Soccer Season

Soccer season is over for both teams that Addison played on this Spring.

The high school team did a great job. They finished second place in the district. They did not advance in the Regionals, but this is the best finish the soccer team has ever had.

Her select team, however, did not make out so well. They didn't win a single game all season. Heck, I think they only had a full team show up for one game. They played the rest of the games ranging from 1 - 3 players down. It's tough to keep going when teammates don't bother to show up for practice or games. I'm proud of the girls that gave it what they had and made the effort to keep their commitment to the team.

I'm also amazed at how aggressive the girls play. It's often more physical than the boys. One girl actually crossed the line and got needlessly physical and aggressive with Addison. So Addison punched her. It caught the girl off guard, but it also caught Addison, and her father and I off guard. While I would never encourage my kids to start something like that, I'm thrilled to know that she is not afraid to stand up for herself....even with someone much bigger than her.

We're not sure where things go from here. She hasn't decided if she wants to play again next year at school and I'm not sure if her select team will hold together. If more girls that are dedicated and will follow through don't join, there's really no reason to keep it going. I guess we'll see what the Fall brings.

The days of our lives

Schedules continue to be busy. Obviously very busy since it takes so long for me to update this blog. Even as I type this, I am sitting in the bleachers waiting for a soccer game to start. Gotta grab the chances when I have them!!

Kirsten was in an art competition last weekend. She scored four points out of four possible. She was very excited about it and we're quite proud of her. She was not selected to advance to State, but she did great, especially for a first time.

Abigail continues with hockey classes. As she advances it gets more difficult. At the moment she and Kirsten are both sick so Abigail had to miss practice last weekend. 

Wyatt is struggling to decide whether to play goalie or not. I'm not sure if he really wants to be goalie or if he just knows he looks cool in the gear! 

Addison is on the bench for soccer right now.

We thought it was a very minor injury, but the trainer told her today that she needs to see the doctor. He says it shouldn't still be swollen at this point.

Off to a busy start.........

Our year is off to a busy start.....as we've come to expect.


This year we let the kids toast with actual champagne.

It was NOT a hit. lol

(Addison may have enjoyed it a little too much)

The kids went back to school and back to new schedules. Classes that they were signed up for weren't available anymore, changes for sports, and whatever else came along. It seems that circumstances are always forcing them to learn to deal with new (sometimes crazy) situations. But that's not always a bad thing.

Addison is playing soccer on the high school team so we've been seeing a lot of this....

They played in a tournament and finished in second place.

 

Abigail has been working on playing hockey. It's a long road to get there, but she's been dedicated.

She's about 5'3" and weighs about 80 pounds. I don't know if she's going to scare anyone out on the ice, but we'll see. Wyatt has also decided to give hockey another try, but he's thinking goalie this time. We'll see where that goes.

Kirsten is staying busy with all of her activities. She has Show Choir practice a couple of days each week and Business Professionals of America meetings once a week.

Last week Abigail and Addison both entered items in the County Fair. Abigail entered a photograph (she won a white ribbon) and a painting (blue ribbon). Addison entered some bar cookies and regular cookies and got blue ribbons with both. I think they were pleased with how they did.

Today I've been busy filling out paperwork so that they can start Early Start College classes in the fall. WHAT?! This all happens so much more quickly than you can even imagine.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well, I guess that's the excuse I'm going to use for not posting anyway.

We have been very busy since school started.

It's soccer season so we spend a lot of our weekends watching this...

....and this.....

But there have been all kinds of other things thrown in the mix too.

Wyatt is in theater and they've already completed one performance. He chose the Children's Theater so they performed for the elementary school students. He has a good time with it and it's good for the young kids, too.

Addison and Abigail are both in FFA. They recently held their biggest fundraiser of the year which is a wild game dinner and an auction. The girls had to work at the dinner, but my parents came to help me eat the food, and it was good. Here's some of the quail cooked on the pit.

I think they raised over $15,000 that night. It all goes back into the program so it's well worth the money spent.

Kirsten is busy with Show Choir again this year. They currently practice one morning before school (which is way too early if you ask me) and one afternoon after school. They will be performing at the elementary school one day this week. Then Friday, for Halloween, they'll be performing the time warp at the high school pep rally. Kirsten will be the part of Janet. We spent some time on Saturday getting her costume made for the part. I think she'll have fun.

Addison is also on the debate team. They have practice almost everyday after school for that. Then two days a week she leaves there to head to soccer practice. Those make for very long days. A couple of weekends ago she went to compete in her first competition. She came in 5th place. That's not too bad considering that she chose not to compete in the novice division and went up against contestants that had been competing for awhile. She got some pretty good feedback from the judges too. I think the biggest strike against her was that it was obvious that she was nervous. Oh well, there are many more competitions to come.

In addition to all of that, we've started with the parent taught driver's education. Wish us luck!! I'm so not ready for this!!

Labor Day Weekend

It was a busy first week of school. As you can imagine, there's a ton of paperwork to fill out, even though I filled out a ton online before school started.

We spent the week trying to keep track of what time school starts on which day and when it lets out.

We were all looking forward to a long weekend with plenty of relaxing, but at the last minute, we found ourselves participating in a soccer tournament.

The tournament was in San Antonio which makes it a long drive for us. But, at least this time it wasn't on the far west side so that helped.

Addison's team played in one game on Saturday and two games on Sunday. It was so hot and exhausting for the girls.

On Sunday she got knocked down and managed to scrape her knee all up.....even with the brace on!!

She's talented like that.

She caught a little nap on the way home.

Later that evening we headed to the Gunner Thames Memorial Rodeo. It's great to be entertained for the evening and also help out a good cause.

On Monday we just kind of hung around the house, relaxed a little, and geared up for the weeks ahead. It's back into the full-on crazy, busy schedules.

Keeping Busy

We are certainly staying busy. The end of the school year seems to bring it's own kind of chaos. It's like everything that wasn't scheduled before then gets crammed into the last two weeks of school.


We attended my niece Kate's graduation from the University of Texas.

I still can't believe she's old enough to have graduated from college!!

Addison had a soccer tournament in San Antonio (or more accurately, the far southwest side of San Antonio which made it about a two hour trek from our house.) She's always played in a defensive position, but this year she's been playing more midfield. Well, we look out at the field when the second game is getting ready to start and see this....

Addison was playing goalie! What?! She's only played once before and she was about 7 at the time. She played hard but they got two past her so she was pretty upset.

Regardless, they were pretty wiped out by the end of the two days.

Kirsten had her end of the year  Show Choir Banquet. This was the first year for the Show Choir program and she's glad that she participated. Here she is stealing my date for photo ops. (But aren't they cute?)

Even though it gets busy, it's nice to see them participate and enjoy some of the different things that are available to them.

Been awhile......

It's been awhile since I've sat through a soccer practice for Addison.

Her knee wasn't well enough in time for her to make the soccer team at school so she's decided to play on a select team for the spring. I think she really enjoyed being out there playing again. I guess we'll see where the season takes us.

It was a bust....

Addison's soccer tournament was a bust. The girls had to play three other teams (same as last weekend.) But, this time I guess they didn't have enough teams sign up so two of the teams they played against were Super 2  -- Addison's team is Division 2. Super 2 is the next level of play better. (It would be kind of like making high school football players play against college teams in order to get to the championship.)

Well, of course they didn't do too good.

The really terrible part of it is that if the tournament hosts had told us that they would be doing this, we wouldn't have signed up for it. I mean, even though the girls know that the teams were way above their level of play, they still feel awful for the beating they took out on the field.


As a parent it was painful to watch.  I didn't even take pictures!


There was also another bust.


Last night.

I had baked bread and after it had cooled I had stacked the pans and pushed them to the back of the stove.

I turned on a burner to dry my cast iron skillet. I noticed that it wasn't doing anything and realized I had turned on the back burner.

The one under the loaf pans.

I turned it off and pushed the pans to the side so they wouldn't be on the burner. When I did that the bottom pan shattered and glass went everywhere!! I was lucky and didn't get cut but it certainly scared me.

Dax seems to think that the common problem is me and the glass baking dishes. I know that's not true though.

We were having fish again last night. It's the fish y'all!!

Other than that we had a nice weekend.

Save the drama

I know several people that thrive on drama in their lives. If there isn't any at the moment, then they create it themselves.


That is definitely not us!! We like for things to go along as drama free as possible and do our best to avoid it. Sometimes that means avoiding certain people or situations that bring it into our lives.


But then sometimes, we just find ourselves kind of stuck in it.


Like right now!


Last year, the coach for Addison's soccer team got in trouble for something that he had done on one of the boys' teams that he also coached. And he got suspended for a year. There were two fathers that stepped up and coached the girls. And, since they won second place in their division in the Spring, I'd say they did a bang up job.

Well, this weekend we found out that their old coach has been released from his suspension for the girls' team and can coach them again now. He sent out an email letting us know that he's back. That was immediately followed by an email from the acting head coach saying that he's not willing to just step down and that there may need to be a vote by the parents on who the coach should be.

I don't see this whole thing ending well. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this mess without someone getting their feelings hurt, and likely splitting the team up. I hate to see that happen because all of the girls get along. I think that says a lot when you're talking about a dozen or so pre-teen girls not bickering! The parents all get along well, too. If the team splits up, I don't think that either will be able to come up with enough girls to form other teams.

I was going to go turn in Addison's registration forms today. Since they're not due until the end of the month, though, I've decided to hold off until I have a better idea of how this is all gonna play out. *sigh* I can't stop worrying and fretting about it. I couldn't sleep last night because of this. I hate drama!!

Update:  The coaches met alone and hashed things out. They've all three agreed to work together for the good of the girls. What a relief!!

Another whirlwind weekend.....

This weekend was the state tournament for Addison's soccer team.


This time the games were in Houston so we had to pack up and head out of town.


Of course, that means boarding the dogs.


So, all of our trips out of town start off looking something like this......

Jealous aren't you?


It gets a little cramped with 4 kids and 5 dogs, don't you think?


We got the dogs dropped off and headed to Houston. About 1-1/2 hours into the trip we stopped at McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. Abigail had been feeling bad when she got back to school from her field trip earlier in the day. She had been sleeping most of the time we were in the car. While we were standing in line waiting to order she told me that she felt dizzy so she was leaning against me and I had my arms around her. It was a good thing too, because she passed out!!! Dax came and got her out of my arms and carried her to a chair and sat with her. She was running a fever but we had no way of knowing how high. I made her take some motrin and made her eat something. I don't think she had eaten much all day and I really think that's what made her pass out.


Once we left there, we were able to make it the rest of the way to Houston without incident.


Addison had two games on Saturday, with the first one starting at 7:30 am.  I'm certain that the people doing the scheduling must have lost their minds!!! We had to be at the fields at 6:30....... on. a. Saturday!


They lost the first game and won the second game.


The Grandparents all came to the 2nd game and got to see their victory and we all went out to eat after the game. Then, we headed back to the hotel and most of the team hit the pool.


Abigail started running a high fever again on Saturday night (after she had been fine all day) and I had some trouble finally getting it to break. Bless her heart, she certainly didn't get to have much fun on this trip.


Sunday, Addison played again at 7:30 in the morning. (Happy Mother's Day, right?) They tied that game, but it was enough to move them into 2nd place for State.


The girls are all very excited and we're very proud of them!!!


Here's Addison getting her medal.

And here's a great team photo....

Do I have a talent for catching people at their best, or what?


We made it home safely with no fainting spells from Abigail. So far, every night at just about 6:00 she starts running a fever again. It's the only time of the day that she does. It's just weird! So yesterday I called the doctor and she has her on a different antibiotic this time to see if we can get rid of whatever is bothering her once and for all.

In case you wonder too.....

People often ask us if (or have the assumption that) it gets easier having multiples as they get older.


Uhmmmmm, NO!!!


When they were babies we certainly got less sleep, BUT when we put them down some place (like in their beds), they would still be in that place when we got back.  Once they get mobile, everything changes.


Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it's more difficult now. It's just not easier.


And, it doesn't get easier, it just changes.


Take this past week for example.

Monday: Abigail home sick so off to the clinic. Soccer practice.

Tuesday: Cheer practice.


Thursday: Dentist appointments for all four kids. Soccer practice.

Saturday: Wyatt and Abigail at school by 3 AM to leave for band competition.
Addison to soccer fields by 8 AM for all day soccer tournament.
Took Addison and Kirsten to dinner and a little shopping.
Pick Wyatt and Abigail up at school when the band returns from tournament. They were running late so didn't arrive until around midnight.

Sunday: Addison back at soccer fields by 8:00 for more tournament play.
Wyatt to hockey practice.


See, still plenty of activity and what is certainly feeling like not enough sleep. 


Addison's team did a fantastic job at the tournament. After day one of play we were a little nervous. They had gone into the tournament ranked 4th place for our division. On Saturday they lost the first game and tied the other two.

Incredibly that left them still in 4th place for Sunday's games. They won both of those games and finished the tournament in 2nd place!!!

I tried over and over to get an action shot of Addison, but it just didn't happen. :0)

This was from the final game on Sunday. It was so wonderful for the girls to beat this team because they played dirty. (It's the same team with the girl that bit Addison during a game.) Their coach was a terrible sport, the girls were, and they were fighting with each other. After the game he was arguing with the ref about some of the calls and I think the ref told him basically that if his girls were the better team they would have won.

I know the girls were happy to beat this team too.

 The girls were waiting to get their medals and this is when Addison realized that her Dad was drinking her smoothie.

 Addison getting her medal from her coach.

She is VERY proud of that medal......as she should be. Those girls worked hard to earn them.

She put it back on when she got out of the shower last night and I had to make her take it off when she went to bed.

She wore it to school this morning, too. :0)

Next weekend we're off for them to compete for the STATE title!!


So, even though it's not any easier, it is so very worth every minute of it!! We are so proud of all four of our children, and I certainly wouldn't change a thing!

Weekend Update

Addison had her last soccer game of the season on Saturday morning.

And I finally remembered to take some pictures. :0)

They won 5-0 and that bumped them to 2nd place so they will be going to the play-offs.

They were pretty excited!!!


Sunday, we celebrated Easter at our house. We had lots of people (family and friends) and way too much food.

But it was a good time.

Every year Addison tries to catch the Easter Bunny. This year her traps were pretty elaborate and none of us were allowed to go outside after 9:30 on Saturday night.

The Easter Bunny still managed to get in and took all of her traps and placed them at her bedroom door.

It took me forever to find my camera because the Easter Bunny took it to take this picture and didn't put it back where he found it!

They got baskets full of goodies and too much candy.

Abigail:

 Addison:

 Kirsten:

 Wyatt:

 The hunt:

 Addison has been asking for a 7-foot bunny for years now.

Well, this year the Easter Bunny finally came through and granted her request.

From that look, I'm guessing that maybe a bunny with 7 feet isn't what she meant.

Who knew?

We all had a lot of fun. Someone had maybe too much fun since Abigail is home sick today. We visited the clinic this morning and I'll be getting her antibiotics on the way home so she should be feeling better soon.

I hope that everyone had a good weekend and were blessed with the love and company of family and friends like we were.

What the heck??

Addison had soccer games on both Saturday and Sunday over the weekend.

They won Saturday's game 3-0. These girls have just really come together and have learned to play as a team. It's just amazing to see how far they've come from their first season together. It wasn't pretty that first season, trust me.

On Sunday the game was a 0-0 tie. Addison was terribly disappointed in the tie because she really wanted to beat the team they were playing. I really wanted them to beat that team too.

The team just flat out played ugly. They pushed a lot. Now I don't mean the regular pushing on each other to get to the ball where the girls lean in. I mean putting their hands on our girls and pushing them to the ground. The only time the ref actually called a penalty was when one of the opposing players practically tackled one of our girls.

And all of that was bad enough. What really pushed me over the edge with it all (and I didn't know it happened until after the game) was that one of the girls from the other team BIT Addison. Seriously?! There's no biting in soccer!!!

Addison tried to tell the ref but he wasn't paying attention. She told her coach, but I don't think he likes to make any waves. So, now it's down to me. At the very least, I'm thinking this calls for a 'strongly worded' letter to the board for our league. I let it go a couple of weeks ago when a player from another team called on of our girls a 'f-cking b-tch' thinking that the coach would say something. But he didn't. I think this time something really needs to be said.

I still can't believe the other girl bit her!

Is it just me?

Addison has soccer practice three days a week right now. One of those days is during the weekend so practice starts earlier in the day. The other two days are during the week and practice doesn't start until 5:30. That means that realistically there isn't a lot of time for practice, but it actually runs until it looks like this:

So, is it just me, or does it seem like maybe practice under these conditions may not be productive?

Catching up again.....

Wow!! Time flies by, doesn't it?


I can't believe a whole nother week went by without getting anything posted. I'll try to catch things up now.



On the 6th, we went to another hockey game.


Now, I'm not saying we had bad seats, but look how tiny those players look from where we are.

Just kidding.


During one of the breaks they had these little kids (I think they're 4 & 5 year olds) come out and play an exhibition game. It was so cute!!!


Anyway, we had a good time.

Even though our team lost.


The week was busy as usual. School and soccer practices take up a lot of time.


This past Saturday, Addison had her final soccer game for the season. Her team was on the line for the play-offs. A win on Saturday meant they advanced and a loss put them out of the play-offs. Unfortunately they lost. All of the girls were really upset about it. We reminded them that last season they only won one game and this season they almost made the play-offs. That's huge improvement.


They really didn't care about that at all. lol


Then on Sunday, the girls and I volunteered at the village thrift store. The proceeds from the thrift store go to seven different local charities. We spent several hours cleaning and sorting at the store. It was good for them to go do.


Addison was thrilled when we first started and wanted to go do it every weekend. By the time we were done, though, some of the excitement had worn off.


Okay, all of the excitement had worn off. She just wanted to go home and eat. But they worked hard anyway.

A two win weekend

Addison had soccer games on both Saturday and Sunday. And they won both games!!! woohoo!!


Saturday the score was 3-0 and Sunday was 2-0.


This is their third win for the season. The whole team is thrilled. Last season they only won one game all season. They've really come a long way as a team and learning to work together.


The weather-man said on Friday night that our next chance of rain wouldn't be until today. Well, it rained both days over the weekend.


Her game Sunday was in San Antonio and it finished up just as this was approaching.

Unfortunately, that meant we had to drive all the way home in it.

As you can see, it was a real problem for sleeping beauty.



Oh, and on another note......


Dax got tased on Thursday night.


No, he didn't get arrested (or get away for that matter.)


He did it on purpose!!! Volunteered!!!


He's taking the Citizen's Academy at the local police department and they tased those that volunteered.


I called him an idiot......but really, the rest of us view that as a deterrent. You're not supposed to ask to have it done.


I also told him that he only did so that he could get another punch in his man card.


He's got two burn marks from it, but he doesn't care. He was too wound up about having it done. Kind of like a kid at Christmas.

Tough Weekend

It was a brutal weekend for Addison and soccer.


They played on both Saturday and Sunday, and got beaten both days.


But I swear the girls they played on Sunday were in their late teens. Just look how much bigger they are than our girls.

We're the team in red. These girls are supposed to be 10 and 11. Can you believe that those tall girls in the black are only 10 or 11? What are they feeding those kids?

Whatever it is, we need to get some!!

Weekend Update

I have bad news, and I have good news....

That bad news first....

I can't seem to get Kirsten's recorder concert uploaded. (Sorry)

And now the good news....

I can't seem to get the recorder concert uploaded.

Awww, come on.

You know you at least grinned.

We did lots of this over the weekend.

Saturday, Addison played in San Marcos. (They lost 4-0)



After her game we picked Dad up at the office. He had gotten tickets to take the kids to watch some of this.

They loved it!!!

Although I'm a little worried now.

My sweet little girls just wanted to see them fight.

They wanted blood, people!!

Addison had to get a shirt with the goalies name on the back. As soon as we got home she put it on a hanger and hung it on the wall by her bed. (If you know Addison at all, you know what a stretch that is for her, too!)

She says that she's now his biggest fan.

Sunday, she had another soccer game. It was on the south east side of San Antonio. They tied 2-2.

I feel like I spent most of the weekend in the car.

After her game we were all starving so we stopped at I-HOP to eat.

It must have been brand new because there was almost nobody there.

Yes, I'm serious!!!

I know that's hard to believe, so I took a picture as proof.

See, no line!

It was like a lunch time miracle.

But, all in all, it was a great weekend.

I just wish someone had come and cleaned the house while we were out running around. HA!