Pick 6 Baby!!!

Last week Jayden had his last football game of the season.  It was raining all day so I thought they’d call the game off but I was informed they don’t call football games because of the rain.  Before this season started, I pretty much knew NOTHING about football. I thought the sport was so dumb. I simply don’t understand why someone would want to catch a ball, attempt to run with it and get chased and tackled to the ground by HUGE boys/men.  I didn’t understand tight end vs corner back vs safety vs quarterback… Ok ok, just kidding, I knew the role of the quarterback but not the others.  I couldn’t understand first down or fourth down or first in ten or whatever all that lingo is (I still don’t know if I’m even saying it right).  We played a total of 9 games and to be honest, I was pretty clueless for the first 4 or 5, OR 6.  People in the stands would be hollering stuff that I knew nothing about.  I would be on my phone Googleing what they said just to try and understand what the heck was happening.  One minute we were running the ball one way and the next we were running the other way.  What the heck, I knew it wasn’t halftime yet so WHAT IS GOING ON?  I had a lot to learn.  I read a couple of great “Football 101 for Dummies” type of articles which were helpful but just as I thought I understood what was going on, I’d hear someone yell something from the stands and yet again, I was clueless.  Sorry I don't have any pictures from the front, the pictures we get from the school have not come in yet. He's #84.

 

Our playoff game, last Wednesday was rainy and chilly.  We kicked off to the other team and they attempted a play or two. The scoreboard clock wasn’t working so we had no idea how much time was left in the first quarter.  Their quarterback was all set up to throw the ball and threw a beautiful pass…… right into the hands of Jayden (insert crazy Mom screams here).  If my knowledge of the game is correct, Jayden was playing safety for this play (I think I get double confused because he plays offense and defense) but he caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown.  It was beautiful.  Jeff was yelling “pick 6 baby” and our fans went crazy!  Do you think I had my phone out and ready to record, of course not….Ugh!  I now understand the hype of JJ Watt.  No, I’m not comparing my son to the amazing JJ, but I finally understand they hype of him scoring because of him being a defensive player.  A couple of weeks ago, Jayden had his first touchdown ever as this year is the first time he’s ever played football but he was playing offense so although I was extremely excited (and shed  tear or two) it was expected.  This touchdown, or pick 6 as I’m told I need to call it, was just the icing on the cake for our last game of the season.  Soon after this excitement, the lights on the field went out.  It wasn’t completely dark yet but was getting dark pretty quick.  It was POURING at this point as well.  They continued to play and we scored another touchdown.  The score was now 12 – 0.  It was approaching half time and they decided to call the game due to the rain….or so we thought.  Since this was the last game and was our playoff game per say, which determined our ranking for the season, we needed a winner.  Come to find out after picking up Jayden from the school a bit later, the other team forfeited the game.  Wooo-hoooo.  We took 3^rd place overall which is great in my book!  We are very proud of Jayden for his attitude on and off the field and his growth in this sport this season.

 

Basketball tryouts began today at 5:30 am so we move right along to one of my favorite sports.  There are about 120 boys in the 7^th grade trying out this year and there are only 36 who will make a team.

 

Taryn is 8!!

Today is Taryn’s 8^th birthday!  WOW, what an amazing 8 years we’ve had with this child.  She brings so much joy to our family.  She makes us laugh harder than anyone else can make us laugh, just by being herself.  She is a ray of sunshine and reminds us daily that God is more important than anything or anyone.  We had her birthday party on Saturday.  She wanted a small party with 6-8 girls where they could watch a movie in our theater room and have ice cream sundaes.  Not a great deal of planning had to go into this and with our busy lives right now, this made me so happy.  I let her decide the toppings for the sundaes and she helped me make cookies and cake balls. Party days are tortuous for kids, they are bouncing off the walls and wait ALL day for the party to start.  She was sitting at the front window an hour before anyone was supposed to get there, JUST in case someone arrived early.  Her first guest arrived and she was so happy!  Her second guest arrived minutes later and the 3 of them started to play and giggle while waited for others.  They didn’t want to start the movie without the other friends because they didn’t want anyone to miss any of it.  After waiting over an hour, they decided to go ahead and start the movie.  Taryn was so grateful for these 2 girls but I could see the sadness in her face that the other didn’t come.  We had 5 others rsvp and say they’d be there.  I get it, things come up, people get sick, etc.  8 year olds, don’t necessarily get it.  When the movie was playing she kept coming downstairs and peering outside to see if anyone else was coming.  It broke my heart.  I pulled her aside and explained to her that something must have come up and the others are not coming.  She took it like a champ.  I probably should have said those words to her an hour earlier but I was holding onto the hope that someone else would come.  Her response “it’s ok, that means more ice cream for us”.  That really tugged at my heart strings.  Although I could still see the sadness in her face, she put on happy face and enjoyed the rest of her party. At a last minute notice, one of the girls was able to spend the night so for the most part, that made up for it.
 

 

Kiarra wrapped up volleyball two weeks ago and has been eagerly awaiting the start of club.  Tomorrow is their first practice.  We changed clubs this year so there is a bit of anxiety for the new season, new coaches, new location, etc.  Kiarra has improved so much over the past few years.  Her vertical has increased and her love for the sport is greater than ever. At the beginning of the season, she was playing front row for one game and then back row for another game.  One district games started, she barely left the court. There were times she needed to be pulled to re-group and calm down but for the most part she played hard and did well.  We are proud of her attitude on the court as well.  It’s not always easy playing out there when fans/students from the other teams are shouting obscenities and doing everything possible to throw you off.  We had an interesting experience with these coaches this year.  The girls did a LOT of conditioning.  I think they could out-run any other team in the district, possibly the state of Texas.  Coaches would keep track of missed serves, shanks, etc. and their punishment would be conditioning. It was hard for me to understand why they didn’t work on those serves and passes and sets or hits but I’m not the coach and don’t have a say in the matter.  I do understand the need for the girls to be in shape and be well conditioned. What I don’t understand was the punishment of conditioning for everything they screwed up on during the games.  Needless to say, we are all very excited for this club season.

 

Over the past year or so Jeff has been going through training and taking lots of tests to become certified in Six Sigma. I am proud to say that he is now a Green Belt in Six Sigma and is hoping to move forward and get his Black Belt.

 
I still really like my new job, not the commute!  All my travel plans have been delayed to next year so although I was really looking forward to traveling this year, I won’t be going anywhere for a few months. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward to growing in my career and learning new things