Cheerleader Brenna

YEAH! In case you hadn't heard, this year Brenna was successful in her endeavor and made the cheerleading squad at GHMS (Germantown Hills Middle School).

There were 5 girls returning and two spots open for the 8th grade squad for next school year and Brenna was one of those two.

I think the best part of this is she learned a very important lesson. After not making either the pom or cheer squad last year, she went to work on taking dance/pom and tumbling classes for her entire 7th grade year. She also received instruction on jumps, stunts and kicks. I'm so proud of the fact that she set her sites on a goal, worked her tushy off for it and reaped the benefits of hardwork.

I think she's learned that if you want something enough and are willing to work hard for it, it will pay off.

Congrats, kiddo, I'm proud of you. :)

NEW schedule

Nowthat track has ended for Brenna...we now have a new, revised schedule:

MONDAY:
Brenna tumbling
Peyton Morton Blaze soccer practice

TUESDAY:
Brenna dance/pom

WEDNESDAY:
Peyton electric guitar lessons

THURSDAY:
Peyton Morton Blaze soccer practice

FRIDAY:
FREE DAY! WOO HOO

This weekend we will all be in Champaign, IL for a soccer torunament. The beauty of this is it's the only one we will have to travel for and stay overnight. The other two tournaments are in Bloomington (45 minute drive) and Morton has their own tournament over Memorial Day weekend.

Other than that they play league games in Springfield but that's a Sunday afternoon...nothing majah!

So far Peyton's U-10 girls team has played 5 games and won 4.

In case you were wondering...

Scott turns 40 this Thursday!

We're Rockin and Rollin

In case you haven't heard. We've been experiencing some aftershocks since Friday's wall-banging earthquake [snicker].

Apparently there was a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in S. Illinois on Friday around 4:36 am. Now, we were all fast asleep...well, everyone except for Bandit. I'm pretty sure she felt it. I know she made her way into our bed sometime early in the morning and I had to kick her out. You see, McKenzie (cat) is 11 years older and she has dibs on the bed and doesn't wish to share with that "dog." So, I wasn't being mean, it is just something not allowed and so unusual for Bandit to crawl into bed without permission from Scott or I. I was thinking later in the morning that she was probably just checking in on us and didn't feel comfortable until she could stick her cold, wet nose on my face while I slept. For the record, McKenzie was no where to be found, I'm a tad hurt she was so indifferent about the whole thing, at least Bandit cared enough to check in on us!

I did experience the aftershock later in the day. I was sitting at my desk around 10:15 am and felt a wave buckle under my feet, the scanner on my desk shifted, the computer screen blinked and the papers hanging on my cube walls shuffled. I looked across the aisle to Roland, my coworker, and he said, "Was that what I think it was?" The news reported it as a 4.6 aftershock. I called Scott at work and he said he didn't feel it but others in the office did.

Apparently just after midnight this morning there was another aftershock of around 4.5 in magnitude. The news have reported 18 aftershocks since the original and that we should prepare for more.

I'm providing you a link to the New Madrid earth quake wiki page. It gives more insight into why everyone is so nervous about this quake and the aftershocks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

I know, Sean, Ryan and Janet are probably thinking, what's the big deal, California has quakes all this time! Just scan down to the comparison map with a California quake near the bottom of the page, it shows how a quake of equal magnitude effects each fault line.

I'll keep you updated as we feel more or in case we get a BIG ONE! hahahahaha!(probably shouldn't joke about it!)

All Weeklong

I know, I've been neglectful. Our camera had to take a trip to the camera shop for repairs so I haven't been doing a very good job of updating. Mostly b/c I've been crazy busy (I'll explain later.)

I realize the whole intension of having a blog was to keep everyone informed about our lives b/c we're too busy to tell you all individually.

So with that said, my deepest apologies for not keeping you all better informed. I promise to do better (it's getting harder and harder to wrangle the laptop from the kids each night) but I'm commited to doing better.

Here's a breakdown of our weekly activities list (more proof of how busy we all are!):

Monday:
Brenna has track practice or meet / tumbling class
Peyton has Morton Blaze soccer practice/scrimmages

Tuesday:
Brenna has track practice or meet / dance class

Wednesday:
Brenna has track practice or meet
Peyton has electric guitar lessons

Thursday:
Brenna has track practice or meet
Peyton has Morton Blaze Soccer practice

Friday:
Brenna has track practice or meet


So as you see...every night we have to be somewhere with someone. Carpooling has become a way of life, but there is always another kid doing something, somewhere so it's not like we get a night off.

Weekends are fast becoming a time for "catch-up" and now that soccer has started...we could have league games or tournaments. Every weekend except for Mother's Day weekend is a tournament for Peyton.

Thank god, it'll start to slow down once school is out and starting the second week in June...it'll ease up a bit.

One from the files

Grandad Rod celebrated a birthday on Monday. Here's a picture from the Christmas files of him passing along pizza dough family secrets to Peyton. I didn't have any pictures of the "Great Pickle Torture" experiment, my apologies. hee hee hee

Quick update

I know, I know, I've been neglectful.

The Mac Book is at Apple for a second time for a fix. It keeps shutting down after the first repair after Christmas. It's too difficult for me to upload pictures at work or on the G4 as the software is different.

So, please be patient!

Brenna has been working hard to land her back flip in tumbling. All week she has been practicing her back bend and walk-over to help her on her way to landing her back flip. She can now do both...correctly. A little practice goes a long way!

Maybe in a couple of weeks we'll be able to take some shots of her doing her back flip!

I got tickets for the Bradley vs ISU bball game (wed) from work so all four of us got to go for a "family night out." Bradely won by one point. It was definately a greatgame to get to see and it sure beats sitting at home on a cold night with cabin fever!

Peyton has a basketball game tomorrow morning and then Sunday afternoon an indoor soccer game with her Morton team...

Later!

Busy weekend

Saturday
Peyton had a basketball game in the am. They lost it 25-24, it was a real heartbreaker.

Peyton then had co-ed indoor soccer (Gaspar's Academy) in the afternoon.
They won 12-2, Peyton scored 4. Pretty high scoring for a soccer game, but they played a U10 all boys team and they were pretty "little". Peyton did well and didn't beat-up on the little boys too bad.

Evening, we took both girls to Clare's to pick out some new earrings (with Grandma Sharon's gift cards). I used the rest of my birthday money to get some new flatware that was on sale at Linen's and Things. We made a quick detour to the new PetShop near Clare's...the girls fell in love with a Puggle, tried to talk Dad into buying it..and then had to suffer some disappointment when he told them it wasn't a good time for us to get another dog, that we would all have to discuss it and agree to the right time.

Sunday
Peyton had an indoor soccer game with the U10 Morton Blaze girls team. They won 4-2 and Peyton scored 2 goals, assisted on another. So, she had her hand in 3 of the goals and played well overall. Surprisingly, they started her. Usually when you start with a new team they ease you in, but since the assistant coach already knew her capabilities he talked the coach into starting her upfront at forward. We now know why they offered her a forward or midfield position. They have pretty descent defense, but almost no offensive players who can score. They move the ball well, but no one up front attacks, they're too timid. Peyton changes the whole dynamic of this team b/c she not only moves the ball well with her passes to strong side, but she also attacks the goal from anywhere on the field. She set-up at least four passes to the striker and right forward when they moved up. They learned quickly that if they got out in front of her, she'd send it up and all they had to do was "be there". It was strange b/c they played for the first time and yet, it appeared as though they have played together for years. Looks like we found Peyton a "team".

The head coach wasted no time after the game coming over and asking if Peyton would like to join the travel outdoor spring team as well...handed us another team jersey in white, "because we'd love to have her." She even skipped the parent/team meeting after the game to spend some time answering our questions. She said, "Peyton seems to be the missing piece our team has needed." As far how well the other girls get along with her, they smacked her hand and jumped-up and down when she scored, and before the game, she hung-out with them and they all talked to her and included her...so we think it's a good fit. We asked her what she thought about switching to the Morton team this Spring and she was all for it. I think she likes playing on her level, it's a diffenret role for her then the one she plays when she's "playing-up" on U11. We told the coach we had to discuss it but would let her know soon so in case she needed to get Peyton "carded" she would still have plenty of time.

So after some discussion we're leaning toward moving her to the Morton Blaze and then allowing her to "guest play" on her U11 FC Metro team this Spring (even though it may only be one game.)

Monday
Brenna has tumbling tonight and Peyton has another indoor game with her co-ed team (Gaspar's Academy) and then she doesn't have another game with them until Feb 2. She'll just do the Sunday afternoon Morton Blaze. So with soccer, when it rains, it pours.

Tuesday
Brenna has dance/pom class and we're going to be switching our club membership to Five Points in Washington from the RiverPlex in Peoria. Scott's bank is going to pay for our family membership for the year. If I'm not too rushed, I might actually remember my camera and take some shots of Brenna during dance if the instructor will let me.

Back in the Soccer Saddle again...

Peyton started-up indoor soccer this past weekend(Sat.)at Gaspars Academy. Her team won 11-10.

She was also in attendance of the indoor session with the Morton Blaze U11 and U10 girls game on Sunday (Aunt Linda, she wore the Mia Hamm jersey). She sat on the sidelines. As it turns out, she played the previous night with a girl named KJ who is also on this indoor team, and her dad coaches this Morton Blaze U10 team. He asked Peyton to play and even offered her a team shirt and waived any fee (they must want her bad)...said he'd love to have her play outdoor in the Spring with the Morton Blaze U10 and is offering her a choice of positions, Midfield or Forward (they must want her real bad.)

Additionally, the U11 coach asked if she would be willing to "guest play" or "play-up" on their U11 team for tournaments. This coach has never seen her play...is strictly going on the word of others.

Scott and I are thinking about switching her to Morton Blaze. We knew the Fall would be a time for her to try-out for other clubs/teams because her FC Metro team will be making too big of a leap (U12/U-13)but it seems Spring might bring a change sooner.

Take into consideration that Morton has try-outs once a year...and they don't seem to expect her to try-out for any team, they're just offering her a position cold.

Scott and I are scratching our heads a bit over this. We always thought she was a good, solid soccer player...but they are going "all out" to get her in their program. They are almost "giddy" over the aspect of having her on their team(s). All of this and they have not, to our knowledge even seen her play her best. One coach saw her Saturday night and we thought her timing was off...probably due to her time away from soccer between Oct and now...she'll regain it all within a few weeks of play. Wonder how they'll feel when they see her really churn-it-up?

Who knows...maybe a college scholarship is not completely out of the picture.

Linking to Photo bucket

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/whidbey_photog/?albumview=slideshow


Slideshow of Photos from Whidbey Island, WA