Oh, Hey There!

I've missed you! No, really, I have! Oh so much has been going on, and on top of everything, I have been experiencing the most sickly year I have ever had! My kinders have been sickly...like for real sick...over Christmas, 8 of my 18 had the flu. They've passed around horrible stomach bugs all year, strep, colds that never end, terrible ear infections, Fifth's disease, pink eye...oh the horrors of kindergarten! It has never been this bad though. We have a new cleaning crew, and I have to wonder if it isn't coincidence that germs aren't going away anymore. Fortunately, so far, I haven't had the bad stuff...just a general feeling of ick. Yes, I meant to say ick, not sick. It has not been fun. And along with the sickly kinders, who by the way have allergies out the wazoo, SPRING FEVER HAS HIT. Me, my intern, and the kids. In full force.

I am dying to get in my garden and work. According to The Farmer's Almanac for this year, my area has had its final hard freezing spell of winter this week. Now, I did not use that trusty resource last year, and guess what? My garden produced a total of 2 dinners worth of potatoes, about 10 meals of fried okra, an occasional tomato, 2 quarts of green beans, two carrots, and about a half dozen sweet potatoes. That's it. And last year, it snowed in May. May 7 to be exact. The day after I put out my tomatoes. I cried. I so hope the almanac is on the money this year. I want need to be out there, nursing my plants and filling basket upon basket of beautiful produce that I can practice my canning skills on. It isn't supposed to rain again until Sunday, so I am planning to be out there tomorrow evening, planting cucumber and green bean seedlings. I also have some turnip and pepper seedlings, but I don't think that they are quite ready to transplant. I did plant my potatoes and onions about 10 days ago, and the onions have started to sprout, which is definitely exciting!

What else has been going on? Well, Lefty had her last ever cheer try-out two weeks ago and made it. She was named captain of her squad!!! I was asked by the other senior mom to be the President of the booster club and Treasurer for the squad. The other senior mom is Vice-President and Secretary. It's gonna be a busy year. Boo decided not to try out for cheer this year, but did try out for dance team. She was a nervous wreck, but I had no doubt that my tiny dancer would do just fine. That will be a new thing for us; we've always been a cheer family, so competitive dance team will be a new adventure. The Boy tried out for his basketball team and didn't make it, BUT he had better luck trying out for track. He is in his first year of being able to do school athletics, so it's a pretty big learning curve. Also, baseball season starts next week for The Boy. Things are gonna be oh so busy for the next two months. Lou tried out for her middle school band and chose to play trumpet like Lefty. I hope she enjoys it.

As for me and my man, we've just been following the kiddos from this to that. We haven't done any more craft shows or anything, although I scouted one out last weekend that is a definite possibility for November. I have gotten a little discouraged. Things have been very slow. Like non-existent. I sold two wreaths last month, and that has been pretty much it for 2014 so far. Kinda sad. However, one of those was for a church a few towns away, and it turned out fantabulous!

Speaking of churches, we have been visiting a new church. We went alone the first week, then last week, we took all four kids. They seemed to enjoy it. Boo asked to go with us this coming Sunday (when she is going to be at her dad's). I am glad she wants to go.

There is so much more for me to go on and on about, but I guess I can save some for other posts! Weather for example. My new addiction. A diet (or the lack thereof) update. New cooking adventures. The four new florals I made. School. Theatrical performances. A band performance with the Beatles. Spanish Honor Society. Faith.  I truly could go on and on. But I will wait.

Playing Basketball

School sports tend to overlap and run together a little bit, so as a cheer family, we are constantly on athletic overload. I used to love football, but since my Knight introduced me to live basketball, I just might be a convert. Around here, junior high (8th and 9th grades) and high school (10th - 12th grades) basketball began in early December and just finished up Tuesday night. I will miss it. It's the only place in the world that I like the sound of squeaky shoes. On top of the two cheerleaders, The Boy played basketball this year also through the church program, Upward. The season ended for him Friday night. It was his last year to play for that league, as next year, he will be in 7th grade, which begins the school sponsored athletics programs in Arkansas.

This year, The Boy did really well. He did not play last year, so we were a little concerned about if he had fallen behind in ability level in comparison to the other boys, but he really was on track with everyone else. I was only able to see him play once, and from what my Knight says, The Boy just kept improving with every game. The Boy says it's because we bought him magic socks.

Now, I don't know about magic socks, but I do know The Boy is not typically real graceful, so he could be on to something. He started the season like a blonde boss...

And finished the season like this.

He must not have been wearing those magic socks when he fell doing the Wobble in the bathroom.

 Another little man I went to watch play a game was one of my kinders. Now this game was hilarious! These babies could shoot, and a couple of them could handle the ball...but they couldn't always remember which basket they were shooting for! Isn't he a doll?!?!

Check out that form!

 School sports is a whole new level of play. I am anxious for The Boy to start playing 'real ball' next year. In the meantime, while wearing my Cheer Mom badge, I have watched a lot of kiddos that aren't mine (but most might as well be, I've known them all since they were kinderkids). These high school boys have a very young team (only 2 upperclassmen are on starting line up), and as they grow and develop their talent...they are going to be phenomenal to watch. The Freshmen athletes coming up are going to bring even more natural ability to the team. High school had a losing season, but the wins were always right there, hovering just out of reach.

Triple threat, right there. I bet they have magic socks too.

Now...these Freshmen that I spoke of earlier? Whoa. They finished the season on Monday night as Conference Champions. It was fan-freakin-tastic! Combine these two teams and all hell will break loose.

 Newspaper pic and cutting down the game net...

The student section rushing down to the team after the big WIN!

And of course, you can't have basketball without phenom cheerleaders! Both of the girls are on extremely talented school squads. Both have elite tumblers and the young ones love to fly. I LOVE watching them. There is talk of both junior high and senior high going competitive next year, and I can't wait!!!

Cutie patootie!

...with her Momma

Boo is the base on the left side of the center stunt group (left side base on pics above too)

 And the varsity girls...

Lefty in her element.
She is the base in the center stunt group on the right side below

Ever since I was in a cute little RHS uniform, after every varsity boys win, football and basketball, the team rushes into the crowd and leads the cheerleaders and student section...it used to get me wound up and ready for the after-parties, but now as a Momma and alumni, it makes my heart swell and brings the sting of tears to my eyes...

 "Hell yeah! V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that's the Cyclone battle cry!!!"

Sick Day Ramblings

So I am home today. It was one of those mornings that I just couldn't go...anywhere. I slept til 9:45, showered, put my hair up, did not do my make-up, straightened up a bit around the house, started laundry, and sat down to catch up on technology. I had lots to do. Still have lots to do. One day is not enough, but tomorrow, the show must go on!

We have been so busy this year. It is hard to believe that we are already almost 5 months in to 2012! I feel like I have blinked and months have passed. Why?

• First, it was basketball season for Lefty (cheering, not playing). 
• Then, it was cheer try-out season for Lefty and Boo. Lefty made high school cheerleader (one of the only 2 freshmen that made it, on a squad of 15 girls). Boo made junior high school cheerleader. I hope she is excited about it as I am! She seems to be. They had their first practice this week, and she has been blaring band songs to practice band dances with ever since. 
• The next thing hitting the agenda was The Boy's baseball season. He started playing travel ball this year, so instead of us having to travel twice a week to where he lives with his mom, we are travelling a 2 hour radius on the weekends. There has been drama with that...adults not doing what they promise and should...so they haven't played as much as we thought they would. Still, it keeps us on the go!
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• Finally, it is time to wrap up the school year (thank God). It has been an especially tough year for me, for various reasons, including this. I am ready for summer. To do things like this... 
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In the midst of all of that 'busy-ness,' I have been working on my 'business'...J's Jingle Jangles. An Etsy store was created, garnering my first sale last week; Facebook has brought me several sales; and word of mouth has also been a great tool in getting the word out there. I even invested in yard signs and business cards (very exciting)! We purchased about 30 base forms for my wreaths in December, and now I am down to 8 remaining to work with. Yikes! Time to restock!!! 

AND...Hubs and I working to get a 'neighborhood watch' going. We had a scare in January, where a dangerous person, armed with a gun, had evaded capture by police and was hiding in the woods close to our neighborhood. There were helicopters circling for about 6 hours, every vehicle going in or out of the neighborhood was searched by police, and if we left the house, we were told to get home, get inside behind locked doors, and not let our children to play. They wouldn't tell us why. It wasn't until several hours after the escape that we heard through Facebook what was going on. Our kids were outside for about 3 hours while this crazy person was lurking in our woods. Now, I say 'our woods.' He was actually found about five miles from us the following morning, but who knows how close he got? Our house is at the end of the road...bordered on 2 sides by these woods, and a deep ditch on the third side...And no one informed the residents of what was going on? Not cool. So...we have contacted our community security guy and requested to be put on the contact list as neighborhood leaders. We are to inform residents on our street of emergency situations as they occur (when the security guy notifies us). Hopefully, it will not ever be needed again, but if it is...we will be ready!

So, yeah, we've been busy. Here are some shots of my world since February (wish I had thought to take more pics, but alas...this is what I've got):

Edgy, beautiful girl

Rainbow followed me all the way to work...

A beautiful, HOT spring break!

'Pwayed in da dut' with this precious boy