A Sporty Saturday

I am, most definitely, not the sporty type. I love arts and crafts of all kinds. Bats and balls? Notsomuch. When my sons were little I avoided team sports. I wasn't going to spend my time shuffling them to practices and games until they were old enough to beg me to do so. Last fall it happened. They begged. I suggested all manner of arts and crafts classes at the local rec center, but they were firm in their resolve. My friend Jackie convinced me it was time, so I signed on the dotted line and I've been a soccer mom ever since. Aunt Jackie says my boys have "mad soccer skills", and she assures me that is "mad" in a good way. Their coach played professionally in a foreign country, and glory hallelujah that man knows how to wear out little boys. We have two practices and one game each week, which gives me three opportunities to locate four shin guards, four cleats, and two balls in a timely manner. Freshly laundered uniforms are optional, except for on game days. Clean clothes were the standard at the beginning of the season, but I've since learned that a little dried grass stuck to the stinky socks doesn't really bother boys very much. Today I had the dubious honor of being Snack Mom. I chose fresh fruit, which was a huge disappointment to my resident athletes. I also threw in some peanut butter crackers in a thinly veiled attempt to be cool. Ever since Emma's arrival, my husband has inherited much of the soccer responsibility. I do feel slightly bad about that, but I figure it could be worse for him. He could be taking them to craft class.

Next weekend is Hannah's birthday, and I can hardly believe she will turn 15. It seems her celebratory week has begun. One of her favorite things to do is go to the quaint, old fashioned, downtown square in a neighboring town. Since she has a competition to attend on her actual birthday, my Mom and I took her to Old Downtown today to do a little pre-birthday shopping. It was a gorgeous day and we had a wonderful time poking through the antique shops. Now there's a sport I can handle. After all, washstands and glass doorknobs and depression glass can really get a girl's heart rate up! We went into one store that had cute sayings painted on old wooden slats. They were rustic and humorous and fun to read. My favorite said...

Unsupervised children will be given an espresso and a free puppy!

My Mom bought me this cute rooster print, just because. It isn't even my birthday. Isn't that fun? She knows how much I love to decorate with roosters.

I figure I'll have lots of opportunity to wax sentimental this week about how old Hannah is and how quickly it has all gone by. It thrills me that I have the opportunity to enjoy girlhood one more time with Emma, and sharing it with Hannah makes it even more special.