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Basketball

American Girl Playdate and Katherine’s Second to Last Basketball Game of 2012

Rosebud is growing up. Every morning we comment that she has grown over night. She has also perfected the “please play with me as I’m so cute technique”. One of the key projects for this week was a Pueblo Indian diorama. The first attempt used Wheaties and honey. Unfortunately, by morning the houses had collapsed. Though disappointed Katherine decided that using clay and wooden sticks would make it stronger.

Katherine played in her second to last basketball game of the season at OWS versus the Jewish Day School. Katherine is tall and plays good defensive; however, the OWS team isn’t quite yet competitive with the other girls teams in the league. Christine and I have been coaching her to stand between the opposing player and the basketball hoop and to keep her hands up. She’s learning and having a good time. It’s also great exercise as the girls have to run up and down the court.

We’re hoping that basketball becomes Katherine’s “team” sport, similar to how Allison has chosen soccer as hers.

Finally, Tori and Katherine had a playdate at the American Girl store. They sampled snacks and shopped for new American Girl gear.

Katherine’s First Basketball Game

What can I say nine year old girls playing basketball is a new experience for me. Lots of screaming and parents saying ohhh. Katherine is having a great time but I need to spend some time with her on the basics. In the first half she got a rebound and shot attempt. With 3 minutes to go in in the half the score is 22 to 0, OWS losing.

In the last 1 minute in the half Katherine scored the first OWS basket. She posted up and was wide open. The crowd roars! Mom and dad are so proud. Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Bill exclaim to dad: that’s our granddaughter.

With 10 minutes to go the score is 36-8 Hebrew Academy ahead. Katherine has the responsibility of passing the inbound pass. I need to remind Katherine to keep her hands up and to follow the ball.

Overall, it was a good game though the OWS team lost. Katherine really enjoyed being part of a team and the ups and downs of competition.

Mother’s Day 2012

On Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day as a family. We started out the morning with breakfast in bed. Dad and the girls produced a smilie face breakfast plate for Christine. At 10A, we met Agnes at Din Tai Fung in Lincoln Square for Dim Sum. Afterwards the girls played arcade games to earn tickets.

In the afternoon, we attended a Seattle Storm pre-season game. On the way to the game, we passed a runner doing pull-ups using a bus stop overhang. We discussed whether or not any family members could do that. Allison exclaimed: “I could pull up my pants!” that many times. We all chuckled.

On the way to the game, Allison said, “Look, Raffi on the sign”. Christine and I said, “huh?”. Allison exclaimed again: “Over there, Raffi on the sign”. Finally, we connected the dots. Allison was talking about graffiti. The family had a good laugh.

Our season tickets seasons are new this year. We moved to center court, three rows back. The people around us are nice and we can see both sides of the court. The girls also love the “bottomless” popcorn though we’ve limited it to one bucket per half.

Slew of Pictures

Slew of Pictures
I finally got around to downloading a ton of pictures from our camera. ๐Ÿ™‚

You’ll see the kids diving off Ms. Suzi’s diving board and swimming across the pool, eating at the Mariners game, a bus trip to the Arboretum, Allison’s first day of school and a Storm Game.

Katherine is holding a signed Storm ball, which she got from a player during the pre-game player announcements…on the basketball floor. Way Cool!!

No…the kids don’t use their goggles anymore for swim lessons.

Katherine in Her High Chair

Now that Katherine has strong neck and head control, we felt it was time to try her in her high chair so we wouldn’t have to hold her while eating. As you can see, she had a fun time in her chair. She generally tolerates it for about 10 minutes or so, after which she starts to scream and squeal! We try not to respond right away, so not to encourage this behavior. That’s easier than done though.

Katherine Goes to See Michael Jordan

On March 26, we took Katherine to our the last game that we have tickets to this season – Sonics vs. Wizards. It turned out to be Michael Jordan’s last game at Key Arena before he retired this year. We managed to get several OK pictures of Michael. We also tried to put earplugs in Katherine’s ears since it gets kind of loud. She was quite the sight with bright orange ear plugs sticking out of her ears. They also lasted a total of 10 minutes. She would swivel her head around, and the plugs would just fall out! Anyway, she lasted a full quarter and halftime. We left during the third quarter when Katherine started to melt down.

Katherine is Almost Sitting…

Katherine is on the verge of the next stage of babyhood. Today she sat up in a tripod position with her hands supporting herself for several minutes. How did we find out? This past Christmas, Katherine received a Tiny Love circular play mat from her Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey. Now that she is four months old, we figured it was time to take it out and see how she liked it. We found it to be a perfect toy for tummy time. Between the animal noises, sunny mirror and floating fish, she stayed distracted for over 5 minutes on her belly, pushing herself up to get a better look at it. I (Christine) then propped her up in the center of the mat, where she leaned over her arms and sat like a little tripod. Not captured in the picture is Katherine losing her balance and toppling face first into the mat – a very funny moment.

She’s also developing her sense of balance – standing up! With a little bit of help, she can stand and put almost all her weight on her feet. Katherine is a bit wobbly still, but it’s just a matter of time until she can sit on her own and stand up without one of us holding her.

Katherine and the Convertible Car Seat

We stretched Katherine out today next to a paper tape measure. She measured a whopping 25.5 inches. We shouldn’t have been surprised given that she was 23.5 inches at two months. That prompted us to go purchase a couple convertible car seats. This is likely her last week in her infant car seat. She also weighed in at 15.5 lbs; we’ll get confirmation this Friday at her four month appointment.

Katherine spends the day in Seattle

Every 6 or 8 weeks we trek into Seattle to get our hair cut. This Saturday turned out to be the perfect sunny day for a visit to Seattle. We spend the entire afternoon pushing Katherine around in her stroller past Pike Place Market to Pacific Place and back. We ended the day with a dinner at the 5 Spot cafรฉ.

Katherine attends the Sonics vs. Lakers game

Steve and I subscribed to several Sonics games this season. We decided to take Katherine to her first game this past Friday, and despite initial concerns, she loved the game. We got there at the end of the first quarter. She sat thru the entire second quarter, gazing at the scoreboard TV and people around her. When the fans clapped their sticks during the free throws, she would turn her head and watch them. During half time and the third quarter we walked in the concourse. Katherine dozed on and off. We left for home and she fell promptly asleep in the car.