Soccer: the rest of the season

Will's first week of soccer didn't go so well, but the remaining weeks went much better. As expected, Will discovered it is fun to kick a soccer ball and play with other kids, just as mom and dad suggested. I think it helped that in the next couple weeks, Grandpas came to his games.

Will is actually a pretty good player - he had several weeks of multigoal games, a couple hat tricks even. Most of the games were pretty entertaining, on one level. A mass of kids and some adults chase the ball around until it ends up in a goal. Half of the goals scored are own-goals, in which a player kicks the ball into the wrong goal because they forget which way they're going. But everyone cheers anyway. The video below basically sums up the action, including an assist Will has on an own-goal for the other team.

Hallie continued to enjoy our soccer Saturdays as well. Here she's practicing her moves (while looking stylish) on her own tiny little ball.

After our first non-crying/happy/successful game, we thought a reward was in order so we went to Chuck E. Cheese's!

Here's the team photo for the Blueberries, Will's first soccer team. We'll be playing again next year in Texas, and maybe Hallie will play on her own team too!

Fetch!

We're back from our victory tour, and the movers come one week from today. December 13th - two weeks from today - is our move-in date in College Station.

During our travels we were quite busy at times and at others didn't have reliable internet connections so I did not get caught up on the blog as I had hoped. My goal is to post a bunch before we move so that we can be up to date and can post pics of our new house and home city when we arrive.

So here's a quick video to start the catch-up. This is from last month (hence, the warm-weather clothes). Here Will and Hallie are playing their version of football outside. What fun.

Three Blind Mice

Erin wrote up the following short Will-ism story:

   We were reading/singing Three Blind Mice when Will suddenly stopped me:

   Will: Are those mice blind?
   Erin: Yep.
   Will: That means they can't see anything.
   Erin: That's right.
   Will: (After a long pause...) And they're also good singers.

Confused? When Erin told me this story I laughed out loud because a few days ago Will and I were rocking to a Stevie Wonder song that was playing on the radio. When the song was over I tried to describe to him how some people are blind but they can still do lots of things very well, like play music and sing like Stevie.

Hallie's bath pictures: 19 months

Hello from our "victory tour" - visiting friends and family in our last few weeks before moving to Texas. We're in Madison right now visiting Grandpa Paul and Grandma Brenda. Erin and I spent this past week in College Station meeting with our realtor (we are in the final stages of securing a nice rental property), exploring and absorbing a bit more of the local culture. The kids got to spend a whole week with their grandparents, and they had FUN. Next week we're in Lincoln visiting Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie, looking forward to that as well.

Here's my piddy girl. We took these pictures last week right after we arrived in Madison, but didn't get around to this post until now with all of our travels. These and the bath pictures for the next few months will be from all different bathtubs as we're travelling for a few more weeks, then moving the 2nd weekend in December. Hallie is looking a bit different as she grows (very slowly), but she's as cute as ever. Here's this month's new "twist": we can twist her hair up in the back, it's very cute.

Hallie talks a lot these days - way more than Will did at her age. She is literally learning how to say several new words every day. Her favorite topic of conversation is no longer shoes. However, it's not far off: she's really into boots ("BOOPS!") now. She has these pink boops and similar ones in several different colors, and wears them well now that it's cold out. Erin always makes sure that whatever she's wearing on her feet matches her outfit. However it is fairly common to find Hallie has taken off her original matching shoes and socks, left them individually in random places around the house, and put on her beloved boops, on the wrong feet.

Hallie takes more and more after her brother. She adores him, and he her. There's the normal amount of sibling bickering, but in all they play very well together. Each morning and after naps where we get her up, she is just as interested in where Weeya is as she is where mama and dada are. She's even taking on some of Will's mannerisms. Above, she's showing some smiles that are borderline goofy, just like Will likes to sport.

Visits to Will and Hallie's page as of this post: 29764

take your breath away

Will: (Out of the blue, and very matter of factly) "It's so hot in
Texas that it pulls out your breath."
Erin: "What? Oh, do you mean it's so hot in Texas that it takes your
breath away?"
Will: "Yep!" (30 seconds later...) "When do you get it back?"
Erin: "Get what back?"
Will: "Your breath!"
Erin: (While trying to stifle laughter) "What do you think?"
Will: "I think we get it back when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's
where it's cold. We get our breath back when it gets cold."

This follows from the fun recent discovery of Will's that he can see his breath when it's cold.

Pretty

One of Hallie's words that she uses quite often is "pretty". This is usually applied to shoes, dresses, and when we put things in her hair. A few days ago, Hallie was sitting on Erin's lap and pointing to her mouth/nose/ears/hair and identifying them. Then she pointed to Erin's necklace.

"PIDDY!"

then her earrings, "PIDDY!", then her wedding ring, "PIDDY". Then she pointed to the hair rubber band around her wrist. "ooooh, PIDDY..."

Moving advice

This evening Will and I read a very detailed book (thanks Mr. Rogers,
for the circa 1970's hairstyles and outfits in your book's photos)
about moving. Will listened intently to every word, and when we
finished reading, he asked me which house we were going to live in
when we move to Texas.

Will: Which house will we live in?
Erin: I'm not sure yet. Daddy and I are going to Texas in a couple of
weeks to pick out the best house for us.
Will: (In all seriousness) Well, check to make sure that the people
aren't living there anymore, ok?
Erin: Ok buddy, we will.
Will: Or you could just ask the movers to check for you.

Duke the cat: 2004-2010

I am sorry to share the news that our beloved cat Duke was hit by a car and died yesterday. It is very sad for our family, but we're ok. Duke and Clementine had been staying with Grandpa and Grandma in Madison for the last 6 months or so while we attempt to sell our house, and I can pretty confidently say those 6 months were the happiest of Duke's life: he and Grandpa Paul were very good buddies, he got to spend a lot of time outside, and he was free from bullying by our kids. Duke likely died doing something he loved to do: chasing and tormenting something smaller than him.

Erin and I got Duke and Clementine when they were kittens from one of her co-workers during the Spring after we were married. Duke was my choice of the litter - he was the one cat that was white (the rest looked like Clementine). Erin warned me when we were going to pick them that the white one would be the most difficult to clean up after in terms of leaving white hair everywhere (she was right), but I fell in love with him so he came home with us.

Duke, the day we brought him home.

For a couple years, we were cat people, and the two cats were our "children". While Clementine was always much more timid around people, Duke was one of the most people-friendly cats you would ever meet. He was totally at ease and loved to lay on his back, as if waiting to have his belly rubbed, and would often fall asleep like this, a very un-catlike behavior.

Duke was also a very curious and mischievous cat. He always wanted to be a part of any activities going on, and would often try to get into things and places where he shouldn't be, often with hilarious consequences.

Duke was always much more willing than Clementine to be "dressed" up, one of Erin's favorite things to do with him.

We are especially sad that our kids lost a great friend in Duke. He has been one of Will's best buddies, right in the middle of many major milestones of his life. Duke was probably his first friend, would hang out with him before he could walk, took naps with him, and comforted him when he was upset. When Will got older and could start to walk and really play, Duke was often his cohort: sometimes being part of the fun, and sometimes being the source of the fun. Though Hallie only knew him for about a year (and most of that didn't interact with him much because she was too little), he was sweet to her too.

Duke will appropriately be buried in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard, next to the burial sites of Pearl and Jingles, Erin and Sara's childhood cats. Next week we're going to Madison for Aunt Sara's baby shower so will get a chance to talk with Will about Duke and maybe will do some kind of memorial for him. Here's an album I made of some of my favorite pictures of Duke. We'll miss you buddy.