He Shoots; He Scores!

The weekend before last was highly eventful for us.  One of the major highlights being the twins' Saturday morning soccer game.  (Oh yeah, Landon and Callie are playing soccer.  =)  So many things to blog about, so little time!)  James was at the ranch so I was especially glad I had taken the camera with me.  It's kind of funny, practice is at Himmel Park, only about 7 minutes from our house, but the location of the games is at least half an hour away!  Consequently, we're usually blazing in at the last minute.  That weekend, we were about 7 minutes late, although I'm still just going to be proud of myself for getting 5 kids out the door before 8:00.  (Neither of the girls had their hair done and Wyatt was still in his jammies, but we were out the door!)

Landon wasn't so eager to go when I told him where the game was.  "The one with the playground?  No!"  Callie was the first to sight the hot air balloon in the distance to watch as we drove, so that was a great distraction.  No further protests until we got closer to the park, and even then they were pretty feeble.

Landon went in on the first changeover.  And, lo and behold, he scored!  For the other team.  =)  But it was great because it reminded me I had the camera.  So I whipped it out and not even five minutes later he scored again!  His first goal for the Superheroes!

He came close to scoring for the second time shortly thereafter, but just missed.  However, another teammate, Felipe, was able to score for the first time as well.

This video makes me proud - watch the amazing zoom in and out!  (Yes, I'll practice in the weeks to come.) It also cracks me up!  Callie just walks off the field.  Twice!  Love that girl!

Another near-miss on Landon's part.  For some reason, he picks the ball up at 0:27.  I think they may have had a slight injury time-out.  He's so funny walking around with the ball.  (No, I'm not ignoring Wyatt.)

Landon's second goal!  Not so proud of this video.  I kept going back and forth between watching the game on the screen and watching live action and I forgot I was filming.  =(  But he really did score again!

Callie gets in a couple of kicks on this one.  My favorite is at 1:22 when the other team is bringing it in and she kicks it right back out!  (Trevy kept torturing Timmy with her blanket and Wyatt wanted breakfast, so zooming in and out was more than I could accomplish.)

Landon scored another goal this past weekend.  Unfortunately, both of the little boys woke up with stuffy noses and coughs - Timmy had a rough night altogether - so I stayed home with them and Trevy and James took the twins by himself.  Glad Bridgette and Daniel were able to attend.

Here's the footage from that game.

And this is a great interview with Landon!

These are from the practice right before Landon scored his first goals.

Everyone attempting to run in a straight line behind Coach Lole.  

Callie, focusing with her thumb.  =)

But she really did do a good job trapping the ball!

Probably one of the best on the team at that!

Water break!

Believe it or not, we were right on time for practice that night.  We took a picnic dinner of pizza rolls.  So good and so easy to make!  (Just roll out your pizza dough and add toppings.  Don't add sauce or they will be squishy.  The kids love dipping them!)

Yummy pizza rolls!  (I tried to hide the bell peppers in these.  No such luck.)

Somebody was a wee bit tired...

 ...And more than a wee bit cute!

Gorgeous sunset!

Missa went with us.  Her first time getting to watch the kids in action!

These are from previous weeks.

Spacing themselves out to warm up.

Stretching.

Timmy had a really hard time staying off the field during the first few practices.  =)

So we had to hang him upside down!

 And tickle the sillies out!

Note Callie making a fashion statement even while learning to play soccer.

(Yes, that would be a T-shirt over a dress!)

He's so cute!  They didn't need all the balls all the time.

Done with his practice.  Ever the ingenious spectator!

 This was the one shot I have of the first game.

It's been fun to watch how far the kids have come in just one month of games.  The first game, I don't think the kids had much clue what they were doing beyond, "Kick the ball!"  Landon lost it when it was his turn to come out.  I think he thought he wasn't doing a good enough job or that he was in trouble.  We had to discuss that during the week, but he caught on that games are different from practice and not everyone gets to stay on the field all the time.

The following week, they all got the idea of taking turns and a little bit more of, "Kick it in the goal."  Which goal?  Well, obviously the one closest!  Now they're understanding more that each team has a goal, that they have a team and don't need to try to kick the ball away from each other (although we could definitely work more on that one).  It never ceases to amaze me what little sponges these little people are!  They learn so fast!  Already excited about the game this weekend!