Bechtel Family: Soccer Star!

Gracie had so much fun playing soccer this season! We played Upward with our church and they really made it fun and so encouraging! Daddy was her coach along with another dad! There were four girls and four boys on the team! Next year if she plays she will be with all girls! They were all just the cutest out there on the field! Our little team was so sweet and all the kids seemed to have the best time! In addition to learning how to play soccer, they had weekly devotions and scripture to memorize and gave out stars at each game to each child for something good they did out on the field! For Gracie this was a highlight and she kept up with which stars she had received and which ones she needed to still get!:) That's my baby! They really worked hard to make it not only fun, but instill God's word in each child and it was fun to be a part of that for the first time! This past Sat. was our last game and both sets of grandparents came to cheer Gracie on! She had been looking forward to this day for weeks and was counting down when the grandparents would come! We are SO blessed to have supportive and encouraging grandparents and both sets are so involved in our girls lives!

Gracie was just as sweet as always on the field and I use sweet because that is exactly what she was! Not aggressive or pushy (like you kind of need to be in soccer:)) but more passive about all of it! Nothing bothered her except the sun~ HA~ my girl loves her sunglasses and she was not allowed to wear them for safety reasons. She does great kicking the ball but doesn't do well getting in the mix with all the kids and trying to get the ball! We had some obvious go getter's and ones that were our aggressive kids and ones that made the goals on a regular basis but we had a few including Gracie that were passive. This did not bother Gracie one bit! She didn't know the difference which is what I love about this age! She just had fun being out there and I think one special thing was having her daddy coach her! She loved having something her and her daddy could do together! Gracie did score a goal at the very first game but had not scored one since then. There were several others that hadn't scored either so the coaches wanted them to feel special and have there moment! So, without telling G they held all the other kids back and let her kick the ball all the way to the goal! I almost cried it was so sweet! Just to see the look on her face of being SO proud of herself was priceless! All of us cheered and I think that made her feel even more special! The other kids got there turn too! They are too young to really understand the difference so that is why they could get away with it this year! She was so excited after the game and said that no one could catch her while she made her goal!:) Precious!! Here are some pics from her game! I was able to take alot more because I had some help with little Miss Busy Body aka: Lillie!:) Thanks Nana, Papa, Gingy and Popppop for making the trip and making our little angel feel so special! We love you! (Disclaimer: our desktop is at the shop getting fixed and that is where I normally do my pictures and edit them...so I'm having to use the laptop so these pictures are not edited...this is how it will be for a little while I'm afraid)

Nana and G before her last game!

Nana, Papa and G before the game!

G, Gingy, Poppop and Lillie...it was a beautiful sunny and warm day in the middle of October!:)

Getting some air!:)

Lillie spent time on Poppop's shoulders, in laps, walking around and in mommy's arms! We had one tired baby because G's game was right in the middle of L's nap time!

She's got the ball....

She's dribbling it...

Lining up her shot...

And she SCORES!:) She was SO proud of herself and of course we were all cheering her on! It was a sweet moment just to see the look on her face! (She doesn't have to know that they held everyone off so she could do that:))

High fiving the other team after the game!

One thing our team did after the game was our parents lined up on the field after the game and made a tunnel with our arms and the kids ran through and we cheered for them! This was such a special thing! Our other coach came up with this idea..he said he rememebered doing it as a kind playing soccer and it stuch with him! The kids loved it! I didn't get a picture because I was in the line!:)

Daddy and his little soccer star!

Showing off her little soccer bouncy ball that came in her goodie bag and me and another mom made up!

Gracie and her two coaches!

After the game they had free lunch by the baseball field and had blow up slides and jumpy houses for the kids! We brought a blanket and chairs and had lunch and watched G have a little fun! It was so nice they did that for the families! G got tired quickly but still had a good time!