Father's Day!

I woke up this morning to my alarm, just as I do every other morning. I was lying in bed and had just rolled over, peeling my bed sheet away from my rib cage, due to the new tattoo there. I heard the door to my room move. I looked up and it was closed, not latched, but closed. I said "hello?" and Ky stuck her head in. I asked if she had shut my door and she told me "yes, I was going to get in the shower and didn't want my radio to wake you up." Satisfied with her answer, I rolled back over for a few more minutes sleep. It seemed like I had just blinked when I heard another sound. Startled, I rolled over and sat up to see my babies carrying a cookie sheet with a glass of juice, blueberry toast, and waffles with butter and syrup. Breakfast in bed, provided by my children; 11, 8, and 4 years old. Perhaps I have seen something more beautiful but I don't remember what it is. I sat up and thanked them dearly, then C ran out of the room and came back with my present. I must mention here that Boo made me a footprint on Friday with a poem attached. I had to bring it home before I could read it. We came in the house and I sat on the step to explain why I couldn't read it before then. I started reading it to him and made it nearly through the first paragraph before the tears started rolling down my cheek. Priceless. So several weeks ago, my kids were asking me what I wanted for Father's Day. My biggest prize is getting to wake up with them here but they weren't satisfied with that answer. The next day at work, I got a paper about a Father's Day sale and noticed a couple indoor/outdoor weather stations. I had one at our last house but left it because I didn't want to try and patch the holes in the wall from taking it down. I saved the paper and gave it to the kids and made special mention of the one I liked best. It had a digital image of a boy "Oscar Outlook" who dresses for the weather each day. It also has the indoor and outdoor temperature, date, time, sunrise, sunset, and stage of the moon. I thought the kids could look at Oscar to learn what to expect for the day's weather. I opened the package from my kids and there it was. We got up right away and put it together. C was quite worried because the directions said to put the batteries in the outdoor part, then, within four minutes, put the batteries in the computer. Time flies I guess, especially at 8 years old. We got things done in plenty of time and it works like a charm. Boo even asked "If the weather boy only has shorts on, why do I have to wear a shirt?"

The other part of my weekend was a 3 vs 3 soccer tournament. Ky and I heard about it months ago and had put a team together; quite a group of girls. We ended up with 5; three on the field with two subs. We had practiced a few times just to get used to the field size and the rule changes. At the end of the practice one evening, we started talking about our team name and uniforms. We have 5 on the team but only three were there that night. These girls play terrific soccer together but couldn't decide on anything else in unison that night. Not even a majority vote! I finally suggested, since nobody could decide on a color, we'd just get rainbow tie-dyed shirts. It was a hit! Next was our team name. Again, no consensus. How about a big question mark on the front then? My second suggestion was a hit as well and with that came the idea to name us the "Riddlers." I called my pal Marilyn my embroidery goddess and asked if she could hook us up. She said sure, so Ky and I went over to her shop the next night. She had catalogs waiting for us with shirt options and font styles. A week later (Friday morning) she called and told me she had shirts ready. I went over my lunch hour and picked them up; they were perfect! Our bracket was full with 5 teams registered. I knew three of the others but was lost as to who the last team was. As it turns out, it was the U12 Rushmore Club girls. These girls play the same high level soccer as Ky but are at least one year, some almost two years older. They were our second game on Saturday. Now just to clarify, there are two girls on that team nearly a foot taller than Ky and their smallest girl is still bigger than her; Ky is the tallest girl on her team by inches. These girls are BIG! And they're all quite talented, driven soccer players. We started out and gave up a goal early, then another. I was hoping to make a better showing and just then we knocked one in. Then we scored again. I was ecstatic! The big girls and their parents were still quite cocky but when the final whistle blew and we were ahead 7-5, their mood was quite different. We went undefeated through regular competition yesterday and earned every win. Today's semi-final started with a rematch of our last game of the previous day. The other team was more rested than they had been the night before and we weren't as hungry, we won by three. The big girls were the winner in the other semi-final match just as we were expecting. We played our game first and I watched them play their game next. If they were physical and playing hard the day before, today could only be described as brutal. They won their semi-final game by 11 points against our next toughest competition from the previous day. There was a two hour break and it was time for the final game. I gave a positive pep talk explaining we had beat them the day before and could do it again. The girls seemed willing and were well rested; we took the field and the ref blew the whistle to start the game. Within the first 5 minutes, we were down by 2-0. It seemed our girls were about to quit when Ky blocked a shot, made a long, high pass to one of her tie-dye wearing pals, and she punched it in. We were back in the game. It went back and forth the rest of the game. We got the score tied at two, and they scored again. Half time. With the rain last night and the temperature in the 90's today, it was hot! Our girls were giving all they had and were still down by one. They seemed more than a little discouraged so I did my best to point out how well they were playing and reassured them "you girls are still very much in this." We took the field and within a couple minutes, had the game tied up! With 4 minutes left in the game, Ky again made a beautiful long pass up field to a girl I've nick-named "the ball killer" because she hadn't missed a shot on goal the whole tournament. Two light touches, a beautiful shot, and the ball bounces off the outside of the post.....Score 3-3. The other team takes their goal kick and with a beautifully made series of plays, gets the ball to our end of the field, shoots and they miss! Our turn. We put the ball in play, get in front of their net, shoot across and the ball just misses but we've got a girl in tie-dye waiting there for it, she shoots back across and misses again!!!!! One more chance, across the net, miss, then a light little touch and it goes in. I have tears in my eyes as I sit here typing this. We are up 4-3 and the clock says19 seconds remaining. The big girls kick off, make one pass, take a shot, and it goes way wide. The game is over. The Riddlers are the 3v3 tournament champions going undefeated and earning every bit of it. I have learned to be a little more cautious of the bets I make with my girls. The first time we beat the big girls, I had to do a little dance at center field; for the game today, I got to sing and dance in front of everyone at the awards ceremony. My kids' mother did manage to make it to one game over the weekend and got to see my show yesterday. She commented after the game that she didn't know I could do that; I told her "there's a lot about me you don't know." Happy Father's Day to me! Thanks guys! My pics are the "Riddlers" then C, and Boo at one of the parks by the soccer fields. They were super troopers through a warm soccer weekend and the parks around there and their friends at the fields made the weekend quite acceptable. We've got plans coming up, more on that later. Goodnight!