Basketball is life, or it takes a lot of time out of life

Take a deep breath, its President's weekend.
As of today, two are finished with basketball season, my coaching career has hopefully officially ended, and we all were home for a few hours at the same time this weekend!

Since last update, Anika turned 17.... how is that possible... and this past Friday we accomplished our first campus visit day (at Calvin). I more or less forced her to choose any college to just visit, just to get an idea of what it was, so to Calvin we went. We have around 4 more planned, and considering costs of college, I'm not sure any of them are possible, but time will tell. It was a great day and we both learned a bunch.

For her birthday, Grandpa and Grandma gave her Oreos and French Horn books, we gave her new basketball shoes and a school sweatshirt, and Papa and Mimi gave her the full set of Psyche DVDs. Needless to say, they all are glued to the TV.

My parents came for a few days and got to see all four participate in something. Anika in basketball.

Jessica was in Honors Band - and they celebrated her birthday with new clothes and swiss cake rolls.

Brandon played basketball

And Maria played basketball.

She also received a 'present' from a teammate.

It got pretty ugly. This Wednesday will be two weeks and it is still green. Pictures don't do it justice.

Many people thought she was wearing make up on one eye.

On Friday night, Anika's team clinched the conference championship. In Michigan, you are allowed to play in 20 games in a basketball season. If she didn't get to play in the varsity game, it allowed her to play in a JV game, so she has played for both teams this season to get to her 20 games.

One night a few weeks ago, we all met Aunt Kathy and Mary in Grand Rapids to attend the Grand Rapids Symphony. Some of Anika and Brandon's band class also attended as the symphony played a song (Planets) their band had played at a concert earlier this year.

We had LOTS of snow between Christmas and New Years - as in several inches, every day. Most of it melted, but then it all snowed back again. This week is supposed to be in the 40's all week and the days are getting longer!

While we had the snow, we dog sat our friends two labs. They make ok sled dogs.

Matt and I attended the West Michigan Symphony when those same friends were unable to attend. The night featured a french horn soloist.... wow.

Yesterday, Aunt Kathy, Mary, Holly, Matt and I went to Grand Haven to walk on water, or frozen water anyway. And we stopped at Great Harvest bread for samples and scones - raspberry cream cheese is amazing!

There weren't big chunks like there were a few years ago, but lots of shard layers about an inch thick. We decided it looked like shale, only in ice form.

Christmas break means puzzles at this house. People here are a bit obsessed. Our neighbor is also obsessed, so she goes and buys the puzzles, then when she is finished, we borrow them. I lost count of how many puzzle were completed, but at least 5. The table is now a sewing table where Anika just completed sewing her prom dress. Its amazing. Pics of that to come later.

When Grandpa and Grandma were here, we opened stockings - always fun things to find!

And if that wasn't enough for a month and half or so, I coached Jessica's 7th grade basketball team. I realized AFTER the last game I hadn't taken one picture of her playing, or of the team. I am still hoping we can get a team picture, but we shall see. They only won 3 games, but they played hard.

She also participated in Solo and Ensemble with a classmate, Cate. They performed two duets and did a great job. They earned a 1, which is the highest rating. Jessica and Brandon both think band needs to be left behind and choir is the way to go. We shall see.

And, for the next few days, we stay close to the TV. We all love the Olympics and there just isn't enough time to soak it all up.