Soccer Saturday

Yesterday was our first Saturday spent on the soccer fields . . . the first of hundreds to come I'm sure.

Grayson was excited and ready to go as he warmed up.

He looked so cute in his YMCA issued soccer uniform.

Max cheered him on.

Grayson charged straight ahead into the mix.

But didn't quite understand why all the other kids were fighting for the same ball too, and got discouraged.

After some encouragement from Daddy, he went back on the field.

He wasn't quite ready to charge after the ball again, but he agreed to guard the goal in the grand tradition of his Uncles Rob and Scott, both who were star goalies for many, many years including in college.

Soon his friend Joseph gave him a pep talk and walked with him onto the field.

And he was back in the mix . . . for a few minutes.

"It's so hard, Mommy" he kept saying. Unlike the other kids on his team, who played last year, this was his first game and really his first time playing any team sport.

We're confidant by the end of the season he'll love it. We'll just give it some time.

Summer Catch Up

Summer has been over for a couple of weeks, but my blog posts are lagging way behind. So to catch up on our final photos from summer . . .

Grayson discovered bowling, thanks to a "kids bowl free in the summer" program at our local bowling alley.

He loved it - especially when he bowled a strike (which did happen a few times, thanks to the bumpers that kept the ball out of the gutters).

Grayson and his bowling pal, Joseph.

Grayson ate oreos for the FIRST time.

How, you may be wondering, did he manage to make it to age 4 without ever eating an oreo? I have no idea. I didn't think this could be possible. Living for 2 years in a foreign country may have something to do with it, but I was still shocked when I realized it was his first!

Our friends Randa, Jake, and Maddie Rose visited us from Birmingham, and we made peanut butter "moon balls" and visited the Fernbank Science Center.

And our friends Kelly, Sonny, Poppy, Maya, and Dali visited from Brussels and enjoyed an afternoon of playing on our slip-n-slide!

Alrighty, now we can get on with Fall.

Have I Mentioned . . .

That Max can clap!

And crawl!

And "pull up!"

And "cruise!"

And open the fridge and make his own sandwich!

Well, not really, but we know it will be soon.

Playing Choo Choo

Grayson's latest obsession is with building elaborate train tracks all around his room, including under his bed and out the door (I will have to take some pictures of the tracks, this day I was just focusing on the cute kids who were loving the tracks!).

Max loves the tracks too. But of course he does get in the way sometimes.

We call it "the attack of the Big Baby" and make it part of the fun.

Once a track is finally built, we have the fun of watching James, the battery-operated train, chug along it.

Max thinks this is great fun, and will even giggle when James gets going.