Winter Mission Trip

Here's a little bit of what the boys have been doing down in Mission, TX. They finish up today and come home tomorrow.

Aaron helped put siding on a house.

Nathan helped replace a roof.

Tournament Game 3: Not a Pretty Performance

And we thought the second game was bad! As a team, we committed 42 turnovers. Every single player that made it from the bench to the floor committed at least 1. At the end of the half, we were down by 20. At least we played more respectably in the 2nd half, finishing with a 57-43 loss.

Aaron and Nathan worked hard, as usual, having their share of mistakes. Aaron ended the evening with 7 points (2 of 5 from the free throw line), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Nathan managed 5 points (1 of 2 free throws), 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

We get a break now until after Christmas (at least for games!) and I'm so glad we get a few warm-up games before district play begins. Hopefully we can get it together, because the fact of the matter is that this team could be good. Not great. But definitely good. And coming off two seasons of zero district wins, that is has the potential to be huge. If they can find the basket and quit turning the ball over, that is!

Second Tournament Game

Not such a good day today. We were dismal in our shooting percentage, both from the field and from the free throw line. Aaron ended with 2 points, Nathan with 6. Aaron managed 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Not up to what his numbers have been.

Nathan pulled down 3 rebounds, had 2 assists and 1 steal.

As a team we had a huge number of turnovers, which didn't help, either, although Aaron only gave up 1--his best game yet in that area! We'll see how it goes tomorrow. A win gives us 3rd place. A loss? Well, we won't think about that possibility right now!

Wrapping Up Aaron's Football Career

Our annual fall sports awards banquet was last night, the final wrap up of Aaron's football career. To be honest, we weren't expecting anything in the way of awards. He did well this season, but not necessarily outstanding. But we were all pleasantly surprised. Here's a rundown of Aaron's final football awards:

Team: Christian Character award

District: 2nd team kicker, 1st team cornerback

State: honorable mention cornerback, academic all-state

The state honors were huge, especially the academic one. It requires a junior or senior to have received a first team all-district award and to have at least a 90 average in school. Aaron works so hard in his classes but always feels he doesn't quite measure up. Thankfully his elective classes brought up his average enough to qualify for this honor. It is such an accomplishment for him! But beyond the hardware around his neck, we so appreciated the things said about his character and his leadership by the coaches. It was a lovely end to his career in a sport that was never his first love but that he worked to do well. We are so proud of him!

Tournament Game 1: Double-Double

We played our first of three games in a tournament today and won, 54-33. We even did it without one of our best players. But the most significant thing about this game for our family was that Aaron got his first ever double-double. 11 points, 14 rebounds. He was our high scorer and ended with 6 steals and 5 assists, too. (We won't talk about his number of turnovers!)

Nathan played quite well also, finishing with 9 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal.

Tomorrow we play a small public school, one that beat us soundly last year. But they graduated 6 basketball seniors, so maybe it will be a real game. We shall see!

On the Winning End

For the past three seasons, our basketball team has often been on the losing end of a rout. Last night, we got to be on the winning end. The final score: 72-36. I'm not sure we scored even close to 70 points in a game last year!

The boys all played well. Aaron and Nathan didn't score much, but Aaron had 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 5 points (1 of 2 from the free throw line). Nathan had 8 points (including a 3-pointer and 1 of 2 free throws), 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal.

Tournament play this weekend will be interesting. I'm expecting them to at least compete with teams that slaughtered us last year, but we shall see. At least it is exciting!

A Decisive Win

Our boys played their first home game tonight and came away with their second win of the season. This was a decisive 56-39 win. And this was against a respectable team. They just played basketball like they knew how to play!

Aaron was awesome. He led the scoring with 21 points, was second in rebounding with 8 boards, had 3 assists, and 1 steal. He was 6 of 8 from the free throw line.

Nathan didn't do too badly, either. He played all but a couple of minutes of the game, scored 3 points--all from the free throw line, grabbed 5 rebounds, made 2 assists and came up with 2 steals.

I sure hope this is an indication of things to come. If so, it should be a fun season!

Beginning with a Win

We started basketball season tonight, after only one practice. Eight of our eleven players have been focused on football until last week, so their basketball skills were a bit rusty. And in the first half of the game, that was quite apparent. But the boys came out for the second half and turned it on a bit. At the end of the 3rd quarter, we had pulled to within 5. With less than 5 minutes left in the game, we went ahead by 1--and managed to hold on. We won 41-35.

Our boys did well. Aaron finished with the third highest rebounds but also tied for most turnovers (all coming in the first half). But he led in assists (including one to his brother!) and even had a few steals. He ended with 2 points. All in all, pretty good considering that coach sat him halfway through the 2nd quarter when he got called for his third foul. (He didn't pick up his forth foul until there were 11 seconds left in the game, in spite of playing every minute of the 2nd half.)

Nathan did well, too. He scored more, ending with 5 points. He also had a couple of rebounds as well as a couple of turnovers.

Now if we can get some practices under our belt, this might be a much better season than we've seen in the past couple of years!

The Final Football Game

Here are my boys one last time, after their last game on the same football team.

We ended our season with a heartbreaking loss, 36-24. Heartbreaking because we hung in there so long and finished so close. Our opponent was undefeated, ranked number one. They hadn't played an entire game all year long. We took them to the very end and, in truth, we just had one too many mistakes. We could have beat them, but we beat ourselves with mistakes.

Still, it was quite a season. To watch this group of seniors who stepped onto the field as juniors, most with zero experience in a varsity game, compete at this level was quite amazing. I'm so proud of them for how far they came in such a short amount of time. And the younger guys who played will walk into next season with confidence, experience, and a hunger to go deeper into the playoffs.

Aaron ended with a good game. No catches. Some good tackles. One missed kick due to kicking into the swirling wind. Nathan played well too, cool under pressure, though throwing a very uncustomary for him interception. He tried to connect once with Aaron, near the end zone, but it just didn't quite happen. It was too bad, too, for it would have been a game-changing play.

We cried many tears afterward. I'll miss watching them on the field together next year. After all, they started playing on the same soccer team when they were 3 and 4! But of course there is still basketball, which will begin next Monday.

One Round Down

After our dismal performance in last year's playoff game, this team redeemed itself with a decisive win, 54-7. The game ended at halftime.

Aaron played almost the whole game, with another solid performance on defense. He caught a touchdown pass (thrown by our other quarterback) and had a pass from his brother knocked out of his hands almost in the end zone. He hit 6 of his 7 PATs, with the last one hitting the upright and bouncing back. (That's the third time he's hit the post this year. What's with that?)

Nathan got to play a bit. He threw four beautiful passes, the only one not going for a completion was the one to his brother. :)

Next round the opponent gets much more difficult, so we'll see what happens!

2nd in District!

Tonight we had a big win. Not just in points, 68-28, but big in the sense that it gives us 2nd place instead of 3rd in our district. These boys have made a HUGE turnaround since last year!

Aaron had another great game on defense, including a knocked down pass in the end zone in the last couple of minutes of the game. He had a couple of passes thrown his way on offense, but neither was catchable. He kicked 7 for 9 on PATs and he had kickoff duty tonight as well, hitting his long ones and his on-sides ones very nicely.

And I realized that tonight was his final Friday Night Lights, which was kind of sad. But at least we still have two more years of Nathan.

Oh--Nathan actually got to play a bit again tonight. He did very well, but he didn't get a chance to throw the ball. Hopefully this means he'll get a bit of playing time in the playoffs, too.

All in all, it's been a great season. We'll see what happens next!

Big Win!

Today we beat our arch rival Greenville Christian 16-30! It's been three years since we've beat them!

Aaron played great--one interception, nine tackles, and 3 of 4 PATs. (The miss was a bad snap/hold. Nathan felt bad he couldn't get it down for him.) He didn't have any passes thrown his way, but they had him covered pretty well.

We are just so excited. This win insures at least 3rd place in our district. Next week's game will be a battle for 2nd place. Then it's off to playoffs!

JV Loss

JV played their final game last night and Nathan finally got to play an entire game! But I think he would have traded playing time for a win.

They lost, 16-20 on the final play of the game. Heartbreaking. And yet they beat themselves with three fumbles and an interception. It just wasn't going right for our freshmen and sophomores last night!

A Hard Loss

We lost tonight to what might arguably be the best team in our classification in the state. The frustrating thing was the we really beat ourselves with penalties and poor execution. The final score was 16-32.

Aaron hit both of his point after attempts, with Nathan holding for him. Aaron also had some good tackles on defense, too, including running down a player and stopping him just before the end zone. (Not good they called a penalty on his tackle, but it only cost a yard since he stopped him on the two yard line.)

The good news is that know we know if we play our best, we really can play with this team. In fact, if we play our best, we might even be able to beat them!

Homecoming Dance

Pictures from before the Homecoming dance. I think everyone had fun.

In the Presence of Royalty!

Yes, Aaron and Lana were named Homecoming King and Queen last night. It was very sweet and very fun. Of course Aaron was even more glad that they won the game 48-0 in the 4th quarter! He scored the final TD at was a perfect 5 for 5 in PATs with his brother holding for him. (Nathan hasn't played much since his injury.)

The pep rally earlier in the day was fun, too. But homecoming is a bit bittersweet with a senior. Somehow it really signifies the beginning of the end of high school. They'll be off to the dance tonight, so I'll post pictures of that tomorrow, but here are a few other ones from the pep rally and game. Enjoy!

A Win to Open District Pla

We played our first district game of 2010 and came up with a win. It ended at half with us up 74-16. Nathan didn't play much. I guess they are going to ease him back in? Aaron didn't have any catches, and only one ball thrown his way at all. He did make 7 of 10 PATs and made a good tackle on defense. And did I mention he was chosen as one of the two captains for this year? Yes, we're pretty proud.

Rehab Assignment: JV Game

Nathan played in the JV game since Varsity has a bye this week. He played two or three series at QB, throwing one TD pass to his friend Garrett. He also got to play a little on defense and made a tackle. It was a good night for the freshman and sophomore boys, who won 34-6 and loved that they actually got to play!

Thumb update

We went for Nathan's final follow up appointment today, this time with the doctor who was out of town when Nathan was originally injured. He said it wasn't the ligaments--that his thumb was broken after all!

So kudos to the trainer, who suspected it all along and who insisted Nathan be in that hard splint for 10 days. The doctor did say the break has healed and Nathan is cleared to play again, he just has to tape it for practices and games for the rest of the season.

And since he's been playing piano for a week now without pain, I'm thinking we are good to go all the way around!

Another Trouncing (Them, Not Us)

We played a Thursday night game this week, and I felt so sorry for the team we played. They used to be a football powerhouse among 6-man private schools, but then a couple of years ago couldn't even make a team. They are returning to the gridiron this year, but they were no match for our boys. The game was over early in the 3rd quarter, 46-0. (And we even played many of the guys that don't often play!)

Nathan was still sidelined, of course, but he is planning to practice next week and even run a couple of series in the JV game since varsity will have a bye. He's ready to get back at it!

Aaron had a beautiful touchdown reception in that it was a good catch, but he also juked the defender in order to make it in the end zone. He had some great tackles on defense, too. Where he struggled was--surprisingly--kicking! He missed 3 of the 5 kicks he attempted. Not sure what happened there, but he has two weeks to get it figured out!

The next game will start district play, which means that this is when the season REALLY starts!

Another Win--and a Nathan Update

We won again tonight against a small public school team, 58-13, just after halftime. Of course Nathan didn't play, but Aaron had an awesome interception on the 8 yard line which he ran back for a touchdown (72 yards). (Six man plays an 80 yard field.) He also made five of seven extra points.

Nathan's hard splint should come off on Monday. He'll be able to practice again--and probably play piano--but I don't know if he'll play next weekend or not. After that, we have a bye week, so he should be doing very well by the time district play starts in October.

Injury Update

Home from the doctor, and the news is much better than we anticipated!

Nathan has a ligament tear and a slight fracture in his thumb. He is in a hard splint (like a temporary cast) for about 10 days, then he'll move to a regular splint. Three or four weeks from now, he should be back on the gridiron and in front of the piano.

A Rough Night

We lost a heartbreaker last night: 45-38. But it was a rough night in more ways than win/loss.

Deep into the third quarter Nathan came out of the game. I watched him talk to the trainer. Watched the trainer tape his left thumb. Watched Nathan take a few snaps on the sidelines. Watched him talk to a coach and the trainer again--this time swiping his good hand across his face beneath his helmet.

Tears. Not good.

Next thing I knew, he'd taken off his pads and had his hand in ice. At the end of the third quarter I got the text from his dad on the sidelines: probably broken hand.

Ugh. For Nathan, a hand injury will not only sideline him from football, but from his greatest love: piano. He goes for x-rays today and we'll know more. I'm praying hard that it won't be as bad as they thought last night!

As for the game, the boys played with such great heart. The defense held on several back to back goal line stands. They were amazing; they just fell a bit short.

Aaron had probably his best defensive game ever. Usually his tackles involves wrestling the other kid to the ground. Last night all three solo tackles were hard hits. He also had a couple of assists and several hard hits on guys just after they missed catching a pass.

In kicking, he made 4 of 5 PATs (one blocked). He did catch 2 balls for 27 yards, including one touchdown early in the game--thrown by Nathan.

Before his injury, Nathan was 6 for 12 with 104 yards and 1 touchdown. His best stat through these 2 3/4 games is that he hasn't thrown an interception.

Our team is very deep this year except at two spots: quarterback and center. Our backup QB, a senior, usually plays center. So those key roles will get interesting. I know Nathan's just hoping he can get back in there before the season ends. We'll know more in the coming days.

Win number 2!

This season is already way more fun than last season! Not only are we winning, but the kids at every level of our school have discovered school spirit!

We won against a public school team, 60-13 in the 3rd quarter.

Nathan's game: He did much better this week, but took a hard hit and sprained his shoulder. Fortunately we have a doctor on the sidelines who gave him exercises to do and told him to keep it iced for a few days. But even that didn't hinder his play much. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 92 yards and one touchdown--to Aaron!

Aaron played well, too, although he didn't touch the ball much. He had the touchdown reception, kicked 6 of 7 extra points, and had an interception hit him in the chest, but he dropped it--though that wasn't a bad thing since it was 4th down!

Thankfully, Nathan has some time to recover with the long weekend. Then we'll get back at it again!

Update

Well i cant remember the last time i wrote on this blog but i figured i would give everyone a short and sweet little update. First off if you stop by chilis in the near future and order the sweet and smokey chicken crispers i helped pick out the final version of that sauce. Second off on tuesday i pledge into Phi Mu so thats all i got for now

Elizabeth

An Easy Win

One game, one win. A much better start than last year! In fact, this team is such a change from last year's team it is mind-boggling to realize that many of the same kids are out there! They've grown taller and stronger. They look like a varsity team now. So much so that I kind of felt sorry for the team who opened our season today.

We won 48-0 just after halftime. Our guys ran hard and hit hard. They seemed to know what they were doing more so than last year. And even though a few didn't perform as well as they thought they should have (that would be Nathan), in the end, it didn't matter. Others picked up the slack. And that shows me that we have a team.

As for the boys' individual stats for this game:

Nathan struggled a bit, but he didn't turn the ball over. He was 1 for 5 passing, but that one completion was for a touchdown. He wasn't happy with his performance, but it wasn't as bad as he thinks it was! With so many on the team this year, he is not having to play defense or special teams. He's not even holding ball for Aaron on extra points anymore! He is concentrating solely on quarterback.

Aaron didn't catch a pass, but he didn't have one thrown to him, either. But he played very well on defense, making three solo tackles and nabbing an interception. He also kicked 5 of 5 extra points. All in all, a very good game. He was happy not to have to take the field on kickoffs or kick returns this year, either!

Next week will be a true test--a public school 6-man team. Should be interesting!

2nd scrimmage

Second scrimmage went well. In fact, we are getting excited for that first game next weekend! Nathan and Aaron hooked up for one touchdown and Nathan threw several others as well. Aaron had solid defensive play, too. In fact, I'm not sure either of the other two teams' defense scored on us all day long!

1st Scrimmage

It was a scorcher at the scrimmage today--but they played well, so I guess it was worth all the sweat!

Nathan took all the reps at quarterback, so I guess he's secured that spot. Aaron had a touchdown catch and a beautiful play on pass defense that would have been a touchdown had he not knocked it away.

Next week is another scrimmage, but this time against a little bit more challenging teams, so we'll see how that goes!

End of Summer

Well the boys have survived the first week of two-a-days. Another week and we'll have our first scrimmage. It's the the beginning of the last season of both boys on the same team. I started this journey when they were 3 and 4/5 and playing on the same soccer team!

Elizabeth is off to college week at Glorietta with her BCM group from college. When she gets home we turn right around and take her back to school.

So summer has flown and we are almost back into the swing of school. That means more updates for those of you who enjoy keeping up with my kids!

Making the Dean's List

Elizabeth discovered yesterday that she made the Dean's List at school this year! While we are so proud of her academic accomplishments, she was a little disappointed. Why? Because her GPA came within .2 of making the President's List!

A few pictures

Just a few random pictures from the past few weeks:

Wedding cake by Elizabeth for our counselor at school.

Nathan at his end of year piano recital. He took home nearly every award he competed for!

Aaron and Lana at the Spring Sports Awards Banquet

Racking Up the Accolades

Today we had both academic and sports awards. Long day. I'll hit the highlights.

ACADEMICS

No "academic" awards, per se, but these two fall within that arena:

Nathan (along with his cousin Chris) received a perfect attendance award for this school year.

Aaron received the ACSI Distinguished Christian High School Student Award for Leadership and Athletics (voted on by the teachers at our school.)

ATHLETICS

Here's where they cleaned up. These awards encompassed basketball and baseball.

Basketball: Nathan was named an all-district honorable mention as well as Freshman of the Year from our district! Wow! Two of those in one year! He was also give the Hustle Award for our team. Aaron was named to the all-district 2nd team and given the team MVP award.

Baseball: Nathan was named to the all-district 2nd team and awarded defensive player of the year for our team.

So proud of them both!

Crossing the Finish Line

Aaron finished 7th in the 800 at the regional track meet, so our seasons have all ended. I'm so thankful, really! We all need a break! And I'm glad for him that he didn't wind up dead last. He hates that! So we'll hang up our game hats for awhile, do a little working out in the summer and hit it with football two-a-days in August. Of course check back for news on sports awards and academic awards and the like, as well as news of Elizabeth at the close of her first year of college!

It's such a busy, wonderful time in our lives. I'm so happy you can be part of it through this blog!

Ending on an Upnote!

We got a win--in our district! We went into the last game with nothing to lose. The other team was playing for a playoff spot. Through the first four innings, we played well, managing to stay ahead by 1 run, 6-5.

In the fifth inning, Nathan came in as relief pitcher. They tied it up 6-6.

Into the top of the sixth, and our bats got hot! We scored 9 runs and batted around!

Nathan gave up a two-run, over-the-fence homer in the bottom of the sixth. Two more runs scored on errors. We went into the final inning up 15-10. We ended the game on the score of 20-11.

Nathan pitched great. In his three innings, he had 4 strikeouts (including the final out of the game) and 0 walks. He also hit the ball hard, reaching base three times on clean hits, not errors. All of our players got at least one hit in this game.

We have a lot to build on for the coming years and a coach who is looking forward to walking the journey with them, so its all good. But it's so much better to end a hard season on the upswing!

Extra innings!

One of these days they are going to win a close one. And this was almost it.

After 6 innings, we were losing 10-6. In the top of the 7th, we managed to score 5 runs! Wow! So we went into the bottom of the 7th up by 1 run. They scored one, tying the game at 11. A batter was up with one out and the winning run on 3rd base. The ball was a high fly to the outfield, that was caught, but the 3rd base coach and the runner didn't wait to see the play and he ran without tagging after the catch. The runner was already past home base. We threw to third and tagged the bag and we were out of the inning.

But we just couldn't hang on. They scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8th. Still, we not only battled back, we battled back to get ahead. Mental errors were our downfall, and plenty to go around.

Nathan pitched well and hit well, and those things should only get better in the next three years. I think we still have a rainout game to makeup but don't know if that will happen. I'll be glad when this season is officially over!

Lo and Behold!

Aaron qualified for the regional track meet in the 800 meter race! Wow! We are shocked! He even had to dig deep at the end because the 5th place runner was on his heels. But he did, and beat his previous best time by around 10 seconds!

He managed to get 5th (we think) in the triple jump, which doesn't move on to regionals but did get points for his team. His 4 X 400 relay team also came in 5th.

So I guess it's one more track meet for us!

Two More Awful Games

Two games in two days. Both awful in their own ways. The first involved a two hour drive to get there. But then we were so pleasantly surprised! We led 4-1, then 5-2, over a non-defeated district team. But with one bad inning, it was tied again, 5-5. Then the other team pulled ahead by 2 and we went into our last at bat. We put runners on base. And move them. Our 6th run was coming in from 3rd base. The throw made it to the plate. Our runner jumped over the catcher to avoid the tag. But the ump called him out anyway. Our coach protested--very politely, actually--and was thrown out for the first time in his 25 year coaching history! It was awful. Even some of the parents for the other team admitted their catcher didn't make the tag. On the up side, Nathan had some good plays at short and put the bat on the ball every at bat, even if he didn't always make it safe to first. His final hit of the game was an especially hard zinger up the middle. He was on third base when we got our final out of that game.

From there, we moved to a game a bit closer to home. Nathan took the mound. He'd been pitching well this season, but watching him today, you'd never have known it. Nathan averages 1-2 walks per 7 innings. Today, he walked 6 in two innings! Couple that with a few hits and a few errors and we were done after 4 1/2 innings, losing 11-1.

It hasn't been a fun season, but our coach is encouraged for the future. After all, we start 4 freshmen and 2 sophomores!

Prom 2010

Another prom is over and done. Aren't they a cute couple?

Three Good Innings--And Three Bad Ones

It was a game of extremes. When we were good, we were very, very good. And when we were bad, we were horrible. Nathan started the game on the mound. He struck out the first batter, caught the second batter's line drive, and threw out the third batter at first. The next inning, he struck out the first batter, walked a batter, and threw a batter out at first. The last out came on a long fly to the outfield. By inning three, we were pumped. Down 2-1, we again got our outs quickly, easily, and without errors or mistakes.

Then came the fourth inning. Nathan walked a batter. An error caused another to reach base. And another. And another. The runs started coming hard and fast. We had two outs, finally, but couldn't close. Error. Error. Error. It finally got to Nathan's head. The coach put in another pitcher and moved him to shortstop, where he committed an error. (I think every player on the team had at least one!)

We got run ruled in the 6th. I think the final score was 16-3. At the plate, Nathan was thrown out bunting twice. He finally did reach first late in the game--on an error.

Three more games next week, then the season is over. We had been so encouraged by their improvement at the beginning of this game. It was so painful to watch by the end.

Another Big School Track Meet

This time it was bigger private schools instead of small public schools, but the results weren't much different. Aaron's longest triple jump was 32 feet, well short of placing. He ran a pretty good race in the 800, finishing somewhere in the middle of his group of 16. I know the other boy from our school finished behind him and ran a 2:37, so Aaron was probably around 2:32 or so. The 1600 (mile) was an interesting race. His coach asked him to run the first lap almost full out, which he did. Of course it meant his total time was less than desirable--5:40--but that first lap was good--1:10 or so. Because of that, he may end up running the 400 at district. I guess we'll see.

District meet is next week. If he qualifies for regionals, that will be the next week. I don't imagine he'll make it to the state meet in anything, and my guess is that is just fine with him!

Another Nail-biter

We did it again, battled back from behind only to lose by 1 run. Final score, 6-5. I hate that!

Nathan played shortstop. He had a couple of errors but also a couple of good plays. He reached base once on an error and grounded out the other two times, including for the final out of the game. It's a crazy end of the season run with 5-6 games over the next two weeks. But then it will be finished. I sure hope this coach comes back next year. He's making some great progress with this young team!

Marathon Baseball

You'd think a seven inning game would be a quick thing. Especially for a young, inexperienced team like ours. But once again we met a district rival and stretched those seven innings over a period of three hours. 

Nathan pitched all seven innings of our loss. The lead went back and forth, and even though the other team pulled ahead by seven or eight in the fifth inning, we fought back valiantly, losing only 12-9. 

Nathan did pitch well. He struck out several and walked two. He also hit two batters in the late innings when he was tired. (He doesn't usually hit batters.) At the plate, he managed to make it on base with a walk and an error by the first baseman. (And maybe once more, I can't quite remember!)

All in all, we see improvement in our team with every outing. But three hours is still a long time to pitch--and a long time to sit through a high school game!

Another Meet

Aaron ran in another track meet on his birthday. This one was entirely public schools, but smaller ones. Still, a big bit of competition for our little guys! He did triple jump and the 800 and 1600 meter runs. He finished last or next to last in all of them, but his mile time--5:38--came close to one of his best times last year. Still, it wasn't where he wanted to be on his birthday!

My Cute Chef-in-Training--and Her Amazing Food!

In her uniform!

Roasted Red Pepper soup garnished with basil and a toasted slice of homemade bread.

Green salad with cucumbers, carrots, walnuts, and a homemade dijon vinaigrette dressing.

Blue Cheese stuffed tenderloin with a balsamic vinegar glaze and blackberry butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. 

Chocolate Molton cake with white chocolate and raspberry sauces and fresh whipped cream.

Coming up short

We hung in there for four innings. In fact, we were up 4-3. Then we gave up 4 runs and couldn't make them up. So we lost 7-4.

Nathan played short stop again. He struck out, walked, and hit a grounder to first.

A Rough Day

Yes, we lost again. 11-1 after 5 innings. Nathan didn't start on the mound, he came in in relief in the top of the 4th inning and struck out the final batter the end that inning. The 5th inning he still pitched well, striking out the first batter. But two pop-ups were missed in the field. Two other batters had nice base hits to outfield. And finally the last batter hit a grounder to second base and we turned a double play. In the bottom half of that final inning, Nathan made it to first on an error, stole second, made it to third on a grounder where the batter was out at first, and then arrived at home plate to score our only run on another error by the first baseman.

All in all, a pretty ugly game.

A Nail Biter

We finally got to play baseball today! Our first district game. We didn't look good early. We got down 4-0, inched back 4-1. Then 5-1. Then 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 6-6. But in the bottom of the 7th we gave up a run on a passed ball.

Sigh.

Nathan got up three times--and out three times. But all three times he hit the ball, and one ending up being a sacrifice RBI in that crucial big inning. He also fielded the ball nicely at shortstop and threw the batter out at first.

Next game, he's on the mound.

Off and Running

We went to our first track meet of the year yesterday. It was sunny and beautiful--except for the 20 mph winds!

We aren't real sure what the coaches are thinking this year. They have taken Aaron out of the 1600 and 3200, where he has always done well, and put him in shorter races. Yesterday he ran the 800 and the 4 x 400 relay. He also did the triple jump.

He didn't do very well in any of those, but then again, most of the schools there were much larger than our school, so maybe he'll do okay come district. We'll see. We have two more meets before the district meet.

Rain has prevented baseball for the past week, but we're hoping to get a couple games in this week, so check back for those updates.

On the Mound

Nathan's team lost their game last night. He was the starting pitcher. Walked three batters in four innings but also had several strikeouts. Several fielding errors led to runs, so I'm not sure how many were actually earned by him. I guess if he's going to pitch, I need to learn more about that aspect of the game!

Anyway, the final score was 15-5, but they did play five innings, which was better than their losses in the tournament! His coach is pleased with their progress, knowing they have so much to learn.

We're off for spring break, but both baseball and track will begin in earnest after that!

Tournament Play

The varsity baseball team took the field for the first time this year in a tournament this weekend. Again, a young team, so we'll take our lumps. And in this tournament--a mish-mash of public and private schools--our lumps were the size of mountains! But we have a new, good coach who is very encouraging and is trying to get a feel for each boy's strengths and weaknesses before district play begins. So here's the run down.

GAME 1:

Our opponent in this game was a 5A public school JV team. It's a good thing it was JV--more equity in ages, although that didn't really mean much in the end. We lost 25-0 in four innings. Only two of our batters reached base--Nathan on a hit-by-pitch and his cousin Chris with a walk. One of our juniors hit a ball to the fence, but the outfielder caught it. And those are the highlights.

GAME 2:

We played a varsity team this time, but from a 1A public school. We played better, though we still lost 20-0 in four innings. This time we had several put the bat on the ball (Nathan hit a fly ball that the shortstop caught), and two of our juniors actually got on base with hits. Fielding was obviously still an issue, but Nathan pitched the final two innings and in those innings only gave up 4 runs, all of which were unearned.

GAME 3:

Well, our opponent (our district rival) didn't show, so we played the same team from game 2, but this time they played their 2nd team. And we made a game of it! I, of course, missed it. Aaron and I were on a local college visit. But I'll reconstruct the game a bit via Jeff's text messages. (Gotta love technology!)
We started well, down only 1-0 at the end of the 1st innings. In the second inning, Nathan bunted to reach first base, but we still couldn't score--until the third inning. Then we managed to hit one in and tie it, 1-1. In the 4th inning, Nathan was hit by a pitch for the second time in this tournament, but again, he couldn't get around the bases. 1-1 at the end of the 4th inning. In the top of the 5th, the other team scored two runs, but we answered with one, so at the end of 5, we were losing 3-2. In the bottom of 6th, Nathan reached base yet again, this time on an error by the 3rd baseman. He stole 2nd. Then he scored! End of 6, we were all tied up, 3-3. Top of the 7th and final inning, the other team scored, leaving us down by 1 going into our last at bat. We managed to get two on base and then one of our players ripped a single that scored both runners! WE WON, 5-3!!!!!!

I'm so thankful this ended on an up note for these boys. After those first two games, they were pretty down. But this should give them some confidence going into district play.

New Experiences

In the past couple of weeks the boys have had some interesting new experiences. Aaron participated in the academic competition for private schools in the spelling and persuasive speaking categories. He also participated in a debate tournament. His new ventures were not "successful" in the outward sense, but I was so proud of him for stepping out and trying new things. In fact, he enjoyed debate so much he said he'd do it again next year!

Nathan's new experiences involve art and music. He made a pottery vase (which I haven't seen yet) that received an honorable mention at our district art meet. He is really enjoying art and computer this year, even wondering if the fusion of those and his music would make a good career choice. Another new thing happened yesterday. He showed up to practice with the Praise Band and they discovered their bass player was absent. So Nathan played bass in chapel that day--the first time he's ever played the bass guitar! But my musician friends have always said a piano player that understands chords can move easily between instruments. I guess they were right!

Ending in Like Fashion

We ended the basketball season tonight--finally. It's been painful. We lost by 30. Aaron had 2 points, Nathan had 5 points.

On to baseball and track . . .

Thoroughly Modern Millie

I really missed Elizabeth this weekend! Last night we went to our school's production of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. For the past four years, I've loved the weekend of the play. Costumes and makeup and kids hanging out at our house between the matinee and evening performances. From that freshman year "coup" of landing the part of Bloody Mary in South Pacific to last year's wonderful portrayal of Aunt March in Little Women, I had a ball watching Elizabeth and her friends perform.

At least this year I had a few ties to the cast. My niece Sarah was in the chorus, as was Nathan's girlfriend. Aaron's girlfriend had the lead role (Millie) and one of Elizabeth's good friends had the humorous supporting role, the kind Elizabeth often played. They did a great job. I loved it all. But it made me miss my drama girl!

Uniform and Knives

Well its the start of the second semester and i received my uniforms and knives for my culinary lab classes so i just wanted to post some pictures for everyone to see

Losing is Hard Work

Another loss, 76-25. In our defense, two of our tall boys, including our leading scorer, were out sick. Aaron managed 5 points, Nathan 6 points (2-3 pointers late in the game). I have to say, no one at our house it very sad that the season will soon draw to a close.

I know the Lord is teaching my boys through these dismal seasons--teaching them to persevere even when it looks like their effort is for naught. But that's a hard lesson. One some adults don't even understand! And so we journey on . . .

Another Pounding

We played a small public school last night. After the first quarter, we were only down by 2 points! But then they brought in two boys that apparently start, but didn't start that night. And it went downhill from there. We lost, 64-24. It didn't help that our leading scorer was home with a temperature of 103!

After a very slow start, Nathan ended up the leading scorer and rebounder for this game--seven rebounds, seven points. His cousin Chris scored six points. And Aaron, after many, many shots that just wouldn't fall in the bucket, finished the game with four points.

Six more games to go, mostly district games. And since we are in one of the hardest basketball districts, a win would be a miracle. But we will persevere with our young lineup and hope their experience pays off in the future!

Battling the Refs

Not sure what the refs were doing tonight. The other team mauled us--knocked Aaron all the way to the ground on at least two shots with not a call in sight, and yet if we stood still with hands straight in the air, we got called for the foul. Then at the end, when we were trying to foul, they refused to call our obvious fouls so we could try to get the ball back! It was truly one of the most awful games I've ever watched. And the shame of it is that even with all that, we only lost by 7!

Aaron finished with 4 points, Nathan with 3.

Now we have to switch our focus to finals!

A Better Game

We won! 50-25. Aaron scored 7 points. Nathan scored 12 (two of them were 3 pointers!). Both had a few rebounds and an assist. It was nice to have a bit or a breather from the hard games. But the break won't last long. Another district rival comes to town this week.

Stay tuned!

An Ugly Game

We lost tonight. We knew we would. But the officiating was so bad that it made everything worse. At the least the other team put 4 bench players on the floor for the second half (mostly). The score ended up 50-something to 20-something. Not really any high points to speak of.

On to next week.

Back to Basketball

I've been a little slow getting this up, but we started back with basketball on Monday night. We actually looked better than I thought we would after the break! We lost 35-53, but the game was much closer than the score indicates. In fact, we pulled to within 2 points in the 4th quarter! But then we had a run of fouls, ending with Aaron fouling out of the game. And, frankly, without Aaron on the court, our young team falls apart.

Aaron ended the night with 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. Nathan had a tough game for turnovers, but still managed 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. He was 2 for 2 from the free throw line and two of his assists were to his brother!

This was the first district game. As in football, our basketball district consists of at least 3 teams that usually go deep into the state playoffs, so just a win or two would be quite an accomplishment for our young team. We'll see what happens.