Also...

Just wanted also to say thanks for all the thoughts in response to my post last week! I truly appreciate all of the comments!! (and am hoping to work through the book ideas over the summer!)

And, completely randomly, can anyone tell me why they don't make dividers for minivans? (You know, like the ones in limos and some taxis and such that divide the front seat from the passengers.) Let's think about it for a minute, eh? Not saying that I don't get a kick out of listening to some of the odd conversations the boys have or their unharmonious songs but methinks the option of raising a divider in minivans would be a huge selling point... ;)

Allow me to brag for just a moment...

Guess who won their bracket at this weekend's tournament? :) Woohoo! After last fall being a season to learn the grace of losing (I think they may have won one or two of their games total), winning this was HUGE. So proud of this team! They played hard and well and were good sports throughout. Yay! (And look at my little Asher out there with all those 8 year olds! He's beyond thrilled just to have been part of it.)

Soccer. What else? ;)

Just got home from day one of the tournament. So proud of my boys (and their team). We played just the one game today...and tied 0-0. To hear our sidelines celebrating and hooting at the end of the game, though, you'd think we'd whooped 'em. See, the other team is a really competitive team...they went mostly undefeated the last couple seasons (I believe a tie or two may have been involved and don't actually know for sure) and are known for being a real powerhouse. Noah and one of the other boys on our current team have played on the same team as these other boys for a season or two (insert various tales of soccer politics and team selection here, lol). My point is, we know this other team and know they're good. So, to tie  them (and hold them to zero goals) was big. We're happy. ;)

(Seriously, you should have seen our sidelines. It was, at times, more fun to watch the parents than the kids. We were so excited for the boys, and I love how our team parents are totally supportive and encouraging...not only did you hear shouts for our own kids but also "good play" and "nice block" for the other team.)

Oh. And, for the record, we tied them (and by "them" I mean their entire normal team) while missing two of our normal players and having my Asher play as the single sub...my Asher who is 6 years old playing on this U8 team. (Technically, because of where his birthday falls, Asher plays U7 right now (is always one of the youngest) so is allowed to bump up one division for things like this.) He was dang small out there compared to those mostly 8 year olds...totally held his own and got into the fray, though. (Asher's team opted to not participate in the tournament, btw, which made Asher sad. So, he volunteered himself to Noah's coach to help make sure Noah's team would have enough players to participate. Turned out that they did need any extra players they could find for the sake of having at least one sub.)

On the ride home, the boys were asking Nathan and I about our own soccer experiences. I explained that I've never played soccer (the youth league in my hometown started after I was almost in high school I believe) but have been to, literally, hundreds of games. I don't think I'm exaggerating. All four of my younger siblings played youth soccer, and two of them went on to play beyond high school, and I honestly did go to many of those games. Figure at least 10 games per sibling per year (two seasons) for say 5 years. (That's not counting the games where they were older when I would have been at college or just married.) Wow. I've really spent a lot of time doing things soccer related for someone who's never played. I'm not sure how I feel about that, LOL!

One last thing. Earlier today I was running errands with Micah. We hadn't been talking about soccer at all. I asked him randomly what he wants to be when he grows up (I get a kick out of the many different answers I get from the boys). His prompt reply was "center half-back"...this from a kid who has yet to officially play soccer. Man I'm in trouble. ;)

ETA: Oh, and I was just realizing that aside from a couple of photo books using templates and helping the boys with their own season albums, I've not done a single soccer layout...ever. Yeah, I better get on that. I won't even go into how many soccer pictures I've taken...

Rain gutters and bicycles.

I spend a lot of time organizing and reorganizing my scrap supplies. It's a sickness, really. ;) This post, though, is not about scrap supplies (though I wouldn't be surprised if that comes up in the next week or so, LOL!). No. Lately, I've been wrapping up this school year and planning for the next and am just so stoked about the ideas and books and activities I'm hoping to tackle with the boys. To that end, I've been sorting and organizing and reorganizing my homeschooling supplies. And I realized that I could take a pointer or two from my scrap supply saga...I do better at using things if I can see them in plain view. I think most people do. So. One of our projects over Memorial Day weekend was this:

We added some shelves to the boys' closet wall (we removed the closet doors long ago to prevent boys shutting each other inside and have always used the built in shelves for books rather than clothes). The shelves are actually vinyl rain gutters. Yup. Just bought some gutters (they come in 10' lengths but are easy to cut), end caps and brackets and stuck them right up. Okay, Nathan and Noah stuck them right up. ;)

I love that the boys can now put a selection of books here that they can actually see and be excited about (as opposed to keeping a pile on the floor and neglecting the many other books still on the shelves because they just forgot about them). Obviously, we put up three shelves...one for each boy. Thus far, they've been using them to keep track of the bedtime story selections they think of during the day. I'm thinking of adding more of these rain gutter shelves elsewhere in the house so that I can keep better track of books I want to make sure to read to the boys in a given week...still pondering where to put them, though. :)

Oh, and for the record, this is not an original idea. I've seen it before and then was reacquainted with it over the weekend while reading "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease...good stuff, btw.

One of the other "big" things over the weekend was our realization that Asher needed a new bike. His little one was just too much work for him (he must have been pedaling many more times than the rest of us when we took our family bike ride to the Farmer's Market on Sunday...and was wiped by the time we got home). We'd been holding out in the hopes that he'd learn to ride without the training wheels on that littler bike...seemed like it might be easier to learn on since he'd be closer to the ground and all. But. We hope to do much more in the way of family bike rides and having him dread them wasn't going to work. So. He got a new bike and is delighted and once again happy about bike riding. Micah, having inherited the littler bike, is likewise thrilled. Since it was raining yesterday, the boys got their first real chance to try them out today:

(Yes, they all still have training wheels...we'll be working on that next, lol.) During this afternoon's riding in the cul-de-saq, Micah exhibited his typical precociousness. Noah, biking very slowly, ventured to let go of the handlebars and shout that he could ride hands-free (if you know Noah, you know this is a big step for my always cautious boy). Micah, seconds later while pedaling furiously after Asher, did this:

First day riding a bicycle and the boy is trying to ride hands-free on me. Oy. Moments later, btw, Asher declared that he could ride butt-free (meaning that he stood up in the pedals so his bum was off the seat). Micah, naturally, followed suit immediately. At that point, I was obliged to step in and ask that he not try to ride both hands and butt-free at the same time. ;) (Because you know the little bugger would have tried it, LOL!)

Anyhow. The bike fest ended with the discovery of a joy of training wheels after rain:

Noah actually started it and all three boys took their turns positioning their bikes and getting their backsides soaked. Fortunately, they figured out pretty quickly not to line up behind one another. ;)

Okay, back to work on this layout on my desk now. :) Hopefully, it'll go quickly and I'll finish up a few that I can share before the end of the week, too!

Memorial Day.

Sigh. I'm not sure how I feel today. This is my second Memorial Day without my dad, and Memorial Day was always a special day for the two of us. I wish I could be in Prosser at the cemetery there but know that's not practical right now. Instead, then, I'll share this layout (which is in my book) about Memorial Days growing up. I finished this layout the summer before my dad died.

Miss you, Dad...

Happy Memorial Day to you all...hope you're enjoying it with your families!