Kicked Some Butt...

Both boys had an awesome day today!  

Ian had 5 carries and 6 tackles.  Noah had 7 carries, 2 QB sacks, and 4 tackles.  Both boys' teams won: 18-0 and 7-0.

GO GO-HAWKS!

Football Blues

Sunday found us yet again at another youth football game.  I love me some football, especially when I get to watch my boys.  What I don't love is sitting in the cold, freezing my buns off in the pouring rain.  Wasn't ideal weather.  Brrrrrrr!

I know you're tired of my football posts, but since I've bragged on Greyson and Ian, now I've got to brag on Noah.  Really, sports takes up too much of my time, maybe I should have an entire different blogged devoted to that.  Seriously, I do more with youth sports than I do with anything else.  Hmmmm...  I might actually have to think about that.  Especially when wrestling season gets here.  Mat Mom Madness has a nice ring to it.  LOL  I'm a quintessential mat mom.

So, Noah's first football game EVER was yesterday.  He has proved to be as tough as his older brothers and they put him in as Running Back on offense and Free Safety on defense.  I don't know why it bothered me more about him playing than it does the others, but my hands were literally shaking.  All my pictures are terrible!  Probably because I was holding my breath the entire game petrified that he would get hurt before wrestling season!  LOL

My baby boy ran 55 yards to score the first touchdown for our team.  YEE-HAW!  I was screaming to beat the band.  And of course, I didn't get a picture of it because I was jumping up and down.  I got the beginning of the run and a picture after he came off the field - and no video because it was raining buckets.  It was bad enough I was exposing my Nikon to the elements!

Unfortunately, they lost the game 21-14, but Noah loved his first experience.  In fact, he loves football now more the wrestling.  I told him not to get too carried away now.  LOL

So...

Here's a few pics from his game:


Taking the field...

First run...

And another one...

Not afraid in the least to go up against the big guys...

Beginning of his TD run right after the hand off...

After the TD, coming off the field for some water...  The kid would rather have water than Gatorade.  I suppose I can thank wrestling for that.

And a sweet tackle...

Ian had an abysmal day, bless his little heart.  It was pouring down rain and the majority of the other team was huge.  We missed the 1st 3 quarters because we were at Noah's game, 30 miles away.  Next week we're going to divide and conquer so both of them can have someone cheering them on.  Poor little Ian...  His team lost 36-0 and it would have been worse if their field goal kicker had made any of the extra points.  Although why they didn't go for 2 point conversion against our weak defense is beyond. me.  Probably didn't want to add insult to injury.  However, they weren't nice enough to decline a penalty in the middle of the 4th quarter when we finally made a touchdown.  I would love to know who was blocking in the back.  Grrrrrr.

Ian was inconsolable.  He was drafted from a team that went 5-2-1 in the last two years and now he's on a team that is 0-2, not counting the two scrimmages they lost.  To make matters worse, the coach's son told him he needed to run better.  Needless to say the Momma bear in me came out when I posted this little status update on Facebook yesterday:

Laura Deibert Heise

Pouty evening in the Heise household tonight. Ian's team has lost its 4th game in a row (2 scrimmages and 2 games) and Ian is pretty sure that after today's loss of 36-0, that he'll never be the same again. I have never seen a kid so torn up about losing - but I suppose the teammate who told him that he needed to run better didn't help things. Guess that line needs to BLOCK better, so he can RUN better, huh? (Yes, that's the momma bear coming out a little there. Grrrrr!)


Probably wasn't the most mature thing to do, but wow! 
Aggravating!  Ian isn't one to cry, and he cried all the way to 
wrestling practice and refused to go in.  Wasn't the greatest afternoon.  Try explaining to a 10 year old who lives and breaths football that its only a game.  Yeah.  Doesn't work too well.  And he was still in a funk this morning before school.  Boy, I hate it when that happens.  I love my sons' competitive natures, but sometimes its a little much.


So, that's what we were up to this weekend, how about you?

Weekend Football and The Loss of a Friend

I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm actually glad that the weekend is over!

So what did I do this weekend?

Absolutely nothing crafty, but I ran my behind off!

Saturday, I was able to have some quality time with the hubs - also known as work.  We hit the floor running at 7:30 and unloaded 80 bales of hay and ground four large stumps for a couple of clients.  I manage to talk him into stopping at a sports bar to watch the first half of the CyHawk game (THREE OVERTIMES and we lost!  BOO!), before we headed off to mow an apartment complex that I despise mowing.  Its mostly elderly people and they, without fail, come outside and sit in lawn chairs to watch us mow - making a two hour job last three hours because we can't mow anywhere close to where they're sitting.  Grrrrrrrr!  I try to remind myself that I've been taught to respect my elders.  :P 

Next, we had to take a tree off a garage due to some storm damage.  Said tree was covered in poison ivy and while I had avoided the dreaded plague last week in our ditch, I didn't realize what it was until after we finished the job.  I now am sporting a lovely rash on the underside of my chin, on both of my forearms, and behind one knee.  Lucky me!  After bidding 3 more jobs, we went shopping for the little man and got home a little after 8:00.

Note to self:  Leaving a 12 year old boy to babysit three other children is a bad idea.  The diva clogged up a toilet with paper towels after cleaning up a mess she made with paint, which then overflowed.  Greyson then used every clean towel in the house to clean it up, but not before it seeped through the ceiling into the kitchen, where he used every clean hand towel in the house to clean that mess up.  Not to mention the dirty dishes piled in the sink and the general mess that kids make.  That will be the first and last time I help the hubs on a weekend!

Sunday we found time to sleep in, when we should have been in church.  Ian's first football game of the season was at 1:30 and we had to be there at 12:15.  Our half back was sick, so we started at a distinct disadvantage.  Ian was moved from split end to full back and ended up playing for the whole entire game on offense and defense in 86 degree weather.  On defense he's free safety and generally makes a good majority of the tackles.  I think he sat out for 5 plays, the entire game!  Poor guy!  If I heard the coach scream "Heise" once, I heard it one time too many.  You can't win a game off the back of one child, especially when your line isn't blocking!

Here's a couple of short (8 second) videos from the game:

Ian making one of many tackles:

Ian running the ball:

And Ian getting yelled at the missing a tackle:

Maybe its just the momma-bear in me coming out, but how many other kids did the ball carrier fly right by?  Errrrrrrr....  

I even had to yell over the fence at the coach to remind him that Ian had to come out to drink.  He played an entire quarter without coming off the field once.  And the coach says, "He's okay."  I'm like, "Uhhhh, Coach?  Its 86 degrees and he hasn't come off the field once."  He says, "Oh!  Well, we'll get him off after this play."  ARGH!

And then when I was talking to the coach during wrestling practice (he's also our head youth wrestling coach), he said that Ian wasn't at his best because he was trying too hard.  Being I'm pretty good friends with the guy I didn't have a problem replying drolly, "Well, it probably didn't have anything to do with you yelling Heise every play."  I think he knew I had him there.  ;)  

Bless Ian's heart.  I asked him afterward, "Did you feel like you were responsible for the whole game?"  He said, "Yeah.  They yelled my name a lot."  So to pump him up after their 14-0 loss, I told him, "Well, that's just because they figured if anyone could turn the game around, it was you, because you're so good."  LOL  That's a lot of pressure to put on a 10 year old.

So, after football we went pretty much directly to wrestling practice where both Ian and Noah had been chosen as part of 22 phenomenal youth wrestlers from our club that were given the opportunity to train with the high school team under Coach Caldwell - our 9x IHSAA State Championship coach, as well as our two new coaches that replaced him this year after he retired.  What a huge and awesome opportunity for them both.  After two hours of grueling practice, we finally got home.

Both boys were tired and bruised and then spent the rest of the evening vegetating in front of the TV.  You would have thought they would have conked out, but I guess their endorphins were kicking because they were wound up until about 10:30.  That's the only bad thing about evening practices.

Moms, I tell you what.  There are some things in life that make you so appreciate your children.  Yesterday, I had one of those moments.  Its just those times where you want to gather your children close and hold onto them a little tighter.

When we were leaving the football game yesterday, I got a text telling me that one of Noah's competitors in youth wrestling had been killed in a roll over 4 wheeler accident.  Tate was 9 years old. Let me tell you a little about Tate.  This is a kid that you would look at and have no clue how ferocious he is on the mat.  Slightly built, quiet demeanor...  He was an absolute tiger.  Noah, who is currently State Runner-Up in the 2nd grade 58 lb class was totally dominated by Tate early last season, 14-0.  Tate was (I feel horrible saying "was") a polite and well-liked young man.  He possessed great sportsmanship and was a phenomenal athlete.  His father is the head coach for his wrestling club.  We had just seen Tate in July when their club hosted a wrestling camp and I picked on him about this upcoming season.  Noah and him played and ran around, just being kids.  That's one of the great things about competitive youth wrestling - your competition becomes your friend.  And now he is gone.  My heart bleeds for his parents.  And my heart ached as I had to explain to Noah that is friend is gone.  It is just devastating for our close-knit wrestling community.

And since we own three 4 wheelers, its enough for me to want to throw away the keys.  How many times have I scolded my own children for going too fast or turning too sharp?  And then you feel bad because you realize it could've been your child and you're so thankful that it wasn't.  I think I'm going to hide the keys for a while.

And as with most things, life will go on with one less youthful smiling face to brighten our lives.  The kids are off to school and this evening will bring football and wrestling practice.  But for the Johnson family, life will go on, but will never, ever be the same.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

  

Boys and Sports

When I'm not fixated on all the stuff that needs to done to this little big house, I'm always running my boys to sports.  My oldest son started junior high ball this year, which makes me kind of tear up.  The middle two, are in a Youth Sports Foundation league and the 10 year old had his first couple of scrimmages this weekend.  Next weekend, the real games begin.

Half the time, I'm not really sure which sport I like best, football or wrestling.  Just about each afternoon from now until March is a crazy-whirlwind of homework, dinner, practices, bathes, and bed.  Weekends are filled with games and tournaments.  Most of the time I love that my boys are so involved in sports, but other times, I just wish we had the afternoons and weekends to just be.  I think its sad that if you want your child to have any success in sports you have to get them involved at younger and younger ages.

For example, here in Iowa, wrestling capital of the country, you start your children wrestling in Pre-K.  Back in North Carolina, where football is THE sport, boys are playing tackle football in full pads at the same age.  Fortunately, they don't start doing that here until 3rd grade and we've put the kibosh on our youngest son beginning to wrestle until he's at least in 1st grade.  And God knows that the sports around here are all about the politics and who you know.  I wonder if it is like that other places too?  You start cultivating the relationships with the high school coaches and other parents now, rather than later.  I suppose I could refuse to participate in all of that, but my boys love their sports and as a parent, I want them to have the best opportunity possible.  I'm beginning to think that maybe that's not the best idea, but what do you do?  So, (I'm just going to start using the boys names on here since its easier) Greyson (the basketball player), Ian (the football player), and Noah (the wrestler) are all going full-bore.  School has barely started and we've hit door running for practices that last until 8:00 p.m.  Fortunately, Greyson is in junior high, so his practices are right after school.  Ian and Noah's start at 5:45 p.m.  Noah's ends at 7:15 and Ian's end at 8:00.  By the time they have a snack, get bathes, and get into bed, its 9:30.  Thank goodness they have Wednesdays and Fridays to be kids!

I have to admit that my sons' athletic abilities make me pretty dag-gone proud.  And there's absolutely nothing like watching them make an awesome tackle that prevents a touchdown or catching a pass and running it 15 yards.  And nothing even comes close to describing the feeling when your son is on the mat and the ref raises his hand in victory.  They're proud and loving it and you're proud too.  But sometimes you can't help but wonder if its an awful lot of pressure to put on kids so young.  Maybe not my oldest, but the younger two, I worry about.  But I guess as long as they're not being pressured to perform and they realize that all we care about is them having fun and doing their best, then we're okay.  God help me if I ever become one of those parents that demand perfection from my children.  And we see A LOT of those.

Anyhoo...

Not sure how I got on that subject, when I was going to brag about Ian's athletic prowess this weekend.  I guess its just where my mind went.  It goes to show you that I must worry about it more than I think.  I suppose as a parent, you always wonder if you're doing the right thing...  Am I pushing too hard?  Am I not pushing enough?  Are they too involved?  Are they not involved enough?  One of the hardest jobs ever is being a parent, hands down.  And it's the one job where you can't afford to fail.  The Lord knows, I love my kids and I want what's best for them.  And as long as they're happy doing what they do, then I'm okay with it.  Even if I do worry that a lot of the time our focus is too much on sports.  Or maybe that's just because we have so many boys???  Who knows.

Anyway, before I go work on some more sanding (trying to get all 6 pieces sanded, so I can prime them all at once), I thought I'd share some pics of Ian this weekend.  He had two really awesome scrimmages: 10 tackles, 1 completed pass that he ran 15 yards, and he almost had an interception - a dive and it bounced off his fingertips.

Warming up...

 Ian is in the middle.

Encouraging the team from his position of Free Safety. 

Making his 3rd tackle in the 1st scrimmage. 

I believe he is exchanging some words with the opposing team.  LOL 

Breaking out of the huddle. 

With his cousin, Brandon.  

I thought it was pretty cool that they both are #10. 

 The boys are only 4 months apart in age and talk about competitive!  Their first game was against each other's teams.  Whoo-Boy!

And just for the heck of it, here's a couple of videos from wrestling season, last winter/spring:

Noah's video:

The video I made last year for our wrestling club and posted to YouTube:

Really, there's nothing like it.  And as long as the boys are happy, then I'm happy.  And that's what its all about, right?