Another Soccer Season Gone By

Boogie played soccer this Fall. We try to involve the kids in activities from the our church. Our church is part of a Soccer League with other parishes in the vicinity. For $40 you can't beat 8+ weeks of activity.  Granted it took me about 30 minutes (with traffic) to get to practice every week and there were games every Saturday...but overall it was a good experience.

It was a way for Boogs to run around and burn off some of his pent up energy.  It was also good for him to refine his skills and to focus on one thing.  In the beginning it was a lot of running around, not understanding the rules, and chaos as 5-7 year olds chased a soccer ball. As the weeks progressed, I noticed that Boogs was becoming more focused, was able to participate more, and refined his skills. By the last few weeks they started putting him in the goalie position and he was becoming better and better at defending his goal.

I'm a big fan of exposing our kids to as many activities as possible so that they can be well rounded.  Soccer was just one part of that. Bug is already excited for when she will be old enough to join the soccer team.  As our kids continue to grow I look forward to finding out what their favorite activity is and going with it full force.

I, unfortunately, had to miss the last game as I was prepping for the birthday party, but Hubby said that Boogs scored a goal. I know that totally made his day!  Boogs also received his trophy and was very excited to share it with me.

However, between dance and soccer, I am getting an inkling of what our future holds as Hubby and I coordinate our schedules and take the kids to their activities.  I'm sad that I can't attend every event, but it seems that our kids don't mind when Hubby or I can't be together at the same event because the other is taking care of someone/something else. They seem to go with the flow and that helps a lot!

I am grateful that our parish offers a lot of activities for our kids:  religious ed, t-ball, soccer, summer camp, choir, scouts, etc.  It helps us to be better connected to the church and it's members. We are part of one body.

Taking a Break...

My kids have officially finished their Spring sports season. Boogie played T-ball and Buggy played soccer. I'm so glad for the experiences my kids had and I'm glad that I enrolled them in Spring sports, but now I'm tired and I'm ready for a break.

I seriously considered enrolling Boogie for swim team this year. This is the first year he is eligible and I really, really, wanted him to be a part of it. I swam when I was younger and I loved it. Boogie seems to be a natural in the water and I definitely want to foster his love for swimming. But in looking at the schedule I realized that we would be miss 1/4 of our swim team time because of vacations. As a result I will hold off until next year and plan our vacations around it.

T-ball for Boogie was wonderful! He learned some very basic skills: throwing, catching, hitting, following directions, and running bases. His coaches were awesome and I was thrilled that the two coaches were amazingly patient.  The ages on the team ranged from 4-7. That's a big age range, but the coaches handled it so well. With Boogie being enthusiastic about everything, I was afraid that he would try their patience.  But fortunately, each coach had a great disposition and took everything in stride with every kid. I couldn't have asked for better. (A. if you are reading this, please give P. a big thank you for us!).

Buggy really seems to have a natural ability for soccer. Being so young (19 mos.) I was concerned with her ability to follow multi-step instructions. She did amazing! Her coach was also very patient and I think he loved her. She is easy to get along with and loves to follow directions.  She grasped the skills fairly easily and was always ready for the next new thing. I think we will keep her in soccer for the next few years unless she finds something else that she would really like to do. Another class I'm thinking about for her are dance classes. I'm concerned about the price of dance classes (and shoes, and costumes) but she loves to dance and I want to foster that love for music and dance.  I'll have to work it out.

In the meantime, we will be taking a break for the summer. We have so much else going on we can't really commit to any classes. But come Fall we will do it all over again. I'll enjoy the break while I have it!

Busy Weeks Ahead

I was looking over my calendar because we were invited to another March birthday and I was trying to schedule a time that I can see my friend's new baby. In looking at the calendar I realized that I have no free days!  When did my week become as busy or busier than my weekends?

As a general rule of thumb I try to limit our family to one thing a weekend. I do this to save our sanity or otherwise we would start the week exhausted. I got the idea from one of my brothers-in-law (BIL) who was tired of being on the go every weekend. However, we have a huge family and usually we have at least one event a month to celebrate with them. Sometimes more.  Last year I think we made it to Baltimore 6 weeks in a row for a family event. It would have been 7 but we finally had to say to one of them.

I have started scheduling my son's soccer classes for the week so that we would have our Saturdays free or maybe I should say free-er because almost no Saturdays are ever free.  I recently scheduled swim classes for the kids in preparation for summer.  Unfortunately I could not schedule the kids on the same day and had to settle for two different days.  My son is scheduled for 5:30 Wednesday nights and my daughter for 10:25 Saturday mornings. It's only for 6 weeks and through the Rec. Department.  I knew that Wednesdays would be a little tricky with my daughter being 16 months old and me not wanting to spring for a babysitter every week. My gracious parents have agreed to watch her for 1 1/2 to 2 hours every week until my husband can pick her up.

So here is my schedule for next week (But I'm starting with Saturday, the beginning of my weekend!)  This does not include my son going to preschool, going to the gym to work-out, or the multiple errands I have to run (especially to get all the gifts needed for those March birthdays!!!).

Saturday--husband hair cut, daughter swim class, birthday party (I had to cancel otherwise it would be crazy busy!)

Sunday--Church, church meeting for me, birthday party for my son's best friend.

Monday--Birthday party for son's preschool friend

Tuesday--LOST (does this count? My husband and I shuffle the kids off to bed a little more quickly so that we can have date night on the couch watching LOST. I don't schedule anything else on Tues. nights for this very reason).

Wednesday--Son's Swim Class

Thursday--Tot Swap with a friend (gotta get a babysitter)

Friday--Family Soup and Stations at our Church

Saturday--Clean the Church, daughter's swim class, birthday party for our Goddaughter

Sunday--Church, date luncheon???? (we're also trying to fit in a date night once a month, though this one might not work for us. Unfortunately it's the only date available, not including the Wedding we're attending at the end of the month...does going to a wedding constitute a date night if the kids are not there?)

So there it is in a nutshell. We have an activity scheduled everyday and the following week is starting to look the same!  I have started getting up earlier every morning so that I have time for a morning devotional and blogging. It gives me a few minutes before the kids get up and I feel like I'm on the go. Speaking of which, my son and daughter have woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual, so here I go again!