regular season draws to a close

These photos were taken from the last two weeks of regular season play in the boys' rec league.  I can't believe it's almost done.  Our schedule has been so busy with basketball for the past couple months that I don't know what we'll do with the extra time not taken up by practices.  All the boys have shown improvement, which is pretty cool to see. 

These photos are from a tough loss for Cale's team.  They had previously beaten this team and I think they thought the rematch would also be a win.  The boys played tough and there were a couple players that showed real improvement from the beginning of the season.  

Their coach has done an awesome job with the boys.  I'm really glad Cale got to be coached by him.  

Ewan's game.  Photos courtesy of Andy.  

Ewan has enjoyed this season more than he wants us to think.  I catch him shooting around with the little basketball and hoop in our house.  And, he likes to get out on the court to shoot in between quarters of other games.  His games were always fun to watch.  Those kids a so little get so excited when they get a basket.

Couple pics from Marcus's last regular season game.  His team ended the season undefeated.  Part of me is not surprised.  I mean, there are 4 of the 8 5th grade travel team players on Marcus's team, Marcus included.  How that got past the draft people is beyond me.  And, the other players have shown some improvement as well.  Marcus has really improved under his coach's teaching.  He calls for the ball now, is not afraid to go in for the lay-up and does not have a deer-in-the-headlight look when out on the court.  Definitely knows what is going on now.

Rec league tourney play starts this week.  Marcus's team is the 1 seed.  They could potentially go to the finals, but some of their wins were pretty close, so we'll see.  Cale's team ended the season 6-2, tied with another team.  Pretty sure Cale's team will be the 2 seed since the team they tied with they also lost to.  They could go far as well, with solid shooting, good defense and good ball handling.  We shall see.

Cale's best friend has gotten huge!

Mr. Orange has always had a special place in his heart for Cale.  

July 2008

Who knew this tiny kitten...

...so sweet and cute....

...would grow up into this huge cat....

...who still loves Cale?

Kella got a haircut! Her first one!

The day had to come.  Kella's hair was long, the ends were uneven and the strands were getting tangled easily.  Time for a visit to our neighbor, who does hair, to get Kella a haircut.  

A before shot of the long locks.

All brushed out.  You can see how long Kella's hair is.  Growing out since she was born.

Looking a the brush, in the chair.

Worst part for Kella was probably getting her hair brushed out.  I think she has a tender head like her momma.

Her hair was so long, she had to stand up in the chair to make sure the back was cut evenly.

Getting close.

All done!  I bet about 4-5 inches was trimmed off (which I saved).  Kella did great and sat still and quiet while her hair was getting cut.  Her hair looks much healthier now and I know Kella thinks she looks cute!

Bye-bye Bo-bos

Kella loves her pacifiers. Loves them when she's awake and just playing. Loves them when she's sleepy and ready for bed. For a long while, we had the same select group of Bo-bos-which is what we called them. Then, the Bo-bos got old and Kella got teeth and started to chew through the pacifiers, so we had to replace them. Well, this new group did not last like the first ones did. Kella has chewed though about 2/3rds of the new pacifiers. We have decided not to replica these. When they are gone, no more. Kinley doesn't use Bo-bos anyway. She would rather take her thumb. We're not doing the pacifier fairy or anything Pinterest worthy, either. We are just throwing away the pacifiers that get chewed up, slowly diminishing our supply. Kella knows, too. She knows when the Bo-Bo has a hole in it. She knows we throw it away. And, she's been okay with that. In fact, three nights in a row, Kella has gone to sleep with no Bo-Bo. That is huge. Of course, as I write this, Kella is laying down for a nap with a Bo-Bo she found on the floor. One of two left, if my count is right. Oh well. We will be done. Soon.

Sweet girl! She sure loves her Bo-bos!

Our Bo-Bo bucket. The place to go when you are looking for a pacifier. Soon, this will no longer be counted in our living room decor.

It only took a year...

Last march, I got the need to paint the hallway/stairwell. I had a beautiful terra cotta color that looked great on paper. Unfortunately, when I put the paint on the wall, the color turned into a bright orange appropriate for supporting a sports team.  We (I) tried lots of colors since then: a couple more orange-y ones, some grays, some yellows. Then, in desperation, I googled a paint website, plugged in the colors that the other walls were painted and looked to see what was recommended. The perfect color. Sherman Williams brindle fawn, I think is what it's called. It looked great on the walls and looked great with the other colors. Now, we just have to wait for Andy's class break so he has time to paint....

a very husky weekend

This last weekend was a busy one with the boys and basketball.  It started Friday night with recognition for all the teams at half time of the high school game.  I had the sense to employ my babysitter to watch the little people. so I only had the "big" three with me.  They got to walk out with their teams onto the court.  There are almost 300 kids in the junior husky program that is the feeder program for the district's junior high and high school basketball teams.  That's a lot of kids.

Here is Ewan's team-Michigan.  Ewan is on the right.  Each of the grade level leagues is named after NCAA league.  1st grade-Big Ten.

And, Cale's team-Wake Forest.  Cale is standing on the left, by his coach.  The travel team kids wore their jerseys.

Marcus's team-the Miami Heat.  Marcus is on the left.  And, yes, 4 of the team members are also on the fifth grade travel team.

My attempt at a picture of most of the teams.

Saturday was rec league games.  It gets a little busy in the mornings.  Cale and Ewan usually play one right after the other and not at the same building.  That leaves Andy and I to negotiate who is leaving one game early to take the other to his game.  Cale played first, a tough game that they lost by a few points.  Ewan played second and his team did not win.  Marcus played that afternoon and his team pulled out a win.  Then, Marcus had travel practice and then, I took the kids to the PTO festival at the elementary school.  It was pretty busy and the kids might have had cookies as their main course for dinner that evening.  With a side of a fruit or veggie.

Sunday was tournament play for Marcus and Cale.  Surprisingly, they were both playing in the same school.  Cale's team played first and won their game which set them up for a second game late that afternoon.  Andy went down with the boys and took some pictures.  Cale is #24.  Sounds like he did pretty well when he got in to play.

Andy was kind enough to get a picture of each of the teams.

Third grade travel team

Marcus's team played next.  It was a close game and they did not win.  Also, Marcus did not get to play.  I felt kind of bad for him, but his coach did say at the beginning of the season that if the game was close, the starters would probably play most, if not all, of the game.  Tough lesson for Marcus and I hope it does not discourage him from continuing to play.

Here's the fifth grade travel team.  Even though they did not win yesterday, they are going to play in another state-qualifying tournament later this month.

Cale's second game was close, too.  Cale's team pulled out a win, but Cale did not get in to play in that game.  I'm not sure why, but that is a soap box topic that I will not get into.  So, the third grade travel season continues as well.  They play again on Sunday, hopefully somewhere closer to home.

This weekend wore me out what with driving to the different games and events.  We did get to eat out as a family on Sunday night.  That was nice.  I'm sure we intimidated the nice people at Applebees by the size of our family, but the kids behaved beautifully at the restaurant.  A nice treat.

(On another topic, I managed to get all four of the boys to agree to play the same spring sport-soccer, here we come!-in April)

Kinley turned 8 months old!

Kinley turned 8 months old on the last day of January.  She's getting to be a big girl! 

Fun facts about Kinley:

she takes 2 naps a day

she is feeding herself cheerios and puffs, and liking it

she gets to eat all sorts of interesting combinations of foods that we buy for her

she is moving into 9-12 month, 12 month clothes

she still doesn't like formula

she likes to sit and play with toys, and chew on them, too

she is mostly a happy girl, but definitely lets us know when she is unhappy

thumbsucker, pacifyer lover-she likes them both