Basketball (4th and 7th Grade)

Both Owen and Miles recently finished basketball season.  Miles played with the Warriors again, and Owen played pre and post junior high season with some version of the Wildcats, and played his first year of junior high basketball.  There's never enough basketball games and practices to satisfy them.

Miles' team traveled a bit more this year, going to Wichita and Lawrence in addition to all the tournaments in the area.  He had a great year--very aggressive and a good ball handler.  He really enjoys the boys on his team, as well as the coaches.  None of his teammates go to the same school as him, so it's fun for him to hang out with different kids.

Owen played 5-6 tournaments before and after junior high ball with coach Todd and kids that played together on the Wildcats--give or take a few others.  Adam helped out coaching and enjoyed his part-time role. For most of January and February, he played school ball which was a big change from travel ball.  He had fun playing with his classmates and for his school (and cheering girls at the home games).  His team finished about 500, including a couple of nail biter wins versus in-town rival, EMS.  Owen had a great season and can't wait for next year.

December tournament in KC.  The older the boys get, the BIGGER some of them get.  As a general rule, the kids use "armpit hair" as a measure of how big/tough they are.

This is what most Sundays look like on the way home from a fun, busy weekend of basketball.

One of Miles' favorite friends (Logan Funk) came to watch his Wamego tournament.  Miles also enjoyed getting to watch Logan play ball a couple of times.

Miles playing at Clay Center.

At our house we play basketball in ANY weather.

It was both fun and tough to play against one of your best friends.  I guess this is a good example of how nice it is to have boys--they go hard against one another for an hour on the court and five minutes later they are buddies again.

Some of the Manhattan boys went to watch their Wildcat teammates play for their home schools (Riley vs. Rock Creek).  So fun to watch their friendships extend beyond practices.

Graham has affirmed his friendship with Dillon (little brother of Jackson, who plays with Miles). Dillon's mom always has fun toys to play with during the games.

Miles hanging out with teammates between games at various tournaments.

Miles' team posing after winning the Manhattan tournament.  I think they won 3 tournaments this year??

Miles shooting free throws during a game in Manhattan. 

Junior high game.  Owen pictured with teammates Brogan, Brett, and Cole.  

Birthday--Miles is 9!

Miles turned 9 on June 22.  Since we had just been to a baseball tournament for Owen and Miles has just returned home from 4-H camp, we had a pretty low-key day.  He decided to wait until later in the summer when there weren't as many activities going on to have a small party [it's July 19th and we're still trying to find a good time].  

His birthday list included A) spy gear, B) roller blades, and C) a drone with a video camera to spy on Owen.  Well...he ended up getting a Target card, gift card for his first massage, and fly zapper. He also received money and a Dick's card to buy whatever he wanted.  In the end, he decided the spy gear and roller blades were purchases he'd enjoy very long.  After a couple of weeks, he decided to buy an over-the-door basketball goal for his room and some sunglasses.  I was proud of him for holding onto his money until he actually really wanted something.  He's already used the goal a ton.

At age 9 he loves sports (playing and watching), eating, playing with friends, watching TV, and bossing Graham around/tagging along with Owen.  He's always full of ideas and likes to be around people--he makes friends everywhere we go.  Still working on taking criticism/suggestions without acting like he's in trouble.  Happy 9th Birthday, Miles!

Miles Baseball 2015

Miles finished up 9U baseball in early July.  It's a big jump going from 8U to 9U since the kids have to pitch, catch, steal, hold runners, etc.  He pitched some; otherwise he played short stop. He enjoyed the boys on the team and had fun playing in league and tournaments.  Unfortunately several of the games/tournaments his team was scheduled to play were canceled due to rain.  His team was kind of up and down with their play, but ended up about 500 for the season.

Lots of time in the street with Dad working on skills.

Miles was the lead off batter all season.  He managed to get on base most of the time.

Big Titan, Little Titan.  There were a couple of weekends that both boys played in the same location.

Miles pitched in quite a few games.  He had a couple of tough innings, but also several rock star innings at pitcher.

Miles really enjoys being on a team with his buddy, Logan.

Graham taking a rest during a full day of baseball games.

End of School--Miles

Miles had a wonderful year in 3rd grade.  He absolutely loved his teacher, Mrs. Stenseng.  She is young and full of energy and ideas.  He looked forward to school every day.  Some highlights included "clipping up" (making it all the way to role model at one point), Stenseng Cafe (getting to eat lunch in the classroom with the teacher), math groups, book studies, class mall (trading goods and services) and reading beads.  The third grade music program as at the end of the year and was baseball themed.  The kids sang some fun songs and Miles had a speaking part to end the evening.  His year ended with a big Hollywood celebration in his classroom.  All the students dressed up, brought treats, and the teacher passed out awards, recognized various achievements and showed a class movie.

Little brother helping clean up after the program.

 Miles with his buddies Reese and Logan (plus Logan's brother, Payton).

 One of his classmates offered nail painting during the goods and services unit.

 With classmates at the Hollywood party.

Miles and Mrs. Stenseng at the Hollywood party.

End of Basketball

Sadly, it has become a summer goal to update this blog from winter/spring events. First up--hoops! Basketball is a big deal at our house, whether it be playing, watching, or analyzing. I can't believe how much they know--players, records, stats, college, high school, NBA, youth teams. This was probably Owen's last year playing with this exact group of boys since things will change once they go to junior high and have to factor in school season and additional rules of play for off season. We have been so blessed to be a part of the Wildcats for four years. The coaches, boys, and their families are wonderful. They make it worth the drives to KC and Wichita. Although we know Owen will continue to play in some fashion with these boys and coaches, we were all a little sad for season to end. I had to miss the last (and sounds like best) tournament due to the dumb flu!  After the season, Adam supervised a few of the boys in a 3 vs 3 tournament which was a lot of fun. You can see in the picture below that Miles was the assistant coach. 

Miles participated in his first season of traveling basketball this year. He loved playing and you could tell that he'd been beat around by his older brother. Although the coach probably liked his aggressiveness, he was usually in foul trouble. It was a blast to watch this scrappy guy. We didn't really know his teammates, coaches, and their families beforehand, but they were also a pleasure to be around. Miles is looking forward to next season and hoping that he will finally get a two day tournament (all of his ended up being one day this year) that requires us to stay in a hotel or with Uncle Quint. 

Wyatt, Melissa, Maggie, and McKinley came to watch a KC tournament. 

Group huddle after a "big win."

The Manhattan Warriors. 

Miles and first place medal. 

Adam, Miles and Dayne at 3 vs 3. 

Champions at 3 vs 3 (Dawson, Dayne, Owen, Brett). Plus Bodyn and Graham. 

End of season party at Zengers. Coach Todd giving the highlights for Owen and Dawson. 

Miles playing in 3 vs 3 with classmates Landon and Owen.

Owen, Landon, and Miles. Miles is mad they got 2nd place. 

And in case we didn't get enough basketball with our own children's games, we followed the NCAA a tournament religiously. Family bracket plus pay-to-enter pools (boys ended up 2nd and 3rd out of about 75 entries).....then we woke up and started baseball.

Hoops

IBoth Owen and Miles have been busy playing basketball every weekend--Wichita, KC, Topeka and also some local tournaments--Wamego, Clay Center, Chapman. They both love basketball and really like their teammates.  Adam has become the psycho dad who takes his own stats at Owen's games (Miles' games still have too many jump balls and turnovers to keep very accurate stats). Actually, he just has a cool iPad app he enjoys using and Owen likes to go through it after games.  My parents have been able to watch both boys play and Mike and Rosie are planning to be at the Manhattan tournament next week. 

On The Road Again

Both boys' basketball seasons are underway which means we're burning up the road every weekend. Miles is excited to play on his first traveling team. They've played four games and won three of them (and just barely falling to a 4th grade team). He's having a blast and doing a great job. The league they are in now allows only half court defense, and he keeps getting whistled for guarding too early. He is done until after the holidays when tournaments start. 

Both team pics are missing one player. 

Worn out after two early games. Catching a nap on the way to Owen's games. 

Owen is playing on the same team that he joined in third grade. It amazes me how good (most) 6th grade teams are. They went to a huge tournament in Wichita this past weekend. They made it into the top division, but lost a couple of close ones including a double OT game. Of course, Owen loves every minute of it. Miles and the other younger siblings have a great time in the stands. We stayed in a hotel this weekend and that was a big deal to the boys. Not so much for Mom and Dad who had to sleep with Graham. 

Miles = 8

Miles turned 8 this summer. Like Owen, the only thing he wanted to do for his birthday was have a slumber party. Because of baseball we had to wait until July for a party, but he did get to have a few boys spend the night. They had a fun time participating in a video scavenger hunt, eating junk, and staying up really late. 

At eight he:  loves sports, swimming, colorful socks, neon clothes, Mine Craft and other iPad games, friends, tagging along with Owen, food, school, and sometimes arguing with me. 

He's still young enough that he likes to go with me on errands. Here he's trying to get his reading time over with while he's in the car (so it doesn't cut into pool time).  

Finished with baseball for a while. Waiting for football to start. 

He's a curious guy...wanted to know how anyone walks in shoes like this (while shopping at Dillard's). 

Riley County Fair

The boys finally got to hit the carnival rides they had been eyeing all week (as they were assembled). I planned to take Graham and Miles for an hour while Owen was at football camp nearby. An hour turned into two and then four. We finally called it a night at 10:00 when the wristbands were no longer valid. They rode more than 30 times!  Owen came over after camp and walked around/rode a few rides with his friends. 

Miles also made "Cowboy Cookies" with Kelsie and entered them into the open class. He and Brecken earned purple ribbons. This counts as our 4-H right?

Miles was a good sport and rode some little kid rides with Graham. 

Motorcycles, tenth time. 

Miles riding solo on the Octopus. 

He loved the horses. 

$5 funnel cake for dinner.