Soccer and Sleepovers.

What a great start to soccer season....both boys played well and scored for their team, and won. We signed Rits up for indoor soccer during the winter months...a drills and skills, 10 week camp. Let me tell you that the time and effort was worth it. Not only did he score most goals, he was also commended for improving his ball skills and playing well with his team mates. He lucked out this season as he has the same coach as last time. It's always good to be with a familiar coach because they already know how your child plays and behaves, but mostly, how to motivate them to play well.

His coach has a simple technique....have fun, enjoy the game and then learn the skills. His paractices are fun and educational. He has the ability to teach the kids skills without them even realising that they are learning. You see other coaches yelling at these little kids, or doing laps or stretches. I guess every cosch has their own way of teaching, but for now, we are very happy with ours.

Niks has his regular coach too.....same as the last 4 seasons. He knows Niks to a tea, and used to have him do many laps and push ups. Even though he is twelve, he still has problems with listening to directions and behaving in general. So far, and it's early days yet, he has been OK, by actually listening and doing the drills and skills. He prefers scrimaging but is learning that you need to have good ball skills to have a good scrimage. They played their game well, and hopefully will continue the season in great form.

A few weeks ago, I had pronmised Niks that he could invite a couple of his friends for a sleepover. I guess as we get busy in day to day activities, we tend to put things on a back burner, but kids do not forget! He has been emailing his buddies and finally convinced me to take action......he had his first sleep over for 2009. His friends are a great influence for him because they are a little more mature than he is. They are twins...and really get on well with one another. It's good for Niks to see that two brothers can not only play together, but actually look out for eachother.

We had a lovely barbeque because the weather was warm and sunny...and we all know that kids love a BBQ and we finished the evening with our crepes. We had to get Rits to sleep earlier than the other boys because he was exhausted after a long day. He thinks he is all grown up and tries to keep up with Niks, only to tire much quicker. Niks stayed up till 2am...playing board games and a little Wii.

Sunday morning was pretty calm. They were all up by ten and after a light breakfast and lunch, it was time to go. All in all, the kids had a really good weekend.
I spent the afternoon with my walking budies and walked to my brothers house and back, a total of nine miles. We are well on our way to do the half marathon, but my legs are sore. It's the first time we pushed ourselves to walk this much, and the route was full of up hills and down. I'm about ready to call it a day...I'll watch my regular Brothers and Sisters tomorrow.