that's a lot of kids

We had our friends over to play this morning.



I guess we're going to need a bigger couch pretty soon.

17,000 Easter pictures....

... and one decent one.

They seem so grown-up.

mischief

Today as we were scrolling through old pictures in search of something new to hang on our wall, we came across this:

We all shared a good laugh.

the soccer ritual

For the next couple months, we, along with approximately everyone in the county, will meet at a local playfield every Saturday for an hour or so of intense physical competition.

Soccer is a pretty big deal.

Since Aidan really wants to try football, only Luke is playing soccer this season.

This is serious business. He brings his game face.

His intensity is nearly matched by his adoring fans.

Six-year-olds play three players to a side and no goalie.

The key to winning is to be able to maintain focus on the game for longer than 12 seconds at a time. This is harder than it sounds.

Luke's focus was in good form today. This can't be said for all players. You can click on the picture for better peek at level of interest in the game according to the player's facial expression.

When players are able to maintain their focus for a period of time, you get some pretty good action.

Luke is one of the tallest kids on his team. And he's got a pretty powerful foot. Sometimes the opposition learns this the hard way. #35 is about to figure it out.

Luke made a great throw-in here. I don't think anyone on either team noticed it though.

#11 was hurting us in this game. Luke tries to dribble by him.

I tell Luke he needs to use his body. His application of this advice isn't exactly what I had in mind.

But it did help him score a goal.

He must get his competitiveness from his mother.