H and M are attempting basketball for the first time. This should be interesting. But, let’s make it more interesting!! J was contacting to coach. 
Three of the boys from the soccer team are also playing basketball with us and one of the dads is helping coach. So, at least several of the kids are familiar and J will have help.
Practicing dribbling.
Finishing with a pep talk.
The boys love helping J with any projects around the house. On this particular day, J was building a storage bin for his work truck. The boys were able to help hammer in some nails and they could NOT have been more excited!!!
Our coach registered us for our first soccer tournament. The Turkey Shoot took place in a city not that far from our area. We were the only team from our association to go.
We played 3 games. J and I were anxious to see what other teams in other associations were like. Not bragging, but we were a pretty good team in our area.
Our first game was – interesting – to say the least. The other team was co-ed. The boys were so confused to see girls on the team. Then they started to play the team. Well, I think the fact that there were girls on the team was a little bit of a distraction. I also think Mia Hamm’s daughter must play on the team. They were really great players. So… we lost 4-0. Our coach pointed out the 4 points were scored in the first quarter and after that we did not allow them to score on us. If you look at it from that perspective, pretty good.
Second game – oh the second game. If Mia Hamm’s daughter played on the first team… this team had Mia Hamm AND David Beckham playing on it. CrAzY!!!! This team was insane. There were only 4 players. (Our team has 8 on a roster and they rotate every few minutes.) We learned shortly before the game started, they beat the other team (the team we played last) by 16-0. This team did moves I have never seen done by a kindergartener or first grader. They beat us by 8-0 (again, we looked at the positive – it could have been worse)!
Our last game – everyone (parents included) were tired and beat down. But, they rallied and won the last game, 8-3. The dads watching from the sidelines.
We got medals… they are really cute, with a turkey on them!
Coach giving the team a pep talk and of course ending with our team huddle.
So, when I was a teenager, my aunt was always trying to get my cousin, sister and I to talk about our feelings and I guess communicate during the years when teenagers don’t want to communicate with their parental figure. As our punishment (or so we thought), we had to play the Ungame. Gran made us play it probably 3 to 4 times a year. She threatened us with playing it much more than that….
Last year for Christmas, we all got ….
Last night during our family game night, I pulled out three choices: Sorry, Trouble and the Ungame. Mason picked the Ungame and Hagen picked Sorry. We started with Sorry.
I love watching them play games. They get into it and are competitive, but not necessarily against each other, more as a family.
After we finished Sorry (Hagen won), we started the Ungame. The Ungame is all about sharing your feelings. I could NOT keep a straight face while we played this. We just played a long game of Sorry, so the boys were about done anyway. We only went through a few turns and then we stopped. But, I can’t wait to pull this out again when they are 13, 15, 16, 17….
Mason’s first question was…. Have you found anything challenging lately? Mason: Yes. Awesome what was it? Mason: Learning to Read. That’s great buddy, thanks for telling us that! You can climb Mighty Mountain. Mason: YEAH!!
Hagen’s turn: Hagen what is your favorite picture book? Agent OSO That is a good TV show, but what is your favorite book we read? The one read last night.
This soccer season was awesome. The boys played hard, learned new positions, and won, won,won. They lost two games against the same team – our ‘new’ rivals. But, I think it’s kind of fun to have a rival team.
Go Mustangs 
Already ready for the spring season!!!
Our team rotates the captains for each soccer game. The captains meet in the middle of the field to do the coin toss and pick which direction they will go.
One time last season, Mason and Hagen were team captains together… but I didn’t have my camera. For the last game, Mason ended up being a captain with Garrett. I had my camera ready.
We won the toss.
Mason picking which direction we want to go.
I love how the ref looks like he’s 10.
One of our friends invited us out to their house in the country to take some pictures. She does lots of candid shots and of course I love how much it ends up capturing their personalities.
This blog post is really more for the grandparents to see… so they can decide which ones they would like 
