Painting

Back in June before school got out for me, Brian started on all the home improvement projects at home.  He started with painting the first floor a darker color.  He had to move all the furniture which prompted us to rearrange furniture and buy new pieces (which have yet to arrive).  Once I get the house set up how I want it (and get new curtains) I will post pictures.  After painting, Brian tore up the floors and put hardwood floor down.  It looks so nice!  It was quite the project though and it was hard to live with a first floor (that includes the play area) that was out of commission.  N2 helped Brian paint the walls.  Apparently they rolled while Brian painted around trim and at the ceiling.

Natalie's store

Natalie has recently been very interested in the cash register.  She set up a drive through for us to buy food.  She made a menu so that we know what we can order.  She carries such specialties such as bat and polar bear!  After we order we have to pay exorbitant fees for the food!  She takes our money but doesn't give change or lets us pay by credit card.  She has a very friendly store.  Make sure to stop by the next time you are in the area!

(her food for sale: bat (on separate page), lemons (the gray and yellow things), tomato, bacon, polar bear and grapes)).  She has made more signs since I took the picture.  She copies what our felt IKEA food looks like and she copied the Beanie baby bat and stuffed animal polar bear.

Soccer

N2 are playing soccer at the YMCA and yesterday was their first game.  They have had practices for 2 weeks and will continue to have practices once a week and games once a week.  They both are really enjoying soccer and Noah has told us he wants to do soccer again.  Noah is pretty good so I think we've found the sport for him.  He does have to work on not taking the ball from his teammates.  I think he gets frustrated by how his teammates are playing.  Natalie does a good job too but she is not aggressive so she won't steal the ball from other kids whereas Noah will.  I think Natalie would do soccer again as well so we'll have to look for a spring league.

N2's team is the younger of the 2 teams in the 5-6 year old league.  Apparently quite a few of the kids on the other team played together last year in the 5-6 year old league and asked to be together again so their team is a year older and have a year more experience than N2's team which makes the competition unfair.  I understand trying to accommodate for friendships, but I think it would have been nicer had they tried to even out the competition.  There is one kid on the other team who looks older than 6 and is really good.  I think he scored 3 goals within the first 3 minutes.  When he was on offensive or midfield N2's team had no chance to get the ball from him.  Luckily N2 don't seem bothered by the fact that their team didn't score a single goal

Noah started out on offense and Natalie on defense.  Each quarter they rotated positions.  Noah got to play goalie one quarter and Natalie had to sit out one quarter.  Noah was best when he was playing defense or goalie because then he could steal the ball from the other team rather than his own teammates.  When he was goalie he would go right into the huddle and try to reach down and grab the ball without being worried about getting kicked!  Natalie was best on midfield or offense.  Once she had the ball she would try to keep it.  We just need to work on getting her to be a little more aggressive on the field.  I got more pictures of Noah.  It was really sunny so it was hard to get good pictures.