Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Bragging on my husband

Tom doesn't like when I do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. Tom won an award for coaching a few weeks ago and I wanted to share! He's been coaching for the City of Falls Church soccer program for a few years now. He's coached both Max's team and Ian and Sam's team, and last Fall he went above and beyond and coached a U-9 team that was coach-less so that they could play. He was nominated by the City for an award with the Arlington Soccer Association, which he won this year. The city has a ton of coaches and teams in ASA, and he was one of two that were nominated, so it was a really big honor. So, here he is, all dressed up and award in hand:
Congrats for a job well done!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Rugby???!!!

The boys decided they wanted to play Rugby this summer. Up until this point we've really been a gymnastics/soccer only family, with a little non-competitive swimming tossed in here and there. The boys are very athletic and play sports continually (am listening to them playing some form of tackle football/rugby/soccer with their little sister as I type this) but rugby is a new adventure for us. So, it's two practices a week and 1-2 games a week, and here we go!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

SoccerFest 2010

MAC Soccerfest is a big 4 v 4 tournament played on a big old farm (yes, a farm) in Maryland every year in June. This year we took both a boys U-7 team, and a boys U-9 team. Both teams were made up of players from a few different teams that Tom has coached over the past year or two. Both teams had a fantastic time, and the little boys' team even won 2nd in their bracket (they got medals and were very pleased with themselves)! We are so proud of all three of our boys and all of the rest of the kids that came out to play, and are really glad that everyone had a good time!


Ian and Sam lined up for a game (look for the red socks)
Max's game (he's on the far right going after a ball out of frame)
U-7 Parents and U-9 kids (in white jerseys) watching the U-7 team play
Sam taking a break between games
Diana helping Lucy to apply her "bows"
Lucy had fun too!
U-7 Piranhas

U-9 Revolution
Ian's Medal

Thursday, June 24, 2010

DC Traffic Woes

In case you ever wonder how bad traffic really is in DC, or if we are just a bunch of complainers (well, about traffic at least), here's the picture from Tom's trip home a few weeks back. It wasn't just a little congested, but a LOT congested. Funny thing is, it looks like this on any given weekday evening: All I can say is thank goodness that Tom doesn't drive through that (he sneaks to work via a different, less congested route), and REALLY thank goodness that I'm not in it at all. I think I'd go postal if I had to sit in that kind of traffic. Give me long stretches of open road any day over a traffic jam!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lucy's June

In June, we:
(had lunch with our big brother Sam at school)

(cheered on our school's staff basketball team)

(Watched our big brothers Max, Ian, and Sam play soccer)

(watched our big brothers in their gymnastics show)

(bounced in a bouncy house)

(and ate cupcakes.)

All in all a great June. And now we rest.

Monday, June 21, 2010

My new friend

Actually, it's a new member of the family, but it doesn't make as big of a mess as any of the other members of the family. I am the proud new owner of a coffee maker. Yes, me who doesn't drink caffeinated anything, owns the slick, cool, Keurig Elite Coffeemaker.
It's actually a birthday present, but I was tired of paying Starbucks prices, or going out of my way to duck into the local Bloom to grab coffee, so I bought this for myself as an early present (two months early and Tom keeps reminding me tat I skipped right over two OTHER birthdays in the house when I did this). Anyway, if you are ever over here, I can now serve you a cup of non-instant, actually brewed coffee! I have not only my beloved decaf flavors, but also a few different kinds of fully loaded coffee, and can make a cup in all of 2 minutes. It's not exactly the coolest thing since sliced bread (it's just a coffeemaker and doesn't do laundry) but of all the coffeemakers that I've seen it's the easiest and fastest, and it makes darn good coffee!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

WAKA WAKA!

No, it's not Fozzie Bear like I know you are thinking (that's what I thought of first). It's WORLD CUP!!!! I have been watching loads of soccer and have, for the first time in my adult life, thoroughly enjoyed the games that I've watched. Not so happy with all of the outcomes, but the games are certainly fun to watch.

Back to the WAKA WAKA. Well, a friend of mine popped me a note with this link: http://www.youtube.com/shakirawakawaka (you really should click through on the link - it's short but it explains it all). Being a big Shakira fan, I was excited right off the bat. Then I saw what Shakira was doing with this project - spreading the word about access to education (a lack of it to be precise), so I signed on right away to help get this dance danced and this video made. Alice, a brilliant mind, knew that this type of activity was the perfect fit for our school, and boy was she right. So, in the span of three days, we pulled it off, and the fantastic result is here:


Our kids can dance with the best of 'em! Thanks Alice for bringing some WAKA WAKA to Bailey's!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

My kids are "Good" Criminals - NOT.

After losing electronics privileges for some random act of silliness, the boys decided that they were going to be criminals. But they weren't going to be good criminals, as Tom calls them, just criminals. They snuck the electronics out of the cabinet in our bedroom, put them under their pillows, and played them until the wee hours of the night. They were sleep deprived the next day and because I was under the weather (and had been for about a week and a half at that point) I missed it completely. Mo Mom radar was off, and they actually snuck one by me. So me, the level headed generous in spirit Mom, threw down the royal punishment. No electronics until the summer. Clearly they haven't yet learned not to mess with Mom. Now, they had been "good criminals," then htey might have had a decent story or even snuck the things back to play another day, but no. They left the handhelds right under their pillows. So the first night that I was back up and giving bedtime hugs, which involved me feeling under their pillows to see what is stashed there, I found the DS's So between violating the rules and then the poor criminal activity follow up, these kids got the big-time punishment. The punishment fit the crime, and they are still without electronics as we still have a week of school left. It's been two weeks now, and they are slightly more polite, play outside more, and don't talk back as much, so maybe this whole no electronics thing is good. And maybe they'll look at me funny tomorrow and lose another week. ;) Poor kids, no idea who they are dealing with.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Backyard Football - Phipps Style

Even though it's not football season officially yet (but soon it will be!) we are raring to go here:

Monday, June 07, 2010

It's ME!!!

Aside from my desperately needing a haircut and
to get the pink back in - here I am!

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Brian Gaynor - Fireflies

I absolutely adore this guy:



His musicality is off the charts!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

11 Reasons Why We’re Smurfing Out Over The New Smurfs Movie | The Frisky

SMURFS!!! Can't believe that they are actually making a movie about my favorite blue furry critters, but they are! Who knew that the 80's would be so popular!