Thunder

I remembered to take the camera to Emma Jo's soccer game today! This is the first time this season!

While the team was warming up, Henry played with an extra ball.


Then the game started. We did great the first half! But the 2nd half was another story. Cloverdale is always a tough opponent and they ran away with the game the 2nd half.



Cooper made sure to put on plenty of sunscreen.

One of Those Days

Today was one of THOSE days. Yes, one of those days when everything was just about perfect.
I woke up to a quiet house. It was 6:30 (I never sleep that late). There was hot coffee and all the kids were still asleep. It would have been better if Jason was home or the kids slept long enough for me to watch Private Practice, but it was pretty good nonetheless.
Then I got everyone up and ready and there were no fights. We got doughnuts for breakfast and even though they didn't have the kind the kids requested (chocolate twist), everyone was happy and said "Thank You".
We watched Grace's soccer game and then came home with our friend, Halle, in tow.
Once home the kids played nicely together blowing bubbles and riding in the "Golf Jeep" (golf cart).
After lunch I took all the kids (including Halle) to Emma Jo's game. By then the sun was out and Jason was able to meet us there. Henry slept and I was able to watch the whole game. It would have been better if Emma hadn't been hit in the face with the soccer ball, but at least she was fine by the time the game was over.
On the way home from the game we got ice cream (and Starbucks) and brainstormed Halloween costumes for Emma and Halle.

All in all it has been a great day. The kids have been fabulous, I got all the dishes and laundry done and Jason did the grocery shopping! The only thing that would have been better is if Henry would have taken a bottle. I'm really stressed out since I'm going back to work in a week and Henry is now refusing to drink from a bottle. I'm hoping Connie is more patient than I am and that she can get him to take one!

Lucky Charms

Grace is playing soccer for the second year. Her team decided to be called the "Lucky Charms". We were blessed with a great coach who ensures that all the girls have FUN. In fact, he reiterates at every practice and game that the number one rule for his team is to have fun. In addition to the fun, the girls are learning the very basics of soccer.

Grace scored a goal in the first game of the season, unfortunately between Henry and Cooper I didn't have a chance to take a photo. Last Saturday I was able to catch a quick video of Grace playing since it was just me and Henry watching Grace's game (Jason and Cooper were in Cloverdale watching Emma Jo).

I'm going to try to remember to charge the camera and bring it to both games on Saturday to take some pictures of both Grace and Emma Jo.

More Soccer

Jason had to pick this morning and Emma Jo has been home sick since Thursday, so I took the little kids to soccer this morning by myself.
We were a little early since I never can tell how long it will take to get 2 or 3 kids out of the house. While we waited for the early game to finish, Grace and Cooper entertained themselves on the playground.

Cooper, our little monkey, has to do everything that Grace does, so he was swinging on the bar at the top of the slide.

The Royal Pixies did a great job today. Grace was paying attention to the game and kicked the ball whenever she had a chance.

Soccer or Keep-Away?

At half-time of Emma Jo's soccer game on Sunday, Gracie and Cooper decided to have a game of their own. Gracie thought they were playing soccer so she set down the ball and tried to teach Cooper how to kick it. Cooper tried for a couple of minutes, but they he decided Keep-Away was a much more fun.

Fw: Gracie

An email I received from Grampa today:

She is moving the ball until attacked by another player…

Long Week, Short Weekend

This week was just one of those weeks. For Mommy it started with a long drive to Oakville followed by several hours of meetings (budget are no fun), then a drive back to school and more meetings. More meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday were rounded out with a night of no sleep on Wednesday. By the time Friday afternoon rolled around I was DONE.

The weekend started with dinner at Grammie and Grampa's. While visiting with them is always nice, it was especially nice this week since Uncle Bud and Aunt Nancy are visiting from Indiana. We don't see them very often and it was so great to visit with them.

Today was dominated by soccer. Grace's game was at 9:30 and Emma Jo's was at noon. Both teams did great. It was fun to see Gracie sticking in there and fighting for the ball. In the past she has sort of hung out on the fringes and watched and waited. The Purple People Eaters played together as a team! It was nice to see them applying the soccer skills that Coach Rob has tried to hard to teach them.

When soccer was over, the girls decided the best way to recover from the 90+ degree temperature outside was to run through the sprinklers.

More soccer and expected hot weather tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it (after hopefully a good night's sleep tonight).

Purple People Eaters 1st Game

This weekend marked the beginning of the Purple People Eater's season. They had a game on Saturday afternoon and a second on Sunday morning. Emma Jo got to play mid-fielder for the first half of Saturday's game and played Goalie for the rest of the weekend. Saturday's game was against a tough opponent. Most of the girls in Cloverdale have played together for many years since they have a very small league. In fact in the Under-12 division they only have one team which means they get to travel to Windsor to play against our teams. Sunday was another game against neighboring cities with the PPE traveling up to Healdsburg to play on their soggy field.
We were thrilled to have Grammie, Grampa, Mays and Dallas in the audience this weekend. John and Tracy were at a wedding, so Grammie and Grampa got to babysit twins. Gracie and Cooper loved having their cousins to play with, both at the game at at the playground afterwards.

First Soccer Game of the Year

On Wednesday night, Grace played in her first soccer game ever! It was very cute. Imagine 10 little girls, wearing shorts that go past their knees chasing after an orange soccer ball. It was usually a mob of blue and white punctuated with pony tails bobbing in the wind. The girls were much more aggressive than I thought they would be. The parents were commenting on the number of elbows flying, it looked like the girls were playing football.



In the under-6 category there are no goalies just forwards. Grace was very willing to kick the ball when it came close to her and she would trail alongside the mob, but she was not very interested in being in the middle of things. She did enjoy the throw-ins and goal kicks, and especially liked the soccer ball hair-ribbons that coach passed out.

Emma Jo kept commenting when the girls didn't follow the official rules. We tried to explain to her that the little kids are more about having fun and building a love for soccer than about learning all of the technical aspects of the game.



Cooper was being quite the show-off while Grace played and was dancing and high-stepped while he watched to make sure Grammie and Grampa were paying attention to him.

Opening Day of Soccer

This was our 4th Opening Day of Soccer. And it followed in the tradition of earlier years. Each year we have played in the Windsor Youth Soccer League, we've had extreme weather on Opening Day. Two times Open Day has been postponed due to rain. The other time was like today, HOT, very HOT. When the family piled out the door this morning (after searching for Grace's socks for 10 minutes and finding them in her art box), it was already close to 80 degrees at 9:30 in the morning.

Festivities were slated to start at 10am followed by jumpy houses, climbing wall, BBQ and pictures. By the time all teams had been announced it was pretty close to miserable. The heat was all encompassing with no shade to be found. Thankfully we had plenty of water. Emma Jo enjoyed the dunk tank and Grace and Cooper loved the bubbles. The firetruck that showed up and sprayed kids with water from the hydrant was a big hit too!

Team pictures started with the youngest kids and worked up through the ranks. Thankfully Grace's Royal Pixies are in the youngest bracket so we were done with portraits by noon. We had thought about getting Hot Dogs from the snack shack to support the league, but there had been a BBQ mishap and no food was available for purchase yet. We decided it was a better idea to hit Quizno's and Cold Stone to fill our bellies and cool off. After lunch the girls and I got our nails done and then headed back to the field for Emma Jo's pictures at 3pm. By the time we arrived at the field for the 2nd time my car thermometer was reporting the temperature at 110 degrees. HOT! The parents huddled the in the shade of a scrawny tree while the Purple People Eaters took their pictures.

The weather is supposed to cool off tomorrow by 10 degrees. It sounds great until you realize that would still put us around 95!

First Week of Soccer

Both girls started Soccer practice this week.

From Two Princesses & One Dude

This will be the first year that Grace has played. She is very happy to have several people on her team that she knows from ballet or pre-school. At practice on Monday we found out that her team color will be royal blue and her team name is the Royal Pixies.

From Two Princesses & One Dude

Emma Jo is starting her 4th year of soccer. This year she has moved into the U12 league. This means a bigger field and later practice. Last night her practice was from 7pm-8pm. I wonder how that will work out once school starts next week. We don't know yet what her team colors or name will be, but she was very happy to find out that she knows several people on her team (although she has never played soccer with them before).

Random Picture Challenge

This week Britanny is again hosting a Random Picture Challenge over at 4 little men and girly twins. The picture of the week is the 18th picture from September 2008.

This is a picture of Emma Jo and Grace after one of Emma's soccer games.

It might have even been the first game last year.

It is so funny that this one came up since Jason just signed the girls up for soccer yesterday. Grace is so excited that she is finally old enough to play, just like her big sister. In order to play kids have to be 4 by July 31st. Last year she missed the cut-off by 2 days.

Soccer

About 5 minutes after this play, Emma Jo had the best play of her soccer career. She didn't score, but she controlled the ball and brought it all the way down the field even using her body to shield the ball from the defenders.

This isn't the best clip, but it is all I have. We thought Grandma Bette would especially like watching Emma Jo play. Emma is number 13.

More pictures

Grace Louise posing at the soccer game.

Cooper getting into mischief on his wagon at the soccer game. Notice that he has his team shirt on supporting the Cool Cats.

Cooper John in the new sink at Grammie & Grampa's little guest house. Daddy has been working on building all new cabinets for the renovated kitchen.

Another Great Weekend

We just finished another great weekend. Emma Jo had three soccer games, 1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Gracie and I missed the game on Saturday since we had a memorial service to go to, but Jason reported that the Cool Cats played very well. They came together and really played like a cohesive team. Sunday morning we played really well but it was obvious it was the end of a long weekend of soccer and our girls were tuckered out. Next weekend is our last game of the season and the end-of-season party.

Cooper worked this weekend to perfect his cheesy grin. I'll post a picture when I get a good one. He flashes smile with all eight teeth showing then tilts his chin back and almost laughs. He usually breaks it out when he knows he is doing something wrong as if he is saying "can you really be mad at a face like this?"

This week we are gearing up for Halloween. Grace is going to be Minnie Mouse, Cooper is a lion and Emma Jo is going to be a gumball machine. The girls are having special parties at school to celebrate the occasion. Grace's preschool is having a Pajama party for "P" week and Emma Jo's school is having a Harvest Party where the kids can dress up has farmers.

Soccer, Soccer, and More Soccer

We've had our fill of soccer lately. Thankfully Emma Jo loves it and she is getting pretty good! Last night we had a scrimmage against the U10 Girls competitive team. Emma Jo is still playing in the recreational league which has a season that runs August through October. The traveling competitive league goes April through November, and they play or practice at least 6 hours a week!

We were prepared to be blown out of the water. Coach Andy prepared the girls for defeat, but he thought it would be a great opportunity for the girls to see how a more experienced team played the field. We did end of losing, but we did great! The girls didn't back down against the more experienced team. Our goalie stopped lots of shots and everyone had fun.

Tuesday's game was probably even more fun for the girls since that was the annual "parents v. the kids" game. Jason and Grace played on the parents team while Cooper and I cheered from the sidelines. I think it ended in a tie, but there were lots of laughs and joking throughout the game. That night everyone slept well in our house!

Another Great Weekend

We started our weekend early with Kortney's wedding on Friday night. She was an absolutely beautiful bride and looked so happy! The ceremony was outside, but the rain held off until we got under the tent for dinner. It really started coming down around 9:30, but by then we'd had enough wine that no one seemed to mind:).

Saturday's soccer games were rained out. Emma Jo was bummed, but I was a little relieved. It made it much easier to do our errands, get Cooper a nap, make a ladybug, and go to Breanna's birthday party.

Sunday we had two soccer games. We played hard the first day but fell curse to the "no banner daemons". The banner was back in the afternoon and we did great! The girls were jazzed to finish the weekend with a 5-1 victory.

Jason assures me that the rain had little to no effect on this years crop, "just washed off the grapes." It was a little dreary looking out my window at work on Friday and only seeing grey, but I think I'm just about ready for the rainy season. It will be nice to wear sweaters and be warm in our office, for once.

This week brings us the usual ballet, gymnastics, and choir. We also have a parents v. kids soccer game on Tuesday, scrimmage against the competitive team on Wednesday, and regular soccer game on Saturday. Then Saturday night is the Vintner's Gala Grand Opening at Silver Oak. It is an "all hands on deck" celebration and I get to pour champagne on the red carpet. I'm sure it will be a long night, but hopefully it will be fun as well.

Busy, Busy Weekend

Today kicks off a very busy weekend for our family.

It all starts tonight with Kortney's wedding. It is going to be fun to see old friends and celebrate. I also can't wait to see new pictures of Harrison (or perhaps he'll be there). Hopefully the rain holds off, or the wedding is inside.

Saturday we have two soccer games and one birthday party.
Sunday is another two soccer games. This is "Windsor Cup" weekend so all recreational teams are playing multiple games.

It'll be interesting to see how well Cooper does with all the activities. Of course, the games are scheduled at the typical beginning and end of his nap. Hopefully he'll catch some zzz's in his stroller or Ergo carrier.

We are also selling Girl Scout Nuts and Wrapping Paper for the Pre-school. If anyone wants some, give us a call!

New Pictures of Cooper

At Emma Jo's soccer game on Saturday, Cooper John enjoyed sitting in Grace's "big girl" chair where he kicked back with a cracker.Cooper loves it when I let him have a ride in this Silver Oak beach bag. He laughs and laughs, too cute!

GOAL!!!

Last night was our 3rd soccer game of the season. We played the Yellow Lightning Bolts. It was a fun game (a little cold), and Emma Jo scored her first goal!

Way to go Emma Jo!