One
Weather-related field issues led to the cancellation of Will's first regular season soccer game two weeks ago, but last weekend and after a half-year, the boys were finally able to officially kick off fall league play.
It felt strange to be back on the sidelines; for the last few months and with the exception of the tournament a couple of weeks ago, I and my fellow soccer parents have just been dropping our boys off at practice and coming back to pick them up an hour and 45 minutes later. No parking lot chit chat, no conversations on the bleachers, no carpooling. But now that league play has started back up (let me throw in mini high fives for a great field location this fall), and even though we're wearing masks and social distancing* on the sidelines, it was nice to see and catch up with my soccer parent friends again.
And for your amusement, this is what I looked like at Will's game. WARNING: it's not a pretty picture.
It began to rain about 30 minutes prior to kick off, and the weather only ramped up (thank you, Tropical Storm Beta) throughout the first half. By the second half, I was under both a tree and my chair "roof", using an umbrella to block my upper body from the sideways-blowing wind wind and rain, and covered in a blanket to keep my legs and feet dryish. By the end of the game, the only part of me that wasn't cold and wet was my face mask-covered mouth and nose. 😂
Two
The same story - both parts - holds true for Will's school sports. His first cross county meet was cancelled because of a storm, so last Wednesday Will and his teammates ran their inaugural race of the semester. More than six months have passed since Will's first and last track meet, so while it felt strange to be dressed in my royal blue cross country mom ensemble once again, it also felt great to join my fellow school sport parents to watch our kids compete at an activity they love. Masks and social distancing* can't put a damper on the energy and enthusiasm associated with school sports!
Two
The same story - both parts - holds true for Will's school sports. His first cross county meet was cancelled because of a storm, so last Wednesday Will and his teammates ran their inaugural race of the semester. More than six months have passed since Will's first and last track meet, so while it felt strange to be dressed in my royal blue cross country mom ensemble once again, it also felt great to join my fellow school sport parents to watch our kids compete at an activity they love. Masks and social distancing* can't put a damper on the energy and enthusiasm associated with school sports!
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| If you zoom in, you can see that he's smiling at his mama who's waving and yelling and filming from the front row of the bleachers. |
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| Oh yeah, he won. It was amazing. |
* To be clear, I 100% support wearing masks and social distancing. They make everything feel a little different than it has in the past, but if this teeny, tiny inconvenience saves lives (spoiler alert: it does) and makes it possible for (parts of) life to return to (a version of) normal, count me in.
Three
This high five needs no explanation...
August 2018
September 2020
Congratulations, Will!
Also, TIME, SLOW DOWN. Who is this man child and what has he done with my baby?!
Four
After about five weeks and three weeks respectively, last Friday morning we said goodbye to Mahalo and Scrumpy Scrumperson.
I knew that bringing kittens into our home would be physically challenging. Kittens, after all, make messes, destroy things, terrorize other animals, stay up all night, and don't understand that they're not welcome on every work and school Zoom call. I also knew that bringing kittens into our home would be emotionally challenging. The kids worried about how to make sure Tux knew they still loved and hadn't replaced him, and Hallie, who has A LOT of love to give, sometimes struggles when animals don't return her love quite as deeply and in as affectionate a way. What I didn't know, however, was how challenging it would be to fall in love with them and let them go.
We can't keep them all, of course...I'm too young to become a crazy cat lady. (Maybe someday, when we're nearing the end of our foster days and we find a cat or kitten who gets along well with Tux, we'll keep one of these little rascals.) But the goal was never to adopt them - it was to love and socialize them so that when leave our home, they're ready for their forever families. And I feel peace knowing we accomplished that goal.
We're taking a couple of weeks off from fostering to remind Tux that we still love and haven't replaced him, and then we'll open our home to the next round of kittens!
Five
Happiness Highlights
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| Let's be honest - I'm probably going to buy her for myself for Christmas. (Also, when did being born in 1986 make someone "historical"?!) |
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| Not too shabby a view while working at soccer practice. |
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| Hallie and I are missing Nutcracker, so we've been playing Gin (which I just taught her) with our Nutcracker cards. |
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| Repping our Brenda Mueller originals at the orthodontist... |
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| ...and at dance. Hallie LOVES that my mom has started adding embellishments to her masks. |
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| Celebrating finishing all six of the kids' MAP tests! |
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