Nathan's turning six!!!

How is that even possible!

It just flies by so quickly.  We're busy planning his kid party right now.  He's going to have a carnival at the church.  We're going to have popcorn and cotton candy, and I'm lobbying Mike to rent a snow cone machine :)  Brendan and his friends are going to help run the game stations (bean bag bottles, cornhole, bowling, duck pond, ring-toss, etc.), and I just bought a bunch of awful penny prizes yesterday.  Hopefully they'll all go home with tummy aches and a bag full of junk.  Think ping pong goldfish bowls would be too far?  To be authentic they'd have to die within 48 hours.

They're going to have a ball.  I can't wait!

Now if I could just find someone to make me some funnel cakes . . .

They won!

Brendan's team won Saturday's game, 4-3.  Brendan had a couple of amazing kicks, and nearly got a couple of really close goals!  I would have pictures, but my husband is a camera hoarder.  Nate and I sat in the car, because Mother Nature decided to bless us with a lovely downpour of a rain/snow/sleet mixture, and it was 35 degrees.  Mike is obviously the more dedicated parent.  He watched from the sidelines.  With the camera. 

This weekend

will be a busy one, as usual.

Friday night Brendan is going over to a friend's house for an overnight birthday party.  On Saturday, Natey has soccer pictures at 8:45, and a game at 9:30.  We have to leave straight from there and take Brendan up to Lodi for a double-header at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m.  We will probably eat unhealthy fast food somewhere in there.

Maybe we'll take Abby Lou with us to the games.  Duke makes people nervous, with all of the jumping and squirming and trying to make friends with everybody, whether they want to get to know him well enough to have his paws all over them or not.

Oh, and Abby has her first trip to the groomer this weekend.  I should take before and after photos.  I'm guessing hilarity will ensue.  I was looking at her puppy photos the other day and I can't believe how big she's gotten!  She's such a sweet girl.  Really dumb, but sweet.

Spring Soccer schedule

Here's an integrated soccer schedule for the next few weeks for both boys:*

(all of Brendan's games will be played at Lodi soccer complex)

Sat Apr 28

9:30 Nate North Canton

12:00 Brendan vs. Cleveland United

2:00 Brendan vs. Spectrum

Sat May 5

10:30 Nate North Canton

11:30 Brendan vs Cleve Select

3:15 Brendan vs Liberty

Sat May 12

9:30 Nate North Canton

Wednesday May 16

7:15 Brendan vs. Everest

Sat May 19

10:30 Nate North Canton

3:15 Brendan vs. NEO

4:30 Brendan vs. TCSC

Sat June 2

10:30 Nate North Canton (last game of the season!)

Sat June 9

9:00 Brendan vs Whitecaps

Sat June 23

2:00 Brendan vs Jackson Fury

*Schedule compiled by Michael, so if there are errors, yell at him.

UPDATE Northern Ohio Cup Tournament

We found out late last night that therre are 158 teams expected in this tournament this weekend.  That means traffic/parking are going to be awful.  They recommended planning to be there an hour before the game starts to find a spot and hike over to the correct field.

Here's a link to the field map:

http://www.clevelandalliancesoccer.com/documents/LodifieldsSpringTourn2012.pdf

Soccer tourney this weekend

I just heard there's a 60% chance of rain, and the weather is expected to be in the 40s this weekend.  Oy.  Dress warm, wear boots, bring a thermos!

We will likely be late to the first game.  I have a meeting in Macedonia for girl scouts, and Mike is going to take Nate to his soccer game in North Canton.  We're hoping that Bren can hitch a ride with one of his teammates up to Lodi, and Mike and Nate should be there right around the time that first game starts.  There's a three-hour wait until the next game, so we'll likely go grab a bite to eat and let B rest and warm up.  Feel free to join us!

More Kindergarten News!

Nathan's Kindergarten class is having an end of the year school play.  It will be on Thursday, May 24th, 2012.  There will be two showtimes:  9:45 AM and 2:15 PM.  Please come and cheer on our Natey!  He loves an audience! If the Christmas play is any indication, it shouldn't be longer than fifteen minutes or so.

Come visit the KinderZoo!!

Nathan's Kindergarten class is studying animals.  They had to choose an animal, research where it lives and what it eats and what it looks like, write a short report about it, and then create a zoo habitat for their stuffed animal to live in.  The habitats will all be on display on Thursday, April 19, 2012.  The times are between 9:15-9:45 and 2:45-3:15. 

Nathan's is quite adorable and he worked very hard on it.  If you need directions to the school, call me.  Hopefully I'll have pictures later.  I wanted to take a picture before we delivered it to school, in case some awful tragedy befell it, but by the time I thought of it Mike already had it packed up and in the car.

More soccer!

As I mentioned a week or so ago, Natey will be starting Y-League soccer this weekend!  He'll be on Team 5.  They won't have their t-shirts for a couple of weeks, so  just look for Mike.

Here's his game schedule (these games are all at the fields behind the old North Canton Middle School, where Brenny's used to be):


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	April 14	April 21	April 28
9:30 Field #1	1 & 6	1 & 4	5 & 8
10:30 Field #1	7 & 5	5 & 3	4 & 2
9:30 Field #2	8 & 4	6 & 2	1 & 3
10:30 Field #2	2 & 3	7 & 8	6 & 7
	May 5	May 12	May 19
9:30 Field #1	2 & 7	1& 7	8 & 2
10:30 Field #1	1 & 8	8 & 6	6 & 4
9:30 Field #2	3 & 6	2 & 5	7 & 3
10:30 Field #2	4 & 5	3 & 4	1 & 5
	May 26	June 2
9:30 Field #1	1 & 2	2 & 3
10:30 Field #1	3 & 8	7 & 5
9:30 Field #2	4 & 7	8 & 4
10:30 Field #2	5 & 6	1 & 6
Picture Day: April 28(Arrive 45 minutes before scheduled game on Pic Day)
The picture day blurb is just a reminder to myself.  Ignore it.

Northern Ohio Cup Tournament

Weekend after next, April 21 and 22, 2012.

Location: Outdoor fields at 8809 Lake Road Seville, Ohio, 44273.  For those of you keeping score, that would be the same place where I broke my ankle a week ago.  Careful in the parking lot! :)

Games: 

Saturday at 12:00 PM, Field 6, vs. Cleveland Select
Saturday at 4:00 PM, Field 30, vs. Jackson Fury
Sunday at 9:00 AM, Field 29 vs. CKSC South

Semifinal:  Sunday, 12:00 PM (this is ONLY if we qualify).

Final:  Sunday, 2:00 PM, Field 13 (only if we win the semifinal game)

Sorry, but I don't have a field diagram.  The place is HUGE!  If you're planning to attend, call Mike or I and we'll try to describe where to find us.  The boys will likely be wearing their striped blue and white jerseys for most games.

**Also, we might need some help with Nathan for the first Saturday game.   I have a girl scout meeting to attend first thing in the morning, and as you can see above, Nate has a soccer game at 10:30 at the old NC middle school, and Brendan has to be in Lodi by 11:30 to warm up. 

Spring soccer!!

So, Brendan will be starting spring outdoor soccer soon.  From what I understand, all of his games will be on the outdoor fields at the Lodi complex where he's played the last couple of indoor games.  Apparently it's quite a mud pit, so bring your muckalucks.  I don't know when I'll have a game schedule, but when I do I'll post it here.

Also, Natey will be starting spring soccer with the NCYMCA!  Games are on Saturdays, usually behind the old Middle School, times to be announced.  I think that their first game is going to be the week after Easter.  If I remember correctly from Brendan's days with Y-league, the instructional teams practice skills for the first half hour and play games for the second half.  It's going to be a shin-kicking good time!

In case you hadn't heard yet . . .

I broke my ankle over the weekend.  The easter egg hunt is off.  Easter dinner is still on, at least for now.  Just call me Graceful Grace!