Soccer Team Hockey

After some broken sleep last night on call, I met Patrick at a nearby IHOP after he dropped Anthony off for his away soccer game. These two kiddos were such a welcome sight for my very tired eyes. I asked Patrick to take a picture just because this meant so much to me. They were so happy to see me that I got a bunch of hugs and kisses. After breakfast I took them home while Patrick went to Anthony's away game.

Later I took the younger kids craft shopping at Hobby Lobby and Joann's. Natalie got some stickers she bought to use for playing "school" and Eric got some Thomas the Tank engine stickers that he was VERY excited about. (Think "happy dance".) Alex wanted to spend some of his allowance money again and I indulged him and his sister and took them to a local family-owned toy store. He got a marble maze and marble run toys. Money just burns a hole in that boy's pocket. With their recent excellent report cards, I found it difficult to say "no" to their spending their own money.

After a nap this afternoon for a couple of members of my family, we went to church and then went straight to a San Antonio Rampage hockey game. The kids' soccer club sold some tickets as a fundraiser, so there were a bunch of soccer kids there. Eric was mesmerized. I took this picture at arms' length since I was sitting next to him. Notice the tucked in lower lip and clasped hands. So cute!

This is what it looks like when I tried to take a picture of two reluctant 10-year-old boys. I wanted to show that one of Alex's friends came to sit with us in the nosebleed seats. We were pretty much on the topmost row (not counting the box seats), but Alex's friend's family has season tickets on the next level down. He's one of Alex's teammates and the only one that Alex has asked to play with outside of soccer.

This is what it looks like when I tried to take a picture of some 13 and 14-year-olds. Anthony is usually pretty good when I want to take a picture of him but it took some prodding before he would look at the camera. As you can see, most of the other boys were trying to ignore me. Quite a few members of his team were there, and since there were lots of empty seats, he sat with his friends instead of with his family. He said he and his friend K spent some time checking out the cheerleaders. He only sat a few rows down from us, but I thought it was a sign of the times that when I wanted to tell him something I would text him and then watch as he checked his phone and then as he texted back. I love technology!

Aren't these "boys" the cutest? They weren't reluctant at all. Eric is even kind of posing. He started really fading by the beginning of the third period, so we went ahead and left early. The other kiddos were disappointed. Ironically, Natalie was the one that complained the loudest about leaving because she wanted to keep watching the game, but she was the one who fell asleep in the van on the way home and not Eric.

I was disappointed that I didn't get to scrap today, but I have to let my body rest some time. Tomorrow is another day.