Soccer Team Party

The Spring soccer season is over. Tom coached this year and Cassie loved it. We had a team party at CiCi's Pizza and the kids had a great time.

Here's Cassie getting her medal from Coach Tom


The kids at pizza


And we did the cute photo cake thing again (kids loved it!)

Soccer Photos from Last Weekend

No game this weekend, so here's some from last weekend. The team kicked butt! They rocked and did a great job. Goooo... Longhorns!

Just 2 more games before the season ends. A few friends have come out to watch Cassie's game now and then - it's very special for the kids to have people they love come watch. They love it!

Lego Mindstorms Videos - Finally!

Okay, I'm ignoring the fact that the sound didn't come over, but I finally got the video off of my cell phone!

This is this week. They made helicopters. Way cool, dude!


I like last week's the best though... robot dogs! They used the sensors so that if they started coming close to you, it would back up. Really cute. They didn't program it to bark though - LOL


I think they made this one the week before... whatever... anyway, here's a merry-go-round:

Helicopter at Mindstorms

robot dog

Cassie's Game Today

Lookit what Jamie made!

More Mindstorms

Jamie loves it. Much more up his alley.

Cassie's Game This Weekend

They had a pretty good game... they other team was a little more aggressive than they probably should have been. It's Y, for crying out loud.

Jamie starts Mindstorms this coming week, but Cassie and I are going out of town. I have a business conference to attend and my mother and sisters are meeting me there. When I'm attending conference stuff, they will get to spend some time with her. Jamie and Dad have all kinds of mischief planned. I may have heard about a day of playing hooky from school... hmmm...

Here's Cassie kicking the ball in:


Even when your Dad is the coach, you still get benched...


Back on the field again...


I forgot my lawn chair, so I sat under one of the pavillions. When I was walking up, there were these two teenagers there with a baby. It was being really still and quiet so I just stood back... and then I noticed it was a doll. Which kind of freaked me out. But whatever... then it started crying... apparently the school gives you these babies (instead of the eggs we got) and you have to take care of it over a weekend. I was laughing because one of them was complaining that the baby was up 9 times over the previous night and she's babysat before and no baby gets up that often. I just looked towards my little girl and smiled...

Yeah, so here's the fake baby:

Jamie = No More Soccer & Bullies

I know this is not teaching my child about following through, but maybe there's a lesson in there for me (to just listen more often) and for him (speak up more often). It all started with him, again, telling us he's having problems at school. He's been acting really horrible lately about school work, about getting up to go to school, everything. We even had a call from the teacher. She was concerned as well, he actually acted out angrily (not against another child - he stabbed his pencil box with his pencil and stomped around). That is NOT how Jamie acts. There were several things going on - he thought we weren't being fair with some things, he was over-reacting and taking these too literally, his bully is back at it again with a friend this time, just a bunch of little things.

So, we talked. I can fix everything except for the bully. I tried to tell him to walk away, tell a teacher, but these are things he says he has done - sometimes. Apparently the school likes the kids to "all be friends" and "like everyone". Great, right? Yeah, well not when 2 other kids are pushing you (not hard from what I can gather) playing chase when you don't want to, taunting you and calling you names. I'm sorry, I firmly believe that you do NOT have to be friends with everyone. There are people in this world I do not want to be friends with and that's just how it is. I'm sure there are people that don't wanna be friends with me either. He is really worried about getting one of his "friends" in trouble. Finally, I told him to maybe ask his counselor for some ideas. He said he did ask the teacher if he could talk to someone and she said later this week. Tom is going up there as well.

If that doesn't work, my friend Denise and I are going up there and beating the snot out of those little 7 year olds. We can take 'em.

I realize my kid is an easy target. For those of you that don't know him, he (and this isn't all mom talking) is one of the sweetest, most sincere, loving little boys in the entire world. He's very much a thinker and not a doer. He works out problems in his head. He wants everyone to like him and wants to make everyone happy. He doesn't like playing rough and he doesn't like mean words. There's a reason I call him my little love bug. He really is.

So, this has been happening. We also kind of made him play soccer this season. He didn't want to, but we forgot to disenroll him and he (Mr. People Pleaser) agreed to do one more season. Well, he's hating it. He likes talking with the other kids and playing with them, he just doesn't like all the shoving and running around and frankly, he's not that athletic. Again, he's my thinker!

Anyway... so his game this weekend kind of annoyed me. I felt like I spent more time telling him to pay attention or to stop chasing bees or examining the weeds. And it's just been bad all season. So, we found out that Lego Mindstorms starts soon and we've pulled him out. I think the Lego thing will be much more up his alley. He gets to build something and think through stuff. At this age bracket, they just build. In a year or two, if he decides to stick with it, they will start programming them and having competitions. He's excited about it. I just hope he really likes it. If not, he wants to try Karate next. But I have a good feeling about the Mindstorms. It's collaborative with a small group and no one is running or shoving.

Of course, this does mean that I am going to have to get that indoor lens, honey.... *laugh* Okay, Okay... no lens... *sniffle*
*HINT HINT HINT HINT* (Mother's day is coming up, by the way) *HINT HINT HINT HINT*

I've told him that if he does the Mindstorms at the YMCA and participates well, I will see if we can't get him a set for his birthday or Christmas (The YMCA provides the kits). Note to all family members: It's expensive so I may be asking for a "go in together gift" LOL.

Anyway, so here are pictures from his last game... interesting that they kind of tell the story of how he "plays" so I'll kind of talk you through his thought processes. ;)

This is Jamie's favorite part. Sitting here talking to the other kids picking grass.




This is what he does on the field most of the time. I'm not sure if he's pretending to be a robot here or dancing. He does both.


I would love to say he looks like this the whole time:


Instead he makes his 5 kicks of the ball in the game (I said it once and now he figures if he kicks it 5 times, he's done) -- See... he even keeps count and tells me...


So, goodbye, soccer... we'll still be there every week for Cassie, but Jamie's gonna be playing with robots, dude!


If you've made it this far... we're a little worried that Jamie might be depressed... I know that sounds silly. He's SEVEN! But he keeps telling us no one likes him and he doesn't like himself and he's stupid. These seems to be the same words his bullies are using though... ugh. This mommy stuff is hard work.

Hehehe... Tom and I are sick... we keep calling him Emo Kid when he talks like that. Here's a video to make you giggle:


"You're not the only one with issues!" *snicker*

Cassie's First Game This Season

Did I mention Tom got himself volunteered to coach Cassie's soccer team? They are The Longhorns. He's doing pretty good... having fun with the rugrats and the kids all think he's crazy. Cassie's doing well. Jamie is playing too, but no pictures because we didn't go to the first game - he had other plans. He's still not loving it, this might be his last season unless he wants to continue.

Here she is wondering if she can not claim the coach *laugh* - okay, I made that up, but her expression was so funny!


Practicing before the game starts...


The ducks around there are so used to people and getting fed, they walk right up to you. I need to bring some bread and let Jamie feed them. He'd love that.

(I am assuming that's a duck - goose - something - whatever)

Last Day of Sports This Season...

Saturday they had their last games.

Cassie scored a GOAL! She was so proud of herself. Even though the picture I got was crappy, I did get a picture, so I'm sharing it.

Jamie was horrid. He was dancing and chasing and not paying any attention. He won't be playing sports again. We'll have to find something else for him to do. He sat out about half of the game. The coach was nice. I would have kicked his butt out of there WAY before he pulled him.

Anyway... the pics!

another game

its too early for this

Blocked

Go MadDog Go!

Weekend Sports

We had games this weekend, just sharing the pics...

I love this picture. I've been trying to get this picture for 2 weeks now! WooHoo!


Jamie passing the ball (see! he does touch it!)


Cassie taking a water break


Cassie going after the ball (she actually made a goal this game, but it was on the other side of the court so I didn't get a pic)

Soccer Today With Cassie

No pics from Jamie's game today because I didn't go to that one. They had back to back games so we had to divide and conquer today...

Cassie did REALLY really well today. And she seemed to have a great time.







She was in such a good mood today. I wish I could say she was cleaning her room like we told her, she's being a brat now.

.

Games Today...

I hate indoor photography. I obviously have no clue what I'm doing or something. These aren't horrible, but I miss my clear sharp pictures. This may be one of those you get what you get things. I don't want to be using the flash and ticking off everyone so I'm just playing... I "fixed" one by making it ink... hehehe... hey, it worked!

Cassie had soccer and Jamie had basketball. Tomorrow is Tom's birthday, but we celebrated today by going to Dave & Busters and I made that horrible chocolate cake he likes (I HATE making that cake, it's a huge pain, and it's WAY too chocolatey).



Okay, I probably shouldn't post this one, but it turned out pretty good and I just find it funny (and blackmail-able)

Jamie and Basketball

Indoor photography without flash SUCKS. Just sayin'

So, I took Jamie to practice and got some photos. They turned out okay. I took like 100 and 25 were good, I kept like 4. Not a great return on my time, but whatever, I had fun playing. So here he is in action :)







I also bribed Cassie into doing a few things for me, for the specific purpose of getting these photos :) I think they turned out pretty well for someone that doesn't know what they are doing.





And here's another one of the freaking lizard. It's still here. It was ticked with me for bugging it during it's bedtime.


(that one was pretty fun to take, dirty glass, glaring at me reptile with no flash)

Soccer and Ducks

As you can see from my previous note, Cassie played. She started in with the crying again once we got there until we bribed her with promises of cheese dip. That worked for kicking the ball back and forth with one of the little girls there, but she still was being a snot. I then took her out there and stood with her and told her she had a choice. She could play with her team or she could stand out here in the middle of the room with everyone looking at her crying but we weren't going back to the stands. I then offered to go sit down in the circle with her near the coach and she agreed to come with me. We sat down in the circle (well she clung to me for dear life). Then we realized they were NAMING THE TEAM. Okay, this is serious business for the kids. We had lots of good choices, Spaceship Rockets, Monster Rockets, Spiderman, etc. Cassie gave her idea of The Sharks. AND they voted on it! She got the name and they are called the Sharks. This immediately started her talking to a little girl next to her and I was able to slink away. She played and practiced and was fine and is looking forward to her first game.

What the heck?

Whatever. It worked.

No photos of practice, that was part of the deal - she said I can take pictures at the game - I still need to figure out how to take decent indoor pictures of sports. I'm sure I'm just doing it wrong. Where the heck is Kami?

We got there early so I took some photos of the ducks there and the kids. It was cold, so we didn't last long out there!

Enjoy and *dripping sarcasm* Happy January!

Cassie's First Indoor Soccer Practice...

.... didn't go so well. Cassie LOVES soccer so I'm a bit confused as to why she freaked out. We think it was a combination of having new teammates, being tired, being hungry, and how LOUD it was in there. There were 4 teams practicing in there and it was LOUD. We talked about it and she's going to try again next week - with earplugs *laugh*

So, she went out there for a few minutes...



... and spent the rest of the practice crying to go home...



... I think I need a new lens... something faster for indoor? I'm not sure, sounds like a trip to the camera store may be in my future *maniacal laughter*

.