the truth about soccer moms

The Soccer Mom is often the victim of ridicule and sarcasm. The very term conjures up images of a high-heeled, yuppie, manicured woman poised on the sidelines with a designer laptop carrier at her side. Tonight I'd like to set the record straight.

This evening I endured possibly the most miserable soccer game of my 6 year "soccer mom" career. Although there was a severe thunderstorm warning for our county, the league rule is that the game is played unless there is lightning or tornado sirens blaring. So, we loaded the van with umbrellas & blankets and off we trekked to Kendall's game. It was windy, it was pouring, and the temperature was rapidly dropping. The manicured, yuppie mom would be tempted to sit in the car...but not the true soccer mom. After 1/2 hour of sitting in the rain with my comrades - a blessed flash of lightning! Now, this doesn't mean that the game is cancelled. It means that we trudge back to our cars to wait for 30 minutes and see if the game can resume. But...there is hope.

However, our dream of dryness was not fulfilled tonight. Although the rain intensified, the lightning stopped..and the game went on. The soccer moms sat there with our umbrellas blown inside-out more than not, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. We were drenched & frozen, but our little baby girls were drenched & frozen more. And they lost the game. We talked about how we would stop & buy the girls hot chocolate on the way home.

So despite the reputation, I am happy to be part of this group called soccer moms, and I know the same can be said for hockey, football, & softball moms everywhere! I think there might be a sports-ball shaped crown jewel waiting for us in Heaven. :)

Better luck next time Cyclones!

Yay for Middle-Age!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I suppose I haven't been feeling particularly creative this week as my aging and feeble brain inched closer & closer to that magical number......40. While my original plan was to spend the day in bed with the covers pulled over my head, the morning was sunny & bright so I somehow found the will to rise. :) It was actually a really fun day. The girls made me cheesecake with fresh strawberries (YUM!) and I got my very own Webkinz (the rare dragon no less!). Jer was kind enough to buy me a GPS thing for my car so I won't get lost as my sense of direction deteriorates further. I got yummy steak for lunch that I didn't have to grill, a free cooler at Caribou, and we saw "Prince Caspian". Yep....a good day.

Friday was track & field day for Jenna. Here she is making her amazing 2nd place long jump. Red was the theme of the day as Jenna competed in four events and got 2nd place ribbons in all four. Not bad eh?

There are only 6 more days left of school. Maybe the last day of school is the signal for summer weather to begin. Maybe sunshine & warmth will swoop in after the last child boards the bus! I WANT SUMMER!!

lobsters, recitals & dogs..oh my!

It's Sunday night ~ WHEW! This weekend was crazy, busy & fun. Jenna's ice show Friday & Saturday was GREAT! She skated like a pro & had a blast. The father/daughter performance was super cute and I've never seen lovelier lobsters.

Since we can't take pictures during the show, here are a couple from the dress rehearsal Thursday night. Jer took these while I videotaped, so unfortunately I couldn't get any pics of the father/daughter song since I was videotaping that too. Can't wait to show you the tape Goodmans!

Posing by the backdrop after the show

Jenna quickly recovered from the show yesterday to be ready for the piano recital today. Both girls played two pieces and were amazing (in my unbiased opinion). I was a proud mamma.
After the recital, our fun family came over for some backyard games, grilled burgers & s'mores. Casey got to meet her new cousin Penny & they became fast friends.

Look at their big doggy smiles!

Sadly, both had to remain tied up since neither can be trusted to stay put. Penny spent a good amount of time trying to free them by chewing through the leash...but it was no use. Still, they had a great time getting tangled around the tetherball pole & slurping water together.

Here is a girl who seemed to think she was queen of the badminton. She was wrong.

Congratulations Kendall!

Yesterday at the Jr. High awards ceremony, Kendall was awarded a medal for academic acheivement! This award is given to the student with the highest GPA all year. This year six 8th graders tied with a perfect 4.0! Needless to say, we're pretty proud. :)

Other than that, we've just been busy, busy, busy with soccer & skating. I'll post pictures after the big show this weekend & maybe even a piano recital picture if you're lucky. ;)

Hooray for human error!

May is crazy for many families, including ours. Kendall plays soccer 3-4 nights a week and Jenna plays 2 nights a week. On top of that, Jenna's ice show is in two weeks, so she has to be at the rink every night until then for practices, pictures, etc. The girls' piano recital is also the weekend of the ice show. So, every day after school & work we run around like crazy people from field to field to ice rink, doing homework in the car. It's always like this in May & we always survive with a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the month (although I have no idea how people with more than 2 kids do it).

Well, tonight was Kendall's first official soccer game, but two days ago we found out that due to an oversight, her player pass had not been issued and she was not "legal" to play. Most people would have been frustrated at this news, but I was happy as a little clam! The game was an hour away, it was raining out, and we got to stay home all night and watch American Idol!! Even Kendall was happy because she has the hugest, nastiest blood blister on her big toe & was not excited at the prospect of running (ha-she's gonna love that I shared that). So, while Jer & Jenna went off to rehearse their father/daughter number, Kendall & I enjoyed a blissful evening with "the Davids" and one more night with Jason before his inevitable departure tomorrow night. :)

30 Minutes of Freedom

Two mornings a week, Casey is alone downstairs from 5:30 to 6:00 am. She is completely unsupervised during this time & has quickly learned how to use these 30 minutes to her fullest advantage.

Last week I came downstairs at 6:00 to find a brand new bag of hamburger buns (good, expensive wheat ones!) on the floor, ripped open and one bun half eaten. The buns had been on the counter & I thought there's no way my 10 inch tall dog (I measured her) could have gotten them down. It was a mystery.

Wednesday Jer came down at 6:00 to find a ziplock bag on the floor that had contained one last cinnamon-streusel muffin. The muffin was gone without a trace. Again, the bag had been up on the counter.

Yesterday Jer was in the basement at 5:30 am lifting weights when he heard a steady "THUMP-THUMP-THUMP" upstairs. He walked up, peeked through the basement door into the kitchen and saw Casey leaping repeatedly into the air. Leaping higher & higher until she cleared the countertop & could see what goodies she could snag on the way down. This puny little 10 inch tall, 7 pound dog can jump higher than the countertop with enough coordination & precision to grab whatever edible delight is available.

She has never displayed this super-canine ability in front of us, but saves it for her magical 30 minutes in the wee hours of the morning.

You just gotta love this little pain in the butt.