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!!

The Highlight Reel

The boys asked me to take pictures of them as they attempted bicycle kicks. It was pretty fun to watch, but a little painful for them, I would guess. Enjoy

Soccer Jamboree 2008

Here are some pix my mother-in-law took at the Soccer Jamboree last Saturday. Great pix, Mom. The boys "helped" me create the slide show and chose the Superstar theme:)

The Big Dogs

Wow, what a Saturday! Two soccer jamborees for the Sweet boys. Youngest Sweet boy, 6, had a K-2 jamboree in the morning. Round Robin play with 4 other teams. They won 3 out of 4. Although young Mr. Sweet is in 1st grade, he is the size of a 3rd grader, plus he has older brothers he plays soccer with and they are merciless. So, the whistle blows and Sammy takes the ball, dribbles through the tiny bodies of teammates and opponents and puts the ball in the net. It was the beginning of a productive day for the Sweet boys! In all, Sammy scored 4 goals. One he kicked so hard that he knocked the goal over! He's a big strong boy! He also came to the aid of a little friend who was, in his opinion, being defended a bit too aggressively by a girl on the opposite team. With concern etched in his features, he grabbed the girl and pulled her away from his friend. She continued being aggressive, and Sam would have tossed the girl to the ground if Daddy hadn't intervened. I think I'm just going to chalk this up to chivalry and pray for the best.:)

There were no altercations in the afternoon jamboree for the 3rd and 4th graders, but there was a HEALTHY dose of competitive juice flowing, both on the field and on the sidelines as two sports-minded dads set their sights on another undefeated team from our town. These dads felt that the other team was a little over-confident, and as our team, St. Mary's, was also undefeated, they were eager to see this matchup. (It won't take long for my tiny audience to know who one of those competitive dads is) Surprisingly, the game quickly became lopsided, as Middle Sweet Son and his friend Austin (son of the OTHER competitive dad) teamed up to pass and score and pass and score and ..... Well, you get the picture. It was a blow out. Each boy ended up with 4 goals in the game (and probably 4 assists each). The final score was 8-1. The coach is usually pretty even-keeled and focuses on improving skills and having fun, downplaying winning sometimes. Apparently, she had been rubbed the wrong way by this team also, because normally she will keep Ethan and Austin up front and let them score a few goals and then she puts them on defense or in the goal to even out the score a little. Well, they never played defense the entire game! As Competitive Dad #1 (Scott) phrased it, "She's keeping the big dogs up front." Middle Sweet Son liked that phrase. A lot.

In other news, oldest Sweet son scored the game winning goal in his street hockey game, which took place simultaneously with the Jamboree. The final score was 1-0. Apparently, he gave all he had to notch that goal, because after he scored he left the court and vomited on the sidelines....hardcore!
To round out the day, Cousin LL scored 2 goals and had one assist for his middle school team's Jamboree the same day! Congratulations, L!
It was a very productive and successful day all around for these sports freaks minded kids!

Life Lessons

Tonight was the night of the big soccer game. Two neighboring towns with a long held rivalry. The intensity factor in this family was "upped" by the fact that the rival town used to be our town. He knew these kids who were now his opponents, and he really wanted to play. But he sat the bench. For the whole game.
Now, there's nothing wrong with sitting the bench. Many a game has been won on the basis of a deep, talented bench. Just look at how Terry Francona managed his bullpen, particularly during the 2004 playoffs and World Series. It made all the difference. But normally he is a starting Varisty midfielder. But he didn't play one minute.
You see, he missed practice the day before the game. It was Labor Day weekend. After his game on Thursday before the holiday weekend, coach gave them Friday off. He only heard coach say "Game on Tuesday" and missed the "practice on Monday" part. Now, Dad and I were pretty sure there had to be practice in there somewhere before the game tonight, but he was adamant that there wasn't. On Monday morning, I checked the school's website to see if practice had been posted. It hadn't, but that wasn't unusual...they don't usually post the last minute changes.
Strangely enough, hubby and I didn't discuss it...we just did what we did...we were both on the same page without planning it, which is why I believe the Hand of God was in this situation. We did not call the coach ourselves, we did not even make him call his coach. We asked him about 16 times each if he was sure, which of course, he was. So, we gave him the rope.....
This son has a bit of a "golden boy" complex happening. He is handsome, blonde, talented and a really good kid. People have always loved him, including his coaches. Which is all great, but he has begun to develop an attitude of invincibility and entitlement...and a dash of irresponsibility. "Everything takes care of itself, I don't need to make plans, get details, co-operate..." It was getting frustrating. So, we gave him the rope....
At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, he got a call from his coach. His face was stricken. He had missed practice. On the day before a game. We didn't know at that time that the school policy was that he wouldn't be able to play for the entire game. We told him that he probably wouldn't start. (We're homeschoolers, we don't pay much attention to school rules!) And we felt this was probably the best lesson we could teach him, even if it was difficult.
When he got to the game, he (unbeknownst to hubby and me) asked to speak to the coach privately. He took full responsibility for the mix-up and humbly and sincerely apologized to the coach. There were tears in his eyes when he found out that school policy said that he couldn't play at all. (The coaches had consulted the A.D. to try to get him some playing time, but it wasn't possible) He sat on the bench, cheering his teammates on to victory. He leaped from the bench the instant the final whistle sounded to join his teammates in celebrating their win. He met us on the sidelines without attitude, but in humility and acceptance of the lesson learned. It was a hard lesson, not only for him, but for his dad and me, also. Honestly, if we had known that he would have to sit out the entire game, we probably would have interfered a little more and made him double check about practice. (Non-interference is not normally the way we operate:))
But I believe His Heavenly Father took this situation and in His love and mercy "worked it for the good" for my son. I am more proud of him for the manly, humble, noble manner in which he dealt with this disappointment, than if he had won the game by himself. A great deal of maturity was gained on this night. The virtues of humility, honesty, patient endurance, and more were practiced this night. I have seen a glimpse of the man he will become, and I am so proud.

Buzz it like Beckham!!

Soccer fever has struck our family....well, the male members anyway. Since last fall when all three boys played soccer, through winter indoor soccer, the Euro 2008 soccer games which have been on TV and now with summer soccer practice starting tomorrow for Ethan, the temperature has continued to rise on a sharp incline.

In order to stay cool, Ethan decided that he needed a haircut before soccer began. He insisted that he needed it cut today, so that he would not confuse his coach, showing up with hair the first day and none the next:) Cute! So we went to the barber shop and he buzzed it like Beckham!! He also got new cleats--(a toned down version of ) Beckham's Adidas Predators....uh, oh....the fever is rising....Tylenol anyone?