World Cup 2014

Evan is a huge soccer fan.  He not only loves to play it, he loves to watch it.  That means that our little family has watched a lot, and I mean A LOT, of World Cup soccer over the last month. Evan and Stephen have probably spent hours talking game stats over the phone. He's also very happily filled out a game book that I found for him and collected player stickers. When Evan found out when the final match up would be, he started planning a party at Nana and Papa's house.  That's where we watch all the big games, don't you know?  After church this afternoon, we, along with Uncle Billy, Aunt Kary, Emily and Stephen all met at Nana and Papa's house for a viewing party.

Of course we were hoping that Team USA would win big, but the US got beat by Belgium in a knock out match in round 16.  Since my family has German roots, we decided to cheer on Team Germany.  I love that a lot of our family wore either Germany or soccer shirts.  Even though Evan cheered on Team Germany, his heart remained loyal to his favorite team.  He had to wear his Team USA shirt. When Germany beat Brazil 7-1 last week, we were all pumped to watch the game today.  I think we all chanted "Ole' ole' ole' ole'" more than once this afternoon.

Of course it wouldn't be a party without food. I made BBQ chicken sliders and banana pudding.  My mom made nachos and Rice Krispy Treats.  Aunt Kary brought chips, dips, a watermelon roll, and strawberry shortcake.  We had quite the spread.

 Growing up, my dad played a lot of sports, but soccer wasn't one of them.  It wasn't a sport that he initially had a huge interest in, but over the last 3 years,  he's had 5 of his 11 grand kids play.  He's been to at least 20 games this year alone. He loves watching his grand kids play and today, he really enjoyed watching the big game with our crazy crew.  Uncle Billy isn't a huge sports fan, but he got really into the World Cup.  He's been streaming games and watching them on his phone during his breaks at work.  Jason is a huge soccer fan.  He's watched as many of the World Cup games as he's been able to leading up to today.  He played 12 seasons of soccer growing up.  Between all the big guys, Evan, and Stephen, there was a lot of excitement in the air.

Emily and Payton watched a little bit of the game.  They mostly enjoyed talking, playing, and eating together.  Payton LOVES her Emily.  They are a lot alike.  They are both kind of quiet, very smart, and beautiful!

Karsyn and Addi had very little interest in the game, but loved coming to the party.  They loved playing with the "dolly house."  The also played a few games with Nana and Papa.  Karsyn's hair is getting really long!!!  I love that she still has a few of her baby curls.

Aunt Kary, Nana, and I all got into the game, but we had a lot of fun visiting as well.  I love watching everyone watch the game. =)  At one point, the network dropped the game for a few minutes.  We wondered if it had anything to do with the 800 million people watching the game world wide.  Argentina put up a good fight, but Germany ended up winning 1-0 in extra time.  Watching Germany score made our crew go wild!

Way to go Team Germany!!!!