What A Game!

Eli had another soccer game today and I have to admit today's has been by far the most exciting to date.  We started with a little paparazzi moment.  OK, it was really just picture day for all of the Maple Valley Pee Wee Soccer teams - all 20 teams.  Can you believe there are TWENTY teams of 3 and 4 year-olds who play soccer out here? It is crazy to think that there are that many, but then again, when you think about the number of kindergarten classes at just my school and there are four schools.....yeah, that's a lot of kids!

After individual and team pictures, it was game time!  The kids were really into it today - all 7 of them that showed up anyway.  There was only one child sitting on their bucket at a time while the rest were in the game.  Kids were running up and down the field, goalies were blocking shots, and they were even scoring goals on the other team!  This group of kids are really picking up the idea and how to play.  They were having a great time until injuries started to happen.  One child would trip on the ball causing someone else to fall over.  Two kids, one of which was Eli, ran into each other resulting in one bloody nose and two wailing boys. At this point, tears were happening everywhere.  I finally got Eli calmed down enough to go back in the game with the excitement that he could kick the ball in the goal, only to have the two head coaches call the game because the kids were totally spent.  Well, the waterworks began again, so I asked Coach Mary if Eli could just run down and shoot a goal - she let him.  Miraculously, empathetically, kindly, parents from both teams started cheering him on!  It was an amazing moment.  The game was over, people were moving on, yet they still cheered him on.  What a wonderful group of people, we really live in a great area.

Waiting patiently for pictures

Eli and his two best friends, Jack and Eric

Little boys wait patiently by playing in the trees

They tried to keep me out...but I got a picture of him anyway!  

The silly shot.  Scott and Jess proudly showing their Maple Valley pride.  LOL  It cracks me up that Eli and Eric just stick our their tongues...nothing else.

After Eli's game ending goal.  

Grandma took a great picture of the kids running through the tunnel of love after the game.  

Eli is #1.

The Last Hurrah?

The Pac NW was blessed today with a gloriously beautiful day.  I'm sure there were many people out there who were fried because of the sun and heat.  We spent most of the day outside as Eli had his third soccer game which was quickly followed up by a fun filled birthday pool party for one of Eli's good buddies.  

He is fighting a cold, so shortly after dinner and an episode of Phineas and Ferb he laid down on the couch to watch a little bit of the Sounders game and he was zonked out.  Jess carried him to bed and we haven't heard a peep since.  

Eli's going in for the goal!

Listening to Coach Daddy with his buddy Eric.  Eli's got his eye on Eric though - you can just barely see Eli back there.

Playing goalie can be a little less than exciting at times.

The Three Musketeers!

Eric (#2), Eli (#1), and Jack (#7)

Pool party!  Daddy and Eli playing in the water.

After seeing Kolby and Jack swimming without their parents, Eli wanted to go at it alone.  However he HAD to stay in the jacket.  Swimming lessons here we come!

Feeling much more confident in the water.

Reasons Saturday Was a Great Day for Soccer

Yesterday brought the perfect morning for a soccer game.  It was a clear, blue sky.  The sun was shining.  It was actually quite warm.  And two of Eli's best friends were there playing too!

It was a great day to get ahold of the ball and dribble down the field.

It was the perfect day to play back field with your buddy Jack.  Notice how active they are?  LOL  They had a good conversation about something while standing there watching the other kids play on the other end  of the field.

It was the perfect opportunity to test out some new goalie strategies.  If the net is tipped over, there's no chance the ball can go in, hence no score.  Hmmmm....wonder if the pros know this?

It's a great day to try to get control of the ball with your awesome buddy, Eric (#2).

It was be best day to run through the Tunnel of Love after the game with your teammates - and the other team too!  

What a great day for Pee-Wee Soccer!

Soccer Time!

Yesterday marked Eli's first soccer game!  We must have been good this week because Mother Nature decided we finally deserved to have something in the sunshine.  Out of the three practices that we've had, it has been pouring, not sprinkling a little, not raining, but downright POURING.  However, that doesn't get the kids down, they've loved every minute of it.  It really is more the parents of the three and four year olds that aren't too pleased about being out in the rain like that.  How can I blame them if I was one of them?  LOL

Eli, Jack, and Eric - two of Eli's best buddies - are all on the same team.  Oh my gosh, they were HILARIOUS  

Pre-game warm up!

Run kids, run. 

Must line up my kick....

KICK!

Running in formation.  Eli, Jack, Nathan, Eric.

These two have a lot of fun together.  Somehow, I think trouble might be involved every once in a while too.

Yes, Mom?

I'm a goalie.  Just TRY to get the ball past me!

This one just makes me laugh.

Waiting for a kick-off.  There are lots of them in three and four year old soccer. 

And So It Begins

Eli started school on Tuesday.  Ok, it was preschool, but it's school none the less!  To put it mildly, he loves it.  The excitement from the moment he knew he would be going to preschool last spring has been enough to drive a person batty.  I hope he keeps this love of school for the next couple decades.  LOL

We all got to attend his preschool orientation on Sept. 2.  Here are all the kids that go to Mary's posing for their first school picture together.  Jack, Kolby, Eli, Brynn, Walker (you can see part of his head back there - although he is actually in a different class.  He's a year older than the rest).

Sept. 7 brought his actual first day of preschool.  It was also my first day of school so I had to be there.  I don't think my principal would be very excited had I shown up late on the first day, or pawned my class off on another staff member.  LOL  So, Jess got to take Eli to his very first day.  It's a good thing he knows I need to have my pictures so he took lots for me to share of our big boy!

We have to make sure everything is ready, even Talking Tom on Daddy's phone.

Trying to get his buddy Jack to smile for the camera.

Jack and Eli

Comparing backpacks.

So very excited to be at his first day of preschool.

Wearing his first nametag.

A Photo Recap

I am finally back to upload some pictures from the weekend with Ryan and Sarah.  We got so many pictures, it was a great weekend.  Here are a few more of them.

It's not every day you get your pictures while standing on the back of an Orca!

....unless of course you go to the Seattle Aquarium every day....

Brooklynn and Eli at the zoo.  They had a blast running around together! 

Daddy and Eli

Mommy and Eli

Eli and his bush.

While we were having our picnic lunch, Eli decided he would carry Brookie in the backpack when we were finished.  Just testing it out.

Checking out the gigantic aquarium.

Checking out the scuba diver.

There was something much more interesting than Uncle Ryan taking the picture.

This is what the back of Eli's head looks like, just in case you were curious.

Very interesting.

It is official.  The Six Gill Shark is larger than Eli.  By a lot.

"Eli, what in the world is in there?"

My first face painting experience.  A shark. 

However, it felt a little odd and I kept touching it.

Winkey See, Winkey Do!

This past weekend marked our annual visit from Ryan, Sarah, and Brooklynn.  They arrived pretty late Thursday and stayed until Monday...sometime after we all headed out to work.  We played hard this year, going to the aquarium, zoo, and of course lots of playing.  This was the first time Eli and Brookie really played together.  It was really fun watching the two cousins play and have so much fun together.  Between Ryan, Sarah, Jess and I, we captured close to 1,000 pictures over the weekend.  Here is a preview of some of the pictures.  I'm having issues uploading in Blogger.  

Brookie and Eli

 We tried really hard to get a couple different family pictures while we were there this time around.