Hat Trick!

I promise not to bore you with the details of every one of Cindy's soccer games, but yesterday was a monumental occasion- one in which my daughter wore shorts in a soccer game. No realluy, I promise, I even have pictoral evidence to substantiate the claim. That result was the last thing I expected. On Thursday when it was just practice day, she once again began her tearful campaign, trying to convince me of her anti-shorts plight. She continues to wear skirts to practice but she weeped and wailed about the thought of having to wear shorts at the game and how wearing shorts is just like "wearing only underwear." (The truth finally comes out about the reason, at least.) In fact, the only real reason that she even had to wear shorts was her own fault- she promised Grandma Sweeney that, in return for buying her the Barbie and The Three Musketeers 'Corinne' doll, she would wear her soccer shorts on Saturday. We wanted to teach her the value of keeping promises, so she was gonna have to suck it up and wear the shorts, one way or another. Cindy's solution was to simply "take away the doll because [she] is not really playing with it right now, anyway." Cindy had an absolute meltdown all morning as we got ready for the game. She pretty much bawled her eyes out. There were some tense moments between her and her father ;) But finally in the car on the way into Bartow, she just got over it and realized it was time to play. It also helped that Grandmas and Grandpas Sweeney AND Bingham were both there to watch her play. And she was awesome! She ended up with three goals and we all thought she did fantastic. Two of the goals were full field turnarounds. Even! A few action shots from Saturday:

Coach Nick discussing the infamous "Statue of Liberty" trick play


SEE FOR YOURSELF: SHORTS!!



They still have not picked a team name, so when Coach Nick suggested they pick something for their cheer, I heard one girl say "Go Dolphins", Maddie said "Go Unicorns" and I still said "Go Musketeers!"


The advantages of sitting the bench: Playing with Grandma during your break. Grandma and Grandpa Bingham were busily entertaining Luke the whole game.


Fast break for Cindy!


Turning it around (versus two defenders!)


Her final goal of the day. She was so excited and so were we.

At least now Jacob can sleep well at night knowing that Cindy has the potential to be a soccer star. Oh, wait- she already is!