THE GRINSTEAD FAMILY

LIFE IS GOOD!

The beginning of 2011 is off to a wonderful start!

Jake has had several basketball practices, a scrimmage & 2 tournaments. His team blew through the New Year's tournament in Waverly. They won each game very easily and took first place. Jake played SO good. He had numerous steals (over 5 in one game), he scored a lot and rebounded a ton. Every one of the players had the games of their lives and they were a ton of fun to watch. Last weekend we had another tournament and didn't do so well. We were short 3 players, couldn't make a shot & no one had good games. It is amazing that we were watching the same team as the previous tournament. Our team has decided to keep on playing in tournaments through March.
Allie & I both had hair appointments. Allie looks so adorable with her straight hair. She loves leaving the salon without curls. Too bad I can't get it as straight as they can. I got some bangs cut in my hair & love them! I may go more drastic in March at my next appointment.
Allie's class had computer camp their first week back to school after break. They spent numerous hours learning to type correctly in the computer lab, had "camp" snacks, had reading time in a tent in their classroom and learned cool camp songs. I was able to help out in the lab several times and brought in some yummy snacks for her class.
I'm still doing step class after work several times a week. I love sneaking in workouts in the afternoon as well as my usual morning routines.
Allie is still playing basketball. That ends in February. She has a tournament at the end of the month, but may not be able to attend. We already have something on the calendar that weekend. Bummer.
We went to our neighbor Will's 5th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. Allie had a ball. We haven't been there in about a year, so it was a fun change of scenery!
I had a PTA budget meeting. We agreed to spend a large amount of money on technology at Hansen. I will step down as PTA secretary after this year. I agreed to take on Spirit Sales though.
Jake turned 11 on 1-11-11. The local news came to his school to do a report on his golden birthday. He and his classmates were on the evening news. We also celebrated by eating at Sakura as a family the weekend before his big day. Jake & I dined at Carlos on his birthday while Allie was at ball. He had 4 friends spend the night in honor of his big day. They spent the whole time in the basement playing video games, texting, watching movies, eating & messing around. They were up until about 3 am.
My parents, sibling & their families came to visit last weekend. They took in Jake's tournament, celebrated his birthday and had a nice time. I love, love, love it when they come for the weekend. Michael & Will took Jake to the rec center and shot some hoops with him and taught him a thing or two.
Jake has been spending quite a bit of time at the rec center playing basketball with his friends.
Allie is still going to tutoring on a weekly basis. It is helping her so much.
We didn't have school on MLK Day. I got TONS of organizing done around the house. I just need another week to finish it off!
Jake is sick today. He told me he had a sore throat this morning. I took his temp and it was fine. I gave him a throat lozenge and sent him down to eat. He ate a muffin, got upstairs and vomited on my carpet RIGHT outside the tiled bathroom. He felt awful! I've been scrubbing the RED throat lozenge remains out all morning. He still isn't feeling well. I feel so bad for him. Hopefully it is short lived!
The kids are still going to religion class and Allie is starting back up with UNI Children's Choir.
Allie is selling Girl Scout cookies. They have a COOL program where you can buy boxes of cookies to send to the men and women serving our country overseas. Her troop is supporting a father of one of her troop members who's unit is overseas.
Jake places in the top 5 of his class for a spelling bee and was able to compete against the other 5th graders at Hansen. He ended up not qualifying once he competed again his grade level. He got 7th & needed to be in the top 5 to go to the actual Spelling Bee in February. I told him he should still be proud...there are about 75 kids in his grade.
We've decided to switch baseball teams this spring, there were some problems with our coach and we felt it was best to make the move. About 6 guys from his team are making the move with us.
Coming up: religion, basketball practices, baseball meeting, step class, baseball camp, UNI game, UNICC, Allie's choir sings the National Anthem for a sporting event and Brownies.