First the first time since we have been part of the YMCA Striker Soccer program, they had a tournament at the end of the season. It was a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed watching Team Switzerland win all three games and thus the championship. Gabriel is a star defender and goalie, and he certainly had a large fan section, with Jack, Jen, my parents, Matt's mom, Laura, and the little kids all there cheering him on.
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| He has really learned to be aggressive this year, and yes, they all had red and white stripes in their hair - an end-of-season tradition. |
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| Ready to take the ball. |
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| He placed that ball in exactly the right spot every time. |
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| When he passed the ball forward, it always went exactly where he wanted it. |
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| J helped put in the big shade umbrella. |
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| The babies kept cool under the shade of the umbrella. |
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| G gets his championship trophy. |
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| We are the champions! |
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| Cute proud boys. |
After the tournament, we went to
Buca di Beppo, the fun restaurant that Chip chose for his celebration. We brought the cake that he designed at
Gabriel's bakery, and he opened his gifts there.
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| The awesome Children's Bible from Great-Grandpa Kranz. |
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| The cake he designed himself. We think he did a stupendous job! |
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| So much to celebrate! Notice the soccer rosary from Bun and Papa around his neck. |
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| Our sweet baby boy and his happy parents on such an important day. |
Buca di Beppo was a really fun place to celebrate his first Holy Communion, because it is an Italian-themed restaurant with lots of Vatican decorations. The food is family-style, so we all shared entrees. We sat in the Cardinal Room, next to the cabinet with a cardinal's
biretta and other clothing, including - yes - red socks. We could not have chosen a more Catholic place to have dinner, don't you think?
We have heard that parents of a second baby need to make an effort to make the older child feel important. G has made it so easy to celebrate him in the past few months that we don't even have to worry about it. He has really worked hard in school, in his Catholic school classes, and in soccer - in everything he does. He has also become more loving, more thoughtful, and more responsible. For example, last night (Thursday), I told him he could go play with a friend for 15 minutes. Even though he said he can't tell how long that is, I told him just to come back when he thought it would be appropriate. He came home exactly when I would have wanted him to. He is building our trust in him every day. So it was the perfect time for him to be ready for his first communion. No more crossing his arms when he goes up to the altar each Sunday! As we missed mass the next day (to get ready for Ryan's baptism), we are looking forward to getting communion with him for the first time this weekend.
