The Neverending Basketball Court Saga....

Less than a year after Daniel and I got married, we bought our first home- a cute little rambler. The sweet little house was 960 sq feet with a one car garage. It was an older home that had been completely remodeled.With 3 small bedrooms, a tiny living room, and a kitchen with just a few cabinets, the washer and dryer were actually IN the kitchen. I was just 18 at the time, so owning a home seemed pretty swell :-)

Well, years have gone by, we've multiplied and replenished, and have been blessed to move into our new home in Utah. When we decided to build this home, we knew we wanted to do things our way. We decided we would do them step by step, one thing at a time, to make sure we did things just the way we wanted.

One thing we knew we wanted was a basketball court. This was very important to Daniel. We have 3 sons. Dan has so many fond (some not so fond ;) memories of playing basketball with his dad and brother when he was growing up. He has always wanted to be able to create those same memories with our 3 boys.

And boy, is there a story behind our basketball court. Our lot slopes up significantly in the front. We knew this would limit the room for a court on the driveway because it wouldn't be flat. Because of this, we asked the builders to slope the driveway as steep as possible toward the road, and then flatten it off toward the house. To make a long story short, they didn't do that. The slope of the driveway made it impossible to use any of it to play basketball.

If you know my husband, you can pretty much guess how it went down from there ;-) In the end, the builder agreed to pour a separate basketball court behind the garage, to make up for the mistake. This was a perfect solution to what appeared, at first, to be a big problem.

The court has been in since we closed in November, but we didn't have a hoop. We had been looking for one, had called on a few, but nothing was quite right. One day, Daniel called me from the sporting goods store. He was giddy. Lifetime had come out with a brand new, regulation sized backboard, in the ground hoop. It was 72 inches of glass goodness. However, it was quite a bit more (like 3-5 times more) than we had agreed to spend on a hoop. But THIS was the hoop of all hoops. I knew how important it was to Dan to have a nice court, so I gave him the go ahead, and he bought the hoop.

The hoop in the store

Now the work began. First, Daniel had to dig a 4 ft by 4 ft hole, by hand. He had some help from the Js though, so that made it easier ;)

Once that was done, he had to build a concrete form, insert it into the hole, back fill the dirt around it, and then fill it with concrete. We thought we knew how much concrete we would need, but we ended up making trip after trip to buy more concrete. I think we ended up using 27 bags, to the 13 we thought we would need! The concrete then had to cure for several days.

After that was all done, he was able to install the monster hoop, with the help of a few friends- Voila! Here it was in all it's glory....

Dan, our friend Rob, and Mason, testing it out.

Mason and our neighbor, Jacob, playing ball.

Well, it seems the story should end there....but nothing is ever quite that simple, is it? A few days later, we had a horrific wind storm. The boys had been playing on the hoop the night before and all was well and good. But the next morning, when Dan went outside, this is what he found:

Our $2,000 hoop made it 3 days. It took almost a week, between buying it, having it delivered and getting it installed, just to be able to play on it. In 3 days, it was shattered. We weren't sure what happened. We wondered if it might have been the windstorm. Upon closer inspection, however, there appeared to be a circular impact mark, just about the size of a golf ball. Since we do live on the golf course, we assume that's what happened.

Dan called Lifetime to see if it was under warranty. It turns out that the rest of the hoop is, but not the glass. Replacing the glass would be about $1,000 *gasp*cough*cry*. The Lifetime employee took mercy on us though, and said that one time only, they would replace the glass at no cost to us.

It was several weeks of waiting for the new glass to arrive. We came up with a plan to protect the glass from future damage. Dan bought some plexi glass from Home Depot and cut it to the size of the backboard. He then bolted it onto the back of the metal frame, behind the glass. This way, if another golf ball comes waaaaay out of it's way and happens to hit our glass again, it will only hit the plexi, and hopefully not damage the glass itself.

After that little task was complete, Dan and his buddies once again worked their magic and installed the new backboard.

 Now we HOPE this is the end of this story- besides many years of good-natured (HA!) basketball between my husband, my boys, and many friends and family!

We Spawned a Smarty!

When we first moved to Utah, I talked to Mason's teacher about getting him into the elementary gifted and talented program. Because the school year had already started, the program was full. It is run very differently down here than the equivalent program in Idaho is run. It's a much more extensive selection process, so we couldn't just ask that Mason be put in the program, just because he was in an advanced program in Idaho. Here, the program isn't run by the school. It is through the district (which is larger than several districts in Idaho combined). We were disappointed, but when Mason began to struggle at the beginning of the school year, it seemed to be a blessing in disguise. It appeared that he needed the time to adjust to the move before we added anything extra onto his plate.

As the year progressed and Mason returned to his usual self, we were thrilled when he came home and said his teacher was recommending he test for gifted and talented. He would need to register and take a 4-hour test, administered to all interested students in the district. After the test, he had to have his teacher fill out a referral and recommendation for him, and submit it to the district. Once that process was completed, the district would look over the results of students from all of the schools, select the students they feel would be most successful in the program, and send the letters of acceptance. Selected students attend a magnet school where the program is based and attend classes with the other ACAD students. Prior to him testing, I was told that it was very hard to get into. I prepared him for that, hoping he wouldn't be too disappointed if he wasn't chosen, although I knew he had the potential to do very, very well. I explained that he was competing against kids from other schools as well and there were only a limited number of openings.

About a month or so after testing, I went to get the mail. I saw a letter from the district, addressed 'To the parents of Mason Miller'. As I opened it, my heart sank. In big black letters, I saw "enrollment declined". I (as usual) got a little teary and then opened the letter to read it. Imagine my surprise when I read that he had indeed been chosen! The portion of the letter I had seen first was a different paper, that you, as a parent use, if you choose to decline the invitation to be a part of the program. Then I got REALLY teary! I don't remember ever feeling more proud of Mason. I sat there in my car, crying and beaming with pride. I drove home and presented him with the letter. The look on his face was priceless. I could see that he too, was proud of himself.

 We have always stressed the importance of academics to our children. It means so much to us as parents, that he has learned the value of hard work and dedication to something that will benefit him greatly throughout his entire life. We can't wait to see all that he is capable of as he grows into the amazing young man we know he will be.

Officially a cheerleader :-)

When Savannah was little, she made us call her Savannah Princess Mermaid Cheerleader. Up until this point, she had the Savannah and Princess parts down. Now she can officially add the cheerleader portion (not sure when the whole "mermaid thing" might happen).

On March 2nd, Savannah tried out for the Westlake 4th grade Cheer squad. She is such a strong tumbler, as well as a great dancer (I know, I'm her mom so.....). She was thrilled when she found out she made the squad, along with all her cute friends!

She will be competing in competitions, performing in parades, and cheering at all the high school football games. They do stunt and tumbling clinics every Saturday and have cheer practices after school during the week. It was no surprise to anyone that she is a flyer, since she's so small. She really likes that :-)

You can count on more pictures as she gets her new uniforms and begins performing. Congratulations sweet Savannah Princess Cheerleader!

Back on the charts!

In my last blog, I mentioned that it was anybody's guess who our tallest child would be- all that we knew is that it wouldn't be Savannah. This week was her checkup and it seems not much has changed in that regard.

Savannah was born at an average size (which is small for our babies) at 7 lbs 1 oz (39 weeks). But it didn't take long for her to be outgrown by her peers :) She was holding on to the bottom of the charts, in the 6th percentile, when she was 1. When she was 2 and up until kindergarten, she had fallen off the growth charts completely. I was slightly concerned and asked the doctor about it. He said that because I'm not that big of a person (even though I'm tall), that she will likely just be small, and as long as she was eating and sleeping, and we continued to see growth and development, that we had nothing to worry about.

Savannah has always been incredibly healthy, so I haven't had her in to the doctor for a long time. This year, we took her in for a yearly checkup. I knew she was still short, but we were curious to see if she was back on the charts. Before her appointment, I asked her what she thought. She shrugged her shoulders. My guess was that she would indeed be back on the charts, but somewhere at or below the 25th percentile.

When the results were in, it seems our sweet little girl has indeed made it back on the growth charts! She has almost reached the 25th percentile in weight, but she's still hanging on to the bottom of the height charts, under the 10th percentile somewhere.

The doctor showed me the charts and talked about how most girls finish growing between 12-13. This surprised me because I grew so late. I guess I was thinking all girls are like me and still growing through most of high school. Dan grew late as well, so there's still a chance she will come from behind (like I did) and pass up all her classmates in the final hour ;) And if not, it will be fun to have ONE shorty in the family!

I always remind her of the advantages of being short (she often laments how difficult it is to be the smallest one. She particularly hates the constant "so, are you 6 now?" comments). I tell her how as a gymnast, being short is a particular advantage. I remind her how everyone thinks she's so cute! Sometimes she seems frustrated by her height, and other times I don't think she minds at all. Only time will tell whether she stays our little midgie or whether she indeed has some dormant tall genes waiting to make their move.

Checkin' em out!

A couple of days ago, Jayden and Mason had their annual checkups. Both of them needed shots since Mason is due for his 7th grade booster(s) and Jayden was behind on his immunizations (bad mommy).

Mason went first. He measured above the 75th percentile in height (no surprise) and 50th percentile in weight (nope, not surprised there either). Tall and skinny. This was the exact opposite of Jaxon, who was 50th in height, but 75th in weight. He only needed one shot, his tetanus booster. Relieved that it was much less painful than a shot at the dentist, Mason said he had been picturing a giant needle that they stuck in and moved all around. A little poke was no problem :)

Now it was Jayden's turn. I was a little worried about how he would do with the shots. Jaxon is always so tough and has a really high pain tolerance, but Jayden is such a softie. He cries easily and gets scared. Typical baby of the family :) Jayden measured above the 75th percentile in height and in weight both.  He is barely 2 inches shorter than his big brother, but Jaxon has an additional 25% on him in weight! He was on track for all developmental milestones and enjoyed showing the doctor all the things he could do.

Jayden had to have 6 shots :( He started to cry as soon as they poked him but he stayed still and just got big tears in his eyes. After they were done, he threw his little arms around my neck, buried his face in my shoulder and cried. My poor little guy! The next day, he was very whiny all day and wanted me to carry him from room to room so he didn't have to walk on his sore legs. I tried to tell him that walking would help, but I think he just wanted me waiting on him hand and foot :)

All 3 boys are healthy as could be and Savannah has her checkup today. She's the only one who won't need any immunizations, so it should be a cake walk! It's anyone's guess who will be the tallest kid in the family. The only thing we know for sure is- it won't be Savannah!

Things That Make Me Smile- My kids' friends :)

A couple of days ago, I got a text from my friend Melanie. Her son Jag is a year older than Jaxon and they love playing together.

 Her text said,

"Jag said to me this morning,

 'Mom, my favorite friend that I have ever had is Jaxon!"

Cute boys!

Valentines Day 2012

This year, Valentine's Day was different than usual. For one thing, Dan was in town :) That always helps! I put more effort into it for Dan and my kids than I usually do, and I think we all ended up enjoying the day. Here are a few highlights.

Prior to Valentines day, the kids and I made homemade valentines for their classes. We took a picture of each of them with their fist extended out in front of their faces, in front of one of my red backdrops. Then we bought suckers and stuck the stick through their fist so it looked as if they were actually holding the suckers (see pictures). We used Photoshop to add words (They said "Have a sweet Valentines Day! Love, Savannah/Mason").

I made breakfast for the kids- Pink, heart shaped pancakes with berry syrup, eggs and bacon. After that, I did Savannah's hair in a heart shaped do with red and white "I love you ribbons (see picture above).

In their lunches, I surprised them with a small box of chocolates. I gave the 2 little ones their own box of chocolates to enjoy during the day.

For Daniel, I went out and bought 15 different helium balloons (one for each year we have been together). I made 15 envelopes out of red paper and wrote a note to stick in each envelope. Each one was a memory we have shared together. I tied the envelopes to the balloons and put them all over our room. I also had a couple of bottles of sparkling cider and a few small gifts for him.

 
Daniel got me a box of chocolates (I love chocolate more than any sane person should) and I'll be painfully honest and admit I ate the whole box, by myself, in 24 hours. He also gave me beautiful flowers. Every one of us enjoyed the day and felt loved. What could be better than that?