Sweet moment

Sebastian was sent to his time out chair for doing something to Anastasia. She came to coax him into saying he was sorry, and it was so cute the way he was holding her face as they smiled at each other. I kept thinking maybe he will be a priest someday, and this is a foreshadowing of him blessing his sister. ;) Who knows!

Tis the Season

It's time for swimming (between big rain storms at least!). Here are my 3 guys at the pool.

Corpus Christi trip and Beach to Bay Relay Marathon!

This past weekend, we traveled to Corpus Christi to see Lito and Lita and for some of us to run on the Riddle family team in the annual Beach to Bay Relay Marathon.
Of course, when we arrived Lita had fun treats ready for the kids. Sebastian loved his light glasses.

We took a trip out to the beach (just to look around, not to swim) so the runners (Stephen and Gloria) and their helper (Allia) could see where their legs of the race would start and end.

Sebastian said, "I like that big puddle. It chased me!"

We went on some walks around Lita's neighborhood, and the older girls got to ride her big trike.

They had to get up at 4:45am the morning of the race to make sure they could park and get to the starting line on time. What troopers!

It was so hot and humid. They were all soaked by the time they finished!

Our team (Stephen, Gloria, cousin Lorenzo, Lito, Aunt Summer - Lorenzo's mom, and Austin) finished in just over 5 hours. Whew!

Sunday we went for a real trip to the beach with swimming and all...except for Sebastian who decided he did not like the big puddle after all.

Anastasia wasn't so sure about the water at first, but Austin talked her into trying it. Then we couldn't talk her out of body boarding! What a girl. She would get dunked by a wave, pop up, and go running back for more!

Thankfully he was mostly happy playing in the sand. We dug a little baby pool for him too and filled it with our buckets.

And we played some family games of Lotteria (Mexican Bingo). It was lots of fun, and Tia Rosa made quick friends with Sebastian when she came in Sunday evening!

Couch buddy

The first trimester is not my favorite thing, for sure. Unfortunately I have spent a lot of time laying on the couch lately. Sebastian is so cute because he will come up and ask, "Can I sleep." This means, can I lay with you. And he will just lay there an rest happily with me for a few minutes.

Last RE class

Austin taught Gloria's RE class with a friend of ours this year. Here they are on their last day of class.

Baby lover

As mentioned before, all of our children love babies and little ones. But I think Gloria might be the biggest fan. She helped me watch a friend's children so she could go to mass in peace while her hubby was out of town. Gloria really enjoyed taking care of their little girl!

Park Buddies

Anastasia has a knack for getting filthy every time we go to the park. She and her friend Gabriel outdid themselves this time. Wow!

Last Hot Shots

It was a hot one, but he did great. He was especially happy that Daddy got to come watch part of his class.

Gloria

It has been a big year for our (little) Gloria. 8 years old, so big but yet still so little too. We are all so happy that she was able to make her first communion all healed from the surgery and feeling mostly normal again. What a great blessing. God's timing is so perfect.

And speaking of His timing, of all our children, she is the one who adores every baby she sees and always wishes for us to have another. So it would be fitting that a few weeks after her surgery we would find out her prayers have been answered, and she has a new baby coming to our family to coddle all her own! God hears your prayers, sweet girl!

We had followup appointments with her out of town specialists last week. This spring has been such a whirlwind. Just when one thing settles down, something else picks up. So these appointments caught be by surprise. 2 months already?! We saw the surgeon, who was amazing, but who we also hope to never have to see again. We also saw the pediatric oncologist (photo from the special child-sized door into his waiting room). He will be monitoring her over the next few years to make sure her tumor does not grow back and that if it does, it is still benign. This had not even occurred to me as a possibility...once benign, always benign, right? So we still have a bit of a road ahead with regular MRI's, urine tests, etc. But we are in God's hands as we always have been. So I trust that where this road leads, he will guide us. But I certainly pray that we will someday soon say our goodbyes to the oncologist as well. He is the most amazing doctor I have ever met, by the way, so gentle and caring. I guess you have to be pretty amazing to work with such sick children every day. God bless our Gloria!

End of Season Soccer Party

A generous family agreed to host the team and their families at their very lovely home for a party last night. I went with the oldest 3 since it would be mostly older children there. It was a great time and a wonderful finale to such a great 3 years with this team.

A Baptism and New Goddaughter

We had the great blessing of becoming the Godparents of some sweet friends' newest little one on Sunday. Her name is Faith Kathryn. It was beautiful, of course. We are so happy for their family!

End of Season Soccer Tournament

Allia's team had their end of season tournament Saturday after a night of crazy rain. We were so surprised that it was not postponed. But the day turned out to be beautiful, though crazy hot! They went into it in a strong first place position. But the other teams played really well, and they had to work really hard to earn the championship, which they did! The first game was tied 2-2 even after overtime, so they went into a shootout of penalty kicks and won by one kick! Then they won the championship game 2-0, with one of the goals being a header into the goal. It was so cool, and their coach was incredibly proud!
The whole thing was a little bittersweet since this is most likely Allia's last season to play. Next year she either has to be on a coed team or play club soccer, neither of which are appealing options to us. So I took lost of pictures since it might be her last chance to play!
Game 1:

 Game 2:

 Team photo

 We're number 1! They are a great group of girls!

 Their coach let the parents place the medals on their children....proud Daddy!

These guys have been the most amazing coaches the last 3 years. They gave it their all, and you could really tell they cared about these girls. We will treasure the experience for sure! They sure deserved the title Champions!!!