she shoots, she scores!

T had a basketball game today and I got some cute pictures. Here she is getting the ball and leading the pack down the court...



T is in maroon and #3. She is on the far left of the picture. She just took a shot and u can't see the ball yet, its high in the air.




Here you can begin to see the ball make its way back down, towards the basket. She is sort of in the air still.




and it goes...




...IN!!!!




And T is already....




...celebrating!!!   lol with hands in the air claiming victory! lol she is certainly happy!  :)



basketball game

Here is a video of T playing in one of her basketball games. She is #13 in blue (the one on the right as this video starts). Today she had another game and did really well. She actually made 4 baskets, dribbled well, remembered NOT to double-dribble, got open from the girl guarding her, made a rebound, passed, and blocked. She is much more aware now of where the ball is at all times and is doing pretty good. Today they played their first game where they actually incorporated a 'play', and they formed picks, so it was beginning to look like real basketball. Very cute. Dan is doing such a great job as the assistant coach too. He is so good with kids and always shows them lots of support and direction (I'm so proud of both of them). Here goes, enjoy (this was filmed about 2 games ago).

our cheerleader

Isn't this cute, little W doing a cheer for her sister at the basketball game. ;)

cousins come to visit

The girls' cousins came to visit this week. Here are a few pictures to enjoy. This first one is of their cousin, P, with T & W on what we lovingly refer to as "The Hood". It literally is a car hood turned upside down with a piece of carpet on it. We tow it behind the Ranger and have lots of fun treating it as a sled. I'll post more about this later. But don't they look cute, all ready for their ride?!

Here is W loving on her cousins J and P.

Here is T at one of her basketball games.

Isn't this a neat picture. It was for a school outing to visit a special museum, and the beautiful fountain out front was all frozen. Very pretty.

T's 2nd Bball game

T did really well in her second B-ball game Saturday. She scored another basket so she was happy. She was much more aware of where the ball was at all times so she did better, and she put her arms up to block shots this time, which is good. She is still a bit confused about the "game" in general. When the ref called her over to pass the ball inbounds she had no idea what he was talking about, but she is catching on. That's what this league is for, to teach them the game and the fundamentals of teamwork and dribbling etc. Its a lot of fun, I am really enjoying it :) Pictures will be coming I promise ;0

Misc catchup

Tomorrow is T's second basketball game. Dan has become the assistant coach so he is helping with the practices and games. I will admit...this is FUN! I love watching her play (even though she has a lot to learn still!!!) and cheering her on. I think I've got the biggest mouth out there, right in the front row :) (the other parents are cheering too, don't let me fool you)
I'll tell you what, watching the game and cheering them on brought out my "cheerleader school spirit" and I was ready to start chanting cheers right there from the sidelines. I didn't though because I didn't want to upstage the cute little 6 year old cheerleaders they had(!) Isn't that a riot?! They are adorable but they do one cheer and that's it for the whole game. Its so cute, but hey its a start :) Anyway, her second game is tomorrow and we are hoping for some improvement (she needs to become more aware of where the ball is at all times and to try to block the shots her opponent shoots). She did make one basket last week too :) She was so happy! They don't keep score at this level/league so both teams "won". They are learning the game and how to play on a team. Its lots of fun (I like it , can u tell?) :)

our new basketball hero!

Goodbye Michael Jordan (ok, I'm aging myself), hello our sweetheart! T started practicing on a basketball team this month and will have her first game in January. Can you tell we are proud, proud parents?! So looking forward to watching her play. Gymnastics is fine and I know she likes it, but it sure is exciting to watch a team sport rather than some drills on the mat (she's not a competition gymnast, so maybe that's why I feel this way. If we had signed her up to compete then it might seem more team-spirited. But since I am a former cheerleader, I'm loving the idea of getting some team spirit going here at the upcoming games! :) She is excited to do both and had a lot of fun at her first practice).

Her aunt and uncle both played college ball (with her aunt still holding a collegiate record for 3-pointers), her dad played in high school, and I played in junior high. So, needless to say, we are looking forward to carrying on the tradition and watching her play a sport we all have some experience with (at least when watching I'll know the rules-unlike soccer where I have no idea what they are doing and what's legal and what's not-ha ha). I'm sure I'll keep u posted as the "season" progresses. :)

basketball

Last night we went to the "evaluation" and sign-ups for Upward Basketball for T. They had her do a few drills like dribbling, shooting, and sideways runs. It was cute. You could tell she was nervous at first but once she got in her groove and started making the shots you could tell she was starting to feel pretty good. She loves shooting at the hoop at grandma and grandpa's house, so we picked one up (from a neighbor's trash--funny story, but I did ASK if we could have it and he said certainly! ) so she has been shooting at our house some too. She really enjoys it and this summer she did a 2 week camp and liked it. We are hoping she really likes it and continues to play because it is a sport our whole family has a history with and can therefore really enjoy watching and can also offer support and coaching at home since we played it ourselves. Plus her aunt still even holds the record for 3-point shots in her college division (I forget what division that is). Her uncle played college ball too, and of course daddy played in h.s. I also played but only for the 7th and 8th grades, at which point I changed and became a cheerleader. But even though I didn't play as long as everyone else I still know the rules and stuff so its more fun to watch when u know how the game is supposed to be played.
Anyway, we are really proud of her, she did really good tonight. She made ALL her shots from the left side, and all but about 2 of her free throws. She didn't make any on her right side, but we think that is because she is left-handed and we noticed she's shooting with both hands, so from the right side, she probably did not have good form. Dan will have to work on that with her. Anyway, pretty exciting and looking forward to watching her play. Some of her classmates are going to be playing too so that will be fun for her as well.