soccer season has begun...

Caleb started his first official soccer season today! He had been playing on a YMCA league that practice skills, daddy was the coach. Now he has practices on Tuesdays, this Tuesday it rained, no practice. Games on Saturdays. He has a uniform, red shirts, and he even wears shin guards. Last night we tried the shin guards someone had handed down to us to make sure they fit. Caleb thought they were so cool, he wanted Elijah to kick him, because it didn't hurt! Elijah was all willing to help out on that one!

The game was hilarious, sooooooo cute. Of course we videotaped it! Daddy had to coach today because the coach was out of town. They got their "jerseys" and the red team was off to forming amoeba's for about 35 minutes. Peter made sure they knew which way to go, that was about the extent of coaching pregame. And remember this team didn't have the practice before the team like everyone else did. The kids ran around, fell down, some cried, some decided they wanted to be the sub, and some just stood around checking out what everyone else was doing. Caleb did kick the soccer ball a few times in the right direction, we were sooooooo proud. He wanted to play goalie, but his favorite part was holding onto the net and watching the balls come in and SCORE!!!! ooops, we'll get there, he had fun, what else matters! Elijah was a great sport and did really well coping with the fact that he couldn't play. He watched at the sidelines with me. About 11 minutes into the game Caleb was done. He stayed on the sidelines with me and then went around the field with daddy for awhile, and even got a piggyback ride during the game. Having a 3 year old is so much fun.

We made a decision not to go out and buy soccer shoes, they are not necessary and it just seemed like money we didn't need to spend. Who knows if he will stick with soccer and we are trying to spend our money more wisely. Well, Caleb was probably the only one at the game without cleats. But what did that matter? That very thought is exactly why we weren't buying them anyway. He didn't need to have them, just because everyone else did. Well, later this afternoon Caleb said, "mommy I want black soccer shoes like Ethan's" oh yeah, I forgot to mention two of his good friends, Ethan and Brandon, are on his team! and Ethan and Brandon both have brothers Caleb and Elijah's ages, we feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and a great community. so I went on to explain to Caleb that we didn't need to have things just because other people have them and that there are lots of children in the world who don't have food, shoes, toys, etc. That his shoes will work just fine. i talked about how we made a choice for me to stay home and not work and sometimes that means we don't always get what we want, i think that all went over his head? I asked him why he wanted them and he said, because they are cool! oh my goodness, he's only 3!

so here's what we decided. no shoes. if he brings it up again we are going to let him know that if the shoes are something he really wants he can do two things. stick with soccer, if he plays the whole season and wants to play again next year and earn the shoes. We will give him money for the things he does around the house and he can put the money in his piggy bank. he is always helping me, he LOVES to dust, sweep, fold laundry, set the table, cook meals, vacuum, etc. Next season he will have enough saved up for the shoes and then he can save 10%, tithe 10%, and spend the rest. if he chooses to spend them on new soccer shoes, then he can have them. we feel like this is the right move, hope we are right.
who would have ever thought we would be dealing with this stuff already? not me!