Basketball

Junior Husky basketball starts today with Cale's first practice. I anticipate that we will be much busier for the next several months. This year, Andy is coaching the 4th/5th grade team that Marcus is on and Ewan is playing for the first time, too.

I'm getting lots more information about the basketball program this year, thanks in part to my chiropractor-Dr. John. Since he has found out that we are involved with the BB program, he talks BB with me at every appointment. He told me two stories about Cale that I'm going to share with you for your enjoyment.

1. A compliment? At 2nd grade player evaluations, Dr. John was standing next to the coach of the travel team-Paul. Paul says, "do you see that red-headed kid over there?" (The only red-head there was Cale) "that kids really makes me angry!" (Actually said something a little more colorful) "He never scores well on player evals, so I don't think to draft him. Then, when we play his team, he's always making shots, getting the rebounds, taking the ball down the court. He just makes me so angry!"

I guess it's nice to know that Cale makes that kind of impression on people?

2. The draft. The second grade draft was last Saturday. The coaches get together and try to pick teams in a way that the teams are as evenly matched as possible. First round, coaches get their kid, because chances are that if you are coaching, it's because you have a son in that grade. Second round, each of the coaches picked a travel team kid. These kids have scored higher on the evals and you can assume they would be a strong player to have on the team. Round three begins the drafting of the rest of the kids. You would think that the coach would just go down the list and pick the next highest scoring boy. Nope. The first coach up looks at the list and picks the 10th kid down. Cale. "I want this one." "Are you sure?", asked the moderator (my chiropractor). "Is he the red-head?", asked the coach. "Yes.", the moderator replied. "Then he's the one I want."

The coach was quite thrilled to have Cale on his team as he told Andy when he talked to him later with practice times. He likes they way Cale plays and goes after the ball. They are going to work on good shooting technique with him which will be good for Cale. Because you know, when his parents try to teach him, they are wrong, but the coach is always right.

(And now, a bonus story from today. It is taking me forever to type this since I am on my phone. I have been working on this post since yesterday.)

3. Travel teams. The Junior Husky basketball program also supports travel teams for grades 2nd-5th. Andy and I both think its silly for this age, but kids try out for them all the same. We both think that Marcus and Cale could have made the travel teams this year, but we have other things going on-scouts, karate, our jobs, life-and didn't want to spread ourselves too thin. We told the boys that you don't have to be on the travel team to be awesome, be awesome on the team you are on.

Well, today at the book fair, I was stopped by the 2nd grade travel team coach, Paul, from story #1. Pretty sure he was following me so he could catch me to talk. He wanted to see if we would consider letting Cale play on the travel team. He also said he still had to ask the board if he could add another player, so I'm not sure how this will all play out. The practices and games so not conflict with the in-house games and Cale would have a chance to play with his little friends that I know he thinks he is as good as. But, we don't know what Marcus will think. I know marcus scored higher on evals than some of the kids that made his grade level travel team, so, in theory, he could have made the travel team to. I guess we will see. I'm not too sure how this will play out. Mostly for this season I just want the boys to all learn some more about the game, grow in their skills and have fun playing with their friends.

To be continued...

once again, we go to Butler homecoming

Time for Butler homecoming!  This year, the game started at 6pm.  I was curious to see how everyone would do with a later start time than all the previous times we've gone.  And, it was a cool day, too, and I knew it would only get colder as the night came.  So, we dragged out the winter coats, some blankets, gloves and handwarmers and made our way to the game. 

One thing I like about Butler's homecoming is that is it always easy to find a close parking spot.  This year was no different.  We parked in the same lot, pretty close to the field and by a bunch of pretty trees with big, yellow leaves.  I made an attempt to get a photo of the kids.

The evening start time meant that we had to feed everyone.  If I had been more proactive, I would have packed food for the car ride down so we wouldn't have to eat at the game.  As it was, we feed the kids there and got scalped by food prices.  Yikes! 

Everyone likes Cracker Jacks.

It got colder, but only some of us wanted to wear our nice, warm coats.  We made it until a little into the third quarter before Kella, especially, and Liam, a little, were ready to go.  When we left, Butler was losing and had just let the other team score 2 touchdowns in a row if I remember right.  Well, wouldn't you know it?-Butler came back late in the 4th quarter and pulled out a win!  Too bad we had to miss it.  Hopefully next year, we can stay longer.  Hopefully next year, it's a little warmer out, too.  Our next goal for Butler sports is to make it to a basketball game this year.

Kella perked up nicely by the time we made it home.  She is wearing a blue lei that the cheerleaders handed out to the fans in honor of the BB team going to the Maui Invitational.  I think that she thinks she looks awesome in her new blue necklace.

insurance update-for anyone that's wondering

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since the house was hit by lightening and things are slowly moving along.  We will be responsible for replacing all the "little" items that we lost:  like the Wii, the wireless modem, home phone, etc.  Those items, added up, pretty much meet our deductable.  The furnace circuit board, which was a little $$, is covered and hopefully the check to cover that repair arrives soon.  Unfortunetely, the technician found another problem with the furnace and we are waiting to hear back from insurance on what they want to do-repair or replace.  The refridgerator is working again-yea!-so I have all the ice I could ever need again.  And, we don't have to walk out into the garage every time we need something out of the fridge.  I'm hoping to hear from the insurance company soon this morning.  It's a little chilly here in Indiana.  Our house temp is holding in the mid 60's which is where we would keep the thermostat anyway.  And, we have our fireplace to warm the downstairs and Kella has a little heater for her room.  Can't say I have enjoyed this experience, but our insurance company has been great to work with, so that's a plus.  I guess, stay tuned to see what happens next....

Because it was too quiet here...

Our house was hit by lightening on Wednesday.

The boys, their friend and I were downstairs when we heard two really loud "cracks" back to back and saw a flash. Things started beeping, and in a poltergeist-like scene, the refrigerator start spewing water from its spout. I wasn't too sure of the damage, so I made the kids put on their shoes while I ran upstairs to get napping Kella. The boys and friend were visably shaken. There were some tears and panicking. I walked around the house and did not see any signs of fire or smoke. Back inside, I tried to reassure the kids and them turned to the next problem-the fridge fountain. I ended up unplugging the fridge so it would stop shooting water out. Next, the shrill, continuos beep coming from behind the television. I couldn't reach it, but Andy, who came home early to help us, figured out it was a surge protector that gave its life to save the tv.

After all was said and done, our daged list wasn't very long...
2 cable boxes and the Internet router (already fixed by Comcast)
1 DVD player
The wii
The home phone
Our wireless modem
Our behemoth of an old computer
Our refrigerator of 2 years- thankfully, we have a freezer in the garage that we put the frozen goods in, and our neighbor gave us an empty fridge she had in her garage for us to save our other food.

Needless to say, we filed a claim with our insurance. Right now, we are waiting for repairs to he made to our fridge to see if it can be saved or if it needs replaced.

I'm ready for some peace and quiet now.

And, I'm incredibly thankful that the damage was very small and we were all kept safe.

10/21/12 add furnace circuit board to the list of lightening damaged items-good thing it's going to be warm next week!

"New" and improved

We were able to add on to our swing set, thanks to our friends who were taking theirs down. Their kids were getting a little big for the swings, but they knew our kids were still just the right size. The boys were excited for the monkey bar extension, and Andy did a good job of combining the parts and making them secure. I see many, many days of good use from this.

upstairs bath, done

Just showing off our upstairs hallway bathroom.  It's been done for a while, but I wanted to put a couple pictures out there for anyone who's interested.

Reapinted, new sink, nice red shower curtain, little square shelves decorated with ceramic projects the kids have done.  I wanted to make it feel like a kid bathroom without making it feel like a kiddie bathroom.  I thought their art projects would be great accessories.

A towel hook thing that hold enough towels for all the kids.  And, artwork done by the boys helps make the room more colorful.  There is room by the sink to add a couple more drawings as the boys make them.

I'm just excited that rooms in our house are at a point of completion.  At some point, we will hopefully reach a point where all the rooms are done.  Right?

Liam's preschool field trip and October photos days 7 (straw), 8 (pumpkins) and 9 (peek-a-boo)

Today, we froze ourselves silly out at a pumpkin patch for the preschool's annual field trip.  Andy usually gets to go with whichever of our kids are in preschool at the time.  This year, I had no work excuse to use and Andy had homework, so I got to go.  I misjudged the weather.  I should have put Liam and Kella in warmer coats, or at least added hats and possibly gloves to their wear.  Oops.  We survived the cold, cloudy, windy day and I know that Liam had lots of fun and Kella had some fun too.  I even got some pictures to use for the October photo challenge I am completing.  However, I might just remember to schedule myself to work next year so Andy can once again chaperone. :-)

Just a little cold out-trying to pull up his hood

There's Kella, loving being carried in the backpack

Liam agreed to pose for 1 photo-after this, he was too excited to stand still (notice the straw and pumpkin=october photos day 7 & 8)

Liam liked seeing the animals in the barn.  I just liked standing in the barn out of the wind.

Cool slide.  He went down it several times.

Jumping up and down-so excited for the hayride.  I didn't go since I didn't want to take Kella out of her backpack for the ride.  We hung out by/in the barn.

Sweet freedom from the backpack!

She loved the alpacas!

This goat must love the alpacas, too-its head was totally underneath the stable wall trying to get to the alpacas' side (october photo:  peek-a-boo day 9)

Then we went and hid, I mean played in the "corn box", a three-sided shed with, you might have guessed, corn.  Kella liked crawling around in it and I won't lie, some of the corn ended up in her mouth (gross!).  Liam and company came and played in there for a little bit after the hayride.

But, Liam's favorite part, by far was this jumping thing.  Kind of like a trampoline built into the ground, it was rounded, like a big hump.  Liam was in heaven.  He even guilted my into going out there to jump, too. (that's not me in the picture, by the way)

You can see how windy it was-look at Kella's hair.

After jumping, it was time for lunch.  Sure, we could have eaten our picnic lunch in a cold barn with a bunch of other little kids.  I preferred our plan-eating in a warm car on the way to get some more coffee.  No one objected.

last warm day

Last Thursday, the temperatures made it back up to the high 70's after spending some time in the 60's.  I knew that the next day, the temps would go back down again to chilly 50's so I made the kids play outside.  (I know, I'm a horrible mom for making my kids play)  It also gave me a chance to play with my camera trying to take action shots.

running up to kick the ball

Kella kind of just wandered around, carrying things

Ewan found a perch to watch the fun

kickball

Liam, of course he was in the sandbox!

October photo day 6: something purple, oh and by the way, my curtains are finally up!

Killing two birds with one stone today with these photos.  Yesterday, Andy hung up the curtains that have been sitting in our bedroom since March.  I finally got around to ordering the curtain rods I needed a couple weeks ago.  Andy was a good sport about it, even though he absolutely hates hanging up curtain rods.  He even hung the curtains on the rods at the same time.  The curtains were so long, we just went ahead and hung them from right at the ceiling.  I think it looks phenomenal and go terrific with the purple walls (called "royal indigo").  This room is slowly coming into focus.  Oh, and did you notice the bed frame?  Got that set up a couple weeks ago, too.  No more sleeping on the mattress on the floor for us! I feel like a grown-up with this new stuff.  :-) (just please excuse the clutter and the laundry that needs folded)

October photo day 5: bubbles

Honestly, what do bubbles have to do with October? Who knows. Bubbles are the topic for today and I thought of bubble bath. A nice, warm bath is a cozy way to relax and some if the kids like bubble baths, too. Thank goodness we have a big tub that they can swim around in the bubbles.

horseshoes

I like to expose my kids to different foods.  Last week, I made them horseshoes for the first time.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com, but next time I make them, I'm going to tweak the cheese sauce a little bit.  Of course, even though it was a new meal, the components are meat, toast, fries and cheese-all things that kids like anyway.  Well, they were a hit!  No complaints from the family for this meal and happy kids that let me take their pictures.

October photos day 4: mirrors

I'm not sure how mirrors tie into October, but the first one that came to mind was this one that is chilling in our bedroom.  I have grand plans for this mirror that include taking the varnish off and painting it a nice, chocolatey-brown color and then moving it downstairs.  It's pretty old and I'm pretty sure that Andy thinks it's a worthless cause.  But, I'm hoping that 1.  it's and easy task to strip the varnish and 2. the mirror looks great when I'm done.  That, in itself, will be its own post.

October photos day 3: leaves

Today I took a couple pictures of the leaves changing color.  I really like my drives to and from work right now because I get to drive through some really pretty, wooded areas.  If I didn't have to pay attention to the road, I'd probably have my phone out trying to snap a couple shots of the trees.



A close-up of the tree in our front yard.  The leaves are slowly starting to turn a red color.

Thank you zoom!  This is the end of our street.

The front yard tree, again.  It's hard to see the changing leaves with this picture.



Photo challenge day 2

Today (or yesterday, really), the topic is stairs. I found this photo online. I can't remember if it was on Facebook or pinterest, but I really liked the idea of putting a verse or saying on the stairs. And, I like the daily reminder of this verse in particular. Or, I could have just liked that the stairs were wood and not carpeted, which is a dream for my stairs-to be free from the trappings of builder grade carpet. Andy doesn't like the vinyl words, I'm guessing because they are basically large stickers you are applying to the stairs. I think they're sweet. What do you think?

Kella's 16 month check-up

Kella had her latest doctor appointment today. Our favorite doctor gave her clean bill of health. Kella did have a smidge of fluid built up in one of her ears, but it wasn't enough to do anything about. But, since our doctor is awesome, she said to call in a couple days if Kella is still fussy and she would call in a script for antibiotics.

Kella weighed in at 24 pounds 9.5 ounces (75th percentile) and was 31 1/4 inches long (60th). Of course, at this age, all her brothers were pounds bigger and a few inches longer. She is just the right girl size!

October photo challenge: day 1-fall

I love Pinterest. I have found some awesome recipes and ideas for around the home on there. One of the things I found was a list of photos to take every day in October. I'm going to try it and see how far I get.

So for the first day, the theme is "fall".

When I think of fall, I think of decorations that I can get out to display. I store these guys all year to show them off for a couple months. My photos today are of pillows my mom made for me a while ago. This year I put the out on the landing. This seems to be a safe place where you can see them from the first floor and the kids don't seem to bother them. So far. I think they are pretty and fun to have out. These were probably some of the first fall decorations that we got. I also have one for thanksgiving that will be making his appearance in november to replace my Halloween ones.

Tomorrow: leaves