Christmas decorating, lots of soccer, injuries, and beginning Winter break!

There have been many things going on during the past couple of weeks, and it started with finally putting up our Christmas decorations. We also decorated the tree, but it was the first time that we had used it and we did not realize how big it was at first. It goes all the way up to the ceiling and we could barely fit the star on top. We had to get out a step stool and I eventually climbed up to put the top ornaments on. Mom went out and bought a couple of new decorations, including a new stocking holder since we do not have a fireplace.

 There were also a lot of soccer games that weekend which contained a middle school game on top of the club tournament that I had. I actually scored a goal during my school game and then another one from outside the box during my club game that was right after it! The next week was the last week for Collin and I before Winter break! I had half days throughout the week though and his were regular. The first two days for me were mostly for studying and then the next three days were my mid-term finals. I also get to have an extra week off for "project week" after Christmas. This year we are supposed to read a relatively large book that was assigned to us from Life Science class and then we have to pick a topic that the teacher gives us and make a poster board out of it. I got my book in the mail the day that school ended and started reading it, and I am already half way through it.

 I also had a club game on Thursday that week but we were playing down with only ten men. However, right before the first half ended, I pulled my hamstring really bad and I could not play. I also had to sit out my school game that I had the next day as well as the second club game that I had the day after that.

 There were no games on Sunday though, and Collin, mom, my grandma and I went go see this Christmas show called the "Celebration of Christmas". It was pretty good and all of the people that performed in it were very talented! It was about two hours long and then after we went out to eat before we went back home.

 Overall, it was very entertaining and hopefully we will go next year too! My grandma's favorite part was when they brought in these two camels during the Bethlehem scene and also when there was a horse that was dragging Santa's sleigh. Now we have Christmas to look forward to, and no school for two whole weeks! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB! 

Before

After

Beau's fourth birthday, first GP soccer game, mom's absence.

This week was pretty bland, but there were a few points that were definitely worth mentioning! First off was that our dog Beau had his fourth birthday this past Monday! He got a couple of cool birthday presents, which contained a dog bone and a red rubber ring, and he also got some really good food from the dinner that we had that night. Afterwards, he laid down with all the toys he had and started playing with all of them. There were so many of them that he did not know which one to start biting next!

 The next event the week contained was that my school soccer team had its first game this week. We played against Anthem Prep, and they were the home team so we got to get out of school forty five minutes early. That was the good part, but once the actual game got started, it was not very fun. We lost 6-1, but I think that the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. Our goalie is not very good, and he does not even know the rules. For instance: If your own team member plays it back to you with their feet, you are not allowed to pick it up. However, they can pick it up if the teammate heads it back to you, which he did not know. He tried to hit it off of his knee and he barely got it out of the goal. If we had a better goalie, I think it would have been a closer game, and NO I am not just blaming the goalie. Our team still has a lot to work on.

 The next day, mom actually left in the morning after Collin and I went to school to head to California for her friend's birthday. This is the second year in a row, so I tink it is going to become a tradition. It was actually the same friend that she saw during our last Spring break (on day five) and she is going to come back this next Monday. In the meantime, it was just my dad, Collin, and I. I think it went surprisingly smooth, but I did not really know what to expect.

 After Collin's soccer on Sunday, he went to run some errands with Isabelle while my dad and I started to get down the Christmas boxes from the attic. This is also the first year that we are using the big artificial tree that we got right after Christmas last year. This is a lot harder to set up and it also takes up a lot of space. One more thing. After taking off the covering of it, we noticed something that is kind of bad, which is that we are missing the top pointy part of the tree. It still had about two feet higher to go, but we had no idea where that piece was, so we are going to have to look for that later!

 Our grandparents went to dinner with us that night, which wrapped up our weekend by the time that we got home. The week really got a lot busier as it went on, and we are going to have even more things next week! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

Mom with Beau on his birthday