A 7th year old birthday and 1st day of school.....Summer really over???

What a busy week we have had at the Bowden household.  Bambeano turned 7 and the 1st day of the new school year..... We now have a 5th grader and 1st grader, How did this happen...time flies.

Bambeano's birthday was a busy day of activities... first up a trip to NASCAR Speedpark.  Upon arriving we went to get our tickets only to be told the first 50 people were in free courtesy of 95.1 Kiss FM.  The radio station was on hand giving out some free giveaways.  What a result...... Bambeano was excited but I think Bombshell had his little kid come out in him as we had to go straight to the older race cars, poor Bambeano his birthday and he doesn't get to ride 1st.

Next up was a family race and Bambeano came up with the goods and came in 1st followed by the 2nd race in which Boo Boo came in 1st.   I captured his race on my phone........Jack's win

After the heat we went in for some laser tag and Bombshell won then we finished off with some mini golf.....Mummy wins mini golf...

After golf we decided to take a trip to UNCC (University of North Carolina Charlotte for my British friends and family) to check out the Women's soccer game.  When we arrived we sat with one of Lauren's soccer team mate.  While I went to the concessions to get Bambeano something to eat I came back to hear that Boo Boo and her team mate were going to be the half time show, scoring on Norm, the UNCC mascot.

It was a hot, hot day and the UNCC 49ers lost but it was good to watch a high paced game and I think Boo Boo enjoyed getting on the field.  Here is her video, I know a bit like ants on the field but I didn't have my camera only my phone, Lauren's Half time show.

After the game we went back to the Speedpark for more fun and finished the day of at Dave & Busters, I know a sucker, but Bombshell felt Bambeano's day should be special, and don't forget the Speedpark was courtesy of KISS FM.   Off we went round to Dave & Busters and the tickets were flying from the games.  Bambeano even got into a game of basketball with some teenagers.  After raking in the tickets it was now time to cash them in for their gifts.  Boo Boo decided to add her tickets to Bambeano so he could get an even better prize.  A new back door basketball hoop for his bedroom was his choice and with many points still remaining the two of them worked together and came away with a cuddly monkey.  Now for dinner....Bambeano's choice of course...Now we were at the mall with so many choices to choose from and he chooses Three Monkeys, a local pub near home, wondering what the attraction is, my bet is the golf game or Casey's goody candy jar for after dinner.

CHEERS!!!!

An early night was on the cards after a busy day for Bambeano's birthday and of course the first day of school on Monday....

Kids were up fairly easy but they have had something to do with the fact that I decided to go in a little later and see them off on the bus for their 1st day of school and of course the 1st day is not without pictures.....

have a great day at school Boo Boo and Bambeano look how you have grown in a year

2011-2012 1st day of School

2012-2013 1st day of school a year later.....

What you get when a month passes..............

Wow were does the time go......It is crazy in the Bowden household.  Soccer has finished for Boo Boo so you would think life would be a little easier but somehow it has gotten crazier......We have had EOGS (End of Grade testing), Soccer try outs, Chorus performances, Bambeano's soccer games and a visit from Grandma and Grandad......

Boo Boo continues to excel both at soccer and school.  EOG's ended up stretching to 3 days....The first day Boo Boo was throwing up at 2am in the morning.  Bombshell thinking it was just nerves sent her to school but of course less than an hour later I got the phone call and had to pick her up.  She spent the rest of the day sleeping on the sofa, Boo Boo being Boo bounced back the next day and hit her EOG's out the park and then made up her missed one the day after that now onto soccer try outs, this girl is busy.

Try outs were successful and she has secured herself a spot on the U11 Elite team.  She did at first want to still be with her friends and play U12 as she played up last year but the director and her goal keeper coach said it would be a good time to put her with her age now because in the next few years she would not be able to play up. and her growth and development would be instrumental now, she seems to have a good solid team and her coach is the technical director at her club pretty excited for the new season to start in August.

With soccer season over for Boo Boo she got to take part in her chorus performance at one of the local malls.   They sung one of Boo Boo's favorite, Stereo Hearts.  The kids do great singing and their music teacher is adored by them all.  Great job Mr Barnaba Boo Boo has loved chorus and is eager for next year to try out.....This is by far my favorite from the chorus

After the mall singing we had to rush back to catch Bambeano's soccer game and this one I got on camera with video and boy am I glad I did some great passing and goals by the team....It has been a little frustrating for Bombshell I think pulling the kids back but this team is all goal hungry and with Bambeano back on the field they all want a piece of the action.  This game he kept it down to 4-0 given that the goals all came in the 1st 8 minutes.  The focus was passing......

A week later and Grandma and Grandad visited for the week end no soccer for Boo Boo but Bambeano brought out the goods and scored a hat trick for Grandma next onto Bombshell's game and he played well despite a bad back.  Sunday we just hung out until late afternoon and then went to a baseball game, a first for Bambeano.  With his glove in place he was ready to catch some balls but unfortunately for him Boo boo's goal keeping skills into play and she won the foul ball.....oh boy we did not have a very happy teddy bear....fortunately for us another one came our way and Bambeano was hot on it now we had 2 happy campers with 2 foul balls

At the end of the game the kids had the opportunity to run the bases and they were pretty excited....all in all a great day out just chilling in the sun and experiencing one of America's sport....

Now onto next week with some pool time and Bambeano's last soccer game of the regular season before tournament time.

Soccer fun and singing

This past week end saw the last of the long road trips for Boo Boo's soccer games.  Hickory was the chosen place with her team playing in the Galaxy Shootout in the U11 Girls bracket.  2 games on Saturday followed by a possible semi final at 8am on Sunday or if we won both games moving on to 11am finals.

To be safe and to avoid an early wake up call I opted to book a hotel room just in case, thankfully the CSA Cabarrus girls did good winning both games, the first game 8-1 with Boo Boo getting some play time and following in her brother's foot steps scored a goal.....yes you read right she was put up as striker and boy did see hustle....Way to go Boo Boo, we are so proud of you.

On to game 2 and this was going to be a harder game....the girls did great winning 9-5.....great result meant no overnight hotel needed so off as we made our way back home to Bambeano and Bombshell.  Bombshell was playing his soccer game so we stopped by and caught that game after a hard battle he still lost, so with Bambeano not playing due to the ankle in the boot his team also lost...so Boo Boo was the only winner for the Bowdens this week end.

Sunday morning we all left to go watch Boo Boo's final game and the trip was eventful to say the least.  Boo Boo had the luxury of sitting in the front while I kept Bambeano company in the back and boy did Boo Boo have fun.  Bombshell was bopping and rapping with Boo Boo capturing all the fun on her iTouch, after watching it back Bambeano and I were crying with laughter, what a great way to get pumped for Boo Boo's final.

We arrived and the weather was definitely opposite of the previous day, hot, hot, hot.  And we were off.  We were playing the same team we played the previous day in which the score was 9-5.  The question was going to be who wanted it more.......

It was close to start to off but we pulled away and came away with a 9-0 win, complete shut out by Boo Boo she had a phenomenal game probably her best ever...and then we came away with the win...CHAMPIONS U11 Girls Galaxy Shootout!!!!!

Congratulations Boo Boo and CSA Cabarrus Elite

A broken arm and wrist is just not enough........

This week end saw split duties on the soccer front in the Bowden household.  Bambeano was in his 2nd week playing as bubble boy while Boo Boo and I had a 2 hr trek to Boone for her game.  Of course life wouldn't be easy on us to allow for an overnight stay we had to drive the 2hrs back to be back for another game on Sunday........

During Boo Boo's game I was getting regular text updates from Bambeno's game.  The kid is unstoppable with another 4 goals to his tally and not forgetting the one he scored for the other team to make 5 in one game......Don't fret it was not an own goal but in fact Bombshell offered Bambeano to the other team as they did not have enough players.....Now if that doesn't shut all the nay sayers up then I don't know what will.....

So after hearing the great display of play from Bombshell's team I put my focus back to photographing for Boo Boo's game.  The game started of quite bad with the box getting crowded and Boo Boo not taking control....this is one thing we need to work with her on as she is the controller of the box and if she can't see she needs to shout at her team....I'm not surprised she couldn't see the box was filled with about 6 of her team mates and that wasn't even counting the other team.....so we were down 1-0.  Well I think something must have snapped in Boo Boo because she came back with her head in the game......  Here she is coming out and controlling a corner

 

With thundering going off all round us and rain showers on and off it was making for an interesting game.....with the score at 6-2 and 6 minutes to go the refs called for lightening.  We were on an 18 minutes delay....seriously with 6 minutes to go.....As we sat in the cars waiting the downpour came with no sun or break in the clouds.  So at this point we got word from both team coaches the games was called......Now for the LOOOOONG drive home.

We end up at some great friends for dinner and all the kids seem to be happily playing and having fun...Roll onto to Sunday morning and Bambeano complains that his foot hurts, thinking he must have just slept on it funny I brush it off as "pins and needles" and tell him he needs to get up so we can go and pick Boo Boo up (she spent the night) but he continues to complain of his foot and refuses to put his shoe on....now I am starting to question whether I should take him to Urgent care (of course not the same place as where we went for his arm)

So after a 40 minute trip to Urgent care we come away with possibly sprained ligaments or a fracture at the growth plate.....now in a boot until May 2.  I am pretty sure DSS will be knocking on my door in the distant future....So for now Bambeano's soccer days are over.  Here's hoping May 2 brings some good news for a change and he only has sprained ligaments :)

Broken arm....no problem.....

After an eventful trip last week Bambeano has been in his cast just over a week and don't think that has stopped him.

Bambeano has excitedly received many signatures so his cast has gone from a bright green color to more of a dirty shade with all the sharpie signatures, comments and of course not to forget the dirt.

Soccer Saturday came and both kids were local, thank goodness, onto Boo Boo's game and oh boy you could tell the girls had been on spring break, their head was definitely not in the game and so we suffered our 1st loss of the season. 

Off to Bambeano's, but oh before I forget, if it was not bad enough he was playing soccer with a cast, more to come on that later, I realize it was PICTURE DAY, yippee a soccer picture with a bright green cast, memorable one for sure.....

Pictures over and we settle to watch the game before ours and the referee comes over to talk to us, he has taken a shine to Bambeano telling us he loves to watch him play, and see the cast.  We tell him he will become bubble boy in less than an hour and we laugh and joke, he shares his story of his broken arm from playing soccer that was so gruesome his bone came right through his skin.......ugh.  He then goes on to tell Bambeano he liked his bone just like you do with ribs, Bambeano's face was PRICELESS

With the bubble wrap and tape out the wrapping begins.  With Bambeano having an "L" cast it was imperative we had to wrap him good to protective the other kids from getting hurt more that protecting him. 

He didn't like it he said it made him "all sweaty" in his words but he was a trooper and stuck with it as he knew it was the only way he could play.....and boy did he play....no sooner was he on the pitch he scores twice, one with his left foot (not his natural foot of course) that got past the keeper but his second goal was a corker, hitting hit on a half volley from the left side to hit into the far right side netting, what a FANTASTIC goal......the boy is unstoppable even with a cast, so another win under Coach Bombshell's belt and another 2 goals to Bambeano's tally...that is 7 so far this season

Let the Craziness begin.......

Wow what a whirlwind few weeks...........  Soccer for Boo Boo, a flood at the house, an awesome mountain trip with some great friends, basketball ends for Bambeano and so now it begins.......SOCCER SATURDAY BOWDEN STYLE....

So as you have read the Bowdens have been busy and I know I said I would promise to update with the mountain trip but with the flood and kids activities life escaped me....maybe again as the saying goes "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" only our was "What happens in the Mountains stays in the Mountains" especially given the fun, hot tub, tubing in sideways snow falling, amount of alcohol consumed and not forgetting waking up to being snowed in.......

So since the trip we have come back to a huge bump of reality, busy work weeks filled with soccer practice and week ends filled with kids activities and house repairs from the flood.  Bombshell has been a tad handy in that department and after receiving the insurance pay out has taken is hand to making some repairs himself.  Namely repairing the roof of the garage, which looks great I might add.  the carpet has been repaired and new padding installed, now it is just waiting for the new vanity cabinet that was ordered and Bombshell will make himself useful in the bathroom.

Kids are doing great in school so much that we have booked flights for England for me and the kids for a good long 3 week break that will include a trip over to my uncle's house in Ireland which I am really looking forward to.  The kids have never been so it will be great to show them areas that I grew up around.  The last time I visited was a year after Bombshell and I were married in 2001 so it is a well over due visit.

So last week was the official opening week end for Bambeano and his soccer,  He has been itching to get out on the field even more so since Boo Boo has been playing since the end of January.  The first game was going to be an interesting one....a new division devised to try and eliminate the oh so young 4 year olds playing against the giant looking nearly 7 year olds.  We decided to leave Bambeano in the newly created Under 7 because despite his skill level (with 18 goals last year and 21 last season) it would be a big adjustment for a 6 year old to play on a bigger field against some kids that were nearly 9 with kicks to match and that was the determining factor to keep him in his right age.

So Saturday came thick and fast, first up Bambeano, as Boo Boo's game was on a Sunday, nothing like to start Soccer for the Bowdens double doses.  I was looking forward to the game as I felt it would be evenly matched with kids all being equal in age, boy was I wrong.  You can tell a difference when a team has been together for a while.  Bombshell was coaching 5 of his 8 kids for the 3rd or 4th time so needless to say the kids knew how each other played.   So off was Bambeano for a run, as the pictures show

Daddy watching on as Bombshell tackles 2 

He breaks through

Add he is off for his first goal of the season

We got off to what i thought was a great start with Bambeano scoring twice for a 2-0 lead, then things got ugly on the side lines and Mama Bear unleashed.......a parent saw the great run that Bambeano did to then go on and score and made the comment that he was in the wrong league.....I kept quiet knowing each parent had their own opinion and it wasn't as though i wasn't used to it, parents had been saying it all last year even though he was 5 and 6, but some how it didn't stop there, not only were they talking loud enough for our parents to hear but they started with the ugly comments.....

"he is in the wrong league"
"WHAT are you telling me he is 7"...."We need to say something they are cheating"
"Well he can play an age up and that is what they should have done"
"Yeah why wouldn't you play up guess they want all the trophies and winning"

OH NO YOU DIDN'T....this was my breaking point.  I turned around and told them, in a nice manner of course, that they were talking about my son and he is 6 and rightfully in the league he needs to be......after a few stammering words he responded and said he could go up early to the older group in which I responded that due to the size of the 7/8 kids and the length of the field I would leave my son in the 6 year old league and I was in my right to do so.....after a few more stammering of words and a fake apology I shut him up....

Well Bombshell had a tough job to pull Bambeano back, no one likes to rail road other teams especially at 6 years old so off Bambeano went to defense, he was a trooper about it though and made me very proud listening to daddy coach.  So up 2-0 would be a good start to the season but oh know it would seem all the kids on our team wanted a piece of the action, one of the boys, who scored once last season, seemed possessed by Bambeano's runs and decided he would be the NEW Bambeano, this followed up by 2 from Bambeano's best buddy I might add and Valentine :) and then her sister got one and one of the new girls on the team finished it off for a 8-0 win.  WAY TO GO!!!!!!

Next onto Sunday and Boo Boo's turn.  Now the ride there was not pleasant running late which is a pet peeve for me I will be early for EVERYTHING rather than risk being late so Boo Boo was not in a good mood to start....We arrive and the game starts....now this is the same team we played last September where they had some hard kicks that landed Boo Boo in the ER, subsequently a rematch in which we won and she saved so now it was going to be interesting to see if they were after revenge.  The game started hard but we came out top first with 2 quick goals that saw the other team mentality begin to lose their focus......Boo Boo probably had her best game yet, maybe it was the bad mood she was in or the fact that her brother got off to a roaring start the day before, whatever it was I was very proud of both of them.......

Great save

One on One

Pushes it wide for a corner

A few weeks swing by and it feels like a year......

So after the on sought of 2 birthday celebrations and the hustle and bustle of the holidays I thought now would be the time to wind down and catch my breath.......oh boy was I wrong....

Where do I start.....

Let's see 1st the cancellation of snow tubing for Boo Boo's birthday, turned out to be less of a problem than I first thought, with friends we decided we would surprise the children and rent a cabin in the mountains for some week end fun of tubing....ah the bliss of relaxation...

But hold on now I am think god had other plans for me...not only did Boo Boo start soccer with a tournament full week end at that, he sure didn't think that was bad enough, fast forward 10 hours and I came home after a cold, wet, damp soccer Saturday to a flooded bathroom.  This on top of the sad news that a soccer friend and mum was gravely ill in hospital after a horse riding accident.

I am sure we are tested to our limits in preparation of dealing with life only this particular week end I kept asking myself "WHY".

Boo Boo had a great day on the Saturday with 2 wins and some phenomenal saves I was so proud of her and bursting with pride, yet I some how felt guilty that I was enjoying life while my friend was suffering, oh how I prayed she would pull through.  So in between the wet, damp day at the soccer field and coming home to a wet flooded bathroom and landing, you can imagine my emotions were very high.  Plodding on cleaning up as best I could and calling the insurance company that was all I could do to get through the day.

Sunday was a mixed emotional day, learning the unfortunate news that Sunday there were other plans for our soccer WAG, RIP Maria you will be sadly missed. I know that the 4 lives she saved from donating her organs will be gratefully received but it still doesn't take away the sadness.

I tried to stay upbeat for Boo Boo and her remaining game, a win would take us to the finals.  Well the last game was a fight worth fighting for, a very tough game, close to the end until we pulled it away for a 5-3 win, now onto the finals.  Now the finals were not exactly what you would call fair teams based on the best of the best....let's just say more Goliath and David and I don't mean that in a good way that we won :( but more that the girls on the other team were giants.  Not exactly U11....direct from the words of Boo Boo......."Mum they even had boobies"

Even so our team of mixed 9 and 10 year olds fought a hard battle and held their own to the end, unfortunately they lost but you know what they should be oh so proud of what they accomplished.

Stay tuned....in the next few days I promise I will update on our exciting, fun filled week end to the mountains with great company.....until then chickies :)

End of a great season and a new nickname for Bambeano

Bambeano who we now affectionately call Lil Bombshell and what a Bombshell he was this season.

We had a great season, some wins, some loses but overall great fun.

Bambeano had an awesome season ending with 18 goals in 12 games including 4 hat tricks (3 goals in a game).

He has come a long way with his soccer skills especially after watching premiership with Papa and playing Fifa11 on the Wii.  A few weeks ago he saw a corner kick that was converted straight into a goal and he responded he wanted to do that.

Well a few games later (4) and several practices in game he DID IT.  Not only did he score from a corner kick but he did in style hitting the far post after curving it LIKE BECKHAM and passing through several players for a one touch goal.

I am SO proud of you Bambeano putting your mind to it and getting your corner kick goal WAY TO GO