Shockwave Basketball

Ashlin guarding Addison.

 After practicing for the past two weeks, Ashlin had her first basketball game last Saturday.  She is participating in the 5-on-5 league at the YMCA.  This is her first year to play basketball.  Ashlin wasn't sure she wanted to play, but after thinking about it she decided to give basketball a try.

Taking a break from the action.

 The league is made up of 3rd and 4th Graders.  Ashlin is lucky that she knows most of the girls on her team because they also attend school at Sacred Heart.

Looking for someone to pass the ball to.

 Ashlin played pretty good for her first game. She guarded, dribbled, boxed out, shot, inbounded the ball and rebounded.  For never playing before, Keith and I were impressed with her guarding and boxing out skills.  She even has a pretty good shot.

Playing defense.

Inbounding the ball to Audrey.

 Ashlin's team lost the game, but they never gave up and kept working hard the entire game.  The opposing team had a set of twins (the Piper girls) that are in the 4th Grade, attend Sacred Heart, and are over 5 foot tall.  They were a force in the middle and down low making it hard to defend them because of their height.

Take care,
Michelle

Jr High/High School Christmas Concert

 Last Sunday was the Jr High/High School Christmas concert.  The program included selections by the Jr High Band, Senior High Choir, 7th Grade Choir, 8th Grade Choir, Senior High Band, Senior High Jazz Band, Senior High Percussions Ensemble and then a finale by the Massed Choirs.  The performances were very good and enjoyed by all. 

The junior high students are required to be participate in the concert due to music being one of their required classes.  They were even graded on their participation in the concert.  I don't see music or choir in Cara's future.  She does not enjoy it and will be glad when junior high is over.

Take care,
Michelle

Elementary Christmas Concert

 Last Sunday was the elementary Christmas concert at school.  The kids were all to dress up in their Sunday best for the concert.  The Kindergarten class sang "Away in a Manger", "The Christmas Story", and "Angel Band".  They did a great job singing and doing actions at the same time.  Justin told me before the concert that he was not going to do all the actions.  When I asked, "Why?", he replied, "Some of them are dumb, Mom.".  Justin has been singing Christmas songs for days.

 The 3rd Grade class sang, "O Bethlehem" and "Innkeeper".  They did a great job with some students having a speaking part. 

The 3rd-6th Grade students performed a play called "The Unfriendly Beasts (No Room in the Stable) while the students sang.  The 5th Grade along with the Sacred Heart Singers sang, "The Friendly Beasts", "Finale" and "Silent Night".  It was a great concert and the music teachers and students put in a lot of work to make it successful.

This Sunday we will be attending Cara's junior high/high school music concert.  She is not looking forward to it at all.

Take care,
Michelle

Itty Bitty Basketball Clinic

Saturday morning it was Justin's turn to get to do something sport related.  The whole time he is saying, "Finally!".  Yes, he spends a lot of time watching his sisters play a sport and sitting on a bleacher.  You had to be in 1st Grade to play in the recreational kids league at the YMCA; so, Justin is doing the clinic again this year.

 The clinic was led Saturday morning by Randy Hagedorn, the YMCA director, and Troy Test.  Both of these guys are super great with kids.  Actually, Randy started his career at the YMCA as the preschool teacher.  He talks at their level when explaining everything and also demonstrates exactly what to do.

 First, the kids worked on passing and catching the ball.  They worked on catching the ball with their hands, not their chest or stomach and how to pass the ball, chest pass and bounce pass.

 Next, the kids worked on dribbling the ball.  Randy explained to dribble with only one hand at a time and he also explained what a double dribble is to the kids.

 Last, the kids got to shoot the ball with the backboards lowered.  Justin had a great time and is ready to go back next Saturday to clinic again.

Take care,
Michelle

Testing the Kindergarten

The end of the 2nd quarter at school is rapidly approaching.  Our 2nd quarter and 1st semester ends at school when we leave for Christmas break.  Therefore, the students need to be tested over various things to see if they are learning and retaining the information needed to move on to 1st Grade. 

This week I have started testing Mrs. Simon's Kindergarten students.  One day I listened to each student in the classroom count as high as they could count stopping them if they reached 200.  The goal is for each student to count to 100.  Some students can count to 100 or above while others cannot reach 100 yet. 

Yesterday, I tested Mrs. Simon's Kindergarten class on number recognition.  Many students can count quite high, but they cannot recognize the numbers as high.  I had two stacks of cards.  One stack was 0 to 10 and the other stack was 11 to 20.  All of the students could recognize 0 to 10.  The second stack was the tricky stack.  A few students knew none of the numbers in the second stack and a few students knew all of the numbers, with most of the students recognizing some of the numbers.

While testing one little girl on the second stack of 11-20, she knew every number, but number 12.  The first time she told me the number 12 was the number 20.  Then after going through all the numbers I showed her the number 12 again.  That time she looked at me funny and said, "Mrs. Leader why are you trying to trick me with that number.  There is no number two-teen."  I wanted to laugh at her comment because she was so serious about the number not being a real number.  I told her, "You are right, there is no number two-teen.  This is the number 12."  She looked again at the number confused and said, "Oh". 

I love these little students to death!  One never knows what will come out of their mouths though.

Take care,
Michelle

Black Friday Shopping

I decided to take the year off from Black Friday shopping.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for both sets of parents and Keith's brother, David, and his family.  It was a relaxing day filled with lots of food.  I browsed through the Black Friday ads, but I was content to stay home and avoid the crowds.

 

A friend took this photo of these two shopping and sent it to me.  Sorry the photo had to have a few items blacked out due to little ones snooping on the blog.  Karla said these two were having a blast while making some great memories together!

The three little ones went home with Grandpa and Grandma Korth for a sleepover and then Keith and Cara started plotting.  About 5:30 p.m. they looked through the ads and about 6:00 they headed out to Walmart just to see the crowd and what everyone was buying.  I stayed home on the couch watching football.  About an hour later, the shoppers were back home laughing and talking about the crazy shoppers.  They had to park in the El Mezcal parking lot and walk over to Walmart because the parking lot was all full.   Then they cruised around looking at the lines at other stores.

Next, they left at about 8:00 for the sales at Target.  They cruised around the store and picked up a few things that I told them to get.  Then they waited an hour to check-out, but talked to many people in line and around the store that they new.  Then they went to Herberger's and Keith purchased three shirts (Buy 1 Get 2 Free). 

These two came home laughing and telling stories about crazy shoppers after again not being gone very long.  But, they made a few more life memories and had a great time together!

Take care,
Michelle

Is that really a deer, Dad?

Last night when Keith came home from work he decided to put up some Christmas decorations and lights outside.  The weather was nice and later this week we are supposed to have a cold front coming through that is going to send the temperatures plummeting.  Justin volunteered to help his Dad.

 

Justin helped Keith carry up lights, extension cords, etc. from the basement.  He was a cheerful little helper willing to carry anything for Dad.  Keith brought up one of the deer to put together and this is how the conversation went:

Justin:  What kind of animal is that supposed to be Dad?
Dad:  It is a reindeer, Justin.
Justin:  Are you sure that is a deer because it really looks like an elk to me?

Then Justin went on to explain why he thought it was an elk and not a deer.  Only a six-year old Kindergartner would ask that many questions while putting up Christmas decorations.

PS.  After school yesterday, I took Justin to the doctor to get his flu shot.  He told Erica and Ashlin to wait in the waiting room.  When we came out, their first question was "Did you cry?".  Justin replied, "No, I did not cry or scream or try to run away like you two did at Walgreens when you had to get yours.".  He then kept reminding them all night how he did not cry or scream or run down an aisle to get away from Mom.
 
Take care,
Michelle