Tommy's Soccer

As promised....pictures of Tommy playing soccer. He is the youngest player on the team. All the other kids are in kindergarten and are 5 turning 6. He holds his own....although we did not doubt he would. In the movie clips, you will hear his coach call him "T"...so "Go T" means "Go Tommy". Sorry for the "distant" movie clip....but if you watch closely and carefully you will see Tommy get the ball since he was hanging out on the left side and bring it down to the goal. The other movie clips are a bit closer. Enjoy!

Gabriella's First Day of 1st Grade

Recall that Staples commercial...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year...."

Yes indeed it is!

Today Gabriella started first grade! I can't believe my baby is almost 7 and in 1st grade! Three years ago when Gabriella started preschool we took pictures of her every move as she got ready for her first day of school. It has become our "tradition" and I'm sure in another 2 years will become extremely annoying and inappropriate. However, for the time being, we hope you enjoy them! The bus came around 8:20 this morning and dropped her off at 4:00 this afternoon. It was a long and tiring day but nonetheless she enjoyed it. It was a gym day for her, which explains the retro tie dyed T-Shirt; otherwise it would have been her school uniform! After dinner she has soccer from 6:30-8:00. All I can say "Amen I have to teach tomorrow morning and won't be around". Keep checking back...more posts to come....

And finally coming home...

The last 2 weeks of summer....

...but not of fun...

Exactly 10 days from today I will be heading down to Scranton to start another hectic fall semester. I personally despise the fall semester since I have 8 teaching hours (not to mention the prep at home) in addition to getting the kids back onto school routine, the extra curricular activities, the kids birthdays, the holidays, etc. It's just a crazy, non-stop time of year where I become sleep deprived and cranky by December! At least I got a jump start on the semester (9 weeks done!) so that should help this year. Enough bitching and moaning...onto the fun stuff!

Gabriella will be starting First Grade on Tuesday August 26th. From what I hear, she has a wonderful teacher whom we will get to meet on August 21st at "Get Acquainted Night". Thomas has an additional week of summer and will start Pre-K on Friday September 5th. He is very excited to FINALLY be in Pre-K. He will be going 5 mornings for 3 hours.
In addition to school, all extra curriculars are starting up again too.....

Gabriella's soccer started the week of August 4th. She has practice two times a week for 90 minutes. Starting in September, she will have practice 1-2 nights a week and games on Sunday. She is playing in the next age group (U8) and our team is the youngest. As long as she learns some skills, learns how to be a team player and has some fun, that's all that really matters. Below are some pictures/clips at practice.

Tommy's soccer starts this Monday. Be sure to look back for pictures of him!

In addition to soccer practice, we have kept busy working on the deck. We are making some progresss....little by little. The other night (Wed) Tom noticed a "visitor" around 8:30 hanging on the side of our house. Ick! After noticing our visitor, Tom asked me to put something away and as I walked out of the "safety zone" of our deck frame, a friend of our visitor's jumped and sent me into a tizzy. Needless to say, I told Tom he could clean up and I headed inside. Last night our friend Heather was over and our visitor re-appeared. My comment "Don't tell me that stupid ass frog is back". Heather thought this was swell and decided to name him Gilbert. We then spent the next 2 hours researching what type of frog Gilbert was. We didn't get too far but found out he was a tree frog (I don't know...maybe the fact that he's clung to my house is an indicator!). We shall see if Gilbert returns tonight! I have informed Tom that after the deck is built, forget sitting outside at night...I am not one with nature in my own backyard...I guess it's growing up in the suburbs...creatures should not roam through my yard...

This weekend is my birthday and our plans are either to go Blueberry Picking or play Mini Golf. Gabriella did ask what I wanted for dinner. I told her "maybe daddy can make tacos" Her response "I think we should go to Don Pablo's". Apparently she doesn't trust daddy's cooking!

After this weekend, it's back to school routine and the final errands to start school. Whether your children start school before or after Labor Day, of if you have no children, enjoy the last 2 weeks of "summer" (although technically we have until Sept 21!)