Pinterest

For the longest time (or however long Pinterest has been cool), I have stood my ground and refused to buy in to the hype.  Recently, I have somewhat caved :(  I made a variation of an advent calendar I saw on Pinterest:

The frame for my advent calendar is actually a cork board that I bought from Wal-Mart.  The ribbon (from Family Dollar) was glue-gunned on.  I cut the green and red cards out of card stock I had at home and glued the white papers on the back.  I made the activities up to match what we already had planned (like decorate the Christmas tree or go to the Christmas parade).  I also made sure to not plan activities that would stress us out - like trying to watch a Christmas movie on a school night.  Cayle has been loving the activities!  Tonight's activity was really fun - we drank sparkling apple cider with our dinner :)

Another Pinterest idea that I got sucked in on was this year's homemade ornament.  My plan is to make an ornament each year for the kids' godparents and grandparents (along with one for our family to keep).  I figured I'd troll Pinterest to see if I could find any easy homemade ornament ideas.  Here's what I came up with:

The cards were actually really easy to make.  The most difficult part of the process was finding the old Christmas cards needed to make the sides of the ornament - it's amazing how few real cards are sent anymore since everyone sends the photo cards (including us...).  So all I did was cut squares that were 3"x 3", find the midpoints, connect the dots, and bend the card.  Use double-sided tape to stick them together, then run twine through the top and bottom.  They're really kinda cool ornaments.

So now that I've tried out two ideas from Pinterest in the past week, it will probably be a while before I get my crafty pants on again :)
 

School Picture

Cayle and Lindy both had school pictures taken in September while the middle school pictures were being taken.  Lindy wasn't in to the whole picture thing that day :(  But Cayle did well :)

Recognition

This group of boys (basketball) that are 8th graders this year, as 6th graders they didn't win a game. As 7th graders, we had our share of losses, but also some really big wins, and were able to gain enough confidence and skills to win the league championship. As 8th graders they had to battle cockiness and overconfidence on a regular basis. They lost to Summit (top team in the league) twice, but beat Eagle (3rd best team) 3 times. Eagle is who they lost to every game in 6th grade (they only play each other) As 8th graders they were able to beat Summit when it mattered and win the league championship again.

Last year, when I had them, and we beat Eagle the 1st time and then we beat Summit, the parents were showering me with compliments and saying thanks to me we were able to beat those teams for the first time ever. (since they have been playing basketball) That makes me uncomfortable (the praise). I feel like the kids are the ones who did the work and deserve the praise. When we won the championship last year, I just wanted to disappear. Yes, I was excited! Yes, I was ecstatic! Ya I was pumped! But as soon as we won, I wanted the kids to be able to soak in the glory of their achievement and I wanted nothing to do with it. They had put in the time and the effort and commitment and I wanted them to enjoy it. The parents of the kids always want the coach involved in the celebration.

I know it's part of coaching and having success, but I still don't like it. However, I think there may be coaches out there that really enjoy it? Not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just not me.

The weird part of all this, is that in my own personal achievements, like winning bike races, I want the attention and the praise! I want the trophy or medal, the podium presentation, or the mention in the news. I am uber competitive and will do whatever (legal) is necessary to put myself position to win. Doesn't matter if it's pick-up games of basketball, dodgeball, or bike racing. I cannot stand losing! Doesn't mean I don't handle it well. I know people who throw major fits if they lose. That's not me, it just serves as motivation to put in the time and training to win the next time. Not sure, but I think I got this from my dad. I know I got my competitive nature from him, as did my brothers. Dad HATES losing at anything, from sports to business, but if he does lose, he doesn't outwardly show disappointment. He may sulk a bit or appear unhappy, but a loss forces him to work harder to be better. I am the same.

Back to the basketball. The 8th grade team won the league championships again this year. The parents want to throw them a big party and make a huge deal out of them winning back to back titles. The 8th grade coach told me today, that he wants me to attend the celebration (pretty sure just cause it makes him feel uncomfortable as well, and he wants me there to share in that feeling...) Inside, I am incredibly proud of the kids and honored that the 8th grade coach wants me there. But I don't want to be showered with attention by the parents.

Don't get me wrong on all this. I like it when the kids tell the coach thanks. It's nice when the team (parents) give the coach a gift card or something as a way of saying thanks. Something small and not so noticeable really makes a coach feel warm and fuzzy inside, like they are doing something good.

But really, I don't want the praise. I don't want the recognition. I am already excited about next year and the incoming 7th graders and the chance to teach them the game of basketball, and hopefully the opportunity to help them feel the elation and sense of pride that can come from working your hardest to achieve a goal.

The Cabin

 Over Christmas Break we will be staying in a cabin on a lake at a State Park near our house. Some of Natalie's family will be joining us for a few days, as well as other friends. We will be there about a week and whoever wants to come visit or even stay overnight is more than welcome. I went to see it today, and am super excited for Christmas to head up there. It's my kind of place! Sheltered and warm enough for the kids, and far enough out of the way and quiet enough for me! Should be a beautiful week!

The drive up, about 10 miles away at this point

The master

2 rooms of bunk beds

Kitchen

View from the front door!

That's a Wrap

My basketball season is over! It was such an inspiring year and I feel like the kids really made a lot of progress. We were just one solid post player from contending for another league championship. As it turned out, we came out fairly flat at 8 this morning, and went down by 10 quick. Got after it on defense for a bit and kept it close (single digits) until about 10 to go, then just ran out of steam. We lost by 20 in our first game. Tough to win in basketball w/out some sort of post presence!

The 8th grade team (Last year's league champs) had a fairly easy road to the championship game. The bracket really looked like it was set up to have the leagues 2 best teams face each other in the championship game (as it usually is). Last year (7th grade), Summit went undefeated, or maybe only lost once. We beat them in the Championship game as the 3 seed by 5 points. Close game all the way. This year, I knew it would be a close game, as they are also a very talented team, but I had no idea it would be as close as it was. Biggest lead was Summit by 5pts in the 1st half. Every possession was critical! We went up by a few points with a couple minutes left and from there on Summit had to foul to get the ball back, and we hit huge free throws down the stretch! Such a fun game to watch and be a part of and see the kids play their hearts out! Our 8th grade team repeated their league title winning by 5 points.

I am one of the most competitive people I know, so I don't usually feel too badly for the losing person or team. But today, for some reason, I really felt bad for the kids from Summit. They went undefeated in back to back regular seasons and lost both championship games to us. Immediately when the time ran out, 5 or 6 kids from their team just burst into tears. That's when you can see how much it really means. The passion. It was pretty hard to watch! That being said, I am super happy that was not us!!!

Now more free time, time to start training for bike racing season!!! and maybe ref some girls basketball???

League Tourney

Tomorrow basketball is over. We have our final league tournament. Last night was my last practice. It will be nice for the season to be over, especially since I will no longer have to bring all 3 kids up to practice, waking them from their naps, for them to then have to come back home immediately with Natalie. I will have some time to exercise after school.

The season has been interesting for sure! Last year I was kind of spoiled, it being my first year coaching out here and I had a hard-working and very talented group of kids. All I had to do was build their confidence and watch them take off. This year was very different. I had a much smaller group of kids to work with and most had only been playing basketball for a year or two. Some had talent, some not so much, as is always the case. I had two things on this years team that really stood out. I had a big guy at about 6ft and 180lbs, which is really big for a 7th grader, and he had great skills and footwork. However, he could not keep his grades up and missed half the season, including tomorrow's final tournament. This year, I also had some of the best shooters I've ever had, not much size or quickness, but great shooters.

In 7th grade, and even every grade after, all the way through high school, college, and the NBA, the teams that have the most success are those that play the best defense and have a stud big man. A lot of teams try to play all guards and just outscore every team every game, but it seems to rarely work. But what to do when you have a team where your biggest kid would be a wing on most teams, and you have a bunch of good shooters? You shoot! It's the first time I've ever told a team that I want them taking every single open shot they have. I don't care if it's a 3 or not. I don't care if they miss, we have to shoot when we have open shots. Not sure we can pull out many wins with this strategy, but in middle school basketball, you never know. Our strategy is very simple. Defend, Box out, and shoot and attack the basket as often as possible. Basically no inside post game... We'll see how it goes. May the shots be falling tomorrow morning...

St. Nick

I made an advent calendar for us to check each morning. We have a fun activity planned for each of the 25 days of Christmas. Last night, we read The Polar Express. Night before that, we put Cayle and Lindy's shoes out under the tree for St. Nick to fill with goodies.

Cayle enjoyed coming downstairs to see if St. Nick had visited.  If you have nothing to do with the next 9 minutes or so of your life, you can watch Cayle check out his stocking and "help" Lindy with hers :)

St. Nick video 1
St. Nick video 2