Flag Football

Andrew says his team won today....I watched the whole game, but I only remember 2 touchdowns...haha, but we saw a teammate of his at the church tonight and he also said that they scored three, so Andrew's team won.  They beat the undefeated team, woo hoo!  Andrew had one big long great catch right at the beginning of the second half, but I didn't have my camera ready, I was writing a letter to William, but I saw the catch and Scott had just arrived, so he saw it too.  Andrew didn't get to the end zone on it, but his team scored later on in that drive, so good job Andrew! 

Andrew Soccer

I know it's way better if I post each picture individually, so you can click on them and see them better and bigger....but I really love making collages and think they are a great way to showcase a lot of photos.

Andrew had a good game today.  His team won 1-0.  He is the youngest player on the team (and possibly the whole u 14 age group, but he plays great....but I can just imagine if he was in under 12's with all his classmates, how spectacular he'd be!)  There are HIGH SCHOOL KIDS on his team! 

His whole team was there today, so there was a lot of subbing, and Andrew got subbed out numerous times.  It was a hot day, so it was good to rotate the kids, but I think the coach took Andrew out more than the rest!  Andrew did get to play offense the whole time he was in, so I'm sure that made him happy. 

He almost scored once, but the goalie stopped it.  He had a couple of other tough shots, one he tried the tricky outside of his foot shot, but it didn't go hard enough, but I was happy he tried it.  Another time he collided with the goalie, who was much larger and who put a shoulder into Andrew's stomach.  He held the ball though, so no goal.  The game was really close all game.  Andrew's teammate scored on a beautiful, long, hard shot.  And the defense stopped the other team for the shut out. 

It was also picture day.  The coach didn't tell anyone when to be there and he didn't hand out the envelopes with all the information, so only a few players showed up for pictures on time before the game.  Then one of the people who missed the pictures was the sponsor, so she convinced everyone to go back after the game for a new team picture....here are the ones I took with my camera---

Flag Football

Andrew has been enjoying this season of flag football so far.  He has good coaches, fun teammates, and they've been winning.  Well, they lost today.  The other team had one super athlete who was bigger, stronger, faster, even maybe smarter than all the rest.  It was a good game, even a close game, but that one kid made their touchdowns and got their interceptions, so Andrew's team lost 18-14. 

Andrew and another kid banged heads together near the final game of the night.  Andrew hurt his nose.  He lay on the ground for a while, but stayed in the game.  He refused an ice pack afterwards, but his nose is pretty swollen. 

He didn't have as much fun this game because of the loss and because of the injury, but he was awarded the player of the game by the referees and got a football shaped key chain to keep.  He was happy and excited about that.  He's such a good sport, most of the time!  Hope his nose doesn't stay big!

new skate deck

Bradley's skateboard snapped in half yesterday while doing a trick called a board slide.  I think skateboards should just last forever, but they don't....at least they last longer than skate shoes.....anyway, this time Bradley got a thicker deck and one made with something other than just wood, so hopefully it wont snap!!!!!!!!!  ever!

Bradley's Beard

Bradley "thinks" he has a "beard".  He wont let anyone pull it out, cut it, or shave it because it is his "beard", he says. 

He rubs it, like guys with beards do.  He feels special with it.  He is proud of it. 

It grows longer each day it seems.

Well, it's gone. 

primary

I have a great primary class.  They are so much fun.  Sometimes I bring a snack.  It's usually crackers.  Then they get thirsty and we need a "field trip" to the drinking fountain.  They run and make noise in the hallway and everyone stares at us.  It's better if we don't leave the classroom. 

Last week we talked about gardening and seeds.  The conversation came to Scott's watermelons.  The kids all said they LOVED watermelon.  We have a ton of watermelon that we want to get rid of, so I brought watermelon for our snack.  We didn't even need a trip to the water fountain after eating it. 

The kids loved it. 

Here are some of the funny things they said. 
"I'm a vegetarian because my mom told me that I am"
"I have a brown friend named Cruz."
I asked the little girl if she had a pair of beautiful shoes and a pair of ugly shoes, which one would she let her friend with no shoes borrow....she said, "but I don't have any ugly shoes".

And Bradley came into my class for a part of the time....and they COULD NOT stop laughing at him.  Anything he did, they laughed at.  He wound them up so much that they had the giggles the whole rest of the day.

car wash

Bradley's team had a lot of fun in their last tournament, they only have 8 regular season games, and so they really want to play in another tournament.  But tournaments cost about $50 per each player just to get in.  Add to that staying in a motel, gas, food, etc...tournaments are too expensive.  So, to help with costs, Bradley's team decided to do some fund raising.  They had a bake sale and then a car wash.  They made $563 dollars on both.  The last tournament was $625, so they may need to do another fund raiser before the season is out, but $563 is a WONDERFUL start!!!!!!! 

smart

I've ALWAYS known that Andrew is a smart kid.  Yeah, he doesn't try very hard, do extra work, or write neat, but the way his brain works makes him very intelligent. He had the same teacher the past two years and he goes to a school that gives out long, detailed report cards with mostly just number grades (1 through 4, 4 being the best you can get).  Andrew has never gotten a 4, even in math, even in PE, even in Art.  I can understand the behavior 3's since he talks to much, doesn't sit still, stuff like that, but when a kid knows all his time tables, gets 100 on his spelling tests, does all his homework, I just figured the teacher must just be a hard grader.  But last year, after school was out, I was able to talk to another parent about the report cards in the class and her daughter DID get a bunch or 4's.

And then this summer we got the results of the state testing, and let's just say, if I went by those results I would think that I had a really dumb son. 

Then this year began, and Andrew was not in the "top" math group, so in the back of my mind, I started believing the low scoring report cards and test scores. 

Then yesterday, Andrew came home with A LOT of HARRRRRRRRD math homework.  He was working on stuff in a different book than the weeks before.  Then he told us, he was moved up to the Pre Algebra group.  He's going to have 3 weeks of catching up to do and will have a lot more (and more difficult work) to do, but I am really proud of him and my faith in my thoughts that he IS smart was restored!

game pictures

andrew was a captain

this was right before bradley's goal

this is the corner kick the other team scored on

A

two losses

I have tried to blog about this three times already and each time the post wouldn't load the photos OR save, so I'm trying one last time.

Both Andrew and Bradley had their first soccer game of the season today.  Andrew plays in the Chico Youth Soccer League.  Bradley plays for Butte United.  That means their games are at the far ends of the town or even sometimes in different towns.  Today I was able to see the start of Andrew's game, and all of Bradley's game. 

Andrew is on the gold colored team called the Explosion.  If you read this blog much, you may remember that Andrew and Bradley's team this spring was the gold colored Explosion and Bradley's team last fall was the gold Explosion.  Andrew's team didn't have a coach to start the season and I am the u-14 commissioner, so it was my job to find the team a coach.  I tried all the parents and they all said "no".  So I decided to ask Bradley's old coach from a few season's back if he wanted to take the team.  He said, "yes" and has done a great job for a u14 coach.  Only problem is that some parents and their players think that he's too tough, that he doesn't give enough breaks, that he pushes them too hard, or makes them run too much.  Well, if those parents were at the game today they would have seen that kids need to be in shape to play the game of soccer.  It's hot and there's a lot of running!  If they never run in practice, they will have a hard time playing in games.  I like the coach.  I think it's really nice to have a "real" soccer coach teaching our players and not just some dad that we begged to do it at the last minute, who has no experience, no knowledge, and no game plan. I think most of the other parents want their child to still be babied and not pushed.  We'll see what happens as the season goes on, but today there were only 7 players at the game, so I'm wondering if a few have quit! 

Andrew started the game as a half back and he did a lot of back and forth running.  I think he got really tired, but he worked really hard.  He has one player on his team who is really good, but of the 7 kids there, not many of them were very talented.  Andrew knows what to do and how to play, so that helps. 

I had to leave about 20 minutes into the game, with the score 1-1...but before I even got across town to Bradley's game, Scott had sent me a text with "Andrew Scored!"  So that was thrilling.  They ended up losing 6-4. 

Bradley's team was having a bake sale so I had already dropped him off at the field before Andrew's game.  I got there (for the second time) a few minutes before kick off. 

Bradley played one of the strikers, up front.  His team plays a 4-4-2, but it seems like Bradley is the furthest forward.  His team has a few weaknesses, that will hopefully improve with practice and time playing together....Bradley had one breakaway half way through the first half that he took too long to get his shot off and a defender snuck up and kicked the ball away right before Bradley shot.  But a little bit later, he got another and didn't miss that time.  He scored the first goal of the game and his team went into half time 1-0.  Someone sent a through ball past the defense.  He ran up on it first.  It was a nice goal, he caught up to it, dribbled up, past the defense, with speed and almost waited too long to shoot again, like before, but shot to the right of the goalie right into the back of the net, more placed that pounded, which is exactly what was needed.  He didn't get the ball too much during the game.  He did work hard, made some fancy/tricky moves, showed he has speed, and soccer sense....but he also showed "too much" passion doing things like pounding the ground after misses, pulling his shirt almost off after getting taken out, and asking for calls when getting tripped or hit.  I, though, like his passion.  I think the rest of the team needs to play with more! 

The other team scored on a corner kick that went through all of Bradley's team and hit into the goal by the backdoor player, but it went through the goalie's hands, so it could have been saved.  The game winning goal came on a long arching shot, perfectly placed over the goalie's head and out stretched arms.  The play began on a give away right up the middle....we saw it happening almost before it happened.  The game had only 5 minutes left after that goal, and the coach took Bradley out, so at that point, I knew the game was over... and still think he should have left Bradley in the whole game.....of course I say that, I'm his mom.

(Pictures to come!)

DC United Shirt

 Here's a blog I've been thinking about writing.  Andrew "graduated" from kindergarten at the same time William "graduated" from Jr High, at the same time Melanee graduated from high school.  So this is what the boys looked like (how big they were) when Melanee first started college-

 About a week into pre season training, Melanee's soccer team went to a DC United soccer game.  She bought herself a DC United t shirt.  Somehow, through the years, it has been passed down from sibling to sibling and it is now Andrew's shirt.  I bet Melanee never pictured Andrew wearing it when she bought it. 

I found this picture of William in it. 

I bet if I searched hard enough I could find pictures of Melanee and Bradley in it, too.  Awesome shirt and we definitely got our money's worth out of it!!!!!!

Another Scrimmage

I really feel that boys should not be scrimmaging the girls for anything more than fun.  The girls may get something out of a scrimmage with boys, but the boys would be better off having a regular practice.  The girls play differently, the girls are actually too rough, and the boys are going to learn bad habits playing inferior opponents so often (this was their 4th scrimmage against this team).  But Bradley had a pretty good game.  He played striker and scored two nice goals.  He did a lot of give and gos and set his teammates us.  He also had girls falling all over him and taking him down any chance they got.  He complained, but I think he probably really liked it. 

Bee sting....AGAIN

Bees seem to be attracted to Andrew.  One got him today on the stomach and another on the ear.....look closely, you can tell which ear is swollen...you actually don't even have to look closely, it's OBVIOUS!  Big, swollen, pink, puffy ear!