Tag: family

Holidays and tournaments

Columbus day Weekend and our new lives of travel soccer tournaments for every holiday. Megan’s team had two games scheduled for yesterday.  They have been a bit tough to watch.  They have only won one game and that was the first one they ever played together way back at the labor day tournament.  Since then it has been all down hill with some of the losses being signed sealed and delivered before the half.  There is a rule in the league since they are so young,  there can not be more than a 6 point gap.  Almost every team we have played have had to instruct their players to stop shooting on us since we have lost most games by 6-0, 6-1.

They are young and learning the game.  We like the coach and how he deals with the girls. Before practice on Monday this week, coach came to me to see if I had changed my mind about Megan playing goalkeeper.  Initially I had said no  because I did not want to see her get hurt.  She plays piano beautifully and I could not stand it if those little fingers were injured or worse kicked in the head.   I was out numbered, Megan was dying to try it, my husband thought she would be great back there and coach felt she would be stronger than the little girls currently in goal.

I said she could try it so with 30 minutes total practice in goal at Thursday’s practice, yesterday she suited up and took to the goal.  I have to say it was an exciting game but so nerve-racking!  She did great and we WON! 2-1.  More importantly is the thrill on my little girls face and  the confidence earned by the team.  She played the entire time in both games, the second did not go as well but they get another shot at it today.

When we were leaving the fields for the day, coach whispered to my husband that they found the new starting goalie for the team.  We went out to the sporting goods store for better gloves but of course no one carries anything in stock anymore so at home I placed an order for gloves with spines in the finger that supposedly protect from hyper extension. If she is going to play back there I have to do what I can to protect my baby.  Would a football helmet be too much?

To celebrate a nice tournament day and the big position move we went out to dinner.  Instead of the normal diner or chain restaurant we went a little higher scale.  The girls were so excited they both put on dresses and jewelry.  Just a little high maintenance :-).

The season is finally changing but it is in the blink of an eye. When we went to the tournament yesterday morning,  the season felt like late spring.  Warm, bright sun and a slight breeze.  There was a 2 hour gap between games where the parents set up a base camp.  We had food, games and just enjoyed a nice day together.  (I am sure the munchkins and soft pretzels did not help their play in game 2 :-)).  By the time we got home we all had red cheeks since no one thought about sunscreen.  By dinner time last night we were reminded that fall was here with a drastic drop in the temperature and by this morning a smack in the face by fall with temps in the high 40’s and rain expected.  One more game today.  Going to be a chilly one!

And action…

I love to play around with video editing.  When I was still with Best Buy, I won a trip to LA as a reward for  holiday sales performance.  During that trip we were given cool media items and had an opportunity to make a mock video for the then just up and coming, little know group, Maroon 5 who was playing later that night for the group.  I am sure getting them to play a gig like a Best Buy achievers weekend would be out of the question these days.  Although the video made by my group was terrible, we all were given the software and ever since I have been hooked!  Now movie making software is much more user-friendly especially with my much-loved MacBook.

I just finished making a small movie from all of the videos of Madison’s first year.  What took so long you may ask?  All of the videos we had taken of my baby were stuck on old virus ridden or basically dead windows based computers.  During the week I sat and moved them over to my laptop, it took many, many hours.  I was so happy to get them back!  So now hours of video spanning a year of life have been cut into a 9 minute movie set to Disney songs.  What was really fun was having the girls help put it together.

I would bet if I had a therapist, they would say that my fascination obsession with my scrapbooks and videos of the kids would be some type of statement about my own childhood.  I have a small shoebox of pictures from my youth that my mother sorted while she was ill.  After she passed we all had a box waiting for us.  My kids will need a dump truck to haul it all out!

The mundane and beautiful feeling of normal

I am sitting and watching the Eagles game, I  wonder if I will even be able to stay awake into the second half.  The day started with a stop for shoes for myself and the girls, then to buy some organizational things for the kitchen and new sheets for our bed.  I can not remember when we got new sheets.   Then to Justice for a new outfit for school pictures this week.  Lastly a stop for a new binder that Megan will need in the TAG program.

At home, time to put it all away and jump right into the organization projects. First put the new sheets into the washer. Back to the projects,  I have a “junk” counter where everything collects.  It is a tiny stand alone counter in a corner that is really not good for anything kitchen related so it became the home of my purse, bills, binder full of insurance paperwork etc from my surgery, all supplies office/school related, glasses, phone charger, tissues  etc.  The ever going list is why it was time for some way to attempt to organize.  This along with another little project took about 2 or so hours.  By the time I was finished it was dinner time.

After the dishes were cleaned up, outside for some Halloween decorating. Back in grab the sheets from the dryer and put them on to the bed, love the feel of the sheets first day on the bed!  Bath the little one, get snacks ready , sit for reading time with Madison, blink and realize the day is all but over.

AHHH, normalcy. For as tired as I am after a day like today, it is still a nice feeling.  Just a few short weeks ago my activites were still restricted due to the mastectomy.  Even when I was released to normal activity I could not imagine pulling off a full day of activity.  It is nice to be basically back to normal, whatever that means.  I never have a day where I am not reminded of the mastectomy (and I do not mean the obvious).  I still have the ever present tightness in my abdomen and the scar has really become irritating.   The newpples are still uneven and one remains twice the size of the other.  Wearing a bra is still not my most favorite thing but I can get through most of the day without an issue.  I can finally lay on my sides for a short while in bed which is a welcome change.

I dread the thoughts of another procedure in my future but I know that is will be minor in comparison to the past two.  Almost there!