Back In Action

New team. New players. New uniform. New focus.

Fall is finally here. I wish I could tell you that the air is crisp, the colors in a brilliant last gasp display. But that is not the case in general (this is Texas and it's hard to tell the difference between the late stages of summer and the early part of fall, after all).

However, with the turn of the calendar into fall, there are a few notable changes. Wonder Boy is back at school (& doing pretty well as usual). We are all settling into a new routine for the school year. And maybe most anticipated (at least by me), is the start of a new fall soccer season!

Wonder Boy is still in the U12 division this season. And while many of his teammates from last year have moved up to the U15 division, a whole new flood of kids (graduates of the U10 division) have joined the ranks.

Wonder Boy has a new coach (who seems pretty on top of things), a couple of old, familiar teammates, and a whole bunch of NEW guys with which to enjoy his favorite team sport.
This weekend we got to see their first game. The first game is always this big unknown. The kids have only had a couple of practices together (at best). Those moving up from U10 have a handful of new rules to learn. And there is just a general feeling out process that can only take place under game conditions.


But despite all of that, game 1 was quite enjoyable all the way around. Wonder Boy and his team played mid-morning before the temperature got too hot (& before the rain actually rolled in). And while they still need a few practices together to get a feel for how each of them likes to play, where they like to receive the ball, and that kind of thing, they played pretty well together. The final score was a tie, but there were so many chances to edge ahead for the win that it was almost hear stopping. In fact, Wonder Boy even had a last second shot on goal that had those of us in the crowd holding our breath with anticipation. The goalie made a nice stop though and both teams had to settle for a draw for the opening weekend.

It was a fun game and it lays the ground for an exciting season ahead! Now if only we could get a few cold fronts to keep the spectating comfortable.

How the Heck Did This Happen?

I was all prepared to sit down and write a quick little ditty about Wonder Boy's first day of 6th grade. As usual, he was a little bit nervous and a lot excited about the return to school.

I fixed his "first day of school breakfast" (a waffle with cool whip and the number of the grade he's going into written in chocolate syrup) with an overflowing mug of chocolate milk on the side. He got dressed, played with his dog, checked his bags for the 100th time to make sure he had everything he needed, and then was ready to go.

We had a fun ride to school (despite the horrendous traffic - we knew that was coming, turned on some fun tunes, and went ever so slowly with the flow). And at drop off, I barely got a "see ya later, Mom" before he was out the door in search of friends.

But before I sat down to note my thoughts on the morning, I decided to look back at some pictures from his OTHER first days of school.


WHAT THE HECK! Where did my tiny little school kid go? Now he's this long and lean tween who makes me laugh with his uniquely goofy sense of humor and melts my heart with each look of those chocolate brown eyes.

You'll have to forgive the emotional mommy moment. I'm torn .... on the one hand, I miss that little guy - the one with the Incredibles backpack who was a little hesitant to let go of my hand on that first day. But on the other hand, watching my big guy stride confidently through those doors without me ... well, I'm awful thrilled to be his mum and really wouldn't turn back the time for anything.

I hope it's not wrong that, on every first day yet to come, I will probably think back on his first first day. I will likely always see a bit of that kiddo in my ever growing young man.

And that's not a bad thing, is it?

Regardless of my nostalgic trip down memory lane ... 6th grade is off to a great start! Wonder Boy is happy with his teachers and is thrilled to be back with his best buds on a daily basis. Here's hoping his enthusiasm lasts all year long.

Fur Elise

Not a lot of time for updates, summer is in full swing and keeping us all quite occupied.

However, Wonder Boy is still spending quite a lot of quality time with his keyboard, so I thought I'd post this little update until we have time for some real posts.

Enjoy!


Fur Elise

You just cannot imagine all the music in our home these days. I'll try and get some more videos in the days/weeks to come.

For now, you'll just have to replay this one. :+)

The Things We Do For Entertainment

It's a rainy Monday night. Wonder Boy has so much energy it's practically oozing out of his ears. Wonder Dad and I are both exhausted. Long day at work. Tough workout to boot. But the Boy is just so excited about this old style toy he made at camp (a ball in cup) that he can't sit still.

He's already mastered the basic play so next he starts taking requests for more difficult maneuvers.

Wonder Dad challenges ... "bet you can't do it with your mouth?" thinking this might occupy him for a few minutes. Yeah. Not so much. But we all had a good laugh anyway.


Ball in Cup Challenge

He went on to try clasping the stick between his toes. That one took a bit longer and he had to sit on a bar stool for best results. He tried balancing it on his shoulder (holding it down w/ his chin) as well. But I had to call a halt when they started considering inserting the pencil in his nostril. You gotta have boundaries, right?

They're forecasting more rain tomorrow (& we need it so I really hope we get it). But I am not sure this toy will survive the week at this rate!

Camp Invention

Each summer, since we both work full time, Wonder Boy spends the bulk of his days at a day camp run by the local school district. It's a camp that is filled with lots of fun things to do, plenty of outside time, and even the occasional field trip.

But the older Wonder Boy has gotten, the more we have felt a need to break up his summer, to introduce other activities.

Of course, he spends a week at soccer camp each year. But we really wanted to find a few other things to interest him this year.

So I did a hard target search for summer fun and one activity I found was a day camp called "Camp Invention."

Not long after we registered for camp this spring, we got a nice fat introduction packet in the mail. I knew we had hit on something fun when I read a list of items to send with our camper on their first day.

Sure, they had the usual stuff - lunch, snack, sun block, comfy shoes, etc. But what caught our eyes was the call for "take apart items." They were looking for things like broken down old tape players, VCRs, RC cars, and the like that the kids would cannibalize and use to make NEW THINGS during the course of the week.

Our friends and co-workers found out about the need for these kinds of things and apparently cleaned out their closets to make sure that Wonder Boy and his camp-mates had plenty of material! Wonder Boy walked in on day 1 with an old walkman, a VCR-DVD player, a VCR player, several remote controls, and a coffee maker.


We learned that the take apart items were used for all kinds of challenges over the course of the week. But the most formidable assignment of the week was to build a "duck chucker." That is, they worked in small teams to build a device that would toss a rubber ducky (no actual ducks were harmed in the making or implementation of the "duck chuckers") as far and as accurately as possible. When the Boy learned of this particular mission, he couldn't wait for camp to start!

I can't blame him ... sounds like a fun way to spend the week, if you ask me - just trying anything that came to mind to overcome the various challenges presented by the camp directors is an exercise I can wrap my head around!

And to think of the things he learned without feeling like he was learning - it just blows me away. He learned that HE can overcome obstacles. He learned that you can use what's around you in ways you might never have imagined. He learned about working in a team to reach a goal. He learned about mechanics and physics.

And he learned it all while having a great time!

That's two thumbs up for Camp Invention in my book!

Bacon Day

There is always so much to look forward to during the summer months. We are blessed in that there are several celebrations to bring a little spice to the hot months.

The two that Wonder Boy and I seem to enjoy the most are Father's Day and Wonder Dad's birthday! And as luck would have it, these dates fall within a month of one another, so once we start ramping up for Dad's day in June, we get to keep on rolling all the way through mid-July. It makes for a lot of fun!

Like with Father's Day, Wonder Boy is generally "in charge" of gifts and cards and that kind of thing while I take the lead in the designing the menu for the day.

This year on Father's Day, we tried out a number of Paleo recipes in an attempt to keep our celebrating on the healthy side of things. The two biggest hits of the day were the chocolate strawberry donuts and the bacon-shell tacos, so we vowed to include them in Wonder Dad's birthday preparations as well.

I mention this because another facet of Wonder Boy's planning for his dad's birthday is the theme. He likes to have a theme when designing cards, picking out presents, and planning any special activities. Last year, he picked "Zombies" as the birthday theme. And the year before that he did up a special Angry Birds theme.

In our planning discussions (usually in the car on the way to work/camp each morning), Wonder Boy was struggling to find a theme he could sink his teeth into (yes, there is a pun there ... wait for it). But by the time we got through Father's Day and the bacon-shell tacos had been such a big hit, Wonder Boy knew what he wanted to use for this year's theme.

...

You guessed it!

...

BACON!


You can't go wrong w/ bacon, right?!

So we started the day w/ those chocolate strawberry donuts and then 'bacon-ified' them by sprinkling them with bacon pieces while the chocolate glaze was still warm. Wonder Boy designed a bacon birthday card. We found bacon-ish gifts (a t-shirt featuring bacon and a board game for the whole family to enjoy called Mr. Bacon's Big Adventure). For dinner we tried the bacon-shell tacos again, but I'm afraid I learned a hard lesson - don't use thick cut bacon - and they fell apart. But we made the best of things and just had tacos with the bacon added to them. Then we took some of the extra pieces of bacon, chopped them up, and used the bacon bits to top a big bowl of ice cream! YUM YUM YUM!

So that's the story of Wonder Dad's Bacon Birthday! Wonder Boy must have really enjoyed himself, celebrating both his dad and his favorite salted meat, because he asked for the same treatment on HIS birthday this fall.

Camp Kick

With the close of June came one of the most wearily fun weeks of the summer. For the final week of June brought the start of the Texas Soccer Academy.

Wonder Boy has been going to this camp for a number of summers and we all look forward to it each year. The topics covered don't vary from year to year, but the players' progression in the basic skills certainly builds each summer.


This year we witnessed growth in virtually every area of play for Wonder Boy. But, as we have seen in summers past, I think the most thrilling display of growth has been in Wonder Boy's love of the game.

As we walked off the pitch his first day of camp, he just couldn't help but exclaim "I just LOVE soccer!"

Us too! And we love that he loves the game!