Where was I?

That's not as much of a rhetorical question as it should be.

Well, Friday I hurried home--make that the soccer park--to meet Reba and the offspring for Catherine's games. Got there, got a good space and just a few minutes later they all showed up, parked and started spilling out of the Focus like clowns our of a circus car. Boy, I sure do have noisy children. Off down to the field, got started promptly at 6, and prompty stopped when the thunderstorms moved in. I think they only got about half of that game played, but they were ahead 2-0, so we were declared the winner. As usual, we crowded onto the porch with everyone else, a soggy, sweaty, funky bunch if there ever was one, and waited to see if the next game at 7:30 was going to play. ::sigh:: It did.

And just like the first one, the kids got out there and began playing, scored a couple of goals, and then had to stop. Home, wash clothes, put kids to bed, got ready for the really big day on Saturday.

Up way too early, turned on the television, and promptly dropped back into bed and spooned up with Miss Reba for an hour or so. Every so often, I reminded us that we needed to get up and start getting ready or we'd be late. "Hey, you know, we need to get up and get dressed."

"Mm."

Yeah, me too.

Finally did get up, and I threw on some jeans and my Hewitt Middle School gym shirt (a gift for doing a presentation to Ashley's class several years ago--it makes me feel young and vigorous when I wear it. Not really.) Got Boy and Cat and Middle Girl up and made them put on their uniforms, and started the process of getting Oldest out of her Bed of Righteously Indignant Superiority so she would get dressed. She always throws a fit about having to go with us. She has SOOOO much to do, you know. She was informed that since her usual routine was to pile up in the bed all day and read and act like she hated everyone, she could just as easily do that in the fresh air and sunshine. As you can imagine, that never seems to be very motivational. Whatever.

Reba decided she needed to take a shower, and make breakfast, and do things, and stuff, and the clock was ticking away to time for us to leave. As always, that old conundrum of how to convince certain wives of mine that if we have to be somewhere at 8:30, we have to leave the house BEFORE 8:30. And in order to leave before 8:30, we have to be ready to GO before 8:30. And to be ready to go before 8:30, we have to GET READY TO GO before 8:30.

Well, no time to explain it. It was time to leave, and no one except Catherine and I were ready to go, so we did and told Mommy she would have to find us later. Water bottle, ball, chair, hat and away. Found our spot on the field, they warmed up and I chatted with the mother of one of the kids on the other team, whose big sister is on Rebecca's team. We came to the conclusion that it was no fun to have to root against each other. Game started, and Cat's team and the other were tied for first place, both having won their rain-shortened games from the previous day. Catherine's team got soundly trounced--I think the final was 7-2 or something. (Reba and the rest of the crew showed up right before halftime, by the way.) Catherine played very well, considering. She sometimes still gets confused about the right side and left side of the field, and she likes to skip instead of run sometimes. All over with, then a short break for some refreshments, then time to crank right back up for the final game at 10:30.

Which we also lost. Although by not quite so large a score. But still, Catherine's team came in second and got a trophy and a patch, which they all seemed to enjoy muchly. Time for some lunch, then time to head over to Clay for Jonathan's game against St. Barnabas. I'm not quite sure why it was in Clay, considering neither team is from there. It was available, I guess. Always hate to have to play there--one field, and it slopes noticeably downhill from one sideline to the other, and it has as many hillocks and hummocks as freshly plowed ground. I suppose if you play it all the time, you could figure out how to carom shots off of the various bumps and stuff, but otherwise it's not very entertaining. Especially when your team is getting waxed.

Pitiful. I think it wound up being 7 or 8 to zip. There are about five boys who just don't quite seem to understand that if your teammate has the ball, you aren't supposed to run up and try to take it from him. Jonathan managed to play another pretty good game, all things considered--and yes, he was one of those who got the ball taken from him by a teammate. Who himself lost it to another player, who blew by him and scored. ::sigh::

Pack up, and head back to Trussville for the final game of the day versus the Vestavia Steamers. And yes, by this time I was building myself a nice rosy glow across my neck, even though it was cloudy most of the day. Oh well.

What a good game it was, though. The girls played a good, hard, clean game, played their positions, and played smart. The Vestavia team is good, too, and had the benefit of several more substitutes--we had some girls out, and only had one sub--but the girls never seemed to slow down any. Final was 2-0 in our favor.

Home at last, where I could at last rest for exactly three seconds. Then it was time for Manly Outdoor Yard Work and Home Repair!

Details to follow!
posted by Terry at 10:32:00 AM