soccer fever!

ethan's first soccer season has been over for about a month now. it's kind of strange to be blogging about it now that the weather has cooled off because the temperatures during soccer season were anything but cool. this "fall" season ended just as the hope of fall weather was around the corner. it was surely a hot 9 weeks! anyway, caroline's birthday is tomorrow, and then begins the holiday craziness... SO i have to squeeze this soccer post in before 2010 flies by. ethan loved, loved, loved his soccer team and everything about his first soccer experience. we were so thankful to have wonderful coaches, great boys, and awesome parents to sweat with every week. i am so glad to be able to say that ethan had a ball because it did not start off that way! this boy could not wait for his first game. it was all he talked about for the few weeks prior to the game. the big day came, and he stood on the field waiting for the game to start. you can see him in the back center of the picture and brian is to the right of him. ethan is tugging on his hair... not a good sign...


brian walks around the field to come sit with us, and uh-oh... before the game starts, ethan comes a runnin' and a cryin'....


brian tried to convince him to stay on the field, but he wouldn't have it. there was nothing we could say to him or offer him... he wasn't moving from this bench. we tried bribing with ice cream, we tried rationalizing ("if you run, there's a breeze!"), we tried guilt ("everyone came to see you play, ethan!") ,we tried everything. but to no avail. so for 40 long hot minutes, we watched ethan do this.


though i'd really hoped ethan would go get 'em on his first game, i was not surprised that my cautious boy needed to sit that first one out to see what it was all about. he'd never even been to a soccer game before, and if he didn't know what he was supposed to do, he was not going to do it! we didn't know how long it would take him to feel comfortable enough to play a game, and this soccer season was only 9 games long. SO. i pulled out the stickers and made a little soccer chart. i was going to watch my boy play soccer. i knew once he got out there he would love it. it wasn't an obedience issue... it was a comfort issue. so for every good practice and for every time ethan went in to play during a game, he earned a soccer ball sticker. when the balls reached the soccer goal on the chart, ethan earned a new set of legos. legos. the magic word. he was ready to work for those stickers. :) that was a pretty long week for him until the next game. and boy oh boy, when saturday came, he was ready! here he is waving at his fans as the game is about to start.


and the team we played that week was a different shade of green (kelly vs. blinding), so it's hard to find ethan in some of these pictures! ethan had a huge smile on his face every second that he was on the field. i was so so glad to see him having fun.


ethan was obviously super focused during the game. here he is showing coach rick a rainbow.


but he got right back in the game, and as the game was ending, ethan scored his very first goal! he was so excited and kind of beside himself. i told ethan later, "see why we wanted you to play last week!?" brian and i weren't the only ones thrilled with ethan's first goal....


we were good on our promise for ice cream after he played.


after licking his lips, ethan had to call nana to tell her the good news about his goal. she hated to miss it. i love ethan's big ole' smile in this one!


as soon as we got home from the game, ethan ran right to his soccer chart to load it up with stickers.


i'm so glad the chart worked. after that second game, ethan was hooked. every week, he counted down the days until his practice, and then after his practice, he was counting down the days till his game. it never ever got old for him.

ethan was captain for one of the games and got to flip the coin. he looks so serious here. and we really should've practiced coin flipping. :)


i got a kick out of watching ethan rubbing his head throughout the games. he does this if he's hot or nervous. i guess it was probably both during these games... this one was a tough one.


my little man workin' hard to get that ball from the other team. getting in there and getting the ball was not a natural thing for him to do. he really had to work at it. his default was to jump up and down and run the other way. he was just so stinkin' excited to be out there. i have so many videos of him looking like tigger. :) but he's doing just what he's supposed to in this one.


ethan had quite the fan club despite the hot, hot weather. that little boy is blessed to have all of his grandparents close by.


caroline loved watching ethan's games. she cannot wait to play soccer. by the second game, she knew every boy's name on ethan's team. and she had so much fun cheering on her brother. and she also loved all the snacks.


these next two are pretty priceless.



seriously, she cannot wait to play soccer! caroline has already decided that she will be on the pink team. telling her that she doesn't get to pick the colors does not seem to matter. she will be on the pink team.


amelia lived for halftime, when she was released from the stroller to roam the field with the other siblings.


i think she's saying, "it's hot. it's really hot."


did i mention it was hot?!


we were so happy that jeff, kristie, and karina also came to a couple of games! some of these pictures were taken by jeff and kristie.


and tammy brought the kids to ethan's last two games, too! i failed to get a picture of tammy and her two youngest kiddos, but here are natalie and joseph with my kids and karina. this was so special for ethan's buddy joseph to come out to his games.


gooooo...


jets!


i love these boys!!


and here is ethan with his biggest fan... his daddy. brian has been teaching ethan how to kick the soccer ball since before ethan could sit up. it was pretty special to see him work with ethan and encourage him through this first season. plus he took him to all the hot soccer practices. so i'm brian's biggest fan.


as the season went on, ethan really got more comfortable and more confident on the field. after that first goal, he went several weeks without scoring a goal... but it didn't seem to bother him at all. then... at the first game where all of the grandparents were there, he ran almost the whole length of the field to score! his fan club went wild! and i actually caught it on camera...






by the end of the season, ethan was doing pretty well! he did not hesitate to move with the ball or to get right in there and get the ball from the other players.




ethan scored a total of 8 goals throughout the season, though they technically don't keep up with goals. :) um, sorry, but we do! my favorite goal was where ethan's buddy took a shot on goal, and the other coach accidentally blocked it. the ball bounced right to ethan, and he kicked it in for a goal. the coach was mortified. you can see her apologizing in the picture below.


look at this little soccer man... when he is 15 and still can't get enough of soccer, i will think back on this picture and remember when it all began.


ethan sure did love his team. this was one cute bunch of boys, even in blinding green jerseys!




after their last game, we had a little team party. the boys had fun goofing around, eating pizza and cupcakes.


ethan and his friend kellan


this picture was pretty much impossible. those boys were DONE!


ethan with his beloved trophy! i am happy to say that a month later, it is still 100% intact.


we were sad to see the season end so quickly because we knew how much ethan was enjoying it... but on the other hand, we were very happy to have our saturdays back for awhile! ethan is already counting down the months until soccer starts again in the spring. most of his teammates will be playing another sport in the spring, but not this boy. he has soccer in his blood through and through. march cannot come soon enough for him!

fall festival fun!

the kids could not wait to get dressed up for the fall festival at our church's school last weekend! brian was not in a fall festival mood, so he stayed home with amelia... and my mom joined me with the big kids to have all the fun. by 3:30 that afternoon, ethan was dressed and ready to slay that dragon! i hated to break it to him that the cavalry would not be leaving until 5:30.... two hours finally passed, and princess caroline was already needing protection from her brave knight, sir ethan. she plays a good damsel in distress, don't you think?!


first on our agenda was to visit miss mara and pick out a medieval headdress she had made for caroline. i love this picture of caroline and mara!


then caroline headed straight to the face painting station. i think she could've stayed there all day getting painted up. such a girlie girl. :)


when she was finished, she wanted to see what she looked like, so i snapped this shot. she is starting to lose her baby face, i'm afraid.


ethan had already had enough of this girl stuff, so he found another knight friend, caleb.


we circled around all the little games. the kids skipped some of them (like the one where silly string came shooting out the door you open! ha! i don't blame them!)






after the cake walk (my personal favorite!), we ran into cousin thumbelina! the girls were so excited to see each other. i love it!


nana was all dressed up as a medieval princess! my kids actually didn't recognize her at first and were hesitant to talk to her. i thought that was hilarious... she was a princess, not a goblin! by this point, they were used to princess nana. :)


and then we found joseph! these boys had chatted on the phone the night before about their costumes and how they would fight the pirates (joseph's cousins) at the fall festival. joseph's grandmother hooked ethan up with some finishing touches on his pull-your-knight-costume-out-of-the-bottom-of-the-dress-up-box costume! the guys thrilled on having matching shields and arm/leg guards.


boy did they love to fight with those swords! i must admit that i grew weary of the sword fighting by the end of the night... but they were so excited to be playing knights... and how do you tell them to stop when they are knights?! (and ethan is usually at home with his sword and two sisters! so fight away with joseph while you can, buddy!)


after some friendly dueling, the brave knights mounted their horses and readied for battle. ethan was a little unsure about getting up on this huge horse, but he ended up enjoying the ride.


my knight in plastic armor... i sure do love this boy.


don't you just feel so much safer with these knights and the king nearby!? (the king is joseph's neighbor friend.)


and then it was time for the queen and princesses to ride! tammy hopped on there with little claire...


and caroline was not hesitant at all to ride this palomino. (don't be impressed... i called it a "white horse" and was quickly corrected by the horse man!)


the horse handlers (whatever they're called) were so patient with the paparazzi mamas. they'd stop the horses anytime they saw us about to take a picture. the younger guy was having a hard time staying out of the picture, but we tried not to stress him out. :) they were really great to all of us!


caroline took a second ride on the horses later... this time with sweet georgia, who was celebrating her 3rd birthday! caroline kept wanting to turn around and wave at karina, and i started to get worried she was going to fall right off that horse.


the princesses showing off their sparkly shoes!


this place was crawling with princesses and glittery dresses! :) caroline loved seeing her friends all dressed up! here she is with lola and amelia.


isn't lily one cute little cowgirl!?


after the second horse ride, we went back to the gym to find gram and ethan. and then. THEN. the kids got a treat. i was not even paying attention to the size of this cotton candy! and after ethan had eaten a bunch, someone pointed out that it was twice the size of his head. wow. i was a good mother and helped him eat it. you gotta do what you gotta do to protect your kids. and caroline's sno-cone? i asked the guy to make it small, and he seriously did not know what to do. half the ice, half the syrup. is it really that difficult of a concept?!??!?!


such a little lady slurping up all that sno-cone juice...


ok, i take that back.


we should've had the sugar rush when we first arrived... not as we were about to leave. but they got all their energy out in the bouncy house on the way out the door! it was a fun, fun evening. the kids had fun spending time with their friends, and i enjoyed running into some folks i had not seen in awhile. we brought some candy home to daddy, and thankfully, the kids are still in the "out of sight, out of mind" stage. too bad mommy remembers the candy!