EPL Soccer Game

How do soccer families spend their free time? By watching more soccer, of course! We were lucky to have an EPL game in our very back yard. The Man City Tottenham game has been on our schedule for four months. We were some of the first to buy tickets for this one time event and were able to score great seats on the lower level. 

Saturday we tailgated in the stadium parking lot. We grilled burgers and brats, played some soccer, shared a game of corn hole, and hung out in the gorgeous weather!

And then made our way to our seats just as the National Anthem began. We were a part of a record setting attendance of 56,000 fans.

Team Goalie and his CB

What a great day of fun, food, friends, and soccer!

That Kid!

My first week back to school means the slow cooker has been pulled out of the cabinet and put back to good use. Tonight's dinner? Roast and potatoes. I told Keagan to put the roast in the crock pot on low at 9:00.

I came home at 4:30 to this:

No roast in it, but the heating element was nice and hot. As it should. It had been on since 9:00. 

Keagan and I had a little talk. He told me my texts needed to be more explicit. I told him he needed to watch his mouth.

His punishment for showing a lack of responsibility was to complete math worksheets.

He may not have mastered cooking dinner, but he will be one heck of a math student!

Where did Summer Go?

I feel like we are just getting our summer started, and it is already coming to an end! My five weeks flew by!

Keagan was diagnosed with Osgood Schlotter disease last week, and we were told to have him rest it for two months. Two months is an eternity! So we got another opinion. That doctor told us to ice the knee as much as possible and minimize sports practices. That meant we took our week and did NOTHING, or at least very little athletic wise.

But after a week, we had enough rest and decided to spend a couple of hours st the trampoline park.

The boys loved it! And now the knee is paying for the fun, so we are back to resting. 

Where did you go, Summer?

Big Boy Bed

Keagan turns 13 next month. Until last week, he was sleeping in bunk beds with train decorated bedsheets and Thomas the Tank Engine throw pillows. I told Wes it was time to make a change. When an acquaintance asked for donations to a garage sale to support her new baby's adoption, I knew it was time! So we donated the bunk beds to her great cause, and then I spent the better part of July looking at furniture and choosing pieces for his new room.

This week the bed was delivered, Wes put it together, and now Keagan has a new room. WayFair is my new best friend. After spending two weeks sleeping on the couch, I'm Keagan's new best friend.

The throw pillows haven't been delivered, yet, but any day now.

I love this idea for displaying his many, many medals.

My favorite piece is his lamp. The base is used as storage for his rock and shell collection taken from places all around the world.

Keagan woke up this morning, telling me he had no idea sleep could be so good. I think he approves of the new big boy bed.

Shopping in a Mall

I hate the mall. I hate shopping in a mall. I hate the crowds in the mall, but when Evan suggested we go to the mall to look for shoes, I told him it sounded like a great idea! And I also wondered what he had been smokin'.

We went to three malls in two states and into no fewer than 15 stores over the course of a week. I kid you not. But we could not find the shoes. We did find jeans, t-shirts, joggers, and blue button up shirts. "Because you can't be in highschool and wear athletic clothes every day like I did in middle school last year."

I guess he's recreating his image. He decided his hair was "tragic" and he needed a new style to go with the new clothes. However, we couldn't go just anywhere to get it cut. We had to go to the salon, the same salon I go to. He had his hair washed in between two ladies discussing the upswing of pedicures. Then he chatted up the cute hair stylist like they were long lost friends. 

I was left sitting in the waiting area asking what happened to my Evan? 

And the shoes? Well, we never found the pair in any store. We had to special order those boats and have then shipped to our house. A size 13 is kinda hard to come by, ya know?

Now his hair looks "lit", his shoes are "fire", and clothes are "so sway." 

Parenting teens could not be more fun!

Super 100 National Champions

While Wes and Keagan were wrapping up the weekend in Indiana at soccer camp, Evan and I were at the AAU Super 100 National Championship in Georgia. Different states. Playing sports. Our life.

After winning on Saturday, Select had a bye for the Sunday early game. That meant we didn't play until 4:40 and we had hours to kill. So we visited Carter's Presidential Library. 

It was really informative and the gardens were beautiful. The work of the Carter Institute -  providing medical care to people in third world countries with preventable illnesses - was highlighted with this sculpture.

After a trip to the mall to shoe shop (the only way Evan would ever step foot in a mall), we finally made our way to the gym to play basketball. The first game was against Mike Miller's team - a very strong, fundamentally strong team. After recovering from a 13 point deficit, we won by a point. Evan had a steal with 48 seconds left that led to a basket and the lead. With 12 seconds left, he fouled out.

In the championship game, we overcome a 11 point deficit to come back and win 65-56! There is so much talent on this team - it is pure joy to watch them play together! As high school season begins, they will separate and play for their respective teams. We hope next spring to see them back together again.

Atlanta Super 100 Nationals Champions! What a wonderful accomplishment, boys! 

Summer Soccer Camp

Last summer Evan attended the IU soccer camp. After dropping Evan off, Keagan was sick that he had decided to not attend. So this summer he was determined to go. He and two teammates went this last week. They roomed together in the dorms, ate in the campus cafeteria, and played soccer 6-8 hours a day. I left him with money to go for a swim in the Olympic sized pool and late night pizza. It was everything Keagan wanted until it was time to say good-bye; then I think he doubted his decision. I reminded him to shower every day, spend his money wisely, and have FUN!

I dropped him off and started the trek back home. I was only two hours out when he texted me a picture of a tshirt that he bought from the campus store. So much for spending money wisely! Three hours later he texted that camp was "SO GREAT! The food is sooo good!" Day one was great, but we got very little from him after those texts.

His coach put him in mid-field, even though he registered as a defender, and by the end of the week, he was playing striker. He proved to be an excellent leader, highly competitive, and a smart player with the ball. He wants to know if he can go again next year - for the food!

AAU Super Nationals

For four years our boys have been preparing for this moment. That's a lot of training, a lot of tournaments, and a lot of money, but we are here. Finally here at the AAU Super 100 National Tournament. 

After beating Pooler Elite 57-56 in a nail biter of a game, we beat the host team 59-45. We continue play and our hunt for a nationals championship on Sunday.

After playing today, we visited MLK's birth place in downtown Atlanta.  

We also saw the church King's dad and grandfather preached.

There were only a handful of white people visiting this national park. A handful! I don't understand why white people are absent.

Land of the Free

We slept until 9:00. 

We had ice-cold watermelon for lunch. 

We grilled steaks and egg plant for dinner.

We watched the neighborhood firework show (and shot a few of our own).

It was the perfect day!

 

America. Land of the free. Home of the brave.

Happy 4th!