Soccer Star

Well, it's official. I'm a minivan-driving soccer mom. I guess we knew this day would come eventually, right? :) Abby decided she wants to play soccer this year, so she is on a team of 4- and 5-year-old girls with the Searcy leagues. Today was her first game, and it was a lot of fun! She was very excited to wear her uniform and use her new soccer ball (which just happens to match her uniform perfectly), and she got right out there and played like she had been doing it her whole life. Today was the first time the team was together, so it was an interesting experience. They practice for the first 30 minutes of the scheduled time, and then the game against the other team is the last 30 minutes. It was quite clear from the beginning that the other team had a few veteran players on it, and I'm pretty sure our girls had barely seen a soccer ball before, much less kicked one into a goal. Abby caught on very quickly during practice, and she was the first (and only ;)) one on our team to kick a goal during the game!! I was amazed at how well she did for her first game. Casey referred to her as "the aggressor" of the team. ;) One of the girls spent half of the game crying, and we had another one who mostly walked around with her thumb in her mouth. Basically, it was what I expected a soccer game with preschoolers to look like. Abby did get a little bit discouraged that the other team kept getting goals--she does not like to lose at anything! But it was a good time for us to reinforce those important life lessons like, "you just do your best," "it's ok if you don't win all the time," and "you still need to have a good attitude." I am hopeful that she will be able to handle this a little better as the season goes on because I'm pretty sure our team is the only one that has ALL new players on it. It will be an interesting few months... :) Abby Liz, you did an amazing job out there today, and we are so proud of you!!!

Prepositions and Multiplication

Ever since I graduated with my Bachelors degree from Harding in 2005, I have either worked in Preschool Special Education, or I have been a stay-at-home mom (and working on that Masters degree that I finally finished this year!). I'm not sure how any of this qualifies me to teach prepositions and multiplication to 8-year-olds, but that is exactly what I am doing now. I started a new job in August as the 3rd grade Math/Language Arts teacher at CrossPointe Preparatory... and I love it! The model of the school is amazing, and it works perfectly for our family's schedule. I only teach on Tuesday and Thursday mornings because the students do school at home on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I send home the assignment sheets for the whole week with the necessary curriculum, and the parents are responsible for teaching their children on those days. I have five sweet girls that make up my 3rd grade class, and they are such a blessing to work with. It is a lot of extra work at home, but I really do love what I am doing right now.

Abby has also started back to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so it works out very well! Casey is able to take her in the mornings on his way to work, and I get done in time to pick her up. There is an older couple that we attend church with who keeps Logan for us on these days, and he loves going to their house! They keep 2 or 3 other children around his age, so he has a lot of fun. I feel so blessed to have a job that I love and childcare that we are all happy with!! Casey is still loving his job as Mailing Center Supervisor at HU, so we are also blessed with that.

Meanwhile, my kids keep growing. Here's the latest for Abby.

And we'll try this video for Logan because I laugh every time I watch it. :) We were playing at a friend's house, and Logan just loves playing with their kitty, Simon. The little girl in the video is Abby's friend, Adalyn.