Saturday, March 31, 2012

It's Been A While

Life is busy and I've used that as a reason (excuse!) to not write here for awhile. I love my new job, but driving an hour round trip every day kind of cuts into my free time. (Look! Another excuse!) The oldest three kids all played indoor soccer over the winter months - I know, shocking news, isn't it? CED played on 1 1/2 teams throughout two of the three sessions. How 1 1/2, you ask? For the second and third sessions of indoor, there were enough girls from her outdoor team that wanted to play indoor to split them up into two different teams. CED was able to play for her team and sub in for about half of the other team's games. JAD played all three sessions with K serving as coach. His team ended up 18-1 when all was said and done. It was pretty exciting to see them play! JED also had the opportunity to play with his indoor team from last year for the second and third sessions. The boys had a lot of fun and really started to gel over the final few games. It's quite amusing to watch nine and ten year olds swagger down the field (or pitch, as JAD would correct me) and swagger they did - even JED. So, all in all, we were fairly busy during our 'off' months from soccer. Although the true off time is really June. That's it. Never thought soccer was a year round sport, did you? Well, I'm here to testify... It is!

The oldest two started back to outdoor practice mid-January. Yes, OUTDOOR practice. At night. Most nights they were practicing with gloves and hats on and parents were madly walking the track around the field in an effort to stay warm. Our first tournament was at the end of February and it was an eye-opener as far as team play was concerned for both JAD and CED's teams. CED's team ended up tying all three games, which we were quite happy with as ten of the 18 girls are all playing up a year which means bigger girls on opposing teams. JAD's team, unfortunately, went 0-3. It's disappointing as we all know what capabilities these boys have and what they are not living up to - especially those of us that watched them dominate on the indoor field. Both kids have undergone coaching changes as well this spring. JAD's came as not much of a surprise as his coach received a promotion at work. CED's came out of nowhere with her coach backdooring the team and dropping them the week of their first game. That was frustrating, but the girls have come out ahead as their new head coach has been really well received by them and is making some great changes. K has also been given the opportunity to be the assistant coach, which he is really enjoying, as well. Girls and parents are all happy to have him on the team to help out. We are still not thrilled with the changes on JAD's team, but I won't go into my laundry list of all I think is wrong. Let's just say its lengthy and I'll leave it at that. :)

All the kids are doing really well at school and seem happy with where they're at. JAD is a typical teen and refers to school as 'jail', but I know he'd rather be at Vanguard than our home high school. CED is happy as well and wouldn't change back for anything. In fact, she now has a boyfriend. Oh yes, we have entered that stage in life. Fortunately, you have to be a pretty good kid to make it into the school and stay there, so we aren't too worried. Yet. JED and MED both like being at school with me and they are both blossoming and doing well in school. JED has been moved into all of the 'high' groups in math, reading, and writing and even attends reading with the gifted and high achieving kids in the third grade. MED is being given a lot of enrichment work, particularly in reading, as she is reading third grade chapter books on her own time. She is an avid reader and is reading to MAD all the time. MAD is working on reading sight words now and loves to practice writing letters and words, often copying words and sentences she sees in books. This last week she learned to tie her shoes by herself and couldn't be happier to show anyone that will sit for a moment her newly acquired skill.

 We are fully back into our outdoor soccer season now. JAD and CED played their third games today while JED played his first of the season. MED and MAD are beyond excited to be starting practice on Tuesday and play in their first game next Saturday. So, we will be back to our crazy schedules of usually four games per Saturday. At least most Sundays are 'days off'. I think this somewhat catches you up with us for the last few missing months. Maybe if I can get my act together, in the midst of avoiding schoolwork I've avoided all spring break, I'll post about our weekend in Glenwood Springs a week ago. It was a great relaxing weekend for us and the weather - even in the mountains!- was absolutely glorious.

Signing off...