Sporting

Emily had an excellent soccer season in the fall and showed fits and spurts of being really good.  At the end of the season, her travel coach suggested that we consider putting her with a premier soccer club for the winter session (the regional club in our area is called Sporting).  Premier soccer clubs are more European-style, with an intense focus on balls skills and touches, and less focus on telling the kids what to do while they are playing in the game (which is more of the traditional travel experience, Emily's current coach notwithstanding).  I spoke with the head of Sporting and he advised me that while they usually require a tryout and skills assessment, the recommendation of Emily's coach (who is also a coach with the premier club) was more than enough, and he invited her to play on the team.  The time commitment is significant - she is already on the travel team and now double rosters with the premier team.  Lee and I discussed the pros and cons and then sat Emily down and explained her options and the amount of time she will playing soccer over the winter.  Her response: "I want to do it.  I want to be a great athlete."  So we let her play.  She currently practices three nights a week and plays two or three indoor games each weekend.  She is certainly not the best player on this premier team, but when she wants to be (read: when she's focused), she is solidly in the middle of the pack.  More importantly, she's learning a lot, which really is the goal.
This is new and scary territory for us as parents.  We don't know if she will burn out or get injured, or if we are developing the next Brandi Chastain.  Reality is probably somewhere in the middle, so we are going to see what happens and continue to support her as long as she enjoys playing.

 

Emily always wears her trademark braids and hot pink mouthguard.  She's easy to spot in games.

Cloverisms

- "I did not wake Elizabeth up.  I just turned on the light.  It's not my fault she woke up, that's her problem."  Ahhh, sisterly love.
- "I like everything about the colonial days better than today.  Except for chamber pots.  I'm glad we don't have chamber pots."  Elizabeth thinks she's better suited for the colonial times than today.
- "I want to look beautiful for Jesus," said Elizabeth, explaining why it was taking her so long to get ready for mass on Easter.
- "Somebody needs to tell the captain to turn this boat around!" said Emily, after one particularly enormous swell on our whale watch.
- "If we only see one whale, it's going to be a real bummer," same kid, calmer seas.
- "The smell of your cookies makes me smile."  Love that kid.
- "After I have my lasik surgery, I'm going probably going to become a sniper.  That's my opportunity of the month.  I'm also thinking about being a marine biologist."  The sky is the limit for Elizabeth.
- "I'm like Goldilocks - my toast can't be over-cooked or under-cooked, it has to be juuuusssttt right."  That's our princess Emily.
- "Are people going to be quiet, or what?" asked Emily, while we were at a children's theater production at the Bushnell.
- "Doesn't this church have a cry room?" asked Emily at Christmas Eve mass.  When I told her that it did, she followed up with "why aren't people using it then?"  She does not like to be disturbed.
- "There are many chinks in Daddy's armor," said Elizabeth, describing what a pushover Lee is.
- "I feel bad for the Patriots and the Seahawks because they are missing Katy Perry's halftime show."
- "I want to be a marine biologist.  Or a botanist.  But if I can't be either of those professions, I want to be a scientist that works with DNA.  So I can make bird people.  You know, people with wings."  Sometimes, I don't know if I should be scared or in awe of Elizabeth.
- "You can't move out.  Who would get us library books?"  In a fit of cabin fever, I threatened to leave if the girls didn't stop driving me crazy; Elizabeth reminded me of the utility that I bring to the family.
- "I have no desire to go to Flight [trampoline park]. I have far too much to do in life." I have never let the girls go on trampolines (long story), and although the latest rage is indoor trampoline parks, they will never go to one.  It seems like Elizabeth has far too many important things to in life rather than worry about becoming paralyzed on a trampoline.
- "Everyone else named actors or singers, but I said Les Stroud [from Survivorman]." At a birthday party, one of the questions asked to the girls was who they would want to be stuck on deserted island with - our girl may not be the coolest, but she's the most practical, because Les Stroud can survive in any conditions.
- "Did you notice that the lady next to us was speaking Spanish?" asked Elizabeth.  "Yes.  Could you understand her?" I replied.  "Well, she wasn't talking about colors or fruit, so no."  I guess fifth grade Spanish doesn't cover the vernacular of screaming soccer moms.

Milkshake Game

In our family, the best athletic performances are rewarded with milkshakes.  A milkshake game is a game in which the girls work particularly hard, especially given the circumstances.  It has nothing to do with scoring goals, but it has everything to do with digging deep and working to their fullest potential.  Elizabeth earned a milkshake after a really great performance in a soccer game last spring against West Hartford and ever since, Emily has been gunning for one of her own.  Although she is a talented little athlete, Emily often falls short with her effort.
After a less than mediocre performance on Saturday night, Emily had a banner soccer game yesterday afternoon.  Much to our dismay, she recently started playing goalie - while she is not particularly good, she's been practicing and works hard at it.  At Sunday's game, neither of the team goalies were available due to the holiday weekend, so Emily played the first half in net.  She didn't allow a single goal and had a couple of nice saves.  She also did a better job of distributing the ball after her saves, making nice throws to the outside and up the field.  In the second half, she played very hard on the field.  She pushed and shoved and fought for balls.  She scored two goals - one all on her own and a "shared" goal - both she and her teammate claimed they touched the ball at exactly the same time, so that they shared it.  She also had some great passes, which I really love to see.  When the game was over, she was hot and sweaty, her face all red and I said to her: "I think you've got your milkshake game."  Her grin was so huge.  Number 11 knew that she worked hard and was very proud of herself.

First half as keeper.  My anxiety far surpasses hers.  I am usually sick to my stomach the entire time that she is in net.

 Keeper.

 "Shared" goal.

Goal!

 

Happy Girl!

Milkshake Game!

January Odds and Ends

Some photos that didn't make our (very few) January posts:

Playing Hunger Games while the snow falls. Clearly, this was at the beginning of the month, as we haven't seen the grass in weeks.

With the tree gone, they are blissfully happy working at their table. 

Baxter snuggling in Emily's bed with her lambs.

5th grade greeters at the school Open House.

A girl and her dog and her book - what could be better?

Elizabeth had to dress up as a character from her book when she presented her book report - we had to borrow the Yankees had from a neighbor so that she could complete her Annabeth look.

Two Lego architecture pieces built in one day.

The pups, snuggled up nice and warm under blankets on a brutally cold January night.

Emily made this family tree for a Brownie project - it totally cracks me up.

Reading nook.

So far this winter, every fever and migraine that Emily has suffered has fallen on a weekend or day off.  We seem to have pinpointed the triggers, so we are hoping that she can hold strong for the rest of the winter.

First day of winter lacrosse clinic and Elizabeth couldn't be happier.

School Pageant

Sooooo, I apparently forgot a post somewhere along the way.  These are photos from the school Christmas concert.  Although grades pre-K through 5th participated in the concert, Emily was very sick with a migraine that night and could not make it.

5th graders

Elizabeth did a reading during the pageant.

5th graders singing

Elizabeth and two other 5th graders led the closing song of Joy to the World.

Young Authors

As part of Catholic Schools week, all of the students in the school participated in a Young Authors program.  Students in grades kindergarten through 8 wrote books during the fall, which were edited and rewritten and then "published" in January.  The program was brand new and was a lot of work for the students and teachers but was a huge success.  The entire school project culminated in a Young Authors day during Catholic Schools week - an author, Leslie Bulion, visited the school and gave two presentations to the students.  The students were encouraged to dress as a character from the book that they wrote and for the older grades, there was the much-coveted opportunity to have lunch with the author.  Eight students (two each from the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades) were selected to have lunch with the author based on the quality of their work.  From the beginning, Elizabeth had her eye on that prize and worked extremely hard on her book, both because she loves to write and also because she wanted the chance to sit down with a real author.  We were so proud of her and so happy for her when we learned that she was one of the top two 5th graders!  It was a great day for the school and a great experience for Elizabeth (and Emily too, who loved writing her book as well!).

The girls, dressed as characters from their book.  Before we knew that they would be dressing up for Young Authors day, both girls had described their characters in detail, so we had to make sure that everything worked out perfectly, including purchasing a green skirt (!) for Elizabeth to wear.

Rachel, the huntress.

The main character of Emily's book was Claire - a mermaid!

Leslie Bulion

Our winning author!

5th grade young authors!

The middle school literature teacher dressed as Mary Poppins.

The middle school math teacher (and robotics team advisor) dressed as Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games.

Elizabeth shows off her certificate!