Hey coach...

for fall soccer i missed the sign-up. i knew William & Jonathon wanted to play and would be totally bummed if they couldn't. so i called and had them put on a waiting list. well they called me the next day saying that they really needed a coach. i said if my boys could play then we'd (Russ) coach. except that the games were at 5:30 and 6:30 and there was no way Russ would make it home in time for the 5:30 games. so they said we could have all the 6:30 games, i guess they were pretty desperate for a coach. so I also called Ben to see if he could help Russ out sometimes. oh and yes I did ask Russ before officially signing him up to coach. so we had games Wednesdays and practices on Thursdays. Ben was able to come help coach at the practices and came to a few of the games. i went to the first couple practices then Grace was born, so I didn't go to those anymore. Russ also took Owen to the practices. at one practice they had 7 kids come. at the end of practice they always played a scrimmage. Owen came prepared, wearing his cleats and shinguard, so when Russ asked Owen to play with them, of course he said YES! (kind of sad at the next game when Owen came with his cleats and shinguard and didn't get to play. at least he got to play at the practices.)

I didn't go to the game after Grace was born, the other ones we did though. I took my camera to most of the games, but with Grace and Owen I didn't take any pictures. finally on the last game I took as many as I could in the beginning. I got this one at the end doing their cheer.

I think Russ had a good time being the coach, I know he learned a lot. I tried to help him with the substitutions, but that is hard! Russ was really good at learning all the kids' names and cheering for them. (you see, Russ and I both yell a lot, sometimes I think it's good, other times, maybe not.) I know William and Jonathon loved their Dad being the coach. before the seasons started they would say, "guess who my soccer coach is?....MY DAD!" I think they thought it was cool.