Action

I got these via email and thought I would share. I know Jackson will like some of them as we can  both agree that soccer IS a contact sport.

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We had a pretty good weekend down in Medford. As I have told most of you Joelle's team took third place. Joelle played well and has adjusted to her new position.  She started every game and didn't get subbed much. At one point the ref had to have Jo leave the field to get bandaged as she was bleeding. Yes soccer is very much a contact sport. Last year she played wing, but now she is playing center mid in an attacking position.  It is a bit more responsibility.  As a wing she was mainly in charge of moving the ball up the side and making cross passes to the forwards. Now she can still move the ball but she is responsible for more area of the field. We are on bigger fields now with 11 players rather than 9. There are three forwards in front of Joelle, a wing on each side of her, a defensive mid behind her and then the three defenders. So Joelle has to decide when to drop it back to the defense, when to pass up to a forward or when to send the ball to the wing up the side.  She's a pretty smart player and she watches the full field so it is good for her. She was super nervous about it. Mainly she has to play under pressure and make good passes. She did a great job and has really started talking while she plays. we saw Joelle waving her arm around and calling for passes.  Her coaches think it is a good position for her because she is dangerous- she can score from about 30 yards. She did it in the last tournament and had another shot hit the top crossbar and bounce down- but did not go in. Basically it will be a good year for her and her team did really well.

The pictures are Joelle with Lauren and Joelle with her third place medal.  Lauren is her coaches daughter. Lauren is not on Joelle's team, but they did a training session together and the coaches moved Joelle to Lauren's age group(u15). Joelle enjoys Lauren- I think it is cause she doesn't have a sister and she thinks Lauren is fun.

Since we got home I have been pretty tired- those long weekends of soccer can wear a person out. I don't do well when I haven't done my weekend grocery shopping and laundry. I feel like I spend the rest of the week catching up.

Joelle and I have been reading the Twilight series of books. They are really good. I have finished the first three and Joelle is on book three.  They are pretty good and we are now excited for the movie!!

Soccer in the Sun

Joelle had three games on Sat and three on Sunday. It was 95 and hot. She played great with five goals on Saturday- wowy she is shooting again. 

Today we are all tired from the heat and every inch that was not covered in sunscreen is burnt. We did have the team over for a BBQ and it was fun. Not much else- I am tired and burnt.

My team tied tonight. 

HOT HOT HOT

So I am in my shorts, t-shirt, crocs and ball cap and sitting on the back patio blogging- listening to the stereo and having a nice cold beverage. (the benefits of a laptop and wireless- lol)It was in the high 90s here today- weather that make you melt. So I came home and washed the car and decided with the weather so hot and Joelle having four games tomorrow that I would wash the car and prep the pool.  The pool- we were going to drain it and take it down/level it out before we put it up for the year, but how do you do that when you take off the cover and find crystal clear water? So the pool will be dead easy to open this year. I skimmed it and now the vac is cleaning the bottom out. The chemicals look ok- but I shocked it and added the necessary chemicals. It should be good to go by tomorrow night- after soccer. I must be insane. My house is not so clean and my yard isn't quite summer perfect but I emailed the coach and invited the team over to barbeque.  Before I go any further I need to say that the tournament is 5v5 with a roster of 8 so the team is not the 16 girls we usually have. I just thought the kids would have a good time and so what if it isn't perfect. Life only happens once.  On that note I should get going so I can pull some weeds and scrub the house! LOL 

I can't believe how much my surgery changed me- I am like no worries- whatever now. I used to be much more high strung and nervous. Now I don't care what anyone thinks and I have a bit more freedom for myself and I don't put so much pressure on anyone. Plus I can workout more- I don't have that week every month where I feel like shit.  I have lost six lbs- wowy. (sarcasm) Mitch pisses me off- he has been working out everyday and drinking a ton of water and has lost 20 lbs. Me six him 20! He's looking pretty good. :) 

yawns

UG! I need life to slow down. My head is just spinning and I don't think it is the crystal light cherry limeade slurpee that was so tart that I HAD to add some grey goose to. 

So I have not blogged since Sunday... Monday night I played soccer- we lost but I did score a lovely goal. Dribbled it up and smacked it right into the far post.  Tuesday almost killed me. Simply put I had to work out.  So school got out at 3:00 and I was at the gym by 3:45. Then I took Joelle to soccer and I came home and showered and was at book club at 7pm. It was a long day. I went to the gym yesterday too, but not today. Joelle had a game. They lost pretty badly but she played great. Oh and it was 95 degrees and they had 1 sub. So she played a lot. This weekend she is playing in this mini cup 5v5 thing- all day Saturday and Sunday. I am making myself go to the gym tomorrow.

I almost forgot- Joelle learned how to wave board in PE this week and she won a free wave board!  OK this thing is cool- a cross between surfing and snowboarding. Does Michael have one yet??

Mother's Day

Today for me was a typical Sunday. I guess it is the last one I will have for a couple of weeks. I washed the bedding- which is what I do on Sunday and then I proceeded to prepare myself for yet another week. I made a couple of meals- cabbage roles and mock chow mien. I made enough for two pans of each and then took some to Ed and Geri. LOL @ me cooking for Geri. She tore a muscle in her calf and is not getting around very much. She has a walking brace thing on her leg and is using a walker. So she isn't cooking much. The good news is she isn't smoking either. I also brought her some dvds to watch. She'll be out of commission for about eight weeks. She can't do physical therapy six weeks. This week I have soccer on Monday and book club on Tuesday. I haven't gotten to the gym as much as I have wanted to. I am hopeful that I will be able to go after school/ before book club on Tuesday.

Jo has been great lately. She got 100% on her last math test- which is the hardest subject for her. Last week her coach sent me an email saying she has been playing the best she has seen. They played two games on Thur. They played against two u-13 teams. They beat the first team 3-1 and tied the second 0-0. Jo had the first goal for her team.

Jackie you can tell Michael she got new shoes- victory blue adidas F50's. She is pretty dang jazzed about them. I am too since they were on sale.

talk about touching?

I got all the weeding in the front yard done and today I did the back! My legs are sore. It is funny as I have been such a gym rat- cardio and weights but my legs are still sore from weeding. 

I am just going to assume you all have heard of the sex scandal and the Catholic church. Well it seems that part of settlement agreement is that we have to educate the kids about touching. So now I have this packet of stuff to go over with my class. It starts out simply as personal safety  and then goes into touching and safe vs. unsafe touches.  Yes I know this is something I have to teach, but I have a bit of a problem with it. I was reading through what I have to do and I thought I was going to have to do the whole penis/vagina thing. As it says right in the thing to teach the kids the anatomically correct terms. This is all well and good, but my class gets goofy if you talk about someone's bottom.  I just find this incredibly weird that our school doesn't even do health  and hygiene.  I mean in fifth grade Joelle doesn't have the whole body changes education stuff. We leave that for the parents- no sex ed or puberty talks in school.  So upon further investigation and much to my relief I can leave the penis/vagina talk to the parents and simply tell my kids the 'private parts that your bathing suit covers'. We have these cards we have to go over with the kids and I mean I am all good with telling the kids to tell if someone touches them and to let them know that it is the fault of the other person not theirs. The thing that gets me is I have 'stories and photo cards' to read. One of the stories is about a boy in bed and his moms boyfriend comes in and puts his hand down his pjs. OK yes the kids need to know about this and they need to know to tell if anything happens to them, but the detailed situations seem a bit much for me.  I mean can't we just be more generic? I mean if anyone touches you in your private area you need to tell and it doesn't matter who it is and it is not something to keep secret?  When I was in public school we had a puppet show that came and did this and then we talked about it- it was never this in-depth. I almost feel like just having my class watch  Law and Order SVU!  The cards are that in depth.

I bet Jackie and Megan are glad they were not at the Derby this year. How awful that they had to put a horse down on the track! 

It's Sunday and I am going to work in the yard. The weather is finally nice and I need to get out there and do some serious weeding. I should post before and after pictures. LOL

weekends

Today was a pretty normal Saturday. Joelle had her track meet and she did pretty good. Afterward her friend Taylor came over. They had fun on the trampoline and played wii. They did the olympics on the wii and did- Track. Joelle has known Taylor since kindergarten.  I cleaned the house- floors and the bathroom. I didn't go to the gym, but I will tomorrow.

My class has been raising money to adopt an acre in the rain forest. They are almost there- just $23 more dollars and we can get two acres. 

We went and saw Iron man last night. It was pretty good- action, humor, story and of course Robert Downey jr. I have liked him sine Less than Zero. He is a great actor, he sure has has some personal problems though. 

Mitch and I are watching Resurrecting the Champ. It is pretty good- night all

St.Joseph the worker

Today we had mass at school. I can't even explain how nice it is to have a new priest.  As we sang the opening song he came up the aisle and bowed at the altar. As he bowed the back of his vestments came up slightly revealing his jeans and hiking boots. This is Father Michael. Our former priest kept his distance and had an attitude. Fr. Michael is seen all over the place. You never know where he will be or what he will be doing. He could be on the playground throwing the football around, twirling a jump rope, climbing on the roof to retrieve playground balls or hearing confessions. He has told the kids anytime they want to talk to him they can. He comes to classrooms and teaches lessons. He also builds things, repairs things and can be found doing yard work or power washing the building. So today at mass he explained the jeans and boots and that he was having the first graders over to the rectory after mass (which the first grade presented) to build birdhouses.  He was going to teach them a little carpentry. He went on to greet all the second graders and even commented on how they must be excited to get their second communion. In his homily he talked of work and that everyone works and that no work is any less important and that we do not work for each other but for God. Then he said his work at school was not anymore important or valuable than the work of Mr. Hembry (the custodian).  Above is a photo of Joelle, Lili and Father Michael at the track meet. He actually came to cheer them on at the track meet. 

Not much really going on. I have been getting to the gym and we have been busy. Joelle is in full swing with both soccer and track. I feel really good- much better since the surgery. I had no idea what a big difference it would make.