Phew, it's nice to sit down, but I am definitely looking forward to going to bed.  I'm pooped! 

We signed Anna up for soccer last week.  She's been asking for awhile if she could do it and I figure now's the time, otherwise she's really going to miss out on the important learning years.  We had to pay a late fee, unfortunately, due to moving and not knowing what was going to happen, but we just bit the bullet and did it.  Then went out and bought her jersey, shin guards, socks, and ball.  Eek!  This added up to quite a bit, but I keep telling myself, "You loved playing soccer as a kid and it taught you teamwork and gave you a lifelong appreciation for exercise!"  We started Friday night at 6PM!  Reston Soccer has an optional Soccer Academy on Friday nights that you can go to and just get some extra practice in.  Anna had a great time.  They basically ran around for an hour - dribbling, scrimmaging, etc.  Saturday morning we were up early to go to practice at 8.  Her coach seems really nice and I got a chance to talk to some of the parents, who were also friendly.  It was pretty obvious to me that Anna was one of the few who had no soccer experience already, and there were a couple of kids who had excellent ball handling skills considering they're only in first grade.  I mean, really good.  But again, she had a great time.  Her favorite part of it was doing the individual stuff, like practicing dribbling, or the games, like sharks and minnows.  She told me she didn't really like it when they played on teams against each other (i.e. scrimmaging).  I was like....weeeell, that's what the whole point is.  I didn't say that to her, of course, but thought it.  I think it's mostly that she's not really sure what to do.  Because the other kids have experience, they just jump right in there and try to get the ball and run into each other without hesitation, etc.  Anna is doing what I expected all of them to be doing - following the ball around and just randomly kicking it in the direction of the goal when it comes to her.  I was not anticipating the level of experience these kids would have.  The practice ran for an hour, and again, they basically ran around the whole time.  I was thinking, this is great!  We're always trying to squeeze in more exercise and this is guaranteed every week (at least until November).  Then today, game from 2-3.  They played five kids to a side, and actually split up into two different games, so all the kids from both teams got to play the whole time; no subbing in and out or anything.  It was pretty warm today, and they took lots of water breaks, which was good.  Again, Anna had fun, and I can see already that she's gaining some confidence.  Coach Dave was giving her some pointers out there and was very encouraging anytime the ball would come to her and she'd actually kick it.  It was a very quiet game - no yelling from the coaches or parents - so the praise probably really stood out to her, which was good.  It's nice that he recognizes that she's not entirely sure what she's doing, and is willing to help her out without holding everyone else back.  I'm so glad we signed her up for it; we're going to have to go get her cleats though.  I was kind of avoiding that, thinking that I could cheap out, but her old sneakers don't really fit her anymore, and I don't want her wearing her new sneakers.  So instead of just buying another pair of sneakers, I think we'll go the cleats route.  Hopefully it won't cost another arm and a leg.  Anyway, it was definitely a soccer weekend.

But wait! There's more!  After practice yesterday I went and got my hair cut - ahhh.  Always such a nice thing.  If you remember my drama with this place before (they were never on time and my stylist has repeatedly not styled my hair after she cuts it in an attempt to make up time) it was all good this time, because I learned my lesson.  I booked my appointment a few months ago and made sure to take the first time slot she had, so there was no way she could be running late and then make me pay for it.  And sure enough, I got in on time and she dried my hair straight.  Such a fun treat!  Too bad it's only every 12 weeks.  Makes it special though, right?  After that, I did a little shopping at Macy's and found a pair of jeans that I really like; unfortunately, they didn't have it in the color I wanted (just plain ol' dark jeans), so I came home and found them online and ordered them from denimexpress.com. I hemmed and hawed about whether to order the short or regular.  The short inseam was about 1/2" longer than my perfect inseam, but I just know the length will shrink more than that when I dry them.  And I have to be able to dry them; I rely on the drying to get them back into shape after I've worn them a bunch of times.  So I ordered the regular and figure that I'll just hem them myself if need be (and it probably will be necessary considering that it's three inches longer than the short inseam - they won't shrink that much!).  Did a couple of chores around the house, made dinner, hung out, etc.  Not too busy of an afternoon, I suppose.

This morning we went to church (our new church, which we like very much so far; we've only gone twice, but still).  Man, was it crowded!  We were there last week which was still the summer and was Labor Day weekend, so we should have known it would be much more full this weekend.  We'll have to get there quite a bit earlier to make sure we can get a decent seat and aren't rushing around trying to get the girls to Sunday school.  Stopped at Trader Joe's to get a few things, then came home.  John's family came over and we had lunch and then went to a classic car show in Herndon.  John's dad loves that kind of stuff, so it was fun.  I'm really not into cars, but there were some pretty neat ones.  Molly was giving us a hard time though - ugh.  This child is just so stubborn!  She wouldn't eat her broccoli for lunch (I guess it would be more correct to say she wouldn't swallow it - she'll chew it for ten minutes if you don't force her to swallow) and we gave her lots of chances, so fine, no PB&J for you then.  We went to the car show and at some point, she realized that she wasn't going to get to eat her sandwich - we left it at home - even though she had finally swallowed her stupid mouthful of macerated broccoli and hummus.  Oh my, did she ever pitch a fit.  Wow, you could probably hear her throughout the grounds of the show.  It was not a pretty sight. Luckily, it was about time for us to leave anyway, so off we went to Anna's game.  After that we came home and worked on dinner while John and his dad went to his office to get our love seat (for the living room).  Then we ate dinner and had ice cream for dessert, and sat around and talked.  The girls were both so tired, but they must have been overtired because it took them sooo long to go to sleep.  I hate when that happens.  You just know what tomorrow's going to be like. Luckily, Anna has  a short day at school tomorrow (on Monday they get out about 1:30; don't ask me why) so maybe they'll both take a nap tomorrow.

Writing all this down doesn't make it sound like so much, but I sure am pooped!  Early day at the gym tomorrow, so it's time for me to go to bed...