Early Morning Soccer

Today was our one early game of the season, 8am. It is definitely a late arriving crowd for all of the games going on at this time. Emma was up and ready to go this morning. For incentive, we told her that if she scored a goal, we would go out for ice cream later. Before the game started, she made sure to let her coach know about her 'reward'.

Today's game was much better participation on Emma's part, with her getting a foot on the ball many, many times. She had a number of break away from the pack moments and one of those finished with her getting a goal (technically her teammate kicked it in, but the ball was going in on its own based on Emma's efforts). We counted it for her, so she was very excited to be able to get ice cream. All in all, she was quite active and awake for such an early game.

During pretty much every stoppage of play, Emma was walking around (well, more like strutting), wiggling her hips and being like Hannah Montana. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but I tried to capture her on the field being a Rock Star.


After the game, a trip to Lifetime and lunch at home, we made it out for ice cream. Great Job Emma!

FunRun

This morning, Abigail had a fun run at her school. This run is their fundraiser for the year, where they get friends and family to 'sponsor' them with an amount per lap. It was a tad bit warm this morning, but the kids had a lot of fun. Abby finished the run with 27 laps.

After every lap, the kids had to stop and get a number crossed off on the back of their shirt in order to track how many laps they have completed.


The organizers suggested that they kids run a couple of laps and then walk a couple of laps, getting some water in between.


Emma came along and helped cheer on the kids.

We are FloMo

Friday night was elementary school night at the High School football game, so we decided to take the girls to their first game. The night was beautiful, Ike hadn't showed up yet, and the home side is in the shade so it was perfect at kickoff. If you were wearing an elementary school t-shirt, then you got a hot dog, bag of cookies and a drink for a buck (what a deal!).


The only problem is we looked in 5 different places for the start time and 2 said 7p (including the parking signs at the HS and the school handout that Abby got) and the rest said 7:30p (including the paper and school website). We went with the 7p time, getting there around 6:35p, and then realized we were early. This made it real easy to grab the food, but it meant a LONG wait until the game started. Emma was already asking to go home about 10 minutes before kickoff. Lucky for us, FloMo played well and got out to a huge lead. Brandon Colquitt (a former student of Jen's) to Collin Ashley is money every time.


Both Jen and I wanted to make it to half time to see the bands and drill teams take the field (since I was in band and Jen was in drill team). This was a stretch for Emma but we managed mostly by checking out the nearly full moon in the sky, checking out the jr cheerleaders, and getting to cheer for a lot of touchdowns. I think Abby could've lasted the entire game. It was nice to see a band that finally got some brains and had their students march in khaki shorts (the visiting team still had the typical 'band' uniforms). Whoever thought that high school kids need to sweat to death in 'not so hip' looking uniforms was just nuts.

We headed out before the 3rd quarter started and FloMo won 37-0. It is neat to see that 'Friday Night Lights' is still alive and well in Texas, and we had a lot of fun. It looks to be a great year for FloMo!

Man's best friend

I'm so thankful to have a job that affords me the flexibility to be able to work from home when needed. Well, this summer with the rising gas prices, I have been able work from home more and more. On those days when I'm at home, Bailey just sleeps in her bed (or on the floor) in the office.

Well, today was one of those days I headed into the office. After I got home, I heard the story of how Jen and Emma were looking around the house for Bailey today. They found her in the office sitting in my office chair. When they came in, she was sitting there doing her little whimper, whining / crying sound. I guess she was missing me a lot today. This is not something she has ever done before. She never jumps up into my chair. Maybe she is just getting spoiled with having me at home so often.

Regardless, Bailey was a little lost today without one of her best friends (I hear she spent a lot of time sitting around with Emma though). She can be somewhat wild at times, but she is turning out to be a great dog.

Teamwork

As my step-mom would say, Bailey loves her humans. The vision above is a common occurrence in our house, with Bailey playing with some toy, having it end up under the couch and whimpering until someone comes and helps her. This time, Emma was nice enough to help retrieve one of Bailey's favorite squeaky balls from under the couch. The sight (and the picture) were priceless.

Dance Company Sleepover

Abby's dance company is having a sleepover tonight complete with pizza, treats, waterslides, games, and lots of fun. We just dropped her off, and we are hoping she actually gets some sleep tonight. Emma was sad not to be going to the sleepover, and she just kept telling Abby how much she was going to miss her. So sweet!

We have to pick Abby up at 7:45 a.m., and then we are headed straight to church for the 8:30 service, 9:30 small group, and at 11:00, one of Abby's dear friends and her 2 brothers are being baptized, so we are going to stay for this special event. After that, we are hopefully going to Dickey's Barbeque to meet our small group for lunch (if anyone is still there), and then possibly to a waterpark for the afternoon. Can you say tired, grumpy 2nd grader come Monday morning? How many more days 'til Thanksgiving Break?

Let the season begin

Today was Emma's first soccer game. Abigail at this age played soccer for 2 seasons and then hung up her cleats for more dance shoes. Now, its Emma's turn to give it a try. Being the second time around, its a lot easier to be a 'parent' because you know what's going on, how the girls will grow throughout the season, etc.


Emma went out despite a slightly runny nose and was really excited about playing. Luckily, our team had one girl that was really good and fast and allowed us to win the game (seems they are actually keeping score this year in our U5 girls league). The final was 10-9. Emma got in a couple of good kicks and I think some experience to grow on. Looks like we'll be spending some time practicing in the back yard this week.

Emma's First Day of Preschool

Emma started preschool today. I absolutely love her teacher; she is from Romania and speaks 5 languages. They call her Mary Poppins, and she is very similar. She is full of positive, uplifting messages for the kids, and she often quotes scripture and sings. I think she is going to learn a lot this year and have a great time!

For some memories, check out her previous CCDC pictures.

Last Community Center Outing

Our town recently opened a brand new community center that was long overdue. We bought a one month pass for the month of August so that we could use the pools and small waterpark whenever we wished. Unfortunately, it rained a good week in mid-August, and the last week in August, school started, so we were too busy to go. We did go numerous times though and the kids (and Brian) had a blast! The girls must have ridden the waterslides several hundred times during the course of the month. We plan on spending more time again there next summer!