U13 Flames game

Today was a busy day. Previously I spent 6-8 hours planning the worship service for this morning. It was a lot of work! I never imagined that it would take that much time! Anyway... the service was very nice I thought and it went smoothly....and I am glad it is over.

Right after church Madison and I picked up Holyn and took off for Fort Wayne. Madison agreed to be a substitute for Coach Todd's U13 team (girls 13 or under). This is a league two age levels up from the one she is used to... they play with 11 on the field (instead of 7) and on a MUCH bigger field.

This is the first season that these girls have played together... and most have never played club soccer. We actually scored the first goal and kept up really well until towards the end of the first half, we went into half-time 1-4. They got creamed in the second half and lost 1-9. Madison played probably 2/3 of the game which was more than we expected. She had fun... even against girls much bigger than her.

Quinn played this afternoon too. Tony said he was still more timid than usual but played better. They tied against the Jr. Irish, 1-1. I wish I could have been there too.

We got back into town about 5:30 and met Tony & Quinn at B&P's for homemade pizza and icecream for dessert. We got home about 8:30. It was a good but long day.

One question for you... Where in the world did this weekend go?!

Flames, records both 0-1

Today kicked off the Spring soccer season for the Flames teams. Madison's U11 team played at 9am. They played pretty well... it was a better start than last year. They lost to the South Bend Invaders, 1-0. The only goal that got by was a ball that was wet with dew and it rolled right between our goalie's legs. Painful to watch. Poor thing. Madison told me that she encouraged Kiley to just laugh about it... they both knew that was an easy one that she normally would always have gotten. I was proud of her for encouraging her and not getting down on her.



Quinn's game followed at 11am. This is their coach's first season with this team. He is the high school boys soccer coach. He seems like a nice guy. Just have to figure out how to get 8 & 9 year olds functioning as a team, instead of teenagers! Quinn was quite nervous and didn't play his best. He was quite tentative which isn't his usual. He wasn't jumping into the action like usual... playing it "too safe" I think...trying to not make a mistake. First time jitters. He has only had 2 practices with this coach, so what can you expect? His team lost to the Goshen Stars, 1-4. One of his teammates accidentally scored on our own goal. Wrong place at the wrong time and your body is the thing that redirected it in. (Thankfully it wasn't Quinn though!). Madison has had that happen to her. It will be fun to watch this team change, grow and improve. They are playing U10 (under 10) and the "gold" division... which is harder than the division they played in last year.

Indoor Soccer Tie, 3-3

We tied a Middlebury team tonight that we previously lost to, so that was better. The frustrating part is that we were ahead at half-time, 3-0. They came out strong in the second half. They had a girl who was so rough that she got a yellow card and had to sit out of the game for 4 minutes, while their team played short. I haven't seen that at this level before. It was so close at the end... we almost scored with just a few seconds left on the clock. If only that goalie wasn't so tall....

: )

Soccer Championship Game: After 2 overtimes and a shoot-out...

...we LOST! What a tough game. We played SO WELL and these girls have much to be proud of!! They got 2nd place trophies... the same as in the Spring. It was so stressful though! Madison walked off the field a little upset but was really just disappointed... not mad. She was happy with her play and her teammate's too. So that's good... She was able to feel good about her runner-up trophy. May be next year...(sigh).

A brief re-cap... Chesterton scored within the first 10 minutes. We were down 0-1 for quite a while. There was a penalty on them and Madison took a direct kick (basically they sit the ball down and she gets to start the play again by kicking it). She was way outside... 30 yards from the goal, she ran and kicked it and this ball sailed for like... forever... right over the goalie's head and into the far corner of the box! The girls went wild, as did the fans. It was so fun!! Her second goal this season... and both occurred while playing defense! That really energized the team. That made it 1-1 and it stayed that way through 2 over-times. It finally went to the shoot-out. 5 players from each team get to kick against the goalie... the team with the most points at the end wins. They got one more point than we did and we lost 2-3. Our goalie, Kiley, played great though...she really did... it's just a super tough spot to be in! The girls were exhausted from running so much and long but they played awesomely!!! (is that a word?)
So, this weekend ended our soccer days for awhile. We weren't even off the fields and Madison was asking me if there is an indoor team she can play on for the winter... we'll see. : )

(Ang, click on this square for Picasa)

Saturday's Sports Report

Last night Tony and I went with an Iowa group of 6 others to the Iowa vs Purdue game. We stayed overnight last night in Lafayette and came home tonight. We had a great time eating, laughing lots and sleeping in today. I'm not even going to comment on the game. I'll just say that this same group has gone to one away game a season for about 15 years now and we think we've seen them win 4 times on the road. I guess we are bad luck charms!

On the good news side of things... Madison's Flames team played two tournament games today and won them both!!! They play in the championship game tomorrow at the Invader's field in South Bend at 3pm. It was so hard to be away and missing 3 soccer games today (one was Quinn's). I guess they played so much better than last weekend and they even beat the #1 team in overtime, 2-1. Michelle said, "I don't know how you do this all the time... it's so stressful!" ha! Yes, it surely can be stressful. That's why I like to win big and sit back and relax! Madison was quite excited when I talked to her on the phone... "thrilled" would be the word I would use to describe her voice. I'm so glad we'll get to see the championship game tomorrow!

OK... speaking of knocking off a #1 team, Quinn's Flames team lost this afternoon, 0-3!! He called me to say they lost and I was waiting for him to start laughing and tease me... only he didn't and his voice sounded sad. I guess it was 0-0 until the last 10 minutes of the game and then things fell a part. We were shocked because they've had such a good season! We were fully planning on going to his championship game tomorrow (instead of Madison's). He sounded soooo disappointed. : ( He got a nice big trophy for winning the league play during the regular season and has it sitting out for us to see.

We got home at 9:15 tonight and they both are sound asleep in bed. I guess Madison melted into bed around 8:45 or so and fell fast asleep... tired from playing 2 soccer games without coming out for a break I guess. A special thanks to B&P and Michelle for keeping our kids last night and running them all over today. We bought these away game tickets in MAY... we've decided we'll have to choose a November game next year so we don't miss this big tournament weekend.

Hopefully I'll have good news to report tomorrow after Madison's game!

PS... for some pictures of the tornado damage in Nappanee, click on Addi's link in my side bar. So sad...and I'm so thankful it didn't touch down here!

Weekend Re-Cap

Saturday Quinn's CYS team lost in the championship game 0-3. It was a bummer. He still got a little trophy and he told me "I'm collecting them now"... so he was happy with that. He did a great job with sportsmanship and sought out his buddy (Benjamin) on the other team and wanted his picture taken with him. Nate and his dad came out to watch his 9am game so that was nice.
Nate, Benjamin & Quinn

After that, we moved on to Madison's Flames game. They played against the Goshen Stars... we beat them earlier in the year but lost to them today, 0-4. Unfortunately we played .... not good. I'll be polite because Madison may read my blog. : ) She herself actually played OK, for some reason the team just looked like it was their first game, not last. They ended their record with a 2-3-1 record. Addi and her husband Brian, and Cheryl came out on their precious Saturday morning to watch. That was so wonderful of them. This was Cheryl's first ever soccer game to go to! I just wish they would have played better!!! Addi took a ton of pictures so pop on over to her blog to see them. (See my link in the side bar).

Saturday night we went out to eat at the Emporium to celebrate Lisa's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday Lisa! It was quite a monumental month for her. Lisa, Tracy and Beth just completed the Chicago marathon on the hottest day of the marathon's history. Pretty amazing. We had a really nice time visiting... just the adults, with about 18 of us there.

Today it was the usual church morning. Angie, Linda and I sang in a trio so that was fun. Quinn had his last Flames game in Plymouth at 2pm. They are undefeated (6-0) and played the #2 ranked team. We won easily, 5-1. Quinn even scored 2 goals. One of the other dads gave him the nickname of "Oscar" after the game. He told him that he was cleaning up the trash from the other kicks on goals that bounced off the goalie etc... and Quinn finished them off by kicking them in. (Obviously that's how he scored twice today). It was so much fun. I just love those stress-free games when the kids play well and we win too! His Flames team will get a trophy for winning 1st place in the regular season play and probably get a bye in the tournament next weekend. See below for a couple of pictures.

We were supposed to go to small group tonight but I got kind of car sick on the way home from the game and felt YUCK! We basically were on the move the entire weekend and I was tired. Tony is still working on tax returns.... yes, believe it. The 6th one to finish up is due tomorrow so he just has to get it done! We ended up not going. Madison went with Peyton and it sounds like they had a lot of fun... bowling and then to Rex & Angie's for a bonfire. I'm afraid being gone the entire waking day today would have pushed me over the edge before I got up tomorrow to start another week at work. My co-workers will thank me for not going! ha!

BTW... belated blog birthday wishes to my brother-in-law, Jeff, and my brother, Doug, who both had birthdays this week! We celebrated Hawkeye style for Jeff (who is originally from Illinois) by upsetting them in the game on Saturday. Jeff, just covert totally to a hawkeye fan.... "come to the black and gold side"..."even when we are playing the Illini". Doug, I hope for your sake that the Diamondbacks continue to do well for you... even after biting off our dear Cubs.

Well, that's all from me. I need to get to bed early and get caught up on some sleep.

Love ya, Leah

PS... I added a picture collage from my trip to the 10-5 date!

U10 Boys... Flames hold onto first place!

Top left: Quinn shows off a new "form" of kicking.

Top right: Right after he scored!

Lower left: A before game huddle. Quinn is at 12 o'clock... just his blond hair showing. I LOVE this picture! As the girls at work tell me...and I've read in books... "A busy child stays out of trouble if they connect with a group and feel like they belong. This just does my heart good! : )

Lower right: Jade and Michelle are back! Tony played dolls with Jade during the 2nd half.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy-Jig

I'll try to catch you all up without being boring. Niagara Falls was great last Thursday. We went out on the Maid of the Mist and saw the Falls up close. It was all kind of a dejavu' from last summer. However... we enjoyed a beautiful rainbow while out on the boat. I have some awesome pictures. That was so special! We stayed overnight in Erie, PA and drove the rest of the way on Friday. We got home at 3:30... in time for the bus to come 20-30 minutes later. The kids were so happy to see me, they nearly knocked me down one at a time as they ran full speed from the bus into my arms. So cute.

Madison had a CYS tournament game on Friday night. They lost to a team that they've beaten twice this year already. Figures that they would loose in the tourney doesn't it? Her CYS season ended with a 5-4-1 record.

Saturday involved 3 soccer games, one right after the other. Madison had a Flames game at 10:30, Quinn had a CYS tournament game at 12noon and he had a Flames game in Chesterton at 2:30. It pretty much took the whole day. They won all 3 games so that was a bonus. Quinn scored 2 goals in the Chesterton game. He played goalie for the whole CYS game. His coach called and left us a message... she was sorry that he had to play goalie the whole game but "we wouldn't have won without him back there." That was really nice wasn't it? His CYS team will play in the championship game next Saturday. During regular season play his team's record was 4-5-1. They won their first tournament game last week and now they just beat the #1 team in order to make it to the finals. Wow!

Today was church and Quinn had a Flames game at 1:30 against FC Indiana (yes, that was 5 games this weekend). They won 3-1 and Quinn scored a goal. It was blazing hot... I'm telling you! We are having abnormally HOT Fall days... high 80's. YUCK!

Mom and Aunt Fern left this morning after we left for church. They had gotten their full share of soccer games for sure but I think they enjoyed them.

I haven't even down loaded my pictures yet from our trip. I'll let you know when I've had a chance to update my blog with my vacation pictures.

Flames 3-2

Well, you could tell it was their first game because they were a little "rusty" in some areas but the Flames won their first game today 3-2. It was very close, too close for comfort. It wasn't Madison's best game and afterwards she told me she was nervous so may be that was it. Things that she is normally very good at, she wasn't. I can't come up with a more nice way to say it. She is bound to have better games! Ha! She did play the whole game though. Her little face was so red and sweaty afterwards! They had her and Gabby wear these "Captain" arm bands... why, I'm not sure. Madison's drove her crazy, it kept sliding down her arm. I asked her what the purpose was for them... she doesn't know. It sounds like the coach picked them up before the game. : ) She didn't like her new socks..."I never want to wear those again!"... the sun, moon and stars just wouldn't line up for her today. I'm so glad they pulled off a win but it was much more difficult than I expected.

Here are some pictures that Tony emailed me from the Iowa game last night. This is the view from their seats. The bottom picture is of Quinn with his special football hat from Aunt Amy & Uncle Jeff. He loves this hat and wears it for his "special" occasions.

They should be home around 9pm tonight.

That's how our weekend was... how was yours???

Love, Leah

A good sports day

Today Madison and Quinn both had CYS games at 9:30 this morning. Madison played mid-fielder for one quarter and actually got to score a goal. That was a highlight for her since she rarely ever gets to attempt. Her team won 4-0 (record now 5-2). I was at Quinn's game and his team finally won their very first game today (record is now 1-3-1). He had to leave after the 3rd quarter to get to his Flames game but his CYS team was up 7-1 when we left and he scored a goal too.

This picture was taken during his first Flames game. His team won 4-3 and he scored 2 of the goals. He played only about half the game but made his time in there quite productive. He looked a little tired from running 3 quarters during his CYS game. Anyway, he is scoring in this picture. Don't you love his shoe laces...untied!

Tony, Quinn, Beppe & Pakka left from the Flames game to head to Iowa to make it in time for the Iowa game tonight against Syracuse. They've only played 3 night games in the last 78 years or something so it was a pretty big deal. Right now Iowa is ahead 35-0. Tony & Quinn called from the game... it sounded loud and fun and Quinn said "This is AWESOME!" They scored the first 4 TD's in their end zone so they had a great view. Madison and I went to Hobby Lobby and then got home around 3pm. We made some soup from scratch... out of her kid's cookbook tonight, she made a little craft project and we just enjoyed being together. Her first game is tomorrow at 12:30. We are watching Duchess tonight and she's also dog-sitting for Honey again for part of the weekend.

Take care. Love, Leah

Soccer Mom

Definition: "Mother who consistently drives children to and fro... practices and games, practices and games, practices and games. Considers changing permanent postal address to 'blue mini-van some where between CR 17 and CR 45'. Professional fast supper fixer, water bottle filler, uniform washer, band-aid applier, and reminder of all needed soccer paraphernalia. Criteria involves not minding wasting one's time sitting at practice and games, practices and games, practices and games."

I've decided that I've become a professional soccer mom. Really this definition sounds quite sarcastic but if I really didn't enjoy being a soccer mom I would certainly hang up my keys. If my kids didn't enjoy it they could certainly hang up their cleats. It would be nice for a soccer mom vacation of some sort though. I've learned to bring along magazines and I even have a Christmas project that I've started working on from the driver's seat in the parking lots. I've made some really nice friends while visiting with the other moms too.

Good news for Madison tonight. Her Flames coach made her the "defense captain" of her team. They've never had captains before but they decided to throw this in too so the girls have a chance to learn about peer leadership. Tonight they had their last practice before their first game on Sunday afternoon. They've been practicing for 6 hours a week since shortly after the fourth of July. I'm so anxious to see how they are going to do! Their spoken team goal is to win the championship in the league tournament this year.

Quinn had practice at CYS tonight. It went well and was easy. He had fun. I think his coach wants him to play goalie some more. NOT ME! Too stressful for the mother on the side lines! I much prefer him playing offense which is really what he is better at anyway. We'll see what happens.

Quinn's highlight of the day was that he made the front page of the Elkhart Truth's Sports Section. They were taking pictures of the Flames soccer team practicing last night. I was able to copy/paste the picture for you here. Quinn is on the far left, in the back.


So, that's what I did tonight. I got home from work and put on my professional soccer mom uniform and off we went... the blue mini-van driving off into the sunset.

CYS girls 1-0

Madison's CYS team won tonight, 1-0. It wasn't a very exciting game, wasn't very pretty and we were practically carried away by mosquitos, but we won! : ) Madison got totally tripped with both feet being knocked out from under her. She landed flat as a pancake and right on her face... of course her hands were at her sides. This all happened directly in front of me. You would be proud of the restraint that Beppe and I showed by not stepping out on to the field to brush her off. She jumped up, hardly missed a beat and kept on playing. We got into the truck and she told me her nose was killing her!... It will probably be bruised tomorrow. We'll see...

Tony went back to work after the game. He's basically living at work during the first full week of each month. Apparently Rollpak gave like 20 days to do month-end type of stuff and Berry Plastics requires it to be done in 4. That doesn't seem quite fair to me if you don't give them extra staff to do it in. ughhh, I don't know about this job folks....

That's pretty much it. My Cubs are losing to Tony's Dodgers right now...

Love ya, Leah

Dog Days of... Soccer...?

Have you wondered where I've been? Sorry, I was just on a bit of a blogging break for a few days. Here are the highlights of the holiday weekend.

Friday
In the morning I met Angie, Karla, Lisa, Tracy and Eliza for coffee and to celebrate Angie's birthday. I then spent 3 hours at Meijer!!! Yes, 3! Half of the time was sitting at their picture kiosk, going through pictures and deciding which ones I wanted printed. I haven't printed pictures for a long time and ended up with almost 200 pictures. Next time I will sort them at home and take them to Meijer on my travel drive. I don't know why I didn't do that at home before! Oh well... live and learn. The rest of the time was grocery shopping. The remainder of my day and evening was spent cleaning and doing my mountain of laundry. It felt good to have this done before the weekend officially started. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Fridays!

Saturday
Tony left for Fort Wayne for the weekend. This is his 17th consecutive year of playing in the Mennonite Softball Tournament over Labor Day Weekend. Each year he comes home a bit more sore. This year he started the anti-inflammatories before he left! Quinn was out the door by 7:51 to help sell lemonade at Nate's garage sale. Several hours later he had drank most of the consumable goods so he was home for awhile. In the afternoon Madison and I went to the Concord vs. Elkhart Central varsity soccer game. It was a good game and Concord scored their winning goal with 35 seconds left in the game. It was quite exciting. She had practice for 2 hours after the game.
The Flames team decided today was "dog-day" for practice. They wanted to bring their dogs and chose a mascot. We took Duchess and since there was only one other dog that "tried out" for the prestigious job of Flames mascot there wasn't any voting but rather I think they were both winners. ha! In this picture, Duchess is taking a break after running a soccer field. See more pictures below.

Of course we watched the Iowa game this afternoon too! The Hawkeyes played Northern IL at Soldier Field in Chicago. Wish we were there! Addi sent me a text message from Boston... she saw 2 people with Iowa football shirts on and thought of me. We are everywhere! Thanks Addi!

Friday around 5:30pm, Tony's Aunt Tine and Uncle Terry arrived from Kansas for a weekend visit. ("Tine" is pronounced teeny...her name is Christine and the family's nickname for her is Tine). We enjoyed spending the evening with them and John & Evelyn at Beppe & Pakka's house for a BBQ. Quinn lost a tooth while we were there.

Sunday
After church Madison and I went out to Hacienda for lunch with Katie, Karla and Nathan (Terry is in Fort Wayne too). Quinn went home with Tyler from church. So, we took advantage of the girl-time and went to a movie. We saw Mr. Bean's Holiday and both decided it wasn't as good as we hoped. The 3 of us spent the late afternoon and evening at B & P's with the Vander Werf side of the family. I think I counted 25. Madison decided to spend the night. Quinn decided not to leave me by myself at home and he is going to keep Tony's side of the bed warm for him and sleep with me.

The guys have played 5 softball games so far and have lost 4 of them. Their only win was enough that they have to play at 9am tomorrow morning and so they stayed down again tonight. That's kind of a bummer. I wish it didn't dribble over until Monday. Basically the weekend is gone. If they lose, he should be home by noon so that will be good.

More pictures....

Madison thought Duchess needed to try her jersey on. Doesn't it look cute on her? : ) We don't know what the mascot's job description looks like yet!



Some of the Vander Werf family tonight...




Terry & Tine from Kansas... of course there was coffee and Koeke there!

2 Flames kids now

Have I mentioned the whee little fact that Quinn has now decided that he wants to play on the U10-boys Flames team? Yah, that's right. Kind of a long story in his decision-making process so I'll spare you the details and just say, he's playing too. So now we offically have 4 soccer teams going on... yes, four. Yes, that is craziness. I've decided I need a calendar with much bigger boxes to write things down. And for those you who don't like soccer... you may want to stop reading for awhile because that's pretty much all we do.

Having said that, Quinn had Flames practice last night so he went with Nate to that. I had a meeting at church (that lasted way too long!). Tony and Madison stayed home. Tonight Madison's Flames team (U11...which means girls 11 and Under play on it) are scrimmaging the U10 girls team. Madison is more than ready to get the games started with the Flames. I'm posting early tonight for a change. I'm sure Quinn will try to get out of going to the scrimmage and Tony will be working.

Love ya, Leah

CYS game 3-2

Madison's team won their CYS game tonight during a nail biter of a game. Unfortunately it was one of those games with a horrible referee. I can handle losing if it's fair and square but I get really upset when a ref loses the game for you. We so easily could have lost tonight because of him. It's so hard to keep my mouth shut at a game like this. Madison was mad about it after we got home. I tried to stand up for him a little (after all he is an adult whom kids should respect) by saying, "I'm sure he is the nicest guy in the world... he just doesn't understand the game of soccer very well." HA!

Quinn's soccer game, 1-2

Today was another rainy day. We've set a record I guess... we've had 12 1/2 inches of rain, more than the previous record set in 1979... and the month isn't over yet. It rained during Quinn's entire game, which started at 8am. It was another 6:30am morning for me. yuck. The rain puts a different "spin" on things as the ball gets wet and is much harder to control etc... His team lost again, 1-2. He scored our only goal. That brings their record to 0-3-1. I really hope they can win a game this season! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures. I don't know if you'll be able to see the rain in them...

Madison didn't have a game today but she had team pictures for CYS and then they practiced for 1 1/2 hours in the rain. Tony took off his shoes and let a stream flow out of them. She also had Flames practice this afternoon for 2 1/2 hours. Thankfully the sun was out by then. She was one tired pup when I picked her up. Not too tired to be done outside playing though. She was promptly outside playing with the neighborhood kids for a few hours.

Tonight I made homemade pizza for supper and the kids + Nate are watching the movie, Flushed Away. Well, Madison is asking for hot cocoa and I'm sure they would eat some popcorn.

Love, Leah

CYS 6-1

Madison played tonight and our team won, 6-1. Thankfully it didn't rain but it sure got humid by the end of the evening. This was only their 4th game and already I can see improvement. Our record is now 2-2.

I love these pictures. The one with Madison with her arm around Alexa was taken while they walked with Raeann back to their defensive positions. In the bottom picture, Madison had just taken the ball away from both girls. I know I'm prejudiced but she's got some fast feet!

Wish you all could come to some games!
Love, Leah

Saturday's Soccer

Quinn's team soccer pictures were at 7:10 this morning! OK People... don't you think that's just not right to do that to a parent on a Saturday morning?! (Sigh) So, Quinn and I headed out to the fields, admiring the sunrise this morning, which was beautiful by the way. His team lost today, 1-2. The good news is that he scored his team's only goal. The bad news is that he was also the goalie when they scored their 2 goals. : ( There wasn't much he could do about either of them... just one of those things. His goal was pretty sweet though. : ) This makes their record for the season 0-2-1 (for you non-soccer folks, that's 0 wins-2 losses-1 tie).

Madison didn't have a game today. It was a really nice cool day today so too bad she didn't play. She did have Flames practice though. Her team met at the Concord High School game and after the game they went and practiced for 2 1/2 hours. That pretty much took up her day. She stayed overnight with Holyn last night so she was tired tonight and is already heading to bed.

I ran quite a few errands, the usual loads of laundry, did all the soccer mom stuff and am glad to be at home tonight. Tony grilled steaks for supper and we also made fresh green beans and boiled potatoes to go with it. We rented a movie, "Pride" to watch after the kids are in bed.

Hope you are having a good weekend. We are.

Love, Leah

CYS Soccer Game

Tonight Madison had her third Concord Youth Soccer (CYS) soccer game. The very first game we lost, 2-10. Over the weekend we were gone but our team lost, 3-10. I'm happy to report that we are now 1-2 because we won tonight, 6-4. It was a great, close game. Madison had a great assist for a goal... a kick from clear back in the back field. She was happy about that. ...Remember she plays defense. May be this is a sign that our team will gel together and perhaps not have a losing season as I predicted (in my head only). Afterwards we went out to eat at Beef O'Brady's with Beppe, Pakka and Nate. They have free kids meals on Tuesday nights.

No more games this week until Quinn's soccer game on Saturday morning. He has to be at the fields by 7:10am for pictures. He had the first picture appointment for his baseball team too!!! Oh well. It gets the day started early I guess.

Love, Leah