Jenni's Seasons

Saturday was a beautiful day in Knoxville!  Miss Marie had an all-day lacrosse tournament there so she and I headed out early (6:15 a.m early!) to pick up another teammate and head that way. Warm-ups began soon after we got there (and since lacrosse is played on soccer fields the first thing she wanted to do was find a soccer ball -- ha!) and she just seamlessly falls in with her team.  It's a middle school team and she's in 5th, meaning there's a range of ages from her to 8th graders.  More warm ups. . .now time to get their sticks inspected? I'm still trying to learn the specifics and all. . .the refs all day long were great, continually guiding the girls as they called fouls and such. . .telling them where to stand, what they did wrong, etc. Marie is on the "B" team so she begins the games cheering her other teammates on the sidelines. . . Marie is 31 on the right Her turn to play!  She played about 5-7 minutes per game. . .she is a hust

Life is just passing by so quickly these days.  We are constantly on the go. . .and things like "picture of the day" are slipping by!  I was browsing through the photos on my phone last night and realized there is a story there too.  I find myself snapping pictures quite often with my camera phone, even though it's not the best.  (And yet, isn't it amazing how incredible even the lowest-grade camera phone photos are against anything taken with a digital camera even 10 years ago?!?) This was actually the first (and one of very few) Easter pictures I got last weekend.  We were somehow running late for an 11 a.m. service (!!!) in Dayton, OH and right before we walked in I asked the kids for a picture to send Grandpa Foster.  For the last five years we have gone to Dayton to celebrate with him and go to his church. . .but since Mammaw left our lives last year we didn't really know what to do with Easter this year. . .or where to go to church.  Grandpa Foster went out

After lunch out the boys each had a friend over.  We had decided that the rest of Saturday would be "relaxing" but then. . .well. . .relaxing became boring. . .so. . . Tom, being the awesome Dad that he is, started working on the soccer goal that he and the kids have been planning. The Engineer (Marie) was helping. . .Thomas and his friend were shooting baskets. . .   and Frederick and a couple neighbor kids were on the trampoline. . .  (that's Frederick, upside down) Marie and Tom worked on this for a couple of hours. . . and then Thomas's friend left and he helped out too. . . Look at this beauty!  Years ago Grandpa Foster had gotten them their first soccer goal. . .they have far out-grown that :) In the picture above they are securing the net to the frame. There was discussion on where to put it. . .for now it's beside the trampoline and shed. . .that may all change though. . .kind of like re-arranging a room, except it will be the backyard!

Lacrosse! Marie has introduced our family to the sport of lacrosse this spring season. When her select soccer team didn't "make" this spring (not enough families to commit) Tom found some information on a lacrosse club for 5th - 8th graders and Marie decided to give it a try. She's already had one away game that Tom took her to but Saturday it was a home game (!!!) which happened to be at the same time and same place as Thomas's soccer game so we just walked back-and-forth between the two games. Luckily we were there for this: Marie has the ball here. . .leading the pack!  And YES, SHE SCORED!!!  It was really exciting. . .even though we know next-to-nothing about the sport, we know scoring is a big deal :)  Marie is #31 standing in the back. . .all the action is at the net. . .Marie is standing here explaining to me as I type that there are lines on the field that certain positions can't cross certain lines (she was on defense there and couldn't