The Times They Are A Changing....

Okay. There are a couple of things I said I would never do. But as I get older, I find myself doing the craziest stuff...

One- Get a bike and ride all over God's Green Earth. I have no balance.... Well...my daughter has prompted an interest in this family. We are now the proud owners of some sweet bikes thanks to a few recommendations by Bill. I own one of those cushy tall bikes since the smaller girl bike was too small for me. The seat is just heaven. It has a spring in it that moves when you go over the bumps. Raliegh man. Got a new one for Katie too. Jeff of course went with a Specialized bike that has the thin wheels and no kick stand. He doesn't need one if you ask me. (Whacka Whacka) :0 Then there is the Zman...when given a choice of a bike ran toward the trailer that was in the corner of the store. "Mom can pull me in this one". So he gets to wear Katie's old purple star helmet and off we go. So if you are worried about the current economy, take it from the Nurks..just go out and blow a bunch of money on bikes. Of course...there are more bike stories to come. Starting with our first solo trip for Zach and I where I blow a tire. Sweet....

Two- I hate blogs. I swore to several friends and co-workers I would never do this pontification. I was too busy living life than to gripe about it or critic the latest movie or food in my life. But here I am...blogging pretty much every weekend now and all because of a sappy email from my brother. Cool. Then I realized we are pretty busy around here and having some fun.

So what next I ask you? Me voting for a democrat for President? Keep posted so I can tell you if that actually happens or not. Never say Never and Ces't La Vie.......

Katie's First Ride On Her Two Wheels

Yes....Maura, Maddy and Henry can all ride bikes without training wheels. Now just add Katie to the mix...we were just a little slow to do that here. No practice and she zooms out the garage and into our neighborhood with dear ol' Dad. Next she wants to tackle some ice skating lessons. I envy her balance! Go Katie!

Farmer Zach Rides Again and Katie's Team Wins 9-2

Well we end the day here with another soccer game under our belt. Katie's team wins against another pink team- 9 to 2. The field was wet and the girls started early this morning arriving at 8:20 a.m. for pictures and then we were off to our match at 9:30. Katie played a great game and really threw herself into the ball and people's feet a couple of times. One time she had the wind knocked out of her but she was back up and ready to play. I was really proud of her determination today and not letting the name-calling from some of her teammates get her down. She turned it around and played well. Goalie and big D were her strong areas today. Katie was also very consistent at passing the ball to open players. So she did not score any goals but I think she is really picking up on the whole idea of the game. That was really fun to see happen.

Meanwhile, Zach and I headed over to Stuckey's Orchard this past Friday to pick some Fuji apples that were in season. I also managed to score an early pumpkin from the patch. Zach had fun climbing the wood structures that were in the shape of a tractor. I had fun calling Grandma Holman from my cell and apologizing for missing her birthday. (September 17 ) But hey...at least Mo got her HSM and Webkin from me. That seemed to be my focus for the month as far as birthdays on the Holman side.

Katie joined Brownies Troop# 2056 this past week and is going on a hayride hopefully this coming October. She was thrilled to see two of her neighborhood buddies also joining. I was thrilled to see possible carpooling opportunities. :)

That is all for now. I have a full plate this week with my new gig as a literacy mom. I go in once a week to Kate's school and work with some kids in a reading group. I am also trying to organize some photo taking times for Zach's school too. Fun groups though. Gives me some creative times as well.

Peace.

Ike Brings the Rain but the Blueberries Win the Game!

The girls played a heck of a good game against the green team. We won 3-0. Katie played goalie again and stopped one kick and got the ball out of their in a hurry! She also was all steam as solid rain soaked the field and she drove the ball between two girls from the other side and made a goal attempt. Looking up in the gusty 25 mile hour winds and the rain coming in at you sideways, the ball took a nice arch and hit the top bar of the goal. Miss! But that did not keep our Katie down. She was all smiles and was enjoying playing ball with her team.

Me? Came home to change out of my underwear. Never been that soaked. Katie and I poured the water out of our shoes before getting in the car. Dedication.

Katie's team beats Panthers

Another game in the bag for the blueberries as Katie's team won 3 to 1. We played our old coach from last fall and he came over after the game and gave Katie a huge hug. She played a great game of big D as they had her hanging back and doing an awesome effort at keeping that ball away from our team's goal. Katie also had the chance to play goalie for a quarter and did a great job despite another team playing behind her yelling at a "Katie!". That distracted her a little but she stayed in the box and stopped some shots. One of the parents looked over at me and thought it was great that Katie does not stop smiling the whole time. It's cool when we are all having fun! The parents are pretty cool on our team also this year.

Tomorrow we play a very tough team at 1 pm. Hopefully Ike will not be a factor but we will see what Sunday holds for us.

Kappa Girls and our latest report

Here is a pic of me and the girls at the parade this past weekend. That is Whitney, Martha, Becky and me. (Doesn't that sound like sorority names?)We had a great time and awesome weather. Not seen here are the Santa hats we had to wear to promote our Breakfast with Santa fundraiser. In years past, it has been about 90 million degrees with humidity in comparison to Bills' sheets. So we were happy to wear them in the 70 degree morn and pass out candy to all the kids on the street. You would be surprised at the big kid adults who were begging for the airheads and tootsies we were throwing. That really cracked us up. After about an hour into the whole thing, we just got in the jeep and started hurling the stuff at the crowds. It was like Mardi Gras.

MOPS meeting went really well. I was at the church till 9 pm the night before with set-up and had a really good time with some of the steering ladies there. I learned on Sunday while I was being installed on the steering team that the coffee makers were not working. So yours truly managed to score some free donated coffee from our local buddies at Starbucks. Fun to show up with that with about 50 people looking at you like you were Santa. Ho Ho ho.... We were all so cranked up from that coffee I never heard the sanctuary sound so loud! Too funny. The speaker we had talked about taking pictures of your kids and how to store your photography so hopefully I was able to sit still and listen to enough of that to learn something. :0

This week, I will be playing parenthood solo as Mr. Jeff hikes in the Sierras with an injured rotator cuff from picking up the kids and throwing them on the boat. We are getting old here but it is still fun to think you can do crazy stuff like that.

Zach started school this week. His teacher wrote on his report that he is excellent at listening and very affectionate toward his teachers and others in the classroom. No accidents to report. I can't believe how he just decided that it was time for him to stay dry. Who said boys are harder to potty train? Hmmmmm. I think birth order has more to do with it. Correct me if I am wrong. Feel free to leave your comments on that thought.

Well I am signing off for now as I need to get our mud gear ready for soccer practice today. It has been raining all day and the fields are showing as "open" on the website. www.zysa.org if you are interested in checking it out.

Holy Cow! Katie wins the game for the team!

Katie wins the game for the team!

I am not kidding you. We sat there and watched our daughter DOMINATE the field. She kept driving the ball over and over; passing it to teammates and recovering the ball from the other team. I think the other girls on the other side were afraid of her! I sat at the game with Zach climbing all over me just stunned. This is the same girl that cried at every game last fall. This time, Coach McCooey was all over her with the high fives. I jumped up several times with that familiar Holman high pitched yell, "GO KATIE!". Jeff kept smiling the whole time and we sat there in awe of our little soccer star. Who would ever think that a track official and a musician would produce this little steam engine of power? I am not kidding you...she ruled! BUT...the best part of the whole hour long game is that she was constantly smiling. She would take a crack at the ball from the other team and give you a huge grin. Later, she would tell me that she knew she was doing well and that ball was easy for her to turn around and get. The Blue Blueberries (that is her team name) won the game 3-2. Katie scored two of those goals with solo drives from the other teams side. The field is larger this year. There are more of them out there as well...5 girls each side with a goalie. The coach even played Katie an extra quarter when asked if she wanted to sit and take her customary break. She shook her head and said she wanted to keep playing. The endurance!

More pics from the game later. I had my old camera out there because I went straight from the parade to the soccer fields. Holy Cow, guys. I am not kidding....