Valentine's Week

Well, I've been out for a week or two.  Caeli and Jack seemed to have gotten over their illnesses but this mama is still tired.  Jack was down for about 4 days with a throw-up/nausea bug, and it took Caeli a good 8 or 9 days to start acting totally like herself again.  But as of a few days ago, her snotty nose is back with a vengeance!  She's mostly acting like herself, but with a cough and runny nose.  Which means she doesn't sleep very well... Which means mama is sleepy!

She did manage to have a few good days in between colds though.  This was on the Monday before Valentine's Day, after a little get-together with other homeschooling families for a quick Valentine exchange.  The weather was an unusual 80 degrees and the afternoon was gorgeous.  I had to take my babies to the park.

The next day was also nice, a little cool in the morning but Beth had science class at the museum so I took the boys and Caeli to the zoo.  Caeli got a little too close to a chimpanzee for her comfort, and the boys had a great time running around with their two friends.

Thursday we had another Valentine exchange at co-op, then PawPaw stopped by for a quick visit!  He was in Texas for business and chose to spend the night with us before flying home.  When we got home from co-op, the kids dragged him outside and they played games with him for a couple of hours.  

Friday we had Pickwick and Blue Knights.  Beth was the last girl left sewing a red heart to give away as a gift.

and the boys had a lesson on St. Valentine at the park.

And that night the kids had their first soccer practice!

Saturday morning, Jack's game was at 8 am.  Caeli had a rough night the night before so I stayed home with her, but they all came home bearing good news of Jack scoring a goal, and they also brought Uncle Dan and Cousin Evan!  We were able to visit for a couple of hours before going out to Beth's noon game and Luke's 2 pm game.

After soccer was over we came home to get ready for our annual family dinner at P.F. Changs.  This was our 9th year to take our children their for a family date, as usual we all dressed up!  It was busier than normal this year, probably because it was on a Saturday, but we got in for dinner around 5 pm.  They stuck us in a huge corner booth, which is perfect for us!

 

The day didn't end there!  Around 6:30 we headed over to our family dance with some friends, and yet another Valentine exchange.   We arrived a little late and had to leave early- we were all exhausted!  Unfortunately we didn't get to stay late enough to dance, and the kids were disappointed, but Ryan and I could hardly keep our eyes open after such a long day!

It was an unusually beautiful weather week, which helped keep my February Blues away, but it was busy.  I've concluded that Valentine's Day, with the exception of PF Changs, is soooo overrated.  I'm happy to not cut another heart for a year!  And all the candy and sweets!  It's just too much for me!  But the kids enjoy it... sigh... the things I do for them. ;-)

So Long, Soccer Season!

Another long but fun semester of soccer has drawn to a close.  It's been awesome watching Luke and Beth turn into some really amazing soccer players- some of the best kids out there in my opinion!  Just over the past few weeks Luke has really started to own the game, I think in part to some daily practice out in the backyard with Beth and Ryan.  He absolutely adores it and loves having Ryan for his coach.

  

I finally got a picture of the "peanut gallery," hehehe.  The grandparents are faithful attendants of our Saturday morning soccer games and are such a big help with Jack- who wants so desperately to play soccer!  I splurged on a plastic-lined picnic blanket because carrying 4+ chairs out to each game was getting very cumbersome, and I knew Caeli would be wanting to roll around and eventually crawl at the games.  Next fall we need to find a nice big umbrella (or some other shading device) and probably a wagon of some sort.  I give up!  I accept this soccer mom life so just give me my minivan and all the soccer mom trappings and make this easy on me!  

Unfortunately I forgot my camera on Beth's last game day, which was the week before Luke's last game.  That day her coach took some time to say some nice things about each player, and about Beth he said, "she's very very assertive, she always goes for the ball and always gets the ball first before anybody."  Because that girl is FAST!  I think maybe next fall her team will start playing positions, and I'm excited to see her develop as a little soccer player.  She's built for speed and I think that will greatly help her game!

After Luke's last game we went to Red Mango for a frozen yogurt treat!  Great grandma sent some money for Easter and said we could kick off summer with ice cream- this is the best we could do! :-)

I have to admit, that as much as I love watching them play, I am sincerely looking forward to having our Saturdays back!

Fall Soccer

Well we're already halfway through soccer season but here are some pics from their first practices.  This is Beth's first season to play, and she loves it!  She's naturally talented too (although of course I have to say that!) but she's got the build for it and has inherited her father's soccer genes too!  Unfortunately two of her practices and 1.5 of her games have been rained out, and they don't reschedule them, so that's been a bummer!  Her age group plays four-on-four, and she's been able to play quite a bit during the games that have actually happened!

 

 Luke is really enjoying soccer again!  He has played one season and this year, Ryan is his head coach of the 4-year-old boy team.  It's a little funny but they are really a lot better than they were last year!  They play three-on-three at this age, so each kid has a fair amount of time to play during the games.  He scored his first goal of the season last weekend when Uncle Michael was visiting!  Luke's practices are on a different day and his games have been scheduled earlier than Beth's, so he's had only one practice canceled due to rain.  It's been a wet fall!

This little one is so sad that he's not playing soccer this year.  I honestly had no idea just how upset he'd be every week that he doesn't get to play!  He plays at home with Beth, Luke, and Daddy, and he kicks with his left foot (he's left-handed too) so I wonder if that's an advantage he'll have when he finally does play on a team?  I really should learn about soccer- I have no idea what the positions are and who is supposed to do what!  It's not a sport I grew up around but here I am- officially a soccer mom now!

End of Soccer

 Luke's soccer season lasted from the middle of February to the beginning of May.  They had practices on Friday nights and games on Saturday mornings.  Ryan was the assistant coach and his friend was the head coach.  Luke had a lot of fun playing soccer, but especially having special time for just him and Daddy every Friday night.  Anyone who knows Luke knows he's not aggressive, so he wasn't really the kid who was getting in the middle of a group trying to kick the ball away, but he certainly had a few moments and a few goals throughout the season!  We would always ask him how many goals he had in his feet for the game... Sometimes he'd say two or three, occasionally six!  The teams played 3-on-3, so it's wasn't super busy or chaotic.  Remember, this is a team of 4-year-olds!  Grandma and Grandpa came every weekend to support Luke, and had flashbacks of soccer games with Ryan all those years ago.  Beth is super-excited to start soccer too, in the fall we will have both Luke and Beth on teams.  Jack could potentially be on a team too, but we will have to see. I have a feeling that we will be getting to know these soccer fields really well over the next few years!

Soccer Player!

Here are a few photos from Luke's soccer games.  He began playing on a local league in February.  Ryan is the assistant coach of the team (our friend is the head coach and Luke's friend is on the team).  They practice every Friday night and have games every Saturday morning.  Grandma and Grandpa have been faithful supporters- I think it brings back memories of when they were watching Ryan play soccer so very many years ago. :-)  So far being a soccer mom is pretty easy since Ryan is the one taking him to practice and coaching his games! ;-)

First soccer practice!  He was so excited to go- but poor guy, he was cold!

Not sure what he's pointing at, but that's Luke with his arm up!

Jack on the sidelines... He found a stick, of course.

So proud of his first game!

From a game a couple of weeks ago. 

And here is a photo from today.   He scored his second goal!  Ryan said we need to work on how he celebrates- we were all cheering for him and he kind of shrugged it off.  So modest! :-)

goal!

 He has a few more weeks of the season left, then I guess we'll talk about if he will join the summer league.  I have a feeling he'll want to!  I know Beth does, she is chomping at the bit ready to play!