Soccer Practice 101

Last night, AC had her first soccer practice. Warning - this is a "picture overload" post.  She is playing this season through the YMCA. It's very simple - 8 practices, 8 games. Her first game is this Saturday at 10am. Before practice last night, all the parents on our team knew that we didn't have a coach. Practice was led by a YMCA staff member and one dad stepped up to help, but couldn't commit to coach due to work. The kids practiced for about 5 minutes, when we started noticing this little boy who came ready to play and it was obvious, he knew the game. I looked at Brad and said "Find his parents- they need to coach." Brad got up and went looking. He found Lorenzo's parents, and after talking to them, they agreed to coach the team. The dad grew up in Colombia and has played soccer his whole life. Perfect.

 At one point in the practice, they gave half the kids on the team these bright orange net-like jerseys to play a scrimmage. You can see just how thrilled AC was with this.

 How her 'jersey' looked most of the time.

 Overall, AC had a blast at practice. The kids are fun. There are no intense parents....yet. We'll see come game day!

 At one point, they had to get a partner and kick the ball back and forth to one another. AC matched up with Lauren, and they became fast friends.

 Waiting their turn to kick it in the goal.....

Stay tuned for Saturday - more pictures will follow!!

A First....

Last weekend, Anna Claire had a friend from church spend the night. Two nights, actually. She had the best time with her little friend, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised how well the two got along. Not one little squibble the whole weekend.
Friday night, they played, played, and played. Dress up, dolls, even a fort.

Saturday was breakfast at Frank's (AC's favorite!), playing at the park, making and decorating cookies, a car show, and a little shopping!

Some friends from church had their car out at this car show.

 They even convinced us that it would be a good idea to set up the little tent in the living room and let them 'camp out' on Saturday night!

And on Sunday morning, they were excited to wear their new matching dresses and flip flops to church!

St. Jude Trike-a-Thon

This morning, Anna Claire's school participated in the St. Jude Trike-a-Thon.
She was sooooo excited about this, she could hardly stand it!
I was putting the tape on her bike this morning before school to label it, and she asked if she could write her name.....sure, why not....

 Anna Claire and her little buddy, Hayley, before the event.

 Cute "starting line' - Happy St. Jude Day"

 Lined up and ready to  go! Look at her helmet - sittin' back on her head like that - yeah, that's going to be effective if she falls. Silly monkey!



 

A flashback from last year's trike-a-thon: 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This year, we decided to make a little leprochaun trap for St. Patrick's Day. As we were decorating the trap, I had a flashback to a story I'm pretty sure my mom still feels guitly about, but really she should be proud. When I was in 1st grade at a Dallas private school, instructions were sent home to bring a homemade decorated Valentine's box to school for the Valentine's party. My sister was 2 months old at the time and I'm sure the last thing (rightfully so) on my mom's mind was this Valentine's box. She let me decorate it to my liking and according to her (b/c truthfully, I don't remember this event at all), I was very proud of my box. We showed up to the class party only to discover most of the boxes had been decorated by the moms or professionals, and here I was glowing with my homemade one! This story comes to mind often when I'm helping Anna Claire with a craft or whatever b/c while I would love for it to look a certain way, I really want her to take ownership of something and make it her way. She's 4 and her creations should reflect that of a 4 year old.
Back to the 'trap' - I laid out some supplies and let her decide how to make the trap. I told her some 'facts' about leprechauns (they like shiny things, are adventurous, always looking for a rainbow, etc.) and here's her creation:

Anna Claire decided that the best place to set the trap would be by the front door. So, before going to bed last night, she placed her trap by the front door and went to bed.
When she woke up this morning, she said she dreamed about seeing the leprechaun and his cart leaving our house - love the imagination! She was excited to get out of bed and see if the leprechaun was in the trap.
Sadly, he wasn't, but he left his mark throughout our house!
The entry way was sparkling with confetti and a wrapper from one of the chocolate gold coins. Inside the trap, the leprechaun left a note that said "better luck next year" with a dollar and some shamrock stickers. He was also kind enough to make chocolate shamrock suckers for her friends at school.

The silly little leprechaun also had a trail of confetti in the bathroom and turned the water in the toilet green!
At breakfast, her place at the table was decorated, the coffee creamer was green and he even left some green chocolate covered strawberries with rainbow sprinkles on them!

Anna Claire had a great morning and was excited to go to school in her Lucky Charms shirt and Target Dollar Spot shamrock headband! :)

Calcium

Sunday morning in the car, the following conversation went down....
AC: Mom, when we go to a restaurant and the waitress asks us if we want dessert, why do you always say, 'No, thank you'?
Me: Because that is the polite way to tell her that we don't want dessert.
AC: But I do!

Fast forward to lunch later day. Mind you, we had a guest speaker with us from church. The waiter comes to our table at the end of lunch with a HUGE dessert tray and says, "Can I interest you all in some dessert?" Immediately, AC said, "Well, sure!"

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When we picked up Anna Claire from school this afternoon, she informed us that she had invited all the girls from her class to a dinner party at Ralph and Kacoos for tomorrow night. Hello, preschool party planner! Brad said, "Who is going to pay for your dinner party?" Without missing a beat, she answered, "Ummm, you!" Riiiiiight.

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Today, Anna Claire's school celebrated Dr. Seuss' b-day and green eggs and ham were served at lunch.
AC: My lunch was delicious today, but I didn't drink my milk.
Me: Why not?
AC: Mom, do you know what is in milk? Calcium. And I don't like calcium.

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And then there's this one....
Me: Anna Claire, please stop what you're doing and listen to me.
AC: Really, Mom? Are you in charge of this house?
Me: Yes, together with your dad, we're in charge of this house.
AC: No, Mom, Papa Bear is in charge of this family!

So, I text my dad to let him know this and his response: "Finally, someone gets it!" to which I replied, "Do I need to remind you she's FOUR?"

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A couple of pictures....
AC as a bride-to-be. When I sent this picture to my mom, she replied, "Yes, her daddy will have her wearing a t-shirt under wedding dress!"

(I have tried 3 times and this picture continues to load sideways.....annoying.)

On Tuesday, we went to Yogurtland (yay! it's finally open here!) and all I said was, "Anna Claire, smile!"...and this is what she did. Clearly she knows how to get a rise out of me!!



Throw me something, Mister

Well, it's that time of year again.....Mardi Gras. For Anna Claire - this means two things: 1. king cake and 2. a parade at school.
Today was the school parade. Think of it as controlled chaos. All the classes make a huge circle in the gym. Then, each class gets a turn riding in floats (decorated wagons) and throwing beads at the other kids.
First, a flashback to 2009 and AC's Mardi Gras parade at school.

And today's parade.....

In the picture above, the little girl AC is hugging was not to sure about the whole parade experience, so AC was trying to encourage her. Please note how AC looks like a giant next to this little girl.

Here's AC and her float buddy! At first he said he just wanted to ride and not throw beads. AC was not having it....and he was soon throwing beads.

 

 "Throw me something, Mister" is the popular phrase heard around here. The teachers were encouraging the kids to shout this phrase as their friends rode by in wagons. AC thought this was great! At one point, the kids on either side of her were just sitting there watching it all, and AC is standing up, waving her arms, and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Throw me something, Mister!!" Such a proud parent moment! HA!