Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

I got to babysit my super cute nephew Will for 5 days while my sister went to NYC for Thanksgiving with her in-laws.  It was a little bit of an adjustment to remember what it's like to have a toddler around, but it was so much fun!  My kids were in heaven pretending to have a little brother, especially Jack, who hates always being the youngest.  :)

Thanksgiving with nice.... I don't know why I don't have any photos.  Oh yeah.  I do know why.  Because I was too busy chasing a toddler and trying to keep him from breaking the china and crystal, and destroying the center pieces, and mangling the decorations, and smearing mashed potatoes on everyone's best clothes, and.... well, you get the idea.

But seriously, it was really fun to have Will around.  He totally adapted so easily.  He just immediately accepted that we were his new family.  It was quite funny.  I guess it helps that I look a bit like and talk like his mom.... were are sisters, you know.

Oh.  I almost forgot.  I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day!  My first 10K!  It was super hard, but I managed to run the whole time (if you can call what I do running..... very slow running).... I didn't walk at all.  Yay!  It was way better than my first 5K, where I couldn't even run the whole time, and my knee hurt so bad for the next couple of days that I could hardly walk.  Ugh. 

So, that's progress.

Soccer

Mary and Jack just finished a season of soccer.  They both enjoyed it, but Mary had a particularly good experience.... a great coach (who worked really hard but was very kind and even-tempered), nice team mates, and she worked really hard and was successful.  They won more games than they lost, and even those they lost were close. 

Mary is #8

 Mary is very quick and aggressive.... she goes after that ball!  She likes to play defense... she was the best defender on the team.  Her coach would say things like, "Nothing gets past Mary!"  It's a little discouraging when you don't get to be the one who makes the goals, but she has learned to appreciate the fact that she made lots of great saves and assists.  She gained a lot of confidence and learned that she has a lot to offer as part of team.

Jack worked hard and enjoyed it, but he didn't have a great experience... his coaches were not committed (usually came to practice late, didn't teach anything) and spent most of the time at the games yelling (screaming!) unhelpful things at the kids ("Get the ball!  What are you doing?  Don't do that!  Run faster!") instead of coaching and encouraging.  No, they were not a winning team.  It was a especially frustrating for Jay, who refereed most of the games (as a volunteer... yes, that's him in the photo) so he had to stay out of it.  It was really disappointing (these kids are only 5 and 6 years old) especially since Mary had such a good experience.  What a contrast.