Soccer Season

Our families first soccer season has drawn to a close and we went out on a high note.

It snowed on our final game of the season.

I felt like I caught a glimpse of all those games that my mom endured wearing the ugliest clothing combinations that she could muster all in the name of warmth. And I understood.

We had the pleasure of not just one game but two games. An hour or so apart. In the snow. And sweet Amy Noll WANTED to watch three year old and five-eight year old soccer-why? I don't know. Because mainly it looks like this:

Yes. That kid is eating the soccer net.

The other kid is simply growling at the other team.

Not kicking the actual ball. Just growling.

This was the only time Lucy ran during her whole game.

But this is what Y soccer is all about.

1. The trophy.

2. The friendships.

Look how big my boy looks!

3. Learning patience. Waiting your turn.

5. Fundamentals of the game.

How to absolutely destroy a ball into the back of the net.

Look at that focus. Just like his mom.

6. Letting fans of other teams touch us. Until we destroy them in the Swamp.

7. Learning how to cheer on the count of THREE!

8. Perfect the art of the soccer boy stance.

9. We're back to the trophy.

It's all about the trophy.

It Has Begun

The day that I have been waiting for since I saw that little plus sign on stick came yesterday.

Our first soccer practice.

We've had a few practices around our house to get ready for the big day.

But yesterday, was the big day.

Germany and Brazil.

Here we come.

The swell of pride can hardly be contained.

I did my best to just stay on the sidelines. No coaching emerged out of my lips. Simple encouragement to stop cutting the grass, sitting on the ball and watching the planes take off from the airport. That's ALL.

Check out my ballers.

It's gonna be domination station.

Watch out YMCA league.

You will never be the same.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Yep, that's a kid sized helmet everybody. Awesome. Looks like we get to buy custom-sized head gear soon.

Asher started T-Ball last weekend with a YMCA league. It is great! They only play two innings, everybody bats, nobody gets out, the dad's stand in the field with them. It is just right for this age group.

The one thing they didn't hand out was tissues for Asher crying his face off at the first game.

He got scared when we got there. (Late of course) And he freaked. He didn't want to go stand out in the field because he didn't really know what to do and that intimidated him. So he cried. It's understandable. But maddening.

Thank goodness Matt was there to talk him down, and "sneak" him onto the field mid-inning. After that, he was pretty ok. Still had to be convinced to do everything, but I think that by the end of the game had bought into doing everything that was being asked of him.

He got warmed up and VERY into getting the ball. Which he never did. Next week.

Especially when the snacks were rolled out.

Just look at the thrill that is written all over his face! Hilarious shot.

The Biggest Loser

Although I haven't been posting about working out very much lately, I have been keeping up the routine four-five times a week and so have Matt and Ben. The benefit? None of our clothes fit the same.
The detriment? All of us are incredibly vain right now.

Just kidding. But seriously.
Just kidding. No really.

Anyway. I was at the Y the other night trying to squeeze in a last minute workout before The Biggest Loser came on because, well I feel disgusting if I just sit there and eat cookies and watch that show without working out. So I went to the gym while the DVR was getting a workout and Matt was putting the kids in the bed.

I arrived and the place was dead, but there was a small group running on the treadmills and I like running next to others so I joined them. Next to me was a guy who had been obviously running for a little while-he had worked up quite a lather at a pretty stiff pace. I jumped on the treadmill and my ipod cooperated in playing some very fun music and soon I was matching his pace.

My ipod then changed songs and I picked up the pace. The guy next to me adjusted his pace to match mine and this went on for about 18 minutes until we were running 7 minute miles. It was fun because he was matching me and we both knew it, but we never said anything about it. But WE were CRUISING. I mean, I was feeling good.

That all ended when I accidently hit the emergency stop rope magnet and my treadmill immediately came to a halt.

My sudden change in pace threw the guy next to me off so badly that he actually flew off the back of the treadmill into the elliptical machines, then the bikes and he was reeling in the fitlinxx staging area shaking his head.
It was hilarious! But more hilarious? How badly I felt. I actually apologized for ruining our workouts and then I proceeded to push my treadmill to the limit for the next 15 minutes and ruin us. I managed to pass the USC Women's Soccer 2-mile test for the first time since college. Two miles in under 14 minutes.
I was feeling pretty dang good about myself. I want to thank Bret Michaels and the rest of the boys from Poison for Unskinny Bop that helped push me through the final two minutes.

Holiday Crunch

During the period from Thanksgiving until Christmas, our YMCA had a promotion called "Holiday Crunch". Basically, get 15 workouts in between the two dates and you get a free t-shirt.

Did I need another t-shirt? No. Did I need a motivator during the biggest eat fest of the year? Absolutely.

So I managed to do it. If you are doing the math, that is a workout pretty much every other day for 30 days. It was pretty hard to make happen, but I was determined and I actually finished up in time to leave for Christmas EARLY, so I worked EXTRA hard. You don't get extra gold stars or anything for that, but I thought I would point it out since this is my blog.

I picked up my shirt this week at the Y and I have to say, I was mightily disappointed. It is really ugly and not a fun shirt at all like I had anticipated. Once again, not because I need another shirt, but if you are GOING to give me a shirt; let's make it one that I will actually wear ok?

But that has given me the push to once again begin publishing songs of the week to add to your ipod or whatever mp3 player you might have to use when working out. Also, I am going to give you some idea of what I do when I work out so that it might help you to change up your routine. I have no idea if this might be helpful or not, but seeing as it is the New Year and some might be the resolving type-perhaps this could help things out.

New Classes to try at your gym:
Spinning-this class is a hard one, But you can adjust to whatever level you want and NO ONE will know it. They usually play fun music and it will kick your butt whenever you don't feel like thinking.

ZUMBA-I have just started going to Zumba and I have had a blast. Typically I hate aerobics classes because I don't feel like they give me much of a workout. I would rather run or something. But this is fun stress reliever and instead of cooling down, I will exit early and go run a mile on the treadmill just to go over the top. It is fun to dance for an hour and learn something new. Every person that reads this blog would have fun at Zumba. I know it.

New/Old Songs of the Week:
November Rain-Guns N Roses: This song is nine minutes long! Start out your run with this song and increase your speed on the treadmill as the beat of the song increases. By the end of the song, you will be flying along, nine minutes into your run AND probably have a mile under your belt already.

Pour Some Sugar on Me-Def Leopard This is a great song to follow up with November Rain to keep the tempo going.

So What-P!NK This song is super cheesy, but it does rock and it'll get your butt moving on the treadmill. Especially if you know P!NK story with her husband/ex-husband.


Push It-Salt-N-Pepa: I know you just laughed out loud. But since I know every word to this song from a cheerleading dance in the fifth grade AND it says the word PUSH IT over and over and over again right about the point when you would rather hit the clear/end button on the treadmill, it will buy you another three and half minutes.

The goal for the week? Get three workouts in by next Saturday.
Can you do it? Do you even want to? Post your thoughts here.

Please note, that ain't my picture. But's pretty funny. It came from the Daily Mail in the UK.

Oh the Asheville YMCA

Our Y is such an interesting place. It really captures the "spirit" of Asheville with the stinky people, crazies, normal people (like me) and the older generation.

I am going to tell you what I saw last night. In the women's locker room.
I had worked out and was grabbing my bag out of the locker to leave when a woman who was; let's say...70 comes up next to me. She is wearing 1) a workout leotard 2) a pair of teal and green striped workout shorts AND 3) pantyhose. With socks and tennis shoes. PANTYHOSE. To work out in.

She began to get dressed to leave and what did she do? PUT ON ANOTHER PAIR OF SHORTS OVER HER CURRENT PAIR OF SHORTS. She had at minimum four layers on down below.

Oh and she was sporting a little braided rope head band too to top off the outfit. As she was leaving the locker room, I saw her slip her arms into a Members Only jacket.
Have Mercy.

BTW: Song of the Day was: The Tide Is High by Blondie