Thursday, October 22, 2009

Becoming a Soccer Mom in 8 Easy Steps {Part 2}

Welcome back to my soccer mom tutorial. If you haven't read Part 1, hop on down there now and get up to speed.
I'd hate to leave you behind in the minivan dust.

8 Easy Steps to Becoming a Soccer Mom
Part 2 of 2

5. Have kids create team name and cheer
Our kids came up with the name "The Rockets". {I'm sure our loud child did not encourage that name since he lives with a bunch of former rocket geeks. Of course not.*ahem* } Before and after each game they all threw their hands in the middle and said, "Gooooooo ROCKETS!"
If there had been no snack, this would clearly be the highlight of the game.
Goooo Rockets

6. Take it to the next level
My friend Brenda {who found the Auburn snuggie- she's the one on the right down there} and her team came up with the tunnel of fame. After the mandatory hand slap and "Gooh Game, Gooh Game, Gooh Game",
The hand slap
They get together and have the players {from both teams!} walk through the tunnel to the cheers, hoops and hollers of the parents. Isn't that cool? They're like little rock stars or newlyweds or something.
Tunnel of Fame
These moms definitely deserve a new magnet of the back of their van with this creation. I'm totally stealing it next season!

7. Have a Team Party
We had our team party at the Chic-fil-A and a wonderful mom {NOT me} bought cute soccer cupcakes for dessert. Coach Jason {aka "Coach Daddy"} recognized each player and gave them a trophy- cleary the reason they played the whole season.
party time!
And the chocolate milk didn't hurt anything either.
The good stuff
The trophies are like action figures in our home and I found Ollie acting out a drama a few days ago with several of them. They are really fiesty when they want to be.

8. Shoot Them
You will have to take a thousand pictures to get one from soccer season that is frame worthy. My friend Candace is the soccer photographer for the league and she always does an amazing job, but I took hundreds and just came out with a few goodies.
I'm kinda fond of this one, even with a tongue out {he could possibly even be hissing at me; who knows?}:
Cheeeeese

That's it, moms! Anything else I've missed? Please fill me in on your soccer mom tips so we can all have our cleats in a row. I'd hate to be late, at the wrong field, or worse- show up without snacks!! We can do it.
Goooooooo Moms!

Answers to FAQ from first post:
* Ollie just finished his 3rd season of soccer. We have 2 seasons a year, so he played in Fall '08, Spring '08 and now Fall '09.

* Henry really did run onto other soccer fields that were having other soccer games at the time. Thankfully we know a lot of other soccer parents who grabbed him and saved him from the possible threat of trampling and the definite promise of mom-barrassment.
* No, I don't actually have a minivan. I have sworn them off, which means I will most likely get one very soon. Suggestions?

12 comments:

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

I cannot express the turned up to 11 cute factor of the chocolate milk moo-stache. I could just die! Keep snapping those photos. You could end up publishing this as a coffee table book for Yuppie parents who are determined to make their kid as adorable as your Ollie. (They would fall terribly short, I might add!)
You need a trophy of your own. And it needs a cape. :)

Mrs. Gray's Class said...

I'm quite fond of my Toyota Sienna. It was the only minivan at the time that had AWD, which was important to me. If I was buying now, I'd definitely look into the VW Routan (advice from a mom who was NEVER going to drive one and now argues their merits)!

Lauren said...

Mine is too young for soccer right now, but I see it in our future! I actually love coming home and doing nothing after work right now (nothing that requires us to leave the house anyway). I hope being a soccer mom doesn't make your life too stressful!

Tami VanHoy said...

Pros and cons of beig a minivan mom (from a minivan mom that bought a vw bug convertable as soon as her minivan mom days were over!)
Con: owning a m/v seems like waving a flag, telling the world you are no longer the cool young chic you imagine you are.
Pro: Your m/v makes you a dominant driver amongst the other cool young chics on the road driving their little bitty cars :)
Con: you become the mom other moms can pawn their kids off on for rides to and from practices and games cause you have room for one more.
Pro: you get to know all of your kid's friends (the good and the bad :) ) and the growing list of favors owed you by other moms comes in handy!
Con: the older the kids get, the more your van becomes a storage closet.
Pro: It's like adding square footage to your house!

Since this is comment space that should be short and sweet, I'll end now, but from experience, the pros outweighed the cons for me :)

Rachel Olsen said...

My kids don't play soccer. I'm so NOT the soccer mom. I do, however, have the requiste hips you described.

Rachel B said...

Love the tunnel of fame/cheers. I am going to steal that too for something, not sure yet what though. We have yet to do sports. I have been putting off getting into activities until they ask to. I have 3 kids and once it starts it won't stop and they will all be doing something and I'll never be home.

We have a minivan but my husband drives it even though I am the one that shuttles them around the most. I very thankfully have a Pontiac Grand Prix that I love. Now if we had a mini that had all the bells and whistles with a tv, flip storage and that that neat-o stuff then maybe I'd drive it but as for now I'll let the hubs do it!!

Anonymous said...

Oooh - MiniVans! Honda Odyssey all the way. We actually owned TWO of them at one time!

Mini van days are just about over for us. We have a garage full of Civic hybrids that hubby, kids and I drive. Oh yes, I really mean a garage full of them, three in a row! And there's still room for tools and toys and the one van that we occasionally drive when we all go to one place at the same time!

Just wait until soccer ends and the boys shift over to playing football. Not fancy European soccer-called-football, but real down and dirty knock your friends to the ground American football. The nail biting stress of wondering when your son is going to get a bone broken makes you miss the snack schedule, arm tunnels and spiffy trophies.

Brandi said...

So cute. That is a great soccer picture of your big guy!

We love soccer, but it's hard when the younger one wants to get right out there too. Now, my middle boy is finally old enough to play, but I don't know how I possibly would be able to balance 2 different practice schedules and 2 different game schedules (plus lug the baby to all of that)? We skipped fall soccer for that very reason, but the older two are both begging to play in the spring! Eeeek! :)

Carrie said...

I think I need to add tips on how to encourage my soccer girl into actually playing. I'm so proud of her! Maybe next season she'll kick the ball.

TexasBobbi said...

I love the picture of him hissing at you, the look on his face is the Moooom look.

Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Boy said...

You are a soccer mom after my own heart! LOVE IT!!

Mrs. Nurse Boy

Anonymous said...

Love the soccer posts. I have 4 children 10, 4, 2, and 1. My daughter decided not the play this year :( but my 4 year old did get to play on a team this year. Can you still call it playing soccer when he just runs in circles and plays with bugs, oh and don't forget chase the coaches daughter with the worms he finds? Love it. My 2 year old got to do tiny tot soccer, basically kick the ball to cartoon characters. We have an Envoy and love it!! We got rid of the minivan when we needed more space. We also used to get out soccer chairs for family until the younger 2 made should their was no sitting to watch whole game! :)

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