This year the older elementary students didn't put on a holiday concert, but a few weeks prior to the holiday break Jake got to perform with the school choir. He is loving being part of the 4/5/6 choir and got to perform not only for the parents this month but also at the Capitol building in downtown Boise and at the VA hospital. Very cool. He goes to choir every Tuesday and Thursday before school and is one of only a few boys (maybe THAT'S why he's so into choir... smart boy!).
Tanner and Faith had their holiday concert the day before break and it was a BIG DEAL to them. Tanner really wanted to dress up and, given that we have only sport shorts, tshirts, and under armour gear in his closet, we decided to let him pick out brand new stuff for the show. I was thinking maybe some khaki pants and a short sleeved button down. He, however, had a different idea. He picked out a tie, vest, slacks, and dress shirt. Funny kid. He was so excited to get to dressed up, and also to get BRAND NEW clothes (usually he's in hand-me-downs from Jake). Faith decided to wear a dress she had gotten from Abby and since she only had tennis shoes, we let her pick out the fancy boots you see in the picture below. Pretty sure this was the single most impractical item I have ever purchased for one of my children!!
They both had a great time and we were lucky enough to have both grandmas here to see the performance. Nothing says, "Here comes the holiday!" like a group of K-3rd graders singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" at the top of their lungs.
This past weekend was the last weekend of the YMCA Boys Basketball season for this year. This made for a VERY busy Saturday. It was one of the few times this season that the boys basketball schedules didn't directly conflict, so I was able to watch some of Jake's game before Tanner and I had to leave to get across town to his game.
He did great and has made a lot of progress this year. This is the last year he will likely play in the YMCA league as he is eligilbel to play AAU next year if he would like and he is ready to play at the next level. His team has three other really good players and the coach (also his football coach) does a good job rotating the boys in throughout the game. He does put all of the good kids together on the floor in the 4th quarter, which has led to some great come-from-behind finishes this season. This last game in fact they won by one point, with no time left on a free throw, so it was very exciting. Jake really likes basketball and I'm interested to see what he chooses to do with it going forward as he is sort of at a cross-roads with it now. For AAU, believe it or not, the teams are organized by which high school you are planning to attend, so now we have to figure that out.....
I had an absolute blast coaching Tanner's team this year. There was only one kid that I didn't coach last or coached in another sport, so all of the kids were really comfortable which makes those first few games and practioces much easier. Tanner was also really happy that most of his good buddies were on his team. We worked a lot on setting goals (my goal for the season was to be able to tell Shane and Ryan, the twins, apart without looking at their shoes - I did it, which was awesome. I went an entire baseball season getting them confused before now.), and all of the boys improved a lot over the season. This was one of the best 1st grade teams that I have ever coached. There is no score at this level, but if there were, we would have won EVERY game, by A LOT. Even the other coaches were amazed at how well these boys played together. I ran out of things to teach them that applied at this level, so for the last two practices, we worked on a give-and-go set play that is pretty advanced for this age (it's mainly bunch ball on the court), and the boys ran it twice for layups in our last game.
All of the parents seemed very appreciative of the team and coaching as well, making sure that I would email them next season for sign-ups so we could attempt to have the same team. After the game, we had the end of the season pizza and trophy party and had a really good time.
The very next day we were out at the North Boise Little League equipment shed cleanout. Since I joined the board of the local little league, I have been spending a lot more time on baseball. As we get start to get ready for 2013 sign-ups, it was time to clean out, organize and order more equipment from our huge shed. I volunteered to help out and decided to bring the boys with me so they could pitch-in and help their league, plus learn a little something about volunteering and how much work goes in behind the scenes so that they can play the soprts the love.
It was cold. There was A TON of equipment to go through. We had a lot of help and it still took us almost five hours of work in the cold outside to get it cleaned out and organized. I still have to go back and help with the ordering. The boys did so great and I was so proud of them. Jake had some buddies show up that he had played with in the past, but Tanner just jumped right in working with different grown-ups, sorting equipment etc., while I re-stocked the shed with the re-organized gear bags. For five hours, they hauled heavy equipment bags, hand checked freezing cold aluminum bats and followed directions on whatever they were asked. I was so proud of how hard they worked wihtout complaining that I took them out for Applebees afterwards to celebrate (and get warm). We watched the Sunday night football game in the bar and got wings, dinner and dessert. We had a really great time out.
We love our sports here in the Alan household, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.
We got a late start to the holidays this year. Thansgiving was so early, and then last weekend I was in Portland for a "sisters weekend" so we just finally got around to decorating last night. As per usual, we stopped at several tree stands before going back to the one closest to our house where we picked out a short, fat tree that everyone was worried wouldn't be big enough or pretty enough. But I was sold on it. Brian even went so far as to suggest that we may need to go buy a second tree since the one I picked out, upon further look once it was in the stand, appeared to be ugly. Howver, in a spoiler for the blog post ahead, IT IS BEAUTIFUL, if not a little quirky, and the Chrismtas Spirit is now in full swing at the Alan household.
We had a snacky dinner- tradition- while decorating. The kids loved the spread of salami and cheese, pigs in a blanket, and pizza rolls (not a vegetable in sight). I was more partial to the dessert that my mom brought- another spread with choices between cheesecake, carrot cake, and chocolate cake. Yum. Tis the season. Brian assumed his usual position on the couch where he handed out the ornaments to the kids one by one, I assumed my role as the "teller of the story" behind each ornament and the person that relocates the ornaments that the kids hung (all in a similar height level clump), and my mom watched from her chair, adding to the stories when she could- contributing those that were attributed to Papa, great grandmas, and the like.
It is our first Christmas in our new home and really does look beautiful. We have garlands on the staircase, stockings hung on the mantel, the tree in the back window, a poinsettia on the table, and lights out front. We tried to put our blow up Santa and penguin up in the kids rooms but it turned out that they were too loud so we had to move them (to Goodwill).
We followed the decorating with our annual viewing of Shrek the Halls and we all laughed out loud at all of our favorite parts- trying hard not to quote and requote the characters (Yes, Jake, I'm talking about you!). Shrek stated, "That wasn't Christmas, that was CHAOS!" and Donkey reminded him that in his family "Christmas ain't Christmas 'til somebody cries.". There are so many lines in that show that are laugh out loud funny. It's a great reminder that Christmas doesn't have to be perfect- which came as a great reminder since my Christmas cards arrived the day before with a glaring typo on them and they're being sent anyway! Martha Stewart I am not.
So, we are all in the spririt and trying to enjoy each and every day of this magicial season.
It has been like the 80's all over again around here lately. Marisa wrote about our Gilligan's Island Film Festival (which is still ongoing). We just watched BIG with the kids the other night, which they liked until it got too grow-up.
Out latest time warp occurred, as a lot of the reasons why we do the things we do....um...do, because of a Groupon. Marisa found out about a new place in Eagle called Grinkers that just opened. It is a restaurant/arcade with only 1980's-era video games. All the games have been restored and still only cost a quarter. We hit up some friends of ours in the neighborhood who were game to go (no pun intended) and hit it up for dinner last night.
It is exactly like the arcades of our youth. Dark, crowded and filled with kids. There were a lot of families as well with kids. It was funny to see other 40 somethings walking around reminiscing and checking out all the games. Even the change machines were from the 80's. We got the kids some quarters (and got some for ourselves), and spent an hour or so playing; Pole Position, Frogger, Tron, Centipede and Dig Dug. Tanner and Faith loved Alpine Ski and Jake was a big punch out fan.
They served sandwiches and, appropriately enough, Funyons. The food was pretty good, the service was totally confused, but they were trying. There were a TON of teenagers in there, so it's going to be a hangout for sure (you can't beat quarter games). It was fun to remember what it used to be like back in the day and to hear the kids walking around saying, "I only have two quarters left".
It was Tanner's turn to be "Star of the Week" in his 1st grade class. Technically if was his second turn, we totally forgot the first time. After being sternly admonished by his teacher, we put this time on our calendar to make sure we didn't miss again (it would suck to be the only parents left back in 1st grade).
He completed a poster all about himself with pictures of his family, BOTH Jackson and Milo, a headline from the SF Giant's World Series win, a cutout of a pizza box and some captions that were supposed to describe him. We were allowed to come into the classroom and watch and participate in the presentation. We listened to Tanner explain his poster and everything on it. Then we were supposed to tell stories about Tanner. If you have read this blog for awhile, you know that there are several to choose from. Tanner was hesitant at first, not wanting us to tell any stories that might embarrass him, but he relented eventually. I told some stories about coaching Tanner and how good an athlete he is. Marisa told the cinnamon roll story.
After stories, the kids got to ask questions. Since Tanner explained a lot about himself, the questions were a little forced. "What's your THIRD favorite food?" "Why is the background of that picture white?" and so on. Once the questions were mercifully over, Tanner got to climb up on the table while his class all sang Happy Birthday.
We didn't completely knock it out of the park as parents though.....several of the kids came up to us and asked up what treats we brought to eat (multiple times!). Of course we had no idea we were supposed to bring treats and ended up disappointing an entire class of 1st graders. There's just no way we're going to pass 1st grade.......
