Know Anyone Who Plays Youth Soccer?

Last summer Bryan noticed some fundraising campaigns on Facebook that were sponsored by companies where youth teams could fundraise simply by asking friends on social media to answer a few questions or visit a website.  It essentially is a word of mouth campaign that gives teams and other specified groups money.  Both of our girls' soccer teams did one of these fundraisers last summer and the teams each earned some money to pay for training or tournament fees.

Right now Ellie's soccer team has a fundraiser that is sponsored by Nabisco.  If any of you can visit the fund raising page and complete one of the nine tasks (many of them take only a few seconds)  it will help her team to earn up to $1,000.  If you have a child who plays youth soccer, or know someone else with a youth soccer team you can spread the word to help other teams raise money.

Quick Takes: On My Mind

~1~

I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.  I really wish I could blog a bit more since this space is pretty much where I record milestones the kids hit and things of that nature.  I feel like I'm totally dropping the ball with recording what has been going on with Anthony.  Can you believe he's already five months old?

~2~

We have the first quarter of the school year behind us.  This week we began the second quarter.  I'm waiting on some grades for Madeline but all of Ellie's grades have come back and she's done incredibly well with everything.  Her lowest grade for the marking period was an A- and she's very proud of herself.

~3~

About a month ago we looked into getting Katie evaluated to see if she could benefit from speech therapy since she doesn't talk a lot.  I took a week and a half for the place we called to let me know that there is about a four month wait to get an appointment.  The whole thing has me feeling frustrated.  I am noticing that she's speaking more but it seems like she has some days where she picks up a lot of words and then we hit a dry patch where she seems to prefer not using those words.  I am finding that she's talking more now than she did two months ago, but I still feel like she's behind.  The most frustrating part is knowing that she can talk but pretty much chooses not to.  

~4~

Anthony is an active little guy.  He log rolls when he wants to get to one of us or a toy.  Last Saturday he was in the family room playing on a quilt with some toys and he rolled into the kitchen where Bryan and the girls were doing something.   He will even just roll around the perimeter of a room to play with different toys.  He certainly likes to explore!

~5~

Madeline and Ellie have soccer tournaments this weekend so they'll be busying playing lots of games.  I started feeling a bit under the weather last night so I think the little ones and I will probably stay home.  I'm not sure if it's my allergies that are bothering me or if I'm coming down with a cold or something.

~6~

For the past month we've been trying to get Anthony to eat baby food and he's not the least bit interested.  The first few times we tried giving him food he ate a little bit of it.  We had one night where he ate a decent amount and then about an hour and a half later when I was nursing him he had a very scary spitting up incident where he projectile vomited for what seemed like several seconds with garden hose velocity.  He actually seemed limp towards the end of the episode.  It ranks as one of the scariest parenting moments I've had.  He seemed very shaken up about it and I certainly was, too.  Ever since then he pretty much refuses to even swallow anything I give him on a spoon.  If I put it in his mouth he pushes it out and won't open his mouth.  I'm hoping that he'll be willing to try food sometime in the near future.  I think he might associate baby food with the scary vomiting incident.  Can a five month old make a connection like that?  It's the only thing that seems to make sense.

~7~

Katie will turn three next week.  It's so hard to believe that she's already that old.  It seems like the older I get the faster time seems to fly.

Quick Takes Baby Cuteness and Soccer

~1~

Last week at his 2 month well visit my adorable little fat man weighed in at 12lbs 11oz.  I think most of that weight is situated in those squishy chubby cheeks and his little second chin.

~2~

Seriously, look at how big those cheeks are!  They're so big they wound up taking over another quick take!

~3~

I'm hardly ever in any pictures with any of the kids so I had Bryan take a few of me with Anthony the other day.  Of the ones he took I liked this one the best.  Since my kids like to steal my blog photos all of the time (they don't care when I point out the copyright notice on the sidebar of the blog) this is one they can use when I die and they're putting together one of those photo memory boards.  Got it Madeline?

~4~

Anthony's been exhibiting some pretty good head control lately and is getting a bit tired of his swing, playmat, bouncy seat and boppy pillow.  So we added a little variety and put together the bouncy entertainer thing I got as a review product a while back.  He can't bounce and jump in it yet or even reach the toys but he seems to like just sitting there and taking in the sights.

~5~

My older girls are at a Team First Soccer Academy this week so I had a rare 45 minutes of quiet yesterday while Katie and Anthony napped at the same time (Woot!).  I took advantage of that time and finished up reading a advance copy of Fearless, which I really enjoyed.  With two pages left of the book I heard Anthony stirring and decided that since he wasn't crying I had time to finish reading.  Umm, yeah.  See how he's on his belly in the above picture?  That's not how he was sleeping.  So while I finished reading about St. Katharine Drexel, this little guy decided to roll from back to front and rotate his body 90 degrees when I wasn't watching.  Arrgh!  Little Man, don't you know that you aren't supposed to hit milestones when Mommy isn't watching?!

~6~

Today was picture day at Team First Soccer Academy.  The ladies in the red shirts are soccer legends Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Tish Hoch.  The girls are having a great time at the camp and so is Bryan who is one of the volunteer coaches.

~7~

Katie's too little for this soccer camp, but she really wanted to be in a picture.  Who knows, maybe when she's older our soccer club will host this camp again.

I'm still here

I noticed the other day that it's been quite a while since I last blogged.  The finger incident, which I still haven't been able to bring myself to type out the whole story of my hospital misadventure, Christmas, moving two kids into one bedroom, the birth of my first nephew and a snow storm have just left me in a seemingly endless state of neglecting the blog.  Honestly, after my hospital stay, I've just had a hard time wanting to do anything.  I'm certainly in a bit of a funk but I'm trying my best to get out of it.

I've healed up nicely from my injury and infection.  My finger is still a bit sore but I'm thankfully able to to normal household tasks again.  I had about a ten day break from changing diapers.  I suppose that was probably the silver lining in this whole miserable situation.  That, and me not being able to wash sippy cups.  I really dislike cleaning sippy cups.

Our Christmas was quite nice.  We sat in the front row of chairs for Christmas Eve Mass in the parish school cafegymitorium.  That meant I finally got to take pictures and even some videos of Ellie singing in the children's choir, and I even snapped a few pictures of Madeline altar serving.  Katie was surprisingly well behaved considering she spent an hour before Mass trying to sit with Ellie and the rest of the choir.  We sat with friends at Mass which also made it a more enjoyable experience.

Despite the smaller piles of Christmas gifts, I still feel like the kids got way too much for Christmas.  We give the kids four gifts each (three from us and one from St. Nick) and a stocking.  Once you add in gifts from other family members, though, the piles seem to take on a life of their own.  Fortunately we didn't have anyone crying that she had too many gifts to open this year.  So that was a welcome change.

On December 28th my nephew, Miles, was born.  He weighed 9lbs, 7oz!  That's practically a two month old if you ask me!  Funny thing is, when we got to meet him a few days after he was born he didn't seem like he was a big baby, he seemed very newborn like to me, but that might just be because I'm used to carrying a 24lb toddler all the time.  Katie is quite taken with her new little cousin and kept calling him "my baby" and making this cute little sound as she admired him.  It was the cutest thing.  She was certainly eager to hold him and she has Bryan and I more than a little concerned about how we're going to manage having a 2 1/2 year old who wants to play mommy and a newborn.  I think we're really going to have our work cut out for us.

The past week and a half has been one of transition with regards to the kids' bedrooms.  Madeline and Ellie are now the proud owners of a beautiful bunk bed and are sharing a room.  We're still working on making Madeline's old room a shared space.  I still have to merge their closets and we have more than a few items that need to find new places somewhere else in the house.  We're getting there.

Ellie's old room is about to become Katie's big girl room.  I'm planning to pain the blue room a nice cheery pink.  I'm also trying to decide whether or not I really want to refinish Madeline's old armoire.  Right now it's a honey pine color.  I'd like to paint it white so it matches Ellie's old headboard which I like better than Madeline's old bed which used to be my bed.  So I have a bit of work to do.  I just need to find the energy so I can do it.

I've decided to keep the pretty light aqua blue walls that are in the nursery for the new baby.  The bedding I selected has some aqua in it and I think the wall help to make the aqua accents on the bedding pop.   I have most of the decorative items I will need to have the little guy's nursery just the way I want it.  I'm looking forward to decorating the nursery.  I'm hopeful that I will have the nursery set up by the end of February.

Madeline is back to playing soccer again.  I think she had about six weeks off.  She's playing indoor soccer for the next two or three months and doing training with her travel team one night a week.  Most of her indoor games are at the same time I teach on Sunday morning so I think I may only make it to one or two of her games.  Bryan's not coaching for indoor soccer so he's getting to see what it's like to manage a toddler on the sidelines.

So as you can probably tell from my hodge podge update, we've been a bit busy around here.  There's certainly a lot going on and I don't foresee things slowing down anytime soon.  I'm going to do my best to update the blog a bit more frequently.  I've got loads of pictures to upload so perhaps that will be a catalyst for me to do a bit more blogging.

I also want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas (nothing like waiting until the 12th day of Christmas to wish you a Merry Christmas, right?) and a happy and healthy 2014!

Giveaway for Sports Eye Injury Prevention Awareness Month

Did you know that September is Sports eye injury prevention awareness month?  When you think about it, it makes perfect sense.  For most kids back to school also means back to sports and that means we as parents should take a few moments to consider their eye safety.  We make sure our kids have all the gear they need to play their sport of choice, but how many of us give a thought to protecting their eyes?

Rec Specs are a great way to protect your child's eyes from injury while playing sports.   My older daughters both began wearing Rec Specs to play soccer because they need prescription lenses and they couldn't safely wear their regular frames for sports.   Prior to getting them Rec Specs, I never really  considered the protection they offered for their eyes, but the more I learned about it, the more it makes sense to arm your child's eyes with protective eyewear when they take to the field.  Did you know that almost all sport eye injuries are preventable?  A simple pair of protective eye wear could spare your child an unpleasant and possibly permanent eye injury.

Since it's sports eye injury prevention awareness month, Liberty Sport is sponsoring a Rec Spec giveaway for Karen in Mommyland blog readers.  Four winners will be selected to receive a pair of Rec Specs or F8's of their choosing from Liberty Sport.  They have a great selection of designs and styles to suit every player's personal style.

Take a moment to learn more about preventing sports related eye injuries and then come back and enter for a chance to win a pair of Rec Specs.  And don't forget to "like" the generous sponsor of this giveaway, Liberty Sport Rec Specs, on Facebook.

 So what do you have to do to enter for a chance to win one of four pairs of Rec Specs?  It's simple, just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below.  The giveaway runs from September 4th-14th.  Winners will be announced on the blog on September 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep Madeline from Getting Schooled!

This is the time of year where we have to start fundraising to help cover the costs of Madeline's travel soccer team expenses.  I was amused by the write up that Bryan did on her Go Fund Me page so I decided that I'd share it here.

Theme Thursday: Play

My older girls played a fair amount of soccer this past weekend so here's my take on this week's theme of play.

Ellie is a beast on the soccer field these days. She just gives it her all when she's playing the game.  In the top picture she looks absolutely determined to get to that ball.  I love the action of the second picture.  I think it's one of the better soccer pictures I have taken of Ellie.

I have more throw in pictures of Madeline than I can count.  I guess I take these pictures because I know what's about to happen and she's on my side of the field.  Most of the time she's off on the other side like in this bottom picture where I had to zoom in to get her.

Visit Clan Donaldson for more Theme Thursday.

It's Soccer Try-Out Season

Last year we invested a lot of time in shuttling Madeline from one soccer club to the next doing try-outs to see what her options were.  In the end our soccer club made a few coaching changes and we were able to stay with the club.  Overall, we've been very happy with the arrangement.  This year we don't have to go from club to club since Madeline is sticking with her current team, but we still have to get through two weeks of soccer overload.

In a typical week Madeline has two practices and a game on Saturday.  Ellie has a practice, usually on one of the nights when Madeline has practice and a game on Sunday.  So four days a week have us working around soccer practices and games.  For the next two weeks we're looking at an additional night of try-outs for both girls.  I feel like we're up to our eyeballs in soccer.  This Sunday is going to be very busy.  Madeline has a make up game that was rained out a couple weeks ago that is causing some schedule issues.  This week I'll have to bring Katie and Ellie with me to teach my religious ed class which happens to be the week our class is putting on a show for the parents.

Last night both of the girls had practice.  Nights like that can be brutal when Katie goes on a cry rant.  She spent about three hours screaming and crying off and on while they were gone.  She doesn't like when her Daddy leaves the house.  She thinks he should be playing with her instead and I'm apparently not a good Daddy substitute.  I'm not looking forward to two more nights in a row of Katie crying for Bryan.  It's exhausting.  They're calling for warmer weather today so maybe tonight will be better if I'm able to take her outside for a walk.  It was too cold last night so we had to stay inside.

Did I mention that Ellie is going to try out for the U-9 travel team?  Bryan isn't sure what her chances are of making the team.  From what he tells me the present team looks pretty good.  He thinks she might have a shot if she goes out there and plays her best.  If she gets offered a spot on the team we'll then have to weigh out our options and see if it's the right decision for her.  Bryan has been coaching her the past three or four seasons, but he feels that she learn better from other coaches based on the progress she has made while going to some training sessions this winter.  In the event that she does get selected for the team and we go forward with it, we'll have a lot of schedule juggling to do on Saturdays beginning this fall.

Now I just need to make it through Katie's teething/evening Daddy withdrawal for the next few days.  I miss the really warm weather of last week.  She didn't miss Bryan and the girls at all last week since she was having too much fun playing outside and going for walks in her little red car.

Princess Green Goblin Monsters

What happens when you ask four and five year old what they'd like to call their soccer team and you have a coach who's completely open to suggestions?  You get a team name that's rather unique.  Bryan, not wanting to impose a name on his co-ed soccer team for four and five year olds asked the kids what they thought their team should be called.

The kids wear a green uniform shirt, so it was no surprise that the word green made it into their name.  I was a little surprised that the name incorporated not only goblin monsters, but also princesses.  And the best part is that all of the kids, even the boys, were ok with being the Princess Green Goblin Monsters.

I was at Madeline's soccer game when Ellie's team was playing so I missed out on the fun of naming the team.  Bryan tells me the parents found the team name to be rather funny and the kids were happy with their name.

I can't wait until I get to go and cheer on the Princess Green Goblin Monsters.

What a week!

I can't believe almost an entire week has past by since I last posted anything here.  I've been so busy with so many things.

On Friday our pool was closed.  I haven't been in it since the last week in August, but I felt sad to see the pool closed for the winter.  I am however happy that I no longer have to worry about Bryan setting off the pool alarm that we have on our sliding glass door.  I won't be listening to the ear piercing alarm again until May.  I guess that's something to celebrate.

This past weekend was Madeline's soccer tournament.  Her team wound up being the only recreational team in the tourney and the girls who are all U-9 with the exception of one player were put in the U-10 bracket against travel teams.  We were a bit concerned that the girls would be totally outclassed but they actually did pretty well holding their own against the travel teams.  Out of three games we only won one of them, but they managed to score goals in each game.  Madeline scored a goal against a travel team from our soccer club, and she was goalie for a nice chunk of time during the game that our team won.  During that game she made a lot of awesome saves.  It amazes me that such a small kid can protect such a huge net.

On Monday the girls and I went to Stone Harbor for some dental fun.  We were all scheduled to have our teeth cleaned.  I was partly dreading the visit because Ellie hasn't reacted well to going to the dentist ever since she had her frenulum snipped at the pediatrician's office to eliminate her tongue tie issue.  Much to my shock she happily hopped in the chair and allowed them to clean her teeth.  Everyone in the office was amazed at the total change of heart on her part.  The best part of the whole visit was finding out there are no cavities.  Yay!  I hope I can continue on my streak of not developing any new cavities.

I even took the girls to the beach on Monday to take pictures for our Christmas card.  The outing didn't go well.  The girls weren't too happy to be wearing sweaters and jeans on an 80 degree day.  The picture outing went bad when Ellie sat on a sticker bush with big stickers that went though her jeans and stuck her.  She was not a happy camper and for a little while we were under the impression that she had part of the sticker stuck in her tush.  Poor kid is never going to sit on the beach again without looking first.

Tuesday was my crazy day of trying to get the house in order after having a busy extended weekend.  I got the laundry under control and cleaned a lot of the house.  I managed to do most of that before my parents came to visit for the afternoon.  I don't know where that awesome burst of energy came from but it was great while it lasted.

Today my parents came to visit again and we went up to my Uncle's house to go through his belongings.  Before you think I'm odd and rummaging through other people's things, I should clarify that this is the uncle who passed away in July.  My dad is handling his estate and asked me if I could help him move some things out of his house.  Going to his house was kind of like going on a scavenger hunt.  I got to rummage through a lot of debris (and I'm being kind with my description) and find some tools and books that could be of use to us.  I'm now the happy owner of a hatchet (which I don't intend to bury--I'm so punny today), a rake, a mini fridge, four hammers and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm continually amazed at how quickly time passes these days.  It's so hard to believe that October is nearly at the midway point.

Lets call it a day.

It's not even 3PM and I realize there are still nine hours left in the day, but can we just call it a day now?  Because I'm a pain in the butt sometimes and I like to overanalyze things I led myself to be upset with my husband late last night over something that shouldn't have been an issue in the first place.  My pointlessly feeling offended kept me, and him, up until 1:30 in the morning.  So much for getting to be early.  Four and a half hours later I was up and getting myself and the girls ready for 7:30 Mass.

The girls and I got to Mass early so their obsessive compulsive mother could sit in her usual spot. (Man, I need help!)  Once the Mass began Ellie started in on her let's see what I can do to irritate Mommy routine.  I can't recall the last time she behaved so poorly.

When Mass was over it was time to head over to the parish school to set up for my CCD class.  Ellie continued her irritate Mommy routine for another 15 minutes.  Bryan mercifully picked up Madeline before my class began. (He planned to sleep in while the girls and I were at Mass, but the dog had other plans and woke him up as soon as we left.  I think this proves that God has a sense of humor.)  Bryan was also able to get Ellie to stop misbehaving.

My class went well today, but it was not without some challenges.  The other kindergarten CCD class was merged with mine because of the small class sizes and the need for a teacher for another grade.  So my class is now a little larger.  Today's class was a bit rocky, but overall it went well.

I had a spell of total forgetfulness and discovered when I got home that I let my iTouch and speakers in the class room.  I wound up needing to run back and grab them.  I've left small stuff behind in the past but never something like that.  I think I need to create a checklist so I can make sure I have everything going forward.

The girls soccer games went well.  Madeline played a good game today and had a lot of fun playing.  I sat on the sidelines and cheered for and against her team.  I know several of the girls who are on the opposing team so I spent the entire game cheering for kids on both teams.  I bet some of the parents who don't know me think I was crazy or confused.  Ellie's game went well, too.  Bryan coached her today and told me that she had several good moments during the game where she had the ball.  I'm happy anytime she even kicks the ball so I love hearing that she's getting in there with the other kids and trying to be part of the game.  I only got to see her play for a couple of minutes since her game was at the same time as Madeline's.

Now that all our obligations for the day are out of the way I'm ready to call it a day.  I'm tired and feel like I have so much work ahead of me.  I need to rework things for my CCD class, blog about today's class on my religious education blog, and get things ready for  school tomorrow.  I suppose what I really need is a nap.  I just don't know if one is in my future or if it's practical given how much I need to do.

Monday, I'm ready for you.  Bring it!

How I Came to Embrace Being a Soccer Mom

I didn't want to be a soccer mom, ever.  When my husband and I made that fateful decision to buy a minivan nearly five and a half years ago, the first thing I said was "I will NEVER be a soccer mom!"  I drew the line at driving a minivan.  There would be no transformation into the stereotypical suburbanite minivan driving soccer mom.  No way!

Then it happened. My child who had been content with dancing and showing off her amazing technique and deportment on the dance studio floor had had enough.  No longer did she want to learn to be a graceful ballerina or an energetic tap dancer.  She now longed to be on an open field of green grass in a pair of ugly black soccer socks and cleats.

I gave in and agreed to let her give soccer a try.  But, I was adamant, this didn't make me a soccer mom. I'd go to the games and freeze my butt off as I watched her stand around on the soccer field picking clovers and reassure myself that this soccer thing wasn't going to last.  The coach, didn't know what he was doing and he hardly ever showed up for practices or games.  His son, after all, was "on the travel team."  This recreation league for six and seven year old girls was clearly just for fun.  Give them a ball and let them chase after it.  Surely, this didn't make me a soccer mom.  I was in the clear.  Recreation league soccer does not make one a soccer mom.  Phew!

Since I wasn't a soccer mom, I didn't argue when my daughter asked to play Spring soccer.  I had heard that Spring soccer was even more laid back than Fall soccer at our club, so that meant that I'd be in for more of my daughter gazing at the sky while the other kids played, or some dandelion picking.  What I wasn't expecting was an actual coach for my daughter's team.  But that's what happened in the spring of 2009.

It started with an email that made me think we had a delusional person on our hands.  The coach sent out an email that outlined goals he wanted the girls on his team to strive towards and a few video attachments of skills the girls should work on daily to develop ball handling skills.  The team also had a name.  It was the Mighty Ducks.  "Are you kidding me?"  I asked my husband as I read the forwarded email.  Then he mentioned that there was even a team chant that the kids had to learn.  As we listened to the attached wav file with the team chant I began to wonder just what we had gotten ourselves into.  We hadn't even met the coach for our first practice yet and already it seemed like we were in for a totally different soccer experience.  I mused to my husband that maybe this is what soccer is like when your kid has a coach.

My focused little Mighty Duck

Once practices and games began that Spring it became evident that our Fall soccer experience had been a joke.  The Spring soccer coach was larger than life.  He had energy, he was eager to teach the young 6 and 7 year olds on his team everything he could about soccer and most importantly, he had passion.  At the end of the eight week long Spring soccer season my daughter had gone from being a kid who would stand on the field and do nothing or worse, the kind who would try to kick the ball and miss, to actually being a decent little soccer player.  She wasn't fast, and she didn't score goals, but she had learned how to pass the ball and defend her team's net.  By May of 2009, my daughter was no longer the kid on the field who stood around looking lost.  She had direction and was learning how to play soccer.  Best of all, she was loving every minute of it!  Not only were the girls on our team having a blast and developing soccer skills, they were also learning great sportsmanship.  If we played a team that didn't have enough girls to field a team, our coach would give some the players on our team to our short handed opponents so the game wouldn't have to be forfeited.  Playing the game and having fun was more fun than gaining a win.

Using skills learned in the Spring against the Fall 09 Ducks

When it came time to sign up for Fall soccer for 2009 there was no question.  She was playing.  Now that we knew what it was like to have a real coach for our child, we wanted to stick with him.  Unfortunately for us, some issues within our soccer club saw Madeline and two other girls removed from this phenomenal coach's team and placed on teams that didn't even have a coach.  My daughter was upset because she couldn't stay with her team.  She even considered quitting, but my husband convinced her to stick with it.  In the end, Bryan stepped up and coached Madeline's team.  We weren't the best team, but we did well.  We attribute our successes to the fact that we utilized the same types of training drills and stamina building exercises as the Mighty Ducks.  Unfortunately, we just didn't have that great team camaraderie with the new team that we did with the old coach.  We missed being part of the Mighty Ducks family.

At the end of the Fall season the awesome coach from the Spring approached us about playing indoor soccer.  Instantly we told him we were on board.  I didn't want to be bothered with indoor soccer but if it meant my daughter could be on his team and continue to grow as a player, then I was all for it.  She played two sessions of indoor soccer that spanned four months of Sundays.  I only went to a couple of the games, but my husband who was now an assistant coach would come home and tell me about how Madeline and the rest of the team were progressing.

About to score a goal!

When Spring soccer rolled around this year we were beyond delighted that Madeline was once again a Mighty Duck.  This Spring Madeline really blossomed as a player.  She developed good ball handling skills and not only became a good defensive player, but she even managed to score a goal here and there.  She didn't compare talent wise to some of the other girls on the team, but she was a solid supporting player.  I could tell that she had grown as a player, but I wasn't convinced that she was particularly good.  Her coach and other parents, however, would comment that she was playing really well.   When we played a tournament in June I began to realize that my daughter really was becoming a decent soccer player and it was then that I realized that I am, indeed, a soccer mom.

For those of you wondering just how someone knows they're a soccer mom here's how I realized it:  When you find yourself at a soccer tournament eyeing up things like six seater fold up team benches, folding chairs with umbrella attachments and little canopy tents and wishing you had them for yourself, your child's team and your fellow soccer parents, then you know you are a fully vetted soccer mom.

We had some doubts as to whether or not Madeline would be able to continue to play under her coach this fall.  Because of the excellent training and direction given to her team by her dedicated coach there had been many parents who were upset that our team was as skilled as it was.  Sadly, in this day and age where many people have lost sight of the fact that life isn't always fair nor is it supposed to be, several parents of children on teams that had lost to our team had complained to the powers that be in our soccer club.  These seemingly misdirected complaints threatened our team and caused many of our team members to be scattered to other teams this fall.  Thankfully, Madeline and a few of her teammates were kept together.  The four girls who were kept together for this fall were by no means shining stars during the Spring season.  They were just solid team players that do their best to execute the skills learned during practice on the playing field.

Protect the ball! 

We're three games into the Fall season this year and once again, the Mighty Ducks are a nice cohesive family unit.   The parents get along and so do the girls.  The girls are proving that they can put what they're learning at practice into play during game time.  I tend to sit with two of my fellow soccer moms and we marvel at how far our daughters have come under the tutelage of our phenomenal coach.  These are girls who were once just like Madeline was in the Fall of 2008: Kids who were clueless on the field and drifting somewhere in La La Land.  Now our girls are stepping up and proving themselves to formidable members of their team.  They're proud of what they've become and they owe it all to the incredibly dedicated coach who cheers them on every step of the way.

I know for Madeline this entire experience has been more than just learning to play soccer.  Her coach has taught her to persevere.  He has taught her to be confident, even when her opponent is bigger and more skilled.  Because he has instilled in the team that they are a family she has bonded with her teammates and that bond makes the team stronger and more confident.

Great coaches, like teachers, have the ability to touch and change lives.  It has been a blessing and a privilege to have Coach R. coach my daughter over the past 18 months.  It is my sincere hope that he will continue to be her coach for many years to come.  I believe she can go far in the game of soccer with this phenomenal coach.  Coach R. truly has a gift for taking any player that comes his way and moulding her into a soccer player.  And mothers who are firmly resolved to not be soccer moms?  Yeah, he can convert them into the biggest cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Is the volunteer bug biting again?

I may have mentioned that Bryan is now one of the assistant coaches for Madeline's indoor soccer team. I have to say I'm kind of surprised he stepped up to coach again. And, I think there's the possibility that he may even step up and coach her team for the next session. We have an awesome coach and three assistant coaches (Bryan included), but the next indoor session will likely have two teams from our soccer club and it's already been mentioned that the team will need coaches. After this first indoor game, I think Bryan is really considering coaching the team himself. He has played indoor soccer in the past and he wasn't exactly happy with the way line changes were done last week.

Twice in 14 hours I have received a call from the Thursday night CCD coordinator. First she wanted me to sub for the session Madeline doesn't attend. (Bryan fielded that call while I was out last night and told her I wouldn't be interested.) I'm dedicated, but not THAT dedicated. Then this morning the phone rings and she asked me for the second week in a row to sub for the 7th grade class. Last week I wasn't feeling well so that and the fact that I wasn't sure I wanted to teach a 7th grade class led me to say no. This week I decided to see how insane I really am and I said yes. There has to be a reason I got called for 7th grade two weeks in a row, right? So I asked the coordinator my standard questions, what chapter are they on, is there a lesson plan and in general how is the behavior of this class. I come to find out that this class does not have a catechist. So they have been in class since mid-September and they still don't have a teacher and this is a sacrament prep year. If I were a parent of one of those kids I'd be really upset about this. How much can they be learning with no steady teacher? So I'm awaiting a phone call from the coordinator to find out what chapter the class did last week. I ran over to the parish office and got a copy of the text used for the class so I can start in on writing up a lesson plan. I let our religious ed director know that depending on how this class is tonight, I may decide to step up and teach the class. I'm pretty sure Bryan thinks I'm insane. I mentioned to him a couple of weeks ago that I was considering picking up a Thursday night class next year [meaning the 2010-11 school year], but I think that may be coming sooner than I think. Part of me is very hopeful that this class will have some really well behaved kids in it so that I'll want to be their catechist. I've been complaining for a few months that the kindergarten CCD is just too basic. I could use a class that has a little more substance.

I'm still here

To look at my blog, I get the feeling that I must have fallen off the face of the earth or I've hit a major time warp. Actually the time warp thing is partly right given the recent time change for daylight savings time. Let me just say that I think that particular practice should be abolished. I'm taking a beating with the time change. Who would have thought that "gaining" an extra hour of sleep could screw a person up so much?

My past week has been a whirl wind of activity. Friday was jam packed with fun and not so fun moments. I saw the classroom Halloween party that I planned for Madeline's class come to fruition. For the most part, I'd say it was a success. The kids, the teacher and the wonderful parents who took a few hours out of their day to help run the party all seemed pleased with my efforts. Bryan took Ellie on her field trip to the pumpkin patch before he dropped her off at Madeline's school for the class party.

When I finally returned home on Friday afternoon I spent a couple hours engulfed in Madeline's social studies project. Sadly, the project was a bust and I found myself redoing it this afternoon. At long last, it is finished.

Since Bryan took Friday off to take Ellie on her field trip and to go to the doctor we decided to head out to the Olive Garden for a much anticipated dinner. Once we arrived at the restaurant, disaster struck. As soon as I got out of the car I heard this loud hissing sound and immediately suspected the tire I was standing next to. Sure enough, I had a tire that was going flat. Figures, when I'm starving and haven't eaten since 7:30 AM we would encounter a flat. Ugh! I wanted to scream and cry. I think my blood sugar had totally plummeted by the time we arrived at Olive Garden based on the massive headache I developed and we weren't able to go eat because of the tire. We rushed over to Target so Bryan could get fix a flat so we could make it home. The Olive Garden is about 30 minutes from our house and once the flat was discovered our new focus was to stop the leak and get home ASAP. The drive home was interesting. We only made it home thanks to the little air pump in my car, and the lovely air pump at the WaWa. Of course, when we got to the WaWa with a gas station we had to wait for the air hose. While waiting for 10 minutes, the tire went completely flat and all of the fix a flat oozed out of the tire. I had to yell and scream at someone who decided to butt in line and take the hose. Extreme hunger, less than desirable situations and cranky kids and husband can make me lose my composure very quickly. After letting the poor inconsiderate man from Delaware have it, he backed off and got in line for the hose. Bryan was annoyed and willing to let the guy go ahead of him, but I wasn't having it and neither was the man who was next in line. The moral of the day for the young man from Delaware was don't mess with a tired and hungry Karen and wait your turn like everyone else. We managed to make it home. Within seconds of pulling into our garage the tire was totally flat. Turns out we had quite a large gauge in the tire and how we managed to make it home is a mystery.

Saturday saw a day with a no-show soccer team (Madeline's opposing team decided not to play and didn't think to let the soccer club know.) and trick or treating. Sadly, trick or treating wasn't all that fun. It started off rather nicely with just Bryan, the girls, Oscar and me. By the time we almost made it around our block our neighbors asked us to join them. I didn't want to simply because one of Madeline's soccer teammates was going with them and I wasn't fond of the mother. Before we were done trick or treating I found myself wishing we had taken a different route when we set out. The mother of the soccer teammate criticized my dog's appearance, his rectum and the fact that we actually paid money for him when he's "so ugly". My decision to stay at home was also attacked and the mother asked me if I at least had a college education. She seemed rather stunned when I told her that I did. (I don't stay at home because I can't find a job or because I'm uneducated. I stay at home because I don't want someone else raising my children.) This woman then began to go on about how "superior" her children are because they are or will be going to private school. Her son goes to the local parish school and her daughter is in Madeline's school. They don't use the public middle school because of the "riff raff" and because their children are "superior" to the "inferior children who go to public schools". She went on and on telling me how her children are better than every other child who gets a public education. I held my tongue and decided not to say anything to her. I just said oh and I see as she and her children went on about how "superior" they are. I found it really sad that this woman has warped her children into sounding a lot like Hitler youth. And I learned that if I want my children to be "superior" all I need to do is give them a Catholic education. Since I know that our local Catholic school has a curriculum that lags behind the public schools, I'll let them find out for themselves how "superior" that education they're paying for really is. My "inferior" children will have to go to the public school and learn that not everyone is as blessed in life to have all the nice things that they do. I try to teach my children to have humility and not flaunt anything that they have and quite frankly, I'm shocked that there are parents who teach their kids that they are better than others. It's something that I found totally sickening.

Sunday was Bryan's birthday. I took the girls to Mass early in the morning and they both behaved for me (What a shock!). My CCD class was half empty due to illness for the second week in a row. I'm beginning to wonder when I'll have a full class again. The girls both had soccer games in the rain at the same time on Sunday. I'll be so happy when we can have a weekend without rain.

I don't know that I remember Monday. I'm sure I spent most of the day reading books that I have waiting for me to review. I know that we had to take Madeline to my parent's house to spend the night so they could take her to the dentist since my car went into the shop Monday night.

Since I had the tire issue on Friday, we sent the van to the Toyota dealership for repairs. I wound up with new breaks, four new tires and a bunch of routine stuff. So my flat tire led to a $1,200 bill. Just what we needed.

While Tuesday wasn't the most delightful day thanks to the car repair bill, I did have a good day. My parents took Madeline to her dentist appointment and I did some of my Christmas shopping from home. When they brought her back home, I got to go vote and I'm happy to report that New Jersey will have a Republican Governor. So I certainly feel like my vote counted. I also stumbled upon Halloween costumes for 75% off at Target. Madeline found a costume she liked for next year. She's going to be Super Girl and for $7.50 with all accessories included I'm one happy mom. I LOVE a good bargain.

Madeline is off from school all week (except Monday) so after we dropped Ellie off at school today we did a little more Christmas shopping. Then later in the day I immersed myself in Madeline's social studies project. I'm happy to report that it's finally finished and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. I hope it gets an A. I even got some Christmas gifts wrapped today. Now I just need to go relax and read a book.

I now feel like I'm caught up.

Pictures from the soccer games

I finally got around to downloading the pictures from this past weekends soccer games. Madeline played really well and I got a few good shots of her that I really like. Ellie's pictures didn't come out all that great.

Madeline is number 8. I love this picture.

Holding her own against her old team.

About to send the ball flying.

She looks so grown up to me in this picture.

Ellie is number 4.

I think she was having a good time.

Coming off the field hoping for another nacho. The poor kid was spent.

Time to sit back and relax for a bit

I've had quite the packed weekend. I survived two soccer games, Mass with a poorly behaved four year old (Oh the joys of being the only parent at Mass with the kids!), a kindergarten religious education class and a bunch of other usual weekend activities. It's a wonder at this time that I'm still kicking.

The soccer games went really well. Madeline scored a goal for her team. She played like she was a rock star. The kid was up and down the field doing a smashing job. She had several shots the went just slightly wide of the goal post. I spent the entire game screaming my head off. I think it's safe to say that I'm no longer a reluctant soccer mom. I'm now that obnoxious mom on the sidelines who won't stop screaming. But I'm the good kind of obnoxious mom. I cheer my daughters and their team on, and I also cheer for the girls (or boys, in Ellie's case) that I know on the other teams. Sure, I'll also yell out to my child that the other kid doesn't need the ball or remind her that it's her ball. (Thanks to last season's coach for getting "MY BALL" stuck in my head.) We played Madeline's old team on Saturday and our girls did pretty well. We had to borrow girls from the other team since we were short a few players and had no subs (this level doesn't keep score). We talked with Madeline's old coach and it looks like we may very possibly have her on his travel team this Spring or next Fall. She's going to start practicing with him on Tuesday nights just to get more help with her skills. He's such a great coach and I love that he's willing to take on kids that aren't on his team. I think that's very generous of him. He even invited another one of our team members (who he hasn't coached) to come and practice with him.

Ellie played her first game. She seemed to have fun, but she was hanging back from the action for the most part. She was more concerned with trying to grab a nacho snack in between shifts. Coach had to tell her to put the nachos down and come play a couple times. She's such a funny kid. She played against one of her classmates and the daughter of friends we went to high school with. Such a small world we live in.

My religious ed class went pretty well considering my lesson plans were thwarted by a mistake. I put my copy order in on Thursday for my worksheets and craft project. Somehow, my mobile craft copies weren't the page that was copied for me. Instead I got a "My name is _____" coloring page. Ugh! I spent a good amount of time tying strings to hangers last night. Bryan even took pity on me and helped me out. Since I wasn't given a class list in advance, I had to scramble this morning to get name tags and folder labeled. I got to the school early, but so did all of the parents. I felt incredibly unprepared for this first class despite the fact that I spent many hours preparing for it. Even though things didn't go as I had planned, I think it still went well. I have eight adorable kids in my class. I have two of the chattiest boys I've ever met, a set of incredibly cute twin girls, two very shy children, and two kids who I'm pretty sure think I'm a little goofy (they're right, but I'm the fun kind of goofy). It took about 25 minutes to get these kids to warm up to me. Once I got them going, they were really happy. I'm just hoping I didn't bore them to death. I introduced my pal Flat Father Stanley to them and I have to say I think he's going to be a hit. I had one kid who wanted to bring him home today. Another child informed me that he can't be a priest because he can't pray since he's paper. Ah, the joys of facetious five year old boys. I'm looking forward to next week. I just have to pick a cool foam craft from the plethora of foam sticker crafts I have down in the basement. (I stocked up this Summer.)

I'll be posting pictures of the girls' soccer games tomorrow. I'm too spent to upload pictures tonight.

Busy weekend

Since it rained a lot last Friday, soccer was cancelled last weekend. That meant that opening night ceremony and both opening games were wiped off our calendar. As a result, everything got pushed to this weekend. This weekend also marks the start of the new Religious Ed school year. Talk about having everything thrown at you at once.

Last night we spent a couple hours standing around on the soccer fields waiting for the girls to walk under a little carport with their team holding their team banner. It was a night that left some of us feeling a little bitter. In fact, it was kind of like rubbing salt in a wound. Madeline was on a great soccer team this past Spring. The coach was great, the families were great, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. For some reason, our team was not allowed to stay together for Fall soccer. Madeline and one of her current teammates were among the girls who were not able to stay with their coach. It was bad enough that they didn't have a coach for their team. Bryan stepped up and volunteered to coach, but it took nearly a month of constantly emailing the director of the division to finally get somewhere. That means the girls on Madeline's team were deprived of an entire month of being able to practice. Last night, we discovered that half of the spring team was still together, and in our place, were new "Mighty Ducks" families. The old team walked behind Madeline's team last night singing the team chant and blowing their duck whistles. The other outcast Ducks mom and I stood there feeling more than a little jaded as we watched our girls wistfully looking over at their old team. Even worse, we discovered that we play our old team this afternoon. Madeline has been upset that she's not on her team anymore for over a month. Our team is playing with no subs today (three of our players can't make it) against a team with great players and a lot of practice time under their belts. Madeline's team has had just three practices. I'm not looking forward to this afternoon. I know it's not a good attitude to have going into a game, but I don't expect the "Mighty Storm" to win. Madeline will likely spend a lot of time on net. She's a good goalie and we're going to need her.

I was supposed to be taking Ellie to a birthday party this afternoon, but we're going to have to forgo it. It's Madeline's first game of the season, and I need to be there to cheer her on. I'm team mom, so I think I probably belong at the game.

Provided Madeline's game ends early enough, I'll be able to rush her home to shower and get dressed so I can rush back out and take the kids to Mass. Since Religious Ed. starts tomorrow morning, I'm limited in when I can get them over to the church. If we don't get over there tonight, I'm going to have to drag them out of bed early tomorrow and take them to the 7:45AMMass. That's a scary prospect. I have a class to teach at 9:15AM, and I'm still not done preparing my lesson plan. I was up until Midnight last night working on my Flat Father Stanley's for the class. I made the prototype months ago, but I never got around to making the ones that I need for the class. I have so many things left to do before tomorrow morning. I'm praying that I don't get attacked by a pack of 5 year olds.

Tomorrow afternoon, Ellie will play her first soccer game. Her team is a pretty lively bunch of kids. They had a pretty good time playing with each other last night. I suspect she's going to have a lot of fun playing soccer this Fall.

Here's hoping the weekend goes smoothly. If I survive, expect to see some account of the events here tomorrow or Monday.

Powder room trash picking, anyone?

The weekend is over and the house is surprisingly clean considering I've had Bryan home for the past three days.  I liken Bryan to Pig Pen from the Peanuts comics.  All he has to do is walk in the door and I have an instant mess on my hands.  Usually it's  just his back pack, shoes, keys, and work related stuff that seems to get tossed all over in the kitchen and family room.  Given that I'm an absolute neat freak, this drives me insane.  

It's essentially the same routine when Madeline comes home from school or soccer.  Everything she brings home winds up strewn all over my kitchen.  When you operate under the delusion that kitchens are just there to look nice, it can make you a little crazy when your clean countertops have keys, random small toys, and school work covering them at the end of the day.  

Ellie is my resident toy scatterer.  I'm fairly certain that God sent her to help me learn to lighten up when it comes to trying to have a perfectly maintained home.  Ellie makes it her business to ensure that there is always a small mess somewhere in the house.  She doesn't want me to be idle.  

Oscar has also picked up on this let's keep Mommy busy routine.  He scatters his toys all over in the kitchen and family room so I can have the pleasure of tripping over them while I'm in a cleaning frenzy.  What a wonderful addition to the family he has turned out to be!  His latest obsession has been trash picking treasures from the powder room trash can and scurrying back to his crate where he can eat them and just chew on them to make revolting messes.  Just as I was getting ready to blog about something totally different, I hear out four-footed friend scamper from the powder room en route to his crate.  I picked up on the rustling paper sound and realized that he was up to something.  Apparently, we found the paper wrapper to a roll of toilet paper.  Exciting!  I was fortunate enough to get it away from him before he could create a mess that would have left me gagging.  I am totally revolted by wet paper products.  The sight of them make me feel sick to my stomach.  I am also unwilling to come into contact with blobs of wet paper products, unless I'm cleaning up a spill or cleaning windows or counter tops.  I have felt this way about wet paper products since elementary school when some girls used to wad up TP, wet it and toss it on the ceiling or mirrors in the girls room. GAG!

So now that my neat freaks anonymous digression is out of the way, I suppose I can get blog about what I came here to do.  Although, I am wondering if it's going to look half as exciting as my neat freak and wet paper product revelations.  Probably not, but if you're bored and looking for something to read, as I often am, this will just give you something do to.  Amazingly helpful I am!

I apparently met my quota for inappropriate social gaffes for the week already.  I managed to get it out of the way before 9am on Sunday.  Since Bryan is taking some time off from church (insert my eye roll and loud sigh here, please), I took the girls to the 7:45 Mass yesterday.  I typically get up around 6am on Sunday so I can have some time to myself in the morning, so I decided to get the girls up, dressed and out the door in time for the earlier Mass.  It was a bit of a time crunch for me since Madeline moves slow in the morning and I got up a little late, but we made it there on time.  My reward was not having to her the Folk Song group this week. Yay!  So my black-eyed Ellie sat on the end of the pew and apparently caught Fr. Vic's attention (not to mention she was making faces and sticking her tongue out when Fr. Mazz, our pastor was making some very long announcements at the end of Mass, and I'm sure he saw her).  So on our way out Fr. Vic wants to know how she got the black eye.  Mind you, I've been getting this question and judgemental looks all week.  Explaining that my child stood on a rocking moose, fell, cut under her eye and had a big goose egg has been getting the "I'm not buying that explanation" response from the general public.  If you know Ellie, then you know that the explanation is accurate and you wouldn't be surprised in the first place that the kid has a black eye.  So I jokingly respond to him that we beat her.  The stunned look on his face and all those around us was priceless.  I quickly followed up with the "she fell and hit her face" answer, but I don't think anyone brought it.  So there's my social gaffe for the week.  I told Bryan about it and he told me that it's not funny to joke around about that.  Hmm...if he was with me yesterday morning, perhaps this gaffe wouldn't have happened.  Either way, I'm getting tired of fielding black eye  questions.  I hope the bruise goes away soon. The cut has healed nicely and I think she will not have a scar from it.  Note to self: not funny to explain child's injuries with what I think will be a witty response, just stick to the crazy stranger than fiction facts. Oh, and continue to lament the fact that most people are not going to get or appreciate my sarcastic and often off-beat sense of humor.

So Spring soccer is now officially over.  Madeline's last game was yesterday.  The rain cleared up just in time for the game.  Unfortunately, it was pretty cold out there.  I am not officially not looking forward to the cold soccer games in October and November and by this fall I'll have two kids playing.  Did I make a mistake in signing Ellie up to play this year?  I guess we'll find out this fall.  I suppose we'll be busy on the weekends for most of the fall with soccer games on Saturday and Sunday along with Ellie's CCD classes on Sunday mornings.  Madeline played really well.  She has come such a long way from when she started playing last August.  She didn't score any goals yesterday but she came close about 5 or 6 times.  In the past, she would just kind of give the ball a little tap when trying to score, but now she's out there kicking the ball with some force.  She took out the other team's goalie with one of her kicks yesterday.  She hit the girl square in the face with the ball and made her nose bleed.  I know it was awful that she hurt the other girl, but I have to say I was so proud of my daughter.  She can kick the ball really  hard now AND it gets some air!  

Rain

The last thing I wanted to see this morning when the shade went up was rain.  I have one week to get my house in order before Madeline's First Communion and the brunch that will follow at our house.  Rain is something I'd rather not see today.

I have a growing list of things I need to take care of outside.  I have six blueberry bushes and two rosemary plants that need to be planted in the retainer wall.  I have to sweep the concrete around the pool since Bryan decided to cut the retainer wall stones up there and it's now littered with stone fragments.  I really wish he had cut the stones over the grass, but I guess he wanted a sound level surface for the circular saw.  

The front yard needs my attention, as well.  I have hedges that need trimming.  I also have a driveway that is covered in a giant dirt stain from where the pile of top soil was earlier in the week.  The rain isn't coming down hard enough to wash the dirt away so I'm going to have to sweep and hose it off the driveway.  I also need Bryan to spread mulch around in the front gardens. 

Bryan is going to a charity golf event tomorrow. He's not going to be around to help me with all this yard stuff tomorrow until much later in the day.  I'm also willing to bet that he's not going to want to do much when he gets home.  He has to get up at 5am tomorrow so he can head out to the golf course.  I don't expect to see him until 4 or 5pm tomorrow.  I will do my best not to be bitter about this tomorrow.  

I seriously feel like I'm running out of time here.  Tonight, if it stops raining, I have to play in a scrimmage against Madeline's soccer team.  Her coach thought it would be fun if the parents played against the kids for the practice tonight.  One half of the game will be dads vs. kids and the second half is moms vs. kids.  I don't play soccer, and the thought of playing against a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds who are probably going to kick me in the shins isn't very appealing.  Sunday we have a soccer game for Madeline after Mass, so we're busy until around 2 in the afternoon.  That only gives us a few hours to work in the yard. 

Seat theft at Mass and sunburn at soccer

Today is shaping up to be a long day and it's not even 2pm yet.  We have a few hours of yard work ahead of us and we still have to go out for lunch.

I knew when we were taking Ellie into the school for CCD that I was in for one of my rare form days.  As we were walking into the building I crossed paths with a man who had the hairiest ear lobes I've ever seen.  I have a bit of a hair plucking fascination that Bryan is usually the victim of, so I notice things like rogue ear hairs on men.  Fortunately, this man wasn't sitting near me at Mass or else I would have been distracted. Bryan likes to point out things at Mass that he knows will make me laugh and he would have had a field day with the hairy ears.  

I wound up having a different distraction at Mass.  After Madeline went downstairs for the children's liturgy, the usher crammed three larger adults into our pew.  I made sure I let the woman next to me know that my daughter was sitting where she currently was and that she'd be back.  I guess she thought I was talking about my imaginary child, because in the middle of the homily she waved her teenaged son who smelled like marijuana and kept texting people during Mass into Madeline's seat.  I can't tell you how incredibly annoyed I was.  Once all the kids came back after the homily, I think the seat stealer's mother felt guilty.  Bryan had to drop back a pew and sit with one of the dads from Madeline's soccer team and CCD class. 

The other thing that can set me off at church, besides mutant ear hairs, on a day when I'm in rare form is the folk song group at church.  For a while there we thought this was the church choir, but I discovered at the Good Friday service and the Easter Vigil Mass, that the church actually does have a decent choir.  The Folk Song group is "special" so they're not part of the choir.  This group apparently exists to wage a ruthless assault on the ears of the parish.  Since we go to Mass at 9:15 every Sunday while Ellie is in CCD we, sadly, never get to hear the good choir.  Today was particularly bad to the point that I almost burst out laughing while in line for communion.  The Folk Song group comes up with some of the worst songs ever created, and then they butcher them unmercifully. I'm pretty sure even God couldn't like these songs, especially when they're sung totally off key. I'm not sure why no one has stopped this group yet. Once CCD is done for the Summer I think we'll be going to Mass at a different time.  My ears need a rest and I think I'd like to hear the real choir instead.

Madeline's soccer game went pretty well today.  She played for almost the entire game and she played a good game.  It was 95 degrees out while she was playing, so by the time the 4th quarter was nearly over she was totally wiped out.  Madeline played goalie for a quarter and she only got scored on once, which is great since the other team was really good. 

We all came home from the game with sunburn. Ellie and I got the brunt of it since we have very fair skin.  I sprayed Ellie with sunscreen before we left for the game, but it didn't help.  I'll probably be lobster red by the end of today.