Basketball Weekend

Friday evening Madelyn and I made a mad dash to Council Grove to watch my niece, Kaitlyn, play basketball. The departure from home did not go as smoothly as I had hoped so we only got to see Kaitlyn play the second 1/2 of the game but I was thrilled to watch her play. It was nostalgic being back in the gym where I once played ball, not well, but I played nonetheless. It was fun seeing past teachers and coaches that are still there, but watching the HS kids, that were born after I graduated from high school, made me feel old. Such. Is. Life.
Kaitlyn is a  5'8" freshman that plays on the JV team and suits up for Varsity. She knows the game well and her size alone serves her well. I wish I was blessed with her height and long legs!

Madelyn and I stayed the night at my parents' house friday night and were on the road to home mid Saturday morning as Madelyn had her first BB game of the season. Watching first and second graders play BB is an amusing experience to say the least. The team has their work cut out for them and I'm hoping with each game they get a little bit better or it is going to be a very LONG season (we lost 17-6). I'm hoping the coaches also learned something as there is a lot of skills that they have neglected to teach. However, I'm not complaining about the coaching because I'm just thrilled someone volunteers to coach this age group, as there is no way I would be willing to do so.

 The Sharp Reality Team

Jump ball

 Getting ready to catch the ball being thrown in from the sidelines.

Number 5!

Mama's Bragging

I copied and pasted two emails that Madelyn's teacher sent us recently. I'm a very proud mama. When we had Madelyn's parent/teacher conferences in October Ryan and I were a bit concerned as she lagged behind the class average. Although her teacher, Mrs. White, was not concerned, she knew that Madelyn would catch up. And catch up she did and then some! Madelyn has really caught on to this learning thing and is doing excellent in school. We are thankful and blessed that she is much smarter than her parents were at that age!!


12/15/10
Hello,
I am so excited for Madelyn! She has been working very hard this year and it is paying off. We took a STAR test yesterday that measures reading comprehension. In October Madelyn scored a 1.8 (first grade 8th month) and yesterday she scored a 4.3 (fourth grade 3rd month)!!!
Her hard work and diligent habits are paying off. : ) Thank-you for sharing Madelyn with me. It thrills my teacher heart to see a student soar like this!

Fondly,
Diedre White
Second Grade Teacher
Lincoln Elementary


1/7/11
Madelyn and I were so excited about her NWEA testing results that I told her I would share them with you now and not wait for conferences.
The end of year target score is 190. In math, Madelyn went from a fall score of 175 to a winter score of 192. That is an increase of 17 points...way to go Madelyn!
In reading, Madelyn went from a fall score of 169 to a winter score of 200!!! That's an increase of 31 points...I am so proud of Madelyn that I have goose bumps!
Thanks for all you are doing at home to encourage Madelyn's success. I love her enthusiasm and determination. : )

Fondly,
Diedre White
Second Grade Teacher
Lincoln Elementary

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions. At. All. I think it is just something that is meant to be broken. Many people will set goals to get healthier, whether that be to lose weight, start exercising, eat more veggies and fruits, or quit smoking, to name a few. Within a few months they will have failed miserably. Case in point,  the YMCA will become a mad house beginning January. All those people that set New Year's resolutions will have joined the gym. By March, the gym will be back to the usual crowd because the New Year's resolutions will be a distant memory.
Sure I could always use improvement in my life but I don't think a new year provides any more incentive to do so. I'm a person that likes to set goals. For example, I set goals and achieved training for and completing a 1/2 marathon (five to be exact) and then a full marathon. Other goals I hope to accomplish are to have our house paid off by the time I'm 40 (okay, that was strongly influenced by who I married), snow ski before I'm too old, complete a triatholon, etc. But these were/are not New Year's resolutions, more like a bucket list, I suppose.  My point is, I'm in complete support of people that want to improve their lives and set goals to do so, but don't bother setting a New Year's resolution if you don't intend to follow through, it's annoying to us year round goal setters.
Now stepping down from my soap box.

Bringing in the New Year

We started our evening by going to see "Little Fockers" with the Slussers and the Terrys, then the six of us met the Bishops at Granite City for dinner and drinks. We were back at the Terrys' house shortly after 9:00pm to relieve the babysitter and to bring in the New Year with our kiddos.  We spent the rest of night playing the Wii and wrestling. We brought in the New Year and then headed home shortly after 1:00am.

Kenzie, Roger & Dylen in a dance off

 

Kenzie & Madelyn getting ready to dance

 Madelyn & Ryan busting a move.... with those moves, Ryan should have won.

 Angelia and Dylen chilling

 Kenzie & Dylen indian leg wrestling

 The kids trying to bring Ryan down.

Kenzie whooped Ryan in the indian leg wrestling competition

It was fun bringing in the New Year with great friends and our kiddos. Today we have spent the day napping and recovering from the fun we had.

We hope you all have a happy and healthy 2011!

Homebody

Madelyn takes after her daddy and is a homebody (is that really even a word?). Particularly at night, she wants to be home with her parents. She has spent the night at friends' houses maybe three times.  She enjoys spending time with her friends but when it nears night time she wants to be home with us. Case in point, a couple of days ago her friend asked her to spend the night on Thursday (tonight). Initially Madelyn was very excited about the idea, but as the time grew closer she changed her mind and didn't want to go. Since she had already told her friend she would stay the night Ryan and I decided that she would not back out on her plans. Tonight Madelyn and I went to the movie, Repunzel, with our friends and afterwards she was to go home with her friend. As we walked out of the theater, she said "mama, I want to go home." I told her that she was going to spend the night with her friend and I would pick her up in the morning. She gave me extra kisses and hugs and told me she was calling me first thing in the morning to come pick her up.  It hurt my heart a little but I knew she will be just fine. She is in very good hands, as the mom of Madelyn's friend, is one of my good friends and running partner, and they live just over a mile from us. My friend knows that she can call at any hour if Madelyn is too home sick and I will come get her.
One day soon when Madelyn wants nothing to do with us and would rather be at her friend's house than at home with her parents I will look back at this and remember that sweet girl that didn't want to leave us.

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas 2010

At 7:30am we were woken by a very excited seven year old saying "mama, mama, it's Christmas morning, lets see what Santa brought!" Followed by "Oh my gosh!!! He brought me a red and black bike and new bedding just like I asked for!!! He even ate most of his cookie, drank the milk and the reindeer ate their oatmeal!" From that point on it took maybe a total of 20 minutes for us to get through all our presents. Santa was very good to Madelyn and Ryan out did me on the gifts as he does every year. He is a very good gift giver.

 Ryan was the first one to try out the new bike.

  A cute ornament from Madelyn.

 We both received very nice letters and drawings from Madelyn.

Goodness such a sight for sore eyes! BLECH!

 More DVDs, my goodness this child could open a red box with all her movies.

How exciting a new pink rug for her room.

 Weeding through all the gifts!

 Testing out her new bike, complete with a black wire basket.

Trying out her new bedding.

After gifts I made bacon and toast for breakfast, which trust me, is a real treat. Then we spent the day relaxing and enjoying our new toys. For dinner Ryan grilled a delicious steak and before we knew it Christmas was over. All the fuss and hype and it was over in a flash, but we made time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and thanked God for our many blessings.