A coach, a basketball player and the cheerleader

This is basketball season and Elijah is loving it.  Through a program called UPWARD, he is playing bball and Lydia, for the first time, is cheerleading.  It's a cute, non-threatening, easy activity and she really enjoys it.  Lanie, who is unable to do any of these things, but is dragged everywhere to "watch brother!" and "watch sister!" has to be content to echo the cheerleading moves she's taking in and wants ever so much to do.  With that said, after school has become a time for Elijah to shoot hoops and recently, Lydia who I think is a great little athlete, has joined him.  One afternoon, she worked like the devil to make a hoop, Elijah coaching her all the way, and Lanie, donning her TEXANS cheer uniform on and grabbing some unmatching pom poms - woo'ed her all the way.  The hoop was way too high for her, but her tenacity amazed me.  She never gave up.  I shot over 20 different videos of her trying and the ONE time I put the phone down, she made it!  We were all so excited, and bitter I  missed the recording.  But, I did get some video of this strange dynamic - my kids, all working together. 

A short glimpse of our lives on Marathon Day

I know I am a week late on this post but since I haven't posted since November, I'm doing pretty good to get this in as early as I am. But as a side note - I am going to try to blog more regularly - start with twice a week and then maybe, just maybe move up. Who knows?

But, this picture, if it seems senseless to you, is a pic of my 3 kiddoes the day before the marathon. There are in their best poses, wrapped in free marathon give-away bandanas to which Kenny and I had no idea how to tie, walking the halls of George R. Brown Convention Center, and ready to cheer dad on the next day.
And it was a day. Kenny ran the 1/2 marathon and after only a few days of training (after a bum knee issue), he did great. The weather was chilly and perfect "for the runners" but not so much for the spectator with three kids. I love races - I have always enjoyed watching them but it seems taking my 3 kids since they were little does have its share of "woe is me" moments. First of all, it's dark when I wake them up, even the "let's get donuts!" doesn't arouse them quickly enough. Once we are on our way, dropping glaze and spilling chocolate milk throughout the car, I always screw up with the directions. The GPS took me one way that wasn't planned. A couple of Argh moments, parking randomly, running down a street and we are there at the planned Westheimer and Montrose spot. Waiting, Waiting, Waiting -- here's a litany of what a stranger would hear standing by our crew.
"Where's dad? I'm cold. Hold me! Can we go? Where's dad? Is that him? Is that him? Is that him? I'm soo cold! You're standing on my sign. Did we miss him? I knew we'd miss him. Is that him? I think I see him. Mom, hold my sign. No, that's not him. Hold me! Mom, why won't you hold me, you've held Lanie this whole time. I want to go back to the car. I'm cold. Go runners! There's dad! I see him. I SEE HIM! Look! Look! YEA!! Hi daddy, bye daddy. Will he get first?"

And that's the end of that. The complaining anticipation changes the instant they get to see dad run by, give them high-fives and hugs and be on his way. And our journey wasn't over. Now it was a "let's go, let's go - don't want to miss the finish line!" Followed by the inevitable - "I have to go to the bathroom."

Again, I love marathons and our role as cheerleaders and despite the quiet thoughts that I have the harder job than the runner himself, it's creating a memory for the kids that cheering on those you love, no matter how cold or how long, is totally worth it.