"Let it Go!" - video

OKAY, SORRY THE VIDEO ISN'T WORKING...
PROBABLY TOO LONG :(

Aubrey is definitely in love with the new movie

FROZEN

from Disney and we have watched it several

times on our laptop and "you tube"

the songs all the time.

Tonight, we had the song up on the computer

and she was busy dancing and singing to it.

SO CUTE!

If you haven't seen the music video, 

you should check it out on you tube and then you can see

what she is seeing :)

3-19

There it is. The end. What started four months ago,

has ended for the season - the basketball season that is.

Last night the girls played in their district

basketball game vs. Carlisle.

I caught a ride with Craig and Char
and Aubrey got to stay home with a babysitter!
We must need to get out more,
because she was SO hyper and excited!
The babysitter did great with her :)

We had to travel there and it was a great

atmosphere to be a Carlisle fan - it was loud!

This is a team who is now ranked #6 in their class

so, the fact that we came out

and competed fairly well, was an accomplishment.

The final score was 63-35.

That meant no running clock!

The Carlisle coach is actually the former

Oskaloosa Boys Basketball coach and a good friend

of Steve's, so that was kinda fun.
At least you can wish him the best of luck
moving on and actually mean it :)

So the 2013-2014 season had come to end
and although it would have been nice to win a few more
games, it was a season of improvement
and working hard.
Now, for a short break off from coaching
to have a baby, and then it is time for
8th grade girls track to start :)

3-18

There ends our winning streak of two games ;) 

and the end of our regular season games.

The girls traveled to Grinnell last night, 

even though it was a snow day for us, the game was still on.

It actually was a make-up game from

a previous time.

Maybe they should've just skipped it 

and not rescheduled ;)

I feel bad saying this, but Aubrey and I really

didn't even listen to much of the game.

It was on in the background for the first half,

but it was already a blow-out that we didn't even finish listening.

The first half, Grinnell just made tons of shots

and lots of threes and that put us quickly behind.

I want to say that Grinnell had 53 points going into the half!

When it was all said and done, 

I think we lost by close to 47! Yikes!

Steve sent me a text message, "Glad that's over!"

A "good" thing was, the second half flew by

since there was running clock and not many

points were scored, so the pain wasn't prolonged.

Wednesday, the girls travel to Carlisle

for their district game, and very well may

be the last game of the year. 

Aubrey will stay home with a babysitter and I 

will go with Craig and Char. 

3-17

Wow, the girls were on a roll this week! 

Yes, you see right, ANOTHER win for the Osky girls

and Coach Kaisand.

It was their final Home game of the year

on Friday and it was also Senior Night,

the last game Aubrey will go to this season.

We played Norwalk, who, last time we lost

to by close to 35! This time we beat them by 11!

Once again, the girls had some confindence

out of the floor and even were hitting a few threes

which have been very rare this season.

It's good to see a smile on everyone's faces

throughout and especially at the end of the game. 

Steve said to me, "Man, it's so much more fun winning!"

He also commented that it's a whole lot more 

emotionally draining to stay into a game for the whole time

rather than feeling disappointed through most of it. 

Monday is their last regular season make-up game at Grinnell

and then Wednesday we travel to Carlisle for our first district game.

And that most likely will end the season.

 

FINALLY some warmer weather!

It's been a long winter cooped up inside, but

it was finally WARM today- a balmy 43 degrees 

when we went outside this afternoon!

We were out there for an hour and 15 minutes -

it was glorious!

Aubrey immediately wanted to get 

out her Dora bike and ride,

but she still doesn't know how to pedal

so that didn't last long :)

 

Having fun using her shovel to scoop up the snow.

She just plopped down on top of a small pile

and started making balls and a "hat"

for our snowman.

"Olaf" the snowman

(inspired from the Disney movie "Frozen") 

Our favorite line from our "Frozen" snowman:

"Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle
But put me in summer and I’ll be a — happy snowman!"

Mommy was pretty impressed with our little guy

since it took a lot of energy for this preggo Mom

to even make this small of one :)

More fun in the snow!

2-17

Tuesday night was a home game vs. Newton

and YES, you read the title right - 2-17

that means we got the WIN!

The girls had the lead the entire game

and played hard and played together

and with intensity. 

The final score was 52-35 but it seemed

much closer the entire game.

The game seemed LONG

because there was no running clock

and there were a ton of fouls/free throws!

The girls, coaches, and fans were all

SO EXCITED!

It feels good to have a win,

even this late in the season.

Maybe we can keep the momentum going

and get a win Friday night, too!

Aubrey played nicely during the game

and at the end she saw some girls playing nearby.

She asked/told me, 

"Mommy, I want to go make some new friends!"

It was so sweet! 

So I told her she could go over there and "dance" with them.

She did. And they soon had to leave

and she just stood there sad for awhile

and wondered why her friends had to go...so sweet!

1-17

This weekend Steve and the team had two more games 

and two more losses.

Friday night's game was at home vs. Dallas-Center Grimes

(DCG), who are undefeated in the conference

and a very good ranked team.

The score was 79-36. 

Those girls were just good and could hit lots of shots.

It was pretty decent for us, offensively.

It was also Coaches vs. Cancer night

so the girls enjoyed wearing their pink uniforms

and Steve got to wear a hot pink tie,

along with some other fundraising activities during the game, 

such as a silent auction, free throw shooting,

and Smokey Row coffee being sold. 

Aubrey and I also got to wear our

"Beat Cancer" shirts, even though Aubrey's 

was more of a dress :)

Saturday, the team traveled to Indianola

for an earlier 5:00 game, which we did not go to.

Once again, Indianola is a ranked team

and we ended up losing with a score of 52-18. 

Just a rough night for the girls who really

felt defeated before they even started.

Four more games left on the season

and four more practices. 

Sibling Class

Last night Aubrey and I went to a "Sibling Class"

at the Pella Regional Hospital.

There were three other families, each had a child

of about age 2 or 3. I was the only one without

a huband there (and no wedding ring since my fingers were swollen), 

so I probably looked like the skanky mom :)

But Steve had practice and then a Deacon's meeting. 

When we got there all the kids got in a circle and the 

"teacher" read a book and talked to the kids about 

being a big sibling. Aubrey did a good job sitting

and listening for the most part, but wanted to get 

a little too close to the book at times.

(She was so excited to sit in the chair at a class

and listen to the teacher!)

Then we went on a tour of the OB department

so the kids could see where Mom and Dad would be

and where the new sibling would be.

They also took a picture of Aubrey

to put in the baby's crib - it turned out badly - haha. 

She did a pretty good job sticking with me

and not being too wild :)

While we were there, we noticed that there was one

room with the door closed and the nurses said 

that there was no baby yet.

We actually saw our Dr, Dr. Anne there

so she was getting ready for a baby to be born.

Dr. Anne waved and said hi to Aubrey :)

LATER...

that next day we found out that it was our 

friends who were in there and delivered

their baby girl just an HOUR after we walked by -

SO CRAZY :)

After the tour, the kids got to watch a 

movie about being a big sibling and got to 

eat a cookie.

While they were watching the movie,

they also got to make a handprint

that will be put on the baby's crib and baby's

footprint and name will be added, too.

It was about an hour long and a pretty fun

outing for Mommy and Aubrey.

She got to take home a bag of goodies

with coloring book and crayons,

a baby diaper and some masks

to put on if we have germies :) 

Pretty cute.

Mom and Dad Visit / 1-15

This past week Wednesday night to Saturday morning

my mom and dad came to visit to watch Aubrey for two 

days while our babysitter was on a ski trip. 

Aubrey had a lot of fun playing with/entertaining them

and dad did a few projects around the house!

Thursday Aubrey got to hang out with 

Grandpa and Grandma Grouw while we went to work.

They also watched Aubrey's babysitter friend

Kate for the morning and took Aubrey

out to McDonald's for lunch.

Since Steve had a before-school practice,

he was even home before 5:00!

That evening we decided we wanted a new faucet

for the kitchen so we all headed to Ottumwa to

buy a new one and check out Ottumwa's Pizza Ranch

for supper - since Mom wanted to see how it compared

to "hers" - she said it was really nice :)

Friday Aubrey got to hang out with Grandma

and Grandpa Grouw again all day. They ran some

errands and spent most of the day at home.

Dad doing some odd jobs and Mom playing :)

When I got home later that afternoon, we quick

got ready and headed to Pella for Steve's game vs. PC.

We grabbed some Jimmy John's for supper

and made it to the 6:00 game for PC's Homecoming.

Oskaloosa and PC are always rivals and we knew 

it would be a tough game, especially since it was their Homecoming.

Oskaloosa is notorious for playing poorly at their court.

This time, things were a bit different!

The girls played SO WELL! 

(Steve said maybe the best his team has played since he's

been coaching in Oskaloosa!)

They were shooting and the shots were falling.

It was tied at halftime 15-15.

Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, the girls

still even had the lead, and it was their best 3rd quarter

of the year, scoring 16 in that single quarter!

Unfortunately the 4th quarter got away from us

and the final score was 46-33

(which really didn't reflect the whole game accuareately.)

It feels good to put on a good game,

especially in front of all those PC people

who we go to church with or even work with :)

Nonetheless, the record stands at 1-15 on the year.

Mom and Dad left Saturday morning

and we had a nice few days with them.

The next time we see them, we will be a family of four!