Soccer Season Comes to an End

The kids had a wonderful season this fall. Last week was their last week of soccer practices and games. We had a really busy week with a make-up game, practices, Saturday morning games, and two trophy ceremonies.

Braden had a make-up game on Wednesday night. Apparently, all season long he has been begging his coach to let him play goalie. So on Wednesday he finally got his wish. I was on pins and needles watching him, because he has never played that position in a game before. He does really well when he is busy running after the ball in the forward positions, but it is a little harder to concentrate when the game is taking place at the other end of the field. I caught him daydreaming and even sitting in the grass a few times, but he also saved a couple of balls. He had a great time.

Lydia's practice on Thursday night was a scrimmage between her team, the Dragonflies, and the parents. She was so excited that I was playing with her. She kept running up to me and giving me high fives and thumbs up and saying, "Mommy, you're doing great!" After the scrimmage we went to McDonald's for Happy Meals and a trophy ceremony. She was so excited to get her very first soccer trophy.

They both had games on Saturday morning. During Braden's game, his coach from Spring soccer was the father of one of the players on the opposing team. He was standing near me, and when Braden got the ball and started dribbling it down the field at full speed, he said, "Wow! He's really improved!" I agreed. Braden is really in his element out on the field running as much as he wants.

After the games we headed to Peter Piper Pizza (it's a restaurant like Chuck E. Cheese) for the Broncos' party. The kids had a great time playing and eating pizza, and Braden was excited about his new trophy. Just last night I found a row of his trophies on his bedroom floor, matched up with their corresponding jersey.

This is a picture of Braden's countdown to Daddy coming home. Last week he asked me how many days we had left until Daddy returns. When I told him, he cut out that many pieces of paper and put them into a baggie attached to the fridge. Every day after school he glues one of the papers to the blue paper. The larger purple paper contains hash marks. Every day he puts a box around one of the hash marks. They are so excited to see their Daddy.