Lil' Kickers

Last Saturday Albert, Zack and I checked out a local soccer class. I know you are saying "Soccer class, seriously?!" I hear ya, I said same thing about three months ago. I was sure we would wait until Zack was about 3. That said, the toddler "Mom and Me" gym class session was ending and here in Colorado the pools aren't open until Memorial day weekend. So we are left with a few months that we need to burn a little energy. I can certainly continue to take Zack to park and kick ball around but he really enjoys going to classes and seeing other kids. He is my little social butterfly. Just like mom!
So we decided try this parent & tot program with a few of Zack's friends...Joe, Josslyn, and Issac were able to join us even though it was snowing several inches in Denver.


Zack immediately found a yellow ball that he had a constant hold on, no matter what the class was doing.

Issac found a few balls himself and had lots of fun running from his dad.

The coaches are super fun and try to talk to and relate to the kids...Here the coach is explaining to Zack that he could put down yellow ball and kick it.
Finally we got him to actually kick the yellow ball.

One of the drills is each kid gets a turn at kicking a goal...
Zack kicked his with yellow ball still in hand.

Joe became the goalie after his goal, but Zack made his first goal....GOAL!!!

These picture are from week 2, Now all the kids have their official blue jerseys.
Here they are lining up for fun game of "Red, light Green light". Of course it is one of Zack's favorites, it involves cars!

Dylan and his mom Jamie checked out soccer this week. Somehow the coach actually gets the kids to listen to directions a few times. Here, they are listening to directions about "Red light, green light" game.

Then they are off!!

Here Joe is excelling at the "green light" part...but he did manage to stop a few times too! One of the side effects of class, 45 minutes of interval training for adults.

Joss showing this older boy girls are fast too!

Playing "Red light, green light", with yellow ball of course.

Dad and Zack listen to coach as class crashers Renee and Sofi listen in...Turns out even with Renee's soccer genes Sofi was more interested in watching class and just cheering for her friend, then actually playing soccer. Maybe next time!

Nixie tried out he class this week too but unfortunately she was put into the 2-3 year old class, but we did see her score at goal!

Another game the kids play is popping bubbles but only using their feet...It is like a feeding frenzy in lion cage when the coach brings out bubble bottle.

This week Zack really got excited when it was time for each kiddo to take a turn kicking a ball into the net...
He laughs the whole way up to ball and even harder after it goes into the net...GOAL!!






A rare moment of seriousness before connecting for goal!

Dylan on the other hand, is very serious during approach but does have a little celebration dance after his successful goal....
YEAH GOAL!







Not sure if class would matter if they didn't get their stamp at the end of class.

Zack has been getting stamps for months at gym class so he was all about getting his today. Dylan waited patiently for his but then was equally as happy!

Easter play date

On Thursdays Zack and I get together with a few of his friends and their moms. The original plan was for kids to play together and for mom's to alternate running errands, getting a run in, or just getting away. To date, non of us has ever left....We just enjoy hang out with other cool moms.

This past Thursday was our turn to host and with Easter a few days away, Zack and I planned for a little Easter fun. Each mom brought some plastic eggs filled with stickers, tattoos and little plastic animals. I didn't get any pictures of hunt, these guys are too fast now and I was in charge of carrying Zack's "hummer basket". (He picked it himself, huge surprise!)

Landon looking very pleased with his ducky cookie.

Zack giving a little loving to one of his girls, Sofi, while Sadie waits for her hug.

LT, the expert egg dyer, dyed his hands blue and then proceeded to rub his eyes. We don't have picture of this but Kari thought he looked like prize fighter, who lost!

This was Sofi's and Ofelia's first time dying eggs and Sofi thoroughly enjoyed it!

This was Zack's first time too...Loved it also!! He colored his eggs yellow, of course.

Sofia arrived just in time to color an egg or two...She chose to color eggs then go the sticker route, including herself!
I had several pictures of Sadie coloring eggs but they were all blurred so hopefully Nicole can send me one for the blog. It was a lot of fun coloring eggs with the kids and great play date, if I do say so myself!

Chopsticks

Albert and I love sushi and turns out Zack does too. He has been eating the "cooked" sushi since he could chew...But the other night he insisted on using the chopsticks the "right way" instead of just spearing his food with one of them.


Zack has a lot of Albert's stubbornness, in a good way, of course. He was determine to get the little shrimp on the chopstick or starve. Any help from us, caused great frustration.


Finally he got a bite, and almost lost it in his soy sauce...

But a quick move on his behalf and he had success!

Yummy!!! We are going to have to use his college fund instead for his budding gourmet tastes.

Zack's "city" girl friend

Yesterday we had a spring-like day in Denver, and with my active little man, we decided to take advantage of weather and go run around the Zoo.

Sofi, Renee and Ofelia met up with us soon after we arrived. It has become quite challenging chasing Zack and Sofi and not leaving Ofelia behind. We ran around the feline exhibit then the polar bear area. But at one point we made a stop at one of Zack favorite spots by group of pine trees.


Z loves to hide behind trees and have me find him. At first Sofi was little stressed when Zack (aka "No, No" as Sofi likes to call him) would run off and hide from her but she eventually caught on.

Sofi is a city girl, she lives in a loft downtown, just blocks from Albert office. So when hide and seek became boring, Zack decided to show the city girl how cool sticks and pine cones can be.

At first Sofi thought it was silly to run around collecting pine cones. But once Zack gave her a few from his collection, she really got into it.


In fact, she wanted to have "all" the pine cones to herself. She grabbed as many as her little hands could hold then ran from Zack. Poor little man, is learning how hard women are to please.


They learned about "big" ones and "small" ones.



Of course, Zack got bored with pine cones as soon as we got Sofi interested. So he moved on to rock climbing.

Finally one brief moment with both kids together on rocks...
Even Ofelia had a good time, when she was awake!

Pizza and Beer

Zack loves pizza and this past Friday we had an impromptu pizza dinner with the Campbell's.

It was really a fun evening because the boys play so well together. They headed right into Zack's playroom while the adults chatted in the main room. Soon Zack ran into other other side of basement and stole a few empty beer bottles...

At first LT looked like he wasn't about to get into trouble by drinking from bottles with Z.

But Zack, the good host that he is, offered LT his own bottle.

And Landon didn't object this time...

Later, Landon thought the train table was a dance platform and climbed up and got his groove on...

An "I" tooth, finally!

It seems like Zack has been trying to cut his incisors for the last few month...And finally one made it through! Just 3 more to go! Here's look we see pretty often around here...

Zoo Lights

Each year the Denver Zoo sets up a special lighting display for the holidays! I been so excited to share the tradition with Zack. He loves all holiday lights so I had no doubt he would enjoy it. The weather forecast for Sunday evening looked the most promising (40 degrees dropping to 35 by 7 pm or so) so we bundled up and headed out. Our friends Heather, Brandon and JD Oss joined us for the fun.

He LOVED it!! The whole night he was saying "lights, lights, lights!!"

Most of the evening was spent chasing Zack from one display to the next.

We did manage to get him to sit still for one picture but only because he was mesmerized by the gecko.

The light tunnels were a big hit with the boys! JD (left, with mom, Heather) and Zack, with Dad.




Zack was constantly trying to get into everyone pictures.
Here he is posing with nice young lady.
Dad says it's a good way to meet chicks...
But I think it was more about the lights than the ladies....
At least for a few more years! (Crossing fingers.)

The train lit up was also quite the hit...Zack is one distracted by lights!

Brandon, JD, and Heather

It was really hard for both of the boys to stay out of the displays but they tried!
One solution was letting them play with the ropes that were suppose to keep them out.

JD is 14 months older and Zack had a blast copying him all night!