Sunshine!!

I hate the cold. Hate it. Not a fan of snow. It is cold and wet and keeps me inside. Yuck. So thankfully, we have dodged any of the potential "blizzards" they have predicted so far this winter. But it has still be tooooooo cold for comfort. I think God knew exactly what he was doing when he planted me in the great state of Alabama, even if I am a blue dot in a red state.

So, after weeks of COLD, WET weather, something odd happened on Monday. The SUN came out. And it heated the plains.

We threw on sneakers, grabbed the dog and headed to the Kiesel Park dog pen. Auburn has a great parks and rec department and this is the cream of their crop. In the back of Kiesel Park, there are two large dog runs where dog owners who live in college apartments or small lots with no yards converge with their best friends.

It was so pretty out and there were dogs of every make and model for Emma Kate to pet, hug and chase around. But they were not her favorite. Lucy was.

Lucy, who turned 8 in December, played fast and hard. For fifteen minutes. Then she let us know that she was done.

Man, I love these three.

Then we took Lucy back to Unc's house, where she is temporarily staying, and rested while watching some TV.

It was a good day.

Friday Night Lights

I am not sure what I would do if I didn't live in a college town. We get antsy around our house and need to GO SOMEWHERE. But, when you are on a strict budget and it is freezing outside, you are limited.

So on Friday nights in the winter, you will more than likely find us here.....

Auburn Gymnastics is cheap and fun and Emma Kate likes to watch the big girls tumble.

Last Friday, it was "Flip for the Cure" night. If you wore this shirt, you got in free.

Since they didn't have tees in Emma Kate and Ella Grace's size, Alicia and I took the youth medium and made it into this. I should have been a responsible blogger and taken step-by-step pictures and detailed a tutorial on how-to, but I am not that good.

Basically, we removed the sleeves, separated the front from the back and cut a a-line top pattern out of the two parts. Line it with some navy and white gingham, and POOF, a Flip for the Cure shirt for the littlest of fans.

Side Bar: Mikey T's team plays his arch enemy's team this evening. I hope for our household's happiness it is a Nugget victory. I promise to take pics.

This and That

I haven't been taking pictures of the Nuggets games and I am sorry. This week I remembered right as the buzzer sounded. I took these......

They won, so thankfully we are still undefeated. Oh, and Mikey T got a technical. Oops.

Nothing much else going on, except the fact that we have created a monster. Emma Kate's friend Ella Grace takes dance at a local studio. She asked us to come to a class "just to see if Emma Kate likes it."

Well, we went, and she did. She put on her dancing clothes at 3:30. The class started at 6:15. She was so giddy on the drive there she could hardly contain herself. When she gets excited, she talks in this really goofy voice and rambles. The ride sounded like this:

"Haha, this is yike da way to school....but its not da way to school. hahaha. its da way to dance yike da way to school hahhaha, yike when we go to school dis way, but we go de other way when we go to school ha ha ha because we are going to tumble, i mean 'nastics, i mean dance hahaha."

Silly.

When we came home, put on her new tap shoes and made us watch her tap dance in each bathroom for 15 minutes (each).

So, she loved it, both the tap and the ballet. It took me back to the first grade, when I took dance from the most graceful woman I have ever known. Mrs. Trotter was my school teacher and my dance teacher, a dear friend of my mom's and she was the perfect ballerina. Tall, bony, thin and beautiful. She had the patience of Job while trying to teach 14 little first graders how to stand in first position. When I watched Emma Kate in relevé with her arms over her head, I could almost picture myself doing the exact same thing 25 years ago. Wow.

I never got to thank Mrs. Trotter for lighting the spark that made me love dance for the rest of my life. Her beautiful life was cut very short by cancer, but I like to think that she knows and maybe even watched me watch my little girl put on those ballet shoes for the first time.

So, the jury is still out on if we will continue with dance or not, but if Emma Kate gets a vote I have no doubt what it will be.

Here we are again....

Is it really time yet? It cannot be. It just cannot be. But, alas, it is. Youth basketball has officially started for 2010. Didn't we just stop?

So, Mikey T is again coaching Auburn Rec basketball. He moved up an age group to be with "his boys," however, he only ended up with one "old basketball boy" on his new team. That means eight new "Bassetballboyz" for Emma Kate to fall in love with.

See, the thing is, I love basketball. I love youth sports,in general. Emma Kate has already declared that she does not want to play ball (I know, there is still time. She is only three.) rather, she wants to tumble (I do not foresee the Olympics in her future, but I can totally see her as a stunt woman.) So, I totally do not mind going to the games; in fact, I enjoy it. And it is a family affair as Unc is the assistant coach. Fun times. The thing is, Mikey T takes Auburn Recreation Youth Basketball very seriously. Don't get me wrong, he is a great coach, and parents clamor around to try and get him as their coach. He is a hot commodity in Auburn Recreation Youth Basketball. Most parents know that he also coaches the travel league basketball team, which is a bigger deal around these parts (try-outs, weekend tournaments, scouts, etc.) But to Mike, a game is a game is a game. He treats Auburn Recreation Youth Basketball just like the Raptors Travel League and the NBA. A games is a game is a game.

The 6th-7th grade Nuggets started their season with a super close game that resulted in a victory, which makes Mikey T 11-0 in Auburn Recreation Youth Basketball (if you carry over his undefeated season from last year). With every win, I can breath for a short minute before I realize that just puts that much more pressure on the next game.

I ask that you please pray for my Husband in the event that he does ever lose an Auburn Recreation Youth basketball game; I am not sure he'd recover.

Game #2 is tomorrow; I will get some pics. I forgot my camera last week. Although between Mikey T almost getting a technical called against him and the poor kid who began throwing up his dinner on the court in the middle of the second quarter, it's probably better I didn't have it with me.

Favorite

I promise to update more about Christmas, New Year's and Sissy's visit. Mostly, we just enjoyed being a whole family.

Getting Closer

One of the many things I love most about Emma Kate is that she is not a greedy child. To be "an only child" (since Sissy lives in Florida) she is very good about sharing and not asking for much. Her daily request for candy is really the only thing I get tired of.

When preparing for our many meetings with Santa, she has only requested one thing, The Hungry Hipponapotomamous game. She sees the commercial while watching the only TV that she cares about, Sprout. And that, my friends, is the one thing she has asked for for Christmas.

The other day, I was trying to pry some more things out of her, when she looked at me and said "Mom, I already told you I want the Hippo game. And maybe some new puzzles. That is it, I don't need anything else."

Wow. To be humbled by a three year old is, well, humbling. This child has everything she could possibly need or want. Not because she is spoiled (because she is not) but because she realizes what most adults, including myself, sometimes forget. It is not about wanting more stuff, but being perfectly content with what you already have.

She teaches me something new everyday.

PS....

I hope you were all blessed by a Christmas program as good as the one I went to last night at our church, AUMC. It was amazing.

Cutest. Ever.

I know I am biased, but this may be the best Santa pic ever.