Theoretically Speaking

Anna's friend, Leigha, is staying with us this weekend while her parents are out of town. Today on the way to the soccer game Leigha was talking, and talking....AND TALKING about the Jonas Brothers. She is totally gaga over Nick Jonas. She didn't have a very appreciative audience because Anna, Kayla and Rachel think the Jonas Brothers are lame. That didn't stop Leigha though and she told the girls about her "theory". One day she will go to a Jonas Brothers concert, get to go backstage, meet Nick Jonas and they will fall madly in love. Kayla looked at her said, "Leigha, that is not a theory....It's a fantasy!"

Halloween Hijinks

Halloween was so much fun! The Clearys, the Crutchers, the Belks and the Warners came over along with a few assorted soccer friends. Ryan made chili and hotdogs, Aunt Amy planned some fun games, the kiddos went trick or treating and the Rachel Zoe wig got passed around. Here are some pics of our wild night.

It's THAT Time of the Month

Why is it so hard for men to buy feminine products for their wives? I mean OBVIOUSLY everyone knows it's not for them. I'm pretty sure the person at the check out is not going to look at them sympathetically and think..."Poor thing. It must be his time of the month". Come on boys. If your wife needs something and you are already at the store...can't you help her out? You should just be glad you don't need to use the stuff. Believe me, you have the much better end of the deal. We are already incredibly cranky and extremely bloated so don't make your life more miserable then it probably already is this time of the month and swing by the kotex aisle on your way to checkout.

Off With Her Head

My aunt nearly lost her head the other day... literally. We had been standing in the driveway at my parents' house when I decided to head inside. I was about half way into the garage when all of a sudden, the garage door started to close. I looked back and saw that my aunt was standing right under the door and couldn't move out of the way because she was stuck between the truck and the closing door. I managed to reach the opener just as she slid out of harm's way. My mom heard me yelling and came running. I told her I wasn't even near the button and the door just started closing on it's own. But how could that be? Doors don't just close on their own. Then it hit me. My dad! So I went to find him and guess what was in his pocket? The garage door opener. He had inadvertently hit it while helping Ryan carry wood into the side yard. He didn't even realize that he nearly took the wig right off Aunt Marcy.

Cinderella Dressed in Yellow

For as long as I can remember, Kayla has had a strong aversion to Cinderella. When she was about 5 we were at the store when she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I hate that girl!" I was shocked. Those were strong words from my usually sweet little KK. I couldn't imagine who she would be talking about. I looked around half expecting to see some freakishly tall first grader with missing teeth and a mean smile, but there was no one. Confused, I asked her who she was talking about. "Her", she said and pointed a small finger towards a backpack with the face of Cinderella on it. "You hate Cinderella?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. "She is not the star you know!"

I'm not sure what it is about this fictional fairy tale princess that upsets her so. I just know that every time Kayla sees something with Cinderella on it she punches it. Anna and I find it highly amusing that she gets so worked up over a silly make believe character. When we go shopping we like to chase her around the store with Cinderella items, chanting CINDERELLA DRESSED IN YELLOW....We are so mean!

That's Using Your Head!

The girls' soccer team is still undefeated. They won their game 5-0 today which makes them 5-0 for the season! Anna scored 3 of the 5 goals. One of them was a HEADER she put neatly into the side of the net. Kayla played great too. Besides nearly scoring twice herself, she assisted her sister in one of her goals. Anna was doing a corner kick and her coach called for her to go short. The girls have a signal that when they are going to go short they pull up their sock right before they kick. Kayla read the sign perfectly! She ran towards Anna who made a short little pass to Kayla, Kayla kicked it right back to her and Anna let it fly over the goalie's head and into the net. Don't mess with the Goebel Girls!!

Ha Ha Halloween

Halloween is only a week away and because the girls are now "tweens" (as Anna likes to say) this will probably be the last year they go trick or treating. That makes me sad! For the past couple of weeks they have been trying to decide on costumes. I refuse to go out and buy pre-made costumes. For one, I'm cheap and so are the costumes they charge a ridiculous amount of money for. Secondly, I try to encourage the girls to be more creative. (But mostly it's because I'm cheap!) Usually their costumes are a hodgepodge of things we find around the house which needless to say, has led to some pretty interesting Halloweens. Last year, the girls decided to go as old people. Anna was the grandpa and Kayla was an "ole grandma". She wore an old dress and glasses, but the best part of her whole costume was her butt. Not her real butt, but the soccer pillow she stuffed into her dress to make it look like she had a big granny bootie. I guess we didn't secure the butt very well b/c every few houses it would fall out and we would have to stop and readjust. . The best part of the night was when Kayla was walking up to a house and her butt fell out once again. The homeowner was standing on the porch and yelled, "Hey little girl! You dropped your baby!" Kayla responded, "It's not my baby, it's my butt!" We seriously have never laughed so hard.
Here are some pictures of the girls with their grandpa, a real old guy!



Halloween
Past

Roundtable

I got a message on my school phone the other day from a company looking for teachers to participate in a roundtable discussion. The caller said that if I was interested to please call back as soon as possible. I was just about to delete the message when they said the magic phrase..."You will be compensated for your time!" Now I'm all about being compensated for my time. Especially when the girls' training fees for soccer are due. So I called the company back and they gave me the particulars....2 1/2 hours of time, group of 8 teachers blah blah blah and $125 at the end of the night. I told them to count me in! So last night, I let Ryan take the girls to soccer and I headed out to Scottsdale. The company sent me directions so the place was relatively easy to find. The front of the building was really nice, but I was in Scottsdale after all so I didn't expect anything less. According to the map, the only parking was in the back so I headed that way. Big difference between the front of the building and the back. I had to drive down this totally dark alley that was more than just a little bit creepy. As soon as I parked, I jumped out of the car and made a beeline for the door. It was locked, of course. As I was trying to figure out what to do, a cleaning lady came out of the elevator. When she saw me she came to the door. I tried to ask if I was in the right place, but just my luck, she didn't speak a word of English. After a lot of gesturing I finally showed her the map and she let me in. The building was pretty dark and looked deserted. I took the elevator to the third floor. When the doors opened, I seriously considered taking the elevator back down, getting in my car and driving home. It was very dark with just one light that kept blinking on and off just like in the horror movies. I was beginning to think that maybe the phone call was a prank. Maybe there wasn't any roundtable. Maybe someone was just using that as a cover to lure women to a deserted building to do....whatever. I could see the headlines...."Soccer Mom Lured From Home With the Promise of Money for Her Kid's Soccer Fees"...Ok, I can be more than just a little paranoid. Anyway...I decided to press on and besides I'd come this far. I wasn't leaving without my $125. I walked through a maze of dark corridors and abandoned offices until finally.... I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The office I was looking for and it was full of people....and they were teachers....and at the end of the night I got my $125!

Pays To Get A's!

Best Buy is doing this awesome thing for students in our district. For every A they get on their report card, Best Buy will give them a $5 gift card up to $50. The jr. high got their report cards a week earlier than our school, so I took Anna to BB the night she got hers. She got 5 A's and 1 B (we won't even talk about that B because it is not a pretty story). She was all excited to get her $25 and was planning on spending it right then. Anna cannot hold onto money. It literally burns a big 'ole hole in her pocket. When we got there the manager told us that our school district had never gotten back to them about the program so they weren't doing it. That was really weird b/c the district had already advertised the program and made a big deal out of it. When I got to school on Monday, I told my secretary what they said, she got on the phone and to make a long story short, they decided to honor the program.

We got an email today saying that b/c of the huge response they would be stopping the program on Sat. (They have already given away $40,000!)So...today after school I took the girls back to Best Buy. Kayla just got her report card, straight A's woohoo! so she got a $30 gift card. Anna should have gotten $25, 5 A's X $5, but apparently they don't count PE as a real class so she got $20. We aren't looking a gift horse in the mouth though. Free money...woohoo! The girls both got DS games.
Thank you BEST BUY!

Mutant Penguins

Today was the battle boat races for Disciple Now. Each small group was given cardboard, several rolls of duct tape and some newspaper. Their job was to create two boats, one for battle and one for speed using only the materials they were given. Teams had time last night and this morning to build their boats then everyone met at the pool this afternoon for the big showdown...THE SECOND ANNUAL MRBC BATTLE OF THE BOATS. Of course the boys were talking smack (because this particular group of boys always talk smack)! They were gleefully telling everyone how they were going to destroy the "little girls" and enjoy every minute of it. They were especially gunning for Anna's group, the 7th and 8th grade girls (AKA the Mutant Penguins) Why they wanted to pick on a bunch of little girls I'm not sure? Maybe because the act like a bunch of little girls...but who knows. Anywho...the battle started with a head to head competition in the speed boats. Teams had one member race down to the end of the pool in their boat, touch the side with their hand, then turn around and come back. The fastest time won. The first 4 teams to go were really really slow. One boat didn't even make it to the end before it capsized. I believe the fastest time was a minute and a half. So it was down to Anna's group and the 9-10th grade smack talking boys. Anna was racing for the girls and Connor for the boys. Anna went first surprising everyone with her speed and agility in the boat. Their smart design earned them a 29 second time!!! The fastest of the day by far. So that left it up to Connor to decide the winner. The boys boat was of similar design, however lacked the clever arms holes the girls had incorportated. Therefore, their boat ended up taking on too much water and slowed the boys down just enough for the girls to win by 1 SECOND! Go Girls!!!! Go Girls!!!I'm telling you, when you mess with a Goebel you are going to get burned every time! My girls are fast!! They weren't so lucky, however in the Battle competition. Most of their boat had blown apart in the back of the truck on the ride to the pool and there just wasn't enough time to fix it properly. Shayla gave it a good go, but they went down swinging. HOWEVER...in the finals,the 9th-10 grade girls ended up flipping the 11th-12th grade boys boat to pull out another amazing win for the GIRLS. Sorry boys...better luck next year!

Sisterly Love

Anna and Kayla have always gotten along pretty well. They are only 18 months apart, play on the same soccer team and have a lot of the same friends. Lately though, they have been driving me nuts with the fighting. Nothing major just the little nit picky stuff that makes me want to lock them both in their rooms. Last night , Anna, who is now in the youth group, was gone at Disciple Now so it was just me and KK. As I was putting her to bed she said, "Goodnight, I love you!" I said, "I love you more" and she said, "No, that's wrong. You're supposed to say...Goodnight, I love you too". When I asked her why she said, "That's what Anna and I always say before we go to sleep!" Ooooohhhh! They do love each other. It warms a mother's heart. I am going to remind myself of that the next time the ceiling sounds like it's falling in because they are about to kill each other.

The Hazards of Youth Ministry

Ryan and I had just climbed into bed Friday night, when we heard a loud noise outside. We peeked out the window and saw a roll of toilet paper fly past our bedroom window and land soundly in the top of the tree outside. Yes, folks...we were getting teepeed. This is a rather common occurance for a youth pastor. One of the "hazards of the job!" Ryan jumped up and ran downstairs with me close on his heels. He ran out the front door and caught four of our senior high guys red handed. 2 of them jumped into their truck and drove off down the street while Ryan chased the other 2 into the desert. Because he was barefoot, he decided not to follow. Instead, he hid in the bushes and waited until they came back to pick up the other 2. Pretty soon the boys, headlights out, drove back down the street. When they did, Ryan jumped into the bed of the truck and climbed through the back window scaring the boys nearly to death. The driver actually peed his pants! Ryan made the boys come back to clean up and as soon as they got in the driveway, I jumped up from where I was hiding and sprayed them with the hose! It was awesome! We are now thinking of ways to get them back!

Beautiful Day for Soccer!

It was a gorgeous day for soccer yesterday. The cooler weather has finally crept in (hopefully for good) and the sun was shining brightly. The girls went into their game undefeated and in first place in their division. Competitive soccer works on a point system. There is a possibility of 10 points per game. 6 points for a win, 1 point for every goal scored up to 3, and 1 point for a shutout. After 3 games we had 28 points out of a possible 30. The team we were playing was in 2nd place with 21 points so it was important that we won to stay in first. The game started off slow, but Anna heated things up with a fast break up thru the middle and into the goal. The other team scored on an unfortunate dropped ball by our goalie and we went into half time all tied up at 1. I don't know what the other coach said to her girls during the half but they came out like gangbusters scoring almost immediately and injuring our goalie (accidentally) in the process. This seemed to set off something within our girls and it was on like Donkey Kong! CC scored, then Anna again and finally, CC sealed the deal with a beautiful header into the goal to win the game 4-2. The CCV Stars 96 Girls Black are still in first place with 37 points. Well ahead of the team in 2nd place with only 23 points.

Who are we? CCV! Who are we? CCV! Who are we? CCV...GO STARS!

Totally Inappropriate

A few weeks ago one of the teachers at school brought in a pile of clothes her teenage daughters outgrew. She gave me some really cute t-shirts for the girls. I was excited because I love getting stuff for free and Anna, who is super picky, actually found a shirt that she liked. She had it on when we went to a birthday party last weekend. The girls at the party started cracking up and asked me what I let my child wear. I was confused because I thought it was a really cute "summer" shirt and it was from Holister. It was watermelon color and said SOL across the front. SOL like in Sun... or so I thought. They told me to read the whole shirt. It said "Ur SOL Pal". Apparently SOL doesn't mean sun. The S stands for a word I cannot repeat and the OL stands for Out of Luck! Needless to say I was pretty embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as the teacher who gave me the shirt in the first place. We all got a great laugh out of it!

Confessions of an Addict

Ok....I admit it. I have a problem. I am seriously addicted to TV! I know it's lame, but I LOVE to watch TV. (Especially Reality TV!) In fact I would much rather watch TV then go to the movies. It's kind of like therapy only a lot cheaper. Since I'm never home I usually record everything and then speed watch it when I have time. Tonight my husband gave me a new drug to support my habit. It's called Fancast.com and it is a TV lovers dream! It has almost every show you can think of, including some oldies but goodies like Family Ties and CHIPS. It also has movies. All you have to do is log on, find your favorite show and begin watching. And the best news is it's FREE!!! WOOHOO!!! The only downside is that there are commercials and you can't fast forward, but that's a small price to pay for your favorite TV show whenever you want wherever you want. Here is a listing of a few of my favorite oldies:

-Simon and Simon
-Scarecrow and Mrs. King
-WKRP In Cincinnati
-Gilligan's Island
-Fantasy Island
-The Love Boat
-Magnum PI
-Remmington Steele
-Growing Pians
-90210 (The original version)

3 and 0...Way to Go!

It was a great day for soccer! The heat has finally moved on (hopefully for good) and the sky was overcast. We even got a few sprinkles during warm up. The girls were really hoping they would get to play in the rain. They wanted to get their new white uniforms all nice and muddy. We played Coach Andy's team. Anna likes their bright orange uniforms and I love Coach Andy's British accent! Woohoo! The girls played well. Anna scored our team's two goals, but it was Kayla who was really tearing up the field. She put the juke on several of the other team's players. Oh....she finally met a girl her size. I think the girl might have even been a smidge shorter than Kayla. Of course she wasn't near as good as Kayla! Ok I'm a little partial, but I'm her mom. The girls are now 3-0 in their season!

Keep the Candle Burning

Our soccer team is right in the middle of a big fundraiser. For the past few weeks we have been selling Gold Canyon candles. Tonight was an exciting night because our candles finally arrived. The girls picked them up at the end of practice and we loaded them down in the car. The smell was intoxicating and strong enough to block out the smell of sweaty cleats. As we began to drive home I turned on the radio and believe it or not, but the song "Keep the Candle Burning" by Point of Grace was playing. Kayla and I laughed all the way home.