Soccer and more

I meant to post this earlier this week, but Brynlee and I had the stomach flu on Tuesday and now I seem to have a cold or something going on.  I've taken a boat load of meds, but am still feeling gross.  And as much as I'd love to just lay in bed all day that's not going to happen.

Anyway, we had a great weekend last week.  I taught Body Pump then coached a soccer game.  We actually pulled out a win andd the kids did a great job.  There was no crying and everyone stayed on the field during the game.  So we are way beyond where we were for the first game.

Here's my little team.  They really are growing on me.  I may actually miss them after the season ends.  From left to right: Andrew, Zayla, Talia, Grace and Brynlee.

 I wasn't feeling so hot on Tuesday so Jeremy went and coached practice for me.  I think he finally understands my pain and realizes what a chore being the coach is.  I don't think he understood how crazy a bunch of 5-year-olds can be.

After the game on Saturday we came home and I helped Jer stain the deck.  He found a $5 can of stain at Menard's.  It's a little more red than we had planned, but it was a good deal and it actually turned out a lot better than we anticipated.  But it took practically the whole day to do it.  Jeremy wanted it done right and went about it very carefully.

Saturday night we had a birthday party for our friend Gena.  There were 3 other families there besides ours and it was a good time with some good food.  We all chipped in and got her a bus ticket to Texas for Thanksgiving so she can visit her family.  I think she was really surprised and pleased.  While we were at that party Price went to a party for a boy in his class.  When Jeremy picked him up the kid's dad said what a good kid Price was and how well mannered he was.  Well, at least he's doing it at other people's houses becaus I don't think he does it very often here.

What do you get when you are 3 years-old and you have close to $30 burning a hole in your pocket?  You buy a new outfit and some candy of course.

Kylee picked this outfit herself.  She is getting so big and has such a cute smile.  She even shared her treat with me.

Kylee's birthday

The little squirt turned 3 yesterday.  It's hard to believe she's three already.  It's been an eventful 3 years that is for sure.

She loved opening her presents.  She made the cutest faces and was so excited .

 Here she is with all her loot.  I love her little pose and her face.  She got just what she wanted; candy, money to buy more candy and a Barbie house.  What else could a little girl want?

 Gena came over for lunch with us.  She got Kylee the cutest little Halloween jammies.  So of course Kylee had to go put them on and then she came running out and gave Gena the biggest hug.  It was so cute.  Those two have always had a special bond.  I think it's because they are birthday buddies (Kylee on the 8th and Gena on the 12th).

 I made her an ice cream cake this year.  It turned out pretty good.  When she blew out the candles she got so close to them she could almost lick them out.  I especially like Ike's face in this picture.

It was a fun day.  We had a pizza party with a couple of friends, we went to the gas station to get treats (the kids' most favorite thing to do), played at the park and sang "Happy Birthday" a ton of time to sweet Kylee.

She is our  sassy, opinionated 3 year old.  She likes to do things her way and doesn't like to be bossed.  She loves to give hugs and kisses and especially loves to tell jokes.  She is finally potty trained and loves to change her outfits like 5 times a day.  She talks up a storm now that the older two are in school and makes the funniest faces ever.

We love this little squirt and all the laughter and joy she brings to us.

Kylee's favorites:
food: pizza
movie: Barbie
Thing to do: play games
song: Come biddy, come speckle (my most favorite song from childhood)
toy: Barbies

Soccer

I volunteered to coach Brynlee's soccer team this year.  What was I thinking, we've only had one game and already I'm regretting my decision.  I love spending time with Bryn and she is a great little player, but this coaching stuff is a mess.  We only have 5 kids on our team and most of them whine and complain throughout practice.

A couple of weeks ago we were practicing and none of the kids were listening, one girl kept wandering off to go play, most of the kids were sitting on the ground refusing to listen.  Price and his friend were off playing and climbing trees.  His friend, Drake, jumped out of a tree and hurt his foot.  He's screaming at the top of his lungs so I have to stop practice and go help him and carry him (which was no easy feat) over to where we are.  Then Kylee is crying and wanting me to hold her while I'm trying to coach.  Jeremy is out of town mind you.  It was a hot mess and I was ready to pull my hair out and quit.

We had our first game yesterday and I had high hopes, but I should have known better, especially with how they act at practice.  The other team had 7 players and put all their boys as forwards.  We have 1 boy, they had 4.  So it wasn't a very fair match up.  At one point our boy (the best player we have) was playing goalie and Brynlee (as a forward) were the only kids on our team playing.  One girl was crying because she was scared (she should be in the younger league) another was mad because she wanted to score a goal and couldn't and another just plain hates playing soccer and didn't want to be there.  I was so frustrated.  The other team's coach was so condescending too.  I called a ball out (in this league the coaches are the refs) and she asked me if I was sure.  I about kicked her in the shins, I wanted to say "Give us a break lady, you are stomping us.  Who cares if it was out or not".

Hopefully next week goes better and I can somehow inspire my team to make it through the whole game without random potty breaks and breakdowns in the middle of the quarters.

But Brynlee looked so cute and really did a great job.  At first she was a little timid, but at the end she was doing awesome.  Without her we wouldn't have had anyone playing.

Labor Day Yard Project

What did we do this year for Labor Day weekend?  Barbeque?  Going to the beach?  Of course not, we spent the weekend doing a yard project.  We used to have wood edging all around our yard.  It was starting to rot and fall apart and just didn't look very good.  We'd talked about putting in concrete blocks and thought we'd do it next spring.  But we found a good deal on the blocks and we had a free weekend so why not?

It took 2 days and a few trips to Menard's, but we're mostly happy with how it turned out.  We made one goof on the corner, but isn't that how it is with every project we do.  It looks good and we're happy with the results.  Jeremy and I had a good time working together and the kids were really good and patient while we spent all that time outside.  So hopefully now our house has a little more "curb appeal".