Ellie has basketball, dance, swim team (if we can ever make it), K-Life and has started taking sewing lessons which she loves. She performed for dance at a Truman basketball game one Saturday. I missed out because I was with Lincoln at basketball games, but Andrew said she did a wonderful job. She does a lot of sewing at home and has taught herself how to make fleece ear warmers and pj pants, all of which she has been making for family and friends. We are very impressed.
And while we've had basketball practice going on for a while, we started up games the middle of January. They were excited to win their first game. It was a close one, but we came out on top. But then things went downhill for us from there. We played a few teams who had been together for a while and definitely outplayed us...and stomped us. The girls were getting a bit discouraged, so I called in some help with Remy and we had an emergency practice one Sunday and worked on learning zone defense and an offensive play to use against zone defense. And then she worked with Ellie a little after practice while Andrew brought the boys so they could shoot around a little bit on the other end. Our next game was against a 4th grade team and we did really well against them. Our zone defense may have been some help, but we also were taller and older than the other girls. I knew the coach and she said she was glad to help give our team a confidence boost.
Lincoln keeps busy with basketball also. He has been playing out of town most of the time including games in Schuyler one weekend, then Columbia another and St. Joseph another. He got to play his cousin, Tyler, at the tournament in Columbia and it was fun to watch them play each other. Lincoln always wanted to make sure that he was guarding Tyler. They beat us one game and we beat them another.
Lincoln also got to go to his first fun night at school, which was a glow party. He wasn't too excited to go at first, but had fun once he got there.
The twins were so excited to start their basketball season a few weeks ago. They have only been to one game since we were out of town for their second one. They love playing and have improved over last year. And I love watching them play (I love watching all my kids play!) They can't steal the ball at this age, but the twins love to try to "intercept" it, as they say.
I have been busy planning the TriFAHL and continuing training for races I haven't signed up for along with work for the office, continuing my volunteer activities and prepping for bible study to start again. Planning TriFAHL has taken more time than I thought it would as there have been a lot of obstacles and changes to overcome this year. But after several weeks of tension, we may actually be getting somewhere now and I have a great group of ladies that are helping me. I accomplished the Tour de Zwift, which was 9 stages of bike rides on the virtual bike software we do. It was a good motivator during the cold weather. And when we had a break for one day and everything had melted away, I went out for a run after dropping the kids off at school one morning. It started out okay, but by the end, a cold 17mph northwest wind had come in and the temperature started dropping. It was nice for that little bit though. We also ended up with a pond in our backyard for a bit before the ice came.
Andrew continues to put in a lot of time at the office and the ranch. This wonderful weather we have been experiencing makes it much harder for him to take care of his cows. I definitely have to document this winter as the most disruptive so far, especially concerning school. The kids have had at least 8 snows days (I think I've lost count) and it looks like we could have more in the future. Just last week, they had school on Monday, an early out Tuesday and were off Wednesday-Friday and this Monday. The more rural highways and rock roads have been sheets of ice the last several days and it seems like you hear of more people getting injured from falls on the ice. Andrew went to put hay out last week one time (he has done it multiple times, along with having to go out and chop ice too) and the roads were so bad that a 45 minute trip took 2 1/2 hours and he had to drive through pastures some of the time because the roads were too bad. Needless to say, we are ready for some warmer weather to get here.
In the midst of the all the yucky weather, we've still had fun. We've taken in several basketball games at different venues beyond our kids games. We went to the Truman games ones Saturday and the Taylors were in town and got to join us.They are fun teams to watch. We've been to one or two high school games, including driving down to Macon to watch the championship game of the tournament there because our girls were playing Father Tolten, who are coached by my old coach, Coach Riley. It was good to talk to him again and he had fun harassing my kids. We also went to KC and saw the Harlem Globetrotters with the Earlys. It was in the midst of Lincoln's games in St. Joseph. So, we went to one of Lincoln's games and then drove down to Kansas City for the Globetrotters and then Andrew and Lincoln went back to St. Joe while the rest of us went with the Earlys to their house. Then we hit up Urban Air to let the kids play before dinner. It was a fun little get-away in the midst of all of our snow days. We did have to contend with some yucky weather on our way home, but we made it and got back in time to go to our K-Life board meeting where we interviewed some potential new directors. It went really well.
The kids also got to get in on another trampoline park earlier when we stopped at Sky Zone on our way home from Lincoln's games in Columbia. They were so excited when we pulled into the parking lot as they thought we were just heading home. Maybe even more excited than when we surprised them earlier in the day by a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods to play on all the stuff there :-).
The kids did some sledding and playing outside with earlier snow days more so than the later ones since they involved more ice. We picked up Annie's kids for a couple early outs and they had fun all playing together. We also went sledding with them out at Andrew's parents one day.
We also filled our days with having friends over, playing laser tag and board games, playing the Switch when I would bring it out of hiding, watching some movies and working on Valentines. We went bowling one day with the Vincents. We were hoping it would be one of the last snow days, but we were wrong.
We also got to enjoy spending some time with Caroline and her kids who were in town for a few days. Sadly, we didn't get as much time as we would have liked because the weather made it hard to even get to my parents house. It was nice snuggling with Sully and laughing with Emmie. Then Kaitlin and her crew and Molly and Brad came into town Friday evening and we got to visit with them a bit before heading home to pack up and get ready to head to St. Joe and Kansas City early the next morning.
Lastly, we had our first high school meeting for Jackson. So crazy to think he will be heading there next year. The meeting we had was about enrollment and they had it at the high school library. I had to take a picture of Andrew and I's old lockers from our senior year as I passed them on the way to the library.
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