Brandon's playing soccer!



Brandon and some of his teammates at their first practice.  There are 11 boys on the team. 



Brandon, being five this year and starting Kindergarten, is finally able to play soccer through the city's soccer league.  He is on team Cosmos and plays his games on Saturday mornings at the middle school.  They practice there on Thursday nights.  He calls the middle school his "soccer school." He was not too thrilled with the idea of playing soccer when I first announced it to him.  He slowly came around though as he got used to the idea and eventually became very excited about it once he got his new gear.  We took him to the sporting goods store and got him some soccer shoes, knee socks, black shorts and a shiny new size 3 soccer ball.  He couldn't wait to get his jersey and was dressed for soccer by 10 a.m. the next day even though his practice wasn't until 6 p.m!  "I don't want to be late," he told me!

I was a little nervous about his first practice because we had tried basketball before and he clung to us for dear life not wanting to participate like the other kids.  He was more than a year older now, but I was still unsure of his reaction since he didn't know the coach or the other kids on his team.  He was great though!  He participated the whole time.  When he got in the car all red and sweaty I asked him if he had fun and he said that he did.  What a relief! 



He looks a little nervous out their but he had fun. :)



I was unsure about signing him up but very happy that I did after that moment.  After he had gotten upset when I first mentioned it to him that I was signing him up, I doubted that he was ready.  He would cry and say he didn't want to play.  It costs money to sign them up so I didn't want to do that if he wasn't going to play.  After talking with a couple of other parents I decided that it was worth a shot.  The advice that I received made sense:  This is the first year that he can play and the other kids his age would be "new" too.  It would be harder for him to join later when the other kids had more experience and knew each other already.  He was probably more scared of the idea because he didn't know what to expect.  If he didn't like it, at least he tried.  So I decided to go for it and I'm glad I did!

Their first game was rained out.  I had signed up for snack and made blueberry muffins from scratch.  They had team and individual pictures the following week before their first game which I'm looking forward to seeing... He made the goofiest smile!   He didn't score any goals but he enjoyed playing and that's what counts!  They don't keep score anyway.  At this age their just learning to play the game.  He did score a goal at his second game but I couldn't be there to watch and therefore have no pictures.  He will miss his third game when we're out of town this weekend but he'll get to play at least two more.  Hopefully they will reschedule the rain out, too!

Brandon giving his coach a high-five after one of his teammates scores a goal.

"Go Brandon!"

Xander was a little bummed that he couldn't get out there and play too but his day is coming...

Can't forget our little cheerleader!  She enjoys the games as much as the boys do :)

Brandon likes having his daddy at his games!  Hopefully he'll be able to go to all of them.



This goofy boy is enjoying his first year of soccer!  Doesn't he look so cute in his uniform!?

Making a home for "Froggy" :)

While on one of his trips to Michigan with Grama and Papa, Brandon acquired a little green frog whom he affectionately refers to as "Froggy."  Apparently Froggy was found resting on the hummingbird feeder when they got back from their trip.  At first they were feeding him little frog/tadpole pellets which he had no interest in.  About a week later we discovered with the help of a friend that he prefers live crickets.  The first time I gave him one (almost a week after he'd been captured) he attacked it pronto.  The poor guy was starving!!!  Since then he has been fed on a regular basis a nice diet of one sometimes two little crickets.  I feel a little bad for the crickets when I go and "choose" who is to die that day... oh, well, they're just crickets, right? 

 Froggy was living in a small maybe one gallon size travel tank for a couple of weeks but tonight we decided to make the little guy a "real" home.  So we decided to research terrariums and set him up with a more natural environment.  Froggy is about one inch long and a half inch wide - very small.  From my observations of him and the reseach that I've done on the internet I'm guessing that his is some type of tree frog, possible a White's Tree Frog.  I think that as he grows it will become more apparent exactly what type of tree frog that he is.  Tree frogs prefer to climb and stay up in the trees which is why I think Froggy likes to hide in the corners of his cage.  He would probably be happier in an arboretum but I had this old ten gallon aquarium and had to go with what I had.  I'm in no way an expert on frogs or terrariums, this is just what we did in order to provide a better home for our pet.  The munchkins enjoyed watching but couldn't really do much to help. 

So this is how we put together Froggy's new home...   

This is the "terrarium" with just some tiny rocks left from when it was an aquarium. They are for drainage and air for the roots of the plants.  They must stay in the bottom because if the frog accidentally eats one he may die of indegestion.



This would be Isabella posing complete with a "cheeeese!"  She likes to check out the frog and is excited about it's new home (and apparently her new seat in the kitchen!)  I put about 4-5 inches of humus (basically dirt) in the bottom and planted this viney plant (don't know the name of it.)

I then planted an ivy plant on the other side.  Both are small plants that I think will do well in the terrarium.  I can trim them as needed to keep them small and they should provide good hiding places for the frog and a "living" environment.

This is an overhead view of the frogs new space.  I put a couple of branches in there.  I plan to find more but this is what I had for now.  He likes to climb high up and hide in the corners so I was trying to help him out with that.



I put a small dish of water in the center of the cage for Froggy to sit in and keep moist.  I plan to mist the area once in a while to help him to stay moist as well.  I gave the plants a little water but I don't want to over water them.  I'm considering adding a couple of little worms to the soil to help keep it "clean" and provide air pockets for the plants. 



Here is Froggy enjoying his new home.  He looks forward to his meal of crickets in the morning.  Luckily our yard is full of them!  The family enjoys watching Froggy attack and eat.  It seems to be a highlight of our day these days!  Hopefully he will be happy in his new home.  He is our only pet for now.  We have a tadpole coming in November!