The Start of Soccer Season

Apparently, the start of football season is also the start of soccer season. Who knew? I "played" soccer for one season in early childhood. I do have two distinct memories from the experience-- crying because it hurt my toe to kick the ball and oranges at halftime (skipping down the field, interlocking arms with a friend required mid-game refueling).

Jackson started soccer practice last week. In one practice, he'd already surpassed my soccer experience. How cute is this kid?

Jackson had a "game" on Saturday morning-- which is basically a 3x3 scrimmage. He got lots of ball time, kicked several goals, and had tons of fun. 

Here's a video I took to share with Derek because he was at drill. I considered cropping it down to highlight Jackson's shining moments (Jackson makes 3 shots!), but then you'd miss out on the whole experience of what it's like to really watch 4 year old soccer-- wrestling with the soccer net, lots of hand-touching, tackling. If you notice that the red team only has two kids, it's because the third wouldn't leave her mother's lap on the sideline. This is 4 year old soccer.

Last Monday, we were melting in 100 degree temps, but the temps dropped like crazy by the time tonight's practice started... We were shivering in our sweatshirts on the sidelines!

They played a silly game at practice tonight where they dribbled the ball until the coach called out a body part that they were to put on the ball. You can see that most of the other children participated, but Jackson replied, "I'm not interested!" 

One quick mention about the coaches. Take a quick peek at the next picture to see if you can find Coach and then the assistant "dad" coach.

We have a team of foreign gentlemen coaching our little teams. (Maybe they were afraid to have parent coaches with less than stellar soccer experience, such as myself?!) I noticed the accent during the game on Saturday, but it wasn't until one made a rugby reference was I convinced he wasn't American. After the game, I heard him tell another parent that they are on some sort of exchange program to coach competitive soccer here in the states. I assumed they were all British, but one guy said he was Welsh... and that gave me something to google later on that day. The poor guys probably didn't know that teaching 3 and 4 year old boys (girls, too) who watch too much American football was part of the deal. But really, these guys do an great job and are exceptionally patient! And quite proper, too. 

Maybe soccer this year can serve as a dating service for my sisters? Now THAT is an idea that gets me excited about this sport. 

The Dog Duo

A day does not go by in this house when a child of mine (or both) doesn't pretend to be a dog. It happens every. single. day. First is was mostly Jackson, but Belle has really picked up on this gig lately.

• They are typically Molly and Malcom (named for my parent's and brother's dogs, respectively) though Jackson will sometime be a Dalmatian. 
• While in dog-mode, it is imperative that I communicate with them using their dog names lest I be barked at and corrected.
• The kids dogs play fetch with each other. 
• The last time we visited my parent's house, Belle put on the leash that's outside by the tree and crawled around barking like a dog. I didn't take a picture as I could only imagine what the internet would say about me tying my child up to a tree. 

• On multiple occasions, I have had to remind my kids that they are pretend dogs and that it's not okay to lick me. Gross!!
• Lately, Belle is "Molly" more often than Belle. Tonight, she could be found crawling around with a dog bone (play french fry) in her mouth. She requests that I refer to her food as dog food, regardless of what I've cooked. She's become so clever as to not participate in clean-up, because she's a dog.
• I may have capitalized on Belle's instance on being a dog to explain that Molly doesn't wear a diaper. It hasn't seemed to make much difference, but if wanting to be like a dog, instead of just a big girl, is the motivation for potty training... I'm on board!
• Sometimes Jackson will lick the milk from his leftover cereal as a dog would drink water from a dish. 

There are many people (my brother included) who treat their dogs as little human babies. Me, on the other hand, continually have to treat my human babies as little dogs!! At least while they're dogs, they aren't whining to watch TV, so it's not so bad. And no one's asking to get a puppy... because we've already got two!

Quick Weekend Recap

Our weekend consisted of a Royals game on Friday night:

A Saturday morning purge of all heavily processed foods (mainly everything that consists of five or more ingredients and/or having ingredients I can't pronounce):

(These bags are the pantry items. There was an equal amount of refrigerated/freezer items.)

And a Saturday afternoon of shopping for produce at the farmer's market and restocking our pantry with items from Whole Foods:

We had nursery on Sunday morning and I got to snuggle with one of my favorite little guys from the moment he was dropped off until the moment his mama came back. I love baby snuggles! Sunday afternoon, we watched the Chiefs dominate over the Jacksonville Jaguars (which was a GREAT way to start the NFL season!)! We walked to church for the evening service and finished the weekend with our newest tradition of family movie night in the basement. 

Also, over the weekend, we admitted my MacBook into the Genius Bar hospital for a few days. After getting a new trackpad installed, my computer is back up and running like brand new-- and I don't feel like chucking it across the room. :)

Our weekend was the perfect mix of being productive, spending quality time together, and relaxing! How was your weekend??

Reasons to smile

My day started with some unexpected crummy news and I found myself in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day. Yet at the same time, I felt an overwhelming joy and appreciation for my family. There were so many little things that made me smile and I am just so thankful for God's provision of family in my life!

I picked up Jackson from pre-school to hear him saying, "I found the girl I'm going to marry. Her name is Rebecca." Last week, he came home and told me the same thing When I asked her name, he said, "Uhm.. I don't know." So when I asked him if it was the same girl he replied, "No, I don't want to marry her because she's an adult and she'll be really old by the time I grow up. She'll probably be dead.
I need to marry a kid." How could I not chuckle?

And Belle continually calls the American flag, Captain America. It cracks me up every time we drive by a car dealership with a bazillion "captain americas". She also participated in doing push-ups with Derek tonight and it was impossible not to laugh.

Oh! And football season started and I was able to remind my family (particularly my brother-in-law) how I was the fantasy football champ last year and of course that made me smile.

But even more important is the power of scripture over my mood!

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine...

Life doesn't always offer situations to be happy about, but it's up to each of us to chose joy. I am so blessed!! I hope you're able to find joy in your day and I'd love to hear about it! :)

Keeping busy to pass the time

I had this post mostly prepared with the intention that I'd finish it and post on Thursday night, the day before Derek was scheduled to come home. Only, he surprised me Thursday afternoon calling and saying he was almost home! Needless to say, blogging fell to the bottom of the priority list. ;)

Here's a quick rundown of some of the things that kept us busy while Derek was at annual training, mainly just the things I actually I photographed and haven't already blogged about. 

We visited the local farmer's market one evening and the church across the street had a lady doing face painting. 

We spent several days up at my parent's house and one morning we ventured out to explore a new park!

Dad helped me clean out the van. It REALLY needed some attention. I've managed to keep it clean for two whole weeks! I didn't inventory the items as I cleaned it out because it was far too gross to document, but here's a post from 2010 that might give you an idea. 

The kids and I ventured downtown to visit the library, home to the city block book facade. It's my favorite landmark in Kansas City.

The kids each picked a book from the awesome kid section of the library and they loved exploring the roof patio!

Jackson really wanted to learn how to play chess... I told him that it's a daddy game. :)

Belle went to church as Repunzel

We visited the zoo with some friends

And the kids ended up with more face paint. 

And we met at the park to play with friends!

We kept ourselves busy to pass the time and now we're super glad that Derek is back home. Jackson has filled Daddy in about all sorts of preschool stories and Belle has turned into Daddy's little shadow. We have a low key weekend planned to just hang out and I couldn't be more excited!