Soccer and celebrations

Today was a hectic but fun day. The kids and I were out the door at 8:45 and didn't come back home until 2:00. I had snack shack duty from 9-10:00 at the soccer field. I had to keep reminding the boys not to run into the customers. It's challenging to supervise three kids (who are not allowed in the snack shack) while selling people food and drinks. It was FREEZING cold this morning (as in literally in the 30's), but thankfully by noon it was in the high 60's. I watched 10 minutes of Oliver's soccer game, five minutes of Nadia's soccer game, and then left them at their field to drop Ian off at his field. Unfortunately there was an accident on the road which made the trip take longer than usual so by the time I returned Oliver's game was done. Thankfully he followed my instructions and walked down to Nadia's field and was sitting on one of our chairs watching her game when I returned 45 minutes later. I watched the last 12.5 minutes of Nadia's game, and then drove back to Ian's game, where I was able to see about the last five minutes of his game. So the bottom line was that between

the three games I watched a grand total of about 30 minutes of soccer today. Nadia had to play the entire game (she usually only plays 2 or 3 quarters) because there were only 7 girls there today (and they play 7 on 7). I was very encouraged during the 5 minutes I saw of Ian's game. He was playing more aggressively. Next week won't be as crazy for me because someone else is giving Nadia a ride, and the boys are playing on the same field. Whew.

After Ian's soccer game we made a quick stop at the library and the grocery store before going to the fall festival that was held in our town's park (put on by a local church). The kids enjoyed eating popcorn, hotdogs, cookies, s'mores (they had a fire and were roasting marshmallows), etc. They also enjoyed decorating pumpkins (Nadia made hers look like a Minion) and playing some games outdoors (ladderball was their favorite). I started a diet yesterday. It was much easier to follow it yesterday than today. I still tried to stay on target as

much as possible, but it was challenging with all the yummy foods laid out at the fall festival. After we got back I was home for one hour before Paul got home at 3:00. He came home earlier than normal so I could go to a party. I dashed out the door as soon as he came home. It was so nice to be invited to a 70th birthday party for a dear friend. I saw her a lot from 2004-2008 when we attended the same church and played in the same handbell choir. She accompanied me when I played flute solos also. She is an extraordinary woman, and I really miss her now that I can go years without seeing her. Ironically I saw her last night at the Sandy Patti Concert. Her children (I had one of her daughters as a student when I was a professor) put on a wonderful party for her. They sang several songs, and her grandchildren also sang two songs for all the guests. And they actually succeeded in surprising her, which I think was a small miracle given how many people were at the party. It was so nice to see so many people I haven't seen as regularly over

the past 8 years. Plus I can go years without going to a party of any kind so it was nice to actually have a social activity on my calendar. My social life is pretty much nonexistent. Usually just about everything on my calendar relates to my children - the exceptions being choir rehearsals and an occasional Bible study. It was nice to have something on my calendar that related specifically to me. So although the day was more hectic than I would choose (involved far more driving than I would prefer), it was a really nice day overall.

I also kept reminding myself that there are only two more weeks of soccer. The end is in sight! Nadia's coach cancelled the last two Monday practices, and I am taking the kids on a field trip next Thursday (so they'll all miss their practice that night). This means there are only three more nights of practice over the next two weeks. Woohoo! That is very exciting to me because it is so difficult to get them all fed and out the door by 5:00 three nights a week. Ian went on a hunger

strike on Thursday night. I gave the kids a choice between two meals. He picked one and then didn't even take one bite of it. He didn't even sit at the table the next day for breakfast or lunch. After he had gone 27 hours without eating anything he finally sat down and ate his dinner from the night before. It was not pleasant. I did remind myself to be thankful that this now happens very rarely (it used to happen very frequently). I have never found myself inclined to use the expression "it takes a village," but now that I am a single parent for most of the week, I definitely have been appreciating the help others in the soccer community have given me in supervising my kids when I can't be two places at once, giving them rides, doing my snack duty for me (once - I did it the other two times), etc.

Paul went to bed at 8pm because he's planning to get up in the middle of the night to go to work. It's still mind boggling to me that a man who was a night owl for a few decades now goes to bed before me many times.