Sports

While I don't necessarily see athletic scholarships in our future (except maybe a wrestling one for Reese?), sports are mandatory around here.  At least giving them a shot is.  Ryan had her first soccer lesson of the year after three rained out weekends.  Thankfully her bff Amelia (in pink) is playing along side her.

 Man down...

 At one point, Ryan and Amelia were completely oblivious to the 'game' going on and standing around a patch of dandelions discussing god knows what.  I don't have a picture of that sadly, but close your eyes and visualize two disinterested little girls, Ryan twirling one pigtail, backs to all the action, two moms on the sidelines pleading with them to pay attention.

 She volunteered to be goalie.  Mainly because there isn't much moving around required.  Awesome.  Time to rev up the exercise routine.

 Soccer with attitude.

 Apparently waiting for your turn is very taxing on the little frame....

We are officially parents.  Almost five years later, I can say with certainty we are parents.  I had to buy our first 'sport' chair on Amazon.  We've never really had a need for portable seats before.  Now with soccer and tennis, I giddily bought our first one.  And it came just in time as Grant threw his back out while in Belgium last week (and then had to fly home 9+ hours...in coach...with no good pain meds...the horror).  

 For Mother's Day we were out at my folks house and a little wiffle ball game ensued...strategy discussion or fighting over the bats?  You decide.

 The 'dugout'

 Grandma throws a mean curve ball and Emerson was batting .500 - impressive on both counts.

 Oh Reese.  She wanted ZERO help - "I do it myself thank you"

 If right-handed doesn't yield the results you want, try left.

Both my girls need a refresher course in baseball (and 'sportsmanship' in general)....neither dropped the bat after they got a hit and Ryan would run the bases, bat in hand, swinging at anyone trying to get her out.   Extreme softball, Ryan edition.

Tennis anyone?

The ladies had their first tennis lesson of the year last night (or quite honestly, of their young lives).  You never know what you're going to get with these two when starting something new (mainly Reese).  She has thankfully taken to Spanish class but perhaps that is because you are encouraged to drop off the kids and go (an hour free with my little Emerson, hells yeah I'll take it) so coming out to find me isn't an option.  At tennis class, not so much.  You watch (which is darn cute and fun in its own right).  But a little too easy for Reese to find an alternative to actually following direction and playing.  She started out okay but quickly opted for life outside the courts.  And when I talked her into going back in to give it a shot, she did what she does best, ran right up to the teacher who wasn't expecting her and got nailed in the face with his hand.   You can guess how that turned out.
Anyway, Ryan took to it.....Monica Seles she is not but she gave it her all and our vampire who can't stand two things:  sun and hot weather, listened well and tried her best.  Major props to her considering her allergies have been out of control lately.  But she definitely looked the part.

 When Reese was out there, every time she hit the ball she would then jump up and down shouting "I scored...Mom, I scored"

 Killing time by practicing our Elvis impersonations....

 Warm up stretching....

 And there she is....making her escape as every other child follows direction

 My sweet bud.

Reese tells me she is going to try again tomorrow night...."and I won't cry mom".
Stay tuned....

The next Pele?

Negatory.  Ryan had her first dabble into organized sports and I use the term 'organized' loosely.  Basically we paid a nice chunk of cash for Ryan to run around a hot, indoor soccer stadium for 45 minutes.

Staged, soccer photo shoot:

So sassy...

Getting instructions with dad - don't be fooled, she sat still for all of about 7 seconds...

Wait, what?  I have to actually play?

I'll at least go through the motions, just to humor you. 

In all honesty mom, I'd rather just pretend this is a hula-hoop...

At least somebody got into it....

Can we go now?

Friday Night Lights (on a Sunday)....

In true Texas tradition, Ryan watched her first Cowboys game of the year.  Sadly, the outcome failed to live up to the hype.  To remind her of her parent's penchant for the Cowboys (Dad's being legit, Mom's really only because she once thought she had a chance with Troy Aikman, before dad of course), Ryan learned the finer points of the game.

Touchdown!

It's not football without some hard core tackling....