Are you ready for some football???

September means back to school, apples, cool crisp air, beautiful foliage, and 2 of my most favorite sports - Football & Soccer!! This is the first year that my dad is not paying a crazy amount of money for Direct TV's direct ticket package - thus, we won't be seeing many of my teams games this year. We have spent just about every Sunday after church for the last 10 years, watching football with my dad. We moved into our house at the end of May and are still waiting for Time Warner to have time to hook us up - although they are supposed to come this week - FINALLY!! So there was no football being broadcast in our house this weekend. We watched our beloved SU lose terribly last night with grandpa and today, we went to Rome - my cousin coaches Pop Warner football for the Norwich Cyclone C team and two of his boys play. Coach and Son during the Nat'l Anthem
Another thing that September means is cold and dreary days in Central NY and today was no exception. The rain held off for us but the wind blew through you at times!! We arrived at the field just in time for player introductions. I spent several years coaching pop warner cheerleaders but it's been many years since I've been to a game. It was great to see these little 9, 10, 11 year old boys playing this game, so disciplined and into it. They were so excited with each great play!! Two of my cousins actually coach - one of them told me this is his 40th year coaching football - talk about dedication to a sport! He's been coaching longer than I've been alive!! My cousins son, Lil' T as he's called, plays mostly defense and in my opinion, he played great!!


Norwich beat Rome 26 - 6 and then it was time for the A team to play. That game was late and we had to be back in town but I told my husband we were going to watch one quarter of Ev's game. 3 touchdowns by Norwich later, the quarter was over and we were on our way - thanks to a facebook status, I learned that Norwich was victorious in that game as well, 46 - 16 or something like that.

We drove home in the pouring rain, did what we had to do and then had homemade calzones for dinner. They were delicious. The little ones like meat, cheese, and sauce, their dad likes peppers and onions added to that mix, and I prefer broccoli, garlic, olive oil, and cheese for mine without red sauce, as they say. A very inexpensive meal, to say the least, but very filling - we had leftovers and that doesn't happen often with the way my 6'3" husband can eat!!

We settled in to watch 101 Dalmations (the non animated one) and wait for the biggest brother to arrive home with his girlfriend. She flew down to ride home with him and help him pack. He's bringing all of his stuff home in preparation for starting his Army training. The next 48 hours are all we have with him until Christmas, after that he leaves for Iraq for a year. Something I do try not to think about just yet but it's there.. I keep some lyrics to one of my favorite songs in my head with it though - "God's got his hand on you so don't live life in fear" and that is something that I want to pass on to everyone - give it to God, He will handle it for you!! They arrived safely and he made his little brothers year by giving him his Pokemon Platinum or something like that for his DS. I don't get it but I do know that I put 2 very happy little boys to bed after that so for them, it's a huge deal - even more huge since it came from big brother!!

Yesterdays post was for remembrance so I didn't mention that it was the start of soccer season for us. The boys are in the same division this year, thankfully, and they have a great coach and a great team of boys! They wear White with black jerseys and have named themselves the little white oreos - too cute. The boys played against their Uncle's team yesterday - in AYSO, they say that we don't keep score but kids always keep score. I think our team had a lot more experienced players on it so I won't mention the score I was given but Aussie scored a goal and had an assist or two and he was thrilled! He has come a long way and is truly developing a deep love for the game. His little brother isn't far behind him, he just learned to many fancy trick moves in soccer camp this summer and has to realize you don't use every one of them the first time you get the ball :) He'll figure it out though - he's just one of those natural "athletes".

To wrap up my weekend, I would say it was perfect - some soccer, some football, spending time with all 3 of my kids and seeing a lot of friends and family in the mix of it all - who could ask for more????
(Now I am attempting to upload photos - I couldn't figure it out and then I figured out how to upload one last night - and I just had a duh moment and figured out how to send more than one photo!! I got these two photos in but I can't make them go where I want to so I give up for tonight...)