Yesterday, we celebrated Sadie's 8th birthday with lots of pets and treats...and also a car ride (to pick up her cake)!
The fact that she's made it to age 8 is somewhat miraculous with all that she's been through. She is one strong girl with a high pain threshold. Just to summarize - emergency surgery at 6 months because she ate her own toy and then when we got her home, she was bleeding so off to the emergency vet for a few days. At 14 months, diagnosed with Wobbler's where she knuckles her front paws and drags her back ones. At age 3, she probably tore her ACL (CCL in dogs) but went undiagnosed for at least two years before we tried stem cell therapy on her and that helped a bit but did not completely heal the tear. By this time, she needed surgery on both knees so almost two years ago underwent bilateral knee surgery. That recovery was brutal for her and for us as she had to be on a walk out level (no stairs) for at least 6 weeks. She also weighed more than 100 pounds so lifting her was exhausting. That surgery did help a bit but her lazy personality coupled with her atrophied muscles from years of not getting up hindered her from making a full recovery.
Today, two years later, she still gets regular laser treatments and acupuncture as well as some hydrotherapy sessions to keep her moving. Her walks are short. She still does stairs (and we have a lot of them in our house) but very slowly and depending on the day sometimes not very well. She mainly lounges around on our main floor all day but we do still bring her up to bed with us at night and she does fine going down the stairs in the morning.
She is a lot of work and on a lot of medication/supplements. She's such a happy girl and so patient and loving with everyone. She likes to lay in the grass on our front lawn but the Amazon or Fed Ex or UPS drivers don't like it much as they honk their horns and wait for me to come out because they're afraid of her. (Glad she gives off that vibe!) She loves donuts. She used to love snow but hates when it's icy now because she knows she's even more unstable on the sidewalks or driveways when she has to go for a walk.
Her favorite time of day is when we are all at home and she gets to lay on the couch and we (I) literally lay on top of her. She also enjoys sitting under my desk every morning while I type away or make calls, etc. Right now, she's snoring away at my feet - content, secure and safe - dreaming of another few fun years with her family whom she loves so much. Happy 8th Birthday, Sadie! We love YOU so very much!
Hailey Reaches 1st Place in Girl Scout Cookie Sales - 280!
It's that time of year when Girl Scout Cookie sales are in full force. Hailey creates a little video to tell people all about the cookies and then I send an email out to people who might buy/donate some and Tom forwards it on to people from work.
People must really love Girl Scout cookies because even after paper sales were done and our troop dispensed the digital orders to us to distribute, I still have people asking me if they can order! Alas, where Hailey finally overcame the usual first place seller in her Troop to command the coveted 1st Place spot.
Of course, now I must go to the Cookie Cupboard myself (about 20 minutes away) and pick up the boxes ordered but it was a special treat for me to go into the "Gathering Place" where there were all things Girl Scouts and then there was a room with just boxes and boxes of Girl Scout cookies (with free samples). It was amazing! Hailey was sad that I went without her when I told her all about it but it's usually only open during school hours.
Anyway, don't ask how many cookies we bought from Hailey ourselves to push her into 1st Place, but we needed to replenish our supply since Austen (who is not a lover of sweets - usually - can certainly polish off a whole box himself in two days). He is a lover of those cookies too!
Hailey really enjoys this time of year and thanking all her buyers via personal videos to them to add a bit of a personalized touch.
One more year to go for Girl Scout cookie sales and then I'm going to have to find a new supplier since her Troop will disband after 5th grade.
Hailey is the only one of my three kids who decided to play basketball past the 3rd grade. Austen was so tired of being on the team that was so bad with kids who didn't try that he told me to stop signing him up! He still played for fun all those years after though and just told me last week that in PE his team won the championship with him contributing almost half the points. He said it felt good that even at 5'8" the other team was shouting to make sure he was marked.
Peyton stopped at 3rd grade and while she liked it, I'm not sure she really cared all that much for basketball. Papa dubbed her the "wet blanket" as she would smother her player so she couldn't shoot. She wasn't terrible but wasn't a star either. And, just this past fall decided that she should give it another go so she was outside working on her shooting and dribbling. Like most things Peyton does, that lasted maybe a month before she said she wasn't going to try out for the middle school basketball team after all.
Hailey did ask me to sign her up again this year. Last season, she was okay. Not great. But she enjoyed it. I think she got one basket all season. This year, she's taken the time to shoot baskets outside on our driveway when she gets a chance. On the court, she plays tough defense. You can see where soccer really comes into play in basketball. She knows exactly how to move around to get open and how to follow her "man." She gets her hands up and can steal the ball too. This past weekend, she contributed 4 points of their 16 (one of her teammates got 10 points - obviously the best girl on the team). The weekend before she got 2 points too. She needs to work on her rebounding and using her body to protect the ball. And, all these girls could utilize the bounce pass more but overall it's been a fun season with a mix of girls from her school and the one across the tracks (they'll all go to middle school together).
She definitely has surprised me this year with her love of the game and her desire to give 100% on the court. I'm almost thinking I need to sign her up for basketball summer camp! Just trying to foster what they love! Sometimes it's hard figuring out what that is as a parent even when you are trying to narrow down activities as they get older. Still not sure what is going to stick for Hailey - soccer, softball, basketball or volleyball. I guess time will tell.
The past two weekends, I've been out of town for soccer with Austen. First, we headed to Orlando to watch him compete in his National League qualifiers for the PRO League. If they won their first two games in Orlando, they would head to Tampa the end of February to compete for a bid to the National League finals in July.
First game was a routing. Austen gets the assist on the first goal and then they just continue to pummel the other team. Most boring game I've watched in a long time. Final result was 7-0 with Austen sitting most of the second half (resting for the next day's game) once they opened up on their opponents.
U17 Galaxy Boys
Second game was going to be tougher although I think the boys underestimated this New Jersey team. The opposition came out having to win after a tough loss the day before. We came out thinking we could take them since they got beat 0-4. We were slow to get to the ball. The heat didn't help either. Bad passes and too much dribbling continued to plague this team. We go up 1-0 after a near post shot by Austen. No idea where he's finding the energy to get stronger as the match goes on since the heat is his kryptonite and he's playing the full game. We go into halftime with a 1-0 lead but the other teams draws a foul outside the box and puts one in. We are well into the second half now and Austen continues to get stronger even though I can tell he's dying after playing the entire game thus far and having to run a lot in the midfield. No idea where he's getting the energy but he dribbles through traffic and gets taken down outside the box. He puts his own one away on a direct kick and we are up 2-1. We just need to hang on which is the story of this team. Hang on. But they never do.
Austen goes down with a shooting pain in his leg and (probably exhaustion at the 10 minute mark). He gets subbed out. They hang on for 9 more minutes and give up a corner in the last minute which leads to a goal. We are headed to PKs. After being worked on by the trainer, Austen is up and back on the field for PKs. He makes his but we can't stop the other team either and when we miss one, it's over. We lose in PKs on a last second goal. Their chances at National League PRO are gone and they won't be heading to Tampa. Heartbreaking for this team that has so much talent but who can't defend a restart to save their lives.
They play out the third game. Austen can barely walk as he has a blister the size of Texas on his foot and they don't have trainers there at the start of the game to tape him up. Doesn't much matter anymore. He plays minimal the third game and the subs start us out. They finally crack open the other team and we win 5-2.
The boys are a close bunch. They give each other shit for fouls and missing open goals. They certainly hold each other accountable but not in a rude way either. I enjoy driving them to their team activity and listening to them discuss the game in the backseat.
We head back to Chicago and that's when Austen starts getting emails and texts about that second game from college coaches. So crazy that that's what opened up the recruitment process for him. He's been emailing coaches but now it's the coaches directly reaching out to him asking to speak with him and come to their schools. And, it's all because of the effort in that second game. Not an easy opponent, but also not an easy game in the heat and somehow he rose to the occasion and left everything he had on the field. The worry was that he wouldn't be able to take a PK in the shoot out because he wasn't on the field at the end of the game (but we found out he could) although we needed to be sure he could physically take one too (he somehow was up and ready to go to put away a pretty PK). And, he was the player when his teammate (and fellow co captain) missed to be the one right there comforting him and speaking words of encouragement. This is exactly how he needs to perform as a player and a teammate/co captain if he's going to play at the collegiate level and he did. The hard games are when players need to step up and he certainly did show up then and the following weekend.
We returned from Orlando and headed to St. Louis to play 2 more league games against two teams that also already qualified for the PRO League. In the first game, our defensive midfielder goes down in the first 10 minutes with a high ankle sprain and Austen must now drop and fill this role to help his team (especially with one of our center backs already out for that game). He does but not before assisting the first goal of the game. He plays a great #6, helping his team secure a 4-0 victory (against a team that qualified for Tampa but who we are clearly better than).
Teammates and Friends
The next day, they have their center back return but the defensive midfielder is still out so Austen must play the #6. This means he can't help as much to ignite the offense. After a scoreless half, the coach puts him back in his original position. He responds within the first 10 minutes by assisting the first goal to put us up 1-0. We can't hold on though. They counter with a goal off a corner (go figure - we really need to figure out those restarts!) and Austen must drop back to play the #6 again. This is the team that got 3rd in Nationals last year and we are thinking we should beat them but at this point we'll take a tie. Last two minutes of the game and we take someone down in the box and they covert the PK. We lose 1-2.
These boys seriously have to be the unluckiest bunch of kids. I've rarely seen things go their way. I guess Champions are made when the chips are stacked against you. They are learning how to fail and get better. Lots of time to still get to Nationals. Keep working boys - as your coach said, the journey may be longer but the victory will mean so much more once you get there!
Tom gets incredible tickets every year to the Blackhawks game (through someone he knows from work). Sometimes he gets tickets for four and sometimes he gets tickets for more. They are always on the glass and if you've never been to a hockey game where you sit on the glass, you should know it's a totally different experience. You certainly don't leave your phone or any drinks or any food on the ledge because as soon as they crash into that glass, all of that will go flying (and hopefully not end up in your lap).
So this year, he had 4 tickets to a game and so he was going to take the kids (which he usually does and I let them all go to the game together since all the kids want to go), but a few days before, he tells me that he has 3 extra tickets so I get to go and invite my brother and nephew.
Too much food and drink!
Now, I hadn't been to a game in a few years and the experience we had this time was definitely an upgrade from what I remember. We meet "Andy" (Tom's work friend) before the game in a private club where you can feast on any kind of food you want that's set out in an elaborate buffet. Former players are there like Chris Chelios as well as one of the new owners. Drinks are flowing and there are cardboard trays for the pre-packaged snacks you can take to your seats for the game. We all load up and then head to our rink-side seats where we also had our own server for more drinks.
It was cool to see my nephew experience the game on the glass (his first Blackhawks game) and just to be on the glass again was such an exhilarating experience for all. In fact, we got lucky because our seats had all the action - the goals and the fight all happened on our side of the ice. Tom and the kids were on the other side of the ice in different seats.
We met up after the game at another club for dessert/drinks before heading home. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks lost at the very end but what a night. I think everyone enjoyed the entire experience. And, next time, I may not be so agreeable to letting the kids take my tickets!
