Gymnastics Tour of Champions!

Ella and I had the privilege of attending the Kelloggs Gymnastics Tour of Champions 2016. Ragnar found out there was access to tickets at the last minute, so we happily decided it was worth our money and went. Ella loved watching gymnastics during the Olympics and was super excited to see the Final Five gymnasts.  

It was a really awesome event. It made me want to watch the Olympics all over again.

The lighting was fantastic. They had lots of bright colors and costumes and it really was amazing what they can do.

I was lucky to get to go on a mother daughter date with Ella. She really is a special girl and I am so grateful she is my daughter. We had a great time!

Ragnar's 39th Birthday!

Ragnar turned 39 last week and it kind of turned into a week long celebration. Friday night the weekend before his birthday I organized a date to Comedy Sports Houston with our friends the Browns. I always enjoy going out on a date with Ragnar so I thought it would be fun to try something new. We tried out a new place called Persona Pizza which was good, then we headed over. 

There was a mixture of comedy performances and some were definitely more funny than others, but overall we had a good time and got some good laughs in! It was nice that it was a very clean performance.

That week I tried to do things throughout the week to help celebrate. I got his oil changed in his car, underneath the grill I got fixed for him since it had been ruined since the floods last year. We did simple things. Friday night Daphne came and we got to go see Ragnar play in his first outdoor soccer game of the season. I have seen him play in many indoor leagues, but it has been a long time since I have seen him play outdoor soccer. It was fun to watch!

He and Cavin are both #20 this season!

Getting quick on his feet!

There team name was the Rangers, so Daphne was happy to exclaim "Ranger Danger" when they would do well! The kids enjoyed seeing their dad play.
The next day Daphne was kind enough to watch the kids while we went and found Ragnar a new suit for his birthday.

Here is the one we chose. The Rockets season is back in session! 
After getting a suit we came home and Ella had put together a small surprise party which was sweet of her. Then we went to Cavin's soccer game. It ended up being cancelled after halftime due to lightening. We then went to Chilis for dinner early and celebrating there.
Sunday Ragnar officially turned 39! We just hung out until church and then we had church and celebrated afterward.

The kids made Ragnar a birthday sign!

Our family birthday shot!

Naturally Ragnar and Daphne always take a Sunday School selfie when she comes. I have always been in Primary, so this is my first time joining :) Sadly, I think that is the only picture we got of Daphne!

Ragnar wanted to grill burgers for dinner! We sure love hamburgers around here.

After dinner we sang a song and ate cake!!

I sure hope he wished for the year to go by slowly! I not sure I am ready to be married to a 40 year old!!

The kids love to watch present opening! 

I was so grateful that Daphne made the effort to come into town to celebrate with us. He sure loves her and I am grateful they have a great relationship. I am also grateful that my brother and sister and parents were able to come support him as well. I hope he had a special day. I sure feel lucky to be able to celebrate another year of his wonderful life. I am so lucky to have him.

Speers Family Summer Olympics 2016

My mom is great about trying to make a summer Olympics happen for the kids each year. They sure do love it. This year we got rained out, so it didn't happen til the weekend after school started. Nonetheless, she made it happen! The kids were really excited as it is so much more fun with cousins close to compete with. The kids made their flags a couple weeks before and were ready to go. Unfortunately, I did not get many pictures of the events, but they had fun regardless. They started with the Olympic Flag March led by Grandma to the Olympic music. 

They are adorable kiddos!

Deacon was carrying the American flag while shouting "Go Germany Go!" Everywhere we go he sees the flag and says Go Germany! I think he's a tad confused which country he lives in (and I think his dad has indoctrinated him)! haha!

The first event was the Obstacle course. Caden ended up taking the Gold in that event. Then their was the Javelin throw which Cavin won, and then shot put which Cavin and Caden tied on. Then they did archery.

We had a small problem with the target as it was too close to the neighbors fence and the first arrow when over, so we had to change the target and then Cavin took the archery medal. 

They also tried some Hockey. Then, it was so hot outside and so many mosquitoes that we headed to the pool to finish out the rest. We did individual swimming events which Ella won one and then water polo which Ella and I won. Ella is good in the water. Then when we came back, we ate Greek food for lunch and had Popsicles and then finished with a round of fly swatter balloon volleyball instead of beach volleyball. I am so grateful that my mom took the time and effort to keep the summer "tradition" going. I love it and the kids have a great time.

Back to School ....

Can I cry through written word? I seriously am so sad the kids are back in school. I love that they love learning and going, but man I miss them! They were all excited about their first day and did awesome. 

Ella is the big woman on campus. She is in 5th grade now. She was most excited about seeing her old friends. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Reynolds. She, however, will have three teachers. Mrs. Drew will teach Science, Social Studies, and spelling, Mrs. Reynolds will teach reading and writing, and Mrs. Schnurpel will teach Math. At least that's what I think they all said ;) She will do great. She is a great student and always eager to learn.

Cavin is in 3rd grade. He has Mrs. Lowry. He also enjoys school, but mostly for the competitive aspect. He loves to try and work hard and compete with others to be the best. I am hoping he will continue to learn healthy competition and work on being the best he can be and not worrying if that is still better than others. He is a good kid with a kind heart and although he is big, he is very much a gentle giant. 

Channing is in Kindergarten this year with Mrs. Ortolano. I can't believe it! She was thrilled to be going with her older siblings! When I asked her what she was excited to learn, she was way more concerned about her outfit and what shoes and necklace would match. So, not my child! Hopefully she will gain a love of learning like her siblings. She comes off shy, but is very far from it. I hope she will open up enough to make friends and have fun, but not be too sassy to her teacher! She is my first child who will have all day Kindergarten, I think that is such a long day. She did have a great first day.

My adorable children. I hope they go off into the world and make a difference and learn to be kind and giving. I hope they will always enjoy school and learning.

And then there was one....

I am excited to have one on one time with Deacon, but hopefully can keep him from a life of this! Ipads and technology have taken over our children! I look forward to finding time for him away from the screen! He sure was missing his siblings today. He kept looking in each room saying "Ella, where are you.." It will take some getting used to being just the two of us!

End of Summer Fun!

The last few weeks of summer flew by! We tried to get in as much playing as we could! We went to the pool a few times and splash pad, but it rained a lot the last couple weeks.

We of course spent day and night watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics!

We realized, however, even though we live in America, we only have German attire! We need to work on that!

We had our very own gymnasts in the house. Gymnastics is one of my favorite sports to watch! We loved watching all the athletes. So inspiring to me. They are so strong!

We also got in a quick trip to Baton Rouge, LA to visit Aunt Daphne who has been gone all summer. 

She is seriously the most fun Aunt you could ask for. The weekend we went Baton Rouge had one of the worst floods in history. While so incredibly devastating, Daphne was safe and her home was spared. So, she took the time to dance in the rain with the kids.

She also prepared fun crafts for them to do. 

We are so glad she is home and only 4 hours away again!

The last weekend we celebrated my sister Natalie's 40th birthday. She will be 40 tomorrow so we celebrated all together a little early.

Chira, Natalie, Mom, and I went shopping and to the Cheesecake Factory, and to get pedicures. It was a nice day to spend with Natalie.

The kids loved celebrating with her. Chira made her beautiful Snow White cake. 
We had such a great summer and I will seriously miss these cuties while they are at school!

Deacon is TWO!

Deacon turned 2 on July 30, 2016! He was super excited for his special day. He kept saying "Happy Day, Happy Day!"

He loved his traditional birthday donut and we always enjoy eating with the birthday child! We had a party with my family in the evening. We tried to do some water games outside, but it started thundering so we came inside and played a couple games. My brothers family came with my dad and sister Natalie. Deacon loved having his favorite cousin, Coleton over. He is always, always talking about Coleton or going to Coleton's house.

We opened presents and he loved his Donald duck.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My dad always does his donald duck voice, so I find it very fitting that Donald is in the picture with the two of them. Deacon loves being around "b-pa" and asks where he is often.

He was actually pretty good about opening the presents.

He loves the cars that Natalie got him, he said "oooooo cool cars!!"

"Cool Car!"

We got him this big cozy coupe to ride in. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it go, but loves to sit in it.

He loves basketball so we had a ball themed cake.
Some of his favorite things are:
- Mickey and Minnie Mouse (b-mouse)
- Basketball, he always runs around saying "Go Rockets Go"
- He loves the IPAD
- Colors. He is always telling you what color everything is..even if it's the wrong one.
- Germany. He loves Germany! Anytime he sees a flag, he says "go Germany, go Germany!"
- Ice. He only wants water with ice!
- He loves the kids bop channel and always wants to listen to kids bop in the car
- He loves dogs. Whenever he sees one he will scream "dodgy"
- He is constantly playing with balls and is always throwing them around. He is pretty coordinated and when he aims at you he often hits his target. He also is pretty good at dribbling the soccer ball. 
- He loves his blanket and sleeping with Mickey, Minnie, and Donald. 
- Every morning he wakes up saying "Daddy where are you??"

Deacon is 31 pounds and 35 inches tall. He is such a sweet kid and sure loves his siblings.

I just love his cute curly blonde hair and his big blue eyes!

This is where he goes to hide when he's not supposed to be on the Ipad ;)

Yet he is also sweet and loves to play with babies. He will be a good daddy one day. We are sure lucky to have this little boy in our family!