The life of a Saturday soccer mom.

Well, we started our fall soccer season today.  This is Charlie 3rd year to play.  And Sam's first.  Much to his great excitement!

Let me give you a little run down of the day. 

We loaded up the car early this morning after a hearty breakfast of eggs and biscuits in my best effort to keep these boys full as long as possible.  (Read as...  keep SAM full as long as possible.)  I packed snacks, lunch, water and hot chocolate in my attempt to be as prepared as possible.  Chairs, blankets and extra hoodies also piled in the car.  This was all after attempting to dress two little boys in shin guards, tall socks, warm pants, multiple layers of shirts, sweatshirts and cleats.  And still have them be able to move.  Check.  Forgot gloves, but got to the field with a minute and a half to spare.

So, after we got all the above mentioned paraphernalia out of the car and set up by the field, Charlie and buddy, Emma started their game.  Which went a little like this...Charlie run.  Emma run.  Charlie get distracted.  Emma stop to see if Charlie is OK.  Charlie run.  Emma run after him.  Charlie kick the ball.  Emma stop to tell him "Good job!"  Repeat.  What makes this even funnier is the fact that Charlie almost as tall as me...and Emma is the size of a 3-year-old.  All while Sam is sitting on the sidelines amid all those snack and drinks I was telling you about, swearing that he is starving to death.  Despite that big breakfast he had...oh, about 45 minutes ago.  And when he wasn't pleading for food, he was asking when was it gonna be time for him to play...about 400 hundred times.

After Charlie and Emma's game, we loaded ourselves like pack mules and headed to the next field over for Grace's game.  Which was fairly uneventful and we spent more time laughing at the preschool goalie on the field next to us, then watching Grace play.  He was obviously dancing to some music that none of the rest of us could hear and it was very entertaining.  Had to be some 80's tunes based on the moves he was busting out.  Sam again pleaded for food and I finally gave in and let him have a snack and some hot chocolate.  Which made me a very popular mommy.  At least while he was eating.

And I forgot to mention that despite the fact that it was 80 degrees on Thursday, it was 44 degrees with wind blasting this morning.  Which meant on top of having to be patient about waiting for his game, Sam's nose was literally running off his face.  And we might have accidentally used our borrowed gloves as a Kleenex.  And mommy was freezing.

Finally the time came for Sam's game and we again packed it all up and moved our growing entourage back across the field.  Things were getting messy by this time.  Snacks were falling out of the coolers, hot chocolate had been spilled on the blankets, clothes were being shed as it [very] gradually warmed up and there was a growing collection of snotty tissues in my hoodie pocket.  With my cell phone.  Gross.

We finally got Sam situated with his team.  And do you know he was so excited about his new purple soccer jersey that we could barely get him to focus on his coach?  Never seen a kid so enthralled with a purple shirt.

He finally got focused and ran up and down the field with his team for a while, doing a good job for the most part of hanging with the pack.  On several occasions, the ball actually hit his feet, but he made no effort to actually kick it.  He was too busy admiring his shirt.  And worrying about if he was gonna win.  (Note to self:  Help Sam understand what a team is.)

And at some point, he realized that the other kids were now partaking in their picnic lunch.......  like he needed another distraction.  "Hey.....!"

Just in case you are wondering, all of this happened before 12:30.  We made it back to the car with what seemed to me like way more stuff than we started with.  And everything was just a touch sticky, which is what happens when lots of kids under the age of 10 are drinking hot chocolate.  And I use the term 'drinking' very loosely.  It was a good idea last night, but I think we'll just stick with water next time.

So, 'tis the life of a Saturday soccer mom.  Charlie was happy because his team "won", even though at this age they aren't technically keeping score, but you better believe he knew the exact number of goals made!  Sam got a new shirt, plenty of snacks and some really fun socks, so he was perfectly content.  And Daddy learned that a 4-year-old first-time soccer player won't always do exactly what you want him to, no matter how much encouragement he is getting from the sidelines.

And mommy is just exhausted.