DRIVEWAY ANTICS

Spending a lovely, cool afternoon playing in the driveway while we waited on daddy to get home from his coaches clinic.

Using his kickstand to pose for a tough guy photo

Helping mama pump up her bike tires

James drew her an Elsa and she colored in her dress pink

In her defense, I asked her to take her white soccer shorts off because she was playing in the dirt pile and I'm not the best at getting stains out of clothes. I didn't realize she was wearing white undies underneath... and I have no clue why she later took her shirt off (it was not hot...)

 I know, she's a mess. There's only so much we can do, folks.

THE START OF FALL SOCCER

Fall soccer officially started today with U8 at 9:00am, U6 at 3:00pm, and Jay at coach certification classes from 9:00am-6:00pm. LONG DAY for the Lindsays, but it was exciting to watch the kids play (James' team won 11-8 and Cora scored 2 goals during her game) and totally worth the breaks that the kids and I took to go get treats and play. 

In U8, not only are the boys and girls separated by team and competition, they play on the BIG fields with BIG goals and real referees (who keep score). Those boys had no problem sprinting the length of the field, and it was refreshing to them (and parents/coaches alike) to not have the ball constantly going out of bounds due to their strong kicks.

Showing me his game face

Hard to see him, but he's on the ball here

He had a goal assist here! The team worked really well together today!

Such a big field now!

Getting in there!

The team showing me their tough guy faces

And celebrating their victory with their "end zone dances"

James, Shiem, Brycen, Jaxon, and Cannon (the potential ringer, who has some serious end zone moves...)

Donut and chocolate milk break at Glenwood (we hadn't been there in FOREVER)

Oops... After an unsuccessful quiet time/nap time session at home after lunch, the little queen passed out cold on the way to her game (which will normally be at noon, not 3:00pm).

She spotted her teacher's aid on the sidelines and took an unscripted break to go give Ms. Crutchfield a hug

Being aggressive!

Goal!

When she was on the field, she was on task (for the most part) today. Hope that sticks when daddy is there to coach! (Mr. Al stepped in to coach today while Jay was at the coach clinic.)

Another goal (with a bit of an assist from the other team...)

Jordon, Javarius, Will, Cora, Samantha, and Emily

TEETHING AT 6-YEARS-OLD

 Now we know why James has had his hands in his mouth for the past few weeks... Two new molars! The bottom left (right side looking in) was already most of the way through by the time we thought to look (on James' prompting that he felt something there), but the bottom right (left side looking in) is just starting to break the surface (all we can see are two little holes where the top of the tooth will come through). He says they don't hurt, so hooray for that. I suppose if the new molars are coming in, loss of baby teeth up front is bound to start sometime soon. We'll have to keep a better watch on him!

ONE ON ONE

Somebody fell asleep on the way to her first soccer practice...

Week One of the new, busy fall schedule, and we're already losing them!

While Cora and daddy were at soccer practice, James helped mama grocery shop. He insisted on sitting in the cart and reading to me, but it only lasted 5 minutes until he realized how painfully squished into that seat he was...

 Since we had plenty of time before bed after grocery shopping, we took Buster for a flashlight/torchlight walk around the neighborhood.

 I have to admit, busy/late nights or not, it's pretty fun getting some one-on-one time with the kids each week!

BUMMER DANCE DAY

The 6-year-old combo class has moved to another studio this month (to accommodate the acro classes), so Hazel, and thus Adler, were not around while James waited on Cora's dance class today. To add insult to injury, he was on RED at school, and thus not allowed to play his Kindle. Luckily he had a new maze book to work through, but about halfway through class he started feeling sorry for himself none-the-less. Maybe next week he'll at least get his Kindle...

SOCCER AND SCOUTS

Organized chaos...

The kids jumped into a busy week following our lovely little vacation. Especially James. Miraculously, both kids came home with PURPLE today (we expected exhaustion and the behavior that usually goes along with that...), and James continued his winning streak through the afternoon with daddy, his first U8 soccer practice (EIGHT! oh my...), and his first Cub Scout Den Meeting. (Cora and I stayed home and played cards. And did chores. And crafts, of course. There are always crafts with Cora.) 

This season, ALL ages are doing the Academy style group soccer practices once/week (even the little 3-year-olds in U4!) At 6-years-old, James is now on a U8 Boys team, as this is the first age group that boys and girls are separated (even though James has had all-boy teams in the past, that was unplanned and due to less girls playing than boys - he still played against teams with girls). Jay said the field filled with 42 little 6- and 7-year-old boys was quite a sight (organized chaos is what it looks like to me!), but that (most) of the boys followed directions and played well together. They have a new head coach this year (from Scotland) and Jay said he was great with the kids. James enjoyed practice, and even though they didn't split into their teams (so Jay didn't get to meet his players, many of whom are new), they played some fun games (involving racing, and "Last one's a rotten egg!" - James was pleased not to be the last one either time). Their first game is this weekend, but Jay will miss most of it due to coaching certification classes that will last the full day for him (7 hours!) Cora has her first practice on Thursday. So, we now have soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and dance on Wednesday. And Scouts on Mondays once/month (and Sundays occasionally, and other days TBD). And then Lego Club every other Sunday. Gonna be a busy fall! And here we said we'd never be the type of parents that let their kids do too many activities at once... I guess we'll have to see how this all goes and make adjustments if needed. At least soccer is only 8 weeks (theoretically!)

After practice, the boys rushed over to ChickFilA for the meet-and-greet/planning session for Pack 107, Den 5 (Tiger). James made 6 "new best friends", wolfed down his nuggets, and played for an hour while the Den Leaders took care of the details. They have their first real Den meeting this Sunday combined with a service project, popcorn sales start next month (get ready for his sales pitch grandparents!) and their first weekend camping trip will be near the end of October.

Ready, Set, GO!

CAMPGROUND FAREWELL

Since we were out until 10:30pm Saturday night and had to rush to bed, we made sure to get back to the cabin before dark on Sunday evening so we could lounge around a campfire with some brews and s'mores. And glow sticks, of course. The kids played, Jay and I watched the spiders build webs over our head, and the breeze up the mountain made for a very pleasant evening to end our trip with.

 

I thought some of you might want to see the inside of the little cabin we rented, so here ya go! To the right, a full size bed and heater (not needed in September, obviously), and to the left, twin size bunk beds, the AC unit, a coat rack, and the little fridge. Due to the lack of railings, we did not let anyone sleep on the top bunk. James chose the cot, while Cora chose the bottom bunk. We were very thankful for our decision to keep them off the top bunk when on Sunday night Cora fell out twice, directly onto James (who never even stirred, he was so tired) before thumping to the floor... 

And just to document the entire family in at least one photo, here we are in front of the cabin right before we buckled up and headed home to Mississippi!