#1 Reason For No Posting

I just tallied up all the basketball games I will be attending in the next few weeks (through the first week of Feb). This includes all the Freshman boys games that Jay coaches, the JV boys games that Austin plays in, the Varsity girls & boys games (Jay is an asst coach for the boys), and the few home games that Ashley dances at at her college that we like to go watch....


Can I have a drum roll please?


54!


Yes, you read that right....54 games in 34 days! Sounds like a Rockstars schedule. ha!

That is in part due to the make-up games that they have rescheduled, but oh my-lanta that's a whole lotta bball folks! I have 2 t-shirts that have our schools name on them for the high school games, and 1 that says the dance teams name on it that I'll wear to Ashley's games. Those 3 shirts are going to be thread bare by the time they get washed this many times. LOL

Oh, and this weekend is our annual road trip to Minnesota to watch Ashley's dance team compete.

Good thing there's nothing else to do in the Winter around here. ha! Oh wait....I wonder if there are some ISU home games we can squeeze in?

Cross Country Mama

On Tuesday, cross country running '09 offically kicked off for our school with its first meet....which like most was over an hours drive away.

Austin is on the JV team, and thanks to his sister Ashley's attitude, along with others (they even had their own slogan, hand symbol & t-shirts : "JV is the way to be"), he is perfectly content with carrying on the tradition.

Now, mind you, I'm not the kind of parent screaming on the side for him to run faster, because frankly, I would never expect my kids to do anything I wouldn't do, which is why I don't even shout for them to run at all. However, this is one sport that I would kinda, sorta prefer he was on the varsity team for. But I do have a good reason for this....

He would run earlier, and then I wouldn't have to wait until after 8pm for supper!

The order at the meets is: junior high, varsity girls, junior varsity girls, varsity boys, and then junior varsity boys are last...always. At every . single . meet.

With Austin's hypoglycemia, there is no way he can go from lunch to 8pm without eating, so we always bring something along with us for him to eat. Sometimes it's crackers, or home made cookies (which doesn't happen very often), but quite a bit of the time it's a sandwich. He has plenty of time to metabolize it, so there's no worry of it making him sick when he runs.

Austin did learn an important lesson that he tends to forget from season to season, and that is to not leave your inhaler at home on the evening of the first meet. This is the only sport he really needs it for. He's been in cross country for 4 years now, and this is the 4th year he has forgotten it...at least he's consistent. Notice how clenched his fists are in the picture and how tight his arms are? That and the fact that we could see how hard he was breathing were the big clues. But God bless him, he never gives up or quits!

As a good cross country mama, I also forgot for the 4th year in a row to bring along an extra inhaler. I only remembered when I saw him coming closer to the last 800 meters, and noticed how hard he was breathing. But then again, I also forgot my camera that I had sitting in the kitchen charging up (thank goodness for cell phone cameras!).

No worries, I already have the extra inhaler packed in my purse for the next meet, which is tonight. Now to be sure I remember the camera.

Jetski Drama

Ok, so I told you about our new jetskis (you can read about it here if you've forgotten) We actually owned one-half of two jetskis. Still with me?

Well, as I suspected, that didn't work out so well....I'm not one to say "I told ya so", but, I did kind of see this happening. It's hard to coordinate schedules and when they wanted to use the 2nd one, we had plans for it, and when they had both out being used, our kids wanted to use one. You know how that goes. Anywhooooo....

We ended up ending that agreement by taking full ownership of one jetski and our friends took the other. Good compromise and all were happy. We still had the arrangement that if we weren't using ours and they wanted to borrow it, they were welcome to, and vice-versa. After all, that's what friends do.

We ended up with the 3-seater. Why? Dunno. The men decided who took which one, and again, all were happy with the decision, so no biggie.

Turns out, the 3-seater was a lemon. Oh vey, that darn jetski had nothing but problems and gave us nothing but headaches. Every time they'd take it out on the lake, it'd stop working...that is, if they got it to start at all.

It was beyond frustrating!

Finally, Jay had enough. He took it back to the place he bought it and said "It's time to trade for a different machine". Well, the men at that shop are super nice guys. They felt bad that we had so many problems with it. They agreed that the best option was probably to trade it in at this point, as they had no idea why it kept breaking down after each time they thought they had repaired it, and they gave us an awesome (almost unbelievable) trade-in price for that lemon, so Jay ended up buying a brand new jetski.

It's a 3-seater too, and it can pull a tube behind it. Let me just say "this baby has power, and it goes FAAAAAST!" Whoa Nelly! The kids have had a ball on it and have been out there non-stop. Both girls even spent the night at home on Friday night so they could head back to the lake early on Saturday.

No, I haven't been on it yet. Oh sure, I plan to, I just haven't had time, what with trying to get ready to go to the fair. No, I'm not scared to get on it, so just hush. I've been too busy. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

But may I just say....both my girls were home for 3 days, including one overnight stay? I think I'm in love with this new jetski.

I Hope You Dance....

Ashley attends a private University and last year she tried out for and earned a spot on the school's competitive dance team. She was super excited and we were so proud of her! She has a natural talent for dance and you could always tell that she enjoyed it, so it was fun to watch her and the team compete/perform.

To keep the girls "sharp" they must earn a spot on the team every year. No chance to get complacent if you want to keep your spot, and I think that's only fair.

Ashley was confident in her abilities before try-outs this year (held recently), but was also nervous because there is some good talent transferring in from other schools. She worked hard, and I'm proud to announce that she has made it on the competitive team again for her upcoming Sophmore year! She's very excited and so are we!

The team performs at all home football and basketball games, besides the different competitions they are in around the midwest (they will also try to earn a chance to once again compete at Nationals in Florida). This will give us many opportunities to get to watch her perform again. :)

Here is a picture of the team - Ashley is in the front row, on the far left end:

And here is another picture of them after one of the competitions this past season - Ashley is in the front row, 2nd from the right:

Golf Moms Need To Know....

I've gone over these things before, but I was surprised recently when talking to a fellow golf-mom to find that she still didn't know what she as a devoted golf-mom needed to know, so I felt I should go over it again.


For those of you who have budding golf-aholic children like my Austin, I am here to make your life easier for those long days ahead. Here is what you need to know to be a good golf mom:


1. Wear comfortable shoes. Golf courses with large galleries where you sit on bleachers like you see on tv, only happen on tv. In real life you will walk every hole that you want to be able to see your child. Be prepared, stretch in advance, and stay hydrated. Not all courses are created equal. Most are hilly. Very, very hilly. Be prepared to feel that the next morning. Consider renting a cart if the course will allow them. Your feet will thank you later.









2. Keep plenty of detergent and stain remover on hand. Golfaholics play almost daily, and they play in the rain, which means very muddy pants. You will be doing more laundry than you ever thought possible and your knuckles will be raw from all the scrubbing. That's the sacrifice a golfoholic mom makes. Stock up now.









3. Keep your camera handy. All those once in a great while shots will happen when you least expect it. Make sure your battery is charged and your memory card has plenty of room. Otherwise your golfaholic child will say "Did you see that great shot?" and you will have to just smile and nod. But wait until you see their undying devotion when you show them the photo you took of that great shot. Seriously, they will carry you on their shoulders....well, in your dreams anyhow.











4. Pack at least 2 bottles of water, gatorade, powerade or whatever they prefer to drink in their golf bags. Have one cold, and the other frozen. That way the frozen one will be thawed, yet still cold for the back 9 holes they play. You however will want to bring along an IV for yourself. By the 5th or 6th hilly hole that you've hiked, you are going to be dehydrated. Oh, and for the record, golfaholics don't appreciate it if you point out the port-a-potties just in case they have drank too much.




5. Golfaholics really benefit from a healthy snack to keep them going. Austin's healthy choice is a ginormous bag of Skittles. I've suggested string cheese, fruit, or even a peanut butter sandwich, but nope, nothing gives him energy for 18 holes like a massive sugar rush.









Follow this and you will find that you are a successful golf mom. Tiger's mom and I can guarantee it. Not that I know her personally or anything, but I'm guessing that any day now she'll be calling me up to see if I want to share a cart at the next tournament.

I Am So Proud

Warning....proud mom alert! I will do my best to keep this post from becoming nauseating, but I make no promises.

Austin had another golf meet last night. The course they played at is the same course they will play their 18 hole conference meet at next Monday. It is the 6th hardest golf course in the entire state of Iowa. For these kids to get to play on this course is an awesome opportunity, and they'll get to play on it twice.

Austin is one of 2 Freshmen on the varsity team, which is pretty impressive considering the good golfers they had to beat out to get their spot. It also means they have to stay on top of their game and play their best to keep those spots.

At the meet last night, Austin was paired up with a Senior from his team, and 2 guys from the opposing team. Players are required to walk during the meets. This course is a TOUGH walk! Oh my goodness....it's all up and down, up and down. It's crazy! I begged Jay to get us a cart to follow along so we didn't have to walk it, and thankfully, he loves me enough he got us one (either that or he didn't want to listen to me whine for nine holes).

Austin started off doing great. Then he had a couple of holes where he hit the ball in the water, or sandtrap. Did I mention that this course has large water holes and numerous sand traps on every single hole? Well, it does! Oh and the trees! The entire round it sounded like we were being invaded by woodpeckers as balls would hit trees "tap" "tap, tap".

After his holes where he struggled, he re-grouped and birdied the next hole. He birded the following hole as well and even gave a little Tiger Woods fist pump. He finished out the round solid and after he finished up adding everyones scores (he was the score keeper for their group), he said he shot a 42, which for this course is awesome! A GREAT score!

Mark, our #1 golfer on the team shot a 41, so Austin came in 2nd and he was thrilled.

Then it was announced that there was an error on Austin's scorecard. He had added his score up wrong. He didn't get a 42......he shot a 40!!

He won the meet!!!

We were so excited for him! One of his goals during his high school golf career was to win a meet before he graduated. He has now met this goal as a 15 yr old Freshman. He was grinning from ear to ear and so were we!!

All the pictures posted today are from yesterdays meet. Look at how beautiful the course is and just how hilly it is! I was so glad we had a cart to ride in. :) Also be sure to notice his perfect form in his back swing. No matter what he tries to say, I taught him that.

Ode To A Golf Mom

She rises in the morning
Gets her work done through the day.
Her goal is to finish
So she can go watch her child play.

He's not playing basketball,
Or doing dressage on a horse.
He's spending his time playing
On a beautiful golf course.

His mom is his cheerleader
She's at every meet.
She takes pride in how he looks
His team outfit, so clean and neat.

But today it's a different story,
For it's rained all day long.
The Coach still made them wear Khakis.
"Oh dear Coach, that's so wrong!"

They walk through the mud holes,
through mud puddles too.
Their shoes were all soaked,
their socks were wet too.













But the worst thing of all
is the sight she did see.
There was mud on his pants
clear up to the knee!

"Oh my goodness" she cried
"How will they ever come clean?"
Khaki pants when it's raining...
Why that's just plain mean!

She didn't grumble,
And she didn't complain,
Even though she found her task
tedious and mundane.

She grabbed a white spray
And some foam that was blue
She set out scrubbing,
Doing what a mama must do.













Thirty minutes of scrubbing,
And two wash cycles later
His pants were all clean,
They had never looked ... greater!

Later that night
When the mom went to bed
She noticed all that scrubbing
Left her hands sore and red.

Did she enjoy the pre-treating?
And how her hands took a toll?
No she didn't ... but that's ok
That's how golf moms roll.

She pre-treats and she washes.
She irons the pants so neat.
She wants him to look nice
When he gets them muddy again ... at the very next meet.

Austin's Golf Meet

As I stated earlier this week, Austin made the varsity golf team at the high school. He is beyond excited, although you wouldn't know it by looking at him.

Seriously, would it kill him to smile? What is it with boys? And if you do get them to smile, it's one of those painful looking "I'm only smiling because you're making me" kinds of smiles. The only reason I even got this picture was pure bribery. He asked if I'd bring him up something to eat after school and I only would agree if I could take his picture. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

But at the course on Tuesday afternoon/evening, I was as sneaky as any paparazzi could be. I peeked around buildings, hid behind trees and crouched behind golf carts to get these shots of my future Masters champion.

Ok, not really. I asked him if he would mind if I brought the camera to this meet, and he shrugged with 0% expression on his face and said "I don't care".

When Austin heard he had made the varsity team, he set a goal for himself to earn a Varsity letter this year. In order to do that you have to place in the top 3 (which means your score counts) for at least one meet. He did awesome at the meet on Tuesday, and shot a 45, which was the 3rd best score for our team. He was so excited to have met that goal on the first night. And we were super proud of him.

Jay said to him "What do you say we go out for supper to celebrate? Anywhere you want to go". Austin said "How about McDonalds". Yep, that's my Mr. Excitement. LOL

Watch Out Tiger & Phil

Today officially starts the high school golf season at our school. They started practice a couple of weeks ago, but their first meet is later today. Twenty-some 9th-12th grade boys had to compete in 4 qualifying matches for 15 spots, with only 6 of those earning a spot on the varsity team, and .....

Austin made it on the varsity team! :-D

Only two freshman made it on the varsity team, so he is super excited, although Mr. Cool that he is would never admit it. However, he was chattering away last night like his sisters normally would, which is something I've never heard him do, and was my first clue to his excitement:

Mom, can you bring me a sandwich or something after school. I want to be sure my blood sugar stays up (which he does have issues with) so I have plenty of energy for the meet.

Mom, where are the Magic Erasers? I want to get my golf shoes good and clean.

Dad, do you have an extra golf umbrella I can put in the team bag (keep in mind...the forecast is for sunshine)?

I'm going to put a couple of gatorades in the freezer, because the team bags have coolers built in which is so awesome.

Mom, will you iron my team shirt for me? It looks like it might be a little bit wrinkled (he has never worried about anything being wrinkled before. I didn't even know he knew what an iron was for).

Those who are on varsity not only get a team shirt, but they also get a team jacket to wear, as well as matching team golf bags. How cool is that?

He has worked so hard to try to earn the chance to be on the varsity team. Many, many hours playing, practicing and taking lessons. Now I don't even mind that I had to endure a few months of weaving my way around an indoor practice net to get to the hot tub (until the weather got nice enough for them to hit outdoors).

Each week scores determine if you keep your spot on the varsity team or not, so Austin could end up slipping down to JV during the season, but to know he had a goal and did all he could to achieve that goal makes me so proud of him. :)

Project 365 - Week 10

Another week has gone by - wow do they seem to be going fast!

3-1

Sunday is always my day off from cooking. It's either "fend for yourself night" or ... Pizza!

3-2

The team Jay coaches played in the state tournaments. Sadly they lost by 2 points, but what an exciting game!

3-3

A beautiful sunshine filled day. I headed into the big city and did some shopping and other errands.

3-4

Bath day. As you can tell, Ringo just LOVES bath day. ha!

3-5

Finally! A warmer Spring-like day. Even the farm cats enjoyed the sunshine!

3-6

All the teams that play in the state tournaments are introduced as they walk onto the court, parade style during the final game of the night. We went down to arena and cheered on the team Jay helps coach as they marched across.

3-7

My nephew Jacob played in a basketball tournament at our local elementary school today and we went to watch and cheer him on.


Be sure to click on the link in the side bar to check out all the 365 participants at Sara's.

David Vs Goliath

Last week the team that Jay helps coach, won the right to play in our girls state basketball tournament, and this past Monday evening they played in the opening round. They had to play against the top rated team in their class. It was going to be tough. To say they were the underdogs is an understatement.

The great Wilt Chamberlin once said "Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath", and this was definitely a David & Goliath sort of game.

I was just so happy and proud that the coaches had helped guide this team to this point, so I was just going to stay cool and enjoy the game. But, it was a close game

the . entire . game .

It was so close (most of the time within 1-2 pts) that by the fourth quarter I told someone next to me "I swear I'm going to wet my pants before this game is over!" She moved away from me.

So much for staying cool.

David fought hard. Goliath appeared to have never faced a foe quite like David before, because at times he was nervous and made little mistakes.

The game went back and forth. Goliath would be ahead and David had to fight back. Then they'd be tied. Then David got ahead and Goliath had to fight back.


The villagers got excited. Could David actually win? Who would have thought this could really be happening? The villagers were freaking out (I for one considered asking if anyone around happened to bring some valium with them)!


Sadly, David did not win the hard fought battle. When game ended, David was down by 2 points. But that was ONLY 2 points!

Against the #1 top ranked team...who are expected to win the whole tournament. In my mind that makes it almost a David style victory. No one figured we'd be anywhere near this team as far as ability.

As I listened to people before the game, they all believed this was going to be a total blow-out. But giving up and quitting are obviously two things the coaches and players never allowed themselves to even consider. It was such an exciting game to watch!

Michael Jordan said "You have to expect great things of yourself before you can do them." Our coaches not only believed their team could do great things, they expected them to do it.

And the team did not disappoint.

On To State!

Well I had another blog post ready to go for today, but after last night, I just HAD to come home and type up another one.

Jay is an assistant coach for a girls basketball team at nearby school. They played a basketball game last night and won, which qualifies them to be in the state tournaments!!!

ON TO STATE! ON TO STATE! ON TO STATE!

You have to try to understand just how big of a deal this is around here. Here in Iowa, we don't have a pro baseball team, or a pro football team, or a pro basketball team. Most people don't get to many college games either. So we are very into our high school sports, and to make it to state in any sport is a huge deal. I mean HUGE!

They sometimes close schools and businesses so people can attend and cheer on the participants! THATS how big of a deal it is.

Jay played basketball on a team that made it to the state tournaments when he was in high school (back in 1984). Then he coached a team that made it to state when our girls were barely a year old (1991). The head coach for this team that just made it is named Mike. Mike and Jay are very good friends. Mike was a senior on that 1991 team, which Jay helped coach. Talk about coming full circle.

Before Jay started coaching at this rival school, he helped coach at our school. There were serious issues that Jay had regarding the head coaches ethics, values and integrity, and while everyone around complained about it, nothing was ever done. Rather than fighting it, Jay just turned in his keys and walked away. Feeling forced to do that hurt him more than anything else. He loves working with the kids and helping them, and he hated having to leave them.

When a couple of different coaching positions came open at our school, he applied but was always turned down. We felt a message was being sent, but we also knew that when one door closes, somewhere God opens a window. Jay knew he just had to wait for it. When Mike started coaching at this other school, he begged Jay to come coach with him. This was his window.

And now they are going to the state tournaments, while the other coaches are having to just sit back and watch since they didn't make it. He's been quietly validated, and I couldn't be happier for him! He's an amazing coach who has a way with those kids and they know that he truly cares about them.

During the starting line ups.

Before the start of the 2nd half.

You could read the nervousness in the coaches faces.

This sums up the tension better than I could. We had a player at the free-throw line. If she made her shots, it would clinch the game for us, because the other team wouldn't have enough time left to catch up. You can almost hear this girl pleading for the ball to go through the net.

The final buzzer sounded....which was when

I was finally able to breathe again.

Here you can see the TV cameras on some of the students and the players after the game. They were all cheering "On To State! On To State!"

In this picture, Jay is being congratulated by different people, and if you were able to see closer, you could see that he has tears in his eyes. He is a quiet, humble man who will give credit to everyone else before himself. I know those tears are tears of pride in the girls on the team and the other coaches.

Both Ashley & Chelsea came back from their colleges to help cheer on their dad, and Austin went with me to the game. Jays cousin has kids who attend the rival school, so during half-time we did a quick cousin shot. If you're wondering about the bunny ears, I can't help you. We all wondered too...including his mom. LOL