Thursday, September 19, 2013

I am a Child of God

The primary theme this year is,
 " I am a Child of God"

In celebration of all their hardwork on the
annual primary program, our Primary hosted a fun activity night.

"I am a Child of God and
He has sent me here,
(an All About Me Poster)

has given me an earthly home,
with parents kind and dear
(graham cracker houses)


Lead me, Guide me, Walk beside me,
help me find the way
(an obstacle course)





Teach me all that I must do, to live
with Him someday."
(The kids assembled a take-home FHE lesson)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Soccer!!!


We arrived at the fields in 94 degree blazing heat with no shade to be seen. We knew we were rookie soccer parents upon seeing a 'sea' of beach umbrella's that each parent comfortably watched the games under. My arms and the tops of my feet were sunburned in a matter of seconds. Note to self: buy a beach umbrella asap.

Tatum's game was first. She was so proud to be in her new uniform. Her team name is "Purplicious". Tatum adapted surprisingly well to practices and quickly made a few friends. She quickly does everything the coaches ask and is very participative. Upon arrival to the game, she ran and greeted her team-mates with smiles. As soon as the game started, Tatum immediately went into shell shock. By "shell shock", I mean that she stood on the sidelines and cried for the first quarter. Coach installed her in the game for the 2nd quarter in the which she stood in the middle of the field with her head down and sobbed. The action continued around her and she, literally, stood there crying. Half the parents were inquiring if she was injured. She was pulled out of the game and she continued to cry. She was nervous. By personality, she doesn't deal well with change so she was really struggling. Tricia and I both talked with her to no avail. Finally, Tricia prayed with her. The final quarter, she apologized to her coach and asked if she could go back in. Immediately after being put in, a slow roller came to her with no one else around (thank goodness, no pressure from oncoming players) and she got a solid kick. This increased her confidence and she was in the action the remainder of the game. We were very proud of her for working to change her attitude. I believe she will do better next week as she has built a small amount of familiarity now. We'll see...

Lincoln is on the Green Dragons. His approach was quite opposite of Tatum's. He, also, displayed his personality on the field. With no skill set whatsoever, he did not struggle with aggressiveness. He ran right out there and was immediately in all the action. He struggled with focus, often times in his own imaginary world but was very receptive to his coach's guidance and surprisingly receptive to the things that we yelled in his general direction. When he did focus, his tendency was to prevent the other team from scoring rather than gaining interest in scoring himself. He had a number of really good saves in preventing goals.

Near the end of Lincoln's game, and to most everyone's approval, it began to rain. It felt fantastic. It was a happy reward to an otherwise stressful afternoon. Nonetheless, we feel it was a successful outing for both of our 'players'. The only downside was how much it made me miss being a part of organized sports, in general. So much fun! ---Bennie



Week 2

Tatum has really overcome her nervousness. She goes right in and runs around. She tends to lose focus quickly and start turning around in circles and junk. When someone is charging with the ball, she runs hard and does whatever she can to look like she will kick it without actually having to go kick it. Very active, no aggression. Lincoln is pretty much like a teenager already...mostly giving half-efforts. He does, however, seem to have the aggressiveness thing down. Completely unafraid to charge, kick and the like...but no real skill-set and often doesn't go after it because he doesn't feel like it. Teenager-ish. We are working on it.---Bennie

Friday, September 13, 2013

Kimberly Kampout

 The kids beg and beg to attend the Kampout,
they have so much fun and it is the talk of school
for weeks after.
We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and s'mores.
They watched Wreck-it-Ralph under the stars
on blankets with all their friends. They bought glow sticks
and glow earrings from the 5th graders and they
actually slept in the tent.



 Two-thumbs up for a great night!

Kids Crafts and no room to keep them

 I love what the kids bring home, I really do but
if I kept every craft, picture, sketch, coloring or project the
kids brought home and then gifted me, we would be on 
the Hoarders show.
Every  couple of months, now I hang up the kids' stuff
snap a picture, keep a favorite or two, then toss it in the recycling bu.


Thursday, September 12, 2013

METS

 Thursday night was pretty much ridiculous. Tricia and I drove down to San Diego to attend the Mets/Padres game. Front row seats. It's so unbelievable sitting that close. Sandy Alderson (GM of the Mets) sat in the row behind me five seats over. The NY camera crew was immediately in front of us (dropped down a little lower, of course) so we had some nice insight into all the camera footage as well.  San Diego is a 1.5 hour drive for us so we got home late...which made Friday a bit miserable but it was worth it.--Bennie


Monday, September 9, 2013

Surprise!!

  The kids managed to keep it a secret and 
pulled off a surprise party for two of their friends.
It was Crazy Town at our house,
but we sort of thrive on that sort of chaos.
 

Surprise!!
I actually thing we scared the birthday girls.

 Group Hug!

 Party games and lots of sugar, this made for one crazy 
school night and about 20 ornery kids the next day at school!

















Saturday, September 7, 2013

5K Color Run


 We met up with a handful of friends 
and participated in a 5K Color Run.




 It was more of a chalk walk, but Tatum 
and I had a good time .
It was an extremely hot day, but she
powered through.
It is so fun to have these experiences with
with Tatum.



Saturday morning, Tricia and Tatum had a Girl Scout "Color Run" which is a disguise for my preferred name of "Chalk Walk". It consisted of a 5k run/walk in the which there are sporadic passages where bystanders are able to through chalk powder in the air as you go past. You can decide if that is fun or not. Anyways, the girls had a ball. It was hot and sweaty so, of course, Tricia and Tatum were covered in chalk by the time they were done. The got home moments before we had to leave to the soccer fields for Tatum and Lincoln's first games of the season (and Lincoln's first game ever). --Bennie