Last Saturday was the last day of soccer games for the kids. Luke's team played the same team that we played last week and managed to win again: 3-2 this time instead of the 1-0 last week. This was definitely one of the better teams that we played during the season. Luke's team ended up with an undefeated season: 7 wins and 1 tie! It was fun coaching and I will have the same kids back again in the spring - this league does the fall and spring seasons together. I had a lot of parents come up and thank me at the end of the game and a couple of the girls came up and gave me a hug. One of the girls was telling me during the game that she liked me as a coach much better than the boy coaches she has had in other years. My biggest struggle with coaching was trying to give the kids equal play time during the games - especially when they all showed up. I had 13 kids on the team which meant that when they were all there we had 5 kids sitting out at once.
M&M's team also won their game and ended up with an undefeated season as well: 6 wins and 2 ties. M&M almost scored a goal at this game, but ended up kicking the ball right to the goalie... M&M has really loved playing on the coed team and it has challenged her a lot more. She was sad to see the season end!!
M&M's team played a team with the same jerseys last week! M&M's team ended up putting their shirts on backwards for the game, but it was pretty confusing watching them!
Now I am going to enjoy my time off until the end of March when the spring season starts up!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
End of fall soccer
Kid talk
The kids finally went back to school yesterday after 3 1/2 weeks off. I packed a lunch for Blondie and put 2 mini candy bars in the lunch box for her. When she got home from school she immediately came to find me, held out the candies to me and asked if I had put them in her lunch. I said, "Yes, why didn't you eat them?" She responded, "I didn't know if I was supposed to." What a funny girl.
Then today while I was making her lunch again she made sure that I put some more candies in there for today's lunch!
Kitty saves the day!
Our garage door has been acting a little funny off and on the last week or so and today when I got home from the grocery store the door would only open about 6 inches off the ground. Unfortunately I also did not have a house key with me so we were essentially locked out of the house if we couldn't get in through the garage. I knew that I would not be able to fit under the garage door but thought that Kitty was just small enough that she would be able to do it. It took a little bit of convincing on my part because she had to lay down on her back, turn her head to the side and slide under the door. The ground was wet with snow and Kitty wasn't too excited about having to do it. Finally I got her to lay down on her back, turn her head to the side and then I basically pushed her under the garage door with very little clearance. Then I got her to go into the house through the garage and over to the front door where I was able to instruct her in unlocking the door. Her clothes got pretty dirty through the whole ordeal but once she got changed into clean clothes she was pretty pleased that she was able to help out. And after this experience I went and put house keys onto the van key chains... Now we just have to figure out what is wrong with the garage door and how to get it fixed...
First dose of winter!
Today we are getting our first dose of winter! We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and it has continued to snow off and on this morning/early afternoon. On my way home from the grocery store it started sticking to the roads and sidewalks and I was watching the outside temperature drop until it was only 30 degrees by the time I got home. Thank goodness soccer ended last week!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pinewood Derby 2009
Tonight was Luke's first Pinewood Derby.
His car didn't win overall, but he was pleased with how it performed - he got first place in one of his heats and didn't get last in any of them.
Making the car was definitely a learning experience for DH and Luke. There are some tools that DH wants to get before next year's Pinewood Derby so the experience can go a little more smoothly.
The car on the far right of the front row ended up winning the whole thing.
Exciting play!
A couple of games ago M&M's team was playing in a pretty close soccer game. I think the score was 2-1 at the time when M&M was put in as a forward. There was one play where our team got the ball down close to the goal and one of M&M's teammates shot the ball and the goalie stopped it. The ball came out of the goalie's hands though and everyone thought that he would pick it right back up. Well, M&M was quite a distance from the ball but she ran as fast as she could for the ball and managed to kick it in the goal before the goalie got his hands back on the ball. It was an awesome goal to watch! All of us on the sidelines just assumed that no one would be able to get to the ball before the goalie and M&M even had teammates that were closer to the play than she was!
I think the final score of the game was 4-2 or 4-3 and M&M's coach said to her at the end of the game, "That's the reward you get for never giving up!!"
Beautiful Weather!!!
We have been having absolutely BEAUTIFUL fall weather this year! Usually this far into the soccer season we are having to bundle the kids up really good and take blankets and umbrellas for the games. Well, last Saturday we had weather close to 70 degrees and a slight breeze - absolutely perfect soccer weather! And the last games of the season are this Saturday.
The kids have really been taking advantage of the nice weather while they have been off-track. The neighbor kids behind us are off-track as well and the kids have been playing outside almost everyday. I have been loving it!!
Younger kids
It's funny how the younger kids seem to just take care of themselves. I was just working at the computer and turned around and noticed Baby K sitting on a chair behind me eating a pop-tart. Apparently she found one in the kitchen and helped herself because she was hungry!!
Baby K also doesn't like sharing - she would rather have her own bowl or plate of food. Last night we made some ice cream for dessert and I dished some up for the older kids and then I got a bowl for me to share with Baby K. Well, she didn't want anything to do with that. She went over to the counter where some extra bowls were sitting and started whining and trying to reach one because she wanted her own bowl of ice cream!
Gardner Village 2009
We made our annual trip to Gardner Village last week for the Halloween displays. It was really crowded on Friday morning for some reason so we just got a couple of pictures and then left - I don't like fighting crowds when I don't need to.
Baby K had to check out the witch she was sitting next to before she would look at the camera!
It was absolutely beautiful weather that day so after Gardner Village we took some lunch down to the Jordan River Parkway and had a picnic there. Then we walked along the trail a little and watched some ducks. Baby K loved the ducks and loved playing with the leaves on the trail.
The ducks were looking for handouts. Next time we'll have to bring some bread along with us.
Monday, October 19, 2009
...In with the new!
Our old washing machine finally died on us and we decided to upgrade to a new front-loading washer and matching dryer. We bought our old machines a little over 11 years ago, just after M&M was born. And we bought them used from the D.I. - so we don't know how old they were when we bought them. They could have easily been 20 years old - the washing machine was the same exact model that my parents had when I was growing up. The dryer has been slowly going out and my husband has replaced a few parts on it here and there. The washing machine has been making more and more noise lately and leaking some oil underneath. Then a couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of doing laundry and I went into the laundry room to check on it and there was a horrible burning rubber smell in the room. I thought at first that it was the dryer but it wasn't. I opened up the washing machine and it was through with the cycle, but still completely full of water! I tried turning the machine on again and it just made a humming noise. I had to take the clothes out one at a time and wring them the best I could and then move them to the dryer - it took about 2 full dry cycles to get them fully dry... Later in the evening we were able to get it turned on so that the water would drain out, but the motor was pretty much shot.
Luckily I got through most of the loads of wash before the washing machine died and then a couple of days later on Saturday we went out to R.C. Willey to look at some new machines. We looked at the different models available and were leaning towards one set but decided to wait until Monday to make a decision. Then in Sunday's paper there was an ad that had the machines we were looking at listed at an even lower sale price (it is last year's model that they are clearancing out). The only concern we had about the model is that our laundry room is set up backwards - with the washing machine to the left of the dryer. So on most front loading models, the doors will hit each other when they are set up that way. You can change the door on the dryer to the opposite side, but not the washing machine. DH thought that he could change the hookups around so that we could move the machines around so we decided to buy them and just make do until DH could make some adjustments.
Well, the machines were delivered on Tuesday morning and the delivery man that was hooking them up thought that the connectors would still reach with the washer on the left and the dryer on the right - and they did! I am loving the machines! They are so much quieter than our old ones and things dry so much quicker now! Also, the kids love watching the clothes spinning around inside the machines and Baby K loves helping me push the buttons. They also play music when the cycle is done - instead of a buzzer - which Baby K also loves! They look so HUGE in our little laundry room though! DH still wants to try and move the dryer hose vent over a few feet so that it is closer to the dryer and we need to replace our dryer hose - apparently the kind we currently have installed is considered a fire hazard now...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Making cents...
Blondie has been somewhat obsessed with money lately. A couple of weeks ago she stepped on an open library book on the floor and ripped several pages out of it to the point that it is beyond repair. I told Blondie that she was going to have to pay to replace the book, so all of the money she has been earning lately has gone straight to paying for the book. On Friday we took a look at the money that she had and I was able to count out enough to pay for the book and she even had a little left over. She was somewhat confused with change equaling the same as a dollar bill and we ended up changing money a few times until she felt like she had enough coins in her bank still. While this was all going on I gave Kitty some money of hers that I had been keeping in my room for safety - and it included a $10 bill.
Well, later on that day I went to the store and left the older kids home with M&M in charge. When I got home, Blondie met me at the door and was so excited to tell me that she traded some money with Kitty so that Kitty could have some coins. I was very curious as to what this entailed and she informed me that she had traded one of her 10 cents for Kitty's $10 bill!!! What a nice sister!!! The funny thing is that Blondie actually thought that it was a fair trade and that she was helping her sister out!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Learning early...
Baby K is already learning how to multi-task - talking on 2 phones at once (or I should say 1 phone and 1 ipod)!!
