County Champs!!

 

Yesterday was SOOOO exciting!

After last week's buzzer beater win by Lola, we secured a tie for second place in the County.  They kept changing the rules on how Playoffs were going to work, but in the end, they decided to have us play that same team (Lady Rebels) again and whoever won that game, would get an hour break and then play in the championship game.

It was another nail biter with the score neck and neck throughout most of the game.  Here we are towards the end of the game during a timeout with the Coaches strategizing with the girls.

1 minute and 7 seconds left and we're up by just two points 18-16

Nice steal, Elizabeth!

55 seconds left...

Another timeout

52 seconds left..... another timeout.  The suspense was palpable!

But, alas, the other team scored....

Sending us into two minutes of overtime.... with even more suspense!

And then.... Riley got fouled sending her to the free throw line.  It circled the rim, then popped out.  BUT, we came up with the rebound and with just seconds on the clock, the ball was passed out to Lola who threw it at the basket and sunk a 3-point buzzer beater shot (her first 3-pointer ever!) for her second buzzer beater victory shot against the same exact team two weeks in a row!

Everyone went absolutely nuts!! It was so exciting!

But, we had to tamper that victory with the realization that we were only half way there.  That win secured us a spot in the Championship game, but that was just an hour away and against a team we've always only won or lost to by one point.  And they were going to be playing fresh.

But when it came time to play an hour later against the Ravens, the #1 team in the League, 

the girls gave it absolutely everything they had.... and won by ONE point!!!!

County Champions!!

An incredibly suspenseful road to an incredibly rewarding championship victory!

♪♪ We are the Champions ♫ 🏀

A sweet treat to wrap up an incredibly sweet victory!

Let's Go Gators!  You did it!!! 🏀🏀🏀

Basketball Season..... That's a Wrap!

 

This weekend wrapped up Basketball season for both Riley and Ella.  I originally signed up Ella for a Club/Select team (where you have to try out to make it and only compete against other competitive teams) but there weren't enough girls that signed up for that, so we ended up doing Rec since that was our only choice.  Ella had fun regardless, but definitely found it frustrating at times since, inevitably, as is the nature with Rec, there were teammates who didn't really know how to play basketball, which is hard for this uber-competitive basketball-loving girl.  But she made the most of it and her team won their first Playoff game!

Unfortunately they won their second play-off game. But they played their hearts out and had a lot of fun.

Ella had such a great season.  Since this is her scrapbook, I want her to know and remember that in every single game, she scored most of the points.  In some of the games, she scored ALL of the points.  She had countless steals, rebounds, breakaways, layups, dribbling moves, etc.  She was SO much fun to watch!!

Getting warmed up before her final game.

Her fan club.

Riley has been on a competitive club/select team for the last couple of years.  They've competed in three tournaments this season and finished second in their league.  They had a great season!!

Front row:  Emma, Ava, Elizabeth, Lola Gianna

Back Row: Coach Chris, Riley, Layla, Addy, Scarlett, Coach Mike

Favorite part of tournaments.... the team lunches!

Saturday was the most exciting game of the season!  We were tied for second place, so we had to play the Lady Rebels to determine who would advance to the Championship Game.  The entire game was a nail biter.  So close.  We were ahead the entire game, but usually only by 1-3 points.  At the very end of the game, with only 9 seconds left, they scored and were up by one point.  With just 7 seconds left on the clock, our coach called a time out.  Here is the final 7 seconds of the game where Lola scores the game-winning, buzzer-beater basket and we all went crazy!

Basketball has wiped out our weekends and most of our weeknights between practices, games and tournaments for two different kids.  But it has been SO much fun to watch them play!  I just got home from the season-ending all-day-long tournament like two hours ago..... but I miss it already.

Thanks for the memories, girls!  It gave me something to look forward to every weekend of this dreary Winter!

Denim and Rhinestones

 

I love Carrie Underwood.  She can belt it like nobody's business.  But I've already seen her perform live at least twice before, so I wasn't planning on going again this past week when she was in town, but....

My coworker Sheila (on the left) was dying to go and couldn't find anyone to go with because it was on a weekday (Wednesday) night in DC.  Sheila and I have been coworkers for the past four years.  Our department has gotten smaller and smaller over the years and is now a department of only three employees, so we've gotten extremely close.  If time and schedules allow, the three of us (Sheila, Debbie and me) go for a walk around lunch time every day.  Last month, Sheila announced to us that her husband was transferring out to Utah with his job, so she was going to be moving.  So here we are on our final walk on our final day of working together.

But then that night, we hit the town and went to the CU concert together!  I told her I'd go with her since she wanted to go so bad.  And honestly, it wasn't a tough sell since I truly do love Carrie Underwood!

She rocked it!

Concert T purchased!

Best of luck in your future endeavors, Sheila!  Fun last memory in DC!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Cupid came!

Lacey's basket

Tanner's basket

Riley's basket

And Ella's basket

And then we did our traditional Valentines hairstyle

Lacey

Riley

Ella was very sad that I had already left for work by the time she woke up, so I couldn't style her hair before school, but she still wanted to take part in the "sisters hair shot" that evening.

After dinner, we all enjoyed Lacey's Valentines dessert creation.

Grateful for all my loves!

Sock Hop

 

It's finally Ella's turn!

The Girl Scouts host an annual Mother/Daughter "Sock Hop" every year for all the girls in Girl Scouts while in Elementary School.  I went to this every year of Elementary School with Lacey.  I went with Riley through 3rd grade, then it was canceled due to Covid for her 4th and 5th grade years.  Ella wasn't in Girl Scouts in Kindergarten or 1st grade, but then joined after that.  But of course it was then canceled for Covid during her 2nd and 3rd grade years.  So she watched countless times while I took Lacey and Riley but was finally able to go herself.  I'm so bummed it was canceled the last two years, because it would have been so fun to go with both Riley and Ella together!  But alas, it was fun Ella finally got to go and we got to have a fun date night together!

Arriving at the venue.

Filling up on popcorn and cookies at the "Soda Fountain." 

She and her good friend Caroline spent a LOT of time hanging out at the Song Request table.

Doing the "YMCA" in between submitting song requests.

Dancing the night away with her buddies.

Troop 1758