Confessions of a Soccer Mom

Let's make one thing perfectly clear from the beginning:  I hate soccer.  Well, I'm not big on most sports really, but honestly, soccer????  Oh just shoot me now and be done with it. 

Baseball! 

Basketball! 

Gymnastics!

Volleyball!

Even football (American football, that is, just to clarify for my European friends.) 

Those are sports that I understand, actually know the rules of, and don't bore me to tears.

But God help me, she wants to play soccer.  Somebody just shoot me now.

So, that being said, imagine my joy when she declares in March that she loves soccer and wants to sign up.  Yeah, right, the kid is constantly complaining about how much they have to run in gym class and she declares on a regular basis that she hates running, so she wants to play a sport that involves running non-stop for 45 minutes......  We'll pretend those were tears of joy and move on, yes? 

A flyer came home from school about this program Upward Soccer being offered at one of the local churches.  Several of the kids Steph knows from school play in the league and they really highly recommended it.  Her father gleefully raced her over to sign up and then off to Academy Sports they went for soccer supplies.  He was in heaven.  But he's a sports guy, what can I say?

But, in my attempt to vie for Mother of the Year, I did manage to sit through each and every practice.  Okay, so some of them were spent chatting aimlessly with other mothers, or spent hiding in the car with my nose in a book, but I WAS THERE.  Yes, indeedy.  I considered it my own private pergatory.  Sort of a precurser to what's to come once I get to the pearly gates and St. Peter laughs hysterically in my face and sends me off for a soul cleansing before he lets me in.  [IF he doesn't give me a one way ticket south, that is!  ]

But I digress....

The games were on Saturday mornings, and conveniently, I have to work every Saturday so I thought I was off the hook for the games.  Her father and his parent's were over the moon.  His mom has wanted this child in sports since she could walk.  The happy grandparents were at almost every game.  Daddy made every game and dutifully reported her progress (or lack thereof) to me each week.  I made appropriate "yes dear, I'm listening" noises in order to give the illusion that I was interested.  I thought I was home free.  Then the tears started.  Two games left to go and I get this sad-eyed, lip-quivering "you haven't been to a single game".  Ugh.  You parents out there know the look, know the tone, know the "call the travel agent, book the guilt trip" heavy sigh.  Yeah.  Soooo, I re-arrange a few appointments, close early one day and badabing, badaboom, I'm watching the last 2 soccer games.  I survived.  The child is happy.  Life is good.   

Flash forward to today:  Soccer season has mercifully ended.  Thankfully, the heat being what it is down here, the coaches won't be offering a summer or fall league.  She got a trophy with her name on it and a soccer ball that each of her team-mates signed and even won a door-prize at the end of year party.  What was the door-prize you ask?  Why, a gift certificate for a free registration for next spring's league. 

Color me thrilled.

And life goes on........ 

I've never been a big fan on those Angel Emails everyone sends ....

But  I got this one today and ......

.... Ahem .....

Not so down on Angel Emails at the moment. 

Come on, admit it .... you tried to peek under the loin cloth, didn't you?

And really, I wonder what the model is thinking?  He's got this look on his face like they just told him to jump off the Empire State Building.  

Hysterical.

Okay, I know I've been gone for a while but .....

Bellydance Certification

To those of you in the bellydance world, where Certification is all the buzz these days will get a kick out of Stephanie's EPCOT bellydance certification.  We were at Walt Disney World last week, and as we strolled through the Morroco area of EPCOT, Steph starts bobbing to the middle eastern drums that were going.  The ladies in the shop went nuts and grabbed a hipscarf for her and she put on a little demo for them.  They gave her a little certificate for her and everything.  I was dying laughing.  I wanted to take a video of her, but you know the video camera was in the backpack her dad was carrying and he fled as soon as the hipscarf appeared.  It was a hoot.  I was laughing so hard, the photography wasn't my best......

Toothless

I don't know what it is about my daughter and teeth and field trips. 

The first tooth she lost, we were on a family "field trip" to the San Diego Zoo.  (I call it a field trip because it was during the school year and I had to write a letter to the principal of the school explaining the educational benefits of the vacation so she would be allowed to make up missed work and not have unexcused abscences)

The second tooth to fall came out on another zoo trip, this one when the first and second grades went last spring.

The first field trip of second grade and guess what????  rofl.  She ate lunch.  After lunch she looks at me in sheer panic "MOM, MY TOOTH IS MISSING!"  Her top front tooth just .... gone ....  rofl.  That must have been one very delicious sandwich she was eating!!!!  We knew it was loose, but I didn't think it was that loose.  Soooo ..... the tooth fairy came anyway.  The tooth fairy must have thought that swallowed teeth were more valuable because when I pulled back her pillow the next morning, we both nearly fell off the bed at the sight of that $5 bill.  Wow.  I wasn't feeling well after the field trip so I had hit the bed early and left the TF duties to the Paternal Unit.  Wow.  He's such a push over! 

I can hopefully post the toothless portraits later, but this computer won't play nice with the camera's memory card. 

Later!