Basketball

Mike and I decided we wouldn't both coach simultaneously again until our younger kids are significantly older. It was just crazy. But we did want the kids in basketball and we wanted to support the program (like soccer) so I volunteered as a coach. I asked for an older team, but for lack of enough 5-grade participants, I was put with the 4-5 year olds. Again.

Finn passes the ball.

It's not that I don't like this age--they're hilarious--it's that I really didn't know if I would be able to explain a game with as many moving parts as basketball effectively. And when I first got there, I was the only coach, with about 15 kids. Thankfully, two men decided to join the coaching team after the first week.

Finn's age group played on 6-ft rims, full-court on half a gym. Finn and a couple of the other kindergarteners actually really started getting the pace of the game by the last few meets and their dribbling and shooting noticeably improved.

Madie really didn't want to do basketball. The first day of practices sounded kind of like this (minus the screaming and crying and flopping of bodies onto the floor),

M: I don't WANT to play basketball!

Me: Okay, you don't have to. You do have to try it today though. And if you don't try, you'll end up just sitting around looking ridiculous and then I'll make you try it next week.

M: But basketball is so boring!

Me thinking, "oh, maybe she has tried it at school?": Where did you play basketball?

M: I haven't.

Me: Oh, well, then you don't know what it's like at all, do you?

M: Yes I do. You've told me what it's like and it sounds boring.

After her first practice she said something like, "Actually, Mom, I do like basketball. A little bit." Her team really struggled, but they struggled hard and ended up winning their very last game!

Madie is naturally very competitive and losing as many games as they did was hard for her, but really, really good.

Winter Games

We've had a good amount of snow this year, and although the first half of the winter gave us temperatures too low to go camping in, it also gave us excellent ice.

Geared up and blazing a trail.

The kids started out with some skating props, but they caught on quickly. 

We bought sticks and a puck and Mike made some hockey goals as Christmas gifts. 

Pond hockey goal.

Taking a rest between games.

Sometimes we opted for inside activities, but a week didn't pass that we weren't outside doing something on the ice for probably two months. It was great!

The temps were also perfect for snuggle sessions.

Playing with our new bocce set. We took it to the church and set up a mini bocce court with the tables.

Last Friday

We got letters from cousins last Friday. Madie and Sadie have been pen-paling for almost a year now and Madie got a not from Sadie. Even though she had a card she'd made already written and addressed and ready to send out the next day, she said she needed to write a new one because Sadie had asked questions and Madie needed to answer them! So a second letter will be in the mail shortly, Sadie.

On a side note, here's Madie sporting cat ears and a mustache from Aunt Alexa.

She kind of looks like a guy I went to high school with.

But that was not all! Finn and Killian sometimes send each other pictures. Well, in the mail I found a large manilla envelope addressed to Finn. Inside was an awesome Killian original and a cool shark-sticker poster. (It was like color-by-number but with stickers.) Finn immediately started working on the shark, pausing only to have dinner. At the very end--the last five stickers or so--he started to weary and asked for help. I sat next to him and did a couple of them for him, but mostly I think he just needed someone to talk to while he did it. He is not a quiet boy, and spending so much consecutive time on his own doing the poster was, I think, taxing on his brain.

I mean, that makes it sound like he was doing this for five hours or something. It was more like two, including supper and setting the table. But two hours of quiet activity for Finn is similar to two hours of listening to death metal music for other people.

The shark now hangs on his wall by his bed.

Tongue

It's not a giraffe tongue, but it is busy busy busy.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

There he is, Mr. Amazing. Mr. I'll-Take-The-Kids-Camping-in-January. Mr. I'll-Just-Run-to-Work-Today. Mr. Sure-Honey-I'll-Watch-The-Kids-And-Hold-The-Baby-And-Sing-in-The-Choir-All-At-Once-For-You.

Happy Birthday!

Snuggling in the double hammock. The most recent picture of us with no kids is October. I was telling him while I sought for a picture of just him or us together that we really needed to take more.

He chose a pecan pie as his "cake" this year. It is hard to beat a fresh pie with vanilla ice cream. 

Thanksgiving

This is a little late, but better than never, yes? We celebrated Thanksgiving at home again this year, and it was delightful. We were tired at the end of it, but food tired is always more of a blessing than a curse. We also introduced the kids to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. I always watched it growing up, until we moved to Saipan anyway, and it was always fun to see the balloons and bands and shows. I also love seeing where different bands and squads come from. The kids really liked it. I also borrowed a great book from the library called Balloons over Broadway. It has great pictures and tells the story of the man who invented and designed the first balloons used in the Macy's Parade and why the Parade was started.

This year we had our friends the Axtells over for dinner. They usually go down to Boston but because their toddler has such a time in the car, they didn't want to risk five hours of screaming. It was fun to get together. Between dinner and dessert we went outside and kicked a ball around and the kids balanced on the slackline.

Let me introduce you to the stars, from L-R: Mal's Secret Pecan Pie, flourless chocolate torte, buttermilk pie, grapefruit merengue pie, pumpkin pie, and peanut butter brownies.

Friday morning breakfast.

The kids enjoying leftover cheese ball, nuts, fruit, and rolls for lunch on Friday.

The past few months have been an opportunity to learn to be thankful for everything and everyone in my life. I've been trying to complain less and smile more. I'm always telling the kids to be thankful for what we have--because it really is way, way more than we need; but the best way to teach is by example.

Readers

I love to read. And I love that they love to read.

Of course, there are no photos of Madie reading because she is the Clandestine Reader. I found out only a few months ago that she had read a bunch of books on the bookshelf in their room that I didn't even know she knew were in there. 

Me: "You know a book we should read, Finn? The Wind in the Willows."

Madie: "Wait, is that the one with a toad?" 

"Yeah." 

"Oh, yeah, I've read that book."

"Where?" I thought maybe a teacher read it to them at school.

"It's in our room."

"Well, okay, I know. I didn't even know you'd read it. I mean, I only ever see you with Fudge or Harry Potter."

She just looked at me like I was weird for not getting it. "Well, it's not like it's long." Meaning she read it in an hour or so, and I didn't even know.

"How many of those books have you read? I mean the ones in your room."

"All of them."

So, that's Madie. Sorry, no pictures.