Soccer Begins!

AYSO soccer practices started late August and there were some changes for Samantha this year. The coach Samantha had for the past 2 years, Coach Jules, would not be coaching because her daughter was playing up on a U9 club team. We LOVE Coach Jules! We blame/thank her for getting us into all these sports ;) Samantha trained with the club team over the summer and we were mixed on what to do for the season. We could try to get a spot on the U9 club team (she was asked to be a training player only) or hold off on club and do AYSO again. 

Our decision was solidified when we asked our friend, Coach Sam, if Samantha could get a spot on his team and he made that happen. We know Sam is a great coach and we knew most of the girls on his team. And bonus, practice was right down the street!

And double bonus, one of the two practices that Samantha has each week is right after Thatcher's practice at the same exact place! How in the world we ended up so lucky with practice locations and times?!

Thatcher ended up on a team with some of his best buddies from his kindergarten class AND he's got Coach Todd/Dad as an assistant coach. 

It's random that they ended up with such similar uniforms too!

Ready for her first game!

Celebrating a win! 

Coach Jules and her family came out to watch both kids play their first games. 

These aggressive U6 players also won their game which at times looked like a football game. Thatcher scored 3 goals and would perform a solo victory dance after each one which is hard to even describe. Perhaps I can try to get it on video before the end of the season. 

Celebratory lunch for their first games at the Beachside. 

Off to practice!

"Picture Day"

 I put that in quotes because this team skips picture day and has a parent take photos. How cool is that? A definite perk to joining this team is not having to deal with AYSO Picture Day. Another cool thing, is most of these girls have played together for the past couple of years and they welcomed Samantha on the team so sweetly. It's pretty nice for Samantha (and us!) to spend soccer practices and games with her bestie, Reese, and her family too!

More winning!

Not only is Todd helping to coach Thatcher's team, he's the referee which comes with bonus referee socks!

Thatcher doing his thing. 

Thatcher's Coach, Jethro, is so great with the boys. He and Todd make a great team both contributing different ideas and making sure the boys are having fun. There is even a set of triplets on our team which takes a little extra coaching, I'd say. ;) 

A perk to Friday practices, we bring Happy Hour to the park for the adults and kids! 

Thatcher's team is called, "The Professionals." We've gotten mixed reviews from opposing teams on our name. Oh well. 

We took a break from AYSO and went out to watch the U9 club team and it was awesome! They beat a Ventura team and it was pretty neat to see the difference between AYSO and Club. Besides larger fields and more equal competition between teams, they were so aggressive! So much so that it made me happy we were waiting. I'd rather have Sam play with girls her own age and not worry as much about injuries because we watched an awful lot of girls get knocked down and only once did they stop the game and it was because a girl was rolling around on the ground screaming in pain. The rest of the time they were elbowing, shoving and going full speed. It made AYSO look very tame.

Bailey and Sam. 

You can tell that I love how we walk, ride or scooter to practice! I have to document it each time ;)

All of our games are at 9AM, and this particular Saturday it was already pushing 90 degrees. Samantha scored 6 goals which I think is the highest amount of goals she has ever scored in a game. The girls were passing and shooting like champs! AND, we were short a player on the field which worked to our advantage to keep the girls more spread out. 

Introducing the WHITE SNOW TIGERS!

Besides having an awesome coach, there is not a weak link on this team. Every single girl contributes in one way or another. Last year they never lost a game. As much as that feels good, a little competition is what makes the games more exciting to watch and keeps the girls on their toes. We had one game where it was close thanks to two goals going right past Samantha when she played goalie (ask Samantha next time you see her how she feels about playing goalie?) and this past weekend we lost our first game, and we lost it bad. I think it was 0 to 5 or 6?? So there are a few teams in the rotation that are making these girls sweat it out a bit. 

Thank you, Mrs. Paskin, head White Snow Tiger photographer, for the great photos! 

I give the kids a dollar for each goal they get. I love watching my kids play sports and if a $1 bill is an incentive to play hard and help out their team, then I'm all for it! Here's how the season is shaping up so far:

Game	Thatcher	Samantha
1	W-3	W-0
2	W-2	W-1
3	L -1	W-2
4	L-1	W-0
5	W-1	W-6
6	W-1	L-0
	4 Wins, 9 Goals	5 Wins, 9 Goals

Thatcher's losses are questionable. I have never seen so many kids kick the ball in the wrong goal. I wasn't sure how to count those. Last year, Samantha's team was 7-3 and she got 10 goals over the season. It looks like she's on her way to doing even better this year!



Here are some video clips I've gotten so far showing Samantha's fancy footwork, Samantha kicking a ball that hits an opponent in the head and us screaming on the video to keep playing (whoops), a goal from Samantha, Thatcher driving the ball as hard as he can and tripping and the White Snow Tiger's cheer which includes a Professional, Thatcher. ;) 

Thatcher Learning to Read

Oh Thatcher, having to live in the shadow of his sister. Just kidding, but really, the fact that Thatcher was not reading before he was about to enter kindergarten bothered me. Cue the eye rolls, I'm sure. I get that the majority of kids will come out of kindergarten reading but for my own peace of mind, I wanted to make sure that Thatcher was in the highest English Language Arts group which at our school is formed within the first 4 weeks of school based on ability. The kids that are reading go one way, and the rest go the other way. Because I was able to see the programs and teachers that Samantha was exposed to by going with the readers group, I really REALLY wanted Thatcher to be there too. I had one major obstacle though, he could barely identify his letters, did not no his sounds, could not even write his name let alone READ!

This is Samantha at the same age as Thatcher is now. While we have done the same amount of reading to both kids, Samantha's birthday qualified her for Transitional Kindergarten (TK) so at the age of 4 she began a school-year of kindergarten. Samantha also knew all her letter sounds when she was in preschool by watching "The Letter Factory" video over and over and over. While that video was on, Thatcher was eating dirt or something boyish like that. But really, I never had to work with Samantha because it all came very naturally to her.

So, this summer, I was bound and determined to get him reading before his bum was in kindergarten. I checked out some of the programs around town and decided it was a little extreme (and expensive) and then I contacted some of my teacher friends who referred me to some tutors. I was overwhelmed trying to fit that in with summer activities and figured maybe I can teach him to read myself.

I googled "how can I teach my child to read" and this is the book that came up, I bought it and then summer homeschooling began. 

This book is the exact opposite of the way they teach kids to read in school. The book starts off by calling the current method of teaching a child to read, "a great mistake" and "proven ineffective" and "the look-say or whole-word method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively." By then, I was sold because I'm thinking, "YEAH, that's why my poor Thatcher can't read!" Blame it on the current methods!

The book also said that way before lesson 100, your child will begin to read IF you follow their method exactly. The #1 rule was no skipping lessons. So we didn't. 

The book follows the DISTAR method (Direct Instruction System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading) which also has several articles online that say, "has been used historically for disadvantaged and at-risk children." Oh geez....

In June, we started. And for the most part, did a lesson a day but definitely missed days here and there. I was encouraged because as you can see from the video, he was learning his sounds, stringing them together and forming words. I ignored the part where he sounds like Forrest Gump ;)



After about a month and a half, he began to beginning read. He dropped the Forest Gump routine and replaced it with a robot though.

Kindergarten began at the end of August. We're continuing with lessons via the book but I'm also supporting the way he is learning in kindergarten which by the book's standards is "a failure." In kindergarten, they introduce a letter a week, focus on sight words and do what I think is a bit silly by having word-less books that your child has to "read" to you. Whatever.... The good news is that the reading groups were formed and Thatcher made it into where I wanted him to be and the wordless books have stopped coming home! And no, I have no interest in being a teacher or homeschooling or anything close to that. I'm hoping his teachers can take it from here. ;)

Fiesta 2015

It's been about two months since Fiesta and I still haven't recovered. We were actually supposed to return to classes already and have decided to take it week by week with regards to when/if we are going to return. We are jammed packed with activities for both kids between sports, after school classes, school in general, weekend games and life. While flamenco is pretty mellow at this time of year, the actual Fiesta season is absolutely crazy. It is a mix of fun and not fun and this year I can't shake the not fun. It's tough because Samantha loves it. She was definitely tired by the end but she's 7 and has way more energy than me. 

Pre-Fiesta week is actually the fun part. The performances are optional, you pick and choose which ones you want to do. You can do 3 a day or skip the entire week. It's great practice and the girls get to perform for what Samantha calls, "all the little old grandmas and grandpas" at nursing and retirement homes. The idea is to bring Fiesta to them since they can no longer go out to Fiesta activities. I think we ended up doing about 75% of these performances. A lot of performances the parents don't get to see because logistically it would be too many people crowding into some of the spaces so Samantha would report to me what the audience was like. She'd tell me that they were all dressed up in Fiesta clothes, clapped and smiled a lot and about once a day she'd tell me that a little old man or lady would be sleeping while they danced. ;) 

Thatcher was a trooper. He found a few little brothers in the same boat and they'd bring cards, toys and snacks to kill time. 

In between shows the girls would keep busy with lots of games.

The girls were pretty good at including Thatcher during their downtime fun. If they weren't clapping hands they were playing round after round of Uno. 

I say this all the time but if Thatcher marries Fallon one day she'd be Fallon Fallon. ;)

Life in between shows just goes on and we go to Trader Joe's with a giant pony tail, a giant flower and....

bright red lips! 

There is something at the drug store called Revlon Color Stay lip gloss and lip liner in "Red Scarlet" that does not come off for days.

The girls were pretty good at including Thatcher during their downtime fun. If they weren't clapping hands they were playing round after round of Uno. 

This is what the back of my trunk looked like for 2 weeks. 

I got better and better at doing her hair. It is a running joke amongst other Flamenco Mamas that you take a picture on "good hair days". 

We'd sometimes do a performance in the morning, go to the gym in the afternoon, then to another performance, 

then out to lunch, then back to another performance and on and on. 

This place had a giant swing for Thatcher so he was a happy camper while he waited for Samantha. 

We loved when Lila would be our extra kid. 

(side note to Holley if you read this, isn't this your favorite place?!)

Nordstrom became our home base when we were performing downtown. We'd use the bathroom, kill time, savor the air conditioning and eat at the cafe. 

The Jr. Spirit was from our studio this year. Ysabella is a pretty spunky and talented little girl who did a great job!  

It is always fun to have friends and family come watch. Especially Dancing Grandma who came up to save Thatcher from flamenco-hell for the day but also made time to come see Samantha dance. So actually Thatcher ALMOST escaped flamenco-hell entirely. ;)

Picture day!

Some of the girls had the seamstresses make American Girl Doll costumes that were identical to their own!

As if there wasn't enough to lug around all week, they had the addition of a doll. You better believe Samantha was begging and whining for a costume for her doll and you better believe I told her absolutely not! ;) 

The entire studio! 

A much needed break in between shows at Cielito.

Plus Fallon Artistic played a big part of making this restaurant look so darn good. (shameless plug).

Thatcher was in his flamenco groove by week 2. 

Lila and Thatch got along splendidly don't ya see?

Prom 2025

If we weren't at Nordstrom, we were at Eureka.

Samantha was constantly "bibbed" to keep food off of her dress. 

Leanne and I made sure to call Happy Hour at some point in the day ;)

Sammy's idol, Kate, a big seventh grader now, came to watch! 

Carpooling between shows!

At the Mission for Fiesta Pequena, the dress rehearsal for the big Mission show on opening night of Fiesta. 

Bailey and Sam

Oh and then this happened. We've gotten very used to this. This time he had his arms and his legs in his shirt and was hopping around and basically fell face first on the driveway because he had no hands to catch himself. You can't make this stuff up. 

Doesn't Leanne looked thrilled? This is day 3 of "real Fiesta" and she had what a lot of first-time Fiesta moms think, "really? we do this all day?" I made sure to have her sit down for a margarita daily to lessen the blow ;)

Team Deakyne came to watch.

It takes two photos to get all of her crew ;)

TJ and Sam.

TJ has made it to see Samantha every year! 

School friends, Natalie and Connor. 

Bailey again! Side note: she dropped her ice cream on my foot right after this photo. ;)

Eureka, again. 

We even bumped into Thatcher's soon-to-be Kindergarten teacher, Mr. Silva! 

Candy break. 

Dog break. Roxy's family was out of town so she was our second dog for the week. 

Action shot of the dancers escaping a bee.

And then right back to a hand clapping game two seconds later. 

I bought A LOT of these things to keep Thatcher entertained. 

Ready to go on the big stage at the DLG.

Thatcher's good side of his face ;)

Thatcher's buddy, Mateo, who is the big brother of a dancer in Sam's class. Mateo introduced Thatcher to hot chips which are bright orange, spicy, Cheeto-looking things that stained your fingers orange. All the healthy eating goes out the window during these two weeks. 

Samantha and last year's Spirit, Talia, who has since moved away to college!

$3 fans from the DLG that lasted for about an hour before they broke. 

Mixed it up by going to CPK. 

Sweet Sophia came to watch.

We visited our old preschool stomping grounds again at Good Shepard and performed for all the preschoolers. 

The girls are like Disney Princess royalty here. 

The kids line up to take photos and each time Samantha and Fallon would change up their pose. 

We bumped into this year's Spirit of Fiesta. I don't recall her name, she's from another studio but obviously an excellent dancer to get that fancy title! 

I call this "Flamenco Mad Face." As the dancers get older, expressions play a big part in the dances and this is one of them you frequently see the dancers do. Lila is looking mighty fierce for a five-year-old! 

The Cascarones King. 

Samantha's 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Godlis, even came to see!

Sporty Charlotte made an appearance. 

Artsy, artsy. 

The Pirozzi clan!

The Tanguillo girls with their teacher, Ms. Cari.

And THE Linda Vega. 

Sweet Sofia who got us into this whole mess ;) 

Samantha and I were naughty and skipped a few performances to watch the big girls perform at El Paseo. It was the best decision as her eyes were gigantic to see how good they were and to watch them so close up!

This was my favorite dance of all, besides Samantha, of course. These five are all former Spirits of Fiesta so they really know a thing or two about flamenco. 

Closing the show with some Linda Vega action. 

It's our third Fiesta and the third time my former first and second grade teacher from Riverside has come up to see Samantha dance. We also learned that our new house is right around the corner from where her mom lives in Santa Barbara!

A quick break to attend an office party downtown where the girls did an impromptu performance. 

I am sure the person whose office this was loved to have their white board decorated the next day ;)

Lila lost her hair at dinner. Better here than on stage! 

Cielito again.

Lila found her calling. She's a true flamenco dancer. Lila is a very sweet and quiet 5-year-old but when it came to dancing flamenco, she was in her element! I'm betting on her becoming a Jr. Spirit in the near future. 

Sleepover!

Notice the red lips. That stuff doesn't come off even with makeup remover wipes. 

The morning after, Lila even still has a spit curl on her forehead! 

Finn made it out from Boulder to hang with us for the day.

Solei! 

The Children's Parade. 

Chloe is a classmate of Samantha's at Peabody and also had an American Girl Doll dress made which brought the whole, "will you buy me one of those?!" issues up again. 

The beloved float Todd painted last year. 

Paradise Cafe break. 

Flamenco friends from last year, Ava and Colleen. 

Performing at the Courthouse. 

The Land Shark drove by at the right time ;)

The Deakynes made ANOTHER performance and how cute are their hats?!

El Paseo

I didn't have change to buy a News Press so I took a photo of it from inside the stand. Samantha is in there if you zoom in a bit. 

Look who made the news! 

Video of some of her performances. 

Fiesta 2013

Fiesta 2014

Fiesta 2015

The jury is still out on whether or not there will be a Fiesta 2016 ;)