We Are Soccer Monsters!

Anyone else as big a fan of the Backyardigans as me?  No?  Well let me treat you to one of our my favorite songs.  "We are soccer monsters, we have a soccer ball!  We'd rather play soccer than do anything at all!"  That's been our theme song for the last several weeks.  Two to three soccer practices a week between two different teams and games alllll day on Saturday.  One of the joys of being in such a small town is that there are only enough kids to form one to two teams per age group.  So that means we have to meet up with the other small towns for games, driving up to an hour away.  Might as well make a day of it, hmm?  The nice part is, to entice the kids to play there was no fee to join the team.  We'll take it!  The boys were so excited for soccer this year.  It was their first season of it.  Here they are trying on their new shorts, shin guards, socks and shoes.  By the way, normally I think Parker looks more like his Mama, but in this shot, he is SO his Daddy's boy.

 Both of our boys surprised us a bit.  After one game day Brandon and I came home laughing that we should never label our kids because they will always surprise us. Our usual mama's boy/daddy's boy ideals were reversed.  We usually think Parker acts SO much like his Dad, and that Andrew acts SO much like his Mom.  But this threw that completely out the window.  Andrew was upset when the coaches asked him to take a turn rotating out so everyone could play.  And he came off the field in tears after one game, "We LOST!" he sobbed.  Andrew was aggressive and not at all intimidated by the other team.  He got right into the scrum and handled the ball right down to the goal over and over and over.

 His little team was adorable and the coaches did a fantastic job.  They taught them good sportmanship and that the most important part was to have fun. Something we're still trying to reinforce with Drew.

 The team shot.

 Parker did a fantastic job.  But, he surprised us by being much less aggressive and more unsure than we've ever seen him.  To be fair, this was his first year playing, and the other kids had all had one or two under their belts.  I think he was a bit intimidated.  It was also his first time playing with a group of kids who have grown up playing every sport together.  He's shy like his Mama.  The coach was great though and played to everyone's strengths. Parker played defender in the backfield and did a great job.  He understood his role really well, and not having to be attacking all the time really boosted his confidence.  By the last few games he was ready to take a turn on the front end and almost scored a goal or two.  Next year Drew and Parker will be on the same team and I think we'll have a fantastic duo in them.

Team shot.

I have to say......all those years I whined and complained about watching my brothers teams, I had no idea how much I'd relish the role of soccer mom.  I absolutely loved every minute of watching my boys play.  My heart hurt when they had overlapping games and I had to choose to watch one or the other.  For now, I'll gladly take the role of their biggest fan and cheerleader.  They are some fantastic boys and I am so proud of them!