Soccer 2011

It's always a bittersweet time when the fall soccer season comes to an end. We thoroughly enjoy watching our kids play, going to all the games and cheering them on. On the other hand, after two long months of weeknight practices, hurried dinners, later bath times and bed times, and driving all over the county to attend multiple games on Saturdays, we do let out a huge sigh of relief when November rolls around.
Savannah had another outstanding soccer season! Her ball handling skills keep improving and even her power kick is starting to "kick" in. She finished the season off with just under 10 goals, some even scored with her left foot. I was one of her coaches again this season and we had a great time as the Powerful Purple Panthers!

Look at #8 go towards the goal!


At the team party each of the girls received a participation medal along with a recognition award - Savannah earned "The Ball Handler" award.

Coach Clarence with the girls. Coach Tracie is of course behind the camera.

Savannah wasn't the only one with a great season. Xander is improving as a soccer player as well and I was so impressed with his aggressive yet clean playing. Both his coaches told me he was the best player on the team and Xander even had his own personal fan at one of the games. A grandfather there to cheer on his grandson who was on Xander's team recognized Xander's skill and started shouting, "Get the ball to #11!" (Xander's number) "Look at number 11 go!" "Great job, number 11!" "I can't wait to see number 11 score. Go number 11!" It was hilarious but also very heartwarming to see my son cheered on by a complete stranger. Eventually he picked up on the fact that David and I were his parents and he started telling us how fun it was to watch Xander play. And he's right - David and I loved it!


With a $1 given for every goal scored Xander had a huge incentive to score some goals...and he did. He reached his goal of 8 goals for the year with a few extra scored for good measure!


And then there's Noah. Looking at this picture you might think that Noah was as mighty a soccer player as his siblings.

You would be wrong. The above picture shows a little boy in a green jersey with complete possession of the soccer ball while my cute little Noah ran along side him and then watched this little boy score a goal.
The picture below is probably the only picture I have of Noah kicking the ball. Actually, it's the only picture I have of Noah even showing any interest in the ball.

Noah's short lived soccer season consisted of wandering around on the field, watching other kids dribble the ball and score.


Oh, the ball is right in front of me? Should I go after it and see if I can get it?
Nahhh, I'll let the other team go score another goal while I look on.

David and I are adamant about our kids following through on their commitments. If they sign up to do a sport and find out mid-season that they don't like it, too bad. You made a commitment to the team and you're going to finish out the season. After that we just don't sign them up again. Noah was extremely excited to start playing soccer but that quickly evaporated after the first 2 practices. From then on it was meltdown city before every practice and game. Finally David and I decided it just wasn't worth it and informed his coach that he would not be playing anymore. The whole sense of commitment to a team was falling on the deaf ears of our four year old. Oh, well, we'll try again in a few years, if Noah decides he wants to give it another try.

X's Turn

Savannah got hers in September, Xander earned his in October. An ABBY award, that is! Once again, so proud of my Xanderman!


Xander and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Deremeik.

His photo in the front hallway of the school.

Way to go, X!

Yummy Pies

Our November Keepers meeting couldn't have been more delicious - pie making!!! The girls were definitely ready to get started.

Working on the fruit pie.

Rolling out the dough to make the crust. Yes, they even made a homemade crust!

Making the crust look lovely.

The ice cream pie, Savannah's favorite.

All in all the girls made three pies - a fruit pie, an ice cream pie, and a chocolate pudding pie. The girls did a great job and of course we had a fabulous time tasting everything!

Making Applesauce

My good friend Elinor invited the kids and I to come over to her place to make some applesauce. She assured me that it was extremely easy so we headed over to try it out. The kids enjoyed putting the apples in and cranking out the sauce.


Teamwork!

Although Savannah and Xander did enjoy it, they were soon tempted away by the trampoline and other fun things in the backyard. Noah, on the other hand, stayed with it until the end. What an applesauce maker he turned out to be!

When all the apples were gone he did head out for a brief break to play with the dogs.


But he came right back in to sample the goods. He gobbled a bowlful right up and came back for seconds.
"Please, sir, can I have some more?"

We ended up with over a dozen jars of yummy applesauce as well as a dozen jars of apple butter. My little applesauce man!

Halloween

On the day of Halloween Noah had his preschool Halloween party. Since I was a party mom I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked but I did manage to grab a few.
Noah and his class trick or treating around the club.

One of the party moms had a face painting station and she did such a fabulous job!

I was in charge of the games and I'm pleased to say that the spider races were the hit of the party.

Hanging out with his favorite buds.

We also did the feeling game where the kids reach into a bag to feel all kinds of different things like ears, tongues, bones, and a brain. Here's Noah who "accidentally" pulled out some of the guts.

Those sticky eyes just wouldn't stick.


His fun teachers, Miss Kelly and Miss Carol.

That evening the kids were ready to go! What could be better than going out on a cold night all dressed up to receive candy from strangers? We had a few costume changes; Xander was the killer from the movie Scream (without the knife, of course) and Noah was a werewolf.

We invited Noah's good friend Anthony and his family to join us for trick or treating and then dinner after. Poor Noah...his costume change was a last minute thing so we didn't have time to "un-warp" his werewolf mask.

Savannah wasn't the only Clawdeen Wolf prowling the streets that night.

Xander thoroughly enjoyed passing out the candy.


Another fun Halloween! The kids are already planning out next year's costumes.

Carvin' Time

For Family Home Evening on Sunday we carved pumpkins which is always a fun time for the kids. We made it much faster and easier for ourselves this year by sticking to just the basic ole' Halloween faces rather than doing the fancy sketches.
First came cleaning out all the guts.


Noah wasn't too thrilled with this part of the process.

Each of the kids told David what kind of face they wanted and we were all pleased with the results.

Noah was so bummed that David had carved pieces out of his pumpkin that he stuck all the pieces back in. No amount of explanation on our part could persuade him that to make it a Jack-a-Lantern we needed to remove them. Oh, well...that's just so Noah.