Tonight's dinner menu

Here is tonight's dinner menu.  Can you guess what it is in honor of?

* Grilled beef with Portuguese Marinade
* Brazilian Style Rice
* Baked Bananas with Rum
* sliced Kiwi fruit

I got the idea here.  Thanks Ms. Clavel

Yes, we are in a "World Cup" mood around here.  It's pretty exciting.  When I mentioned my stolen borrowed menu idea to the kids yesterday, before I could get the entire idea out, Sammy said, "Oh no! We're not going to do another folder are we?"  Seems he was remembering the Olympics lap book we did this year. (which was fun and informative, btw!  Sam's just in summer mode now.)  Ethan was all for studying the World Cup, even if it meant another lapbook.  I'm sliding into summer mode also.  We won't be doing a lapbook, but the menu idea seems fun!

Imagine how surprised Ethan was when he began watching the World Cup games and saw that many of the players were sporting these:

The very cleats we purchased for him 2 weeks ago!!  Little did we know!  I'm thinking he is hoping it is an omen of things to come:)





Oh, and we're also rooting heavily for these guys.  All of us except hubby, who likes the Lakers!!!  It gets pretty tricky when a lifelong New England boy refuses to choose the local teams as his favorite.  Luckily, our children are learning the right way.  Go Celtics!

A Good night for the Sweet boys

******WARNING: SHAMEFUL BRAGGING AHEAD*******

Well, last night was a good night for the Sweet boys! Both Isaac and Ethan had soccer games, so Scott and I had to divide and conquer. Funny, though, that the "division" means I get to bring the two youngest with me and he goes to Isaac's varsity game by himself. Hmmmm..... But the youngest wouldn't want to go with him anyway because all of their friends are at Ethan's games and they get to play, play, play. Dear hubby isn't shirking his duties, I'm just giving him a hard time;) (love you honey!)
Anyway, Ethan is playing on the 5/6th grade team at the local Catholic school. His team started their season off with a little jamboree. The coach that Ethan had for his spring and summer teams, who he really likes, was coaching one of the opposing teams. Ethan is good friends with the coach's son and some of the other players, so that just added a little "excitement" to the game. Ethan's team played 3 games and won all 3!! Including the one against his former coach and friend. Ethan scored 2 goals in each game! He did great. Sometimes at the beginning of a season he needs a little "orientation time" to get into his rhythm, but he jumped in with both feet this season. It is really fun to watch his skills improve each season. He loves soccer!
So with this victorious evening under our belt we drove home. Isaac, Scott and his parents were already there. Isaac's varsity team has been struggling this year, and Isaac has been pretty discouraged. Hesitantly, I asked him how his team did. They won 4-0! What a great boost for the team! Then he told me that he scored all 4 goals!! Wow! I was very happy for him and the team. Hopefully this is the shot in the arm they need.
So, in total, the Sweet boys scored 10 goals last night!
Good job boys. We are proud of your hard work, dedication and effort.

Also, their cousin, LL, had a middle school soccer game last night, in which he scored 2 goals!! Way to go, L!!

A Good Night for the Sweet Boys

Good Sportsmanship Award for Sammy
2nd & 3rd Grade team (even though Sam's only in 1st grade)



















Big brother, Ethan, got the "Unsung Hero" award from his 3rd/4th grade basketball team




















Congratulations, boys! We are proud of you!

March Madness

Every March our family fills out our NCAA basketball tournament brackets. We're competing for bragging rights in the Sweet household. We each have our own system for determining our picks...some try to pick the upsets, some pick colleges from states we've visited, I usually try to pick the Catholic colleges (hasn't worked out so well for me, though..), but my dear husband (whose middle initial is W--as in "it's all about the W(in)" usually goes with the top seeds. Now, I have always razzed him about it, since it seems kind of "cheap" to me, but being a serious sports fan and athlete, he does NOT like to lose. And he doesn't lose our family pool very often. Last year, I think he had it sewn up after the first three rounds.
Of course this is all for fun. But since winning is definitely more fun than losing, I decided to change my tactics this year and adopt Mr. "Losing is for sissies'" method. I've got three #1 seeds and one #2 seed in the Final Four. Yes, honestly, I do feel kind of cheap...like I've compromised my standards a little bit...but I'm pretty sure I'll get over it. The Hubster is going down this year!!
Go Tarheels!!

A Man of Few Words

Ten year old *sick* boy sitting very quietly at teenage brother's basketball game, watching as teenage brother displays an overabundance of intensity (ahem!) :

"Isaac's not going to get the Sportsmanship Award."

Ummm, noooo, probably not........