I'm a Soccer Mom

It has finally happened! I have become a "Soccer Mom" in all it's glory.

I was beyond thrilled when I found out that all three kids could sign up for soccer with our local parks and recreation department.  This was their kick-start year for adding a pre-K program.  Last year I searched and searched for fun activities to put Robby in as a 4 year old and found that there really wasn't much out there.  We decided to delay Maddie starting until at least one of her brothers could also play. 
This year I couldn't have worked out the schedule better myself.  Maddie did soccer from 9-10 am, Eli from 10-10-45 am, and Robby from 11-12 pm.  If there had been any other variety of ages I would have ended up with some kids at another soccer field at conflicting times.  Although it made for a LONG morning at the field, it was pretty nice to get all of the children out of the house early in the morning and have them running and playing outside for hours.  I loved watching their creative personalities inventing fun games to play on the sidelines.

Another bonus was that the "Rail Trail", a long running path, starts literally next to the field.  During soccer I was in the hey-day of my half-marathon training and so many of those mornings I woke up earlier and ran my allotted miles, and finished right around the time that Maddie's soccer practice was starting. 

I think that next year, we will for sure be signing Maddie and Robby up for a real soccer league where they are on a real team with practices and games.  They both had a fantastic time playing and really improved throughout the span of the season.  Eli was a bit young to do soccer and tended to get sad and pout if someone else took his "special ball" while practicing. I think that next year he will be much more ready to play soccer.

I don't know if any of my kids will grow up to be full-blown soccer players, but it was sure fun to spend several months worth of Saturdays on the field together!  As a mother, it's so rewarding to watch your children having fun while they learn new skills.  I also enjoyed getting to know a few of the parents from my children's school classes a little better as we spent time watching on the sidelines.

Maddie Robby, and Eli

*the Saturday that this picture was taken was an eventful one.  I worked the night before at the hospital and then turned around and ran 9 miles with my group of ladies on the Rail Trail.  I finished running in time for Jesse to hand off the kids to me and then leave for the day to go mountain biking.  It was also picture day for soccer and the children were only able to find one of the pairs of soccer socks at home.  Because I am a perfectionist, I wanted everyone to have their pictures taken in full soccer get up.  This meant that we passed the socks from child to the next after each practice.  Maddie's pictures had taken a little longer than planned and so Eli had had to go out on the field for a little while dressed as is.  Once Miss M was finished I pulled Eli off the field and hurriedly had them swap socks.  While I was doing this a young man came walking over and asked if it was okay to snap a few pictures.  I was so tired that I thought he was one of the men from the picture studio.  After asking our names and a little information from the children, he thanked me and walked away.  At that moment I looked up and asked where I selected on my order to buy the pictures he had just taken.  He sort of laughed and said that he was from the local newspaper and that he was helping with a story about the new Pre-K soccer program.  I promptly forgot about this until the next Saturday when I was at work.  As I got ready to leave, one of my coworkers came walking over to me and showed me that we were on the front page of the Sports section of the Valley News.  I just had to laugh as I looked at this picture; I brought a copy home and showed it to Maddie and Eli. They now think they are practically movie stars!  And I now totally feel like the quintessential Soccer Mom.*