It's been a long time........

Since I posted that is. I just haven't felt like it and I got totally enthralled in Facebook that I didn't feel the need to post separately. But, not everyone is on Facebook and this is probably a better way to keep in touch with family and friends, especially those in England.

Well, the first week of school is over already! The kids both love their new teachers and have settled into the routine really well. Joe says he still feels like a kindergartner because the work is so easy - I'm sure it won't be that way for long. He gets homework now too - lots of reading practice and testing so trying to cope with helping two of them in the evenings is quite the challenge. Amy is liking 4th Grade but she already says that the work is harder. Her teacher is really sweet and is extremely organized. She emails the parents and had a class website where we can keep a check on what they are currently working on, what homework the kids should be tackling each night etc. My kind of teacher!!!!!

Speaking of Amy, she turns 9 on Thursday and it's hard to believe that so much time has gone by since we met her for the first time. I was looking at photos from the day she was born just a few days ago and I remember it so vividly that it doesn't seem possible that it was so long ago. As for Mr Joe - he will turn 7 in November!!!!!

Here is how they both looked on their first day of school.

This weekend we are planning to go to Six Flags America to celebrate Amy's birthday. She asked if she could do that and take a friend this year instead of a party. Hopefully the weather will hold out - there's a storm passing through this weekend. Fingers crossed! Her friend is coming over tomorrow and sleeping over. We bought some crafts for them to do and I'm sure we'll also watch a movie at some point. Hopefully they will also go to sleep at a decent time so they have some energy for the Park :)

Not a lot else going on at the moment other than the usual day to day stuff that we always do. Soccer has started up and we are getting ready for the league games to start on September 12th. We were supposed to be playing in a tournament last weekend but it was rained out :( and the girls were really disappointed. Hopefully the regular season will get off to a better start!

That's it from me for now - have a great weekend whatever you are up to.

Teapot or sugar bowl?

We Are The Champions!!!!!!

What a weekend! Amy's team were playing in a soccer tournament in North Western Maryland and we spent Saturday and Sunday up there in awful weather! But, awful weather seems to suit us as WE WON!!!!!!! It was fantastic. The girls played so well and ran their little hearts out and they truly deserved the victory when all was said and done. Here is the story of how everything unfolded - I submitted this to our local newspaper in the hopes it will be published on Friday.

CSA Select Sharks (Gold) – Girls U9 Bethesda Thanksgiving Tournament Champions 2008

They came from far and wide – from as far as Georgia in the south to New York in the north but the ones to watch in the Girls U9 Chesapeake division were from that little known county of Calvert. The CSA Select Sharks (Gold) are a Select travel team who were formed in October 2007 and who currently play competitively in the Central Maryland Short Sided League (CMSSL). After a slightly frustrating Fall season they set their sights on the Bethesda Thanksgiving Tournament playing teams from the likes of Alexandria, Arlington and Damascus who currently compete in the Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) league.

Sharks (Gold) were to play Damascus Sparks in the first game. After training hard all week, participating in Technical Training, Speed & Agility training and regular tactical training with Coaches Shaun Nicholson and Rick Quade, the girls were fired up and ready to put every piece of soccer knowledge and experience into practice. From kick off everything fell into place. Passing was crisp and clean, first touches on the ball were golden, defense was solid and steady and the goalies were frozen as they barely had a thing to do – everyone else on the field was making sure of that. The Sharks took the lead quickly with 2 goals from guest player Jôn Glass followed up with a striking volley from Amy Nicholson. Keaton Neal, another guest player also got on the score sheet twice and made her presence in the team felt by everyone. Delaney Tedtsen who plays sweeper was able to break free in defense and charge up the field striking two goals home and truly showing what this team is made of. Jôn Glass kept up her attack and managed a total of 5 goals after terrorizing the defense. Every player stepped up their game.

And then came the rain! Afternoon games at the Muldoons Farms site in Poolesville MD were cancelled due to severe weather and a Tornado Watch which had been posted for the area. Make up games were rescheduled for the following morning which meant that the Sharks could potentially have 3 games the following day. Another early start on Sunday morning took the team back to Poolesville. The weather had turned bitterly cold and windy and this posed a challenge to the 8 and 9 year old girls let alone the parents, grandparents and siblings shivering on the sidelines. The early morning game against Alexandria United was a hard, physical game. Alexandria won the toss and chose to run down hill in the first half which gave them the advantage and helped them to a 4-0 lead by half time. In the second half the Sharks came back fighting and grinding out every possible chance on goal and they managed to pull the score back to 4-3. One of those goals was scored by Sarah Mazzella after a great break through the defensive line. Defense was solid once again with Emily Gibson and Tessa Quade giving everything they had and not missing a beat. Goalie Alyssa Wilson even saved a penalty kick with a phenomenal save to keep CSA in the game. The game ended 4-3 and with league play over both the CSA Select Sharks and Alexandria were through to the semi finals.

The Sharks met Arlington TSA Chaos in the semi final. The weather had turned even colder and the winds were rising but the girls were ready to enter into battle one more time to secure their place in the finals. They started strong with everyone pushing up at every opportunity. Hannah Cleary was elbowed in the face and left the field with a suspected broken nose but this did not rattle their confidence and their defensive line held the fort and allowed the goalies an easy game. Jôn Glass scored all 3 goals after great touches on the ball from the midfield and winger Annabella Ferrante. Arlington managed to grab a goal back but they couldn’t get back in the game enough to deny the Sharks their spot in the final.

At 2.30pm on a freezing cold Sunday afternoon the CSA Select Sharks took center stage in the Championship game and once again they faced Arlington Chaos. The Sharks knew exactly what they had to do to win this game and this time Coaches Shaun and Rick came with a slightly different game plan. The starting whistle blew and The Sharks were out of the starting blocks. Little Brooke Bogaczyk was off like a fire cracker running the wing and firing in a shot with her left foot to take the lead! After gathering composure the girls held it together and some phenomenal passing and trick play took over. Everyone played hard and when Delaney Tedtsen saw an opportunity to sweep the ball through the midfield she did exactly that and took a shot 20yds from goal to score the second of the game. Now it was time to hang tight and close up shop with a defensive line of 4 girls. Morgan Lennon played goalie in the second half and she gave an inspiring performance saving shots left, right and center. Alexandria pulled a goal back with only 5 minutes of normal time remaining. The Sharks had injuries again as these girls were fighting hard for every ball that came their way but every player got a chance to play their part in a spectacular and gritty display of passionate soccer. With parents and coaches on both sides of the field holding their breath and nervously counting down the seconds, the final whistle blew and the victory went to the underdogs, CSA Select Sharks (Gold)! Coach Shaun Nicholson said after the final game “I think my heart stopped at least 3 times during the last 5 minutes of the game. The girls were phenomenal this weekend and they really took everything they had learned onto the field and showed that CSA Select is a force to be reckoned with. We are all thrilled and very proud of their achievement!”

Wednesday

I just couldn't think of another title for today so Wednesday will have to do!!! Nothing terribly exciting today but I thought it was time for an update. This week has been pretty routine so far. I've been to the gym the last 2 mornings and had really good work outs. Yesterday I was a little frustrated because when I got weighed in the morning I'd gained a pound back. After talking to Melissa I decided it was time to change my workout and not just do the same thing every day. Instead of getting on the elliptical I decided to get on the treadmill (which I hate!) and do some running. I managed to do 40 minutes of running and walking which really tired me out but then I headed to the floor to do crunches before moving to the weight machines to work on my upper body. I felt good afterwards! And, when I got up this morning and onto the scales I'd lost the pound I'd regained yesterday plus an extra one which brings my total to 7lbs :)

Today I was volunteering in both kids' classes at school as I do every Wednesday so I don't go to the gym. I was in Joe's class first and I got a lot done for his teacher. I photocopied, made up booklets and then I had a choice of either working in groups with the kids at a center or boring filing of their journal papers. Surprisingly I chose the filing!!!! I like getting to look through the work that they do and the really cute things they write with funny spelling. And, I was starting to get a sinus headache so I thought it was safer to work on my own quietly. Oh, Joe's name was chosen this morning out of the container to be the "Special Person" for the day. He was extremely pleased especially as I was there to see him. The SP gets to be the line leader for the whole day, take the attendance down to the office in the mornings and also take the lunch list and monies to the cafeteria.

After finishing up in Joe's class at 11.30am I headed to Amy's class. There wasn't much for me to do today other than stuff all of the Wednesday folders with this weeks fliers and newsletters. That was pretty much it. It was short and sweet but Amy was happy to see me which is what matters the most :) I then headed home to catch up on emails, pay some bills online and call my Mam and Dad. My Mam had her first round of Chemo today and I was thinking about her all of last night and from the minute I woke up this morning. I know she is doing ok but it would be nice to just pop over for a cuppa and give her a quick hug so she's knows I'm thinking about her. Her appt went well and so far she is feeling pretty good. They gave her a strong dose of anti sickness medication and they gave her anti sickness pills to take home so hopefully she won't be too nauseous. If she as much as sneezes she has to call the hospital immediately. Hopefully things will go to plan and there won't be any drama. It may be hard trying to get through flu season without catching anything when her body does not have any immunity but we must keep our fingers crossed.

Tomorrow I'll be at the gym in the morning and then home for the afternoon I think. I may have to run and get some food supplies in between but that will be about it. We have Amy's soccer practice tomorrow night and then on Friday the kids have a day off school as it's the Maryland Teachers Conference. The kids want to come to the gym with me in the morning and we've arranged to meet some other friends there. After that we may do something else but I'm not quite sure what it will be as yet. We do have Joe's last practice on Friday night and we are having a scrimmage of parents v kids so that should be fun. The kids always really enjoy playing against the grown ups - hopefully there won't be any injuries!!! Joe's last game of the season is on Saturday morning and then we have to head straight to Amy's game which is almost 2hrs away! Can't say I'm looking forward to that commute. She has a birthday party to go to that evening too so hopefully we can get back in time for that. It is a sleepover but she's not staying the night because she also has a game on Sunday. It's a busy weekend!

Well, that's it from me. Hope you made it this far! LOL Have a good rest of the week whatever you are up to.

Julie

Back to normal

Life has been pretty much back to normal since Monday. Joe was sick right through until Sunday afternoon and was still spiking a fever but on Monday he woke up feeling good, no fever and he was ready to head back to school - yippee!!!!!! I felt like I'd been let out of my cage and I headed straight to the gym once the kids had been dropped off at school. It was good to be back and I felt like I had some catching up to do after not being there for almost a week. I soon got back into the swing of things and I felt good after a hard workout. I was back in there yesterday and worked out even harder and that felt good too.

Today has been a little manic once again. Wednesday is my day to volunteer in school. I help out in Joe's class from 9-11.30am. This morning I made up little booklets to start with and then we split the class into three groups and myself and the two teachers took our groups outside to look and find different colored things outside. The kids had to draw or write about what they saw. After that we came back inside and got ready to start our morning centers. I had the craft center (as I usually do!) and I worked with everyone coloring, cutting and making a picture story board for a story the teacher had just read. It was fun and the kids are so cute!

Once Joe's class head off to lunch at 11.30am it's my time to go and help out in Amy's class. I start with putting together the Wednesday folders - this is the folder that's used each week to bring home all of the generic school flyer's, newsletters etc. After that Amy's teacher gave me lots of photocopying to do for the whole of 3rd Grade. Well, needless to say the copier decided to act itself today and not play nice. I got everything done eventually but it was a pain. I did meet a nice lady while doing all of that though. She is the mother in law of another 3rd grade teacher and she is a Brit! We got chatting about "home" and what we miss etc. She had been here since the 60s and has a lot of family over here now so she is more than settled.

I finally left school at 1.40pm and I was starving!!!!! I headed straight home to eat lunch and I stayed there only for half an hour or so when I decided I should go to the Drs office and get my allergy shot as it was overdue and I also needed to run to Walmart for milk and cereal. After that it was straight off to school and time wise I was cutting it fine! Amy had her first night of Drama club tonight so she wasn't getting out until 5.05pm. I picked up Joe, went home, made dinner, ran back up to school to get Amy, came home, ate dinner and said goodbye to Shaun as he left for his soccer game. Phew! Things have been a little more laid back since then which is good. I like that we get to stay at home on Wednesday nights and not have to go out to soccer as we do every other school night of the week although we only have 2 more weeks of Joe's practices and then his team is done. Amy's last game isn't until the first week of November and then we move to indoor soccer for which we only practice once a week so our schedule does calm down a bit.

Tomorrow morning I have to wait in for the DirecTV guy coming sometime between 8-12. No doubt he'll get here at 11.55am! I usually go to the gym on Thursday mornings but I'll just get my stuff in the house done early and head to the gym once the guy has been. He is just swapping out 2 receivers with newer models so it shouldn't take too long once he gets here.

Ok, well the kids have just gone off to bed so I am going to put my feet up and watching some meaningless TV for a little while. Hope you had a good day!

Julie

Sick, sick, sick!

Joe has been sick since he woke up on Thursday which means that I have been stuck at home since Joe woke up on Thursday!!!! I really hoped he would be ok this morning so we could at least have a normal weekend but he woke up and came into my room and threw up on my bed!!! Gross! Poor little guy has really been wiped out by this virus and it's taking its time passing through. Like I said yesterday, hopefully tomorrow he'll feel better. I was supposed to be doing my Orientation for Substitute teaching at the school board on Thursday so I had to cancel it. Now I'm going to do it next month.

So, that means an odd weekend for us. Shaun is at Joe's game right now coaching them and then he'll come home for a few minutes before heading to Amy's game with her. I'm gutted I won't get to see it but I need to stay with Joe. Knowing my luck I'll miss a great game and Amy scoring. Such are the cruelties of life.

I'm not sure what else we'll do this weekend. I'm hoping I can get to the gym at some point as I haven't been able to get there since Tuesday. I at least want to go early tomorrow morning like I did last week but we'll see how things go. Other than that the grass desperately needs cutting so I have that to do which will take a while. With all of the rain we've had it's grown a lot. Hopefully we're coming to the end of the growing season so it doesn't need doing much more before the winter.

Not a lot else going on here really. I haven't been feeling too good myself for the last week. Hopefully that won't last much longer either. Maybe we all need a good holiday somewhere? Now that would be nice!

Ok, off to do more laundry! Have a good weekend :)

Julie

Time Flies

Wow, it's been a while once again. Things have just been so busy as they always are at this time of year with school back in session and fall sports in full swing. The only night of the week where we don't have anything going on is Wednesday so roll on tomorrow! My days have been busy as well as my evenings. I have been consistently going to the gym and I can honestly say I'm loving it! Not only do I get to work out with my good friends bu I generally just feel so much better for exercising and I feel stronger.

Each morning I drop the kids off at school and then head straight to the gym which is only a few minutes from my house. I work out from 9-10.30am and then I usually run errands etc before heading home. By the time I get showered and eat some lunch it's often going on for 1pm! Needless to say I've been neglecting things around the house a little. Tomorrow I am going to come straight home after dropping the kids off so I can mow the grass. I figured it's still a good workout as I'll use the push mower and we have 1.3 acres so it takes a good while. We also have the pool company coming out in the morning and I need to be here for them so that's another reason for staying at home. If I get a lot done I may go to the gym for an hour before picking up the kids in the afternoon but we'll see.

On Thursday I have orientation at the school board so I can complete my application for substitute teaching. The class lasts from 8.30am - 4pm but someone I know did hers today and she said they were done by 12.30pm so that isn't too bad. Hopefully I have time to substitute if I get called - one more thing to try and fit into my day!

Well, it's a quick update for now. Hopefully the next post will be a bit more exciting!

Julie