Grass Picking 101... aka,
Abby's First Soccer Game!

The first half of the hour, all the kids in her division drill and practice on one field. A great coach gets them running and jumping over their ball and dropping to their bellies. Then the second half of the hour they break up into teams and play the game.
I was a bit worried here that we might have a grass picker on our hands... but she quickly got into the spirit of things!

The coach, explaining the "rules" of the game. Only three players from each team are on the field at one time... too cute.

The First Kick!

And we're off! Abby was a starter and got to kick the first ball of the season into play! And it was a kick!!! The boy on the left is like, "That's all she's got?!" It was hillarious! The funniest part was that Abby would just let the other kids go after the ball... it was their turn. So I had to go all "Soccer Mom" and explain to her to go after the ball... it belonged to her!

She got the idea and we were just blown away with how well she participated and ran back on forth on the field. It was amazing. She did great and we remain so blessed! Her team's mascot... "The Pirates"! For those of you who didn't know... I was a "Boaz Pirate" in high school!

Can I just hug the Lion?

The Lion in the goal cracked me up. Everyone's, well... "some" of the children are focused on the ball, but Abby just keeps eyeing the Lion.

My FIRST Georgia Game!
This past weekend we went to Athens for my first Georgia game. It was a lot of fun and made me very much want to be in college again. The campus reminded me so much of Chapel Hill at Carolina. The stadium is nestled in the trees like Kenan Stadium and they have an area that's just like Franklin Street (except larger, with more streets and far more stores and bars). The vibe on campus was just like Chapel Hill and all of the sudden I felt OLD. All these kids on campus look 16 to 20! Ughhhhhh.
So my first lesson was learning what to say at each kick off... "Gooooo, Dawwwwwwgssss, Sic em, woof, woof, woof, woof." To see THOUSANDS of grown ups do this, over and over and over, with such enthusiasm, was very cute!

Noone could get this guy to sit down! The game was a blowout. I felt so bad for Western Kentucky. I think the final score was 48 to 12. Great that Georgia gets to start the season on such a high note... but I just wanted to go hug all the other guys and give them a pep talk. To make matters worse, they were the "Hill Toppers" and their mascot looked like a red packman.

We had great seats, in the lower section, right on the 40 yard line. They had stadium cushions on them too! After walking away from several people looking to make a year's salary on their tickets, we found a student who had been given some tickets by his boss. He, of course, wanted to sit in the student section with his friends. Yeah for us!

This one if for my brother David!
OK David, here's the band. You, too, could become a red coat! Don't you think you'd make a good "DAWG"? Think about it! You already look great in red!

What's in your hand?
Friday night, as I went to help Abby brush her teeth, I noticed her two center bottom teeth didn't look right. One was hanging by a thread and the other one was "very" loose too. So upon touching the first one it came out. The second one took two attempts of "tugging" and was a bit more dramatic, but here they are... her first two lost baby teeth! Abby was worried the tooth fairey would wake her when she came to get the teeth. Then she decided she really wanted to keep the teeth. But in the morning she was thrilled to find two dollar bills and two little packs of sweet tarts... teeth, what teeth?

Abby is a SOCCER GIRL!
Abby has her first soccer game this weekend. We just continue to marvel at how God continues to bless her. She LOVES her uniform and her favorite part is her jersey. She wanted "00" as her number (no idea why...) but "88" was as close as we could get. She'll tell you how the game is going to go to; "Mommy and Daddy sit in chairs and watch me play with the other kids."

MEET "CRAZY HAIR"
Abby has three favorite babies that she wants to take everywhere. She strolls them, teaches them, feeds them, rocks them, AND DISCIPLINES them... the latter is a RIOT! Anyway, baby Emily has long been the favorite. Then I guess she felt Em needed a friend and so her larger baby, baby Jane, joined the club. Well... then she MUST have felt sorry for this precious baby her Grammy gave her... who... can't ever open her eyes, is stuck in an everlasting grimace, AND has a strand of hair that WILL NOT lay down... Oh, and she had not been named. So we bagan discussing names for this left out baby and I said, "Well she does have crazy hair" and Abby just about wet her pants laughing (love genuine, pure, and spontaneous laughing). So there you have it... she became "Crazy Hair" The funniest thing is she says it with all seriousness. In her nightly prayers, "Thank you Lowwrd, for baby Emily, baby Jane and Crazy Hair. If she is misbehaving at the table, "Sit down Crazy Hair, don't be naughty." Cracks us up!
p.s. Grammy... We adore Crazy Hair and our lives would be much emptier of humor had you not bought her for Abster!