Upward Soccer

 Camden decided he wanted to give soccer another whirl, so we signed him up for Upward for the season.  If you have never had a child in an Upward sport, you are totally missing out.  It's so fun and they do it right.  Each game, they announce each kids' name over the loud speaker and they run through the parent tunnel. 

This picture was Camden's first time to have his name announced and in full Camden mode, he

ate. it. up!

His team is the Lil' Cheetahs...intimidating, huh?!

Kyler Jett, Gavin Cowger, and Camden sitting the bench.

He gives us the "thumbs up" sign everytime there is a play...good or bad!

By game two, he had mastered this intentional stride {cracks me up!} 

Camden may or may not ever be a star athlete, but, boy, is he having fun {and as an added bonus, he's learning that Jesus is present even in our recreational activities}!!  Love that!

GOAL!

Yep, it's true...my little girly-girl scored her first goal at her soccer game today!  Go, Melia!!

She called her Uncle Travis first to let him know that Daddy owed her a dollar and here was her description: "Hey, guess what?!  I was the kick-off and I put the ball so it would go through the green team's wall and I kicked it really hard and it just rolled and rolled all by itself until it went in the goal!  Can you believe it?!"

Cute!  It's been a long morning of soccer and everyone is now napping to get ready for an evening of "booing"!  I love Fall! :)

Soccer Saturday

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Well, today was the first day of soccer for both of my kiddos.  We were scheduled to play 4 games, but only ended up playing 3.  Wondering why?

The problem was NOT Melia's team.  Somehow Miss Melia's entrance into the athletic arena has been laced with a group of 7 kiddos that would each be the MVP if they were on separate teams.  I'm pretty sure they have all played at least one season before, some indoor, some outdoor, but regardless of the location, they know what they are doing.  Melia is working hard and I'm very proud of her.  I think being on this team is definitely pushing her and her coach (and teammates) are very patient with her and are showing her the ropes!

Now, as for Camden's team, well, remember the movie "The Bad News Bears"?  Different sport, smaller "athletes", same story (only without the successful ending).  Luckily, I had very low expectations and really was just hoping that Camden would play.  He did, but, how can I put this lightly?  Well, here is the rundown (I am abbreviating names to protect the egos of the parents ;)).

1. G is the kid that knows the most, scores the most, and is about the only one that is really aggressive.  Coach Dad mentions to him at half-time that he needs to quit pushing and he goes into total melt-down mode.  Let me just say that it was like Camden-caliber melt-down (which is SO not usual for this generally mellow child)!
2. N is also pretty good...knows what he is doing and can keep up with the game.  When he comes to sit down and take a break, his mom says "You're doing a great job, are you having fun?" to which he replies "No, I wanna be on the purple team...they're scoring goals!"  (HA!  Love it!)
3. S is such a sweet little girl...does exactly what she's asked and tries her little heart out.  I'm sure she is thinking "How did I get stuck on this team?!"
4. K plays for 5 minutes, goes to sit down to watch Melia practice writing words and refuses to get back out there. (Disclaimer: she was with me and I was NOT pushing the envelope on this one...had her parents been there, it may have been a different story!)
5. C REFUSES to play.  When coerced, he gets out on the field and sort of walks around frowning and shaking his head as if to say "Leave me alone!" when his name is cheered.
6. P sadly lays on the blanket basically the entire game, refusing to go in.  At one point his mom walks out there to try to get him to play, but he was having none.of.it!!
7. B is a little timid, but generally just sort of goes where he's supposed to.  He's Camden's buddy in the picture where it looks like his is saying "Come on, let's go play.  It's not that bad."
8. And then there is Camden.  Hmm...my little transition issue kid.  He would do fine once he was bribed with a cookie talked into getting on the field and then would wake up out there.  However, at the beginning of the game when K was playing, he walked out onto the field to try to hand her DS to her to play.  Guess he didn't realize there was a game going on!

Whew!  It was a long, but extremely entertaining morning!  Needless to say, after the Pre-K's first game, or maybe EVENT is more accurate, they decided to call it a day.  So, I think that means we officially have two losses even though we've only played one game. :)