birthday surprise!

after a long day of teaching, soccer practices, and games, manuel's family suprised me with flowers, cake, and balloons.  i think THE WORLD of manny's family.  even though communication is challenging, i enjoy their company!  for everyone who knows manny...he is the mannerly gentleman that he is because of his family.  what a selfless heart for allowing manny to live with us.  we are the lucky ones!!

moises, elisa, melanie, bianey, christian, and cooper

 

thank you, contreras family, for making my birthday so special!  what's even sweeter is that they came over to celebrate knowing manny was at practice at the time.    

hanging out at the carlocks

my cowboy!

last thursday was western day at coop's school! couldn't resist this photo op while taegan's harding team was getting ready to play. gosh, he is too cute!!!!

keeper for the weekend

wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley when she's in "ninja goalie" mode. this was during a 98 game the week prior to get her ready to play keeper for the weekend tourney. she's isn't our team goalie, but enjoys playing when she can!
watching a game when your child is playing in the goal is so much more stressful! i think i hold my breath with every shot on goal.

"bring it on."

another save!
you had to be there to fully appreciate her facial expression. we had scored just minutes before this and knew we had to keep them from scoring...in order to advance. she was yelling "STEP!!!" to get her girls to push up the line before she punts. she was punting against the wind, and hoping to get the back line to cause the other team to be offsides if they win the ball out of the air. priceless picture! also, notice the field number on the scoreboard...
callie and taegan celebrating
shaking hands with mississippi fire. midsouth victory 1-0!

gotta be back for semi-finals. game time 8am. it's terrible that most of our sunday morning prayers happen on a soccer field...praying for a win!

semi-final game ends in a 1-1 tie. goalies head out for meeting with referee about PK shootout protocol.

definitely a keeper's mom's worst nightmare.

crowd roared when she caught this ball one-handed. she looked so tough! i may have even heard her growl ;)

unfortunately we lost the PK shootout and the searcy storm advanced. all in all it was a good weekend of soccer with gorgeous weather. despite the stress, i was super proud of T's weekend as keeper. breakfast at IHOP...she seriously ate every last bite of the breakfast sampler!