Spring Soccer 2014

The girls started their Spring soccer season.  Both Natalya and Raquel are playing on their teams from the fall.  Natalya has loved playing and had a few goals her first game.  Raquel is learning to be a little more aggressive on the field but has really shined as a goalie for her team.  

Natalya

Raquel

Swim Meet

The girls had their last stroke school swim meet of the season tonight.  The boys and I had fun watching them and the girls as always had fun swimming and getting goodie bags.

 Raquel and Natalya's cheering section

Having fun on the way home!

Raquel Free-Style

Natalya Free-Style

Raquel Back-Stroke

Natalya Backstroke

Raquel

Busch Gardens

 We will be living about 20 minutes away from Busch Gardens when we move to Yorktown. We already bought our season passes and had to try it out when we were visiting Dad. It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun riding the rides and exploring the different counties the park is divided up into.  Mike and Raquel tackled the big rides while I stuck to the little ones with Marcus and Erik. We will have lots of fun using our passes this summer along with the water park when it opens.

Natalya & Marcus hanging out in London

Big roller coaster in Scotland

Erik on the carousel

Riding the planes in Germany

8th Birthday!

Raquel turned 8 and celebrated with a Night Owl Pajama Party.  Her party was a couple of days before her actually birthday which ended up being good because she was sick in bed on the real day.  The kids had fun painting owl sun catchers, creating owl lanterns, making pizza and having a glow in the dark dance party.  They all had a lot of fun and we sent them home on a sugar high!

Raquel chose to have owl cupcakes and
an ice cream bar with lots of different candy toppings.

The kids got owl pillows as a party favor

Raquel painting her sun catcher

Dance Party
They also played glowing the dark hot potato

Eating their candy topped ice cream and cupcakes

Singing happy birthday

Raquel's Birthday interview questions:

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Mom

2. Favorite color: Blue

3. Favorite t.v. show? Goosebumps

4. Favorite outfit? Dark Pink Dress

5. Sport you like best? Soccer

6. Song you love? Girls just want to have fun-Cindy Laper

7. Favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

8. Best friend? Gracie T.

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Mom & stay home

10. Favorite book? Goosebumps

11. What are you really good at? Math

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? The Beach

13. Best memory? Finding seashells on the beach

14. What would you buy with $1000? Buy a house for the family

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? Beets

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? Not get sick (she was sick at the time)

17. Favorite ice cream? Cookie Dough

18. Biggest hero? Dad

19. What do you like to do with your friends? Tag

20. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Find lots of seashells at the beach

Birthday Snack at school
(cut-up fruit with chocolate for dipping)

Raquel is the best daughter anyone could ask for. She is kind, hard working, helpful, beautiful, loving, adventurous, sharing, smart and a great big sister. She is rocking 2nd grade and is loving learning. She gets 100% on her spelling tests, has learned to love reading and still loves art.

Yorktown

The weather was a lot warmer when we visited dad this weekend in Yorktown. We spent time looking for rental houses, shopping and playing on the beach.

Checking out the docks near Mike's apartment

Playing at the beach by Fort Monroe

Exploring Fort Monroe

Yorktown Beach

Crazy Hair Day

Crazy Hair Day at school.  Erik even tried to make himself some crazy hair.

For Sale

We have finally finished all our remodeling of our house and yard. It only took 7 years but now its ready and on the market.  We are hoping it sells quickly so the rest of the family can join Mike in Yorktown, Va.

We have spent a lot of time & money on this house and are ready to relax and spend time with the kids on the beach this summer.  We took quite a few picture when we were looking at the house to buy. I've lined them up with what our house looks like now. Take a look, its a completely different house. Can't believe we bought it in the first place.

Painted house
Removed lots of shrubs, trees and planted lots of flowers

Removed shelf
Painted trim, doors & walls

Removed wallpaper, old light
Put up wainscoting, painted, new light

Gutted whole kitchen, removed tile & wallpaper, moved electric and plumbing and door
New cabinets, tile, counter top, lights, sink, appliances and painted walls & trim

Removed vinyl flooring, fridge & washer/dryer from pantry, fixed floor, removed shelves
Moved electrical & plumbing
Tiled floor, built pantry shelves, new door, hung cabinets, new lights, painted walls, trim & doors

Removed shelves, flooring, walls & panelling
Built 2 new walls, added pocked door, moved washer/dryer to new room
New cabinets/counter top
Painted walls, ceiling & trim
New light

Painted walls, ceiling & trim
New carpet

Filled in panelling lines, textured walls, painted ceiling, fireplace, walls, doors and trim
New carpet and light

Removed TV cabinet from wall, patched whole in wall, fixed closet behind and painted

Removed wall paper, textured walls, painted walls & ceiling
New light fixture & mirror

Sanded, stained and sealed stairs
Covered wallpaper, painted walls and railing

Removed carpet & particleboard sub floor, added plywood sub floor boards
painted walls, shelves, doors and new trim
Installed hardwood floors
New lights

Same as the playroom side of basement

Fixed sewer leak, old wood & french doors, built wall, removed carpet, & sub flooring
Laid new sub floor, installed hardwood
Painted ceiling, trim, doors & walls

Fixed under sink leak, removed swinging doors, tiled floor,
and painted ceiling, walls and trim

Painted ceiling, trim, doors & walls
Fixed outside door, removed old step
New carpet

Stained deck, added pergola with grapes

View from our deck when we moved in

View from our deck now (it is winter so its not green)
Removed lots of trees, bushes, forthysia, old logs and a shed
Planted fruit trees, blueberry bushes & grapes, made a path, built chicken coop and bunny pen

Fixed cracks in wall, painted trim, railing and walls

Painted doors, trim, closets and walls
New carpet and light

Removed wallpaper, added wainscoting painted walls
New cabinet, light, mirror and toilet
Tiled floor

Re tiled shower, new shower head & door

Removed tile on walls put up wainscoting and tiled floor

Painted doors, walls and trim
Put flooring in closets, new light and carpet

Removed wallpaper, fixed closet door, painted ceiling, trim, doors and walls
New light and carpet

Removed wallpaper
Painted cabinet, ceiling, walls and trim
Added wainscoting, framed mirror
New light, toilet and faucet

Painted walls, trim, doors
New light and carpet

This is the before picture
Removed tree, filled in hole with dirt
added more grass, flowers and plants