Stereotype Complete

I entered a new phase of my 'mom' stereotype today. I've already been well-entrenched into the stereotype by wearing stretchy pants almost every day, driving a mini-van, and finding 'luxury' items at Walmart...but now, I am: The Soccer Mom. Lucy started U4 indoor soccer today and was so excited. Last Tuesday, we went to watch Auntie Sarah play a soccer game and Lucy came away from it saying, "I want to do that too!" We had always planned to get her involved in soccer, and so we made some phone calls and found out that the U4 indoor soccer season had already started, but she was welcome to join. Every Tuesday morning at 10:45 she joins 6 other kids at the Spray Lakes Sports center. We went out on Friday and picked up some shoes, shin-pads, socks, and shorts for her to use, as well as a cute pink bag to carry it all it. (All the other items were bought in neutral black and white, so her younger brother can use them in the future). When we got home, we got her dressed up in her gear and she practiced kicking the soccer ball around the living room. Tyler explained to her that she's not allowed to touch the ball with her hands, and she has taken that rule so seriously, that she won't even pick the ball up if it gets stuck somewhere. Every day since we signed her up she has asked, "Is it Tuesday yet?"

This morning, after some quick breakfast, we headed to Spray Lakes and got Lucy geared up. At first, there were 5 boys, and Lucy. But another little girl showed up partway through practice. Lucy's still at the age where she doesn't really care about boys verses girls (except when it comes to her dolls). The coach (Juliette) was very nice and welcomed Lucy and introduced her to the other kids. (Lucy is # 10)(In this picture, the coach told the kids to line up on the white line. All the other kids crowded together and Lucy kept her distance)

They played Simon Says, did some stretches, ran a few drills, which included learning to stop the ball with your foot, and then played a mini-game of 3 on 3. Lucy spent most of her time behind the pack, not because she doesn't know what she's doing, but because she's just not that good with confrontation. Max enjoyed watching, although he tried to sneak onto the floor a few times to join in. "A soccer too mom!" and a few times he yelled out, "Go Lucy!" They ended practice with a game of duck-duck-goose and then it was time to go. Lucy has been pretty much exhausted the rest of the day, but she keeps smiling. I'm looking forward to getting a bit of exercise in her. I brought my camera, not sure if that was allowed, until I saw all the other mom's pull theirs out too. We had fun, and I didn't even cry. (but I came close - I guess that completes the stereotype).

Fort Cochrane

With the warm weather that has blown into our area, Tyler and the kids decided to take advantage yesterday and spend some time outside. Our house is situated just perfectly that whenever the wind blows hard (and it does this quite often) it creates a shelf right along the edge of our house. Tyler shoveled out some of the snow and created a nice little hide-away for himself....oh yeah, and the kids too. Lucy and dad had fun going out to feed the sheep while Max was sleeping and they found a deer antler in the hay pile. Max joined them quickly outside to complete the fort and enjoy some time inside it. Earlier that day, the kids got out some fabric and started playing dress-up. Lucy's favorite thing to dress up as is a princess because, according to her, she knows everything about princesses. And Max's favorite thing to do is whatever Lucy is doing, so he usually ends up dressing up like a princess as well. Lucy held up her skirt with pinky fingers pointed because 'that's how princesses do it'. When asked how she knows so much about what princesses do she said, "I just think about Cinderella and do whatever she would do." Pretty logical. I took a few pictures of my two princess and now I am posting them on the world-wide-web, something I'm sure Max will appreciate in his future.

The Latest

(Max after a blue ring pop.)

(Lucy with a baby stuffed up her shirt)

So, with Christmas and New Years being over, there hasn't been much to write about lately. I've still been taking pictures as much as possible, because I'm a big believer in pictures, but there hasn't been much to report. I thought I'd give a quick update as to what we've been up to in the past week, although it's not terribly exciting to those outside of these 4 (tin) walls. Although terribly exciting doesn't sound that great to me. The kids have been entertaining themselves with their new toys, and enjoying some of the old ones too. Here they are eating pizza pockets and wearing the crowns their Aunti Ali made for them a while back. They were so cute I had to take a picture. We also pulled the aqua-doodle out that they got from Santa and they have had a blast playing with that. The inventor is a genius, I've gotta say. It's fun, and absolutely no mess. Love that.Tyler's been busy with work and Young Men's and I've been keeping busy with jewelry, kids, and primary stuff. We had all our new little sunbeams move up into primary on the 4th, which included Lucy. I feel spoiled to be able to be in there watching her first experiences with primary. She was so excited that morning to go to Sunbeams that she woke up early to get ready, picked out her favorite dress, got her scripture case and scriptures (that she got from Gma Bourne for Christmas) and was ready to go. Her little brother was sick, so Dad had to stay home, but Mom and Lucy had a great time in primary. When it was all over, I asked her what she thought and she told me, "Mom, I spent all the time in primary, and we didn't even open our scriptures once!" I'll have to rectify that disappointment. It's fun planning sharing time week to week with her in mind now.
I guess the only other news is the story of 'the finger'. As I was chopping lettuce for dinner tonight and listening to Tyler tell me about his day, I made the mistake of looking up at him for one moment, and as I looked back down I could see my impressively sharp knife heading straight for my finger, but not in enough time for me to do anything to stop it. Ouch. I immediately ran it to the sink and soaked and squeezed it, and was surprised by how much it didn't hurt...for about 45 seconds, and then it waved in. I got a bit light-headed (especially when Tyler got light-headed at the sight of blood) and had to steady myself on the floor. Wrapped it in gauze, called Sarah to watch the kids, headed to the church with Tyler so he could set up his activity, and then drove to the walk-in clinic in Cochrane. It turns out it didn't need stitches, so my 28-year streak still holds true. They fixed it up with some skin glue (stings like nothing else) and some bandaids. It throbs, but isn't too bad. That was terribly exciting enough for one night, and it's difficult to type without an index finger, so I'll end there.Here's my bandaged finger and the knife that did it...