10 Things

I love lists. I mean L-O-V-E lists. This list is 10 things that are NOT soccer related that I did this weekend.

Hold on.

Let me think for a minute...

...

1. Isabelle painted my nails. The jury is still out on how I feel about this.

2. I decided I should definitely start my own line of gift bags.

3. Target will carry them.

4. I have had these entrepreneurial feelings before.

5. Not much comes from these feelings except me feeling all excited and determined for a day or two.

I think my designs could also be on reusable grocery bags, pillowcases, cards, i-phones, t-shirts and coffee mugs. I may be ahead of myself here.

6. Metropolitan Market is fun to walk around in. And dangerous.

7. That's how I ended up with Butternut Squash soup.

8. Why did I get that?

9. Maria is feeling sick and I am haunted by her illness from last year. She was sick for over 2 weeks, had 2 different antibiotics, and went to the doctor's office no less than 4 times.

10. I organized my fine tip sharpies (35 of them) and my fat sharpies (24 of them). I love sharpies.

I may have also done laundry, gone grocery shopping, stopped by Old Navy, got gas (not myself, the car), shared hysterical home movies of Maria (when she was 4) with my family, celebrated my dads birthday, had Teriyaki, thought about removing the nailpolish 37 times, told Isabelle to stop juggling the soccer ball in the house 9 times, cursed the toilet for being dirty, accidentally walked into the pet store when they were having an adoptathon (I had to walk around with my eyes shut to avoid looking at the kittens), wondered what Butternut squash is like, and gotten overly excited about my brother becoming a father.

I might have had excedrin before I talked to him. And then possibly talked very quickly and maybe loudly to him. He is definitely scared of me right now. And probably happy that he lives in another state. That is very far away.

That reminds me. Can I borrow someone's baby for a few years? I totally mean hours. HOURS. Just to hold and snuggle for little teeny tiny while?

Thanks.

Uh-oh

You know you have a teenager when...

You have been driving by a hardware store called Tacoma Screw since she was 6. Only yesterday, when she saw the sign, she burst out laughing.

You say "Nuts!"- as in "shoot!"- and she says "Oh, mom speaking of nuts, this guy got hit with the ball the other day. All his friends were laughing at him".

I don't really have a response to these situations.

It makes me feel....not awesome....and a little speechless.

We are totally a soccer family!

You know you are a soccer family when...

...you have a 2 year old SUV with 85,000 miles on it.

...you know the location of every soccer field in the town, school district, county and western side of the state. And you know where the nearest Starbucks is to each one.

Someone asks how old you daughter is and you say "U-14".

You have owned every type of camping chair, water bottle and cooler imaginable.

......the floor mats in your car are never free of turf. Nor are the inside of all your shoes...the dog's bed....the corners of the house, the carpet in your kids rooms...

...your child's "good shoes" are their newest pair of cleats.

..you and your spouse spend all weekend at soccer games. In different counties. With different kids. You only communicate via text and that is to update the score. You eventually see eachother...on Sunday night.

...you spend all your "vacation time" at tournaments.

...you have never met a linesmen that could call offsides properly.

(..HEY! Is this girl flying or playing soccer? Do you think Maria tripped her with her right foot there? Maybe.)

...your daughter's team plays "aggressive", but the other team "plays dirty".

...the bulk of this blog was inspired by and directly stolen from an email I received. It rang so true, that I had to share it with all of you.

Washing the Butt

Last Sunday we had some helpers over to wash the butt. I mean BOAT. Sorry- finding Nemo still lingers in my mind. And by "boat" I mean a 10 ft. Livingston that is a million years old and doesn't work so much. Actually, it may work better on land than it does water.

See this helper? She has blond hair and came over to play with the small red head. The small red head wants to know why her belly isn't being scratched too.

Seeing a dachshund run is one of the funniest, most amazing things EVER. This is called "full flight" mode.

Annie- the dachshund- seems to want to lick Maisy's eye here. Hmmm...I'm going to have to have a conversation with her about appropriate dog behavior.

Izzy takes command of the power washer. At some point she may or may not have been writing her name on the boat with the power washer. Morrie MIGHT have taught her to do this when she was little (how did "Izzy" get written on the fence??).

Who is this little troublemaker? He might have been running the whole show. Or at least we were all in the palm of his tiny little dictator hand.

Nephews. So cute. I need to go get me a little baby. The neighbor has one. Don't worry- she already knows I am in love with her little girls. Too much they remind me of 2 big girls I know. I think I need a cup of sugar. I may be out. Let me go check with the neighbor...

Smell the Fall Season!

The fall soccer season is upon us and we opened up last weekend with some great sunshine and great soccer. This poor yellow team came up all the way from Vancouver to get beat 3-0. I love this shot of Izzy (in blue).
This is Isabelle's favorite move, she does it almost every time she gets the ball.

Oh, hey! Watch out! Stop slamming into my kid!

Isabelle was shielding the ball pretty good here...yeah, I would definitely say that girl in yellow has no chance to getting to the ball.

Holy Leg Muscles Batman!

Isabelle plays right back and most of the time when she has the ball, she passes up to the right winger, and runs up the outside, overlapping with that person. It is a perfect "give and go" move. After several times of doing this, a girl on the other team finally yelled "Watch her! She goes on the outside every time!". It was kind of funny.

I don't totally know what is happening in this picture. You are welcome to provide your own guess.

Oops!

Sigh.

For those of you that get the email notification whenever there is a new post, I have to apologize. I was just typing something up and meant to hit "save" and work on it later and I accidently hit "publish". Darnit!

I quickly pulled it off, but some of you still got an email that shows a post of pictures and no words. Sorry! Still under contruction. Check back later!

Things You Normally Miss

The final tournament has come and gone. I got to thinking... you all may have overdosed on my soccer pictures and what could I do to keep you entertained? I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the pictures that wouldn't normally make it- and skip all the rest. Sound good?

Hey! Who allowed Isabelle to get THIS TALL?? Number 47 can just back off the growth hormone.

You don't see coaches carrying their 13 year old players. We worry about slipped discs and all that. Stop it coach!

You sure as heck wouldn't normally see Maria in goal. Who allowed that to happen?

Ummm...Wheelchairs freak me out. Please un-inflame you ankle and stop making me worry about you! By Isabelle's 4th game, they were OUT of subs. Clean out. Isabelle was fine and a week later, everyone else is actually fine as well. You definitely don't see players pushing around their friends in wheelchairs. The girls even wanted this girl to be captain so they could wheel her out to the middle before the game, but she declined.

Pony tails that stand stright up? You saw it here first! HEY! Get your arm out of my kids ribcage!

Hello? Isabelle? What are you doing?

Oh...I see. The ball rolled under that thingy and since Izzy is the Thrower-Inner, she had to go get it. If it was me, I know I would have been swearing up a storm as I watched the ball roll under there. "Don't go...DANGIT!"

The U11's are watching their sisters play. Do you think they are

1) Saying "He was like...and then I was like...and she was like, and then...and then..."

2) "Did you see that girl pushing from behind? I think that was a yellow card"

3) "Who thinks they can get some money from their parents so we can go buy some candy??"

We survived all 8 games in 3 days last weekend. By Sunday we were comatose. The girls had a great weekend and between the two teams, scored 24 goals. Not too shabby. I only had 2 small heart attacks as I ran between 2 of the games that were at the same time.

Then, I borrowed the wheelchair and felt much better.

Inspiration

My newest place to find inspiration comes from the Sharpie online gallery. I loooove it!

http://showcase.sharpieuncapped.com/pages/showgallery/7400/media/all/created_desc

Anyone can upload any type of drawing they want and these are my current favorites! I think they look a lot like the kind of artwork I do. Or could do.

I mean, I WILL do some like it.

Soon.

Maybe next week.

Or the week after.


You know what's coming, don't you? VOTING! That one up there is #1.


Number 2 is this fine line beauty.

Number 3 is the colorful bubbles.

Number 4 is the swirly whirlies.

Number 5 is the perfection of perfection line drawing.

Thought I was done?

I thought that since I spent the night last night with my heart cracking wide open, that I would do my best to crack yours as well. Misery loves company you know. Let's wander down memory lane for a moment...



Morrie is reading Laura Ingalls Wilder to Isabelle. We read to her every night from the time she was a wee little lassie (she was born in Ireland you know).



Okay, she just looks like she was born in Ireland.




"Mom...get outta here. It's my first day of Vacation Bible School. I don't know anyone. Wait...hold my hand...don't leave. Just stop taking pictures for Christ's sake!"

SHUT UP! She is four and holding a kitten. I am DYING here people. (yes, that is a tattoo on her arm). My heart is now the consistency of a gummy bear.

DONE. I am DONE. I can't take it anymore.

You thought I was done, didn't you? I know you did.

You should have known better.

Isabelle writing in her brand new journal she just opened for her 5th birthday.

Two old ladies sharing a recliner:

Oh. My. God. So Delicious!

Let's just stay with this one for a moment, shall we?

I can't take it! The sandles, the toes! The sunglasses! The hugging! (click on the picture to see it bigger).

Morrie really hates it when I do this. You all think I am bad? I am nothing compared to him. He probably won't even read this post. When we have grandkids we are never going to give them back.

Where did Summer go? Where did my babies go?

Now don't get me wrong, I looove summer. I actually would prefer to live somewhere that has a low temperature of 60 degrees. I love wearing tank tops, eating popsicles and jumping in the lake because it's so darn hot.

BUT...September rolls around, the school supplies get sorted, the uniforms get ironed and the kids go off to school. I start thinking about the leaves changing colors, a nice warm fire in the wood stove, backpacks laying on the floor with art projects spilling out of them. I love it! I love the decorations for Halloween, and then we're busy checking things off Maria's birthday list, and before you know it we are hearing Christmas carols and sitting around a table with 14 family members.

I think this year our family has a lot to be thankful for come Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had probably the Worst Christmas Ever last year - 10 people with the flu by December 26th and most of January spent in Vermont helping my brother recover from lung surgery due to the flu- and I know for sure that it's not going to take too much for me to be pleased with the holiday season this year. A little smile here, a little trinket there. A little ham dinner here, and a little twice baked potato there. A little holiday music here and a new christmas ornament there. Yup, it's going to be pretty great this year.

Oh, and there is a new baby on the way over in Michigan, which we are all very excited about. I think nothing makes me happier than shopping for squishy soft stuffed animals,teeny tiny sleepers with wee little snaps, board books and baby cards. Sigh...

Where did my babies go??

Hello?? Are you there??

Sigh...

Nope, they have gone.

Now I have big girls. We talk about deoderant, nail polish, texting, Lady Gaga, good sportsmanship, and lots of other big words that make me all sad for the days when "spaghetti" and "toothpaste" were hard to say.

Summer is coming to an end, and my youngest is going to be Double Ones this fall. That's ELEVEN for those of you that don't remember how cool it is to be Double Ones. Sigh...I got dangley earrings and a boom box when I turned 11. It was awesome. I also got a Billy Ocean tape. After listening to it 653 times, it wasn't so awesome anymore.

Does anyone else wonder how a post about fall turned into me missing my babies? I want them 2 and 4 years old and in my pocket so I can carry them around with me wherever I go. I have to go look at some pictures now.

And then crawl under my blankets and cry a little.

Your Vote!

Number 1:

I have 3 car drawings for you to vote on. I do recommend that you click on each picture to see the full detail as some of the pictures are not that great.


Number 2:

Number 3:

Whichever one wins will be the drawing you find on your car some unexpected morning.

Whichever one wins will be the only one I recreate on Morrie's car. Instead of "FC Alliance" , it will say "Morrie's Ride".

Whichever one wins will make no difference in my future career as a car window painter.

Who am I kidding, car window painters are not in demand in this economy!

I just like to drive around with my windows painted because it sends a clear message of "This driver can paint windows way better than you ever will".

I might be competitive like that. Maybe.

Possibly.