I have NO time Why you ask?

Seriously….and I do mean seriously…I have no time! This is the time of year that I feel like we are driving or sitting at all times. All our boys are in Basketball. Cassie decided this year that she was opting out of it as she really just likes Volleyball. Jason and Josh are both on the JV team. I love that they are on the same team and get to play Basketball together. Jackson being a Senior is on the Varsity team.

Have a small school there is only one Gym for the High school. Well that means that Varsity gets it before school from 6-8am, the Girls get it after school from 4-6 and then the JV boys get it from 6-8. No problem right? Well actually its chaos for us haha. That means Jackson drives himself to school. Then an hour later we are driving the rest of the kids to school. Then he drives them all home but an hour later I am driving the younger boys back to the school for 6pm practice. No big deal right? Well it takes us 50 minutes just to get to the school. Haha! I tell you….they better love us.

We are spending more time in the car than anything now a days. The good part about that though is we get a lot of one on one time to talk to the kids about their days or what’s been going on. Basketball season has just started and I am already thinking when the end of it is haha!

I love watching the kids play. I love that they are active and want to play. Most of all I love that all the kids play on the same day. Again because it’s a small school the girls and boys play on the same night no matter if its JV or Varsity. It leads for long nights but they are so worth it.

These are the days of never ending laundry even though you feel like you don’t see the kids that much. These are the days of eating at 430pm just so you can eat as a family which is very important to us. These are the days of a lot of KLOVE music in the car (I will know all the songs by the end of the season). These are the days……..

These are the days we will look back on and think how we ever did it with four kids. How did we manage their schedules with school, sports and family time? I am thankful and blessed for these days!

So as I sit here taking a break from laundry. Waiting on one child to come home and the other three have fallen fast asleep well before their bedtime of 930, I sit here in silence thinking about how fast life goes by. I can’t believe I think this is so chaotic and hectic and in just 4 short years all of the kids will be out of the house. I have to treasure these moments. Why? Because…these are the days!

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And the whole town comes....

 

 

Big Valley is made up of a couple of small towns. One of them is my town that only has 267 ppl in it (or so the sign says). Our Elementary and High school have roughly 200 kids from K-12 grade. The one thing I love about Big Valley is that the whole town surrounds our kids with love and support.

Yesterday we had a home basketball game. JV Boys, Varsity girls and then Varsity boys playing. The cool thing is you can enjoy them all at one night because everyone has to travel far to get here or we travel far to get to their school. Our teams are full and yes we have some kids actually sitting waiting to go into the game.

These nights I know I wont be cooking YEAH lol. We will be eating hamburgers or nachos from the Booster Club trailer. Our whole family goes to the games. One because Josh plays JV and Jackson plays Varsity but two because its what the town does. So many ppl are there supporting our kids. Couples who don't have children in the school, High schoolers that have come back to watch, Siblings, Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, Store owners, etc. Its just a night of fun and we pack the bleachers full with Cardinal Pride.

This night we played Redding Christian... who are a very competitive team with twice as many kids as we have. All three games we won by a margin..but they were all good games. The kids that got to play did great. The only regret I and many have is not all the kids got to play:(

Its fun sitting in the stands with our popcorn or nachos and watching our Big Valley kids soar through the air to make baskets. Its super cute at half times when our little kids come out in their cheerleader outfits and do their dances, cheers to get the crowd going. You can tell they have worked hard.

I love basketball games. Sitting with our friends razzing each other. Talking about how our butts hurt for sitting there for so many hours. Seeing ppl from our church. Seeing ppl that are back for a visit. Its nice. Laughing or messing with our friends all while watching the game. Not having to worry about our other children who are all sitting with their friends cheering on the teams instead of asking to go home. Watching Cassie drawing but looking up every few seconds to cheer on the team. Jason laughing with all his buddies sitting around him cheering them on and our other two playing.

 Even this guy who was sitting on the other side of me from the opposing team asked me if the lady in front of us had a kid playing. I said nope...she is just one of our community members. He was amazed because he said he sees her at every game. She turned around and said I cheer on all the kids:) This guy was also video taping his granddaughter playing so we talked on and off throughout the three games. He did laugh at me numerous times as each of our kids and one of their friends came up and asked for money for food at different times. Finally he asked how many children I have and if I had any money left for him HA!

Its an event....a fun event.....just wish that ALL the ppl who came to the game who cheer on every single student because they all played. That's the good thing about living in a small town with small teams we have the capability to do that. Making it more of a team. I love Big Valley.

sidenote.....with three boys in basketball. An 8th grader...9th and 11th grader we have a crazy schedule. Josh starts practice at 6am (he likes to be there by 530am now). Jason has practice after school and Jackson has to come back to school from 6pm to 8pm for his practice which he loves. We are driving from 515am to 815pm it seems everyday. That's the love of sports and wanting our kids to learn how to be apart of a team. Cassie usually plays too but because of her back injury this year she wont be playing till next year. By then all four of the kids will be in high school. I appreciate all the kids, parents, coaches and staff go through to make having teams possible.

Josh concentrating you can tell because his tongues out

Jackson practicing

Jacksons Game Face :)