"A" for Effort

Dear Nate, 

Yesterday was your last basketball game of the season. And all I can say is: thank goodness! 

Now let me back up....if you decide to read this blog one day (which I doubt will ever happen), just know that I love you. A whole heckuva lot. With that being said, since I am one of those moms that doesn't sugar-coat things, I can honestly say that you had a rough basketball season. (And that's putting it lightly). Granted, it was your first time playing. And you were on a team that combined both kindergarteners and 1st graders. So it was only natural for the kindergarteners to be beginners and the 1st graders more experienced. The coach warned the parents that it would take a few games & practices for it all to "click." 

Well, son, it never really "clicked" for you :( You are just NOT aggressive in the slightest, and you are too well-mannered to steal the ball from someone. I guess I should have known this. You constantly complained - and sometimes were close to tears after games - about how many "rules" there were. Because of course, your little perfectionist brain wanted to memorize them all and do everything right. Switching so quickly between offense & defense was very confusing for you, and though you were great at standing "at your mark," you never knew what quite to do beyond that.

Luckily, the coach realized early on that you were not going to be the MVP, and made sure to let you bring the ball the down the court once or twice each game, after the other team scored a basket. This was the highlight of each of your games (and the ONLY time you ever touched the ball). Here is a quick clip of you at the game yesterday:

Now from the next few pictures from yesterday, I'll be honest... it looks like you kinda know what you're doing!

 

But then there's these pictures....and they tell a different story.....which is closer to the truth....

Dear boy, I love you so, but it was just REALLY hard to watch your games this season. Sometimes I actually had a sigh of relief when you were subbed out. Mostly because you just looked so uncomfortable and confused most of the time, and it broke my heart to watch.

 

After the game on Saturday, your coach gave every player a medal and then we had a few last pictures & treats with the team.

This may come as a surprise, but I DO hope you want to play basketball again next Winter. I think you should give it one more shot, to see if it was just "first season jitters," or rather, just plain NOT for you. We shall see.

 

I am proud of you for going to every game & practice, even when I could tell you really didn't want to. You didn't give up and you didn't have a bad attitude all season. And at least you enjoyed being with your friends and getting (a little) bit of physical activity at the same time.

 

I love you, Nate the Great. But I'm not gonna lie....I am really looking forward to soccer season starting in a few weeks! :)

The "Dusting" of 2014

For those that don't live around here, we were supposed to get a "dusting" of snow yesterday. And though we got a mere 1-1.5 inches, it has led to more chaos in the past 36 hours than you could ever imagine. Our state was not prepared for this, and the roads turned to ice almost immediately since it was 20 degrees outside. Luckily, Abby was home with me and I was able to pick Nate up at school for early dismissal around 11:30 am. We are so fortunate to live less than 10 minutes from his school. Others were not so lucky though....

I have friends who were trapped in their cars with their kids for 4-5 hours yesterday, just trying to get home from school and work.

I know someone who is STILL not back at her house. She & her infant son have been cooped up in a hospital (where a friend works), while her husband and eldest son had to ride an ATV to get up some of the hills in their neighborhood to get to their house this morning.

There were kids who had to spend the night in their school because their parents couldn't get to them. Heartbreaking.

Most of the highways in Birmingham look like parking lots, with abandoned cars. And with temperatures not getting above freezing again today, I have no idea when they will be able to clear all this mess up.

Like I said, it is utter chaos around our state.

Which makes me feel pretty guilty actually, since my biggest concerns the last 36 hours were how many layers to put on the kids before going outside, or which pair of gloves were warmest.

With that being said, we've had two fun days of playing in the snow and making memories with our friends. Yesterday, one of Nate's school buddies came home with us because - you guessed it - his mom was stuck on the road and couldn't get to the school by 12. As soon as we got home, we ran outside to play, and were joined by our next-door neighbors:

Pretty thrilled with his snow angel

Snowball fight with Jack!

They ganged up on Mrs. Nicole!

Her first time wearing a scarf and she LOVED it! I think she actually slept with that thing last night :)

Double Trouble

Nate & Chandler, planning their next move

Chandler found the wheelbarrow behind the house, with a TON of snow inside!

Jack got his mom pretty good!

Having a ball :)

Chandler, Kate, Nate & Jack discovered the carport snow!

Abby had already gone inside, so I had to get a selfie with at least one of my kids

Love our house in the snow!

Chandler & his mom camped out at our house most of the afternoon, until some roads re-opened & less crazy drivers were out. It still took them 1.5 hours to get home! (Instead of the usual 20 minutes)

 Of course, school was cancelled today since a lot of the roads were still icy and it dipped down to single digits last night. These two were thrilled to sleep in (!) and play outside, yet again, with neighbors. We learned our lesson from yesterday and put on an extra - 3rd - layer of clothes and a second pair of gloves. We were nice & toasty despite the 14 degree wind chill!

Kate, Jack, and Nate (and Matt!) trying their hardest to make a snowman. It didn't work :(

Sass & Frass could have cared less about a snowman!

.....all they cared about was the swings!

Luckily, hot chocolate & Girl Scout cookies awaited us inside Mrs. Nicole's house.

Kennedy, Abby, and Caroline. They are all 4 but somehow look 14 to me here. (Kennedy is another neighbor who joined us - along with her 2 year old brother - outside today. So fun!!)

Like mentioned before, I feel very blessed that we were not directly affected by this snow & ice. My kids got to be kids, and play outside and have red cheeks and throw snowballs at each other. School is cancelled again tomorrow, but sadly, most of our snow will be gone by then. But yay for another morning to sleep in!!

Lunch Share

Friday, both kids had a "Lunch Share" at their school. At the same time. And when I asked them who they wanted at theirs, they both replied "MOMMY!" (Which I must admit, felt good.) But, Greg wanted to go to one of the Lunch Shares, and I couldn't be in two places at once. So, Nate drew the short straw and got Greg's name, and I went to Abby's lunch with her :)

Though once I got there, it was quite apparent that I was not her favorite after all! She just wanted to talk and play with her besties, Mia & Indya. How cute are these girls!? We had a mini photo-shoot after lunch in the Parish Hall:

 I had to force her to take a picture with me, but at least she obliged. Ha!

 I had a great time at her Lunch Share, though there was a not a ton of food to choose from. However, it was quite a different story at Nate's Lunch Share. Greg said they had WAY too much food! (Mostly because a lot of the parents didn't come; there were only about 6-7 parents there, for 28 kids. Sad!) Nate was super happy to have his Daddy there, and even more so to be able to have multiple plates of food. My boy eats like a horse!

Dad & Lad time :)

Around Here

We are getting back into the swing of things around here. The kids are back to school, and are happy to be with their friends. Gymnastics & basketball have started up again, and I am splitting my "free" time between the gym, the allergist's office, and helping Nate's class with various projects. Needless to say, we are busy busy most days. (But I wouldn't have it any other way!)

A tidbit of news though: Nate won a handwriting contest in his grade yesterday!! Here is his entry:

 Now he will move onto the statewide competition. I think it's hilarious that this even exists for kindergarteners, but nonetheless, we are proud of him! And he is pretty proud too :)

And then there's this girl:

She had "Western Day" today at school and thanks to 3 of my friends, we were able to piece together this outfit. Clearly, she thinks she is hot stuff :) She especially loved her boots with "jewels on them." She brought along a stick horse too, and named it Sandy. (Like the dog in "Annie" - that is another new favorite movie these days.)

Love my two kiddos and how different they are!!

TN Visit

This will be the last of my Christmas posts!!

We drove from Clemmons, NC to Johnson City, TN on January 2nd to finish up our Christmas tour and visit with Greg's family. We arrived in town just in time for lunch (wonderful planning on my part, I must say!), so we headed to my favorite fast food place ever - PAL'S!!!! Seriously, it is the best cheeseburger & strawberry milkshake you will ever have. I discovered it in high school when I was with my traveling soccer team for a tournament in TN. And it just so happened that I married a man whose hometown has 3 different PAL's! :)

Lovin' their strawberry shakes

 Once we got to Mum Mum & Granddaddy's house, we stayed busy playing games, discovering old toys, laughing with Aunt Gena, playing the piano, and dressing up the poor dog. (Abby thought this was hilarious of course!)

Ripley was a trooper

 After dinner, we finally had Christmas #3!!! Surprisingly the kids were STILL super excited. (As if they hadn't gotten enough presents already!)

Abby was SO excited that Nate got the last thing on his Santa list - a hover ball!

Taking a little exercise break :)

Frozen!! (the doll/princess from the movie)

 The much sought-after Hover Ball was a bit harder to operate than we anticipated. It made Nate a little nervous at first but then he caught on. (Though I think Greg had the most fun with it!)

 Poor Uncle Kevin tore his Achilles tendon right before Christmas, so had surgery & was stuck in Tampa :( We did facetime with him while the kids opened his presents, so at least he got to see their reactions and stuff. We missed you, Uncle Kevin!!

Thanks Uncle Kevin & Rocio!

 The next morning, Abby woke up asking to play with her princesses & carriage. (Great gift, Aunt Gena!)

 And of course, the poor dog got to wear a dress again. Abby thought they were BFF's, but Ripley's face says otherwise, ha!

Shocker: Nate did legos most of the morning!

There was a dusting of snow that morning, but unfortunately not enough to play in. So we braved the bitter cold and headed to Chuck-E-Cheese for some afternoon fun!

Aunt Gena was Abby's wingman

Daddy relived his childhood thru Nate, ha!

Look at that form! :)

This was Abby's fave game - "Deal or No Deal!"

 After we got back to the house, Nate got to work on his robotic legos until dinner. Thank goodness Aunt Gena was around to help because I barely understood the directions!!! And they got it finished too. So cool!

We left early Saturday morning and Christmas 2013 was officially in the books. What a great one! Thank you, Mum Mum & Granddaddy for hosting us and for all the wonderful food & presents! And Aunt Gena....thanks to all the attention you gave my kids, I had to de-spoil them for 3 days! ;)