Wil's Squid game

TWO missing teeth

Kate lost two teeth in one day! The tooth fairy brought 14 dollars
(wow!). Guess u get a bonus when u lose 2 in one day!

Friends weekend

Both girls had more than their fair share of friends and sleepovers
this weekend! It is fun to watch them with their friends!

WC tournament

Kate was in another tournament this weekend ( yes I'm tired of being a
taxi)...BUT her team is so fun to watch! She ended up losing one and
tied two, but the past three weekends of tournaments have helped her
confidence and skills. Not to mention we really love her teammates!

Kristen on the front page

Kristen is on the front page of the journal. It is an article about
the student resource officer at her middle school.

Cardinals game

Chris' boss gave him 4 tickets to the game last night! So while I
worked curriculum night at school they went to the ballgame. What
great timing!

Kristen in a million words or less

Kristen Ohler in a million words or less. (mom's homework assignment)

It would be much easier for me to describe Kristen in one word, generous . She is generous in every meaning of the word, from her time and attention to her sense of fairness and compassion. She is nothing I ever expected when I dreamed of having my own child and more than anyone could have ever given me. She teaches me every day what it means to really be a good person.

The quick facts about Kristen. She is the oldest of three, she has a sister who is 10 and a brother who is 8. Her father and I have been married 22 years. She comes from a very large extended family here in St. Louis and is attached to our many, many family traditions (from the dance parties on family vacations, to the teepee at Thanksgiving, to the parade at fourth of July). She loves piano and soccer. She likes to do anything outdoors and loves to go to the creek and jump off the rocks (she'll also catch fish, bait hooks, catch crawdads and tadpoles). Her favorite foods are mashed potatoes and shrimp. She is not a picky eater. She has a cockatiel name Tiny and a cockapoo named Sonny. She is an incredible swimmer and set a personal and team best time in the IM this summer. She is the oldest of 12 cousins and has baby-sat and changed diapers for almost all of them. She loves to travel and will go anywhere with anyone. She has an incredible singing voice and loves to act. She is highly allergic to wasp and bee stings. She has very sensitive skin and seasonal allergies (and is probably rolling her eyes at me right now for telling you so much :-)

Kristen is blessed with dyslexia, and I only say blessed because if anyone else faced her struggles they would have crawled in a hole a long time ago. She did not begin to read until fourth grade and has been blessed with incredible teachers who use her passion and excitement for life and turn her on to great literature, when I as her mother couldn't (even if I have been a teacher for almost 20 years!). She loves to TALK (which comes as a surprise to no one who knows her) and she will talk about books for hours. She likes books that contain a personal struggle and she relates to their determination and optimism. She struggles with spelling and written expression, but will rise to her teachers expectations, even when the bar is set high, she has never used her dyslexia as an excuse.

Kristen loves life and everything in it. She will do more for anyone else than she will ever do for herself. She has unlimited patience with others, but not much for herself. Is she a normal pre-teen? Yes, she loves her cell phone and texts her friends way too much, she likes her brand named clothes and is annoyed by her little brother, she loves to go to mixers and football games...but she also reaches out to those who are teased by others or put down for how they look or what they believe in and she always has a kind word to say about everyone, even when they don't always have kind things to say about her.

If it were my choice, I would prefer to not give my opinion of Kristen, but rather have you experience her for yourself. She puts herself out there and leaves herself on everyone she touches. I look forward to her excitement about the books she is exposed to this year and can only hope that she continues to gain confidence in her writing. Thanks for letting me brag on my baby girl!

Tamara

That's a winner!!

That would be Wil's team with their CHAMPION trophies! And that blue
hat at the bottom is their coach that they dog piled on!! So fun! Wil
played second half as goalie, score 4-3!

Semifinal nail biter!

OMG!! The boys were down 2-0 at the half and down 3-0 with 7 minutes
left. They came out with two quick goals. Score was 3-2 them with 3
minted left... Quick shot on goal goes over the net! 2 minutes left
they clear the ball, we shoot, it goes wide! 1 minute left they clear
it to sideline, we get a foot on it before it goes out, cross it to
center and with no time left we SCORE and tie the game!!! First over
time NO score, great saves by both goalies! Second overtime....no
score, one minute left, ref asks the coaches for their line up for the
shoot out. They have the ball, clear it we steal ball go lenght of
field, SHOOT And SCORE with only seconds left! Four wins!! We are on
to the championships!!

2nd place

Here is Kate receiving her second place trophy! This was the first
time she played with this team and they did an awesome job! They lost
at the very end of the game 1-0!! Heartbreaker!

Semi finals

Getting pumped up for the game!

Weather

It was beautiful and 77 degrees! Check out that sky!

Number 21

Wil's SLYSA team is called the Squids! I see lots of orange in our
future!

Soccer soccer soccer

Six games today...5 winners! Kate and Wil made the semi final
championships tomorrow with three wins each! KJ scored, again! Her
team ended up 2-1.

Wil had his first SLYSA game today! Check out the cool white uniform!
He won 6-1! Awesome day of soccer!!!

Soccer

7th grade St. Paul pictures

Team photo

Kate had St Paul team photos tonight!

Third grade

Wil could hardly sleep last night as he is worried about getting
"real" grades in 3rd grade. We all assured him he will do fine, but he
says it is too much pressure to get As and Bs! He was out the door
early and ready to get his first A. He said he hopes they do math
first cause that will be an easy A!

FIFTH grade

Kate is the big dog at school this year! She is super excited and way
too cool to ride to school with mom ;-)... She rode te bus so she
could sit in the back of the bus with all her cool friends!

SEVENTH grader!!

OMG! 7th grade! Up at 5:40a.m. And the bus comes at 6:40a.m.! Crazy
stuff!! But hair is done and a wicked hot new purse, life is good!

Soccer mania

If my phone took better pictures, you would see that this is Kristen
scoring her second goal of the weekend! Her 7th grade team looks
really good this year. She had an awesome left foot cross that was a
sweet score! Two wins for her even if one of her games was in the
pouring down rain!

We spent the weekend running between tournaments and 9 soccer games!
Kate lost both her games, she's looking good although a bit out of
shape considering she hasn't done much since having her tonsils out 6
weeks ago. Wil won both of his games big and is hoping for a
championship berth. Tournament continues next weekend!

School starts tomorrow, so far today we are laying on the couch, LOL!

Mary Poppins

Ok, if my phone knew how to send multiple pictures this would have
been easier ;-).

Bushia bought Kate, Sara, Aidan, and me tickets to see Mary Poppins at
the Fox (thanks mom!). Kristen and she had seen the production on
Broadway when they went to New York.

We went to dinner in Soulard at Sage and tried very hard not be too
excited about the show (ha)! We got to the Fox before it even opened,
so we hung out at the park across the street. It was not just the
kids who were super excited but Sara and I were both giddy with
excitement too!

Once inside the atmosphere was super charged, we bought drinks and
snacks and Sara took the kids to look at the merchandise and came back
with way too many goodies, one being Mary Poppins' umbrella that Kate
absolutely adores!!

Needless to say the show was spectacular! The kids never took their
eyes off the stage. As Aidan said when the show opened "Mom, they're
real people!!" you can't beat live theatre!!

Park

Waiting patiently for theatre to open.

Mary Poppins

Sage

Help

Here is the kind of "help" I received setting up my classroom! Lol!!
But I did hear from several other teachers what a huge help my kids
were in their classrooms!

Week before school

The kids have been going to work with me on and off this week to get ready for school. Yesterday they were bored of "helping" so I had the neighbor teenager take them to the magic house while I worked. The Magic House was the last thing on our "must do" list of the summer, so now everyone can say that they got to do at least one thing that they most wanted to do!

Tonight was meet the teacher and the ice cream social. The kids were very excited to meet their new teachers and to see old friends. It is going to be another interesting year! Hard for me to believe that I have a third, fifth and seventh grader. We went back to school shopping and Kristen bought a pair of size 8 shoes!!! William looks like the tallest kid in his class and Kate is nervous about fifth grade homework.

We are full swing back into soccer, with practices every night of the week except Saturday. The kids have all had sweltering hot practices this week. All of the kids are playing for St. Paul and Kate is also playing for WC and Wil is playing in a SLYSA league. So five teams plus piano keeps us busy. We have two soccer tournaments this weekend. TEN games!!

Chris is back at work and we are all slowly getting into a regular routine. The official first day of school is Tuesday. The kids are getting in the pool as I type this, taking what will probably be their last "pool bath." of the summer! Hard to believe it is over!

Fambly...

Our vacation pictures are online now (all 515 of them!). Shutterfly., per email;-)

Good news...

Chris started his new job on Wednesday and LOVES it! We could not be happier! It has been a VERY rough year. We are so grateful to our family and friends who have endured this year with us! Here's to good times...