Ang.’s Brood

Last night we had not one but 2 games.  We managed to make it to both of them, somehow. Karly played early in the nearby town of Hamilton. It was a good game! The girls all played really well and came out victorious. The final score was 25-12. After we picked Jasmine up from practice, we winged out way north to the big metropolis of Biggsville. Clint’s team played against the West Central Heat. This is a team that beat our boys a few years ago in a tournament but just a few points. I think that is the only time they have played against each other. Last night, there was no contest. Our Viking boys beat them 48-17. Clint scored lots of points and there was just a tremendous effort on the part of the whole team. This is the first year that all of these boys have played as a team instead of against each other. It is great to see them mesh so well. Overall, despite all of the driving, it was a great night of basketball.

It was a slim crowd last night. Clint stayed home because at 13 he thinks he is too old. Karly stayed home because of the pneumonia. So it was just Jasmine, the vampire, and Melina, the witch, who headed out into the night to forage for candy at the neighboring farms. Jasmine was very thoughtful and brought along an extra bag to fill for Karly. We hit 16 houses in about 90 minutes and we were all wiped! Country trick-or-treating is a little more intensive than the in town variety. Not only do we drive from house to house putting 20 or more miles on the van but each house requires the kids to go in for a short visit. Jasmine noted that fact last night. The one Halloween Tom and I lived in town it seemed strange to have the kids grab their candy and run. What? No admiring the costume? No asking what grade you are in? It was just plain wrong! Out here the kids get a load of candy and garner some social skills while doing it. They also have a lot of fun.

This week we have 6 games in 6 days with Halloween in the middle. Talk about running ourselves ragged! On top of that, Karly has pneumonia. That makes the running more difficult since someone has to stay home with her. So when I make it through this week, I will be relieved!

Jasmine had a game last night that was fantastic! The girls played good and the game went into double overtime. Jasmine seems to have hit her stride all of the sudden and has become the dominate scorer. She really seems to be enjoying herself, too. We never knew if Jasmine would ever really enjoy sports or not. She has always been so hot and cold about playing. But this year and in the last few weeks she has really come to enjoy what she is doing. It really shows, too!

Here she is making the first points of the game.

I believe this free throw tied the game up the first time.

Clint started basketball practice last week. So we now officially have 3 of the kids in basketball now. The home school for basketball is Nauvoo-Colusa so he has to ride the bus to and from practice. This has been a bit of struggle with getting homework done. He doesn’t use his time on the bus (1/2 hour each way) to do homework and he is just about too tired by the time he gets home to be very effective. I know that he will get it figured out it is just hard to watch him go through the struggle. This is also the first year that he will not be a Warsaw Bobcat. He will be a WNC Viking. I wish the schools would just switch everything over to West Hancock Titans and be done with it. It gets confusing switching from one mascot and color scheme to the next.

This morning is a busy one with Karly at a soccer game, Jasmine at a basketball game and Clint at basketball practice. Tom will be coaching the soccer game because the regular coach has a daughter in the hospital. I have to run Clint and a couple neighbor boys to the pickup point for the practice bus. Then I have to come home to make sure everyone else is ready for the day. Then I have to run Jasmine to the pickup point for the game bus. Then I have to run back home to wait for Tom to get back from work. He is taking the Karly and Melina to soccer while I go watch Jasmine’s game. We get to all meet back home to have lunch and probably collapse.

Karly’s game last Saturday was good. They won and they did a pretty good job for a group of 9 and 10 year olds.  Karly has a knack for anticipating when and where the ball will be passed. Needless to say she stole several balls. She enjoys playing so much that she is just fun to watch. I hope she never loses that joy.

This is the place to be if you want to keep up with what is going with my kids. My kids are active, involved kids and there is always something going on. So be sure to check back here often for the latest stories, pictures and video clips that feature Clint, Jasmine, Karly and Melina.