Little League Basketball

We signed our 7-year-old up for Little League basketball. I thought it would be a good chance for him to learn a new sport, and have some fun. We bought him a basketball goal, and a basketball. My husband had some experience coaching high school basketball, so he gave my son a few tips before his try-out.

My son was nervous at the try-out, and kind of forgot everything his dad taught him. He didn't do well at the try-out, but we thought it wasn't a big deal. The coaches were supposed to pick the players for their teams at the try-outs. My son ended up in a team with no coaches! Someone finally volunteered to coach his team - a dad with two boys on the team. He had no experience in coaching basketball. My husband offered to help, but couldn't be there for every practice and game because of his own coaching schedule.

There were a few 8-year-olds on the team who had some basketball experience. However, most of the other kids, like my son, didn't know much about basketball. We were nervous about playing the first game! On game day, the two teams who played before us were fantastic! They were so good! I was shocked! However, a little insider news we heard explained everything. Some of the coaches told the good players they knew not to go for the try-outs. In that way, they could absorb them into their teams "naturally", ensuring they had a strong team with no "weak", inexperienced players. Of course, my son's first basketball game was disastrous! He was already intimidated watching the other teams play. On top of that, my husband couldn't make it for the first game, and so there was nobody who could coach their team. My son was like a lost sheep on the court!

Anyway, it's a pity that it's so competitive even at the Little League level! Can't a little guy learn to play a sport without the pressure of winning, or feeing like a loser in the first game?

Caillou

If you have kids (especially boys) who are below 5 years old, you're probably very familiar with Caillou - the TV show on Sprout. There's just something about this show that holds the kids' attention. I don't know what it is, but my 7-year-old son loved it when he was little, and was at home to watch it. He still watches it with my 4-year-old when he doesn't have to go to school.

It's funny how some kid shows can hold the kids' attention more than others. Maybe the kids identify with Caillou - the bald-headed kid with a little sister called Rosie. He loves dinosaurs, cars, books, and has a great imagination. Guess he's just like any 3, or 4 year-olds! My 4-year-old liked Sesame Street when he was very little, but doesn't seem to care much for it now. My 7-year-old just turns his nose up when Sesame Street comes on now. Little could he remember he probably learned his ABCs and 123s from watching Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, and the rest of the gang!

My 4-year-old does still like to play 'Ernie says_' though. Anyway, guess Caillou is one of the success stories in Kids TV shows of the current age.

Deleted the DVR

Yesterday my husband deleted everything on our DVR. He said he did it by accident, but I cannot imagine how he did that when it is so user-friendly. We have had Direct tv for six months, and although most of the shows on the DVR were mine, he should know how to use it by now. I had so many shows saved on the DVR that I had not watched yet because I am usually too tired at night to watch them. I usually catch up on my shows during the weekend. I was really looking forward to doing that this weekend. I guess I will just have to watch my shows online. The thing that bothers me most is that I will have to set up the DVR all over again to record all of my favorite shows. My husband was very apologetic and said that he just got confused when he was trying to record a football game. That makes me hate football so much more. Since there is nothing I can do about it now, I guess I will just set the DVR up again and move on.



Guest post of the week by Deangelo Spencer

Dubbing

My husband should have been a songwriter. Whenever we hear a song and the mood strikes him right, he dubs his own words over the song. The lyrics are actually quite clever and entertaining. For example, we were grilling out with some friends on Friday and he dubbed over one of Nelly’s famous tunes. Instead of singing the original lyrics, “you can find me in St. Louie…” he was singing (to the beat of course), “ you can find me watching DIRECTV”. His favorite genre to dub lyrics to is country music. It is a great skill to have on road trips. His friends and my family think that his dubs are hilarious and attempt to come up with their own. A couple of his friends have caught on a gotten pretty good dubbing. Others are terrible at it. He has one friend who we have banned from dubbing. All of his dubbed over lyrics were inappropriate ( 7th grade boy humor). I still have not mastered the skill, but love hearing people try.




This guest post from Edgardo Rosa

Classic 4th of July Picnic with The Family

There are some things that I try to make it to every year and one of those priorities is definitely making it out to our classic big family 4th of July picnic. Well this year I really have to go because I'm the one that's running the whole thing. I've actually spent the last few weeks coming up with recipes that I'm going to serve for it. I don't' really want to rely on other people to bring stuff because a lot of times that falls through and the worst thing that could happen is not having enough food for everyone.

I was looking online to find some recipes to fix and while I was doing that I ran across hearingaids.miracle-ear.com. After that I decided to sign up for a free hearing test because I think I've needed hearing aids for a while.

But for now I think that the 4th of July picnic is going to be really great. I have some great recipes lined up that I think my loved ones are just going to gobble right up.



Guest post written by Carol Clarkson

Lockhart

One lazy afternoon, we turned on the TV and saw a show introducing different parts of Texas. It was called the Daytripper, and we found it very interesting. My 6-year-old son who watched the show with us, loved it, and was always begging to go the the places introduced by the host. Ever since I saw the show on Lockhart, I had been craving for some good, greasy barbecue!

This Easter weekend, I had the chance of visiting Lockhart with my family. We drove to all the "famous" barbecue places introduced on the show, and finally chose one to satisfy our hunger. We didn't really know what we were doing, and ordered our food "ignorantly". The food tasted good, but we wished we knew what we were doing while we got in line. We passed by the jail museum, but didn't go in, much to the disappointment of our 6-year-old. He was hoping to meet the ghost who craved barbecue introduced on the show.

Anyway, it was interesting! We may visit Lockhart again, and try one of the other 3 famous barbecue places.

Home for The Holidays (1)

The plane finally landed on home soil - a place she had called home for over 30 years! For 9 years she had spent the Lunar New Year in a foreign land she called her other home. She had pined for this day, and this day had arrived! A song floated in her mind as she went through the immigration counter with her 5, and 2-year-old boys. The song sounded better in Mandarin, "Holding my little baby, I'm coming back to my mom's home..." She was going to surprise her mom and dad, who had no clue she was coming home for Chinese New Year!

She knocked on the door. She could hear her little Pomeranian barking. Her mom came to the door! "We've come home for Chinese New Year!" she yelled a little hoarsely (airplane air is not kind on the throat). Mom was surprised, and pleased at the same time. Her grand kids had come to celebrate Chinese New Year with her for the first time!

The little Pomeranian seemed to sense the joyous atmosphere in the air! When dad came home, he was very surprised, but like mom, he was delighted! She looked around the house. It was decorated with festive red lanterns, and banners featuring the tiger, because it was the year of the tiger. She felt her childhood memories of Lunar New Years passed returning. It was a warm feeling. She observed her boys in her parents' house, and smiled thankfully as she thought about how much fun they were about to have, celebrating her favorite time of the year - Chinese New Year.