Soccer

Dear Abigail,

This spring you started soccer. Let me rephrase that, this spring we ALL started soccer. Mommy and Daddy do not know a thing about how the game of soccer plays out, but thanks to you (and your coach!), we're learning. The first couple of soccer practices were pretty good, other than the fact that I dressed you incorrectly. Apparently the socks are supposed to go on the outside on your shin guards, not underneath them. Who knew??? Not this soccer mom. But I learned thanks to posting a picture of you on facebook at your first practice. You would have thought I didn't dress you from all the responses I got!! Anyway, you dress correctly now. Your first game got rained out and so we had a make up game on Thursday. We were ready, and so were you!

Everyone said their prayers, some of prayed for safety, others prayed for a win (your Daddy...)
And after the prayer, you and a couple of your team mates kept holding hands. Too stinkin' cute. But then y'all were all ready!!!

Well, if this is called getting ready.

Here we go!!! At first you stood back and watched.
And kept watching...
But they scored, so we got to 'kick off' the ball and you got to do it!!

But you didn't really understand that you were supposed to KEEP kicking the ball, not kick it to the other team. So they scored again...

And you just stood there and watched...
And watched...
Then wondered over to the goal. Hey, maybe you know more about this game than we thought...

You finally got in on some action and were SUPER excited about kicking it!

And then it was half time. Or an end of a quarter. Again, Mommy is unsure of the rules of soccer other than no hands! After half time, the team got together to go over Coach Will's #1 rule - Have Fun!

You had an itch maybe???
Back to action! Or standing...
But wait....

Here we go...
Wait for it...
Look at Mommy and make sure she's looking...
GOAL!!!!!!!

Wahooooooo!! You were soo excited. You ran straight over to me and gave me high fives and were jumping around and had a grin as big as it gets!!! The whole team was excited because that was your teams first (and only) goal of the game! Now, I have to admit, that the team we were playing was pretty good, or at least 1 girl was, and they scored like 2 million. SO, finally they sat that girl out AND played "freeze" while you scored. None the less, you scored, and did it beautifully. Apparently it wore you out because the next play, well, you didn't play...

But then something got a hold of you and the goofiness came out!!!!

Over all, a fun first game. There were no tears, so we were happy. Unfortunately, Haley or Kayleigh (or something like that) did have tears. Poor girl was upset because, and I quote "They won't share the ball and let me score in my goal!!" What's even funnier is she is one of triplets, so sharing is a big deal with her and her brothers and she could NOT understand why the other team would not share the ball! Ha!

So game one went down in the books. Game two came with spectators! Mimi and Pic-pic and Sarah all came to your game on Saturday! Unfortunately, Mimi's battery was dead on her camera, but I can recap. One girl dominated. They scored. And scored again. And scored again. Until finally you scored. However, you scored for them... But you didn't know any difference so we acted like you scored for your team! Even Coach Will gave you high fives!!! It was pretty funny because again, you were so excited. You had to take a couple breaks because you were out of breaths, but overall another good game. No, we did not win, but it was fun.

This past Saturday you had another game and this time Ellie and Aunt Steph came to watch. Also, Mommy had a long talk with you about how we do not just walk off the field. We wait till Coach Will or Coach Gwen tells you to take a break. I also tried explaining that you can take the ball away from the other team, just don't use your hands. I'm still not sure that clicked...

I had my doubts at first...

But you got up in on the action and actually got a few kicks in here and there!
The other team, yet again, had a dominating player or two, but you girls played hard. We've come to the conclusion that our team is all newbies where as the other teams have experienced players. We're also asking for age verification next game :)

Again, fun was the key and I think you had it. You even would get excited while you were not playing and just dart onto the field and try to get in the middle. Multiple times I had to pull you off the field because it wasn't your turn! I think you are liking it, and I have to say, you are getting better and better with each practice and game.

I mean look at you here - I can see the tension...

And look at that form!!!

Look out soccer world, here comes Abigail!! Of course, the most exciting part was sharing a snack and cold one with your Ellie!

Love you soccer babe!

Weekend At Ellie's

Dear Abigail,

As if we don't spend enough time with Ellie during our normal weekend activities, this past weekend, we spent the WHOLE weekend at her house!!! See, Daddy had some friends come into town on Thursday to watch March Madness. Every year they go to someone else's house and part of going to that person's house is there are not children's (or wives, for that matter) to mess up their fancy basketball watching guys weekend. So, the wife usually packs their bags and heads to the grandparents or wherever. This year, the guy's weekend was at our house. Naturally, we'd head to Munford BUT, your first soccer game was on Saturday, and, well, we weren't missing that! So, we decided to still let Daddy have his weekend and just go hang out with Ellie and Aunt Steph and Christopher! (Uncle Jaybee got to play with Daddy and his friends.). So Friday night, we (me, you and Kate) met Aunt Steph and Ellie and Christopher at Mexican. And Miss Leigh joined us because she had NO kids and wanted to experience a different kind of Friday Night Mexican! We let you girls sit in the big girl chairs instead of high chairs and it worked out fairly well, other than Ellie falling backwards and busting her head on the hard concrete floors... To say the least, you will continue to sit in a high chair :)

After Mexican we headed to Aunt Steph's where you and Ellie (especially Ellie) were super eager to sleep in Ellie's bed together. At literally the very last minute, you decided you'd rather sleep in Mommy's bed (shocker...) and poor Ellie, it just broke her heart. And you could not care less. I know you didn't mean to be so mean, but it was so sad seeing Ellie just ask, cry 'But why won't she sleep in my bed?'!!!

Thankfully, we all made it to bed sooner than later and all was forgotten by morning. A lot of that had to do with the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day!!! And, with St. P Day comes everything green!!!!

We started off with green pancakes and green milk...

You girls loved it! And for lunch we had green hummus! And for dinner, you had to eat all your green peas in order to get green cookies!!!!

I'll admit, I was supposed to bring green ice cream for dessert, but forgot it in our freezer, so we (read: Aunt Steph) whipped up some green cookies and we were all happy again! You loved eating green stuff, but when I was explaining St. P's Day to you on Friday, you said "Well, can we make everything pink because I like pink and pink is my favorite color?" My response was "There are 365 days in a year. 364 of those days are nothing but pink in our house, so we can spare one day to be green." You just stared at me...

Anyway, so St. P's day brought on some interesting activities... First, you HAD to have your hair in pig tails like Ellie's. Unfortunately, as cute as you are, they just do NOT look at cute on you as they do Ellie. But it was a special day, so I let you wear them. For an hour...

After breakfast we had a little loving on your baby cousin time...

And then we had a dance off. Or at least you and Ellie did.

You girls love to dance and it always seems to end with the two of you spanking your bottoms. Hmmm.... Anywho. As you can see, you also had a little play time in the bird bath, hence the water all down your shirts... But it was a beautiful morning and so nice to sit and watch the 2 of you have a good ole time.

After the dance off and lunch, we got you cleaned up because we had to go to your first soccer game ever! We were all super excited and I even asked Ellie if she wanted to go with us. So we got all geared up, got the car pack, and off we went. Oh, about 1.3 miles away from the field and the bottom falls out of the sky, or at least it started raining like no other. I knew it was going to be canceled, but the good news was you and your sister were both sound asleep in the car!! So I kept on driving, and driving. Oh, and Ellie was totally occupied with the movie. So finally (an hour later) you woke up and I had to break the news to both of you that there was no soccer game, BUT, I surprised you by taking you to the indoor playground thing. Woo-hoo!!! Except we piled all out of the car and into the park when I realized I left my wallet at Aunt Stephs... So then we got all back in the car (which you 2 were not happy about) and then Uncle Jaybee had a brilliant idea and asked if we could give a card over the phone! Sha-zam!! It worked!! So we unloaded again and played like crazy!! I had Kate with me (and nothing else, as in a stroller or a baby bjorn or anything) so I couldn't really play (or take pictures) but y'all had fun, for sure!!

After a long day of playing, we headed back to Ellie's and made yummy home made pizza (or well, Uncle Jaybee did!). A bath later and you girls were ready for bed. Unfortunately, you teased Ellie, yet again, with the whole sleep in your bed scenario. She's onto you though because she didn't get too upset this time. However, you weren't exactly a super trooper with going to bed in my bed. But we won't discuss that.

The next morning we all got up extra early, cause why not, and had a delicious breakfast, no eggs for you because you do not like eggs because eggs make you sick because yesterday at McDonald's you got sick when you ate eggs. So you say...

We packed our things and by mid morning we were back at our house. The first thing you said was "But who's going to play with me now?". You love you some friends!!! But Mommy and Daddy had to do. We ended up grilling out scallops (which you LOVED) and pork chops and got to eat them on the back porch (which you LOVED)!

A great weekend of fun and a big thanks to Ellie for letting us crash at their house!!

Thursday

Dear Abigail,

We had such a fun Thursday. We started off with gymnastics at 9:30 where I dropped you off and ran home and got ready. It's getting extremely hard to get ready by 9:00 with you and your sister! When I got back, you were so shocked that I went home. You kept saying "You went home and got ready?" and I'd say "Yep" and you'd say "But you went home and got ready?". I'm not sure why there was confusion, because I've gone to the store or gone to get gas before while you were in class, but it totally threw you off! Anyway, so after gymnastics, and seeing Chloe (which, on a side note, you ask me EVERY SINGLE TIME "Why isn't Chloe in my class?" and told me "Call me Chloe today" so I said "Okay. Hey Chloe." and you said "Hey Aunt Nicole"! HA! That made me laugh, but anyway...) So we left gymnastics and went straight to swimming lessons at the Y. Now, let me just give a little background info regarding swimming lessons. We've had 2 already and you've hated both of them. Miss Nancy (your teacher) told us to stick it out 2 more times, so after several long talks with you AND the bribe of eating at chick-fila AND a surprise from the store if you didn't cry, you actually were excited about going! You changed into your swimsuit, put your goggles on, and found Miss Nancy. Now, for a second there, you looked at me like I was giving you away, but Miss Nancy quickly mentioned toys and off you trotted to the pool. The last 2 times I sat where you could see me, so I decided to move a little further away so you couldn't see me at all (or me see you). Your class was over at 11:30 so about 11:20 I got up to change Kate's diaper and sneak a peek at you. Whoa! I couldn't believe what I saw. First off, it was a smile! Second, you were doing strokes and putting your face in the water and letting Miss Nancy let go of you!! What an improvement to nothing but tears the other 2 times! I stayed back, just in case and time went on. Next thing I know, it's 11:45 and you are still in your lesson, now jumping off the side! Seriously, on Tuesday you cried the entire time! Soon enough y'all swam to the steps and out you came, just happy and proud as can be. Miss Nancy said you were doing so well that she wanted to just keep going! You were so proud and Mommy, oh man alive was I super proud. Miss Nancy said you not only were 100% improved, but one of her better students. What a difference a little bribery makes. Good to know. Good to know... Regardless, I am happy to see you enjoy swimming again. I was getting a little concerned but it seems to be going just great now. You'll be making laps in no time at all!

So, after swimming, of course we had to go to Chick-fil-a! You played and played and ate a little too, and, of course, traded your book in for ice cream, but I didn't care. You deserved it no doubt. After a long playtime, we headed home to rest before venturing out to get a toy (yep, I didn't forget that, thanks to you reminding me a million times). Kate fell asleep on our way home, which was good, and I was hoping you would, too, or at least once we got home. But you didn't. Instead, Daddy's friends were in town, so you were entertained with them for a few minutes and after multiple Mickey Mouse shows it was obvious you weren't going to sleep. Unfortunately/fortunately, your sister was still asleep, so we weren't going anywhere. Of course, when she finally woke up, she had to eat and of course right about that time the bottom fell out of the sky. It started pouring. Hard. And it's also about 4:30 in the afternoon, which just means not a good time to head out into town. I tried my best to pursue you to wait including adding another toy to the pot, but you wanted the toy you earned and you wanted it today. I even tried to steer your attention elsewhere by taking a few pictures of you and your sister...

One sister has the posing down. The other can't sit still!!!

I thought I might have won because you started being little Miss Photographer, and did a pretty good job at it, considering you are 3!

But eventually you remembered, so, we got our rain boots on. We got our rain jackets on. And we got our umbrellas. We loaded Kate in the car and headed to Publix. Yep, that was our 'toy' store. I needed milk and a couple other things, so I thought why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone! Let me just tell you, your rain jacket works, for sure. It was raining so ridiculously bad. But, we made it in the store and dry. I got the couple of things I needed and off to the toy aisle we went. Now, let me just say, you put a lot of thought into your toy. First off you asked "What do I have?" meaning what are my options, and then proceeded to say "What else?" until I told and pointed to every single thing on that aisle. Then, you took multiple minutes walking back and forth, evaluating each option. Finally you narrowed it down to this random tube thing that you kept playing with and Cinderella barbie. I thought the barbie was a good choice and was willing to pay the overpriced grocery store amount because at least it was a barbie, but at the last minute, you remembered the 'jewelry box with sparkles' and there was no turning back!!!

After getting back in the rain and heading home, we unpacked the groceries and you got to work on making your jewelry box sparkly.

Soon after, we worked on making a homemade pizza for dinner! Yum! And soon enough later, we worked on bathing and getting our jammies on and getting to bed!!

A Thursday packed full of fun, huh!!!! At the end of the day, I'm glad I ventured out to get that toy. You deserved it and I promised it and what a beautiful jewelry box it is :)

Love you little swimming bee!!!