O'Neal Happenings

Today was a very busy day for the O'Neal family. Declan had picture day for hockey, a double-header, Liam had a game, lunch with some of the hockey families, Chris had to work and I got a tattoo. WOW - how is it possible to fit all of that in to one day and still survive?!?! So, let me give you a quick run down of how the day went and then it is off to bed. Tomorrow will be busy as well - church, Teah's family birthday party, finish up a school project with Declan, skating at the hockey rink and probably something I have forgotten!!!

Let's start with hockey since that was our first event of the day.....Declan's first of two games of the day was scheduled for 10am...but since today was picture day we had to be there one hour before the game....and since the game was in Bellevue which is forty-five minutes away from Spring Hill, we had to be up and out of the house by 8am. Yes, 8am on a Saturday. Pictures went well and I can't wait to see how handsome by little hockey star looks. The first game started with our team scoring right away. That's the way we like it!!! Because they had a double header, the coach didn't play his stronger players that often - which meant Declan played but only for a couple minutes at a time. But that didn't keep Declan from having some key plays and scoring a goal. Our team ended up winning the game 9 to 3. It was a great game and very excited to watch. I haven't been able to see too many of his games because the boys have both had games at the same time and it is impossible to be in two different towns at the same time. I congratulated Declan and some of the other boys on a great game and then headed to Franklin with Liam & Teah for Liam's soccer game at noon - details on his game are below. Declan's second game was apparently very exciting and it was probably a good thing I wasn't there because one of the players on the other team tried to take Declan out by knocking him down - which was apparently told to him by his coach. I know, what a great coach. Declan ended up with a penalty shot but wasn't able to score. He did score the first two goals of the game and his team went on to win 5 to 3. They are undefeated!!! After the game Declan received some props from some of the parents on the other team. Chris said this is a pretty normal thing that happens after the games. I am sure Declan's head is huge but hey, I don't mind!!! He is an amazing player, if I do say so myself!! Okay, enough braggin - here are some pictures from the first game.

Okay, now soccer.....Liam is one heck of a soccer player and I hear it all the time from the parents on his team as well as other parents. He gets so involved in the game and has begun to "coach" some of the other players on the team on how to be more into the game. It is so funny to watch. The coaches encourage him to do so because they feel it will help the other players step up and get involved in the game. He was very frustrated today because he was only able to score one goal - compared to the six he scored last week. I told him it didn't matter how many goals he scored as long as he worked with his team to play at their best - which they did. They have great team work and all try to include each other as much as possible in the plays. He played a large portion of the game and was worn out by the end of the game. Here are some pictures of Liam's game as well. I love the action shots!!

After the noon games we met up with four other families from Declan's hockey team for lunch at Beef O'Brady's. It was nice to finally take some time getting to know the other parents. We have chatted at practice but since I haven't been to many of the games, I haven't gotten to know them as well as I would. The kids loved playing the games while the parents chatted. It is definitely something we will do again - in fact we are suppose to get together with one of the families tomorrow for skating.

Chris had to leave lunch early to go do a job for work. It was here in Spring Hill so it wasn't too bad. It was for a new client that didn't have time during the week and so Chris agreed to work on her system today. It was a pretty quick job and he was back in time to head out for my tattoo appointment - yes, you read that right, I got a new tattoo. It isn't finished yet but it looks amazing. Here is a picture of my work as well as the picture I took it from. What do you think?!? Jason (our tattooist) did an amazing job. I can't wait to see what it look like when it has color and is completely finished.