World Cup Super Fans

 The day we drove back Florida was the first day of the World Cup.  We have been watching a lot of soccer/futbol ever since.  We have also been doing a lot of coloring.  Dom and Will colored all 32 nation flags of the participants in the tournament.  Dom taped them together in the groups A - G and then as teams qualified for the round of 16, he quickly taped those to the bracket in our living room and dutifully placed the losers in his binder of national flags...just like every other boy in America.

 We also dressed appropriately for every time the United States competed.  Just like every other family in America.

 Watching the World Cup also renewed the boys' interest in their coloring book of the Nations of the World.  One day, Will decided to start coloring the nations as their flags.  Unfortunately, I cannot find Will's book to show you his pictures, but Dom was inspired to do the same for Italy.  (Don't worry, Will's book will turn up, I spent about a minute looking for it)  I thought this way of coloring was quite clever.  Japan was the first country Will did this with (I suspect in order to finish it quickly).  However, after I oohed and aahed over it, he completed several others.  Canada's Maple Leaf is pretty neat!

 As with the elimination of teams from the group stage, Dominic very quickly updated his flag bracket on our book shelf.  I caught myself reading the qualifying teams in a ticker on the television and thinking "Doesn't everyone know this?" and then realized not everyone has a son regularly updating their living room decor.  Their loss.

 Back in May, Eric brought home the Panini World Cup sticker book.  He was quite proud of the fact they only cost $2.  My cheapness thriftiness is rubbing off on him after 9 years.  However, there were over 640 spaces for stickers and with a pack of 7 costing $1...you can do the math.  Never mind the fact that doubles and triples and quadruples are guaranteed.  We'll know for next World Cup, though...which Dom is already planning for.  You can get a box of 100 packs for about $60 on Amazon!!!  Last night, Dom finished up the last of the packs we bought (I will not disclose how much we spent...mainly because I don't want to think about it), and he had filled 500 spaces.   He's really hoping his cousins may have some extra stickers for him.  I told him it is good to have dreams #klinsmannquotes

As much as I love that now my sons recognize national flags (more than I can...which isn't saying much, honestly) and as much as I love watching the games as a family and cheering on the US, my favorite aspect is that the boys literally play soccer together for hours.  Dom has had an interest in soccer for a few years now, but Will has become a crazy man.  He develops plays and wants to practice them.  He is quite the goalie and has speed on the ball...though he does decry someone stealing the ball from him as he thinks about what he wants to do as 'unfair'.  We're working on that.  At any rate, they go outside in the 90 degree heat and run around and get sweaty and come in for water talking about their awesome plays and when they will play for the US National team (we are aiming for 2030)!  Just like kids all over America.