November -- all ready?!?!

Stefan's last game was a mud-bowl! Look at his head!

Joey was working so hard during this game... he ran and ran and ran.


Easy to spot Joey with all that hair!


Practice shots at dusk.


The fall has swished passed me. It is one of our crazy-busy seasons, but we love all that we get to do and see. Soccer took up all of our time. I coached Emmi and Stefan's teams and Joey played premiere.

Emmi's Team: I was not suppose to coach this team, but the coach was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, needless to say, I took on the team. It is hard to coach 6, 6-year-old girls. I struggled with at times with the parents, but in the end, the girls improved their skills. I'm proud of them. I didn't get to take any pictures of Emmi -- I was coaching! I have some friends that took photos that I will post as soon as I figure out how to transfer them!

Stefan's Team: This is the second year I coached this team. I love these boys. 4 weeks into the season, my assistant coach (and thus one of my players, her son) moved out of town. So, I was left to coach on my own. Another Dad stepped in to help out when he could. These boys really improved. Our last game we beat the first team we played at the start of the season. The boys were very happy. One of the parents from the other team came and told me what a great job I'd done with the boys... "they REALLY improved" I just chuckled. They've always been a good team, they just needed to learn how to work with each other.


Team Juventus 98!
Only 1 loss this season... great job boys!



Joey's Team: Juventus 98-- what a great experience. We we warned when we put him on a premier team. You know, everyone always has a story (including me). Joey is on a team with two great coaches and a group of outstanding boys. He had a great season of learning... he learned a lot. He made us so proud and he made himself proud.

4 soccer games, but only pictures of 1

I got out of class early tonight, so I thought I'd post a few soccer pictures!

Joe and I had to "divide and conquer" our soccer weekend. I was on the field with Stefan and Emmi from 8:30 until 2ish (we had team photos, so it was a much longer day). Joe took Joey to his game in Portland.

Since I coach both Emmi & Stefan's team, I can't take photos. I'll have to have Joe do that before the season is over. I can say that they both played awesome! Stefan began the day with 1 goal and many shots on goal. The team actually looked like a team and I was proud and... we won!

Emmi's team played well. Have the team has never played before, so it has been challenging at times. Emmi scored a goal (in fact I think it was the first goal of the game). I was proud. All of the girls worked hard and although we don't officially keep score... the girls won!

On Sunday, Joey had another game and this one was in Warrenton (close to Astoria). This is as far as we travel this fall for him, so I buddied up with another family and we headed out. It was a gorgeous day! Joey commanded the left side of the field (that comment was from his coach). They won 6-0... and, Joey almost scored twice. After the game most of the team headed to Fort Stevens to play on the beach and enjoy the gorgeous day. We had to head back, but we did let the boys enjoy the sad for 40 minutes.


Look at our boy run!

Setting the ball for a corner kick.

The kick... not a great photo of it.

Ooops... that's not Joey, but a boy named Thomas... he's new to the team and he's a good little player!

Do you see him... #9... This was his kick on goal... it missed, he was bummed, but it was pretty close!

Coach Mark, with several team players on the beach. He organized a game of touch football for the boys. They had a blast!

Joey


Joey playing shirtless... he had a great day!

Mt. Hood Soccer Tournament

Joey's team resting and watching a movie between games with Jeep in the middle of them all!

See Stefan? He's working really hard to get the ball away from the other team.

Joey getting set for another corner kick.

See Joey's kick... I need to zoom in on that... so cool!

Joey was chosen as team captain for the game. He chose tails... it was heads.

Stefan guarding a girl.

Joey and Stefan played in the Mt. Hood Soccer tournament in West Linn this last weekend. They played on different teams... Stefan on U9 and Joey on U10. Stefan's team played 4 games and Joey's team played 5 games during the two-days. They both had a grea time. They played hard, cheered each other on, smiled, laughed and made new friends.

Stefan's team played in the final match, however, lost to an incredible team... I think they may have been from Mexico. He earned a 2nd place medal... which he proudly shared with his friends at his regular soccer practice and has worn several times around the house!

Joey's team lost in the semi-finals. Joey had some very good moments during many of the games, but in the end the team was just too tired. They lost their umph. The PDP (Player Development Program) has helped to improve Joey's raw talent this summer. During much of the summer he was asked to practice with the premier team and he did and he looked great doing it. Last week he was asked by the head coach of the premier team to join the team. After much thought and many conversations he has joined the team.

Enjoy the pictures! More to come... I think I have another camera card full of pictures as well :)

What a hit!

These pictures are from last week. Joey drove a ball to center field... it was awesome. He's waited all season for this!

Happy Birthday Joey!

Today, Joey is 9 years old! Amazing... 9 years ago on Easter Sunday baby Joey arrived and changed our lives forever...

Friday Night Basketball

Joey's Grown!

You know your child has grown when you look at him and think... you are huge!

He has added height. He doesn't have to half jump on the counter to get a 'grown-up' bowl or a coffee mug for his milk. He just simply opens the cupboard door and gets what he needs.

Thankfully, we have incredible friends that pass clothes around... he needed all new jeans and I had just bought new jeans for him after Christmas... that's only three months ago.

His feet have grown...

His hands look bigger...

He gets my jokes...

He reads over my shoulder while I'm on the computer...

He is my oldest... I've always thought of him as my oldest, but he's not suppose to be so big! My baby, not my baby... but certainly my boy!

New Hair -- for the boys!

Stefan loves his hair short, short, short. He knew exactly what he wanted... he also made sure he had his shoulder massage at the end of the cut.

Joey, on the other hand, really didn't want to have his hair cut. He likes his long hair, which is fine with me. The problem came when he put on a baseball hat last week and it didn't fit. Yes, it fit on his head, but his hair was so long that it looked ridiculous. He looks very dapper. He was very sad after the cut, so I bought him a soda (soda cures all) and texture cream (really sticky stuff for hair to make it stand up in front). Now, he's happier as he likes to "do" his hair each morning. He's getting so big!