soccer, soccer and more soccer

Heather had her first soccer practice on Thursday and really enjoyed it. She joined right in with 8 other kids and a coach she didn't know and had no problem with the drills and learning the skills. She had her first game Saturday morning and was really excited. She did pretty well, hesitating a bit when she gets close to someone with the ball but did a nice job kicking it ahead a few times and passing to her teammates. With only 6 kids on the field it is much easier to keep them spread out and passing the ball. Unfortunately the other team was quite good and scored a lot on Heather's team. Although she got frustrated she would just keep at it and had fun. Charlie had his practice and game on Friday night. They practice for 30 minutes and then play after that. He got off to a slow start but scored about 5 goals over the corse of the next two quarters (not that we were counting ;-). For the last quarter he played Jeff told him he had to play defense and pass over the center line to his teammates. He did a great job and really prowled the center line keeping the other team off his side of the field. (they did sneak by once for a goal!!). Playing 3 on 3 with no goalie gives the kids a nice chance to all touch the ball and feel a part of the game. We followed up Charlie's game with a trip to the women's and mens soccer game. The kids had a good time and Heather had all the girls sign a poster with the soccer team on it (the giveaway for the day). The game was exciting and the kids really got into it. We only stayed for a short bit of the men's game and it was fun as well.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

A bit late but better than never! Cameron turned two on the 15th of Sept. He got a double party, celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa Mick as well as Kelly and Adam. He loved blowing out candles and moved quickly from one present to another. He is a very happy guy--loving attention from his brother and sister and doling out big brotherly love for his baby cousin. Cameron can say so many words I can't even count. He pretty much has a word for everything--and most of it can be understood. He will start to go on a tangent and say lots of words together which is a bit hard to follow. He also figured out how to actually jump and get both feet off the floor and it's fun to watch him demonstrate his new skill. Cameron asks about his brother and sister and dad at least 10 times a day, when I tell him they're at school then he decides we should wait on the porch for the bus to come. They get BIG hugs from him off the bus and he is delighted to have them back home. He likes to walk them to school each day and gets mad if he doesn't get a goodbye hug. We had a second family party with an ice cream cake (the first non-homemade cake any of the kids have gotten for a birthday!) that Jeff and Cameron picked out and candles. We shared cake with the neighbors for a sort of celebration.