GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!

We have been standing on the sidelines of Rachael's soccer practices and games since she was pre-school and it has been fun to watch her. We watched her when her t-shirt came down to her knees, and when she bacame known for her Packers sweatband. We watched her through hard seasons, and 2 championship wins. Rachael has gotten better each year and she has picked up new skills and a little confidence.
Racheal plays because she likes it. She likes being on a team and being active. The league she is in is a casual Rec program and it is just the right speed. There are girls on her team who are really skilled and I think Rae resigned herself to the idea that those were the girls who would score. Last year she asked to be in goal, partly I think to avoid the dissappoint of not scoring.

This year goalies were already determined when she joined the team, so she has mainly played mid field and forward. And last Saturday she played her best. She moved the ball, won the ball when challenged, and had good positioning on the field. In the second half with the score tied. Rachael put the skills together and put the ball in the corner of the net.

The sideline cheered. Rachael turned toward us with her mouth open. Complete amazement turned into a huge smile and a hop into the air. The parents, upon hearing that this was Rachael's first goal, did the wave. It was so great to see Rachael's individual triumph and to see the limitation that she had placed upon herself fall to the side. She didn't think it was possible and she was so surprised to prove herself more capable than she dared to believe. 

Just a Girl

On a recent Sunday morning Emma had a field hockey tournament. She had to be out of the house by 7:00 AM and there was going to be a celebration after the morning game with her team. Friends on the team offered to give her a ride, so aside from getting her out the door with lots of layers it was a normal Sunday morning. The rest of us got ready for Mass and kept our regular schedule. As we headed out the door I realized that Em didn't have her house key so we decided to leave the door unlocked. We weren't sure when she would get home but just in case I wanted her to be able to get in.

Emma played her game on the frost covered field and then they celebrated the season. The team celebration consisted of snacks by the field and player awards. Emma received the "Most Coach-able" award. It wasn't a long celebration so she got dropped off at the house before we got back from church. Em texted both Jim and I, but of course we didn't get the text because we were in Mass.  I never considered the need to tell her our morning schedule since it was our standard routine and I guess she never realized it was Sunday and we must be at Mass. By the time we did get home Em had been there for awhile. Emma avoided us and closed her door. She seemed irritated and anxious. I checked in on her and she had tears in her eyes. "I didn't know where you were", she said. She accepted my hug and I could feel her melt into it. 

Nothing bad had happened she just didn't know where we were. She didn't need us to be with her she just needed info to have our absence make sense. She didn't have the information that made her feel safe. She is a just a girl. A wonderful, sensitive, strong girl who needs us to feel safe.

No- Huddle

We had an insane schedule this weekend with 3 field hockey games, 1 soccer game, 1 dance class, 1 girl scout cookie booth sale, 2 friends visiting, children's liturgy to lead, 3 girls roller skating and my birthday to celebrate. On Saturday we had to figure out how to get multiple people to different places at the same time and we had a number of schedule items that were up in the air until the very last second. Because of the things that were not determined yet we had to adjust our plans over and over again. I kept trying to verbalize our new schedule when the circumstances changed and I would talk to Jim and we would call instructions to the girls as needed. But these audibles never got to all of the players with clarity. It was a mess.

The no-huddle offense was the only option this weekend and things did work out successfully, but for our sanity and for the sake of positive relationships I want to avoid it if at all possible. Our family needs to have a plan. Plans are nice and so is less yelling. We all know that we won't be able to stick to a game plan exactly, all of the time, but it at least it gives us a starting point.

Halloween Costumes 2011

We had another fun year dressing up for Halloween.

Bridget wanted to be Princess Tiana. This is what she was last year and I was happy to get the extra use out of it. She asked me to put her hair in a bun and do the curls like Tiana has.

Megan had so many ideas this year. Some of them I was afraid I couldn't make happen, but she settled on being a spider web, and was happy with how it turned out.

Rachael knew right away that she wanted to Kermit. This required the use of Emma's hat, which Em struggled to lend at first but then did without difficulty.

Emma wanted to be the red angry bird. I spent a few evenings working out the features and made adjustments with Emma's input. We used a long red cape, that Great Aunt Mickey had made, as the base of the costume and just pinned everything on. She got complements at school for it but a friend of hers who made her own yellow angry bird costumes kept getting compared negatively vs. Emma's costume. I was proud Emma defended her friend by saying something to the effect of  "I didn't make mine my mom did, but she made her own and it turned out great."

We had amazing weather for Trick or Treating and spent a fun evening with friends.

The Sound of Scary

As Halloween appraoched the girls picked their costumes, and we decorated the house with spider webs and pre-school pumpkin creations that we have collected over the years. Bridget brought her own creations home from pre-school to add to our decor. Bridge was excited to show us her version of the time tested pre-k projects. Bridget also learned songs to prepare for their Halloween program but these caused a mixed reaction. Some songs she hummed and grinned about. I asked her about the songs and she told me it was a surprise. Then there was the Spooky Walk. Bridget was frightened just talking about it and cried that she didn't want to go to school anymore. I let the teachers know about her fears.

On Halloween I brought Bridget, in her Princess Tiana dress, to school and waited with the parents for the program to begin. Bridget and all of her classmates paraded around and sang cute songs. Then they got in a circle and Bridget declared "I'm going to sit in the chairs and plug my ears". Then she walked with her fingers in her ears and sat in the back row of chairs with the parents. The teachers must have discussed this plan with her if she got too scared, because they did not seem surprised. The class started the spooky walk, which is a Halloween version of "we are going on a bear hunt" full of spooky sounds. As the story on the record player started Bridget got up again and with her fingers in her ears went to the back wall of the room and ducked under a table. There she sat with her fingers in her ears blocking out the sounds of creaking floors and cackling witches and everything else around her. When it was over she rejoined the class and happily finished the program.

She is relieved that they are done with the Spooky Walk and I am proud she found a way to keep herself safe from the fear.