Soccer Mania

has hit the Streeter household! We quickly replaced wrestling weekends with soccer weekends and I think everyone is much happier! With soccer 3-5 times a week, dance once a week and Cub Scouts once a week, we're keeping pretty busy. The long hours of daylight make our days on the soccer field very enjoyable.

Dylan in the goal! He volunteers for this position!

Dylan's team is doing well. I'm pretty sure they haven't won a game yet this spring but half of their team has never played soccer! Even though they are losing, they are playing well and not losing badly!

Now Lyndsi's team has never, ever won a game but we aren't officially keeping score for the U-6ers. Their total points for the season so far are a whopping 3! The points scored against them are around the 20-30 mark :) What a heart warming scene, to watch six 4 and 5 year olds playing their hearts out! They run up and down the field smiling the whole time. I know I've seen a foot kick the ball a few times, too! It's killing Steve as he is the coach of this peppy little team!

Lyndsi's foot is on the ball!

Last weekend was the district Pinewood Derby race. Dylan was the second place winner for our pack so he was able to race at districts. This time he came in 4th - not bad! There were approximately 16 racers, all who really wanted to win!

Pinewood Derby track

Lyndsi's big excitement this week came in the form of a sleepover. As I write, Lyndsi is snoozing away on the floor of her preschool (at least I hope she's sleeping!). The teachers of the preschool offer a sleepover every year as a fundraiser for the school. Eighteen kids' parents forked out $40 for their child to spend the night at the preschool. Pictures from past sleepovers show lots of fun and games complete with dinner and breakfast. I'm still a bit shocked that Lyndsi was so thrilled to be going! Not even a tear as we said goodbye (unless you could see the shine in my eyes!). Sigh - she's growing up....

The girls are ready for their sleepover!

We're off to Tonasket for a 9:30 soccer game in the morning. I hope the weather warms up a bit. Last weekend we froze! I'm also hoping to get out of the house early enought to get coffee at our new Starbucks in town. Yep, Omak has a Starbucks! I haven't rushed to get in the doors but I am excited to have late night coffee options!

Yippee!

Rice Chex is now gluten-free!! I can't wait to go buy some. This has been one of my favorite cereals since, well.....forever! And now I can eat it again! I'm going to buy a box for school, one for the car and one for home. That should just about cover it! Imagine, by only changing one ingredient Rice Chex was able to become a gluten free food. Barley malt is in a lot of cereals made with rice and corn. The makers of Rice Chex took away the malt and substituted molasses. Simple!

OK, OK. I promise to write about the kids this weekend - and post some pictures. Sigh...

Winter Storm Watch? What the.....????

Yep - that's the news today. We got more snow and it is a whopping 35 degrees right now. Supposedly we will be under a winter storm watch starting tomorrow evening. Sigh... I guess it's a good thing I didn't get my little garden bed cleaned out last week. I was really wanting to plant this weekend! I've lived here long enough to know better. The old timers have always said, "Don't plant anything until the snow is off Omak Mountain!" They're right! The snow is still on the mountain (and now in the valley!). Maybe I'll get some plants in the ground next weekend!

I don't have any pictures to share but I can tell you that this little snowstorm took me by surprise. It was 70 degrees this week and I've been wearing crop pants to work! Dylan's soccer game today was in Oroville so we had an hour's drive. Along the way I was admiring the icicles on the lower halves of the trees in the orchards. Irrigation started this week and apparently when orchardists water, they water no matter what the weather! It really was beautiful! I wonder if the trees will survive?

Supposedly western Washington got hit pretty hard. Can anyone confirm this?

HTML?

Well..... the next post looks a bit off. Peices of text are centered when they shouldn't be, there are spaces where there should be words. Hmmmmmm

I went into HTML to see if I could figure out what was going on. I'd fix one thing but cause something else. SO, this is my compromise, a post that looks a bit odd but says everything I want it to say!

Life's Little Joys

I was unpacking my suitcase today, thinking about everything I should do before Monday morning when I realized that Spring Break has come and gone! We had a busy - but not hectic -week and it was wonderful!

My break started a bit early - on Friday I left school at 1:30 (it was an early release day) in order to head off to my annual scrapbook retreat. Yes, I know - I went in November too, so I can't really say that it's only annual, but - it's the first one this year! Anyway, for all of you who are concerned that I left work early, don't worry, I had my boss' permission and I made up my hours on Monday! Anyway, I had a great but not so restful weekend of scrapbooking at one of the most beautiful places in Eastern Washington - Sun Mountain Lodge! Yep, I spent a whole weekend scrapbooking with my friends! Truly, one of life's little joys. I would start to feel a bit guilty (as I usually do) about not getting out to enjoy nature's beauty, but then I would tell myself it was OK because it was snowing and I didn't have any snow gear. Yep - snow! And lots of it! It was a bit surreal sitting in this comfortable conference room with floor to ceiling windows, watching the snow fall, in March!

On Sunday, Steve and the kids drove up to the lodge so we could spend one more night in the hotel as a family. When I planned this little excursion I was thinking we could bring kites and hiking boots. Instead, we ended up with sleds and snow boots! I have to admit, as much as I was enjoying the kids' excitement, it was a little difficult to get too happy about sledding....again. I did, however, take a couple of thrilling rides down the sledding hill. I seemed to have been a death trap on that day - no matter which way I aimed, I ended up heading straight for whomever was at the bottom! Poor Lyndsi had a couple of close calls with me ending up on top of her. Dylan still likes to tell people that I was the death trap that day! I guess sledding in March is one of life's little joys??

It was so perfect to end up in the hot tub after our afternoon of sledding. Aaahh! And I als enjoyed one of Sun Mountain's special coffee nudges before dinner. So, I guess the sledding was worth the effort! We spent the dark hours of the evening playing Uno Attack and Mexican Train dominoes in our room before lights out. The next morning Steve and I wanted to surprise the kids with room service. It's fun to give the kids some of those little joys that I often overlook in life - like room service!? Yep, they were thrilled! I, being the skeptic of the bunch, even had a relaxing breakfast in my jammies. Yep, one of life's little joys!

Dylan doing the Mexican Train Victory Dance. He's got it down!

Breakfast in bed - sort of....

We returned home on Monday, unpacked, did a little laundry, paid some bills, and then packed up to head out again on Tuesday evening. This time we were heading to Spokane to see Grandma Linda and Rod and Auntie Erin. My parents are on their well-deserved vacation so we didn't see them. Grandma Linda gave the kids kites for Easter so we spent one afternoon flying them in the field by Grandma's house. Again - one of life's little joys. The kites kept the kids entertained for over an hour. Lyndsi had a bit of trouble keeping hers in the air but she perservered and her patience paid off.

Kite flying at Grandma's

We also spent one afternoon with Erin. We walked the dogs (all 3 of them!) down to Manito Park and fed the ducks. We ignored the signs asking us to please not feed the ducks - ugh! - the guilt! I promised the kids they could feed the ducks (another one of life's little joys) so they fed the ducks. I can't help my rule-following self so the guilt was a bit of trouble for me! Not to mention, the damage I was doing to those poor ducks by giving them bread! Jeesh! BUT -we had fun - again!

See...the ducks love their whole wheat bread....

Steve and Erin kept the dogs away from the ducks, and the bread!

Erin also cut Dylan's hair. He's so handsome! I love Dylan's big, dark eyes and when he gets his hair cut, they just seem to pop from his face! Dylan really didn't want to get his hair cut but I think he's secretly pleased with the results. I don't have a picture of the final outcome but I'm sure there will be some in the future.

Steve and I spent a nice evening out at the new Twigs, where Erin was bartending. Ignore the price and go! What a great place! The food was good, service was fabulous and drinks were yummy! My new goal is to have 36 martinis in 36 months, using the martini's on Twigs' menu. Warning! If you visit the ladies room, push UP to turn the water on.

We returned home yesterday, my mind full of what I could accomplish in 2 more short days. My progress? Well, let's just say that I have started every one of my goals but have yet to complete any! I have no regrets, though. This was a week filled with life's little joys and I wouldn't change a thing.