Saturday

I wanted to title this post "Disappointing Saturday" or "Busy Saturday" or "Let-Down Saturday" but then realized that although there was sadness and disappointment in the day, there was WAY more good stuff to chronicle and remember and savor.

TODAY WAS THE DAY THE LORD HATH MADE, WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD.

Saturday afternoon Tom was a pallbearer at his Uncle Earl's funeral (on left).  This is a picture from November. . .I'm so, so glad I insisted that these brothers get in a picture together.  Fred is now without a brother, Aunt Barbara without a husband, three children have lost their father, and eight grandchildren lost a grandfather who was a good, good man.  Death sometimes comes so quickly and unexpectedly. . .
This is a picture of last Saturday -- Fred and Nancy were here watching AFV and laughing with the kids, anticipating a visit with Uncle Earl the next day. . .

. . .never did they think they would say their final good-byes with the rest of the family just a week later.  He was diagnosed with brain cancer in January and had had surgery and was getting ready to start treatment.  Cancer is such a hateful thing.  It's fortunate that we live close enough (300 miles) that Tom was able to go and be with his family. . .and fortunate that Grandpa Foster had already planned a trip down here this weekend so I had some much-needed help getting kids to soccer, cheerleading, and lacrosse.  Luckily all of that was pretty much within 3 miles of one another :)  Gotta love small-town living.

Frederick had a 9 a.m. soccer game at the Y with a 8:10 a.m. call for team pictures.

Since Tom was out-of-town Coach Thomas was head coach today. . .I was on the field as the token adult :)  I think Marie must have taken this picture as I was tied up trying to "coach". . .and I say that loosely. . .I much prefer being the parent on the sidelines :)  Frederick is the kid almost on the ground on the right. . .looks like he was going for a save. . .he is one aggressive kid!  

Friday night he was throwing up before bed but nothing could keep him off the field Saturday morning!  We had an *excellent* game. . .although the team lost, they only lost 0-2 which is incredible against the team they were playing. . .that team has had much, much higher scores all season. . .we kept them down!  Tom was sorry to not be here to coach this difficult game but it was such a super-proud-Mommy-moment for me to see Thomas take charge.  He ran practice pretty much by himself Friday night and then I let him make all the calls during the game. . .he is a super, super coach.  I had no idea.  He's been coaching this U10 team for two seasons with Tom but I had no idea how good he is.  These kids are extremely lucky to have him as their coach. . .he's good at teaching them, he's encouraging, and he truly likes them and loves and knows the game.  I got to see a side of Thomas that I have not seen before and I am ONE PROUD MAMA.  The boys were both disappointed by the loss (hence the "disappointment Saturday") but when I got to see my oldest be such a great leader and my youngest do his very, very best every minute of the game. . .well. . .that's the stuff that sticks and stays and gives me a glimpse of the men they may one day be. . .

While I left the house at 7:45 with the boys, Grandpa Foster stayed behind with the girls to get Margaret to her 9 a.m. cheer team tryouts.

Margaret is the furthest on the row.  She has been taking classes at a local cheer place for almost a year now and this last month went to team training 4 hours a week to get ready for these try-outs.  I wasn't there for the warm-ups but made it for these evaluations. . .

I guess if I'm going to take these kinds of pictures I need to learn how get the right setting!

To my untrained eye these look like pretty good jumps!  The way they do their selections is to evaluate the younger kids from 9-11 and the older ones from 12-? then post teams the next evening.  I talked to some of the coaches afterwards to find out what comes next. . .this is all new territory for us!  I guess Margaret will be placed on a team then they will proceed as any sports team does with regular practices and such.  So. . .Sunday night we will get a glimpse of what we have to look forward to this next cheer season :)  The one thing that reigns in my head from the conversation with the coaches is them telling me how strong and athletic Margaret is.  That is soooooooo neat!

The girls and I left the cheer gym and went straight to the soccer fields where Thomas was playing for his school in the district championship game at 11:30 a.m.  

Friday night

Friday night they played the 4th seeded team and easily won.  In fact, the above picture shows what the defense did most of that game.  The JV squad was able to come in and play most of the second half, which was nice for them.  Saturday, however, was a completely different story.

It was a tough, tough game.  Thomas's school had beat this county team twice before but that team *really* wanted a win.

We hadn't lost all season. . .we were going into the championship game in first place. . .a tough place to keep.  Our team scored first.  Then they scored.  Then we scored. . .then they scored.  And the game was tied at the final whistle.

Thomas and one of his Select buddies. . .they've played together all season.

A 10-minute overtime was played.  Still no one scored.  Funny enough, most of the entire game was played down at the other team's goal:

But, alas, during the 5-minute "sudden death" the other team scored for a victory that will be remembered as an "upset" for a long time.

This was the dejected (remember my title "Let-Down Saturday"?) team with their coach once they left the field.  They had an incredible season and it's hard to have your first -- and only -- loss be for the district/regional championship.  Sigh.  Apparently this school/team came in 2nd place last year too so the 8th graders were really taking it hard.  But, in the end, Thomas did agree to a picture with me. . .one last time in his uniform this season:

Ack!!!  He's taller than me!!!  And look at those big hands. . .wow.

He took off with some friends for some ice cream and I made it back to the Y for the last five minutes of Marie's 1 p.m. soccer game. . .

Another "L" for the day and for this team. . .yuck.

Marie is #11

She is such a hustler out there and my one friend who was there for the game (her son was on the other team) said Marie had some incredible plays.  I believe it -- she really loves the sport and works very hard.

We hopped in the car right after this game and headed over to another field for her last lacrosse game of the season.

They were supposed to be out-of-town to play but the other teams canceled.  Then they asked the HS JV team to scrimmage but only two girls showed up (it was prom night for a lot of them). . .so. . .they played each other! 

Marie is in the middle here

I can't believe I didn't get a single picture of my dad at these games -- he made them all!!!  He did leave about half-way through this one, though, because Frederick just hit a wall (probably from being up all night with his upset stomach) and he wanted to get him home for a nap.

When I pulled in the driveway this was sitting out:

Yea!  I bribed this one with a movie to get this mess cut:

And this one beat Grandpa Foster in chess:

This one was doing what she does best. . .hanging with any animal that may be around (in this case, Grandpa Foster's dog, Duke):

And I could only find this poor fellow catching up on his zzzzzzzz's:

 Soon we were enjoying these:

At the table set with these, that my wonderful husband sent me during our state testing week at school:

The card said "I still choose you". . .they sat on my desk all week so they're starting to wilt a little here but I love them!!!

So. . .it's Wednesday night. . .yes, it takes that long these days to write and post an entry.  Such is life these days.  I think we have 15 more days of school left?  Yea!  Just trying to stay afloat and get everything "done".  I heard Monday that my principal put in paperwork to have me back next year so that's good news!  I really like my job and the structure it gives my days. 

I leave with a post titled "Saturday". . .really. . .four days out, most of the "bad" and "disappointing" has faded and I'm left with the best of the best of the day. . .which is pretty good stuff!  Tom got home late that night and brought me a program from the funeral. . .so many nice tributes to a quiet and faithful man.  Here is a picture of us at Thanksgiving. . .his son and daughter-in-law and 2 grandchildren from NY are missing. . .he left a hole in many, many hearts when he left this life for the Everlasting last week.

Uncle Earl and his bride of 49 years are seated on the right