Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Our Christmas vacation wasn't all that great.  I was the only one out of the 6 of us who was not super sick.  The Tuesday before Christmas Larissa ended up with the flu. The poor kid was super sick.  Kirstine and Seth got sick on the 26th and on the 27th Larissa was even worse and we had to take her to the ER.  I am so glad we did because she had strep throat and was severely dehydrated.  She ended up with an IV for fluids as well as anti-nausea meds, steroids, and antibiotics.

Thankfully once she had 24 hours of antibiotics in her she was feeling so much better.   Then on the 30th Hannah ended up getting sick and Brent came down with it on the 31st.

Our actual Christmas Day was very nice though.  We had a great day and lots of fun.

Poppy and his granddaughters all wearing clothes given to them by Grace.

Dave in his new ball pit.

Ready to open the first round of Christmas presents.

Kids in their PJs they got for Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.  My favorite time, Christmas Eve night after everyone is in bed.

Grandma and Kirstine baking cookies for Santa.

Poor Larissa, she was so sick.

Our Sheriffs for our fun new game, Bang!

On top of everyone being sick our best friends from California arrived on the 27th to spend the week with us.  I was so worried about them getting sick from us but it worked out that they were already sick so we were all sick together.  The weather that week was awful too, cold and rainy, so we all just laid around and did nothing all week.  I know that sounds boring but it was just what the doctor ordered.  The kids had fun playing together and us adults enjoyed doing nothing but visiting, playing games, eating, and watching TV.  We did manage to go see a movie and Don and Brent went to the Alamo Bowl.

Eli playing video games on NYE.  Favorite thing for all 6-kids.

NYE

NYE

NYE

Don & Brent

Oh and I can't forget that Donald asked Hannah to his prom!!!  I can't believe both of them are old enough to be going to prom.  Our families met when they were 4 and 3 1/2!!!  I wish I had a picture, I know someone does, Hannah?  Sara?  I wasn't smart enough to get one.

University of Texas at San Antonio

How cool is it that at 15-years old you know where you are going to college and how you are going to pay for it!?  It sounds crazy, insane, and exciting!!!  Then add that the school is a division 1 university and you get to play the sport you love there for 4-years!!!

In early December 2014 Hannah was offered a roster spot for the softball team at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) along with a very nice scholarship! Hannah and the rest of us couldn't be more happy!

Hannah's goal for years has been to play softball at a division 1 university.  To help her reach her goal it has meant a lot of time traveling and money spent on playing softball all over the country.  From Huntington Beach, California to Orlando, Florida! UTSA as well as two other universities were in Hannah's top 3, however with almost 300 division 1 schools the odds of being able to play softball at one of your top schools is very unlikely.  We had noticed that the UTSA coaches had been watching Hannah play softball all over the country this past summer.  Then in mid October Hannah's select team softball coach called Hannah and told her that UTSA was very interested in her and wanted her to come for an unofficial visit in December!  In December we met with the coaching staff and they took us all over campus and lunch.  At the end of the 8 hour day they sat us down, told us why they wanted Hannah to play for them, what their goals were for Hannah if she were to play for them, and then how much scholarship money they were offering her to play for them.  Watching Hannah's face light up when they were talking to her made me so happy.  It is so wonderful for a parent to see their child's hard work pay off.  To sweeten the deal for Brent and me is that Hannah will live and go to school only 20 minutes away from home.  For the last few years when this college recruiting process started we knew it was a big possibility that Hannah could attend college anywhere in the country.  With her being able to attend UTSA she is down the street and not in a snowy, cold climate.

Hannah with Head Coach Michelle Cheatham

Hannah will play for the UTSA Roadrunners in their 2017/2018 season.

The number one question I get when people hear that Hannah has already been recruited to play softball at a D1 college is, "Isn't that against NCAA rules?"  Softball is a weird thing and no one is sure why softball recruiting is so different from all the other sports.  For some reason college coaches will recruit a girl for softball as young as 8th grade!!!  None of it is official, all of it is labeled "unofficial" and the college coaches, select team coaches, parents, and players have figured out how to skirt around the NCAA rules without breaking any rules.  For example a player can email, text, mail, or call a college coach all they want.  The college coach can not respond but if they happen to pick up the phone if the player calls then they can talk to the player all they want.  Hannah had one college coach tell her select coach to have Hannah call him at a certain time so they could talk!  College coaches can talk to a player and their parents all they want at a college softball camp.  It has to be this way until September 1st of the player's Junior year of high school.  Notice that Hannah is verbally committed to UTSA.  That means that nothing is in writing.  The UTSA coaches offered Hannah a roster spot verbally and Hannah said yes.  Letter of Intents are not signed with student athletes until fall of their Senior year.  The whole thing is silly really but you have to play the game or you get left behind.  The general rule of thumb for softball is that if you haven't verballed with a D1 college by September of your Junior year of high school then you probably won't be playing D1 softball.  For pitchers and catchers it is a year earlier.  Here is a website to visit to see what colleges have verballed what players and their graduation years.  GoldFastpitch.com Verbals

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school!!!  Thankfully the morning went off without a hitch.  Larissa is the first one up at 6:40 am.  Her school starts at 7:30 and she walks to school (Seth or I walk with her).  Kirstine is the next one up at 7 am.  Her school starts at 8:20 am but she catches the bus at 7:45 am.  Hannah gets up at 7:45 am this week and school starts at 8:50.  Next week though seminary will start and so she will be getting up the same time as Larissa.  Seth gets up in time to walk Larissa to school and then he can take his time in the morning and starts school around 8 am.  He is trying something new this year.  Instead of going to school for 5-days a week and starting at 10 am he is going to start at 8 am and only go 4-days a week.  We'll see how it goes.  He is NOT a morning person.

Larissa is in 3rd grade at a wonderful green elementary school that is only 5-years old within walking distance.

Kirstine is in 8th grade at a brand new middle school.  She will be the first group of kids to "graduate" from it in June.  Her school is a few miles away so she has to take the bus.

Hannah is in 10th grade.  Her high school is about 1.5 miles away from the house and is 7-years old.  Since Hannah attends seminary before school every morning she gets a ride to school directly from seminary.

Seth is in 7th grade and attends Texas Connections Academy.  T.C.A. is part of the Houston Independent School District.  His commute to school is real far, about 15 feet from his bedroom.

Seth beginning his first day of school.

Looking at our family calendar today I can't believe how busy we get when school is in.  We keep the same busy schedule as usual but add in kids getting home between 2:30 pm and 4:15 pm, band, wrestling (for Kirstine!), school athletics, PTA, & evening school functions.  Phew!  I'm trying to enjoy every minute though because in 6 very short years all this will change and I know I will miss it immensely!

Another Summer Comes to an End

The summer of 2014 has officially come to an end.  The new school year begins tomorrow.  As usual I am sad.  I love having my kids home.  Summers are so much fun.  We stay up late watching movies and eating popcorn then sleep late the next morning.  We have lots of days at the pool, playing softball, going to Boy Scout camp, traveling, cookouts, river trips, and family gatherings.

This summer Hannah and I traveled a lot.  We made lots of trips to Dallas and Houston.  In June we went to Denver and in July we went to Atlanta and Huntington Beach.  The California trip was fun because we turned it in to a family vacation.  We spent some extra time there away from softball and visited with family and friends.

We started the summer out in Denver, Colorado.  Just Hannah and I.

We then went to Atlanta.

From Atlanta we flew to California.  Brent and the kids drove from home to California and met us there.

A trip to an Angel game was a must!

The Orange Country Fair with family.

Family photos.

A day at the beach in Huntington.

Playing in the river back home in Texas.

Larissa's Baptism

On April 12th Larissa was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The baptismal service was wonderful and very spiritual.  We were so grateful for all our family that attended and we missed those who couldn't come because we live so far away.  Below are pictures of Larissa's special day.

Kirstine is missing from the photos because she was inside the church building playing in a basketball game.  She was with us for the baptism but not for picture taking.