Lil Cougars Takin It to the Hoop

AP now has 3 Upward basketball games under her belt!

At some point between the 3 day camp and the actual start of the season, she got bumped up in age bracket.  She now shoots on a much taller goal and is really struggling to get it up there, but she's sooo close.  She's attempted to shoot during the games and we are so proud that she is trying so hard!  It's also hard to get the ball when you are the only girl on a team full of boys.  But, there is this one little boy that will get the ball, look for her, and pass it to her every time.  

Kudos to his mom for raising a gentleman.

 

Post-game snacks are every bit as important as the game.

And I'm confessing now that we had snack last week and totally raided our own pantry when we remembered right before we left the house! 

Who doesn't love goldfish??

Talent Show~Breaking Boards and Taking Names

So, this year when the notes came home from school about the talent show, imagine my surprise when it was my doesn't-answer-when-spoken-to, crowd-shy, never-wants-to-be-the-center-of-attention child that said he wanted to do it!  And you better believe this momma did everything she could to ensure that he could :)

He came up with the idea of breaking a board as he had done that once in karate class and thought that it would be fun.  I got a few of the other karate moms and kids on board (no pun intended!) and sweet-talked one of the teen instructors to be in it to hold their boards.

They came over to practice at our house one night.

Here they are backstage on the big night.  And, yes, I made them all matching karate shirts.  In my defense, they aren't allowed to wear their gis outside of the dojo, so they needed something karate-ish :)

I can't believe I forgot my real camera!  I had gotten to school early to decorate and set up for the PTO chili supper and completely forgot to bring my camera along.  This is the only picture I got during the actual show.

They did an awesome job!  Proud mommy moment for sure :)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Relax, He's a Ninja

InstaFriday~ New Years Edition!

Snippets of our New Years Eve all caught with my cell phone camera.

Our New Years Eve plans changed several times, but we ended up having the best time!

The kiddos LOVED it.  They picked our restaurant, then we played every board game they wanted to play, baked with the Easy Bake oven, popped varieties of popcorn, watched the movie of their choice, toasted sparkling grape juice, watched the ball fall, then crashed!!

 

The kiddos talked about our "party" for several days so I'm so glad that's what we ended up doing.  

That just might be our new New Years Eve tradition!

Backing Up ~ Cumberland Falls (and way too many pictures!)

Ok, so now I'm backing up to some time in the late fall!  I started this post way back then and just finished adding all the pictures :)

We met my sis and her family in mid KY at Cumberland Falls State Park to go camping.  Neither of us had ever been there, but it was a great spot to meet in the middle between TN and OH.  It ended up being a great place to camp and had really great hiking trails.  We hope to go back again!

My cousin and wife met us on the 2nd day.  Good times with cousins, late night talks by the campfire, and hearing my cousin pack his car up in the middle of the night because his wife was freezing!  Good memories made :)

Hoops

The kiddos are trying their hand at another new sport, basketball!

They both participated in a 3 day Upward Camp.  AP was originally the only one signed up, but when we got there, C worked up the nerve to join in!