Proud of Our Boys!

The season began on a hot, sunny afternoon--pretty much the only one we got with this type of weather. A "typical" team roster lists at least a dozen kids . . . four players showed up for our first game. Two, of course, were our boys. In street hockey, you have a goalie and two defenders on one side with three offensive players on the other side of the center white line. There is no crossing of the line :) That means that first game was exceptionally hard--but they won!

We quickly realized how much our boys had improved at this sport! Last year was their first season. We bought them sticks, a ball, and goals for practice. This year . . . I am amazed at the dramatic difference in their hustle, focus, ball handling, speed, intensity (they obviously get ALL of these skills from their father ;) ----I love how these little guys are looking up to B!----->


Worried about our low numbers (and seeing how wiped out our kids were after three straight periods with no breaks), we invited our neighbor kids to join the team. They were reluctant to play street hockey at first, but once they got The Crew invite--they were all in :) In fact, the little brother of our neighborly brother-sister duo decided this was his new favorite sport! These kiddos are younger than ours, and as it was their first time, they were on a big learning curve (like our boys last year). Our boys handled their newness with a lot of kindness, and we were grateful to see that their desire to win didn't overweigh their ability to show grace to their friends.


Numbers on our team bloomed and dwindled . . . G proved himself a fabulous, dancing goalie. He brought a lot of smiles and happy laughter from the crowd of sometimes grumpy hockey spectators. Even at this age, parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. get competitive. G's dances to Cotton-Eyed Joe, Life is a Highway, and Gummy Bear were a much-needed tension relief when things got a little edgy in the crowd.

We were very proud to have our boys selected to the All-Star team . . . complete with smoke machines, announcements, and refreshments. Their eldest sister proved a really competent coach--helping the little ones (the age range is K-3rd) with their shin guards and helmets, patiently going over the basic rules, and cheering like crazy from her coach's box! Doodles sat with me and proved an excellent cheerleader, rooting the boys and girls on by name!

Because of their winning record, the Sabers earned a bye in the first round of tournament play. They won their next game with only five kids . . . five kids who played the whoooooole game. Then those same five kids, plus one whose grandma brought him, played the whooooooole championship game.

The team they were up against was undefeated . . . there are some BIG Moose on that team. Powerhouse shots, a bench six deep beyond the players on the "ice"--they switched goalies four times during the game. Our little G played the entire playoff game as goalie and the entire championship as goalie--no subs. No subs for any of our players, and yet in the second period they went on a scoring streak (aided by B who VERY reluctantly left his post as defender of his brother to take a run at offense) and pulled ahead 5 to 4. I tried to take a pic of the scoreboard, but for some odd reason, my camera would only read one score clearly at a time? Bizarre, but that's why you get two pictures, lol :)

Buck sensed that the Moose intensity was becoming disheartening to our goalie, so he went over to do some goalie-dad pep talking. Then he stood behind G and encouraged him the rest of the game. Made my heart smile,  yes it did :) Though we lost in the end, and some disappointed tears were shed . . . our boys showed fantastic sportsmanship, they played with heart, they looked out for each other, and they were able to shake it off after some time and enjoy the rest of the day.

And because we like to have well-rounded children, that day concluded with a multi-hour musical theater production of Mary Poppins! Despite an extraordinarily frustrating attempt to get pizza at our favorite downtown dive (and ending up at Popeyes in desperation instead) . . . there was an art event and all the roads were blocked off in the city center . . . and despite the lateness of the tickets (we had them scheduled for 2 originally, but when the champ game was scheduled at the same time, we had to do some schedule rearranging) . . . we had a nice time at the theater. It made me laugh when B spotted a Sunday School buddy outside the theater under the marquee and they slapped a high five, "See you later man!" Oh, and he tied his own tie too :) 

That's a lot of Learning!

I worked on getting the last of the kids' subjects, worksheets, art projects, karate certificates, theater activity books, and more . . . all filed away--here is the result! Wowza! They've been busy!

And here's a bonus picture . . . of food. The girls made these "Her Muffin Majesty" treats all on their own! They were soooo yummy! 'Cuz the bakers gonna bake, bake, bake, bake . . . :)

For the Love of Words . . .

This is how all kids play outside in the summer . . . right?!

I looked out the window and G, B, and G, were all pacing circles at the top of the hill, each with their nose stuck in a book. For like an hour :) Once they got tired of walking, the boys sat on the swings and read. C stayed in and read with me, usually she's on roller skates with her sister reading books while skating across our carpeted floors.

I have to admit, I totally love this :) I was telling my friend Rebecca that when Buck walks into a room to ask a question and we're all in book mode, he gets mumbles and nods, but not a lot of conversation. I don't think he minds too much. I love that our kids love to read! And that they inherited my ability to walk and read without running into anything major or falling down the stairs, hee hee :)

But sometimes . . . I wonder what the neighbors think, lol!

Made Me Laugh

When we took the kids to their karate club's Easter egg hunt, one of the prizes in the little plastic orbs was a free private lesson. In addition to this, the club has added a ticket reward system . . . together, our kids earn a lot of tickets :) They can turn these tickets in for a raffle draw (of various prizes) or they can turn them in for coins that buy them stuff in the shop--sling bags, t-shirts, hats, etc. with the school logo on it. For four coins, they get a free private lesson! I figured, sweet, we've got two kids covered! Then I learned that when you schedule a private lesson, as many kids as you want can participate. So, we divvied up two and two and spent an hour getting some special training. And then they went to class . . . two hours of karate later . . .

The next morning we were up and attum and ready for . . . more karate! :) Because public schools here had a bunch of cold weather and snow days, they are still in session. We homeschoolers, are not ;) When we walked in, their instructor from yesterday laughed and said, "Private lesson #2!" It was our kids and three instructors for class this morning, nice!

Actually it works out great, because they are graduating/promoting three weeks early, so the focused time on their form, nun chucks (there's a real name for this but I can't spell it ;) and sparring has been great towards achieving their goal!

(This is my pic, but the club owner thought it was so funny that there were three instructors teaching four kids, that he posted a pic online that is very similar :)

Lookin' Spiffy!

Mr. B picked up a life skill himself this week . . . he learned to tie a tie! It's the basic tie that I know, but he got it the first try ;) Here's a pic and a video tutorial (though without the commentary G provided for his shoes) . . .

He may have gotten a pinch frustrated with the back side of the tie being longer than the front . . . but for whatever reason, that happens all the time with this particular tie! I've had to re-tie it myself to achieve balance :)

School's OUT for the Summer!

It wasn't exactly smooth sailing at The Academy this year on our final day . . . it turns out the older students had the foresight to complete necessary work ahead of time, and clue the younger students in to their plan. However, the younger students decide they'd just take the school days as they came, which resulted in two very happy grade-level graduates, one slightly behind the times graduate, and one who couldn't believe a math worksheet--covered in division problems--was standing between him and fourth grade ;)

When lunchtime rolled around, the *Principal* returned from getting the breaks swapped and the oil changed on the family mover, and took over classroom monitoring so I could snag a shower. I joke that it was teacher-appreciation day, but getting me to leave the house to do something specifically for myself is kind of like asking me to jump off a cliff to rescue a book I didn't like reading in the first place.

However, with school complete--hooray!! Lunch eaten--whew! And the kids employed in the beautification of the yard (Gab's turn to mow--she no likey; especially the blisters on her hands ;) . . . I, the teacher, set forth to conquer the mall. My sweet husband told me to take my time, and it turns out I did! I took so much time that I nearly missed the return time necessary to engage in the evening's activities! However, a couple of major awesome finds . . . first, any shopping I get to do in the baby girls' department; I was nearly teary-eyed, how crazy is that?! SUCH cute little baby togs out there in the world! My CO nieces will be stylin' this summer ;) Also, I found G 100% COTTON sweat pants!! What?! He's not had sweatpants since he was a toddler and we figured out synthetic fabrics irritated his skin. When we travel, he's in jean shorts or khaki pants. Not any more, oh, no sir! He was SO excited when I showed him what I'd found, and then he was excited again to try them on, and then SUPER excited when they were washed and ready to wear. I love when making him happy is so simple :)

Meanwhile . . . while I was shopping, the kids were enjoying a long-standing tradition of enjoying ice cream as a last day of school treat! I'm told "no one got a small" My  how times have changed :)

Because he earned a free kids' meal during his tooth pull, and he had a chore chart prize of "choose the next restaurant we eat out at as a family" . . . we went to Applebee's for supper. Now, I'm not a fan of the Bee's and we've lived here two years without ever stepping foot in the door. But, it was his pick, so we went with it. Right off the bat, the waitress said we'd have to wait up to 25 minutes for a table . . . we're looking at the half empty space going, wait, what?! The manager finally came over, turned a table sideways (we were negotiating seats at the three empty two-seaters all in a row) . . . and we were seated in two minutes. The meal was meh . . . Buck got food poisoning from the mac and cheese with chicken strips--he was miserable for two days, plus his back is so sore he can hardly walk. I bit into a chunk of blackened pepper than nearly cracked my molars (you know the kind of bites that make your gums ache for an hour afterwards?) and half of the steak (I knew in advance I strongly dislike their steak) was too fatty to chew. If we have another child receive a meal certificate as a bravery gift, I think we'll just request a second pack of gum, lol :)

So, we left the 'rant with not-yet-unhappy bellies (Bren also had some pain the next day), and headed down to the river to enjoy a free outdoor concert. Yes, the clouds were deep gray and billowing. Yes, the wind was shivery cold when it chose to blast at 40 mph. Yes, we came with one blanket and an oversized beach towel--zero umbrellas. No, we had no idea where we were going, but it all turned out! Gosh, we had so much fun! We got soaked. We stood under lightening streaks and thunder claps (but only for a few minutes), while the Movers were slipping and sliding all over the stage. They were so funny! They said the bought the jumpsuits they wear so they could look cool like the Beastie Boys, but forgot they are from Louisiana . . . they said for the first time in 10 years of performances, they actually felt comfortable in their chosen attire :) They also said this is the first airport that has questioned the purpose of an adult-sized LED-lit onesie in the Movers' suitcase. It almost felt like they didn't have a plan, they were just up there rolling with whatever happened. That was fine with us. G screamed and sang til he was hoarse. The girls took awhile to warm up to the full dance moves, but once they started playing popular songs like Happy and Shake it Off--they were all in :)

We watched a helicopter take off and land near the stage like three times, there was a cowboy shootout to our left, BMX bike demonstrations, and even mechanical bull riding. Our girls were eyeing that activity and were only deterred when the found out it would cost $20 plus in tickets. Guess we'll save the bull riding for some other concert venue ;)

Good times!

Dancin'

Happy!