What a week!

I apologize now for the size I anticipate this post to become. It's been such a packed week with the first day of school, soccer practices, Back to School Night, meetings, soccer games, you name it. Let's start with Monday.....

Jacob was pretty excited for school to start and was a little nervous knowing there were going to be 3rd graders in his class since he's in 2nd/3rd combo. We walked him to his classroom and he was so excited to be sitting next to one of the only 3rd graders he knows. He was the brother of a kid on Ryan's baseball team last year and Jake would play with him at practice. His teacher is wonderful and I got a really good feeling about this year for Jacob when we dropped him off.

Jacob also started soccer this week and he is loving having his good friend, Wyatt on his team. They walk home from school together and play together all the time so it's heaven for both of them. I'm not that impressed with his coaching situation this season but he doesn't seem to care at all and has a good time. I need to learn to not take it all so seriously. Anyway, today was his first game and I was quite surprised how well his team did. Jake almost scored a goal but was tripped at the last second before his shot. He was then kicked in the mouth and then he had a meltdown and had to leave the field for a few minutes. He's never done that before but soon composed himelf and got right back in there. He played goalie for a quarter which is his favorite. He's really aggressive back there in the box and made a few awesome saves. They did score once on him during a breakaway but oh well. Of course I forgot to bring my camera but there will be plenty more games to come.

Now for the surprise of the week. Almost all of last school year I had to hear from Ryan how he dreaded going to Kindergarten and would just start crying when we dropped off Jake for school in anticipation of Kindergarten starting. I've been dreading the first week of school all summer with visions of Ryan needing to be pulled off my leg from his teacher while he's screaming for me. Well, the last couple weeks of summer vacation Doug and I have been prepping him by acting so excited for school, taking him to get new shoes and a backpack, reading him stories about school, etc. The weekend before school started he came up to me and said, "Mom, I can't WAIT for Kindergarten to start!" My jaw about dropped to the floor with shock. I thought well, we'll see when it's time for me to leave him at school. Monday morning he was up early, dressed, ready to go by 8:00 and bugging me every couple minutes, "Is it time to go? Can we leave yet?" To make this long story not quite as long, he did great. Tuesday was the day that I just dropped him off because Monday the parents stayed for an orientation. He said good-bye and never looked back at me. Not a tear, not a sad hug, no walking him to his classroom (because he said he could do it himself), nothing. He wouldn't even let me hold his hand at all on campus. Who is this kid, anyway?

Ryan also started soccer this week and we found out at his practice that he has a bunch of friends from church on his team! He was pretty excited to know a lot of the kids. His coach is great and wonderful with this age group. They had their first game today and did AWESOME! I felt bad for the other team because I think they scored maybe twice while we scored around 10 times. You know, that was Ryan's team last year so it's good to be on the other end this time. Anyway, Ryan scored 3 times and so we went to In N Out for lunch and got milkshakes. Our little tradition is we all go out for a shake if one of the kids scores a goal so off we went.

Riley and I had lots of fun together. She's my cleaning helper and loves to take those wet wipes and wipe all the doors and walls for me. It keeps her busy. It's fun to have some one-on-one time with her for a change. Sorry for the jumbo size post but it's been a busy week. Hope yours was a good one too.