Never Been Happier with a Draw

Tonight we played our biggest rival in middle school soccer and ended the game with a score of one all. I've never been happier with a tie! The key to this week's success was moving Evan back on defense playing sweeper. We dominated possession the first half and left the first half with no score. With seven minutes left in the game, Keagan passed the ball to the forward who turned and knocked the ball into the corner of the net. It was a beautiful shot!

 

 

With three minutes left, the other team had a deflected shot and a trash goal. Tonight's game was important; it shifted our thinking back to a can-do mentality. It gave the boys (and this mama) hope! 

Hoppy Easter

It never fails. Maybelle kills the Easter Bunny on Easter weekend. This year she really outdid herself. She found a nest of five babies in our yard. She scooped three of them out and then "played" with them. Keagan was beside himself when he realized the play was one-sided. He spent an hour outside trying to figure out he would save the last bunny. He finally decided doing nothing for it was cruel, so he used an air soft gun to end its suffering. Then he cried and cried.

Easter morning he was up bright and early seemingly over the loss and eager to see what the Easter Bunny had left him. This year it was earbuds, portable cell phone chargers, candy, and socks.

He is risen. He is risen indeed.

 

Friday Family Fun Day

We are all at home today with no big plans. No school. No work. No games and not even an afternoon practice. The weather is too perfect to be inside, so we drove to Nashville to walk Fort Negley.

 

While on our tour, Keagan wanted to know what it was like to party in college. More importantly, he decided he wanted to go home and practice beer pong so when he gets to college he will have the game mastered. He reasoned he would be rather good at it since he's good at basketball. We refused to agree to the purchase of red Solo cups and a ping pong ball. 

 

The view of the skyline was better than the limited Civil War history. I love this city!

No trip to the city is complete without food, so we had lunch at a restaurant downtown near the river. Keagan decided he wanted to go to the bar, slam his fist on the table and demand "the strongest thing you got." He settled for a coke. Love the sense of humor and laughter that comes from this kid!

The afternoon for me was spent on the back porch with a book. Wes wanted to take a nap, but just as he was  dozing, Evan came running down the stairs exclaiming HELP! Wes jumped up to hear Evan explain Keagan got his braces stuck in the carpet. Wes could hear Keagan crying and rushed up the stairs to find him laid out on the floor. Just as he tried to speak calmly and offer some help, Keagan sat up with a fat grin and yelled, " Gotcha!" 

Never a dull moment with this kid!

Athletic and Academic

Keagan: Mom, I have something to show you. I got a letter today and it is in a school envelope. This can only mean one thing. This is serious. The teacher told me I couldn't read the letter; it was only to be read by you at home. I couldn't do that, so I hid the letter in my backpack, quietly opened it, and stuck the actual letter in my pocket. Then I asked to go to the bathroom to read it.

Me: Well, what did it say?

Keagan: I will need to read it aloud to you. Are you ready?

 

Congrats, Keagan. I am so proud of you!

This is Not How it Was Supposed to Play Out

Team Captains: Angel Navarro and Evan shake hands prior to game

 This ref has had our game every week. The look on her face makes me believe that she might have planned it this way.

Keagan and Chance making small talk with the referees prior to kick off.

I am saddened to report we have lost yet another middle school game. Monday's night's score was 0-1. This was the game we had to win, but with Evan barely able to move with a bruised tailbone and two starters sick with the stomach virus we were not able to pull out the W. My #2 played his heart out! Next time...

Susie Homemaker

Day one of my spring break was spent getting our taxes done, grocery shopping, and doing laundry. At 2:40 I was at home when the boys got off the bus.

"Mom, I wish Dad was a lawyer or something that pays more than a soldier so you could stay home every day."

"Oh, you would get tired of me meeting you at the door every day and asking about your day."

"No we wouldn't. Not if it meant we came home to food like this every day."

 

I see the truth; they love me for my cooking skills.

And just like that half of the banana pudding was gone.

One Weekend and Ten Games

One weekend, ten games, and I lived to tell you about it. We played games in Nashville, Madison, Smyrna, and Hendersonville. In other words, I put about 1,000 miles on my car driving through Nashville and all of its environs. In between games we ate nachos, hot dogs, pizza by the slice, and ice cream. The boys thought it was the perfect spent weekend. I came home ready for my Kindle and bed.

On Monday Keagan had an extra credit assignment due for math class.

Yep, I made no mistake in mentioning math class. We made a diorama of the rain forest for math class. When we finished, I proclaimed this was the reason the US is currently ranked 49th in the world in math, and Evan corrected me and said we are now ranked 50th.

Case in point.

How many weeks until summer vacation?

Say It Ain't So

Say it ain't so! We had high hopes for an undefeated middle school season, and we lost the first game of the season 1-2. Evan is beside himself with angst and grief. However, on the upside, my two boys worked together to get our team's one goal. Keagan had the assist with a throw in, and Evan had the goal.

Lost by Six

Six games. We played six basketball games this weekend in Knoxville, and the boys took home second place. We played some great teams and had two OT games and one that went into sudden death! At the end of the championship game, Evan told the other coach, " Great game! It would have been even better if we were playing kids our own age." So that sums it up. The boys truly believe we lost by six to men pretending to be 14. All I know is I have never seen a 6'7" 14 year old, much less three on the same team.