Nathan's Soccer Season

Nathan just loves his fall soccer team, the Night Wolves. He and his best friend Drew have played 3 seasons with this team. When we first signed them up, we had no idea what team we would get on. We just wanted the boys to be together. We completely lucked out! The coach and his family are so positive and caring. And even though none of the boys knew each other from school (except Nathan and Drew), they just clicked! They have become really good too and have made it to the playoffs the last two times. Last year they were 2nd place. This year the playoffs were when Charlotte and I were in Springfield. The first game of the playoffs went into 2 overtimes and then came down to penalty kicks. Wayne was texting me updates while we were at Silver Dollar City. Nathan was goalie because he is the best. He dives for the balls and can kick it all the way to the other side of the field. It really is amazing to watch how amazing he is. And I love hearing everyone around us make comments about what a great kick that was or they can't believe he blocked that goal. So Wayne said when it came to the penalty kicks, he was nervous for him. He had never done this before. Each team got five chances to score a goal. Nathan's team scored 2 but  now it was time for Nathan to try to block the other teams five goals. Wayne said it looked so intimidating to see just Nathan in the net and a line of 5 players waiting to try to score on him. And all they needed was 3 goals to win. Well Nathan blocked all except 1! Wayne said they were all cheering for him and that he was pretty much the hero of the game. So now they play in the final game the next day.  As I'm driving home from Springfield, Wayne is filling me in. They were up 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the game. Everyone was excited and feeling good. Nathan was goalie the first half and did an amazing job not letting anyone score. Usually the 2nd half is when Nathan switches to actually playing offense, but his coach asked him to stay in as goalie the 2nd half as well. Since he's the best, he said sure and was happy to do it. Once I got into town, Wayne texted that there was 2 minutes left and still 2-0 us. We were going to win! Then he called me and said somehow the other team scored 3 goals at the very end. I just wanted to cry for Nathan and was so glad I wasn't there because I would have been heartbroken for him. Wayne said when the 3rd goal was scored, Nathan just hung his head. The game was over and they lost the championship for the 2nd time, and Nathan felt like it was his fault. It was really hard for him for a while after that. He said he kept replaying the game and just couldn't understand how he missed the goals. We reassured him that his team would not have gotten this far or even had a chance to win the championship if it hadn't been for him. He just loves his team and felt so guilty. But I loved that the coach and all the boys went over to hug him and no one blamed him. He can't wait for payback this next season!

Springfield Visit

Our trip to Springfield was a last minute decision. Mom and Dad were going to go visit because they haven't been there in a while and Aunt Mona wanted to celebrate Daddy's birthday. Carrie and Pearce decided to go also. At first we weren't going to go because Nathan's soccer team made it to the playoffs and their last playoff games were going to be that weekend. Nathan is the goalie and is so good so he did not want to miss. But then I thought Charlotte and I could just go. Wayne was fine with the two of us going as long as Nathan didn't feel out. He was so excited about his games and thought it would be fun to have a weekend just with Daddy. And Charlotte and I thought it would be fun to have a little road trip just the two of us. We left school early that Friday and had so much fun together. It's a long drive, but Charlotte is the best traveler. It was fun for her to have the whole backseat to herself! She kept me company by talking to me for about the first hour and then pretty much slept the rest of the way! We got there in time to meet everyone for dinner and then had fun at the hotel with Carrie and Pearce. It was kind of nice for the two of them to have some bonding time since Pearce is pretty much obsessed with Nay Nay. The two of them swam that night and then the next day we headed to Silver Dollar City with Aunt Lisa and her boyfriend, Victoria and her boyfriend. Silver Dollar City brought back so many memories because Grandma and Grandpa always took us when we were little. Our favorite ride was Fire in the Hole and the kids loved it too. Silver Dollar City is still pretty much the way I remember it, but they've added so many new rides! And big rides too! While we were there, Wayne kept giving me updates on Nathan's game. It was a nail biter, but I'll do a separate post on that. After Silver Dollar City, we went back to the hotel to change and then headed to Aunt Mona's house for a fabulous dinner. It was so great to see everyone and get caught up and look at old pictures and tell stories. I'm so glad we went!

Mother Son Night at Main Event

I always look forward to this event! PTA organizes it so Main Event is taken over with moms and sons from Hicks. I think the moms have just as much fun as the boys! All of Nathan's friends were there so he kind of took off and left me at the beginning then we had a mom vs son laser tag competition. This was fun because us moms have no idea what we're doing and the boys have played laser tag hundreds of times. The score was something like 2000 to 50...boys won! I hung out with Nathan for a little while after that but pretty soon all the moms were at the bar while the boys played games so I joined them, ha! It was also fun to see my students there. I got so many hugs from my sweet boys from this year and last year. They are my babies too :)

Charlotte's Music Program

Charlotte's first grade class had a music program called The Barnyard Moosical. Each class was assigned a different farm animal. Charlotte's class was a group of chickens. Mama, Papa, and Grandmother came also to see our little chicken perform. Of course she was cute. Afterwards we went to Orange Leaf for a celebration yogurt :)