SOCCER MONSTER!!!

Carson is playing soccer this year.  He's in a 3-4 year olds league, run by the MBA Spouse Association.  It is awesome.  Carson is having the time of his life.  He has new cleats (thanks, Destiny!) that he LOVES and wants to wear everywhere.  And on Wednesdays, when he plays, I can actually convince him to take an afternoon nap so he will have lots of energy for his game.

 

They start off with warm up exercises and a lap around the field.  Oh man.  A running herd of 3 year olds is one of the cutest things I can think of.  Some of them are so serious about it!  Some don't quite get it.  And some, like Carson, are just so happy to be there that they jump and prance around, just following everybody else.

Carson's coach, Lisanne, is so good with her team.  There are probably 8-9 kids on the team, and she works hard to teach them what to do and to keep them engaged in the game.  There are 6 teams of kids, and all the coaches are volunteers.  It's no small undertaking, but it has been going great.

Carson's usually pretty good at paying attention.  But he does have the habit of running to wherever the action is.  If the play has stopped on his field, I'll often find him in the next field over chasing their ball, or just taking a ball from the sidelines and kicking it into the goal on his own.

I'm glad we had the chance to try this out this year without paying for a city league.  Now at least we know that signing him up for sports in the future will be well worth it.  He is an athlete!

He's by no means the star of his team.  (There are two other boys who are a little bigger and faster--and tend to be able to pay more attention to where they're kicking the ball.)  But he has his fair share of kicks and "passes".  I love watching him play so much!

(Look closely and you'll notice that whenever Carson has the ball, his tongue sticks out.  He likes to wiggle it from side to side when he's concentrating.)

Cora likes the games too.  She's getting used to the feel of grass and mostly likes to try to climb up her stroller.  But I think she likes the sunshine and the chance to be outside as much as the rest of us.

Apple Pickin'

Fall is nearly here in Provo. You know what that means! Fruit trees dropping fruit in peoples' yards all over the place! And you know what THAT means. My husband, the King Food Scavenger, has been busy finding places for us to score free fruit.

A side story about King Food Scavenger.  Last school year, Austin often spent late nites up on campus.  He would bring a lunch to school, but it was too much of a hassle to bring a dinner as well.  If I was feeling particularly benevolent, I would pack up a picnic dinner and bring it down to him.  That probably happened...3 times in 8 months?  Anyway, Austin got really good at scavenging food from parties and info sessions.

This, let's say, resourcefulness, has benefitted us as a family.  On more than one occasion we have been treated to free food from Austin.  And not just scraps.  We've had whole pizzas, a complete enchilada dinner, free apples and walnuts last year.  Good stuff.

So back to the apple pickin'.  It actually turned mostly into pear pickin'.  A family in the neighborhood had a couple trees in their yard that they were tired of having to clean up after.  So we hauled away a couple laundry baskets full of apples and pears.  And, subsequently, made loads of apple and pear sauce.  Like, nearly 30lbs of sauce.  (Why don't they make pear sauce?  It's every bit as good as apple sauce--pretty much the same, in fact.)

And while we were picking, Carson had THE time of his LIFE playing with with their kids on these crazy scooters.  You power them forward by wiggling the front wheels back and forth with your feet.  You could really get cruising on these things.  Carson was laughing so hard and having so much fun, I thought we'd never get him home.  Gotta look into getting one of those things...(although, as I'll post a little bit later, he's having pretty good success on his bike just now.)

Real Ravioli

Up until tonite, it is highly possible that I have never before in my life eaten ravioli of any variety other than Chef Boyardee.  That seems sad. 

This is what I made and ate for dinner tonite, and it was tay-hay-hay-hay-stee!

Spinach and mushroom ravioli with wild mushroom marinara and fried polenta.  All homemade, a la Giada di Laurentiis.  

The ravioli technique needs some work, and it would be nice to have a fancy "fluted ravioli cutter", but all in all, the taste was so good I just didn't care.  Carson even had way more than his share of raviolis.