the 1st football game of 2010

Well we had our 1st football game of 2010! It's earlier than usual...this was actually a pre season game.

Riley was so excited for days about the "big game". His game was 1st and he played a few different positions, but the best was when they had him be a running back.

Keep in mind these are 6-8 year old boys (many of which have never played football) so it takes a few minutes to get them set up for the play. But not Riley...he was so in tune with what he was supposed to do he stood there the whole time waiting with his hands ready to receive the hand off. One arm was across his chest, the other was parallel under his chest, with just enough room for the ball to fit.

He waited like this for what seemed like 2 minutes then the ball was snapped and Riley was tackled; not by just one boy but two of them!! The ball wasn't barely to the quarterback when Riley was hit...he didn't have a chance to even get his hands on the ball.

He lay there on the ground...they say the first hit of the season is always the hardest and he was hit by two players!! The coaches called out the EMT and wouldn't let him move because his mouth was all red and they had thought he bit his tongue.

The EMT walked him off the field and I went over. He asked Riley to open his mouth and if he had his mouth guard in. Riley said yes and opened then the EMT said "what did you have that was red today" Riley simply replied "my Gatorade"!!!

I couldn't stop laughing!!! He was fine the coaches just panicked!!!

Back to the daily grind

Well our summer as most people know summer is over!
Little Loop Football & Cheerleading is back in full swing and consuming our summer nights!
This year Riley started playing. He loves it!! He just seems too little for football, but he is defiantly holding his own on the field.
Hayley is super excited because she has a great new coach. They call her coach "Barbie" and they are all having so much fun.
Connor is still at it but always on the fence as to whether he wants to play football or not play. I think the hot summer nights are what keeps him teetering.
It's hard to believe we are on our 8th year of this. It's funny how you plan your whole summer around one activity. The nice thing about football/cheerleading is it is one of the only things we all do as a family! We are all involved. I am still the President, Zack still works in the kitchen and the other kids all play.
As much as I hate my summer ending sooner than everyone else's I know one day I will miss this time with my kids so I am going to savor every minute of it!!

My BoBo is growing up overnight!!!

For most things Riley has been advanced; you know doing things earlier than the other kids did. It seems the more children you have the faster they grow up, I guess it's because they are trying to keep up with their older siblings and with the 4 year gap between Connor & Riley he has to work harder to keep up than the other kids did with only a 2 year difference.

This has not been the case for a few things ~
Since our pool has been open we have been trying every possible trick to get Riley to get out of his tube. He swims with a swimming ring around his waist and just refuses to go in with arm floaties or a life jacket or anything but the ring. This was the case still on July 2nd. Then on July 3rd I asked him if he would try floaties just one time and if he hated them he could go back to the ring. You can imagine my surprise when he said "YES"!

He put on his floaties and a daredevil was born. He wore the floaties for about a day and then ditched them too and was just swimming around the pool with NOTHING!!!

This was the same situation with his bike. Riley has been learning how to ride a 2-wheeler since last fall, but every time he tries he gets clearly upset & frustrated.

All summer Riley has been running or riding his scooter trying hard to keep up with the boys in the neighborhood not complaining and not willing to try riding his bike. Yesterday, Connor & Riley went to their friend's house for the afternoon. When we arrived the kids were riding what they call the "midget bike" because it is so small. It's a beginner bike that they took the training wheels. It's funny to watch the kids ride it; especially the bigger kids as they look like the clowns at the circus ;) I mentioned to the mother that Riley could not ride his bike and our thinking was maybe just maybe with this bike he could learn. It's short enough that he can reach the ground comfortably so maybe if we left them all alone he may just do it.

I came back a few hours later and the mom was waiting outside for me and started waving and pointing...I saw a child on a bike in the road (they live on a cul de sac). At first I thought she just wanted to be sure I saw the child so I would not hit him. Imagine my surprise when I realize that kid was RILEY!!! He was so excited and didn't want to leave. They let us borrow the bike for the weekend thinking maybe he would try his bike if he had this one there to go back to if it didn't work out. But it did....now we can't keep him off his bike.
It's amazing how quickly things can change literally overnight!! It's sure is true when people say just wait when it's time it will just happen!