Fall Sports

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. Seems like life is just carrying on normally and there's nothing too exciting to write about, not that the blog posts are ever what I would necessarily call "exciting" anyway, but you know what I mean.

Zach just finished off another season of soccer. A couple of weeks ago I took a few pictures. Mike was gone that day, so it was just the boys and me, and by the time we got to the game, I was tired, both physically and emotionally (game was at 12:30, so imagine a busy morning, a rushed lunch, and just an impatient mom), so when it came to taking pictures, I couldn't really be bothered to get out of my chair to get the best shots. So here's what I got.

Zach is the little guy in white/gray with his foot up like he's about to kick the ball. His buddy Kenneth is the redhead in the green shirt. Kenneth's mom and I used to teach together, his dad and I went to college together and play soccer together, and the boys were born 1 day apart.

Throwing the ball in.

This was a different day, but this pretty much sums up how we would keep Drew entertained during Zach's games. Give him a snack (in this case an apple), and he's pretty content. I know, it's not good to give kids too many snacks, but it allowed me to watch the games without feeling like I had to entertain Drew the whole time.

Overall, Zach had a good soccer season. He enjoyed it, so that makes it a success in my book. He scored a few goals, including 2 in the final game this past weekend. He still needs some work on ball-handling and game strategy (he loves to just kick the ball out of bounds in the defensive half of the field, rather than trying to kick it up towards his goal), but he's only 5, so I'm not too worried about that. It definitely is interesting to see which kids have older siblings that they've played with. You can pick them out on the field by their aggressiveness and their better understanding of the game. Which has left Mike and me wondering- when do first-borns catch up to their non-first-born peers in that sense?

The last few weeks Zach has also been playing flag football. He loves flag football, and he does a great job at it. He knows when he plays that he has one of three jobs- block for his team's runner, run with the ball, or "tackle" (grab the flag) the opponent with the ball. Having just one thing to focus on each play really seems to help Zach be successful in football. It doesn't hurt that he is a competitive kid, either.

Here's Zach running with the ball.

And he breaks away from the pack. I believe he scored a touchdown on this play.

Going for the two-point conversion.

Zach says his favorite parts of playing football are tackling and scoring touchdowns.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Zach blocking. The kid blocks until after the play is dead and the whistle has been blown. In his last game this past Saturday, he was blocking a kid who really did not appreciate it, and the kid took a swing at Zach. On a later play, this same kid was running with the ball and Zach got his flag, and boy, could you see that this particular little boy has quite the temper. Thankfully, Zach always kept his cool and didn't retaliate or anything, which kind of surprised me, because I'm pretty sure if it were me at that age, I would have retaliated.

Just like at soccer games, snacks help Drew get through football games. He does enjoy cheering Zach on, though, too, which is pretty cute.

And now, a couple of random photos.

Drew wanted to snuggle Foudy and have me take pictures of them together. The pictures were all pretty funny, but I thought this one was the most hilarious because of both Drew's and Foudy's faces. If you look closely you can see Drew's lovely sunglasses tan.

Last Monday Zach didn't have school, and the boys and I were supposed to go to the zoo. It ended up being rainy and colder, so we couldn't go, and the boys, especially Drew, were bummed. That evening he was basically in tears because we hadn't gone. The zoo here is fine, but it's not amazing, so I think it's kind of sweet that Drew loves it there so much. Zach gets out of school early on Wednesdays, so I packed a lunch and the boys ate it in the car on the way from school to the zoo. The weather was great and the zoo was not busy, so we had a great time. I only took one picture while we were there, with my phone, so it's not a high quality photo. We were playing on the big playground at the zoo, and I asked Zach and Drew to get together for a picture. This other little boy was near us and said, "I, too!" and sat down next to Drew and started smiling. So here's Zach, Drew, and some random kid.

And that's pretty much it for non-exciting news from here. I know Drew has said some funny things lately, but it seems like they're always better in person than written on the blog, so I just haven't written them down lately. Maybe something more interesting will happen in the next week or so.