Go Riders

The girls joined the THESA Riders (a homeschool basketball team) this season and are having a BLAST. More importantly, they are really getting better at basketball.

Their team recently won second place in the Stephenville Freshman tournament (falling only to the home team!).

They are finishing the season strong with hopes of doing some work at the upcoming State Tournament.

Can't wait to watch!

They Came from the Land Down Unda...

Over Christmas break, we had the privilege of playing against a basketball team from Australia (John Paul College that's actually a high school)!  And if that weren't cool enough, we actually hosted a couple of the players for the night.

Maddy and Ally stayed the night and brought lots of goodies straight from the land down under!

They had never eaten an "authentic s'more" so we were able to treat them!  We had never eaten vegamite and they were able to "treat" us!

Pretty sure they got the best end of that deal!

It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that the girls won't soon forget.

State Tournament 2011

Last weekend, the girls and I took a road trip to the Texas Homeschool State Tournament. It was an exhausting, ...er... I mean exciting time! I would have blogged about it sooner if I had been able to think through the fog that has lingered in my brain for the last week.

I had the privilege of coaching both the 14U and 16U girls' teams during the tournament, and I'm pretty sure it shaved about 10 years off of my life because, OH THE PRESSURE!

Both JP and Abbee played on the 14U team, and that group of girls had a phenomenal season, finishing 8th in the state with a record of 15-4. We lost the game that would have put us in the running for 5th place by only 2 points! (I made the girls promise me that next year, they would just blow everyone away so that chances of my dying of a stroke right there on the sidelines would diminish significantly! And, no, I do not have a problem with competitiveness, why do you ask?)

One of the highlights for me was meeting up with my college roommate, Sharon, whose son's team won the tournament at the 18U level! We had not seen each other in 15 years! If not for the aforementioned brain fog, I'm sure I would have thought to snap a picture!

One of the main concerns I had when deciding to homeschool was if and where my girls would be able to play sports. The Eagles' organization has given the girls a fantastic place to compete, meet new friends, and play the game they love!
While Abbee is trying to convince us to let her play on a select team through the summer, I am refusing to even think about basketball for at least the next six weeks. With any luck, by then the fog will have lifted and my blood pressure will have returned to normal!

Lady Eagles

Our 14U Lady Eagles are now officially 2-0. Yes, it's early in the season so I'm not making any predictions, but I love watching this group of girls play ball! They work so great together as a team!

Here are JP and Abbee with their teammates/friends Kelsi and Maleri! Kelsi and Maleri have two more sisters (Kailey and Emily) and our family has become quick friends with these girls and their family! They are C-R-A-Z-Y. And, we love 'em!
Guess who was our lead scorer against Harvest Christian Academy. THIS GIRL!!! (who happened to turn 12 on Saturday, but I haven't uploaded her birthday pictures yet!)



Two loyal fans: Emily (a sister to Kelsi and Maleri!) and Emma
And, just in case all of these beautiful girls made you think that homeschool kids might not be freaks after all, here is pictorial proof to the contrary!