Ryan's space museum field trip

Friday, 11.1.19
Ryan's 6th grade field trip!
What a day!!  We had fun, but it was a doozy alright 😝 hardest chaperoning gig I've had to date.
The day after Halloween.  We left the house at 6am.  We drove Cooper up to the school with us - no need leaving the house at 6am if you don't need to, right?!  a four hour bus ride to Huntsville, AL.  Our bus was a couple of moms, Mrs. Garrison the math teacher, and ALL boys!  They were actually pretty well behaved.  I wonder if all boys is probably all easier then all girls at this age.

Upon exiting the bus, the adult chaperones were handed a list of all the boys.  Craziness.  I've never been on a field trip where I didn't have my kid and a couple of friends.  Let's just say keeping up with 20-something boys is not easy.  Esp when you don't really know them.  And the ones you do know are the other chaperones' kids because that's just how it works.  All TEN buses unload in front of the Space Museum, and its chaos.  Kids going everywhere, adults not knowing/ agreeing on where to go.  Only one of the six adults with us had been there before - so five clueless ones, and one kinda bossy.  Anyways, we eventually became a sub-group of 12, and that was better and more manageable.  Ryan and I split off with Tripp's dad Rand and Miles's dad Nathan.  Leigh and Spence went the other direction.  Although there was still a lot of texting with Leigh - including a "help have you seen _____" -who fortunately had met up with her and was safe.

Chaos and confusion aside, I think the kiddos had fun.  The interactive things are always more fun for Ryan and his active, athletic friends.  They rode the G-force, and I don't think anybody puked.  They climbed a rock wall.  We watched a movie about the moon landing.

And then we topped it off with Cici's for dinner -yumm?!  Kudos to the teachers though for letting the chaperones exit the buses first and get food.  Brilliant.  Then we were done and ready to supervise.  We returned to the middle school about 10:15/10:30pm.  LONG day!!  Oh and yes, there was a home football game.  That ended about five mins before our return.  So yes it was a cluster.  The buses couldn't even get into the bus slots and ended up just letting kids out.  So kids are crossing dark, overflowed parking lots looking for parents and rides.  Middle school is sooo different then elementary!  Fortunately we had offered rides to three of Ryan's buddies since I was going to be with them anyways.  Again, silly to come out at that hour if you don't have to and you have sleeping siblings and you don't know exactly when we'll be back.  So that was a few less cars.  By the time we collected our kids, managed to get out of the parking lot, and dropped off Ryan's buddies, we arrived home at 11pm.  But we survived, and I returned all 12 of my kids - as well as locating the four boys I was driving home.  Small victories!

while we were still trying to keep up with 20-something

my boy!

Tripp and Ryan - my favorite pic of the day!

11 of the 12 in our sub group

Three Ryans!! with Spence, Dean, and Tripp

So speaking of that last picture with three Ryans...  I was amused by the fact the Ryan is "Ryan Chase."  Ryan became Ryan C in 3rd grade when we met Ryan G - they were in Mrs. Dotson's class together and a couple of basketball teams.  But now they've added another Ryan C into the mix apparently.  And he's Ryan C and our Ryan is Ryan Chase.  Obviously this is how they are known in school - when the teacher called role, Ryan didn't answer to "Ryan C," but waited for Ryan Chase, he knew.  So Ryan C, Ryan Chase, and Ryan G.  goodness!

Also, I observed that Ryan and Tripp have become really good friends.  I mean I knew this, but the two of them kept coming back to each other, even over Spence and Grady and some of the others that I thought they were close to.  And I'm still extra amused by this since they were good buddies in kindergarten too.  Crazy how that came back around, love it. 

Halloween 2019

Lots of *Halloween* fun was had this year!!  From dressing up for church to a costume soccer practice to a Halloween dance at school.  And of course all the chili dinner and trick-or-treating fun too.

Ryan was a garbage man this year.  Nothing fun and creative for Mommy to put together, but I'm happy he and his buddies were still out and about and trick-or-treating and having fun.  He didn't dress up for school or anything like that this year, but he did throw on a yellow vest and walk around with a garbage bag.  I think that was a large part of the appeal of the costume - carrying a trash bag to collect large amounts of candy :)  Not that my kids really ever even eat a lot.

Abby was Alex Morgan, a soccer player from the US Women's National team - the one that won the World Cup this past summer.  Taylor was also Alex Morgan, so they were twinning at church and again at soccer practice.  I loved that there were so many soccer player costumes at practice, including three Alex Morgans.  These are Abby's people!  The girls also had wacky sock and hair day during Halloween week which happened to fall on soccer practice night, so Abby went with three red&blue-dyed pigtail braids.  For Halloween itself, she didn't trick-or-treat at all, but she did dress the part.

Chloe was the cutest little Mac and Cheese ever!  Mommy had lots of fun with this costume.  However, for the school dance and for Halloween day at school, she wore an old pirate costume.  Well, she was supposed to at least.  Despite numerous conversations about keeping on your costume, I did get this Halloween morning 😏🙄 ...

What can you do?!?  This girl - and her stubborn attitude - is gonna be the end of me!! :)  

For Halloween night, she did wear the Mac and Cheese costume.  She and Daddy trick-or-treated for maybe ten minutes before she made her way home.  She LOVES handing out the candy.  That worked really well this year, now that she's a bit older.  She set up by the front door and several of us just stayed inside sitting at the kitchen table.  It was perfect - we could watch her the whole time, but stay warm and cozy.  **Winter arrived ON Halloween day this year.  I ran about 10am, and it was 75*.  By trick-or-treat time, the temp had plummeted to about 40* and INSANELY windy.  But at least the rain stopped in time?!

The weather did make for an indoor chili dinner, which wasn't ideal, but worked out just fine.  It's not even really the large amount of people in my house, as much as I just like to be outside.  I decorated the kitchen this year, but I would have much rather put up all my outdoor stuff.  I love hanging streamers from the fence and I had purchased colorful lights this year too.  Oh well.  It was our first nasty Halloween in this house, so at least four years.  I do remember a cold rainy Halloween in Mill Creek when the kids were still pretty little.  So overall, it was all good.  I'd just take warm over cold any day of the year!!

Spence, Jake, Clark, Ryan

Chloe, Toby, Rachel 

Chloe, Emma, Lillian, Hensley at the school dance

Costume soccer practice - Abby and Taylor in white

  

itp x3! eekk!

What a weekend!!!  We seem to just be getting busier and busier!!  But I truly do love it, and I wouldn't want it any other way.  I love spending time with my family, supporting my kiddos, and livin' the dream!  In fact, I love it so much that I drove into Atlanta three times this weekend.  That's saying something for this country girl :)

Ryan made the Creekland middle school academic bowl team this year!!  He was one of only three 4th graders to make the Macedonia team, and he played again in 5th grade.  We're super excited for him for this middle school team.  It's intense, but he's owning it and rocking it.  He wakes up on his own four days a week, and we drive him to school for 7am practices.  Yikes!  In fact, I had just told Coleson that I was loving the extra time with just Ryan in the morning - we walk the girls out to the bus at 7:03, but Ryan wasn't leaving until 7:50.  And literally the next day, Ryan finds out he made the team, and we find out the practices are mornings, hehe.  It's all worth it though.  There's nothing better then seeing your kids find their passions and thrive.  So he had his very first team tournament on Thursday night, locally - more of a Cherokee county scrimmage.  And then Saturday, they had a tournament itp ["inside the perimeter"].  Here's Ryan and three of his best buds ...

Jake, Matthew, Ryan, Spence

Saturday morning we woke up about 6:30 to leave at 7:20 for our drive down to Chamblee.  My friend, Amy, aka Jake's mom, rode along with me in my party van.  We took Ryan, Jake, Matthew, and Spence down to the tournament.  As 6th graders, we were told they wouldn't play in this tournament, but everyone was encouraged to attend and observe.  They'll play again in November - everyone will participate then as there will be "novice" [6th grade only] teams in that tournament.  Matthew actually did get to play the first half of one round.  Rumor was that Dr. Naz was upset with the vets' performance so he subbed in some 6th graders.  Matthew answered a few questions, and the 6th graders were actually leading the round when they were subbed back out, woohoo!  And there were worksheets that the entire team could collaborate on.  But since they weren't actually expected to participate, Dr. Naz was totally cool about not expecting the 6th graders to stay all day.  We left after round four and took the boys to lunch at Moe's - an unanimous pick, phew.  I think Amy and I did good - they all ate, and no one got sick off of the various combinations of drinks from the goofy freestyle machine or from the salsa shots that I know my son, at minimum, was taking ;)  We got them back to the safety of our Cherokee county bubble just in time for a flag football game.  Which they played awesomely.  Won by three touchdowns I believe.  And Ryan got an interception!!!  This is a really fun flag football team full of friends!  And while winning definitely isn't everything, it sure is more fun to watch a good, competitive game.   

So that was itp trip number one.  After the flag football game, we headed home to regroup and shower and about an hour later, we left again.  We took the girlies to the amazing Khodabakhshs' house for the evening, and then Coleson, Ryan, and I headed downtown.  Abby got her For King and Country concert a couple weeks ago, and Saturday night was all about Ryan :)  We ate dinner at the CNN Center.  We need to go back and do one of the tours!!  Our little smarty pants seemed to really enjoy it - he recognized the huge globe from his CCN10 episodes and had lots of questions about it all.  And dinner was yummy!  The guys shared wings and I had a fancy chicken sandwich complete with coleslaw, pickles, and some hot sauce from the wings.  And the highlight of the evening ... the Hawks home opener!!  Ryan and I initially had tickets to the Braves postseason game, but umm yeah, they lost before they got to our game.  Fortunately our tickets were refunded, and we made a Plan B :)  This was my first time to State Farm Arena, and I'm pretty sure my first ever Hawks game.  Coleson took Ryan and Abby and some friends there back in March.  Chloe and I watched from home - that was a great game that the Hawks won in overtime.  Here are a few of the March- game Hawks fans [they went as a group of ten] ...

Abs, Taylor, Ryan, Clark

This was a great game as well.  No overtime [which was fine with me!], but super close the whole game and the Hawks got the win!  It was a really fun atmosphere; I'd go again.  Our seats were in the upper level, but only eight or ten rows back and right at mid court, great view.  And our parking was great too - easy in and easy out, always a plus.  It was a long, long, long day, but wonderful!!!  In fact, I skipped church Sunday and laid in bed way too long :)  Here's some pictures from Saturday's fun!

Abby's soccer always adds a bit of excitement to life and our weekend plans, and this weekend was no exception.  She was supposed to play a Sunday game in Douglasville at 3pm.  I guess they got more rain then we did over Friday and Saturday [we ended up with barely any despite the crazy forecasts], so Sunday's game was cancelled even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the high 60s.  Instead she played in a scrimmage at her home fields ... and then she and I went back itp.  She was invited by a teammate to try out for a Georgia Alliance elite team?!  Basically four leagues coming together to make an all-star team of sorts.  We still haven't decided if we'll sign on or not, but the practice went great!  Abby, of course, would play soccer all day every day.  It's hard to imagine we're even thinking about doing this, but boy oh boy, her face and giggles and smiles when we asked if she wanted to go down and at least check it out.  The coach seems really good, I thought the practice went really well.  I guess the proverbial ball is in our court now.  It sounds like the coach would like to take her, but it was left at we would talk about it and email him.  The team has actually already formed, we've missed two practices, but the coach is hoping for one or two more girls and apparently asked the current players to invite the best girl from their home club team.  While we were down there - all the way past Turner field - Ryan was having a blast hanging out with Jake and his family all afternoon.  Lunch at Cracker Barrel, lots of ping-pong and playing, cookies, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  Coleson and Chloe had fun running errands and cooking Chloe's dinner choice - ravioli [no sauce though!] and salad.      

Now to continue my Monday morning recovery!  Updating the budget, running lots of laundry, uploading pictures of weekend fun, that sort of stuff.  And then next up is prepping for the Halloween week ahead and volunteering in Chloe's class in a couple of hours.  As locash would say, "man, I love this life"  Or actually, a better one would be Dierks Bentley..  "And some days you're just alive, some days you're livin'"  That's more fitting - it's Abby's current favorite song.  Her favorites do change pretty much daily, but we listened to that one several times on the way home from our itp soccer journey last night :) 

For King and Country at the fabulous Fox!

Where to start?!?!  Last Thursday, Coleson and I took Abby to see For King and Country at the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.  Oh. my. goodness.  It was sooo much fun!!!!  We all LOVE For King and Country, but especially of course our music-loving Abs.  I really think seeing them live is one of the best things ever :)

I stumbled upon them three years ago now, in 2016.  They were playing at a huge church down in Woodstock.  I didn't even know who they were, but I remember finding a pretty good deal on tickets, and it seemed like a fun thing to do.  Abby and I went, along with a bunch of other ladies including Alyson, Tara, and Emily & some of her girls.  Lauren Daigle opened, how cool is that?!  But of course, three years ago, we didn't know to be impressed.  I loved her then, and I'd really love to see her again sometime.  We were hooked from that very first concert.

Abby and I took the whole family the next year to see them in Gwinnett at the Infinite Energy Center.  That was Ryan and Chloe's first concert!  Abby sang every word, and Chloe slept through most of it, hehe.  They played with Casting Crowns, and they sang a sneak peak of their brand-new song Joy - which of course would go on to be a huge hit and one of our favorite songs!

first concert for these two :)

loved watching Abby watch the concert! 

The next year, 2018, Coleson and I made a weekend of it and saw them at the Ryman in Nashville.  The more intimate setting [vs the arena in Gwinnett] was amazing!!!!  And while they had an opening act [really, really weird group], it was "their" concert, and they sang a ton of songs and it was just about perfect!  Side note - we didn't care for Nashville itself, but really enjoyed Franklin.

This year, For King and Country came to Atlanta again, this time at the Fabulous Fox.  As great as it was to make a date weekend out of the concert last year, I was excited to take Abby again this time.  I love watching her watch concerts.  She gets so into them!  I took her to Sam Hunt a couple of years ago, and that night also tops the list of best nights ever.  She knew every word and danced & sang along to all the songs and everyone around us loved her - I'm sure it helped a lot that she was maybe seven and cute as can be, hehe :)  So I bought three tickets way back in the spring, hoping it would work out, and fortunately the awesome Esterlings were able to watch Ryan and Chloe for us.  

Unfortunately Atlanta traffic is AWFUL, and it took us forever to get downtown on a Thursday night.  By the time we detoured around an accident on the connector, took an unwanted tour of Georgia Tech, and finally found the parking garage, we had a lot less time then we'd hoped for.  We ate dinner at Mary Mac's - southern, comfort food is how I was trying to explain it to Abby.  I loved that she tried everything!  She's a good one to take out to dinner.  I felt rushed, but otherwise it was an enjoyable experience.  I'd definitely keep it on the list, and I'd like to go again when we can linger longer and finish our food.  Although the portions are crazy huge, so even if we'd had all evening, I'm sure I couldn't have eaten it all anyways!

The concert itself was just about perfect.  The Fox is a great venue, and it was fun to see it through Abby's first time eyes.  Oh - hilarious - my country girl thought that everything downtown looked like "prison."  All the bars on windows and even gated & locked entryways to the apartments.  The cars were in "prison" too [parking garages].  And where was the grass to play in??  Why do people live here??  But, she loved every bit of the Fox, which is very dark and closed in :)  It was really great that the whole concert was For King and Country's.  No shared act or opening act or anything.  They played every song on the new album and lots of older favorites.  The first couple of concerts, I left wanting more.  And while I still hated for it to end, at least I felt like they played everything, and they played for almost two hours - you can't ask for much more then that!

I put a little thought into our seats since I figured Joel and Luke would come into the audience at least once.  And they did, but we missed Joel by two rows! We were in the balcony, pretty much straight on, five rows back, GREAT seats!!  And the cell phone lights were goose-bump worthy for sure.  And just watching Abby sing along at the top of her lungs.  confetti cannons!  And an encore!!  I really don't think it was planned or scripted.  They came back out and made genuine-sounding conversation for a few minutes before singing a pretty much a capella version of Hold On To Me.  That was cool!!!  Speaking of genuine, I think that's why I love them so much.  They're brothers and pretty much the whole family is involved in the 'business.'  And they are story-tellers.  I love when they talk in between songs and tell family stories and banter.  And they're performers too, running around crazy on that stage.  In fact at one point, Joel is standing on a piano with cymbals, and I remember telling Abby, he's gonna jump, and sure enough he LEAPT up and off that piano while crashing the cymbals.  And they're not afraid to tell you that the opening song was indeed a little off because Joel had initially forgotten to bring his microphone on stage and he sings first, and Luke didn't know Joel's verse!  And Joel stands on top of that stage at the highest point he can get, reciting scripture during Proof of Your Love. 

The next day was really kind of odd - I would start grinning like a fool remembering the fun we had had.  And then I'd be so crazy sad it was over!  I'm already excited for next year!! 😍🙂

joy.

The guy in the white jacket [our right of the cello] was in serious danger of stealing the show!!  He played EVERYthing.  My favorite of course was the trombone, but also all sorts of drums and every type of stringed instrument including cello.  you name it, he rocked out on it at some point during the evening.

I love this girl's joy and passion and enthusiasm for pretty much everything in life, but esp of course for her music and her soccer :)

CHOA cape day 2019

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cape Day

“While some superheroes battle scary villains, at Children’s our superheroes fight something much scarier – illnesses and injuries that many of us could never imagine.  But when they wear a cape, nothing is impossible.  Please join us as we celebrate all of our superhero patients”

Abby has been wearing her cape annually since 2016, and this year Chloe joined in on the fun for the first time too!  The sisters have been having a great few weeks of getting along, and I was excited to see them excited about this :)  Plus, I'm sure it was great to have each other at school, since no one else ever wears one.  The old school nurse used to, but the new one doesn't.  And actually in four years of cape wearing, no teacher/ staff, not even the nurse, has ever acknowledged it or asked Abby about why she wears it.  Abby was lamenting that she's the only one that ever wears one - all the while, never saying she didn't want to, which I loved.  So it was super fun for them to wear them together.  They each have a printed sheet to take to school that highlights their story and the why behind why they wear them.  Awesome Mrs. Shakespeare, Chloe's teacher and a good family friend, read her story to her class!  

she's a superhero in my book for sure!

they were all about posing themselves which makes for a happy, picture-loving mommy :)

From Abby's print-out ::

Our Abby was born in April of 2010 with the diagnosis of a multi-cystic dysplastic kidney - basically she only has one kidney [just like her mommy!].  However, we quickly realized that her one functioning kidney wasn’t functioning like it was supposed to.  Abby was admitted to the Scottish Rite emergency room on April 28^th and spent the month of May in the hospital.  Lots of tests, scans, bloodwork [including an IV in her head and a picc line], a very scary UTI, two nights in the PICU, a nephrostomy bag, a failed stint, and three surgeries later, Abby is an incredibly healthy, athletic, joyful, fun-loving girl.  To meet her now, you would most likely never know or believe all she went through to get to this point.  From birth, she has shown amazing strength and spirit and resilience. 

Our family owes her life to CHOA.  The doctors, nurses, techs, and staff there are nothing short of amazing.  While I hope no one ever has to go through what Abby did, we are so thankful for this wonderful organization and all they did for our baby girl. 

Today, Abby is perfectly healthy and in no way limited or affected by having only one kidney.  We had follow-ups regularly throughout her early years, but she was released from her urologist’s care at five years old, and only sees her nephrologist once every two years for a routine ultrasound and checkup.  

From Chloe's ::

Chloe’s first experience with Children’s came at ten weeks old.  After several outpatient visits, she was admitted to Scottish Rite with RSV.  We spent three full days and two nights there. 

Chloe has also visited the Scottish Rite E.R. two different times for two different broken bones – both times she broke both bones on her left forearm requiring sedation to reset and cast them.  We’ve also had various outpatient visits, including pneumonia when she was six.

For more on our family’s appreciation of and gratitude to CHOA, see her sister Abby :)  Abby was admitted to Scottish Rite at 15 days old, and over the course of a month and numerous surgeries, CHOA saved her life.  We are forever thankful for this wonderful organization.  What a blessing CHOA has been to our family!

semi-circles

You know the cliche about coming full circle?  That's what I am thinking about, but I can't bring myself to title my blog post that.  I figure my kids are too young to have gone full circle already, right?  Maybe more like halves of a figure eight?  or a curve in a circle?  little tiny partial circles?  Anyways enough cheesy, deep thinking for now.

Here's a picture from Labor Day weekend.  The first UGA football game of the season.  We hosted a viewing party/ hanging out/ do-NOT-call-it-a-playdate-whatever-you-do/ gathering at our house and let Ryan invite whoever he wanted.  Being Labor Day, we figured over-invite so no feelings are hurt since surely not everyone will come anyways.  He invited eight.  We had ten.  Hmmm.  Oh well, luckily they are an AWESOME group of boys.  If they weren't, they wouldn't have made the invite list :)

I LOVED having all that red and black in my yard! -and added bonus some of it was Atlanta United who also happened to be playing that night.  We had two TVs going because we are that awesome and that soccer crazy.

So that good-looking crew is Spence, Grady, Tripp, Cooper A, Lucas, Matthew, Cooper, Clark, Ryan, and Jake.

I could go on and on and on about how much I love our small-town, tight-knit community.  The friends and neighbors who will do anything for you at any time.  Like helping with kids when your kid breaks an arm.  Twice.  Or a hubby breaks a shoulder.  The ones who show up unannounced with wine when you think your dad has had a heart-attack.  The ones who help with your cats and your dog and your mail.  The ones you coordinate calendars with and carpool children to and from and back again - we've decided calendar-keeping, esp with middle schoolers in the picture, is a full time job.  Oh and then there's the trips to Kroger on a Sunday afternoon that take an hour to pick up two things because EVERYONE in Macedonia is returning from fall break and stocking up on groceries.  I love this life.

Anyways, still not the original point of this post.

Circles.  Circling back to the circles.  Ha.  Three of the boys in that picture up above are new Avery friends.  And yet, they are not new at all.  I am still super amused by this.  I love sociology and connections and back-stories and putting it all together.

*So Grady.  He and Spence have been good friends since preschool, ironically the same preschool my kids all went to, yet Ryan didn't cross paths with them then.  But Abby did.  Grady is Virgil's big brother.  Abby and Virgil were in all three classes together and were quite the little buddies.  Oh and Grady & Virgil's mom went to Walton, and while I didn't know her then Alyson did.  And actually thus possibly Auntie Sarah - they're all the same class.  Grady also played one season of CYB at Macedonia when he signed up late and the Avery teams were full.  Ryan, Spence, Clark, Grady- to name a few- all played together in third grade.  And now Ryan and Grady are in home-room together and legit friends all on their very own.

Here are Abby and Virgil at five years old.  OHHHH, and if we didn't have enough connections yet to Grady and Virgil, Abby's bff Taylor and Virgil are in class together at Avery.  Perhaps I've missed a few connections here, but I think that's pretty impressive.

*The next new Avery friend is Tripp.  Ryan and Tripp were little buddies in Kindergarten when Ryan went to Avery!  Here they are at the Kindergarten Christmas party ::

And ironically, when I went to find and upload the picture of Tripp and Ryan, right next to it was a picture of Virgil and Abby at their Christmas program that same year!

We've seen Tripp over the years as Macedonia and Avery compete in everything, namely basketball for this group of boys.  We've also seen them at the Brandon Seniors's Halloween parties.  Levi and Larsen's [who were also good friends with Virgil] parents went to college with Tripp's parents.  I remember Ryan and Tripp hitting if off at one of the yearly Halloween parties two or three years ago.  We haven't been intentional about keeping up with him, but we were happy to see them again at Creekland.  And then to find out that Tripp and Ryan have the exact same schedule!  From what I can tell, Ryan and Spence and Grady and Tripp are really good school friends - from home room to sitting together in the lunchroom, etc.

*The third Avery kiddo that Ryan is friends with - and who made the cut for both the football party and Ryan's upcoming birthday party - is Cooper A.  I'm not entirely sure the first time that we met Cooper's family.  They have a young one that is Chloe's age.  Chloe and Landen were really good preschool buddies - playdates, birthday parties, all that fun stuff.  And then at some point Cooper A was on a baseball team with Ryan and Cooper E.  Hence Cooper A is still Cooper A to us.  And that season is where the Esterlings became the Es to us and that has completely stuck.

Here are Landen and Chloe swimming way back when.

And just because we're walking down memory lane, here's another.

Landen, Chloe, Couper, and Alice celebrating Chloe's 4th birthday at Waffle House :)

That was fun!  This is the part I miss about blogging.  I love keeping up with my pictures, and I feel like I've done a really good job of that.  And by captioning my pictures on google photos, I can remember a lot of the things that I no longer expand upon on my blog.  But I do enjoy finding some quiet time and typing like this.  Remembering all these moments and friendships and memories.  And as an added bonus I like to think that my kids will appreciate these posts one day.  It's cool and special and enjoyable and fulfilling to see them snuggle in on the couch with a blog book or a shutterfly book or even an old school photo album sometimes.  The years sure do fly by, and I know I'm guilty of trying to hang on too tightly sometimes.  But there are also so many, many perks to watching them grow up too.  I love watching them do what they love and find themselves and their passions.  I love their friends.  I love watching Abby play soccer and Ryan play basketball.  I love seeing Ryan thrive in middle school despite our [well mostly mine!] worries and fears of the unknown.  I love Ryan's friends and his flag football team and that he made the school Academic Team.  I love my sweet Chlo-Chlo.  And watching her swim, oh she's a fish!  And the love she has her whole family is BIG.  I love Abbys and her love and joy and energy for life.  Her obsession with soccer and ninja and anything physically competitive.  I love watching her reading in a quiet corner and then two minutes later she's singing her favorite songs at full volume.  I am truly so very blessed, and I wouldn't change any of it!!     

atl utd 2

We LOVE LOVE LOVE us some soccer!  The credit for this goes entirely to our Abs.  She got us all hooked.  Well, maybe not all, Ryan still hasn't fully embraced the beautiful game, but we're working on him :)

So last year we decided we should take Abby down to an Atlanta United game.  To say I knew nothing about them would be a gross understatement.  I'm not entirely convinced I even knew Atlanta had a soccer team.  We started looking into the games and quickly realized that a multi-game pack was the way to go.  We bought five tickets to four different games in the 2018 season for less then double what one game would have been.  All it takes is walking into one soccer game at Mercedes Benz.  Atlanta United routinely sets attendance records at 73,000+ rowdy and proud fans.  It's not like any other sporting event I've been to.  So this season we bought the multi-game pack again, but this time six tickets to six games.  We've taken turns bringing a friend, and one game we even went as three couples - adults only!!  Thanks to Nana for watching the kiddos that evening and shout-out to the Khodabakhshs and Esterlings for a great time.  And along with our tickets, we get lots of vouchers for "free" Atlanta United 2 games.

Abby started soccer at i9 just like Ryan and Chloe.  Ryan didn't last long in soccer, and Chloe is actually playing there again this fall.  She has tried other sports including gymnastics and t-ball along the way, but has come back to soccer a few times.  Abby has consistently played soccer for years and years.  Her early i9 teams were so much fun - always Coach Daddy.  and great friends like Jackson Allen, Levi and Larsen, Lyla for awhile, Sawyer once or twice.  In second grade, we moved Abby and Jackson up since they continued to dominate.  However, they still dominated even playing boys Ryan's age.  The time came to move on from i9, and unfortunately we had to part ways with Jackson as teams are no long co-ed.  He plays on a team with all the other MES boys including Sawyer and all our neighbors :)  We went to one of their games in the spring, and Abby had a blast cheering on all her boys.  Abby started playing Impact rec in 3rd grade.  Daddy still coached, and we got placed with such a fun and great group of girls - the Dazzlers!!  Coach Daddy and Coach Keith were a great pair and went on to request each other for the spring.  And we met Taylor!!  She and Abby had this almost instant bond.  I love watching their friendship, both on and off the field.  They have a great chemistry and were passing beautiful crosses on the rec field at age 8.  It didn't take long at all before Abby started getting recruited for the Academy team.  In fact, we were first approached after her very first practice.  She was so young and so new to Impact, and we loved her rec team so we didn't follow up with any of it.  Finally in November 2018 she played as a guest in an Academy tournament, but even so decided to stay with Coach Daddy and Taylor and the Dazzlers for spring.  This year though, she and Taylor are both playing Academy - and at the Elite level too.  It is so fun to watch the love and passion Abby has for the game.  I keep asking her if she's still having fun and still loving it, but there is no doubt.  Smiles like these make all the time and money worth it!!....

So that's Abby.  Our soccer-crazy girlie!


Back to the Atlanta United and a few memorable games for the Chase family ....

- Abby's 8th birthday at the Creekview Game - getting the VIP treatment - the team sang happy birthday to her, gave her flowers and a scarf,  posed for pictures.  And she got to go down to the sidelines for a few mins.  amazing.

- our first Atl Utd 2 game in April 2018 with Cooper, Lucas, and Aaron
the Gwinnett Strippers?!?!
how many times can we get on the video scoreboard?!

- Mother's Day 2019 at the Atl Utd game - a big win and anybody who is anybody was there, sooo much fun!

- Abby's 9th birthday at the Atl Utd 2 game - they announced her name and birthday at halftime!

- But for now, here's last night's Atlanta United 2 game.  Seeing as Abby proclaimed it the best night of her life, I thought I should commemorate it with a blog post.

As part of our multi-game pack, we get lots of vouchers and the season is almost over and we were trying to figure out how to use them all.  We ended with four tickets left and last night as the only remaining night we could make it.  I told Abby I'd take her and two friends [Taylor and Olivia, duhhhh].  We had the bestest time!!  and on a school night at that, eekkk!  We went to Dairy Queen on the way down for dinner and ice cream.  We had taken Olivia there once after a game, so I'm pretty convinced she thinks soccer, the Chases, and ice cream are a package deal.   Being a Wednesday night, the crowd was very light, and we had front row seats.  The girls had sooo much fun, and I had a ton of fun watching them have fun.  Olivia is an extrovert and Abby can get going sometimes, so there was a lot of loud and wild cheering.  Taylor alternated between participating and looking mortified at how loud they were - I love another introvert!  Mikey Ambrose has quickly become a family favorite.  We've seen him at most all of our Atl Utd 2 games this seasons - and as a starter at an Atlanta United game at Mercedes!  These players are so nice and kind and amazing.  So the girls were cheering extra loud for him.  And he waved to them as he was taking a corner kick right in front of us!!  So cool!  I actually went back and saw it on the espn+ coverage of the game.

Also fun is that Daddy and Chloe were watching on TV [Ryan has RevStudents on Wednesday nights].  The TV was about 40 seconds behind, so we were talking on the phone when Fernando scored at 9:02.  We told them to watch for the goal, and we were waving to them, pretty cool!

After the game, we stick around for player autographs and pictures.  Abby and I came prepared with printed out pictures from previous games.  She got six signed pictures.  The players all commented on signing the pictures, how fun, I'm so glad we did that!  Abby's actually got them at school today to show off.  Hopefully she won't get into too much trouble with them, and hopefully they'll make it home so I can frame some!  But as the players were coming over to the fans, I promise you Mikey Ambrose walked right to us.  I thanked him for waving to us before his corner, and he twice thanked the girls for cheering so loudly for him :)  He signed everything - including Taylor and Olivia's tshirts and Abby's printed picture - and posed for pictures.  Have I mentioned how much I love these guys and the personal atmosphere of these games?!?

And then as we were wrapping up pictures, Olivia asked if they could go on the field [having an extremely outgoing extrovert in the group certainly has benefits!].  I originally told them no way, but fine you can go ask.  Surprisingly, the staff guy told them sure why not.  Huh, I had no idea!!  So they opened a gate and out we went.  I'm sure everyone thought we were super special and important, hehe.  The girls had so much fun racing around the pitch, and Olivia was doing cartwheels.  They eventually worked their way over to the far side where the goal was still out and a few people were mingling.  They used a game ball to take turns shooting on the goal!  In fact Abby's probably would have made it in, but just to be sure, #15 José Hernández chipped it in for her :)  Leave it to our extrovert Olivia to say something to a professional soccer player [she was the goalie trying to block the shot!].  And some sort of coach/ trainer was out there too, and he was totally supporting the girls and you can even hear him on the video encouraging them and as the lights are going off he's telling them to go ahead and take another shot.  I'm sooo glad I was videoing!!

It truly was a pretty much perfect night.  I didn't think anything could top her birthday game, but I think this one might just have done it.  I woke up this morning still happy and smiling think about it.  Hopefully Abby and Olivia [who are in the same class] aren't either A] fast asleep and/or ridiculously grumpy or B] so wired that they can't focus and stay out of trouble!  Wonder which extreme it will be?!  Abbys will be home in about an hour....

 Still trying to win the #atlutd2 17th minute selfie contest.  

I must be doing something wrong, I mean aren't we just awesome and adorable?!?

How does this not win?! :)

 We love Mikey!!

 Captain Jack and Andrew Carleton.  

Both great guys, Andrew scored a goal tonight.

I just think Jack Metcalf is the coolest guy.  He has captained this team both years we've been going to games and always has the best attitude and is so happy and grateful to see his fans.  I'm not sure if there's a reason he's "stuck" here and doesn't ever play with the big club, but I'm super impressed with his love for the game and his fans!

 Three insanely happy girls on the pitch after the game!

The only picture I have of them shooting on the goal.

But the video I got is priceless :)

Cats by Chloe

The kids, but especially the girls, really enjoy making power points just for fun.  And their knowledge and skill with technology is always impressive.  Here's a power point that Chloe made all by herself, just about a month after turning seven years old.  I think I probably made my first one in college 😊

Ed and Janice

So that last post about the details of Chloe's broken arm got a little long!  What I really want to remember are all the little goosebump moments and the small miracles.  Our PA Ed is amazing.  He's one of those life-hack type guys.  He's been around for a long time, and he knows all the tricks of the trade.  From cutting casts in order to relieve the pressure - and then keeping them open with pencil erasers!  To a safety pin in the corner of a sling to keep it from slipping back and off the elbow.  I love how he ponders and mutters and processes and eventually solves the problem. 

And Janice.  Oh, I can't say enough about her.  She's one of those people that you just know God put in your life in the right place at the right time.  She spent almost four hours with us at that first appointment helping comfort Chloe and washing her arm and soothing her with cool towels.  We've seen her every appointment.  She's always got a huge hug for Chloe, and usually for me too.  And I just love her comforting ways and how she had her whole church praying for us.  In fact, she may or may not have closed the door and prayed with Chloe and I once :)  Knowing she was on our side and had our backs was a huge blessing.  I will be forever grateful for her - thank you God for placing her in our lives!

Chloe's misaligned bones peaked at 23% I believe it was.  And yet without the pressure of a hard cast, they started getting better, and we managed to avoid surgery.  Thank you God for that!  And thank you for healing Chloe's staph infection without a trip to Scottish Rite.  And I'm in awe of the fact that Chloe's right arm, both legs, chest, back, etc were covered in allergic hives - but nothing on that left arm.  I think God knew that arm [and Chloe and I in general] had been through enough and spared her!  While certainly not how I would have chosen to spend the summer, I know this whole process could have gone much, much differently.  And honestly, if it hadn't been summertime, if it had been during the school year, I can't even imagine how many days of school she would have missed.