Family Game Night

We just finished a great night of playing a game together. We've done this many times before, but tonight seemed particularly good for us. The game we played is called Sequence and is a card and chip game where a team tries to get five in a row. It is some chance and some strategy. But I think the reason that tonight was so satisfying was that we were all able to play. It wasn't too long, didn't require too much heavy thinking and even Maria could join in and make good contributions to her team.

It feels so good to have us working as a team. There wasn't too much competition that made feelings get hurt or emotions out of control. We all left the table knowing that we had a good time with each other. It is these kinds of nights that I live for as a parent. I want to know that my kids like each other and can play together and root for one another. It is the small event that I know will prepare them for the larger life events that will come along.

Life Moves Fast

I've decided that life moves pretty fast and if events and ideas aren't paused over, then they are gone. It takes time, but I'm thinking it is worth the effort.

Between November and February the kids had 50 basketball games and about 75 practices. Most games were on Saturday with occasional ones during the week. And then of course practices were most evenings. It is comparable to a part time job getting the kids to practice and watching their games! But what fun we had! Rose played her first year and had a tremendous time learning the game. She is quite the player, one game she had over 20 steals! Rose had a natural feel for the court and where the play should go next. Scott and I had lots of fun cheering from the stands.

Zachary played with all boys and had a winning season! They only lost one regular season game and came out the winners of their Little Dribblers divisiontournament in Lompoc. Zach is big, but can move quickly and one of the boys on his team calls him "Big Country". Ben was a late addition to basketball deciding at the last moment to sign up. But he would have missed so much if had thought he didn't have enough skills to play. He learned so much about being the big man down under, and he learns so quickly! We didn't realize how tall he was compared to other boys his age. We look forward to seeing him get even better next year!

This year Scott was able to coach Abby's team. For the first time Abby played on an all girls team. She enjoyed that a lot, the highlight being a sleepover at the end of the season. They didn't win many games, but the motto of the team was effort. And they improved so much over the season, they were a pleasure to watch by the end. Scott was a tremendous coach, p0uring his time and effort into making a bunch of early teen girls into a team. Maria decided not to play this year, but maybe next....