Our Little Soccer Star

So after a few practices and not a lot of optimism as to their chances, the Decatur City U5-8 soccer team took the field for their first soccer game on Saturday, April 9th. The teams play 3-on-3 which worked out since the "Sharks" only had 3 players show up. The players played hard, ran around and were in good spirits for 4-eight minute quarters. Goals were scored and fun was had as the tired players shook hands after the match. All were winners as the score was not kept and even the rookie assistant coach was pleased  with the effort afforded the team. It was a fun outing for families, the kids enjoyed the play and are looking forward to the next game this Tuesday. Below are a few pictures from the event.

Ryan before the game.

Ryan with assistant coach Daddy.

Ryan with the goal kick.

Get the ball, Ryan!

Defense, Defense!

You tell 'um, coach!

Ryan and the Soccer Ball

Ryan is now officially part of the youth soccer movement in the US. His first practice was last week and he did better than we expected. He is not the fastest player on the team, but he keeps on trying. He remembers what the coach says and, for the most part, does what he is supposed to do. Luckily, the coach is more focused on fun and lets the kids play. He is encouraging and supportive while teaching them how to play according to the rules. 

Ryan has become frustrated a few times since he is so competitive and we have had to tell him not to growl at the other players, but he gives it his all even in the running drills when he is last most of the time, he doesn't give up. We are proud of the little bugger even though the team will probably not win much this year.

Watch out ...

This morning I took Ryan to school in the new car, and there was a seemingly new lady there to get him out. He waited a short moment for her to "get" him out frontways, but then said, Wait, I got this." and turned around to come out feet first. He quickly looked back to see the lady a little too close and he said, "Watch out ... Here comes the bootie!"

Watch out ...

This morning I took Ryan to school in the new car, and there was a seemingly new lady there to get him out. He waited a short moment for her to "get" him out frontways, but then said, Wait, I got this." and turned around to come out feet first. He quickly looked back to see the lady a little too close and he said, "Watch out ... Here comes the bootie!"

Little Green Car (1997 - 2011)

We are gathered here today to pay our respects to the car known fondly as the Little Green Car. Those of us who knew this 1997 Honda Civic DX well, thought her more of a friend than a mode of transportation. Now that her title has been transferred, we remember the many miles and many good times spent with the little lady...

Hey, who cares, WE GOT A NEW CAR!!! 

With the coming demise of the '97 Civic due to age and environmental exposure (i.e. flooding), we decided to take advantage of the special deals Honda was running to secure our driving future for a few more years. This is a 2011 Honda Civic LX and we felt a little like we were stealing it based on all of the features for the price. Of course Cathy has offered to "let" me drive the Saturn now, but I'm sure we will "share" the new ride. The kids have taken to it quickly with Ryan coining the name for the new car (he coined the term little green car as well). I would like to introduce everyone to "the little grey big black car". I have no idea where he came up with that either!

My Car has a Tapeworm?

So as we are turning into the carport after a trip to our favorite grocery store, we see a strange feathery looking thing sticking out of the tailpipe of my Honda Civic. We debate on hair, feather or other for a few minutes before taking a closer look. My first though is a peacock has crawled into the tailpipe to get away from a fox hunting it through the underbrush. Cathy thinks it looks like synthetic hair. Ok, so maybe some kids have played a prank and pushed a wig into my tailpipe. I get a pair of pliers from the toolbox (I'm not touching that thing!) and pull it out. To our surprise we pull out over six feet of what looks like synthetic hair. One end of the mess looks like it may have been in the muffler itself so if someone pushed it in there, they used a long stick. Another thought since I am not a car aficionado, is there this type of wadding in the muffler acting to mute the sound a bit which may have come out accidently?

Trying to Keep Up

Things have been pretty quiet on the homefront lately. We have been plowing through Girl Scout Cookie Sales with Ashley pretty close to reaching the goal set for the troop this year. The money raised will be used to send the girls to New York, so we have been selling like used car salesmen to reduce our out of pocket when the trip come up. Sounds like a great opportunity that we don't want her to miss.

We are still in the same house with several options in front of us. We have decided we do not want to commit to either another rental house or to buying until the tenure decision has been finalized.  We should know something in mid-May. So for now, when a storm brews, such as last night, I put on the rain gear and act as the human sieve down by the drainage pipes. Last night's storm brought winds gusting to around 40-50 MPH and a period of intense rain which did fill up the small drainage basin rapidly. Luckily the downpour lasted only about 5 minutes and I had spent much time removing pine straw and leaves a couple of days earlier. We should be out of the house before fall, so hopefully there will be no more big storms (like Thanksgiving or New Year's) before then.

Ashley's recital will be coming up in May as well and this year they are staging Tinkerbell. Ashley will be a beach fairy for one number and I' m not sure about the other two, but she should be good. The costumes have started to come in and they are the typical little girl gaudy type. Ryan is cruising along as always as the cute, funny little boy who can turn it on and off in a flash. He is quite the romeo still with as many as 3 girlfriends each day in class. Speaking of such, Ashley has starting creeping in on that age as well. We were eavesdropping on her phone call with a friend as they were talking about whether Ashley "liked" a boy. I just can't wait for the whole boy thing to get rolling. I guess I should start my collection of exotic weapons already!

Oh well, work calls, so until next time, keep the future in front of you.