Fall Soccer - Primary Colors Version

This fall's soccer season is brought to you by the colors red, yellow, and blue (and, as Nellie insists I add, "Pink!").

All three boys had lots of friends on their teams and we lucked out with sunnier than normal fall Saturday weather. We will take it!

Graham played in a co-ed Kindergarten division, but his team ended up all boys. They won every game thanks primarily to one super-star player (who happened to only be 4 years old and was playing up a level!). 

It was definitely a major step up from last year's preschool play, but Graham managed to hold his own pretty well. He thinks he's quite a good player, but mostly loves the extra opportunities to play with his friends. He really loved these soccer buddies.

Thane's team played in the 3rd/4th division and most of the kids on his team were 3rd graders. They played hard, but lost most of their games. Thane didn't seem too bothered by the losses. He says he, "liked everything about" the season. His team chose the name "Pepperoni's" and they had some pretty great pizza-decorated team socks.

One of Thane's favorite parts of the season is the parent vs. kid soccer game. Once again, Thane played his best soccer of the season during that game. One day we'll be able to transfer that intensity to the regular season games!

The post parent vs. kid game potluck feast is also another Thane-favorite activity.

Bryce also moved up a division this year, into the 5th/6th grade level. He switched back to playing on the team coached by our neighbor and friend, Eric Smith. Bryce's team was super competitive; they only lost one game the entire season.

Bryce had a few super-star players on his team, but the rest of the team was pretty solid as well.

Bryce showed a significant jump in his soccer skills and level of game understanding. He is hard-working kid, team-oriented kid, with a lot of heart.

For the first time, the league held a tournament on the last day of the season. Bryce's team went into the tournament ranked 2nd (out of 5 teams), but ultimately won 1st place in hard-fought games.

It was a pretty exciting day!

Bryce still loves soccer, but this season was even better because he got to play on the same team as his best buddy, Jordan.

Since we had all three boys playing, they often had overlapping games. Mark and I would divide and conquer, but that meant Nellie ended up attending a lot more soccer games than in past years. She didn't complain at all. In fact, she loved going to soccer games! She always found friends with whom to play. 

The City is making improvements to the community park where we play many of our games and recently installed an excellent playground. That makes soccer Saturdays even more fun!

On the rare occasions Nellie didn't have friends to chase, she got creative. One of her favorite games was pulling up grass and putting "sparkles" on a good natured, patient nursery leader.

And when it rained, she worked hard to fill up her water bottle.

Teenager!? Aubree turns 13!

When Aubree turned thirteen, Katie told her, "I remember that when I turned thirteen, your mom said, 'Just because you're a teenager now doesn't mean you have to act like it!'" Ha! I guess not too much has changed in twenty years!

Aubree's birthday celebrations started the Sunday before her big day with a joint family party with Jordyn. Aubree chose corn chowder for dinner and Katie brought brownie sundaes for dessert. Yum!

Aubree gave Anna teenage attitude lessons.

On her actual birthday, Aubree was able to celebrate at co-op by making apple-puffed pancakes in her cooking class (birthday kids get to choose what the class makes) and sharing pumpkin cookies. When she got home she opened birthday presents then helped out at Pack Meeting. That's right; this awesome girl spent the evening of her birthday leading a station with groups of rowdy boys! She's a rock star! It helped that one of her friends, Lily, came to co-lead the station.

One of her favorite birthday gifts (pulled from her Pinterest account wishlist) was this shirt which reads, "A day without reading is like... Just kidding. I have no idea!" Pretty much sums up her life!

Thirteen is a birthday party year, and Aubree knew exactly what she wanted. She planned the whole thing from beginning to end. She invited all the co-op girls to go ice skating on a Friday morning. 

Mark tentatively planned to work from home that day to watch the younger siblings, but at the last minute had to go in to work for meetings. That meant all the littles joined us. Later that night in his prayer, Graham said, "Thank thee that dad had to go into work so we could go ice skating!"

The boys all had a blast skating. Nellie originally said, "I do NOT want to go out there!" but we got a seal and soon she was loving being out on the ice.

The girls seemed to really enjoy themselves as well. It was fun to watch their skill level and confidence grow over the few hours we were there.

Most importantly, it was just what Aubree wanted.

On the way home, the siblings and I stopped for pizzas while the party girls drove home with a couple other moms. When we came in the house, we were greeted with a comical sight - eight girls passed out in the living room. They were pretending of course, but admitted to being legitimately exhausted from skating.

They perked up quickly after eating mass quantities of pizza and apples. Aubree was spoiled with attention and gifts from friends.

We ended the party with root beer floats.

Aubree is a phenomenal young lady. She is poised, capable, helpful, bright, and enthusiastic. She still loves babies and little kids (especially Nellie and Jonah [a younger sibling of one of the co-op kids]) and is a fantastic baby sitter. Aubree loves music, much to Mark's delight. She also still loves friends and is eager for any and all social situations. She seeks out opportunities to perform and lead, and has great plans for her future. Overall, we just love being around her and think she's an incredible gift.

An Interview with Aubree:

Favorite Color?: "Teal."

Favorite Candy?:  "100 Grand."

What do you want to be when you grow up?: "An author.”

If you went on a mission, where would you want to go?: "Utah."

Favorite Church Song?: "Peace in Christ."

Favorite Animal?: "Penguin and tiger."

Favorite Movie?: "Princess Bride."

Favorite Thing to Do?: "Ice skate and roller skate."

Favorite Food: "Pizza."

Best Friends?: "Nellie and all the co-op girls and all the young women in our ward."

Favorite Book?: "All of them."

What makes you happy?: "Nellie."

Favorite thing to do with Mom?: "Half-birthday dates."

Favorite thing to do with Dad?: "Watch shows."

What do you do really well?: "Play with Nellie and school."

What makes you laugh?: "Nellie."

What’s the best time of day?: "Right after school or church gets out when I get to do whatever I want."

What are you afraid of?: "I'm not afraid of them, but I definitely don't like spiders."

What do you like to do with your family?: "Play with Nellie."

What do you love to learn about?: "Cool crafts to do."

What is your favorite class/subject?: “Cooking.”

Where do you like to go?: "Ice skating.”

If you had one wish, what would it be?: "To have any super power I wanted, whenever I wanted."

What would you do if you had $1,000?: "Buy a laptop."

What is your favorite song?: "All of them. 'Don't Kill my Vibe' and Girl's Camp songs."

Who's your favorite Super Hero?: "Supergirl."

What do you hope you can do before your next birthday?: "Finish my honor bee" 

September Et Ceteras

September, with the start of the school year, three birthdays (including Katie), and getting back into extra curricular activities always seems to scream by in a flash. In addition to all our big activities, we had a number of other events worth recording, so here's a hodge podge:

*Aubree's Beehive class at church is small but mighty. She has wonderful leaders and always loves going to church and to activities. In the activity pictured below they made headbands.

*For our September pack meeting we made Alkaseltzer rockets. Admittedly, I started the evening in a rotten mood, but the rockets ended up being a really enjoyable activity.

It's a relatively quick and easy project, and what's not to love about seeing stuff shoot into the air?

*Nellie continues to grow and is now almost exclusively in 4T clothes. One benefit of that is that some of my favorite dresses Aubree ever wore are size 4T. Seeing them on Nell has been such a treat. She rocked this fall look.

*On Saturday, September 15 we had the historic opportunity to join with almost 50,000 other Latter-day Saints to hear President Nelson speak at Safeco field in Seattle. Of course, that's the day both Bryce and Thane had soccer double headers, so instead of our usual three games, we had FIVE back-to-back-to-back contests. Bryce's last game didn't even start till 3 and we were supposed to be in our seats at the stadium an hour away by 5:30 for a 6pm start time. So we left a little early from his game and Bryce got a ride with his coach/our good neighbors.

Traffic and parking and lines were insane. The line to get in stretched all the way to the CenturyLink parking lot. Thankfully it moved at a steady pace and everyone was incredibly kind and patient.

We had hoped to meet up with Ashlee Frank and her kids, but weren't able to coordinate our schedules well enough. Both our families made it to our seats just minutes before the 6pm start time. The messages from President Eyring, Sister Nelson, and President Nelson were inspiring, but what stuck most with me was the unity and sense of purpose I felt being with so many other members of the Church. When we sang together, the power of our unified voices and testimonies was overwhelming.

We did have a little time after the devotional to spend with the Franks. We were stuck in the parking lot trying to make our way out for what felt like ages, but it was all worth it to get to see our beloved Prophet with the added bonus of spending time with the Franks.

*One Friday towards the end of September was unseasonably warm. When we realized the forecast called for nearly 80 degree temperatures, we dropped our scheduled plans and met up with homeschool friends at Dash Point beach.

It was super stinky, but still beautiful. Bryce and Jordan spent most of their time playing in the water and sand. After trying out the skim board for a while, they settled in to building fortresses with sand.

*Graham palled up with new friends and spent his time digging under this huge log.

*The kids organized their own football game. I'm not sure my kids have ever officially played football before, but Thane figured it out pretty quickly. Aubree watched for a while while reading her book, but pretty soon she was playing as well. I love seeing the creativity, independence, and problem solving these kids show when given time and space.

*Nellie decided the bottom of the changing table (now only used for storage) made a perfect Nellie-sized bed. She brought in her pillow and blanket and tried to convince me she should be able to sleep there over night. No dice, kid, but it was a cute idea.

*With other parents and kids from Homes United, we teamed up with a local organization that serves meals to community members in need. Aubree and I volunteered to help with serving the meal and cleaning up afterwards. It was a wonderful, meaningful experience. Aubree was a star; she worked hard and had a great attitude. We are looking forward to returning to help again soon.

*Have I mentioned before how gorgeous it is here in autumn? I snapped this picture after church one day at the end of September.

FLEET

There are a number of excellent homeschool co-ops semi-nearby. Unfortunately, the Christian co-ops require a signed statement of faith that excludes Latter-day Saints, and the secular co-ops are either too far away or quite expensive. Over the past few years, numerous people have approached me about helping start a Latter-Day Saint co-op, but I've had too much on my plate with getting the Homes United Co-op up and running. This year, however, we were ready to take on a new project, and with the help of a fantastic group parents, we created FLEET. 

FLEET stands for "Friends Learning, Exploring, Excelling Together." While we are a co-op designed for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are an inclusive group and welcome anyone who knows our beliefs and wants to join us.

Finding a space to rent was the trickiest aspect of planning the co-op, but we eventually found a location that meets our current needs. We only meet once a week for 2 hours, so it's not a huge time commitment. We have about 19 families in our group with over 50 kids. 

We divided the kids into groups based roughly on grade level. We have a 6th grade and up group that meets separately and will spend the entire year learning about the Constitution and US government. We have a toddler group, a K/4 group, a K/1 group, a 2nd grade group, a 3rd grade group, and a 4th/5th group.

We have about eight kids in each group.

In our two hour time slot, each group has two different classes.

In January, for our second semester, we will shake things up and all the kids will have two different classes. That's a bummer for Thane because he currently has cooking and art/games, and those are pretty much his favorite things.

Classes are taught and assisted by parents. I am teaching the Oregon Trail class to the 4th/5th graders. The class is a combination of an Oregon Trail simulation game, related STEM activities, pioneer games and crafts, and we will also discuss the Mormon Trail.

It has been such a great addition to our homeschool calendar! We all love it.