What I've been up to this week...

...the shortened version.

Monday:
I'm one of the VP's of the softball league. Monday night we held the new coaches/managers meeting. It was a good feeling to have my league (only 3 teams for 32 girls) in place. After the meeting 2 of the 6 coaches backed out!!! This Saturday are the player evaluations and so its really important to have the coaches in place by this weekend.

Tuesday:
I made a phone call to every single household of players registered to play in the major division (except obviously to those that are already coaching in the Major leagues). Guess how many coaches I got? ZERO. Very frustrating. I really don't want to have to make 2 huge teams of 16 each! The girls would only get to play 50% of the time! I was on the phone the whole night!

Wednesday:
Madison had her first indoor soccer tourney game tonight. We lost 0-3 so we are done. I have to remind myself that a lot of the girls we are playing are a year older. Our team is U11 and we are playing U12. (They didn't have a U11 league). One year really does make a difference. She is ready to get outside and back to "real" soccer. During indoor, there are no "off-sides" rules and that makes it harder for the defenders (Madison) to hold off scorers. Outdoor soccer is more like the official soccer rules and the offensive players can't do that. (Are you still with me?).

I have contacted the AD at Goshen College and also the Concord High School softball coach to see if they can think of any alumni that might be interested in coaching. Hopefully something will come out of that! I need to get creative in where these coaches are going to come from!

Well.. that's what I've been doing. Not very thrilling huh?

Cocoa, The Big Brown Dog

We are adding a new name for Cocoa's list of nicknames...Clifford, The Big Red Dog or Cocoa, The Big Brown Dog. You see when we got her at the Humane Society they predicted that she would be a small to medium sized dog. I know it was only a guess...goodness, it's really only a guess as to what kind of a dog she is. BUT, they have obviously gotten it wrong. She is growing like a weed! She gained 9 pounds in the last ONE month alone! She is really about at the maximum size I was hoping for right now at 23 pounds. She's only four. months. old! Just look at those kangaroo paws draped all over Madison! She looks like she's wearing a pair of thick socks. We're not done growing yet folks. So you see, she really does remind us of the Clifford, The Big Red Dog books!

Indoor Soccer Tie, 3-3

We tied a Middlebury team tonight that we previously lost to, so that was better. The frustrating part is that we were ahead at half-time, 3-0. They came out strong in the second half. They had a girl who was so rough that she got a yellow card and had to sit out of the game for 4 minutes, while their team played short. I haven't seen that at this level before. It was so close at the end... we almost scored with just a few seconds left on the clock. If only that goalie wasn't so tall....

: )

How it all came out in the wash

A lot of you have wondered about our washing machine situation. Well... we are now the owners of a Whirlpool. Thanks to Consumer Reports, the sales people and lots of feedback from you all, we had it narrowed down to 2 different ones, a Fisher-Paykel (sp?) or the Whirlpool. We went back to Lowe's to look at them again. The persuading factor was the huge size of the tub. It's the biggest you can buy (for the home). It's 4.7 cubic feet. You are supposed to be able to wash 3 standard sized loads in this one. SOLD. It was delivered on Friday and on Saturday I did 2 loads of laundry which would have normally been about 5 loads. Our Maytag was already the "super capacity" of its day.

So, that's it! If you need to know more specifics... we are totally "up" on washing machines now.

Hopefully we won't have to be "up" on them again for a couple of decades! (Although I was told the average life is only 8 years).

Basketball Blues

Madison had two Sports Center games Sunday afternoon. The first game we lost 10-34. She had 6 points. The second game was about the same. I'm trying not to remember it. We thought we would take some lumps playing at this level and that's exactly what we are doing. The girls are having fun though. It would be a different story if they weren't. Madison is a scrappy player... she is good at defense and trying to anticipate passes and ties up the ball for jump balls. I can already see improvement from their first game so that's good. That's what we need to focus on.

Upward BB 39-28

(Sorry, Blogger isn't in the mood for paragraphs tonight I guess!)
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Today was the first Saturday in months that Quinn didn't have basketball at 8am... which meant that Mom didn't need to be up early to take him either! Ahhh, finally, a day to sleep in. Nice idea huh? Didn't happen. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep! Don't you just hate that??

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Quinn had his Upward BB game today at 10am. He played really well and scored 17 points! Of course I didn't video this game, but I should have!! I told him afterwards that he did such a good job today. He said, "It was all because of my bladder!"... Apparently he had to go to the bathroom so bad that it gave him some extra zip, or speed, or special powers or something. Ha! Also what was funny is that we are the "Sooners" and we played the "Hawkeyes." On the way there he said, "I'm feeling sorry for Adam Huluska today because they're going down!" (Adam was from last season but who is paying that close attention from 2 states away right?).

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Madison wrote a book for the Young Author's Conference that was held this morning. It is called "Cocoa for Christmas" but unfortunately she just hasn't been feeling well and so we didn't get to go. She had a cold, sore throat, headache, and low grade fever earlier in the week. Towards the end of this week, she was feeling much better. Last night her eyes were red and weepy and it sure looked like she was getting pink eye. They looked much better this morning but she just wasn't quite over everything so she stayed home. She was disappointed because "I worked really hard to finish my book this week." I told her we would ask a bunch of friends to read it, to help her feel better about missing out on the conference. She had been looking forward to going for some time now but that's how it goes sometimes doesn't it? Yesterday she was putting the finishing touches on her book and she said, "I really like to be busy." I said, "Well, I'm glad, because you sure are!"

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We are supposed to get rain and then ice tonight followed by 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow night. I love the winter but it is starting to get a little on the long side, even for me. Take care everyone... and stay warm.

Happy Valentine's Day

"The best ever" pancakes for breakfast.

Webkinz and chocolate.

Flowers from Tony.

Cookies from Karla.

Cocoa stealing a Valentine sucker (she actually put it in her mouth like a kid...and RAN thru the house with it...GASP!)

Phone calls to loved ones.

Valentine parties at school.

Sharing my love. Feeling loved.

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Remembering the ultimate demonstration of love... Christ preparing Himself for the cross during these 40 days before Easter...Himself wondering if He could go thru with such an agonizing act...gave His life just for me. And You. Overwelmed with His love.

Indescribable!

This is for Terry, Tine, Monty and Allison today! You are in our thought and our prayers!
We love you guys!

Caution! Not suitable for climbing!

This was a cute little calendar that Eliza gave me to use during 2007. I just noticed the all capital letters on the back... in case someone was considering using the keychain clip for rock climbing or something. Evidence of our litigenous crazy society! HA!

Drop It!

This is one of the games that Cocoa can play endlessly. She races off with a well-known object that is a "No-No" and flies around the furniture, tempting us to just try and catch her. Here she has one of my mittens in her mouth. We've gone to some pretty extreme antics to catch her. The kids laughed as I even tried diving across the floor for her... only to have her slip through my hands. Addi would like a hidden camera to see all of it. I don't think so. Honestly, we would be pretty boring except for some of Cocoa's Cookiness. (Try to say that fast 10 times!).

Mr. Hustle.....AND.....Mr. Workhorse

Wow! Quinn was quite delighted today at his CDBL Awards ceremony! His coach chose him to receive the "Mr. Hustle" award for their team. That was quite a big honor and we were so proud of him. Imagine our surprise when the announcer was ready to present the very last award of the day. He proceeded to say that this was the highest award you could possibly win today... "Mr. Workhorse" would be awarded to the player who improved the most over the season. He talked it up quite a bit, adding to the suspense of the moment. Our Quinn won! We were shocked!..and Quinn was quite delighted! He got a hand-made wooden trophy with his name engraved on it and a CDBL t-shirt that says "Workhorse" on the back. There were many awards given. Nate received a "Mr. Basketball" award and also got a wooden trophy. They took a picture for the newspaper. Practicing good Internet safety, I've whited out the last names on the awards but if you double click, you can probably get a better look at it. His team played their last game. We barely won, 32-30. What a good morning for him!

3rd grade Presidential Race, Part 2

Well, Quinn came in the door this afternoon with a BIG smile on his face. No, he didn't win today... BUT the president (Benjamin) and vice-president (Nate) have already hired him on the side to be their Body Guard and if needed, their Lawyer! He was pretty excited about that! He said that there was a 3 way tie for the Secretary position and he was one of them. The class had a re-vote and he lost. He said he got an A+ on his project, his speech went "very good" and overall he seems pretty happy with his new Body Guard role and how the day went! That's my Quinner. There aren't enough words to describe how much I love him!

3rd Grade Presidential Race, Part 1

In the spirit of our nation's important election this year, Quinn's 3rd grade class had their own presidential race. Each student ran for president. They had to write a speech and present it to their classmates. They had to include information about themselves and their campaign promises. They also made posters. Quinn says, "Vote for Quinn. We all Win!" He gave a token to help the class remember his campaign promises... Hershey candybars wrapped with his 'Vote for Quinn' and his campaign promises. He also handed out fliers. Today was his big speech. He wanted to dress up for the occasion. Doesn't he look sharp in his tie? He wasn't sure how he was going to manage his PE class (volleyball) in that outfit. I wasn't either. Hope it went well! I've been thinking about him all day today. He told me he wasn't expecting to win but his personal goal was to get a good grade on the project. I think that was realistic thinking. He's a realist... like me!

I'll let you know how it went.

Indoor Soccer Tie, 5-5

The Flames didn't loose tonight! Yes! They tied.
Madison had 1 assist and actually scored a goal on a penalty shot. There were 5 girls making a wall in front of the goal and she kicked it hard and high enough that it sailed over their heads into the net. Cool! She is so much fun to watch. A dad from the other team came up to her after the game and shook her hand and told her "Good job, to the rocket in the back(field)".

She definetly has a passion for soccer!

Names for Cocoa...

Cocoa
Cocoa-puff
Cocoa-krisp
Coconut
Coke
Cokes
Coke-y
Puppers
No-No!... No-No-No!

2W, 2L

Today Madison and Quinn both had 1 win and 1 loss in their basketball games. Yes, it was another 4 games today, starting at 8am and then home around 3pm. I don't have any snapshot from Quinn's games today... I video taped them (or DVD'd them... or Memory Carded them... what do we call that process now?). Peyton fell and hurt her arm really bad in the first girls' game. I got it on video and when I went back and looked at it, it looks like she broke her arm!!! It was bad enough that Tony only needed to see it one time... no more, no thanks, once was quite enough. She went to the ER and it sounds like the preliminary x-rays show no break. I'm sooo thankful for that for her. She's just getting to the end of her swimming season. I'm serious, if I was a betting person, this arm was broke! Madison said she had a hard time concentrating after that injury. She felt all shaky and couldn't focus on what she was supposed to do. The rest of the day was spent running some errands with Madison... to the grocery store and shopping for a birthday gift.

Madison went to a birthday party tonight... a slumber party. It was Maddi J.'s Wild-n-Crazy birthday party. Check out below to see how she looked when we left.

Well, that's how I spent my Saturday. My house is a wreck but we enjoyed the games today.

Love, Leah

Weeee!

Ox Bow Park was the place to be this afternoon. We met Karla, Katie and Nathan there. We ended up seeing lots of people we know. Madison complained that we had to leave "so soon"... after 2 hours in the snow! My toes and 25 degree weather don't get along so well for that long. We came home and warmed up with hot cocoa. Yum!




I thought these 2 pictures of Katie and Nathan were so cute! The picture in the back is of Madison with Katie on her back, sailing down the hill, while it's still snowing!

My haiku

Too much snow. No school.
Falling, blowing, beautiful.
Hot cocoa, games, rest.

Indoor soccer

Another indoor soccer loss tonight, 3-7. We played the team that we previously lost 0-8 to so I guess we are doing better. They actually looked pretty good in the first half. At half-time is was 2-3. I guess we can't expect much when they really aren't practicing at all right now... just getting together for 1 hour to play. Indoor is very different from soccer outside. Madison got kicked in the ankle, to the side of her shin guard. She came home and put ice on it. She'll probably have a nice bruise. We've sure had lots of lessons in losing and how to be good sports about it all I guess.... (sigh).