Luke smokes his Dad

To celebrate the end of a great flag football season, we planned a Father/Son flag football game.  Talk about intense!  These dads were serious.  Stephen was so serious that he pulled his quad muscle, badly...against 7 and 8 year olds!  

Watch this, Stephen trying to score on his son.  

Thinking he will be fancy and cut back to middle.

DENIED, Luke grabbed his flag.  

These boys were pumped about beating their dads.  

Luke scored two legitimate touchdowns against the dads.  On one of his runs, he faked out two dads so well that they both wiped out on the field trying to grab his flag.  

Luke about to run it in for a touchdown.  Only one man in his way, his father.  Easy grab, right?

Wrong, Luke cuts back!  Look at Stephen's reaction.  

Oh crud.  

He got them both!  Touchdown!

The team hanging out after the game.  

  Luke's coach said some great words to all the boys about their resilience this year and their great attitudes on the field to their opponents and each other.  We were really proud of them, they showed great heart.

Luke also was the MVP this season, they called him "Touchdown Luke."  Coach just made Luke promise when he signs for the NFL to remember his first coach;)

Our mighty Tigers!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Recently, Stephen took Amelia to the Daddy/Daughter Dance to have some special one on one time with his Mimi.  The night was made special with a limo ride, red carpet, dinner, dancing and fun.

Amelia was very excited to go out with Daddy.  I reminded her that someday she will find a boy to love, but the first boy to ever love her was her Daddy.  As long as she finds someone just like her Daddy, she will be all set.  

These pictures are my favorite pictures of Stephen and Amelia ever!  Such a treasure that I will keep for always-Amelia and Daddy hamming it up for the camera.

February Odds and Ends

Amelia and I played in a parent/child tournament recently.  We had a great time playing against her friends and their parents.  The next day she told me, "Mom, I had fun playing with you.  Can we do that more often?"  Yes!    I want to soak up all the time I can with her until the teenage years start and she spends more time rolling her eyes and laughing at me rather than laughing with me.  

Addison, like the rest of the country's preschoolers, is obsessed with all things Frozen.  She sings and acts out the songs and begged and begged to buy this "Elsa" hair.  Isn't it terrible?  She loves it though  and thinks it adds a whole new dimension to her performance.  

When she is not being Elsa, or coloring, or bossing me around; this is where we usually find Addison.  She is a giant book worm.  (I just noticed the discarded Elsa wig next to her).  

Stephen and I played in the club's Valentine Sweetheart Tennis Round Robin.  We had so much fun playing together!  Although after 3 hours of tennis Stephen was a little less enthusiastic than I was.  He asked how I was still standing because my friends and I had already played three sets of tennis that morning.  

Determination!  Stamina!  We are women, hear us roar!  My friends, who also have to be dragged off the tennis court kicking and screaming.

It is also Mardi Gras time down in the South!

I told Addison to smile and she said, "No, I am a movie star and this is how I pose."

Ummmm, okay.

Our church family gets together and tailgates before the parade so it was a fun afternoon filled with friends.  

The kids all lined up and ready for some beads!

Lizzie, Mckenzie and Amelia!

Tommy and Addison have been hanging out at each of the parades since Addison was one week old!

Tate and Luke having some fun at the parade.  

Now we have the "fun" of sorting garbage bags full of beads, bouncy balls, candy, stuffed animals, etc.  The kids love it, it is this OCD mamma's nightmare.  

Touchdown!

Although the Super Bowl is over, we still have some intense football going on in south Mississippi.  Luke is once again playing flag football and he LOVES it!  He has become quite obsessed with football this fall and watched every game he could, regardless of the team.  He reads books on all the football greats and can call plays and games better than most sports broadcasters. 

Luke is the quarterback and has thrown for some great receptions this year.

Luke is also the running back and averages over 150 yards rushing per game.

But not without some great blocks from his teammates.  

Turning on the jets.

Go Luke go!  Luke averages 3 touchdowns a game.  

His speed helps him out on grabbing those flags too on defense.  

Luke's football skills have awed Stephen and I this year.  It is a joy to watch him race down the field and score a touchdown.  But we have been equally awed at his composure and cool.  He scores most of the touchdowns for his team but after he scores, he jogs over to the coach hands him the ball and lines up for the next play.  He has never once "showboated."  The other team has some pretty athletic boys who have been involved in competitive traveling teams for years.  They are very loud, showy, braggy (not a word but a perfect explanation).  It is hard to watch sometimes because we have stayed far away from this world.  It breaks my heart to see them harass players not only on our team but weaker players on their own team.  I wonder what a world of 7 and 8 year olds being this competitive at such an early age will lead to?  This is YMCA FLAG FOOTBALL for pete's sake, there should not be anything threatening about it.  It seems kids cannot just play sports for the joy of playing sports anymore, even something as informal as flag football.  It is very sad because kids that maybe haven't reached their athletic stride at 7 years old (which of course, not many have) are already labeled as non-athletic.  At 7 years old!!!   

I miss the days when I was a kid (I know, I know, the good old days) and one could play basketball, volleyball, track, soccer, and cheerlead all in one year just to see what you liked!  No real decisions had to be made until the high school level.  

Ahh, the good ole days.  I am officially old.  But I am all for "old fashioned" sportsmanship and both mommy and daddy have told Luke that we are so very proud of him and what a great job he is doing on the field showing that Jesus is in his heart.  Let your light shine buddy!