Little Storm

On Saturday morning Aric had his first soccer game.  I wasn't too sure how the game would go since his team, Little Storm, only had two practices.  Well, actually, all of the other teams only had two practices.  After running out last minute the day before to get Aric black shorts for game day, he was ready to go.

Actually he was a bit tired.  We had stayed up late the night before because we were out playing mini golf and eating ice cream.  I know we are considerate parents for letting our child get overly tired before a game, but we all had fun playing mini golf.

It was hot on Saturday.  After the first half of the month teased us with fall like temperatures, we are now in the hot and dry part of August. 

They warmed up, practicing side-stepping, falling and getting up quickly.

He's too young to be giving me that look.

We had great sideline seats.  Kellyn was excited.  She dressed for the occasion wearing blue because Aric was wearing blue.  She even brought along her KC Sporting scarf, but left it in the car when we arrived.

The coaches positioned everyone on the field.  When the game started no one moved off of their designated spot.

It took a bit of coaching, but soon everyone realized they could move from their spot and kick the ball.

Aric played goalie for a bit.  He stopped three balls, but was unable to stop a fourth.  He was pretty upset about letting one get by.

Ryan talked to him for a bit, let him know how well he did, and coached him a bit.

Everyone on the team had a chance to play multiple times during the game.  They also had time to rest and drink out of their nifty new water bottles.

Don't worry about Kellyn, she created her own fun during the game.

Gymnastics

After the swim lesson fiasco, we were a bit hesitant to sign Kellyn up for anything.  With all of the new changes in our lives that revolved around Aric, we felt that Kellyn needed something of her own.  She has talked about going to gymnastics for awhile and we wanted to sign her up for a class that she would enjoy and willingly participate in. 

Last Thursday was her first class.  She was excited.

She had on her new leotard, which she picked out herself, and she allowed me to put her hair back into a ponytail, the only two things required for gymnastics.  When I pulled into the parking lot and opened her car door, she squealed that she was at gymnastics.  It was pretty funny.

She's in a class of three and she is definitely the older, more outgoing child in the room.

She likes her coach, Ms. Kari and listened to her intently for the most part. 

She was so excited about trying everything she tried to run down the other kids a few times when they were going through stations.  Unfortunately I can't figure out how to load that video.  It's too long and I think I need to edit it, but I'm very computer illiterate in that area.  Instead you'll just have to enjoy these videos of Kellyn on the bars over the foam pit.

Kindergarten

Where did the time go?  How did the baby I waited so long for turn five so quickly?  This morning he woke up early, we rebuilt the train tracks on the train table together, and then it was time to get ready for school.  Aric was super excited.

Kellyn was, too.

Aric was ready pretty early, which gave us plenty of time to take pictures, go over his address, phone number, bus number, and stranger danger.

Kellyn's mood went downhill as soon as she stepped into the wet grass.

We loaded everyone in the car and headed off to school.

I was going to walk Aric into school while everyone else stayed in the car, but Kellyn wanted to go, too.

Kellyn cried when Aric sat down in his chair.  He ran over and gave her a big hug goodbye.  She cried the whole way back to the car and then asked to sit in his seat.

Don't worry Kellyn, I feel the same way.

Swim Lessons

Aric was in another round of swim lessons over the past two weeks.  I am glad we decided to sign him up for another round of lessons this summer.  When he completed his first round of swim lessons he was an in-progress Level 2 swimmer.  After this last round of lessons, Aric has completed all of the qualifications to be a Level 2 swimmer.  He is able to swim and dive, but still needs to work on his confidence.  He prefers to swim with a noodle rather than swim on his own. We may sign him up for some winter lessons at another pool, but at this point he is done with lessons for the summer.

This time his class was smaller, usually about 4 or 5 kids with 2 life guards.  He was able to get in more swim time and they worked on some of their skills by playing games, which he loved.

In this video he is working on swimming to and from the instructor in the shallow end:

This is his first time to swim across the deep end of the pool (9ft of water):

This was from his final day of swim lessons.  He didn't want to swim across the deep end, but after some encouragement he did:

This video is of him diving into the pool on his own:

His favorite part of swim lessons is always at the end when he is allowed to go down the slide:

His not so favorite part of class was sliding down and giving himself a black eye just in time for kindergarten:

It didn't stop him from inhaling his post class donut, though.

Less Than a Week

In less than a week Aric will begin kindergarten.  He is completely registered at school and tomorrow we find out who his teacher will be.  Saturday he has an appointment for a haircut to make sure he's looking good for his first day.  Monday we stop by to meet his teacher, see his classroom, and drop off his school supplies.  Tuesday is the big day.

Last week I made his backpack.  I offered to order him a nice Pottery Barn backpack and he declined, instead requesting that I make him another dinosaur backpack. The backpack is in the process of being Scotchguard protected, but otherwise it is ready for his first day.

It is still hard to believe that Aric is almost a kindergartener.  Our lives are about to change.  Not only will he be starting school, but he will also begin his soccer season.  Last Saturday Ryan took Aric to a soccer camp.  At first Aric thought he and Ryan would be pitching a tent, making smores and spending the night.  Ryan had to explain that it was basically a soccer practice with all of the other children signed up to play soccer.  It was a good experience for Aric.  He definitely improved over the day.

These are photos of our orange-t-shirt-wearing-soccer-playing-soon-to-be-kindergartner during the soccer camp.  Enjoy those while I go hide from all of the upcoming change.