My 14 year old daughter loves to play basketball. She is 5 feet tall. When she was in seventh grade she tried out for her Jr. High basketball team. She was cut on the first round. She was sad but determined that she would simply have to get better and try again. She went to every basketball camp available throughout the summer and practiced in our yard all of the time. She got really good. I had a lot of people ask me what she had done to improve her game so much. She and I were both hopeful that she would make the team in her eighth grade year. Tryouts were on Monday, December 17th. We went to school early to look at the list of girls who made the first cut. She was not on the list. She and I sat in the car and cried. Life Sucks! It is hard to console your daughter when you are as upset or more upset than she is. She worked so hard. She is 5 feet tall.

I told her that I thougt she should go to school even though her first period teacher is the basketball coach. I also told her that if she did not want to go to school she could stay home and go Christmas shopping with me. We went back home and as soon as she got out of the car she ran upstairs to cry. She cried for fifteen minutes! When she was done crying she dried her face, refreshed her makeup, and went to school. She is a tougher person than I am. I would have gone shopping. It was a hard day.

Life is good. Busy, but good. I need to Christmas shop, I need to clean my house, I need a nap! FYI, this is my first every blog entry. My hope is that this blog will allow my creative side to come out and that it will be wildly entertaining. It is not working so far.

My husband Kari is a good man but he works to hard. He makes video games for a living. It may sound like a cushy job but it is highly competitive and requires many, many hours. He loves it. Little did I know when I married him 15 years ago that I was marrying a workaholic.

I have four great kids. Katelyn is 14. She is smart and funny and beautiful. She is also a challenge and makes me doubt my parenting abilities on a daily basis. The stakes are so high for kids today. The amount of stress they deal with is scary.

Spencer is my 11 year old son. He learned at a very early age that having a good sence of humor can get you out of a lot of sticky situations. He is the class clown. Sometimes I think that he gets away with too much because the teachers think he is funny. Lucky for me and him he is also smart and so will probably be just fine.

Hayden is 9. He is my athlete. He is passionate and competative but has an uncanny ability to leave the game on the field when it is done and does not relive his wins or losses when they are done. He is kind and I am told that all of the girls at school love him (Uh Oh!).

Paige is my youngest. She is 7. She looks just like her dad and has a stubborn streak just like her mom. She is spoiled! I now understand so much more about my youngest sister and about why my parents always spoiled her. That youngest child can work the parent like no other!

We have a dog (Copper) two birds (Abby and Sundance) and a fish (Dori). Did I mention to you that I am tired and need a nap? Our house is always full of our kids and their friends. It is a happy place!