My Kids & Me

Today is Halloween so I thought I would share pictures from back in 2003; Michael was 2 and Oscar and Elizabeth were 1.  Beth made the Rooster and Chicken costumes by hand.  I wish Beth would get back into scrapbooking again…she is so talented!  She is always so great about documenting her thoughts.   

The last game of the regular season was today. The seasons has gone by very quickly and today was a great way to end the season (29-0). There will be a playoff game next week, date and time TBD (I hope there's no conflict with Eizabeth's soccer). Michael played very well today. He played most of the game at cornerback and had one very good tackle in the backfield. So good in fact that he got a clump of sod stuck in his helmet. Best of all for the day, Brian and Fran came over to surprise Michael. You can see all of the pictures here .

Friday night we did out yearly shopping trip for pumpkins at the church. We used to go on a hay ride, but the farms are so ridiculously over crowded now and there's no way the kids would be patient enough to wait. Plus, our church gets the proceeds. Here are some of my favorites. The rest can be found here .

Up at 5:45AM this morning for two soccer games all the way across town (had to be there by 7:20).  It took Elizabeth a while to go warmed up since it was 39 outside.  There was a light frost on the grass, but fortunately they finally got their warm ups yesterday.  She played pretty well in both games.  She’s started to be much more physical, which is definitely needed now.  It’s so funny to hear her grunt sometimes when she’s really making sure she gets someone away from the ball. I don’t think we have any more treks across town this season.  If we have to go back to Duluth, we’re going to shack up with Deke since he’s moving up that way (he doesn’t know I’ve invited myself).

Three soccer games this past weekend. Elizabeth played in the first two then just a few minutes in the 3rd game (she was supposed to sit out the 3rd, but she relentlessly pests the coach to go in). I must say that as I go through her pictures, I have noticed that she's got quite an intense look. Ferocity perhaps. On Saturday they played AFC in Fayetteville (a 1+ hr drive). We got all the way there and Elizabeth realized she left one of her cleats at home. She tried to blame it on her mom, but the truth came out. Fortunately a friend on the team had an extra pair of cleats. On Sunday they played Ambush (don't know where they're from). Coach mixed the teams up to try some new combinations. Overall they played pretty well and took both games. We're not really concerned about the results though, the practice is way more important.

Thanks to a co-worker, Michael and I had great seats for the final game of the Braves season, which was also the final regular season game of Bobby Cox's career. It was a very exciting game and apparently Michael and I were on TV in the 7th inning. I'm working on getting a copy of the game from Major League Baseball, but they haven't exactly been responsive to my request. It's always so special to me to get to spend a day with any of the kids one-on-one. The kids like to call it a "together day."

Elizabeth's team played their best soccer of the year this past Saturday. Their ball movement, tackling, control, dribbling, and communication were wonderful to watch. I'm amazed at how far they've come since just a couple months ago; I can't wait to see how they play at the end of the spring.

Michael has been earning more and more playing time at cornerback. The other team scored on a 97 yd touchdown run and Michael nearly ran the kid down from all the way across the other side of the field. I can tell he's "getting it."