Football

Owen loves football. I have often said that if you cut Ryan open, he would bleed taxes. Well, Owen would bleed football. He loves to play football, he loves to watch football, he loves to talk football. Several years ago we let him play flag football with the Homeschool Football League. It was a wonderful organization. However, over time, the practice location kept getting moved further and further away and due to other commitments, Owen quit playing. He begged every year to play contact football. I was worried over his size and every year the practice days conflicted with gymnastics. But this year, he had some other friends that were playing in the league and told us that the practice was on Tuesday and Thursday which would not interfere with gymnastics at all. After much begging (on Owen's & Ryan's part) I agreed we would try it just ONCE! I have to say, I am still impressed with the league and as always I am very impressed by Owen. He really got out there and did his best. He was one of the few that the coach did not already know. It was really cool to watch the transformation of being on the sidelines to being part of the "team." This is a picture of Owen before the first game:
Owen is the one nearly doing a split while in position for the ball to be hiked. We could always tell which one was one - the one nearly on the ground:

I love this picture. I don't exactly know why; that is Owen #66. They just seem so "manly":

This is a picture after the game:

The football season is over now. The conference game was Saturday; after being ranked 2nd all season, they came in 4th in the play-offs. Ryan and I were out of town and missed the game. We got home Sunday to a very disappointed boy. He didn't take the loss like a man. He took the loss like a broken-hearted 11 year old boy - he wept and wept and wept and wept. He wept for the lost game, he wept because we had missed it, he wept because the season was over. Then, he felt much better and all was well in our little corner of the world.