Soccer Pictures

I guess since the girls have started their second season of Soccer, I should post their soccer pictures from last year.  They LOOOOOVE soccer. Xanthe has been waiting all year for March to be able to play soccer, and they were very disappointed that they couldn't' take part in the after-school soccer clinic every week because it conflicted with their Step Team rehearsals.  Xanthe says she "lives" for soccer. Must be taking after my sisters. I'm excited for their new year.  They have a young German guy coaching them.  We're hoping he can bring "da skills" that the Germans have for soccer to the team! (written 4/5/11)

Chili's in Germany

Brian and I got the hankering for a real American chain-style restaurant. However, the only one around is 45 minutes away on the Air Force Base. Chili's. And because we love Chili's, mostly the queso sauce and the Cedar Plank Tilapia, we threw the kids in the car and headed off.

However, it seemed as though everyone else had the same idea, because there was an hour and a half wait. Whoa. Of course we had to wait. The girls came up with a few fun ways of spending the time, like jumping over hedges. That got old after awhile so we drove to the nearby mall, let the kids play in the Play Area, and got them a taco or two to hold them off. Here are the pictures. Pretty self explanatory, right?

I love this picture....

1st Year Soccer "The Silver Dragons"

I broke. I broke my vow to never sign the girls up for sports.

And why did I make this vow in the first place? Well, I just couldn't see myself giving up two days a week for practices, plus driving to games every Saturday and sitting on the sidelines burning in the hot Arizona and California sun (remember how easily my fair skin burns?). Well, guess what? We don't get that much sun here, and the girls aren't involved in any activities anymore, so we have all the time in the world.

They've been wanting to play for a long time and at one point I realized that they may be the perfect type of kid to play soccer. And just cuz I didn't enjoy sports (even though I played soccer for quite a few years) doesn't mean they won't. So, we did it. And the sports program on base was nice enough to let us sign up even though they were already partway into their season.

Last Saturday they had their first game with their team, "The Silver Dragons". Their coaches were really amazed at how fast they were and how fast they caught on to the rules at the practice a few days before. They said they were really great players and were very happy to have them on their team.

I figured that instead of posting random pictures and then individually labeling each picture, I've posted pictures according to child...

XANTHE

XOE

SPENCER

Of course, Spencer was there and had a great time. He tried kicking balls around (I said TRIED), throwing them and chasing after the girls before the game. There was a little playground nearby that he had a good time digging in the sand and riding down the slide.

Lots of park pictures...some are similar but I love them all and want them all in my Blog Book.

POSTGAME

Yay! This was the first win for the girls' team. I like to selfishly think it's cuz the they have the girls' talent on the team now. Haha, but really I know it's cuz now they have enough subs to give other players a break. The girls were just so happy they won, but so shocked at how much running there was. And how tired they got. Xoe struggled with her asthma (we thought it was gone now that she's older) so we're going to have get another inhaler. But she did a great job and pushed through it. They both are born athletes. Definitely don't take after me. :)

Had to share these two pictures that were from before the game on the drive up. The game was in Mannheim (an hour away) and we had to be there by 8:30 a.m. We whisked Spencer out of his bed and into the car. Here he is playing flashcards and navigating Brian's iphone.

These pictures crack me up cuz he's really starting to get a personality. In the first picture he was squealing really loud and high for no reason. He's usually not that vocal so it got all of us laughing. He was kind of in his own world.

This picture he was grunting/telling Xanthe something and was very serious about what he was trying to get across. Of course, cracking us all up!

Update: The girls had another game this past weekend and won again! Woohoo! They played a really difficult team so it said something that their team did so well. I probably won't take pictures of soccer game, cuz usually they all just look the same. I'm really proud of the girls for loving it so much and doing such a great job!