The End of the Beginning of Soccer

So I've got a major Landon soccer update to do here, and really it's a good thing I missed the middle of the season on the blog because we were struggling with a capital STR. Landon did awesome his first game....made a goal, had fun, loved it. Then we had about three weeks of rained out games where we just had practice a couple of times. Then we he actually DID play another game, it was a big boo-hoo fest. He'd go out on the field and as soon as someone beat him to the ball or he'd miss a goal, he'd run off the field, bawling, saying he had some pretend medical ailment....his mouth hurt, his tummy hurt, he REALLY had to go to the bathroom. This pretty much threw me for a loop. I was nervous before the first game because I thought we may have some competitive issues, but after the first game, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought we were good. WRONG-O.

So it turns out every game between the first and the last ended up being a baby step to get Landon back on the field and enjoying the game as much as he did the first game. After trying every parenting technique we could think of ranging from being sympathetic, wiping his tears, and letting him sit and watch to threatening to let Grant wear his jersey and play like a big boy (since of course Grant wouldn't stay OFF the field), we finally got him to stay on the field the last game, not cry, and have fun. Success!!

In between he played a little goalie...and I wish I would've taken his picture in his goalie shirt because it was neon green and said "I Play Goalie Like a Madman." You can't really see that in the action shot. Creighton also tried to give him little pep talks and at one point said, "Come on Landon! Let's go make some noise!" OMG. Hilarious!! Here he is posing and showing us how he uses his elbows to protect the ball.

Here's Creighton's little brother Cashton and Grant taking in the game. I had to snap the picture quickly because Grant didn't normally sit for too long during the games. I could get him to sit for 30 seconds when we'd point out that he could put his sippy cup in the cup holder in his chair. It never lasted long though. I honestly don't remember Landon being this active but maybe I just didn't notice it because he was the only one I had to herd and wrangle.

This big group picture was taken during one of Landon's 'in between games' where he wasn't really into staying on the field. You can tell by the unhappy look on his face and his unwillingness to sit with the group.

The last practice was Destroyers (that's the team) vs. parents and Landon really perked up for that. He insisted that he wasn't going to play against the parents because they were too big but once we got there he was into it. Chad made his parent playing debut as goalie and boy did he stink it up, folks. ;) Landon scored a goal on him and I think he let him 4 or 5 more. After making the goal, Landon ran to the middle of the field and did a sommersault. Very entertaining. I of course didn't get any pictures or video because I was wrangling on the side line. Landon finished the practice game up with 2 more goals and his last one was a really good goal. Chad told him it was just like Wayne Rooney. For the first time since the beginning of the season we left the field with Landon playing when he was supposed to and no crying at all! When we got home he called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them about his practice. Here's the return call from Grandma Chris. :)

So I have no pictures of the last game because guess what....my STUPID, nothin but a pain SONY CYBERSHOT camera which has been sent back to sony TWO times already has died AGAIN, and I'm really NOT HAPPY about it....hence all the caps and me throwing Sony under the bus on my blog. I discovered this last little camera snafu when I attempted to turn it on at the last soccer game and it gave me an error message and instructed me to 'turn the power off and on again' over and over and did absolutely nothing. So here is where you should insert a visual of me shaking my fist at the sky and saying "curse you Sony Cybershot!" and where I instruct you as a consumer to please avoid paying money for a camera that will cause you nothing but heartache and disappointment. (Side note: I do realize I use my camera a lot and don't carry it in a carrying case, but I'm still blaming them...not me. A camera should be able to withstand frequent use and being carried in a side pocket of a diaper bag. And if it can't, well, I'm gonna insist that my friends and family not purchase one.) End of camera rant (I know...it's like deja vu...you've read so many of these)

So we've wrapped up our first or many seasons of soccer I'm sure. Landon has his end of the season soccer banquet in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll have a new camera by then and I won't forget it, or forget to charge it, or any other stumbling block that would prevent you blog readers from enjoying the soccer banquet almost as much as you would've if you were there.