It's Cheer Time

It's that time of year...The first of our cheer competitions.  We are in crunch mode. Practicing nearly every day of the week and counting out routines, all.the.time!

Cassi with her team including a little mini mascot and one of her coaches- Jaimee.

   Cali's Mini Team and one of her coaches- Terryn.

It's all been worth it though because this past weekend they did AWESOME!

Cali had a lot of timing issues in the last week but somehow it all began to make sense to her and she worked out the problems on her own. Her routine is built around Justin Beiber music so I had a blingy bow made for her that says I <3 JB and she wore (his favorite color) sparkly purple spankies.

Cassi is a pro of course and rarely has those kind of issues.  Her concentrations revolve more around perfecting technical things. As for showmanship, she OWNS that. She came up with her own routine theme last year and stuck to the idea for quite some time. She did a shop-o-holic routine.  She walked out on the floor with Coach and Juicy bags, had a VERY blingy Paris Hilton pink bow and super sparkly pink spankies. I will be blinging their shoes before the next competition.

Neither of my girls received trophies or ribbons. Oddly, this competition didn't give any recognition to the girls except for first place, so we really don't know where they placed. We are anxiously looking forward to getting their score sheets which we always go over together and look for ways to improve.

As for their teams, the both took FIRST Place.  We are a fairly small gym so this is no small accomplishment.  As parents we were in the stands going crazy. I will have to load the team videos in a separate post

We had a great time while we were in Anchorage. There were a lot of the girls staying at our same hotel.  They were also able to get together outside the competition which is a whole lot of fun.

On top of all this cheering, Cori also had ODP soccer tryouts this weekend. She was nervous and wouldn't let me take pictures. We don't know if she made the team yet, we will find out on Halloween. I am really proud of her for tryingout though. She is an awesome soccer player and I'm looking forward to the day, she realizes what a great player she is.

A few cheerleaders and a spirited sister!

                                                                             Cali waiting for the awards to begin.     

   Cassi and Cali with 2 of their coaches- Jaimee and Jen.

  Cali and her beloved YaYa.        

                                

                                                                                        My Cassi Raye Raye

Cassi and 3 cheer-sisters.

Cali and Cassi with one of the team trophies.       

Cassi with one of her coaches, Jessica.

                                                    Cori was so supportive her sisters! I that!

                                  We took this proud Momma photo at the end of a very long day at the hotel.

Daddy is HOME! And all is right with our world!

It's a Family Affair

My Dad recently made a rather big decision to start working on an addition to his house. No one is really certain why since all of his kids are grown and moved out or getting close to doing so but regardless he is doing it and so it is.

I decided to head out to take a few pictures.  He'd worked hard to prepare for the concrete pouring.  I'd hear it in his tired voice each night when I called. I did have an official job too, I was bringing the donuts!

I arrived right behind the cement truck.

Not a good sign since I was supposed to bribe the workers to do great work with the donuts. Fortunately,there was a little time to much while waiting for the cement to swirl around a bit, thank goodness.

There were two concrete guys and my brother, my sister's boyfriend Aaron and Ben, a friend of his. I took a few before pictures then  holy buckets, the concrete started flowing.

 It's a funny thing, concrete. At first it seemed like it was flowing so fast and wheelbarrows were spilling everywhere. Then all of a sudden, we were filling things up and we were creating ways to slow things down.

I never intended to stay all day but when you're family you just throw everything else aside and do what you have to do. don't you? That's kind of what happened to me that day.

I ended up moving re-bar, keeping the ply-wood in all the right places for the wheelbarrows. I ran to the store for more parts, grabbed lunch for everyone, took more pictures and ended up a whole lot of dirty! And I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

I got to see my brother pushing concrete down the shoot like a little boy on the playground slide.

I saw Aaron  laughing with my Dad and brother becoming more a part of the family everyday.

 I saw my Dad, relishing in the moment of working alongside his youngest son, beaming with pride. And I saw my youngest brother relishing in the moment of working alongside his Dad, sharing the strengths and skills that he'd spent his lifetime learning from him.

I saw, what we already know but can use a reminder of every now and then- a good foundation, is a beautiful thing.

And I saw my Dad, proud of the creation he started that I was lucky enough to have helped with!

My Girls

I haven't posted here in so long, I just thought you might be interested in what they look like these days. :)

Fish In!

Some places one might say "Fish On" but here in Alaska in late July, we are slaying  'em. We are throwing our nets in the water and fish are jumping in them! Fish In!

(I don't know this lady, but her fish was trying to get back to the water, she couldn't get a hold of it so she just flopped down on it! Maybe you had to be there! :)

Truth be said, we didn't dip net this year, Scott did. He went with his friend Dan while I toted Cassi and Cali to cheer camp. After getting the girls to their destination Cori and I headed to the beach to take a few pictures of Daddy and all the fish he caught and all the other crazy people trying to do the same thing.

Then, being good timing and all, we ran the mile (at least it felt like it) back up hill to get the truck and pick those guys up. Dip netting is hard work and since we didn't have to stand in the water, fighting the current and freezing our hineys off, the least we could do was run up a hill to keep them from having to walk back to their car.

Way up in the right corner of this picture, in the dark trees is where Cori and I ran to. Trust me, thee is a big hill there, one which I can not run up very well!

Scott ended up with more than 20 fish! WooHoo! I think Dan got 10. Do you know how much that many fish weigh? A LOT! Both of them tried to individually pull the sled of fish on their own which didn't work so well so they toted it together. Yeah, I didn't even try. Cori and I carried the nets, trying to do at least some small part.

The girls love taking smoked salmon to school for lunch. These fish will go a long way in that regard. We are really grateful that living in Alaska grants us this opportunity.

And of course, dip netting is always fun for the kids.

Holy H (ot) ell?

That is exactly what I was thinking each time I stumbled across my children acting like heathens in our hotel this past weekend.

Certainly I am not the only mother in the world who believes they have wonderfully behaved children only to find out they are evil little monkeys!

Behaving like clowns for all the world to see. All I could think was, how did I end up with my very own little circus?

Then I realized they had a ring leader!

*Cori has a friend that traveled with us this weekend adding to the brouhaha. 

Daddy Day!

(I'm catching up on a few old posts- I'll never catch up on everything I've missed but I'm trying)

I should start by saying Happy Father's Day to the most wonderful Daddy. My girls are lucky ladies to be sure. Also to my Daddy. I am grateful for him and for the relationship we have. We are fortunate to live closely- I know many who aren't as lucky.

The girls started the day with Breakfast for Daddy. There was a lot of Mommy help but they certainly added many personal touches including personal delivery of said nutrition.

We struggled in a big way with what to give Scott for Father's Day. The fact is, giving Scott a gift that we can afford on any given day is nearly impossible. First, his tastes are expensive! Second, he usually buys himself all the things he wishes for at the exact moment we can afford them. Third, it seems he does not really enjoy the little things. The girls worked really hard to surprise him. We finally decided on a Fantasy Football yearly magazine, a box of nice golfballs, his favorite candy bars and...the best gift all day, a stack of Cali-made gift certificates for 2 minute head rubs. :)

As for the rest of the day, Barry called me and organized a beach party celebration much like our Mother's Day festivities. Rocky was in town for the first time in many years so it was extra special. Of course, Grandpa was there too and all the big kids came out, which fills me with joy. Also, Nana was here making it an extra special day for Scott.

We set up a day camp like we always do. There was a ton of food, like there always is!  Since it was a holiday of sorts, some of us even had a few extra sweet moments.

Cali climbed the bluff, with nary a thought for it's height or instability. Scott kept an eye on her and since we couldn't seem to keep her away from it all of a sudden, Grandpa took a few turns going up and down with her too.

I didn't get a ton of pictures and I'm not real sure why but I did manage to get Holly to capture a Holmes family photo which is hard to get being that I am the one usually taking all the pictures.

I almost took a group shot of all the kids with their Dad's- fortunately my Dad remembered that I was one of his, and I got in the picture rather than taking it!

The best picture of the day however would have to be this one. We were joking with the guys and asking them to take a 'jump' picture which the kids do all the time. There were some super funny takes and it was hysterical to be a part of. I'm glad we did it because it's a memory we won't forget for a while.

After seeing it, I'm guessing you won't forget it for a while either!  :)