Samuel, the Soccer Player

Sam played soccer for the first time (officially) this summer and loved it. I loved it. I think Evan, Annie and Jeremy liked it, too. I loved watching Sam excited to put on his uniform and listen to his coach and interact with the other kids on his team, the Tigers. Since he can read now, I am going to write this post in a little "mom-code". See if you can get my drift.

Sam's cheering section, ready to go. As long as I packed enough sweets to keep them in a good mood.
Sam missed the first practice when they handed out uniforms so he had to wear a size huge. But, to his mother's delight, we turned it over and saw that it was my old soccer number, 13. (Oh! Now I know why it was the only one left. Silly superstitions.) He looked cute!
Sam always seemed aware of (distracted by) my use of the camera, so I tried to just stick to action shots.

So here are some action shots:

The huddle before the game with their sweet coach, Amy, who I found out was 4 months pregnant but she ran around out there with them and was awesome.

Samuel got to play goalie a few times...nerve-racking for his over-zealous spectating mother. Not so much worried about a kick to the face as I was the blame for an opposing team goal.
Sam handled it well...in fact, many aspects of the game didn't seem to phase him (like whether the other team was coming straight at him with the ball or whether it was time for kick-off...you know, stuff like that). Here he is, demonstrating his ability to make up imaginary games and talk to imaginary people while alone in the goal box:
Did I mention that he was GREAT at interacting with the other members of his team?

Remember, these are action shots.

This kid, Antonio, was actually a pretty good little soccer player...

...when he wasn't distracted by the social scene midfield.

Here's Annie, ready to take care of twins:

Here are some real action shots...Sam really liked doing throw-ins.

(And then standing back with great pleasure and smiling as his team followed through with his throw)

I have heard this level of soccer-playing affectionately called "Cluster Ball"


Sam was also really good at pretending to be really competitive and intense, but it usually only lasted for a few seconds until he was back to smiling and talking and fist-bumping.
He's also really good at rallying the team and preparing them for battle.
But what makes us the most proud of him is how much he loves other people. Here he is with his good friend, Daniel, who was on the opposing team.
Watching him "play" soccer reminded me of when I was pregnant with him and we were living in Kazakhstan. Someone asked me what I dreamt or hoped my child would be like. I remember strolling through the bazaar and answering, "You know, I don't care if he or she is the smartest or most athletic, I just want my child to love other people."
(and be cute)
So now soccer season is over and I can check one more thing off of my list of Things That Good Mothers Sign Their Kids Up For. Now I guess it's time for swim lessons.

First Day of School and the Events Leading Up to the First Day of School

(This post is kind of an insight into my mind and how it works. Enjoy, or not or whatever.)

So...suddenly summer was almost over and we hadn't completed everything on the (imaginary) Things We Must Do This Summer Or We Will Not Have a Complete And Happy Childhood List. So, being the good and conscientious mother that I am, I proceeded to drag my children around town and forced them to have fun.

They are so cute, how could I deny them any good thing?

We rode the city bus to the library...

...went to the Aquaplex so Sam could climb the rock wall and go on the big slides one last time (until the weekend or any afternoon when we can just use our annual passes and go again, but don't you see--there was such a sense of urgency because school was starting!) (oh, and our trip was cut short because of a fecal emergency and subsequent pool evacuation) (see, Elizabeth, I didn't use the word "poop" this time)
...we went for a hike and saw lots of grasshoppers, butterflies, and interesting birds...

Sam thought this tree was just his height. This was the last calm moment before the moments when I thought we were lost in the woods and that Evan was going to have a low-blood-sugar meltdown and Annie was going to demand to walk and I was going to have to scream. We were almost lost and almost stuck in a lightning and thunder storm and it was almost very dangerous, but it wasn't.

Having been hit in the face or head many times by Annie carrying an object made this almost very dangerous also.

Little did these two know, they would be thrust together as sole playmates in just a few short days when Samuel re-entered the grown-up world of first grade.

Jeremy suggested that we go camping and I jumped on it, even though it meant messing up the finally-very-clean house and no sleep and the dreaded event of taking children outside the tent to pee in the middle of the night. Here we are, headed off for ONE night...there was hardly room for any of the children.


Annie immediately took to the old hammock I used to play in all the time when my family went camping as a kid...the hammock my sister used to wrap me up in and bounce me around in and make me laugh uncontrollably and then make fun of me if I lost control of any of my bodily functions in the process (really, Elizabeth, I am sorry, but I warned everyone that this was an insight into my mind and I guess my mind is in the potty a lot).
The boys were fascinated by Jeremy's large knife (completely oversized for the job it was being used for...and I think that's the only time it was used but it was definitely a necessary thing to pack in the car). He bought them air soft guns or whatever they are called and they played with them the whole time and I am happy to say that no one shot their eye out.

How come after 11 years of marriage, Jeremy still looks like a boy and I look like

a tired wrinkly crazy person...with a zit, nonetheless?

The whole time, I was certain it was going to rain and there was going to be thunder and lightning and it would hit me or one of the children or a tree and then the tree would fall on us and we should just sit in the car just to be safe...so here are the kids chillin' with the raincoats on standby and mom wringing her hands and looking at the sky every 30 seconds.In my defense, here's what the sky looked like most of the afternoon:

But somehow, the rain passed us by (though I heard it rained violently in town, which was only a few miles away!). Then (don't tell Jeremy), I felt a little let down that nothing exciting had happened on our camping trip (except when our fire sort of exploded and when I heard an elk...mooing? calling? squeaking? (you have to hear an elk call to know what I'm talking about--it's freaky to a former city girl like myself) in the middle of the night...well here, I'll just post a quick video (it's pretty funny) of it so you can know what I'm talking about.)



We went to the NFL Cardinal's training camp (they practice up here and you can go watch) and caught a glimpse of the team...but the kids were more interested in this fun little area where Cardinals staff were letting them feel like football players.

I think Evan got a crick in his neck while running the obstacle course?

She looked a little timid but said, "more, more, more" every time she finished!

You gotta click this one to see Sam's face up close...awesome!

Oh yeah, here's the Cardinals...just an afterthought.

We actually crammed a lot more stuff into the last few weeks of summer, but I purposefully didn't bring my camera so that I could just be "in the moment" with my kids.

And so, here's the first day of school...Samuel the proud first grader! We took some more pictures but they all break the rules of cyber-safety that I sort of but not really follow but today I will follow so I did not post them.

Sam is so proud to go to school and loves it so much...don't tell him that this is what he's missing out on at home!