September Soccer

Soccer season is almost half over and the girls are having a great time.  Emily loves running around and hanging out with her friends (there are two girls from her class at school on her team) and she is doing a great job on the field.  We are so happy with how hard she runs and how she is using both of her feet all of the time and not shying away from the ball.  Last year, she spent a lot of time running alongside the play but this year, she gets right in the mix.  She is making huge strides!!!

I love that she's always smiling! 

Yes, she's way over the line.  But it's still a good throw in, because no one's paying attention. 

Grammy and Grampy's dog Nestor took in last Saturday's game. 

Elizabeth is having a much different experience.  At the last minute this year, we decided to put her on the U10 travel team.  Neither Lee nor I has ever been in favor of the girls playing travel soccer, but we slowly came to realization that she needed to start playing with more dedicated kids sooner rather than later.  Her coach is amazing - patient, kind, enthusiastic, passionate - every parent loves him and the kids love him too.  Regardless of his efforts, however, unless Elizabeth starts making some dramatic improvements in the next year or so, the reality is that she probably won't even be able to make the travel team a few years from now.  These girls are good.  And fast.  And experienced.  It is really fun to watch them on the field, but they are playing on a whole different level than Elizabeth. The good news is that she is still having fun (she has a couple of good friends on the team and rides to practice with them most nights) and she is learning a lot; also, her lack of playing time doesn't seem to bother her that much. When she played in the recreational league, she hated being taken out of the game but for some reason, only playing 15-20 minutes of each 60 minute game isn't ruining the game for her, which is great.  And Lee and I are so impressed with how much improvement she has made in the last month.

 Grammy took these three awesome photos (above and two below) this weekend.

Summer Cloverisms

- "I'm glad I don't live in the ocean because there are so many predators."  Too many nature shows for Emily?
- "Every story that Grandpa tells has a moral.  Like the one about China - taste with your mouth, not with your eyes."  Elizabeth and my father like to discuss food.
- "Is there a locator chip embedded in me?  Why not?"  Someone reads too much.
- "Every time I make a wish on a wishbone, I wish to become a princess, living in a castle."  I was relieved to find out that Emily intends to invite me along.
- "I don't like to share."  She's said it before, but it still takes me by surprise.
- "Do you have any money in the stock market?" asked Elizabeth.
  "Yes."
  "A lot?"
  "All of our retirement money."
  "That makes me nervous.  What if there is another Great Depression and the stock market crashes again.  You will lose all of your money.  What will you do?"
  "I guess that Daddy and I will just have to move in with you."
   Silence.
- "I don't understand your friends.  Why don't they like kids?"  Elizabeth was very upset that she and Emily could not go to my high school reunion.
- "When daylight savings time comes in the fall, I want you to explain it to me very carefully."  Sure.  Let me look it up first.
- "The Hobbit was so good.  Like a cross between Percy Jackson and the Bible."  Hmmm.  I'm not quite sure what to think of that description. 
- "He's practicing for when a real dog or person walks by."  Emily, always the defender of Baxter, who is always barking, even when there's nothing at which to bark.
- "When I need an extra boost of speed, I turn on the O'Connor Family afterburners."  Elizabeth, explaining to me how she always seems to stay one step ahead during soccer practice.
- "I've narrowed my college choices to two.  Notre Dame and Yale."  Excellent.  Elizabeth needs to start studying and we need to start saving.

Alison's Shower

Lee's cousin Alison, who has appeared on this blog many times, is having her first baby in December.  She currently lives in Prague, but is back in New Hampshire for a two week visit, so it was the perfect time for a baby shower!  Aunt Melissa and Alison did a lovely job preparing for the shower - from adorable decorations, to the games, to the gorgeous cake.  Emily and I had a wonderful time and, as always, it was great to spend some time with all of the aunts and Grammy.

The favors were little jars of jam, Sweet Baby "O" 

Just some of the gifts.  Not sure how she is going to get all of this stuff back to Prague. 

Love the details on the cakes. 

Frosted animal crackers. 

Joint gift from Aunt Chris and Aunt Denise.  Of course, Aunt Chris had no idea that it included bibs that said "I love my Aunt Chris" and "I love my Aunt Denise more"!! 

Cute onesies! 

Emily, decorating a scrap book page. 

Alison and Ian are avid hikers and so will put this gem to good use, I'm sure! 

The Saga of the Teeth

As you can probably tell from the first day of school photos, Emily's two front teeth were very loose.  We thought that she would lose both of them before school started, but she refused to wiggle them because she thought that she wouldn't look cute if her front teeth were missing.  Of course, having them dangling and at an angle didn't exactly make her look cute either, but she refused to work on them.  Finally, after constant nagging from Lee and I, she bit into a piece of bread (crust side) and out came one of her teeth.  And lots and lots of blood, which really freaked her out.  This was the result.

Now, we couldn't just have that last tooth hanging there.  And I'm not ashamed to admit it - Lee and I told her that we heard that if you loose two teeth in the same day, the tooth fairy brings $10 (this from a tooth fairy that normally brings 50 cents!).  Not even the promise of money could get her to wiggle this last tooth - but as she was changing into her pajamas, the other tooth came flying out too.  With lots and lots of blood.  Which again, really freaked her out.  After the bleeding stopped, she checked herself out in the mirror and realized how cute she looked.  And eagerly looked forward to that $10 payoff in the morning!

Simply adorable!!

August Odds and Ends

Some odds and ends from August:

Hanging out at my office, waiting for Lee to get out of work. 

Final day of the Color Games at Camp. 

Just chillin' with Saige.

She loves ribs!!! 

Elizabeth and Caroline, in matching pajamas.

A Little Slice of Heaven

The parents of one of Lee's teammates from The Refuge have a "farm" in Rocky Hill.  It is a beautiful place in a residential area.  One side of the street is filled with high-end developments and the other side of the street has houses with large tracts of land and lots of animals.  Once he heard about how much Elizabeth loves horses, Adam graciously invited us to his parents' home to visit his horse, ducks, chickens, dogs and cats.  The girls were in heaven,  no doubt about it!!

Feeding the horse. 

Emily was more nervous, but also fed a horse. 

Look at that smile!!! 

Pretty girl....

Soccer Begins

The girls soccer season started a few weeks ago and last weekend, they each had their first game.  Elizabeth's team played a "friendly" game on Friday night and then had its first real game on Sunday afternoon, while Emily's team took part in the league jamboree, playing on Saturday morning.  They both did really well and we are very proud of their hard work at practice and in their games.

Soccer girl. 

Emily's team 

This is how she runs - bent like that.  But she's pretty darn fast.  Fast enough that it's taken us by surprise.

Going for the ball. 

When she came off of the field after playing for about six minutes, one of the dads on the sidelines told her not to be intimidated by the boys on the field.  I'm not sure what possessed him to say that (other than he has a boy on the team), as she clearly was not intimidated and it probably never occurred to her that she should be intimidated!! 

Throw in! 

 

Elizabeth is learning that play gets a little more physical as you get older.... 

Fighting for the ball (and winning the fight, see below) 

Neither feet are touching the ground. 

This kid is always smiling on the field.  She loves to play. 

After every game, the coach gives out a game ball to the hardest worker on the team.  After Sunday's big win, Elizabeth was awarded the game ball and couldn't have been happier.  Lee and I were a bit afraid that it would go to her head, but right away she said, "I'm one of the worst players on the team, but Coach gave me this because I'm working so hard to get better."  She loves her coach and even though it's only been two weeks, so do I!