In the Spring of Things

I think I have been reserving my blogging for warmer weather. Spring days are coming but we can't quite see them yet. Sigh. We have been anxiously awaiting the spring in the Copeland household. Spring brings new sports seasons, college decisions, Soccer Chick's birthday, prom for my senior boy, and plenty of sunshine. But, alas, the warmer days haven't yet arrived. So I decided to go ahead and give you a preview of our spring days to come. Soccer Chick has gleefully started her soccer season. Her father, that's right, "The Hub" has also "gleefully" started his position as head coach for her team this year. I must confess in this super secret location, the man does not know the game of soccer. I will say that he is the type of person who can adapt himself to just about any situation. That skill applies to sports and gaming as well. While my solution for him was to suggest he read a book. He prefers to just wing it. Like I said, that seems to work for him. First practice, I came for just a few tiny minutes and was pleasantly surprised. It was a little surreal to see this fella running the practice, but super nice for Soccer Chick and her girls. True story: the newly appointed assistant coach comes to The Hub immediately after practice. "I'm so excited about your younger daughter playing with us this year. She's incredibly fast, she's all over the ball. I can't wait to work with her personally." "Um. No. She's 8. She was just standing in as an extra since she was here." The look on this guy's face was priceless. Sheer disappointment. Not sure why he couldn't tell she was too young to play on a U11 team. She's only a foot and a half shorter than these girls. I foresee a lot of really good video footage coming out of these games. Watch for them posted on our youtube channel: www.youtube/4copelandkids.com Oldest will be starting his senior year of county basketball in about two weeks. I think he might have reached the point where he is too cool to have us come cheer him on. Ah well, he'll just have to suck up the embarrassment because he knows how we roll. Classic Youngest story for you: the other afternoon Soccer Chick comes home from school and is searching for her Ipod. She swears she left it in one spot in her room but it's not there. No one else has been home all day and we can't figure out where it went. I helped the child look but only with the understanding that I was going to preach at her about responsibility the whole time. "Did you pray," I demanded. "Yes mom! Five times now. I don't understand where it could have went." The girl was frustrated. Probably not more frustrated than I was, but she was definitely troubled by not being able to find it. She asked her sister if she'd seen it. That wouldn't have been a stretch. She promised she hadn't touched it. She asked Youngest and he quickly said no and launched into some more important spider man story. We decided to sleep on it and figured somewhere, by the grace of God, it would show up. The next morning, Youngest invites her into his room, lifts up his pillow and gives her the most adorable and frustrating look at the same time. He has her Ipod beneath his pillow. The exact place where he had stuck it when he saw it yesterday. Did he think to confess to that when we were frantically looking for it? No. Not so much. "Youngest! Why would you do that?" Soccer Chick exclaimed. "Because...I wanted to listen to your music while I was sleeping." Can someone say mischievous?