she is not supposed to take things from others, “that’s rude!”  She had a lot of fun and will probably want to try again next year...maybe a year older and she will get into soccer.

Fourth Of July 2010

 The fourth of July landed on Sunday this year.  Here in Oregon they did the parade, carnival games and fireworks all on the fourth, Sunday.  We decided it was more important to go to church than participate in a lot of the festivities.  So, for the 4th of July this year we watched fireworks parked at the fairgrounds.  We had a fun family night and look forward to next year with the fun parades, BBQ's and fireworks!  I love the fourth of July and this year just did not do it for me.  Better luck next year!  Here are a few pictures of us having a good time before the fireworks started.  Brooklyn spent the entire time in the car fast asleep!

Tess' 7th Birthday

  Tess is now 7!!! Wow, what a fun and spunky little girl she is. She is true to herself and everything she has ever been taught. This girl follows rules by the book! She loves to do her own hair, accessorize her outfits, model, take pictures and do crafts. Happy Birthday my sweet Tess, I love you!

For Tess' Birthday she decided to pick one friend and head to the movie theater. She saw the movie "Ramona and Beezuz" and then had ice cream afterwards. We had soo much fun and loved the movie. What better movie to wear her Birthday outfit (tutu and all) to then Ramona and Beezuz? Everyone who saw her knew this was her special day! Lexi was excited to tag along like one of Tess' friends. Her Grammy even flew in for the occasion to make her feel even more special!