SOCCER!!!!!!

Last Friday night, Kaelyn started soccer.  She has never played before and we weren't exactly sure what to expect since we knew this was special needs soccer.  For one thing, I expected it to be small, as in a small number of players/people involved.  I was VERY wrong about that.  As it turns out, it is a county wide progam with special needs kids and the older "buddies" being from several different towns and schools.  Luckily for us, it is at a field in Hobe Sound about four minutes away from our house but I know several others that are driving a good thirty minutes.  Two of Kaelyn's former classmates from pre-school up in Jensen were there and her teacher's daughter is one of the "buddies" and I know her teacher lives all the way up in Jensen as well. 

Kaelyn was so very excited.  She had literally been counting down the days till April 20.  We knew a couple other kids from her class at school were going to be playing, but we didn't realize how many.  Out of nine kids in her class, six of them including her are playing.  She was thrilled to show up and see so many of her friends from school.  As I already mentioned, her teacher's older daughter is one of the buddies so her teacher was there as well.  The program seems to be super cool and some of the parents of K's classmates who played last year said that it is a fantastic program, especially for [autistic] kids who would get overwhelmed in a regular soccer program.  All the players get their uniform and a ball as part of the program and there is no cost as it is all funded by sponsorships from local businesses. When we got there Friday night, each kid had their uniform in a bag with their name on it and they had each been assigned a "buddy".  The buddies are a bit older (middle school to high school age I'm guessing) and know how to play soccer.  Unfortunately, it had been stormy and rainy all day so once there was lightning within a few miles of the park, they had to quit early.  It was still a good start though and Kaelyn is very anxious for this Friday night.

I wasn't sure how to do the shin guards at first so K's buddy, Kayla, helped her with them.

Most of the action shots are blurry but not so badly that you can't figure out what's happening.  :-) 

 I think Kaelyn kind of looks like a natural here - these words coming from a proud Mama of course.  I didn't say she necessarily plays like she's a natural but the pictures make her look like she knows what she's doing.  :-)

I believe the first objective was to practice kicking the ball while staying inside of the path of cones.

...And down to the goal.

  By the way, for my family reading this (and Amy Early too actually), does Kaelyn's buddy remind you all of Rachel Rhoades when she was about this age?  I didn't really think about it seeing her up close but once I saw these pictures Kevin had taken, from a distance that's who she reminds me of.

One of the main coaches letting all the buddies know that they were going to quit for the night.

Running back in with Kayla.  I wish that this picture was clearer because I think it's cute but mostly because it really captures Kaelyn's excitement and enthusiasm.

Everyone kind of got there and got signed in at different times so Kaelyn and her friends really hadn't all seen each other until they all came in off the field.

(For those of you who know about Ross, the two adults in the picture are his parents and the two blonde headed girls not in uniform are his sisters.  They are triplets.)

Ross and Kaelyn.

Jack, Kay, Ross, and Sergio.  They all wanted their picture taken together when they saw Kevin taking a picture of Kaelyn and Ross.  The other two kids from her class that are playing soccer weren't nearby at the moment.

The kids were so funny.  Even though they all see each other every day, it was like a class reunion they were all so happy to see one another out of school like that.

My new background picture on my phone.  :-)  Such a perfect picture, wind-blown hair and all!

You would be hard pressed to find a little girl any prouder of her uniform than this little girl is.  She asked me after practice that night if she could wear it to school on Monday.  :-)

Oh Shucks!

A week ago this past Sunday, we had corn on the cob with our steak for dinner.  Kevin volunteered to shuck it for me. Kaelyn loves corn on the cob but I she had never seen the process of shucking it so she went out to watch and help. 

This was also a great way to show you all a picture of our new dock that Rod built for us.  He has gotten more of it finished since these pictures were taken and it is looking even nicer now.

Cheesy grin.

Pals, pals, pals.

Just a few odds and ends pictures.

I only have two words: Poor Buster!  :-)

Thanks to Mr. Potato Head for letting us borrow his glasses.

As cute and authentic as this looks, Kaelyn wasn't actually sleeping here.  She wanted her pals to take a nap so she laid them all down on our bed and then she laid down with them and pretended to take a nap with them.  She asked me to set the timer (I think she actually wanted the alarm) on my cell phone.  They all had to stay laying there until the timer on my phone went off.  :)

Kevin and I are honored as one of her pals has just recently been given a name and it was named after BOTH of us.  It's name is.... Kecky.  Yes, she came up with that all by herself and yes, that name beats Garmin for strange names.  I always cringed a little when I heard her tell people what Garmin's name is but now I'm almost relieved when she takes Garmin somewhere but leaves Kecky at home. In a sense, it's quite clever but still....

My life truly stays interesting with her having an imagination like she does!

Easter

These are pictures from Easter Sunday.

Kay with her Easter basket.

She's so funny.  A few days before Easter she said to me, "Mom, you know how I saw that kitty cat pal at the store one day but you said that I had too many pals and I didn't need it?"  (After thinking about it, I did remember it from several months ago.)  I said, "Yeah".  She said, "All I really want for Easter is a black and white kitty pal."  :-)  I figured that actually made it kind of easy for me.

The beloved kitty pal. 

 I'm not even going to make a comment here about how funny I think the cat looks with those HUGE, OVERSIZED eyes.  ;-)

Oh yeah, and I probably also shouldn't say anything here about how it's large head  goes well with the large eyes but not with the smaller body.  (I never have been a fan of bobbleheads.)

A Veggie Tales coloring/activity book.  Though all she really wanted was the cat, she liked the coloring books and the paints.  She got a couple Snickers eggs but other than that, we didn't really do candy this year other than some jelly beans in some of the plastic eggs.

Happy Easter!

Kay and Megan getting ready to hunt for Easter eggs.

This was really most entertaining and amusing.  It didn't take long for the girls' baskets to get full, so they would come back and empty them and then go off to find more.  We would re-hide the ones they brought back and they just kept finding them.  I don't think they really realized what we were doing and I also don't think that it dawned on them that they were finding some eggs in the same places that they had already found them.  They both just love finding them so it's not like they would have minded if they would have figured it out.  We had around 70 plastic eggs between the ones we had and the ones the Brown's had but I think the girls probably found about 200 eggs!  :-D

Showing each other how many eggs they had found so far.  They were both so cute running around finding eggs - and refinding eggs.

A few more pictures from our visit to the farm:

When I read the flyer about this event, I wasn't sure what it meant when it said that there were going to be barrel train rides.  Kaelyn called it the corn train which was probably just as fitting.  They had taken huge barrels, cut one side off, put little seats in them and made them into a train that was pulled by some kind of four-wheeler.  It was super cute and Kaelyn loved it.  She rode it twice while we were there.

Kay in her "corn cob".  She HAD to have some of her pals with her of course.

On the wagon waiting for the hay ride to start.

This was a [pretty huge] ice cream freezer and the motor being used to crank it.  They were selling home made ice cream along with barbecue pork, chicken, hot dogs and roasted corn on the cob.

Dying eggs.

I eventually persuaded her to lay her pals on the table next to her so it would be easier for her to get the eggs out of the dye.

I seriously don't know what I would do without this girl and this smile - and a lopsided pair of pink bunny ears!!!

Writing her name on the eggs.

Searching for Easter eggs along a couple of the LONG rows of tomatoes.

I said, "Kevin, if you're not going to get all of me in the picture, would you please at least make sure half of me is in the picture?"  ;-)  Actually, I cropped the picture myself and should have cropped it a little tighter to get all of me out of the picture.  I look like, "OH - HO LOOKIE THERE!  YOU FOUND ONE!"  (Sorry, just in one of those weird moods tonight.)

The goats had this whole "playground" with ramps and treehouse looking things.  Kevin was wondering why they had all that and he said, "Do they even use it?"  I assured him they probably did but as long as there were lots of people around with buckets of food, they were staying close to the fences.  Later in the day when we were over near them we saw one of the goats up on one of the ramps.

This tractor was out front of the main building (the store) and kids were welcome to climb up on it as evidenced by the crates on the ground used as step stools.

Not everyday that you see an Easter bunny driving a tractor is it?  By the way, speaking of bunnies, bunny ears are only cute on young children like this but not so much on adults!  Just a little observation Kevin and I made on this Saturday before Easter.  :-)

Next is pictures from Easter Sunday and hopefully soon, soccer pictures.  That's right, Kaelyn is starting soccer tomorrow night for the first time.  It's special needs soccer where each little soccer player has an older child who teams up with them and helps them.  Several of the kids from her class at school are also playing and she is SUPER excited.  I'm not sure how I feel but... more on that after tomorrow night I guess.  :-)