Easter, Soccer, T-Ball and Talking 2014

We were home from Florida and it was Friday night and we were cheering on Little Man playing soccer.  When the game ended, we began making plans to head out for dinner, probably Chips and Salsa, our favorite restaurant, then Little Man walked up to us holding a bag of treats.  We quickly popped into confused panic parent mode, asking “where did you get this?”, “Who handed this to you?” and “Are we suppose to pay someone for this?” Our confusion was cleared up when one of the soccer moms explained that they had done this with the outdoor games and now were just continuing the tradition.  We were overjoyed knowing that Little Man was now on such a good soccer team with parents that helped make the kids have as much fun and enjoyment as possible.

As his soccer season progressed, I continued to head out on the field for practices to keep Little Man paying attention and out of the tickle fights that he always seemed to get involved with.  Then during the games I would head to the other side of the field so he could hear me.  Mommy did her best trying to juggle watching practice or the games, watch Hope and talk with the other soccer moms.  As usual it wasn’t long before she had struck up a friendship with the other moms and I got to know some of the other dads, who also had trouble sitting on the sidelines.  Little Man also became quick friends with one of his teammates, Noah.  As it all turned out Noah’s mom and dad were the ones we were talking with, and with us staying after the games and talking while the kids rummaged through their treat bags, I soon realized that we were officially soccer parents and Mommy was no longer just Mommy. We walked in with the treat bags, I had to laugh and call her a soccer mom.  Mommy just looked, smiled, and said “I know, isn’t it great.” 

Mommy soon found out that Noah’s parents were the commissioners for the outdoor league.  Mommy also found out that they were looking for coaches and in true Mommy fashion, she nominated me.  I had to laugh with my crazy schedule?  I truly did want to do this, so thinking quickly, I told Mommy the only way was for her to become an assistant coach.  “I don’t know anything about soccer!” was her response, I quickly reminded her that I wrestled, bike raced, played football and baseball but was never on a soccer field.  I then needed to not only watch that Little Man was paying attention at practice but I also needed to learn how to run a soccer practice.

With both Little Man and Daddy being out on the soccer field, it was only a matter of time that Hopey made her way out on the field.  We have had to work with Little Man and being aggressive in getting the ball, a

problem we will not have with Hopey.  Her personality is starting to show threw, even though we don’t know what she is saying just yet, her expressions tell it all.  Hopey will tell you when she is mad at you, when she is happy with you and sometimes she just has a story to tell you.  Hopey has developed a few nicknames already at first she was called “Hoover”, since everything went right in her mouth, and then came “Beast”, since she was into everything.  After throwing food on the floor one too many times I started calling her “Baboon”. I have even offered to trade her in for a baboon out at Brookfield.  Little Man defends his sister and won’t let me trade her in for a Baboon and also tells me that she is not a baboon.  We have to laugh that when Hopey pulls her brother’s hair and we put her in her crib for punishment Little Man defends her and asks us not to punish her.

Before long, the end of the indoor soccer season was upon us.  We made plans with the other parents to take the kids to Tyler’s Tender, after their last game.  Little Man spent the night playing games with his team mates and Hopey had fun running around keeping the boys in line.  We had a great time that night and I wish he could have played with that team longer.   Now it wasn’t long before the first outdoor practice with me as the coach.  I asked Little Man several times what he thought about having Dad as a coach and I was met with mixed reviews; Mom finally told me I needed to stop asking since it was happening.

I was a nervous wreck before the first practice, my stomach was in knots.  The kids showed up, my nerves went away and I had a great time despite the cold weather.  Little Man even told me, I did a good job after the first practice.  The two best explanations of coaching U6 soccer are “It’s like holding Jell-O in your hand.” And the other “It’s like herding cats.”  Somehow we made it through the first practices and with a little help from my t-shirt; we nicknamed the team, Yellow Minions.  Things were good with the team now all we had to face was that first game against the Black Panthers, the team that included many of Little Man’s former teammates.

I made it through two practices, naming the team, practice schedules, names on the back of the Jersey’s and the all important snack schedule, now all we needed to do was play the first game.  Once again, I found my stomach in knots before the first game but as soon as we kicked off, they all went away and I had the time of my life.  I was running up and down the field smiling the whole time until Little Vinnie on the Black team cut behind me and down I went.  I jumped up asked Vinnie how he was doing and he just yelled “YOU TRIPPED ME!”  I just told him to go and play, now hopefully nobody puts that on you tube.  Outside of the one trip, the game went well and I could only hope the kids had as much fun as the coach did.  Once again I asked Little Man how Coach Daddy did and he said,”Good”.  Coach Mommy also found a great roll as bench coach she was very good at herding the cats on the bench.

We did move our first game up a couple of days since the Easter Bunny was coming to Tyler’s Tender the day we were supposed to play our first game.  Little Man and Hopey actually got to meet the Easter Bunny twice at Tyler’s Tender, Little Man had no problem with the Easter Bunny but Hopey wasn’t too sure of him but she did know she loved the suckers he had.  First, she didn’t like Santa, then Minnie Mouse and now the Easter Bunny. Hopefully she will be okay with them next time she sees them.  The kids had a great time at Tyler’s Tender and they were not alone, the first day Mr. and Mrs. Mongo came and so did Auntie GiGi.  The next time Grandma Vicki and Great Grandma C joined us but somehow I always seem to have to work.  I missed the Easter Bunny the first time but I was able to see him right before he left the second time.

The day of the Dyer Easter Egg Hunt was just about perfect.  We met one of Jame’s soccer friends at the crowded park for the hunt.  This was the first year we were going to split up between the kids; Hopey was in the younger group on the tennis courts and Little Man was in the softball field.  Mommy, Auntie GiGi and Grandma Vicki went with Hopey.  I went with Little Man and his soccer friend Noah and his dad Adam.  We sat waiting for the horn Noah and Little Man played a bit, acted silly putting their Easter Baskets on their heads and suddenly and without a horn the kids all started to run for the eggs. Little Man looked at me for approval and I yelled “GO!”  He took off quickly grabbed his prize egg and started filling his bucket with candy.  It was not long before the locust of kids had covered the field and grabbed all the candy.  As Little Man and I looked one last time to see if there was any more candy left a photographer came up to me and asked Little Mans name and age and said that she was from the newspaper.  We headed back over, redeemed our prize egg for a toy that they were giving away and then found Adam and Noah again to sit and wait to see if we would win an Easter Basket.  The kids played while we did our best to talk in between the numbers being called out.  Little Man’s number was called and he won an Easter Basket.  We then made our way to find the girls; we stayed and played at the park on a beautiful day.  The kids played until we got hungry and it was off to our favorite restaurant, Chips and Salsa.  I got to hear about how Hopey did on her egg hunt, she was more into helping the other kids get candy in their Easter Baskets.  In years to come, I think Hopey will be the kid to beat as she gathers up the most candy.

Last year, at the last minute, we headed to an Egg Drop; we had so much fun, we decided to do it again this year.  We loaded up the kids with Auntie GiGi and headed out to the egg drop. When we got close to the fairgrounds, there was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking area.  I thought we might be late but we got in and even had time for Little Man to bounce in a few bounce houses, we kept Hopey out with all the kids inside, it seemed a bit dangerous for her even though she is one tough cookie.  We waited in line after line for Little Man to bounce in different bounce houses; I couldn’t help but think about our bounce house sitting at home in the garage with no line.  We headed over to get a good spot for the egg hunt, once again Little Man and Hopey in two different sections.  We had just gotten our spot picked out when Auntie Wendy and Bailey joined us for the hunt.  We had a great plan for the hunt of who would go with which kid and what kid would take what basket and I even had extra plastic bags in my pocket for when the bags overflowed.  They have so many eggs sitting out it’s hard to even take a step without touching one.  Suddenly and without warning, the horn sounded early and our best laid plans went out the window.  Once again, I found myself yelling, “GO!”  Little Man and I took off one way, Mommy and Hopey another way and Auntie Wendy and Bailey another way.  Auntie GiGi did her best to keep track of all of us.  The kids had a great time until what I call the kid locust comes threw and all the eggs are picked up.  We went through all the eggs and no luck again, this year no bike, too bad because Little Man needs an upgrade on his.

We made our way from the Egg Hunt to the Egg Drop area as did hundreds of other people.  Mass confusion met us and the officials wanted the kids in an area and the parents in another area.  I thought I was helping when I lifted both Little Man and Bailey over a snow fence to get to the area they needed to be, I was wrong.  We soon discovered that I had put them into the older kids area; I made my way to get them from that area to the area that they needed to be in and I was met by several guys who didn’t want me there; I did my best to explain the situation and at one point, I remember thinking I need to get to them and off I went.  I heard them yell they were going to call security and I thought good, they can help me find them in this sea of older kids.  After I made my way around to the other side of the drop I called Auntie Wendy and she guided me right to them.  Luckily, I got them out of there before the security showed up.  I had a great time sitting there with Little Man and Bailey before the helicopter arrived, there was no way I was going to leave them now that I had found them.  The rumble started in the sky and two helicopters were buzzing overhead.  At first the kids were awe struck by the helicopter overhead and then they were excited as it dropped its candy but soon after they were looking for a place to hide their heads as the helicopter got a bit low and stirred up all the leaves on the ground.  The helicopter was barely away when I yelled my theme

word for Easter, “GO!”  The kids were off and picking up as much candy as they could find and I swiveled my head back and forth trying to keep an eye on both of them.  I had told them where to meet if they got lost but luckily we did not need to meet there.  We had a great time and their baskets were filled with candy but our stomachs were empty so we naturally made our way to Chips and Salsa.  We were met by a good representation of Auntie Wendy’s family and we ate and shared the stories of our morning adventures.

When Easter morning arrived we had already decided that heading to church may be a bit much remembering what happened on Christmas Eve.  What we found on Easter Morning had us guessing if we had made the right decision or not.  There was a basket for Hopey but not a basket for Little Man; instead there was a green egg with string attached to it.  We followed the string all around the house, up and down the hall, even outside all the way to their play area and back again.  The string led us into the little pup tent the kids had in the front room.  Little Man dove right into the tent and there under a blanket was his Easter Basket.  The smiles and the fun we had that morning still warms my heart.

We spent the rest of Easter day with family and friends over and some Skype time with Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick, who now live in Gackle, North Dakota.  Easter was once again a great time for all of us and it should be interesting to see what the Easter Bunny has planned for us next year.

As usual, this has taken me a lot longer to write this and things aren’t slowing down for us.  Little Man has finished his first year of preschool and they sent home a wonderful book with his projects in it.  My schedule allowed me to go to his class picnic and the kids had a great time playing at the park; they were not interested in eating at the picnic.  The soccer season is close to an end, only two more games and probably by the time I post this there will only be one game left, it is bittersweet. I will miss all the kids on the team; I have really enjoyed coaching them this season.  Little Man is going to play T ball this summer and he has already started bowling again.  I’m not sure how we are going to handle it when Hopey starts all of this as well, she continues to crack us up as she is talking to us but we just don’t understand much of what she says yet. 

Hopey is very adventurous and has become a bit of an escape artist getting out of the house without anyone noticing.  Luckily when Hopey does get out, she likes to run over to the play area.  She loves to climb into Little Man’s jeep with him but she does not like to drive herself; when she gets in the jeep alone, she will sit in the passenger seat.  She will press the accelerator but she doesn’t steer, it’s quite funny to watch her sit there until the jeep crashes.  Hopey does say some words very clearly.  Her favorite word by far is Jame. They truly have a love for one another and a very special bond. She does say many other things but the words would not be clear to anyone else. For instance, all gone, is all g and thank you is more like tank ya.

As always, I waited too long to post and needed to add to it.  The soccer season has ended, our last game played, and all that is left is the end of the season party.  I’m going to miss all the kids and their personalities.  Jame did well and once we discovered that he was motivated by toys from the dollar store, he really started to play hard.  In total he scored about five goals, not bad.  I got excited every time a new kid scored a goal, most of the kids scored goals only about three of them didn’t.  Some of them worked really hard to get a goal and it was so exhilarating for me.  I have truly been bit by the coaching bug.   

Both the kids are growing so fast and amazing me every day.  I swear not only do they grow when I’m gone sometimes but they also learn new things.  Easter, Soccer, Bowling, T-Ball, singing, babbling, laughing, sneaking out of the house; our lives are wonderfully busy these days.

Update-
Grandma Rosie took the yarn that lead Little Man to his Easter Basket and made a doll blanket for Hopey with it.  I think she likes it.