Soccer!!!

The boys had their first game today! Their team name is the Lightning Bolts, and they played against the Green Dragons. Joseph wished his team could have been named the Dragon Riders. (Actually, he originally lobbied hard for the Titans, but oddly enough, none of the other 6 and 7 year olds knew what a Titan was).
The game ended in a tie (the best way for these little-kid games to end as far as I'm concerned). Unfortunately the tie was 0-0, so none of the kids got to actually make a goal. Joseph and Brigham played fullbacks for much of the game, and they made a great little partnership out there sending the ball back down the field whenever the other team got too close to the goal. (sorry Mama, I know how much you just love soccer talk. I promise to try to keep my play-by-play commentary to a minimum)
The funniest part for me was after the game, listening to Joseph and Brigham talk about it. Here's about how it went:
Brigham: "I can't believe the ref didn't call the other boy when he picked up the ball with his hands!"
Me: "Maybe he didn't see it, the ref can't see everything you know."
Joseph (argumentative): "No, he was standing right behind the kid!"
Brigham (outraged): "Yeah, and he was looking RIGHT AT HIM when he did it and he didn't say anything!"
Me (placative): "Well, sometimes you disagree with the ref's calls, but you know, the other team probably saw you guys break some rules that the ref didn't see either."
Joseph (indignant): "We didn't break any rules! And there was another kid who did a high kick and the ref didn't call him either."
Brigham: "Yeah, and it was a dangerous high kick!"
Joseph: "Yeah, a dangerous high kick and he did it on purpose!"
Brigham (disgustedly): "The ref should have thrown him out of the game."
Me (trying hard not to laugh): "Do you guys know what the word exaggerate means?" (yes, they do...)



Here's Ben giving the kids some last minute instructions before the game.



Joseph striding toward me at halftime.



Brigham after the game.



Mosey's technically not on the team, being just a couple years too young. But we had an extra jersey, and since his daddy is coach, he got to go out on the field for about a minute (literally) before halftime. He felt a little intimidated with all the bigger kids, as you can see (he's the one with his too-big soccer shorts down past his knees just standing there watching the action).



Mosey spent most of the game admiring his new favored possession, a real walkie talkie. The boys already have some toy walkie talkies, but there are only two (a slight problem when there are three boys who each desperately need one. It gets really old refereeing whose turn it is). Plus they didn't work very well and made really annoying screeching sounds whenever the boys pressed the call button, which was all the time. So we went to Fryes last night and got the boys some real walkie talkies (four of them), so they could all play. They actually work very well and the boys have had fun playing with them all day, hiding in the back of the hall closet and making Dad try to guess where they were (he had the 4th walkie talkie), and other fun games.



We attempted to get a quick group shot before the game, as several of the parents brought their cameras. Well, Joseph being his usual self would not smile, and instead stuck out his tongue and hunched over like Quasimodo. Cute. It's funny to see the kid standing just behind Joseph looking at him like, "What the heck are you doing?"



So I yelled at Joseph to put his tongue back in his mouth, for heaven's sake! He obeyed, instead giving the camera a baleful glare, but my instructions backfired as now you can see that two other children thought sticking their tongues out would be a good idea! Ya can't win.