Somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose...

Gulp. Swallow. Grimace.

Emily and Zachary "enjoyed" their first football game of the season this weekend... of course, Momma uses that word loosely. However this is what's important... the kids had a good day. Here are their highlights...

Hanging the flag the night before.... Daddy let us hang the flag back on the front porch (after a brief sabbatical in the tree while the porch was being built.) (Can you see Daddy grumbling because the kids kept knocking him in the head w/ the pole?)
Molly wanted to make her first trip to the game.... she would not get out of the trunk...(she never gets to go anywhere!)
On the way home from school/work Friday, Emily asked "who's going to be there [Saturday]?". Uncle Rick was listed first...Emily said right away "he always brings me chocolate cake." She's such a smart girl! But though U. Rick searched high a low, there wasn't a chocolate cake to be found. It's ok. Momma and Emily really liked the pie replacement!And Zach played football...
At the game, Momma, Emily and Zachary made a visit to the field. Emily kept asking what the stupid looking things were on the heads of the Others' band...(of course she's not allowed to say "stupid", Momma filled that in.)

And both children loved their new M hats...(to be pictured in a future blog.)

Momma had optimistically thought Zachary might make the whole game... but at 2 1/2, he's still a year younger than Emily was for her first whole game. As the game wore (and wore and wore), Momma thought maybe halftime... (which would also be a first.) He did great, but it was just too warm for the tired boy, so Daddy and Zachary left at 4:22 in the half. Daddy asked Emily if she wanted to go too, and she said "No, I want to watch the game." A couple minutes later, Momma asked Emily to go out and just get some rest in the shade, and she said "No, I want to watch the game."

Towards the end of the game, Momma will remember the brief moments of jumping up and down w/ Emily...even though the outcome wasn't different, those moments themselves rank up there w/ those Momma and Emily shared during the '06 Notre Dame game. In '06 it was jumping up and down in our living room. On Saturday, it was jumping up and down in row 53.

At the end, Momma had to say that we didn't win, the other team did. Emily says "We're mad at them right." For the sake of the 4 year old, Momma was quick... "No baby, somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose. We're not mad." Gulp. Swallow. Grimace.

When we got home, Emily was asked if she had a good day. "Yes, but our favorite team didn't win." No gulp. No swallow. No grimace.