Basketball Game #2

Drew's second basketball game of the season was this past Saturday, January 17th. All week long, Drew had been looking forward to this game. But when he woke up Saturday morning, he started saying that his stomach hurt again. I told him that he was fine and that he had to play. I don't ever make my kids do something they don't want to do (when it comes to extracurricular activities anyway), but they both know that once they sign up for something they stick with it through the season. Same with basketball...

I talked with the coach before the game and told him that Drew had a nervous stomach again, but that he was going to play. Drew's coach is not very forceful (which is a good thing), so when Drew told him he didn't want to play any in the first half coach didn't make him. Poppi talked to Drew after half-time and told him he was leaving if Drew wasn't going to play. Daddy also told him he wasn't going to waste his time taking Drew to practice every Monday night if he wasn't going to play in the games. Craig talked to Drew and finally made him go into the game at the start of the 5th quarter (they play 6). We were all excited to see Drew finally play his first quarter of basketball this year. He hustled the whole time, kept a smile on his face, and scored 4 points for his team. You could tell by his face he was having fun. He stayed in the game for the final quarter too, and was upset at the end of the game that his Poppi didn't get to see him play. He called Poppi on the way to eat lunch to tell him how good he did. The first two points Drew scored on a foul. At this age, if you are shooting and you get fouled, your team scores 2 points (3 if you make the shot). The other 2 points he earned by scoring a basket. Everyone went NUTS when Drew scored - all the spectators, Drew, his teammates, his coach, and even the coaches from the other team (friends from Upward and school)! We were all clapping and cheering loudly! Drew sure made me a proud mommy - and now that he knows he can do it, he will be out there every other Saturday!

Drew and his teammates get ready to play defense.

Drew hustles down the court to cover his man. He did a really good job of staying with him.

Drew and the other players look at the referee - Drew looks all sweet and innocent like "what happened?". Don't let him fool ya!

Drew hustlin' some more! I did not get a picture of him making the shot. Mikayla and a friend was helping me photograph - plus I was too busy watching the ball go in the basket and yelling!! I'm sure it won't be his last basket scored this year so I'll try to get a shot of one!

Dance Costume!!

Last Monday night at dance, Miss Andrea had the girls come into the waiting room to surprise us wearing their ballet costumes! They all looked adorable in their costumes, and the girls were super excited that they were PINK!! None of us had our cameras, so I thought I would have to wait awhile to share. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Miss Andrea at school last week where she had attached a few pictures! Thank you Miss Andrea! I think pink suits all of them - what do you think?

Basketball 2009!

Drew had his first basketball game of the season on Saturday, January 10th. He has been going to practice every Monday night since the end of November, and he has really enjoyed it. Poppi has been taking him to practice because Mikayla's dance class is the exact same time on Monday nights, and I can't be in two places at once. Daddy said Drew does very well - listens, cooperates, makes a lot of shots, and works well with his teammates. I'm sure it helps that Bryson is on his team!! Nanda and I set it up that way for carpooling. Nanda has offered to take Drew to practice for me any night that I need her to. After hearing both my dad and Nanda talk about how well Drew does at practice, I was shocked to hear him complaining of his stomach hurting before the first game. He said "mom, what if we are playing that big boys team?" Right then I knew he was nervous, and that was the reason for his tummy troubles. I reminded him that he would be okay - this is his third year playing. The closer we got to the church, the more upset he became. When Poppi got there, Drew was all but in tears. He ended up sitting on the bench the whole game because he was "sick" even though his coach and ALL of his teammates all but begged him to go in the game.

This is where Drew stayed during the game (when he wasn't in the bathroom), and I was a disappointed mommy. Please don't misunderstand - if he was truly sick, we wouldn't have even been there. I knew, though, that once he entered the game he would be fine! He earned the white star on Saturday for "most Christ like" which made mommy super proud!! His coach said even though he didn't feel up to playing he sat and cheered on his team and was an example for others. On the way home, Drew assured me that he would play in his next game.
Mikayla, on the other hand, enjoyed the social aspect of the game just fine. She, Breanna, and Emily had fun talking, dancing, playing, etc. Mikayla decided she did not want to cheer this year after running through the smoke at the end of last season. This was fine with mommy since she takes tap, ballet, jazz, and clogging and her cheer practices would have conflicted with her dance class on Monday night. I thought she would be upset once the games started and she saw Breanna cheering. She hasn't gotten upset or even mentioned anything about cheering!

Fun Way to Ring in the Year!

My friend Nanda called to see if the kids and I wanted to go get lunch and see a movie with a group of friends on Friday, January 2nd. I knew the kids would LOVE it, and since I enjoy getting together with friends anytime, I told her we would love to go!

We met Nanda and her two children, Bryson and Breanna, Traci and her daughter, Emily, and her cousin, Morgan, Loretta and her two children, Philip and Elizabeth, and Angie and her two children, Maddie and Dawson at Chick-fil-a for lunch at 11:30 and then decided on which movie we would go see. Did you get all that?? That made 5 adults, including me, and 10 children, including Drew and Mikayla - what were we thinking? It actually was WONDERFUL, and a lot of fun!

All of the kids were very well behaved at Chick-fil-a - even though we took up four whole tables. They played on the playground for awhile after we finished eating while us girls got to talk. Then we decided on which movie we would see (Bedtime Stories) and headed to the theater. The kids were very well behaved during the movie as well. Mikayla, Breanna, Nanda, Traci, Morgan, and I sat on one row, with Loretta, Elizabeth, Maddie, Angie, and Emily sitting directly behind us, and the boys (Philip, Bryson, Dawson, and Drew) sat at the top because the theater was so crowded. I was a little concerned at first about the boys being at the top without an adult, but they were fine! It was a good movie, I think the adults enjoyed it as much as the children. The children were all extremely well behaved. In fact, you would have never guessed we had 10 kids with us unless you counted, and that is saying something, I think!! We can't wait to do this again!!

Fun At the Park!

Since my friend, Amy, was off of work on Monday, December 29th (I know, I'm going backwards again but I forgot to take my camera and Amy so graciously emailed these pictures to me!!) we planned to get together and let the kids play. We decided that we would get lunch and meet at the park to let them play. So Drew, Mikayla, and I went by McDonald's to pick up some lunch (chicken nugget happy meals for them and a bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken for me) and then we headed to the park to meet Amy, Jadyn, and Trevyr. As we were leaving McDonald's I got a call from Amy saying that the park we had planned to take the kids to had a sign on the fence saying closed for repairs. Not to fear, there are 2 other parks close by, and we decided on one of them. Once we arrived, we found a picnic table where we could all enjoy our lunch. The weather was nice, a little windy, but nice.

After we all finished eating, the kids ran to play. When Amy and I weren't up playing with our little ones, we were doing our usual - talking! We all had so much fun and we ended up staying for more than 2 hours. The kids surely slept well that night!

Mikayla deciding if she really wants to try that!
Drew and Jadyn getting ready to play "hide and seek".
Jadyn and Mikayla take a break from playing to pose for a picture.

Drew tries to decide if he really wants to go on the monkey bars.

Look how pretty!! Look how handsome!!

Drew, Trevyr, Jadyn, and Mikayla play in the sand. This was the rare picture of Trevyr. He wouldn't be still long enough for his mom to get a picture - he is so cute!

Run, Mikayla, run!

Happy New Year!!

As I look back on 2008, I cherish the memories made, the smiles shared, the tears cried, and the joy experienced! I have been so blessed, and I thank God for my blessings daily. This year has not been without trials, but through those trials I have grown in my walk with my Lord. I know that everything happens according to His will and that His grace is sufficient. My hope for 2009 is that I continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord, and that everything I do (and say) be to His glory. I resolve to be the best possible role model that I can be for my children, and to set an example that I would be proud for them to follow. Happy 2009!!

Christmas Day!

After coming home to get out of our PJ's we headed back to Mimi and Poppi's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Each year, we alternate where we get together between my mom's house and her sisters' houses so it is not as overwhelming for just one of them. This year, it was mama's "turn". We had a lot of fun spending the day with my Grandma Nell, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Drew opens his gift from Lauren.

Mikayla opens her gifts with the help of her cousin, Samantha - Mikayla absolutely adores her! Please excuse the stain you see on Mikayla's knee - they had all just come in from playing football.

Santa Came to Mimi and Poppi's!!

After I finished making the potato salad and deviled eggs that we were to bring for Christmas dinner with my mom's side of the family, we went to Mimi and Poppi's house to see what Santa left over there. Santa has always left us goodies over there too, but this year my daddy didn't think he would until Drew reminded him that "Santa always does".

Drew and Mikayla were excited to see the couch filled with more goodies. Mikayla was glad to have Candy Land to bring to our house and Drew couldn't wait to play with his new Hess truck!

Drew shows off his frog - that has frog parts inside. Our little scientist got lots of things to keep him busy experimenting this year, including a rock tumbler and an animal habitat from his daddy.
Mikayla loves this big stuffed bear - it is soooo soft. She carried it around everywhere the whole time we were there.

Mikayla draws on her pad with her "magic pen".My sister shows my mom how to work a digital camera - my mom is so not tech savvy and really has no desire to be.Poppi helps put batteries in Drew's and Mikayla's Hess trucks.

Drew and Mikayla must have been some good little munchkins this year for Santa to be this good to them.

Santa Came, Santa Came!

Drew and Mikayla came in my room bright (well not even bright yet) and early Christmas morning proclaiming this very thing. When I saw that the clock read 5:04, I talked them into crawling into bed with me for just a few more minutes - it felt as if I had just closed my eyes. Probably the only reason they agreed was because they had already seen and been playing with all their new goodies. After just a few minutes we all got up, and they were thrilled to show me all Santa left for them!Drew plays with his Hot Wheels Dinosaur town. He also got some more Bakugan Rollers (I just learned to spell these - apparently we have been pronouncing them wrong as well!), a telescope, a bug maker, clothes, and a stocking full of goodies.Mikayla changes Baby Alive's diaper. This was really the only thing she asked for this year, but below you see she also got make-up, a Sharpay barbie and pink golf cart, more Pixos, clothes, and a stocking full of goodies.Santa also left a few goodies for both Drew and Mikayla - a new game for the Wii, a board game, a movie, and more Pixos.Drew played the new Wii game all morning, and hasn't stopped much since.Mikayla plays with her new Barbie and golf cart - she LOVED that it was pink, just like in the movie!Mimi and Poppi came over to see what Santa left at our house. Mimi helped put Mikayla's fake fingernails on while Poppi helped make her Barbie horse and carriage work. The fingernails were a little, er a lot, long for Mikayla and Mimi kept telling her she wasn't going to be able to do anything with them on. When Poppi asked her how she was going to eat with those long things on, she looked at her Mimi and said "let's don't put them on this hand, I'll eat with this hand." We all just died laughing - she's like her mama, that girl knows what's important!! She ended up asking Mimi to take them off of the hand that she had them on and decided she would save those for another day!
Drew shows his Poppi his new Bakugan Rollers. My daddy is such a good Poppi - check out that "amazed" face!

Another Trip to the Dentist and visiting Santa!

Drew and Mikayla had a dental check-up on Thursday, December 11th. (I usually don't like for my dates to be out of order, but because I didn't get pictures I forgot to post this.) I was so proud of Mikayla who actually let Ms. Wendy clean ALL of her teeth this time. You may remember from earlier posts that Mikayla is not fond of dental check-ups or anything that resembles a visit to the doctor. At her first dental check-up Wendy was able to completely clean and check Mikayla's teeth while she sat in my lap. At her second visit we were going to try to let her sit in the chair "like a big girl" all by herself. Ms. Wendy was able to clean her top teeth, but Mikayla closed her mouth and refused to let her clean the bottom teeth saying she didn't like the taste of the paste. Wendy even tried a different flavor, but Mikayla would have no part of it. We left with her screaming (people probably thought she had all her teeth pulled or something like that the way she was screaming). The next visit, Craig took both Drew and Mikayla (smart mama!). I thought that she might let Ms. Wendy clean her teeth with her daddy there. Unfortunately Wendy was not there on this particular visit, and Mikayla had none of her teeth cleaned.

So, I didn't mention the dentist again until the morning of the 11th when I told Drew and Mikayla they would be car riders. Immediately the crying started, with Mikayla insisting that she didn't need to go to the dentist because she didn't have any cavities. Once we got to the dentist, Mikayla went first, sitting on my lap again. She was nervous and tense the whole time but she let Ms. Wendy clean and floss all of her teeth. Then Wendy called the dentist in the room while she had her hands in Mikayla's mouth flossing her teeth. Mikayla had been saying the whole time "I don't want that man (the dentist) to come in here" and Wendy thought she wouldn't open her mouth again for him. Dr. Kennemore came in to check Mikayla's teeth and said they all looked great (no cavities!!!). He told her to keep brushing like she was and that was all he would ever have to do (look in her mouth). Next it was Drew's turn. Drew climbed up in the chair all by himself (he's never had to sit in my lap). He never flinched the whole time Wendy was cleaning, and watched TV instead. When Dr. Kennemore came in to check Drew's teeth, he told Mikayla he wanted to see her sit in the chair by herself next time. He praised Drew for taking such good care of his teeth (no cavities!!!) and reminded him to continue brushing like he was. After they picked out their new toothbrushes, we were off to the mall.

I told Drew and Mikayla beforehand that if they did what they were supposed to at the dentist office, we would go see Santa afterward (hey, a mom will do whatever works). The best part is that it was not crowded at all and we didn't have to wait to see the jolly man in the red suit. Drew and Mikayla climbed into his lap and smiled for their picture and then told him exactly what they wanted for Christmas (a Baby Alive for Mikayla and a scooter and Backemond Rollers for Drew). They couldn't wait for Santa to make his stop at our house after the visit as that is all they talked about for days.