Interesting Report from the Football Team Party

Tonight was the team party for Nathan's football team. Some parent on the team knows someone, and so the party was at a place that sells entertainment stuff for the home--arcade games, gaming systems, etc. The shop was just opened up to us all, and we could play whatever games we wanted to! Since we don't have a Wii, X-Box, or any other sort of game, you can imagine the fun the boys had! We had all thought it would be sort of a "Chuck E. Cheese for Older Kids" sort of place, where you have to pay like a dollar for each game you want to play. We had already told the kids we would just eat and not stay too long if that was the case, so don't pester us for money!

The night started off very bizarrely, however. This store was in an industrial business park type place, way down at the far end. Definitely a hole-in-the-wall location, and not a place we ould ever have stumbled upon on our own. We were, of course, about 10 minutes late, so all the close parking places were taken. We had to turn around and park closer to the entrance of the business park, several doors down from the game place. As we got out, we noticed a pizza delivery guy further down. He was backing out and then driving weirdly--there were lots of speed bumps, and he would speed up and then slam on the brakes, screeching and roaring. We hurried to the other side, where the place was we were going. The pizza guy was coming toward us, and although I was sure he saw us, he still was driving very oddly, so we made sure to hurry across. Then it took us a few minutes to walk down to the storefront. When we got there, we were greeted with a very odd scene--the pizza car was stopped but running, the driver's door was wide open, no one was in the car, 2 people were running away, and one of the moms from our team was standing there, in a bit of distress! I thought her wallet had been stolen or something, since the people were running off (was the pizza man chasing the robber?!), but no, it turns out the pizza man had turned in and had HIT the mom! Thankfully, it wasn't that hard, and she was at the right angle, so she didn't fall and go under the car--the Lord was definitely watching over her! Then the passenger, a girl, had jumped out and started running, and the driver ran after her. Okay . . . Bob wrote down the license plate and tried to call the police, but his phone wouldn't work. It was all so surreal--are we in the twilight zone?! Fortunately another dad from the team was also outside making a phone call. He was able to call the police, who came quickly.

As it turned out, the pizza delivery man was drunk. He was arrested, and although he will be in a heap of trouble, at least he didn't kill someone! Hopefully this will be a huge wake-up call for him. He definitely won't be driving again for awhile, and I'm sure he'll never be delivering pizzas again. The girl was totally weird--she told the police she usually is on valium, and she has anxiety attacks. Evidently she then had one, because an ambulance came and took her away!

Meanwhile, inside we all ate pizza, played games (well, not me, LOL), and had a lovely little recognition ceremony for the boys. They each received a minature replica of their helmet, complete with decals and team number! What a great idea! Much better than a trophy or something! Nathan really liked it. So it was a nice night, although it was definitely one to remember. I think the whole scenario made a big impression on our kids, to say the least!

The Leaves Are Changing . . .

. . . the bruises are fading . . .
(One day after the 3 hour test)

(This afternoon, five days later--and no, I don't know the results yet, LOL)

. . . Ah, it must be fall.

I think football ended not a moment too soon. We bundled up for Nathan's playoff game on Saturday. Isn't Luke's reflective jacket nice?! He won't get hit by a car playing in the snow, if we get any snow, that is. Nathan's team lost, and I was sad for them . . . but happy to have our evenings and Saturdays back!

Sunday we had our annual time of fun at Chuck E. Cheese with our Friday night Bible study group. The kids all had a blast! I enjoyed the fact that they could all run around without me, while I sat and visited. Next year I'll be dealing with a 6 month old again . . .

When people ask me about what we do for Halloween, I like to point out that our kids dress up all the time! That's nothing special! Going to Chuck E. Cheese, however, is a once-a-year thing, and they REALLY look forward to that, LOL. I did have to run to Walmart Monday, so I did pick up some half-price Halloween candy. We discovered over the weekend that Caleb likes Twix bars, when a neighbor girl down the street gave him one. The first chocolate thing he has liked! So I bought a bag of those, and I'll put one in their lunches for co-op day for the next little while.

And in the spirit of dressing up . . .

. . . here is Grace, as a lovely ballerina, although I think her leotard is actually on backwards. This is another one from Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. I tell you, Anna and Grace have LOVED the stuff they have passed on to us!

And lastly, here is a picture of Faith, fresh from a nap. She is eating a Tootsie Roll that Luke bought for her out of his Chuck E. Cheese winnings. (He got 301 tickets, and everyone else combined got 318 tickets, LOL. Of course, Jonathan drove the average down, as he seems to have spent all his allotted tokens on things that take pictures. He has 13 pictures from Sunday night! Ah well, the prizes you can buy are nothing to get excited about, so whatever makes him happy!)

Happy Fall!

Nathan's Very Large Water Bottle

Nathan has his first football tonight at 5:15, and I wanted to post a picture of this enormous water bottle his coach provided for everyone on the team. They use it for exercises, like squats. Almost like a kettlebell or something! There's a line on the front so we can see how high to fill it each night. And it's motivation to drink the water during practice! They have really long bendy straws that fit down inside the bottles to make it easier to drink from. Even during all the really hot practices, I never had to worry that Nathan wouldn't have enough water available, LOL. He brings 2 1/2 gallons! You can also see his "leadership stickers" there on the front. I just want to comment again on how organized his coach is, and what a great motivator he is! We are so blessed to have Nathan be on his team for his first year of football!

Football

Nathan has finished up his first week of football practice. He is tired and sore, but he is really enjoying it! Just to recap, this year would be the last year Nathan is eligible to play in our county league. He's wanted to play for years, so we finally decided he could try it this year. After talking extensively to another mom (and dad) in our co-op whose kids are all incredibly gifted in sports and who have played in this league many years, I felt like we knew a little bit of what to expect. I also started praying for whoever would be Nathan's coach.

The league had their draft on July 31, while we were out of town. I was very anxious the whole next week, since we never heard anything on our cells. I figured we would have a ton of messages on our answering machine (which we who are not very technologically astute could not access), and I knew from talking with Christine (whose oldest 2 boys are also playing for the first time this year) that they were having team meetings and equipment distributions. I hate feeling behind and out of the loop, so this was worrying to me--more to me than to Nathan, LOL.

When we got home Sunday night, we did indeed have several messages on our machine from the coach's wife. I immediately called her to explain, and she was so very nice. I told Nathan that if his coach was half as nice as she was, we'd be in great shape! I was a little concerned, however, because Nathan had been drafted by an "expansion team"--so all the players were new. For the other teams, if a player had been on a team the year before and was still in the right age range, than he would just stay on that same team. Also, their team name was a college football team name, as opposed to a pro team, like all the other teams in the entire league (3 age divisions)! So that was a bit odd. I told Nathan they very likely could never win a game, but hopefully he'd have a fun team and really learn a lot and have a good experience.

Nathan was able to pick up his equipment the next day before the first practice, so we really didn't miss anything. Another answer to prayer, at least for the McC's, was that although Nathan and Isaac weren't on the same team, they were practicing at the same middle school (the only 2 teams!), so Bob has been able to take and bring home Isaac, so Craig only has to worry about getting Caleb to and from practices. We were glad to be able to help!

Nathan and Bob both came home from the first practice raving about how amazingly well-organized this coach was. Nathan received 2 practice t-shirts, one dark and one light, as well as a huge (2 1/2 gallon) water jug with a big handle on it. They actually use this in practice as a sort of kettle bell, swinging it around and in front and so on. Of course, the more they drink, the lighter it is, so that is a good incentive to keep hydrated in all the heat! The coach also handed out playbooks for them to study, and often the assistant coaches will put new plays in there. The head coach is also very encouraging and just seems to be a really great guy.

Back in the beginning of June, this other mom and I had been talking about football, and she told me about this really outstanding coach that her youngest son had a few years ago. The coach took a few years off, but she had heard a rumor that the coach might be coming back this year and coaching in the division for oldest kids. The mom was trying to decide if they were going to put their kids in this league or possibly a different one, but she said if she could guarantee that he son would get this coach, she would definitely choose this league. Well--that turned out to be the coach Nathan got! So I really feel like God answered that prayer for a good coach. Nathan is definitely learning a ton already, and he really is enjoying it. We'll see what the season holds, but I think it will be a good experience. Actually, we'll see what next week holds--the first week of contact practice, LOL. That should be an experience!