who can forget this game? (Cale's rec league final)

So, some photos needed uploading from the camera and I happened upon these photos from Cale's final rec league basketball game of the season.  This game was intense and hard to watch at some points.  

Here's Marcus, enjoying popcorn that we brought.  I brought a couple bags of popcorn to keep the kids happy-even though we had just eaten dinner.  Andy was at work and was able to watch the game through skype.  I'm sure some people thought it was weird that I held my phone up for the entire game.  

Okay.  The game.  Cale's team played with 5 players-one teammate broke his leg after the first practice of the season and another was out with some ear problems the entire week of playoffs.  So, no one got breaks, no subbing out.  They played a team with 7 players-clearly, those kids would get some time to rest.  The plus side for Cale's team was that the best players would always be out on the floor-the other team would have to sub in their players so everyone got equal playing time.

The game went pretty smoothly in the first half.  Cale's team slowly pulled away from the other team.  I did notice that there were a fair amount of fouls being called on Cale's team.  A concern, since they only had the five players.  

I think at half-time they were ahead, maybe by 2 or 4 points.  

In the second half, Cale's team continued to lead.  They had a really good 5th grade player who scored most of the points.  I think all the boys helped the score with a couple points a piece.  Anyway, things were going well.  I think everyone figured Cale's team would win.  And then, towards the end of the third quarter, Cale fouled out.  Oh, he was so upset-especially since he was trying really hard not to get that 5th foul.  But, he was under the basket, trying to guard and I don't think his feet were set.  Anyway, to the bench he went.  

The team played with 4 players against 5 players on the other team.  Everything was still looking good.  And then, with 3 minutes left in the game and Cale's team up by 10, the good 5th grade player fouled out. 

Oh man.  The two best players on Cale's team were sitting the bench.

Now it was 3 vs. 5 players and at 2 minutes left in the game, the teams could press.

The ref looked at our coach and said, "these will be the longest 2 minutes of your life."

No kidding.

Points were scored.  The other team had their 2 best players in this whole time.  Fouls were called.  Another one of Cale's teammates was up to 4 fouls. 

And then, what do you know?  Time was running down.  Those 3 boys left on the court had done a great job moving the ball around.  The other team had missed some easy shots.  Cale's team was up by 3 and the other team had the ball, coming down the court with, oh, 10 seconds left.  The player ran down the court and passed the 3 point line.  

This was it-I thought-we won the game.  Who cares if he made that layup-he didn't.  They would still have been down by 1 point when time ran out.  

Cale's team won the game.  

Cheering, crying.  Amazing. And, well earned.

Here's the team, waiting to get their trophies.

It was a hard fought season, but they did awesome!

And, with their coach.

And, here is the one picture of Cale playing that I took the week before.

Bible reading at LTC. March 14, 2015(2)

And, here's Marcus reading his Bible passage.

Bible reading at LTC. March 14, 2015(1)

Here's Cale reading his passage from Luke.

So, this is what we did on Saturday...

This past weekend was Leadership Training for Christ for Marcus and Cale.  The convention is in Indy so we can go down each day for the events the boys are in.  Cale did puppets on Friday night.  Andy said it went well and the audience liked it.  The boys got a silver for their performance.  I took Marcus and Cale down on Saturday morning for Bible bowl and Bible reading.  Turns out, Marcus and Cale were on the same Bible bowl team.

The team:  Autumn, Marcus, Cale and Dylan

You would think that, since the bowl was over the book of Luke, it would be easy.  Not so!  I think each of the team members pulled off a solid bronze for the event.  I was proctoring another group and knew most of the answers, but some of the questions were quite obscure.  

Then, it was time to get ready for Bible reading.  Shame on us for not practicing sooner.  The boys had to make some changes to their selections in order to make them fit into the 1-2 minute time limit (they were too short at first). 

Hard at work.

Bible reading went well.  There were probably 15 boys in the group and the went in order by age.  Cale was in the middle and Marcus went last.  I think the boys did very well and I'm glad they are agreeable to doing this event.

While I was with the boys, Andy got to take the other 4 kids to a musical production of the Three Little Pigs at the high school.  Ewan had wanted to go and if you got their early enough, you could sit in the "wolf pit" (they did) where you were guaranteed interaction with the Big, Bad Wolf (they threw confetti "water" on him).  Ewan, Liam and Kella enjoyed the performance and Andy walked about following Kinley in the halls and back of the auditorium.  

There was a place to make a wolf or pig nose.  Kella wore hers like this because then she "looked like a unicorn".

The weather was great that afternoon, and the kids played outside and jumped on the trampoline.  Then we ended the evening playing Ticket to Ride.  

From where I sit, Friday randomness

Here it is, Friday.  We have made it through another school week with a slightly busy weekend around the corner.  And, by slightly busy, I mean a convention event for Marcus and Cale Saturday and then probably 2 basketball games for Ewan on Sunday.  This weekend should be cake compared to the past weekends. 

As previously posted, Ewan finishes up his travel basketball season this Sunday. Unless the team totally forgets to how to play(they are second graders), I anticipate they will win their league championship.  Then, sweet freedom from basketball.  We're ready.

Marcus has band contest tonight and I'm trying hard to remember to be at the school to pick him up at 7:20.  Then, Monday, he has a band concert that we will be going to.  I'm sure the band has improved since the Christmas concert.  I'm exited to hear how they sound.  

Marcus and Cale this weekend will be involved with LTC.  Leadership Training for Christ is what I like to call "4-H for church".  It's a convention in Indy with a bunch of different categories kids grade 3-12 can participate in.  There are activities you can complete before the convention and events you participate in at the convention.  Man, if I was a kid, I wouldn't know what to pick and would probably be in a ton of events-Bible quiz, Bible bowl, singing, puppets, drama, art, writing, the list goes on.  On Saturday, Marcus and Cale will both be doing Bible bowl and Bible reading.  Cale is participating in puppets tonight (led by a reluctant Andy).  And, both the boys completed their Bible quiz at home.  This year's theme covered the book of Luke(each year has been alternating between the New and Old Testament). I really like LTC.  The boys look forward to it every year and I like seeing people I know from different churches.  

Andy is down at LTC with Cale.  They spent some time today finishing up some puppet performance details.

I am still in my jams.  I went into work last night for a 4 hour shift that turned into an 8 hour shift.  So many babies were born last night.  The madness continued today as evidence by the help text  sent out from the unit looking for help for tonight.  Hope they found some.

Liam is waiting for me to get off the computer so he can blog.  Andy likes telling folks that our 5 year old has his own blog.  I like that Liam still likes to post to it.  If you get a chance, check it out.  We don't help Liam except when he wants a picture uploaded. Here's the link right here.

Kella got Daddy to buy her another Disney princess when they went to the store today.  She's happily playing with all her dolls right now.  This doll's a winner because her shoes are painted on.  

Kinley is sleeping, but I'm sure she will be waking up soon.  About 2 weeks ago, Kinley demonstrated that she could up and down the stairs by herself.  Smart little girl!  She's the first one of our kids that actually crawls down the stairs backwards instead of trying to go down face first.

We are in the middle of a floor reno downstairs.  Andy is working on completing the kitchen and the closets.  It's hard right now, because he doesn't have a lot of time to work on the floor, the floor space is smaller with some more cutting involved, the house is not square, we have 6 kids.....I feel like right now we are bogged down in the renovation valley.  Once Andy gets down with this phase, the rest should go very quickly.  It's just getting there....

I'm being stalked for the computer.  My time is up.

So close to the end (of travel basketball)

We are sooo close to the end of Ewan's travel basketball season.  One more practice and then probably 2 more games and we are done!  It's been a long 4, maybe 5 months almost.  And, even with the whining that Ewan does, I know that he likes going to practices and playing on the team.  And he has gotten better.  That's been cool to see.  Here's the whole team. Ewan, of course standing out, as the one child in black and holding his medal instead of wearing it.  The team got second place in a tournament last weekend.  The championship was their first loss of the season against what was probably the first actual competition they faced all year.  This team has rolled over all the other teams in their league-which has actually been kind of good for playing time for eveyone.  The coaches have the team divided into two groups with equal talent.  Most games, the kids are subbed out in a group and each group plays about half the game.  It's nice that the coaches try to be fair, when they can.  I don't know what the next year will hold for Ewan and basketball, but I'm glad he got the chance to play this year.

New Year's Res-finishing projects-Feb.

Well, February has come and gone.  It's time to look back and hold myself accountable to my resolution to finish projects.  I had 4 things on my list to do for the month of February and I got none of them done.  Awesome.  I did get Kinley's picture taken which was a catch-up from January, so that is now done.  

Also, I am working on the wall hanging collection for the front room.  I have most of the frames purchased and painted.  The prints are looking so cute in them as you can see from this photo of a couple of them.  Even after all the pics are framed, though, I will be waiting for the floor and trim to be finished in that room.  I need to move the pew back over to the wall it will share with the pictures so I can map out a layout.  

So, for March, I will not add any new projects.  I still need to complete

These felt jet packs that I have been working on since last fall,  I have all the supplies.  the bottles are painted.  I seriously just need to cut out the rest of the felt and put the packs together.  Curse you, pinterest, I should have never pinned this project.  Now, I don't want to throw out my progress, although I'm not too sure who will wear these when I'm done.  

Also, still need to schedule checkups for the grown people in the house for bodies and eyes.  

Need to finalize spring break plans since that is coming up at the end of the month.

Still working on scrapbooking, but that is an always project.

Here's to resolutions!

....and basketball season is over for Liam, too...

It is with a happy heart that I can say basketball season finished for Liam last Saturday.  It was definitely an experience, coaching kindergarten basketball.  My team had some of the smaller, least aggressive players on it and we did not win one game.  There were a couple games in which we scored double digits and those where very exciting.  It was fun to see the kids improve over the course of the season, though and I hope they come back next year for 1st grade basketball.  But, I will probably never coach Liam again.  I think I would have enjoyed his playing basketball if I hadn't been the coach.  Thank goodness I had an assistance coach, to back me up.  And, I had Marcus, who I brought to practices to help lead warm-ups, run drills, fill in for players and goof off a little bit, too.  

Even though I put all the boys in the same sports, it's interesting to see how much the boys are different.  Sports and sports skills come at each child's own time.  Liam is a young, big kindergartner and is still working on sports skills.  Through the whole season, Liam rarely wanted to practice and I had to bribe/threaten him to play in the games-at least to sub in for the other kids who needed a break.  I think a little bit of that is because Liam sees his 3 older brothers play basketball and is frustrated that he can't dribble, pass and shoot like they can.  Kind of living in their shadows.  That frustration makes Liam not even want to attempt to practice, because, in his mind, he doesn't think he can improve.  Makes for some fun times when the coach's son won't participate.  But, I did see improvement in Liam's basketball handling this season.  He liked to practice by himself or with me instead of with the group.  Those little bits of practice with Liam were very sweet.  I think he does want to get better, but we can't make a big deal about it.

The last game, Liam did great in the first half.  He participated in the game great.  The second half, he fell apart.  He didn't get to pass in the ball when he wanted to and then sulked and cried.  Ultimately, I had to take him out of the gym while the other coach took care of the team.  *sigh  Needless to say, I got no pictures of Liam with the team afterward because he still hadn't really calmed down.  And, then, he started to cry because I didn't take his picture.  Talk about making me feel bad.  All we could do was go home.  I got him to snuggle down with me on my bed, we turned on the tv-to a basketball game, no less, and Liam fell asleep.  My poor, tired boy.  

Will Liam play basketball next year?  Who knows at this point.  He will be older and maybe easier to work with.  Liam will be playing soccer this spring.  In a moment of weakness, I almost agreed to be an assistant coach.  Almost.  I think I will enjoy soccer from the sidelines.

Dr. Seuss Day, last minute

Last Friday was the day the primary kids get to dress up like characters from Dr. Seuss books in order to be in a 15 minute parade at the end of the day.  For, probably a week, I have been asking Ewan and Liam what they would like to be, or even if they wanted to dress up.  Liam was definitely a "no", which was fine for me.  Ewan, was cagey and wouldn't give me an answer.  The night before, Ewan tells me he wants to be a "yellow-bellied sneetch" 

Okay, 5pm the day before is not the best time to tell me this, since we had basketball games that evening and none of the supplies for this costume.  Not even a yellow shirt.

After being forced to change his mind, Ewan went with the classic "Thing 1" outfit.  Lucky for us, we had the blue wig from last year, red gloves, and red clothes.

We had a two-hour delay for school on Friday.  

At 9:15 a.m. on Friday, Liam informs me that he wants to dress up like "One Fish, Two Fish".  What!

No way I could do a fish costume in 45 minutes.  But, flipping through the book, I did find the Gox.  "Would you like to box a Gox?"  I knew Liam would be excited to wear boxing gloves and it was easy to make some ears with pipe cleaners and headband.  Then, all I had to do was cut out the word Gox from some sturdy paper.

So, there you go.  Dr. Seuss Day 2015 with a happy Thing 1 and a Gox.  And, Ponyo was dragged into the photo by Ewan for good measure.

a television interlude

I've been watching a new show on Masterpiece Mystery called Grantchester.  It is based on a series of books that I think I will be looking for in the library soon.  Let me say, that I have really enjoyed watching this series.  Of course, being a BBC show, there were only 6 episodes and the ending of the last one left a lot of things left to wrap up.  How frustrating!  I was hoping for a wrap up episode that gave me a little more peace with the characters lives. And, now I have to wait, probably a full year before the next season is available.  I will wait, albeit not patiently.  I give this show 2 thumbs up, 5 stars, whatever you want to use to measure greatness.  James Norton was great as the vicar Sydney Chambers.  Robson Greene  was just as good as Sydney's cop friend Geordie Keating.  I just loved the whole cast.  And, thank goodness for pbs.org because I was able to stream the episodes on my own schedule.

last basketball posts of the season, part 1: Ewan

Ewan finished up his rec league basketball season on Saturday.  There were 4 second grade boy teams this year.  They had a play-off game during the week which they won and then in the finals, played the first seeded team that has, arguable, the best little player in 2nd grade.  I don't think Ewan thought they were going to win.  And, the other team led for a good part of the game.  But, in the end, Ewan's team pulled out a win.  What a great moment, but sad to see the other team upset to lose.  I'm sure they thought they would have no problem winning.  Anyway,  Ewan played some great defense and got a few steals.  It's very cool to see how much he has improved as a player this year with his confidence in shooting and his dribbling skills.   

The team and their coaches. 

Okay, I know they were more excited than some of them looked in this photo.

Happy March 1st!

Definitely in like a lion with 6-8 inches of snow....