On The Pitch

Our life just got a bit more hectic. #3 (with his sister on the left) had his first practice last week and now it’s official … we’ve got three kids playing soccer. Don’t get me wrong – our two youngest have grown up at the soccer fields (#4 was there two days after coming home from the hospital!) so they’re always there when their older siblings are. But now #3 has a schedule! 🙂 So this will be the first year where we’ll have to split up and miss at least ONE child’s match on certain weeks. Bummer.

#3 has been excited about getting started since he got his new cleats for his birthday. Of course when he got to the fields and it was 35 degrees, he decided that maybe "it would be better for me if I waited for warmer weather!" 🙂 Which he got the next week (i.e. above 40F) The youngest (#4) could care less. If there’s a ball within 25 feet of him, he’ll be dribbling it somewhere, or dropping it and kicking it – something he’s decided works best in the house near all the things that break. Trust me when I say those Size 1 skill balls can do a lot of damage!

I sometimes get asked about my kids, being ‘Soccer Dad’ and all. Those of you who have read this site for a while know I tend to avoid ‘Johnny scored a goal today!’ posts. It gets old after a while, though I’ve let the occasional one slip through. But I can’t say I purposefully avoid posting about their exploits on the field.

While I was digging through my ‘To Be Filed’ folder of digital pictures (which gets bigger and bigger), I found a few from last Fall that I figured I’d post up, so consider this an introduction to The Eldest, The Princess, #3, and #4 (who we often call Little ‘S’ but this is a family blog 🙂 ). I’m sure the two youngest will get soccer nicknames in time. (Eldest would get upset if I neglected to share his REAL nickname that he got at summer camp a few years ago: The Rhino. Has it’s own official handshake and everything!)

So here they are. #3 is playing on the same team that his older siblings all got started on (The McDonalds Nuggets), albeit with a different coach. I need to dig up some old Nugget pictures from when I coached it and the older ones played. They were so tiny! Here we go! This is Eldest in the Spring of 2002 on his first soccer team during our leagues first season. When the coaches of his team moved up to U8, I took the rest of the team and formed the Nuggets. Here they are in the Fall. I can’t make out the Eldest, but that tiny little face in the back is #3 (she was a spectator then) Ah memories.

Oh, are you still here? Sorry – I’m just like those people who invite you over for dinner then make you sit while they flip through all the old photo albums! Wasn’t intentional! But since you’re still here… On the right are Eldest and #4. #4 won’t start to play until the Spring of 2009 I believe. Then our lives will REALLY be crazy, especially if The Princess makes a Challenge team next year, which she really is working hard at.

There you have it – Soccer Dad’s Soccer Family. Soccer Mom threatened me with major bodily harm if I included pictures of her and liking my body in a single piece – I’m obliging. I guess since I have the photo albums open I’ll include one more of Eldest playing keeper. He loves to play up front, but from time to time he likes to play keeper because he gets to dive in the dirt, get dirty, and his parents cheer when he does it!