busy weekend!

It's Friday afternoon and we have 3 separate events going on.

T just finished up her track meet at ECS where her 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams finished in 1st place.  She runs the anchor in both races.  She's not the fastest leg, but she finishes strong!  Thank goodness for my mom to help with transportation and a third set of wheels because Manny had a game at Briarcrest at 5:30.  Refs decided not to show up until 6:15, so game was delayed.  Like we have nothing better to do on a Friday evening than sit around and wait on refs.  Well, normally we wouldn't have anything better...but Coop has a tournament this weekend at Mike Rose and his first game is tonight at 6:30.

So, I am now sitting in the car waiting for his game to start as I type this.  He's hoping to play goalie.  Can't even tell you how hard it is for me to be excited for him to be a keeper.  But, as always, I build him up and tell him how good he is and how valuable a goalie's responsibilities are.  As THE parent of the goalie, it's gut-wrenching.  Lots of pressure back there.  Forwards can make mistakes and miss shots while the crowd claps.  A goalie makes a mistake and the crowd sighs.  The good thing is that Coop is pretty laid back.  He's able to let things roll off him easily.  Not like he doesn't care, but at least he doesn't put his head down and give up.

The rest of our weekend is full too.  T has training in the morning.  Coop plays another tournament game in the afternoon, while Manny plays in another Harding game.  Then the big kids are going ice-skating in Collierville for the evening.  Sunday will be more tourney games for Coop, while T and Manny go to church and then to the Crawfish Festival downtown with the Dunavants. 

Maybe i'll actually get to squeeze in a few loving moments with Chris somewhere in the weekend...but not gonna hold my breath ;).  I don't always blog about every weekend...but I've always feared I'll lose my memory some day and this may be the only way to document what my life is like.   I used to scrapbook (wishing I still did), but the reality is that my family runs at too high of a speed for me to keep it up.  However, I can type and blog using my phone or computer much easier and more quickly.  Most of the stuff I write is only interesting to a select group of people who may read this.  So, I really do it more for myself in case I lose my memory someday. :) 

...so coop's game has just ended.  they won 4-2.  coop played like a ROCKSTAR!  oh man, he was on fire.  we played a lobos team and they shot on him quite a bit.  the first goal against him was beautiful.  kid bent it in from 20 yards out.  coop jumped up to block the left side of the goal.  ball hit the left top post and bounced right to the bottom corner.  no way he could've stopped it!  kudos to the lobos player.  nice shot!  the second goal against us was quite unfortunate.  our defender was working hard and was trying to kick the ball out as he had 3 men on him.  it happened to be a perfect kick into our own top right corner.  own goals always hurt, but our boys worked hard to clean up the mess.  we scored 4 goals to win the game!

manny's team beat briarcrest 4-1.  chris was representing at the game so I don't have any juicy game details.  but I can say, "go lions!"

can't complain about our evening...  team allen was 3 for 3!

...it's now saturday evening and our day has come to  close. 

i took taegan to her morning training.  i found a couple of hours afterwards to straighten up and sweep out the garage as well as weed some of the flower bed.  can't even tell you how much it excites me to think of summer time, planting flowers, and watering flowers in the early morning.  i love the quiet of the early mornings while my family sleeps.  it's almost like i can hear the plants growing and blooming.  sorry, i got a little carried away...back to my family. 

coop's team lost 3-1 to a team from Illinois.  he played goalie again and was sensational.  i was so proud of his effort and positive attitude!   coach put him on the field for the second half, and coop drove the ball from his defender position all the way up to the goal.  a man charged at him so he dinked the ball to his left where nicolas tapped it in.  again, i was impressed by coop's unselfish nature.  many would have taken the shot, but he knew his other player was in a good position to score.  i hope he realizes we value assists as much as goals!  what a great kid!  after his game we went to mellow mushroom with his team.  i love the families!

manny's team played woodland pres. at harding and won 4-0!  again, chris represented for the allens so i don't have any detailed plays to report.  chris helps coach the goalies, and i think manny appreciates having a father figure at his games. 

taegan ended up ice skating with friends this evening and got home about 10:30.  manny stayed home to watch cooper while chris and i squeezed in a sushi and saki dinner together.   

we have an 8am semi-final game sunday morning.  the winner advances to the finals at 12:45pm. we'll be playing the same team we played today because we're both sitting in the 2nd/3rd place position. should be a good game!