ten little toes

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!