End of the Soccer Season!

Yesterday was the last game of our soccer season. We actually played two games in one day to decide placement through a tournament.  My team entered the tournament having lost three games this season but still in 2nd place.  We lost twice to the team that was in first place and then one other time when Henry and two other boys on the team all went on a boy scout campout. Being down three players made a huge impact on our team. 

We won our first game of the day when we played "The Vipers". They were the team we had lost to when our three scouts went on campout. We beat them soundly this time 7 to 1.  This guaranteed us at least 2nd place. 

I honestly went into the final game thinking "I am happy with 2nd place".  We had lost twice to the Cobras. Two weeks in row. Once when missing two players and once with all my players and them missing some of theirs. I thought we just needed to play and have fun for our final game of the season. 

The first half ended 2-2.  I was preparing for a tie game which means we do a shoot out to decide the winner. 

We scored again in the 2nd half and our defense held them back so they didn't score. At he last second they looked like they were going to score and kicked for a goal but the whistle blew for a penalty. The goal they shot didn't count. They had been off sides.  So rather than tie it up the game finished 3-2 with us the victors. 

Needless to say we were all excited. It was a bit unexpected and when we went to shake the  other teams hands there were tears in their eyes. They had been an undefeated team until that last game. It was a bit of an upset. 

But my team, the "Razor Blades," ended up the champions.  We didn't win a trophy. We got these very bright green shirts that proclaim us the champions. 

What a great end to the Soccer Season. Now my stress levels will return to normal and I will get my Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons and Saturdays back. 

Being a coach is a lot of fun but a lot of work too!

School Projects

We have spent the month of October just keeping up with all our school work. My kids have had all sorts of projects that they have had to do for school. 

 Some of the best projects have revolved around food. Ian and Henry had to each make a meal.  So Ian made some Oatmeal pancakes with berries on top. A green smoothy to go with it.

 Henry made Tuna sandwiches with apples for lunch one day.

 They boys had to make mummies when they studied about Egypt for class.

 They made clay bodies and then used cheese cloth and plaster to wrap them up.

 They also had to make a trip to the dump. Not my favorite field trip. Too stinky!

We took a walk one day to pick up garbage for another school project.  There wasn't too much complaining. The path lead to the park so they didn't mind walking and picking up trash knowing they would get to play around at the park for awhile. 

Molly hasn't had too many projects. She just tags along with many of the boys activities.

We did make some Borax crystals one day.

 Sophie's Biology class has some interesting labs every other week.

 She did this one with yeast. I think it had something to do with metabolism.

This was an experiment she did about photosynthesis. 

We got to punch holes in spinach leaves and then pull out all the oxygen in them, place them in water and watch to see how soon, depending on how close they were to the light, the little green dots floated to the surface. Kinda cool experiment!

 Yeah school work is often fun hands on projects but more and more my kids seem to just spend long hours staring at their chromebooks.  But they are all doing excellently in their classes so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Picking out Pumpkins

I decided to surprise the kids one day with an outing.  I didn't tell them where we were going before hand but told them it would be kinda fun. 

 We headed to a nearby farm to pick out pumpkins.

 Since it was the middle of a school day the pumpkin patch was all for us.

 The kids had fun looking at all the different pumpkins. But found the tiny ginger kitten the most exciting part of the visit.

 They tried out the tractor left out for picture taking and such.

 I remember when these boys were little and tractors were really exciting.

 They each picked out a pumpkin to take home. Everyone was thrilled with our outing.

Our town had a Pumpkin Festival one Saturday. Since our Saturdays tend to be spent running from field to field playing soccer and flag football we didn't think we could fit it into our schedule.  Molly was invited to go with some friends of ours. They have a little boy about Molly's age and were willing to take her along. 

 Evidently it was lots of fun. There were pony rides and a hay rides.

 The kids got to pick out and carve a pumpkins.

It was so nice of friends to take Molly along. She was able to experience the fun of the pumpkin festival in the morning while still getting to her soccer game that afternoon. 

A New Cat

We decided to take in another cat. A neighbor family needed to find a new home their 7 month old kitty so we decided Peezy could use a buddy.  The family we adopted him from is from Afghanistan so had already given him a Farsi name. His name is Pishu. It means "kitty". We now have Peezy and Pishu.

Peezy was not all that impressed by the invader.  

There was lots of chasing, hissing and cowering the first day or two. 

But she soon decided to just ignore him.  They soon could be in the same room without fuss.

They now are quite friendly.

Pishu is a very different kitty than Peezy ever was.

 He is still a kitten even though he is almost as big as Peezy. He is very playful. He likes to play with anything he finds around him. Molly isn't too happy about that. He likes to bat around the legos she is building with.

 He also really loves to play and tussle with stuffed animals. The many Webkinz toys we have around seem to be his particular favorites.

 He is a fun addition to our household.

Peezy tends to spend her days upstairs sleeping on my bed while Pishu likes to nap right in the thick of things. He camps out on the couch while the kids sit nearby doing homework. 

We certainly like our two cats.