Youth Basketball

We have just finished up our youth basketball season. It's a fast 6 weeks. This was Grayson's 4th year playing.

He's become much better at ball handling and being aggressive on the court.

He's got great hustle and is really fun to watch.

He's starting to get more serious about the game, and goof around with his friends less. But thankfully he's still having a good time. Next year he'll start playing full court!


This was Rowan's first year playing. Last year he said he was "too short" to play, even tough we assured him he was no shorter than the other first graders.

He LOVED it!

He remembered to dribble some of the time, and even made a basket or two.

He proved to be a tenacious defender, even if his tactics were sometimes a bit "questionable".

I think he mostly just liked hanging out with his friends though.

He says he wants to play every year from now on.

Now we get to enjoy a couple of sports free weeks before Fuller's middle school basketball season starts.

Here come the HAWKS!

Last weekend we had a night of family fun at the Winterhawks game. Paul's union is a sponsor of the team so once a year we have the opportunity to go for free. This year the kids all got free Winterhawks hat as well.

We had really good seats this year, about 12 rows up. Close enough to really see the action. I love how active hockey is, and how it's such a weird combination of grace and violence.

We ended up being there on their "Teddy Bear Toss" night, where they collect stuffed animals for local childrens' charities. When the Hawks score their first goal of the night everyone starts throwing their animals down on the ice. We weren't really aware that this was going on, so we hadn't brought any, but we met a nice older couple on the way in who gave us a large bag of stuffed animals for the boys to throw.

It was a pretty amazing sight to see animals flying for a few minutes. At the end of the night they announced that they had collected over 12,000 stuffed animals.

We were also treated to a really ridiculous fight at the end of the game. After spending the whole night stopping fights the refs let a couple players throw their gloves off and punch each other a few times at the end of the game. The kids were impressed, but it seemed a little contrived to me.

The highlight for Grayson and Rowan was meeting Tomahawk, unfortunately some yahoo decided to jump into our picture. Oh well, it was a fun night. Even if it did take 3 hours to play 3, 20 minute periods.

Trimming the Tree

Searching for Perfection

Last Friday afternoon we took advantage of the break in the rain, and the fact that the kids got out of school early, and went to get our Christmas tree. We have a favorite little U-cut place we like to go to. We were the only ones there that afternoon, so we had the run of the place. The road up to it isn't very fun to drive, but the trees and the prices are perfect.

You just can't beat a beautiful $20 tree, plus free apple cider and homemade chocolate chip cookies to boot!

About 2 minutes after we got there we had found a beautiful tree, but I guess it didn't seem like we had hunted enough because they were determined to look around for another 20 minutes.

I love how opinionated everyone gets!

Last year Grayson was determined that we get a particular tree, which was a not so good one. So we told him that this year he could pick. I was really hoping that he would either forget or that his taste would improve. Lucky for me, it did.

He picked a lovely tree! Now Fuller has determined that he gets to pick next year, and Rowan has sadly proclaimed that he won't get to pick until he's 9!

Making the Most of It

This past week we've been experiencing some very wintry weather. We've gotten a dusting of snow with a little ice underneath, and have been enduring temperatures in the teens and 20's. This is very uncharacteristic weather for November.

I can't remember a time when we've had snow falling when the trees still had lots of leaves to lose.

Fuller has reached the age where he isn't going to get excited or impressed unless we get some "serious" snow, but Grayson and Rowan were eager to get their hands on the white stuff.

Grayson made a tiny and somewhat pathetic snowman, (that may or may not have gotten thrown at Rowan later.)

Rowan did his best to look innocent while aiming ice balls at people.

They both tried their hand at sliding down the driveway,

but we're going to need a lot more snow and a sled to make that happen. Maybe Santa will bring both this year.

Life Lessons- Soccer Field Edition

After 7 consecutive Falls spent watching my kids play soccer, I must admit, I just don't get as excited as I used to. As the end of Summer nears, and coaches start calling with practice schedules I begin to mourn the loss of my Saturdays.

But then I see my boys' excitement about their teams. And I watch them run and play with their friends.

I see them weather 90 degree heat at the start of the season and 40 degree cold at the end. I watch them smile and laugh as they play in the pouring rain and get covered from head to toe with mud.

I watch them learn to work as a team, and learn to accept both encouragement and criticism from their coaches.

I watch them push themselves to play harder and run faster.

And I feel proud of them,

even though their teams both lost most of their games this season.

Because they welcomed each Saturday morning, ready to play their hearts out.

And because older brothers cheered on their younger brother.

We also enjoyed time with devoted grandparents, who make an effort to watch every grandchild play, every season.

Yes, I am a soccer mom. And we are a soccer family.

A word (or two) about Rowan

There's a reason people often refer to Rowan as a character. He often looks like a cartoon character, some of his expressions are priceless. And then there's the things that come out of his mouth. Here are a few recent "Rowanisms".

- He has been working on a long list for Christmas, but told me not to worry, because only half of the list is for me. The other half is for Santa.

- He said he's going to tell Santa to bring sugar cereal, strawberry toothpaste, root beer, and NO SOCKS! I guess he's going to try to get Santa to take care of all the areas he feels his life is lacking in.

- He has gotten into putting signs up on his door. They are quite a reflection of how he's feeling about the family. Some recent ones have been "No Grayson aloud", "No one but Rowan and Mommy", and "No one but Rowan and people who like my singing."

-Last week when I went to volunteer in his class his teacher pulled me aside and apologized for mispronouncing our last name all year. He hasn't been saying it wrong, but apparently Rowan told him he had been.

- Rowan thinks he can speak Spanish, and Chinese. He can't, but if you ask him to he'll ramble on incoherently at you for awhile.

- He has a really creative way of keeping score in his head. His team usually wins.

Taking the road less travelled

Recently we headed out to the woods to spend some special time together as a family, enjoying nature, the remnants of a beautiful Fall, and each others company.

I love getting the boys away from home and their toys and video games.

I love hearing Grayson and Rowan's excited exclamations as they discover big leaves, cool mushrooms, fallen trees and giant banana slugs.

I love that there are no arguments.

I love how we all relax, and the conversations begin to flow.

I love soaking in the quiet and the calm, surrounded by amazing beauty.

I love that my boys worry about me slipping on the wet leaves and offer to hold my hand.

I love that time seems to slow down enough that we can almost grab hold of the moment.

I love that we get to share this time, and build these memories.