The next stage

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the next stage or chapter can creep up on us. We have closed the chapter of little to no after school activities and opened it to the challenge of having 2 going at once. As part of our new year's resolutions, we have decided it is time for Kate to be more involved in extra-curricular activities. We have challenged her to 2 per season or session and started with basketball and guitar lessons. This is not only a challenge for her, but an even more grand challenge for Ryan and myself. The question of, "how are we going to fit it in" was quickly answered with Friday night and Sunday afternoon options. We are still learning the balance of our nightly homework and 1 hour of computer work a week, let alone an extra activity. That, in addition to my weekly travel, left only a few options as we know our limit. Thankfully, the YMCA and guitar store are aware of the needed balance and added the weekend options! Yea - we can do it all.

Last Sunday Kate started basketball through the YMCA and this coming Friday, she starts one on one lessons with her new guitar. We love seeing the beaming smile as she makes a shot! The coach gives us 1 new thing a week to work on and she is quick to remind us mid-week that we need to practice. As you can see in the pictures, she is the tallest on her team, which I am sure will be something to ring true for most of her childhood. Thank goodness for her Daddy's height :) That makes her short mommy really, really happy.

Here are a few pictures from her game last week. We learned the lesson that shorts are a good option since it is in a middle school gym. Thank you to Aunt Granny, Uncle Pal, Judd, Jen and the girls for supporting her week 1 and to my dad for the support week 2. I think she loves the crowd more than the game, but we'll work on that!