Normally life with 5 kids is pretty manageable. We have been very deliberate as to what we put our kids in to make sure everything stays manageable. Although Saturday we had the perfect storm of activities and there was some serious juggling.
Hallie had a tennis tournament at 9. Steve took her at 8:30 to warm up and I joined with the other kids at 9. Steve had to leave shortly after to conduct a funeral service. A friend (who also had a girl at the tennis tournament) took Bennett to his soccer round robin tournament while we watched Hallie. The progress she’s made in the last 5 months has been amazing.
After Hallie and our friend’s daughter were finished with tennis we went to Bennett’s tournament where Steve met us after the funeral. After Bennett’s tournament, Bennett had additional soccer at another location that he had to rush off to. He claims soccer is his favorite sport and he is working so hard to improve. He has more drive and dedication than all the other kids combined. Drive will take him far in life.
Hallie and the little kids went home (to nap) while we rushed off to Hunter’s soccer game.
Hunter’s game was in the heat of the day and I had already been outside for four hours. My legs are nice and red after this additional hour and a half in the sun. Hunter loves all sports and soccer just happens to be what he plays competitively – at least this year.
This game was a little hard to watch as the ref lost control of the game early on and it just got ugly, real ugly. The team that we were playing knew how to play dirty and there wasn’t a ref stopping them.
Hunter took a couple hits in the back – most of which were when the ball was in play. However there was a two hand shove after the play stopped and he fell face first onto the ground. I think he was surprised more than anything but it also hurt to hit the ground that hard – there’s not a lot of grass to pad the fall.
The longer the game went on the harder it was to watch. We’ve played a lot of teams and we haven’t met this kind of cheap physical play. It wasn’t until the very end of the game when one of the other team’s players had had his 13th 2nd chance and he was asked to get off the field. Not with a red card. Not with a penalty kick. He was just asked to leave. We had two goals that were called back for one reason or another so when the game ended in a tie it was a tough ending. Fortunately, there were no broken bones, just a few scrapes and bruises.
We pulled in the driveway at 3pm with Hallie asking to go play basketball and go to the temple with friends. We hopped back in the car to drop her off and pick up a trampoline off craigslist to replace ours that flew over the fence and folded like a taco back in July.
Of course we ended the evening building a trampoline which is not what I had in mind after a long day but the kids were dying to get it put together.
Both Steve and I sat on the bed last night amazed that we made it through an abnormally busy day. In fact, I can’t recall any Saturday that we’ve run around that much. Normally we wouldn’t sign up for conflicting events but Hallie’s tournament was a make up from the week before when it rained and you never plan for funerals, right!? Friends helped get kids to and from and that’s the only way it was possible. I said multiple times, “It takes a village”.
Luckily, I really do love watching my kids play sports at all levels and we do make that a priority as a family. Even when the cheering squad ends up cheering at just the wrong time during a tennis match! I need to teach them a golf clap – they think they’re in a basketball gymnasium! 🙂
