Monday, October 23, 2006

It's the New Zoo Review (Some Saturday Cartoon song)

I forgot to mention our little 3 year old's birthday party... part 2. On Friday night, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Morton's house and had dinner and cake (more CAKE for Joel). Joel got some cars from his Uncle Bob and an old-school Radio Flyer tricycle. It was cool. We also went to the zoo that afternoon... here are some pictures.



Thursday (?), we cooked outside and while I was cooking, I decided to put up Joel's t-ball set and his table and chairs that he got for his birthday. He loves them! And he's even getting the hang of swinging the bat. I love it!

Sunday, October 22, 2006

It's the Final Countdown (Europe)

I'm really starting to get good at these titles...

Well... it's here. This Thursday is our first basketball scrimmage. Gettin' a little nervous, but am somewhat anxious to get here. It's kinda' like the what the first game is going to be like to for me... once you get going and it's over, I'll feel a whole lot better about things. The girls are working hard and it should be a good year.

On the HOME front... had a wonderful break with the family. Friday, we all went to the zoo and spent about 3 hours there. Lindsay fell asleep in her back-pack carrier and it was really cute. (I'll see if I can get the pictures we took). Joel enjoyed it too. Ok... so did Daddy. Hadn't been there in a while and it was good to see some of the animals. Not just for kids under 10 anymore!

Well... have to get baths for the kids. Night!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Sweet Dreams are Made of These... (Eurthymics)


Sunday naps are just priceless... I would have slept longer if someone hadn't been snoring so loud! Guess she gets that from her daddy. That's one trait that I KNOW I gave her... :-)

It's been 2 weeks since I've posted... ah... it goes by quickly...

The Morton family has just spent the last week getting over that stomach thing that's been going around. Joel started it off last weekend... daddy (me) got it next... then Jeanise felt a little "queezy" Saturday night... and Lindsay has just... you know? I don't think that she's really had it yet. She's had a bit of a thing, but I think that it's just teeth stuff.

Joel had his 3 year old party on Saturday! Hard to believe that he's 3. So much has happened since he was born and it seems like a really long time ago. Pretty soon, he'll be asking me to take him to practice or something. The party went very well. We went to McDonalds (of course, I was all for that) and had a small party with Allyson & Drew Wise, Zane Hankins, and Camden Hensley (and parents of all kids), and grandma and pa Wynn. My parents were out of town, so we'll be celebrating next weekend. The kids had fun and did great... all seemed to melt down at the same time... toward the end... but it was a great party. Jeanise did a great job of getting that set up.

Practice has been going well. We've been going hard for 2 weeks and we have less than 2 weeks before our first scrimmage! It's coming down to that time of year... and I'm getting anxious. We've put in a bunch of offenses and defenses and set plays and now we just have to put them all together in a game plan. Coming down to the crunch time. We have Fall Break this week, so the girls will get a nice break before the November Madness starts. Still, there's a lot that needs to be done... I hope that I can get it all in. These girls are really smart, though, and have been learning fast. I must also commend them for the transition that they've made between me and last year's coach. It's tough on a team to have to face that, but they're adjusting to it very well.

Well... have to get my week started.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

You Might Think I'm Crazy... (All I want is You--The Cars)

We had our first official day of practice yesterday... and it went off like clock-work. Almost as if I had been doing it for a really long time. The girls were all excited about starting their first day of 2 hour practices. And they handled it great! I had a phone call from a guy yesterday, who said that I aught to take a picture of my first day of becoming the new "legend" at Deer Creek. I'll take one today and share... thought it might be a good idea. Although I was very nervous about starting the practice season... I think that I'll be more nervous for my first game! :-) When I got home, I was greeted by a car of faithful, supportive fans (Jeanise, and 2 kids) who were taking me out to dinner to celebrate my first day. Don't I have a great fan section?

It's off to work I go!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Imagine me and you...

It's been a long time for me to post... You know... as much as people do this "blog-thing" you always wonder who's readin'. It starts out as just a little thing to share information with people--to wondering how many people are viewing--to wondering IF people are viewing--to... don't really care if people are viewing, because it's nice to write this stuff down. Anyone else feel like that?

Today is the BIG DAY... actually tomorrow (2nd) is the big day! Tomorrow starts the first OFFICIAL day of basketball practice. Although it may look like I'm holding it all in together pretty good... I'm actually pretty scared to death! This is an opportunity that I've been waiting for for so long... it's here... and I wish I knew how things were going to turn out.

I think it's interesting, though, that in my small group at church that it was my turn to lead the study and discussion for a book we're doing, If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat, (I know that there should be capital letters and such but I'm too lazy to do it). In this week's lesson we look at the opportunity of the rich man who gives the 5 tallents, 2 tallents, and 1 tallents (tallent may be with 1 'l" but I'm on a roll here) and the opportunity these 3 guys had. This man GIVES them this money... this gift... and wants to see what they will do with it. Will they take advantage of this "gift" and make something happen? 2 of them do... this is an incredible opportunity for these men and I'm sure that they're excited and thrilled and they DOUBLE this gift. And the rich man praises them for it... I see this guy with a huge smile on his face and just really proud of these 2. The 3rd guy... is a little scared... he's not sure about the realities that are around him... he's afraid of taking this gift and losing it all. So what does he do? He burries it. And when the rich man finds out... he can only shake his head and say, "I GAVE this to you... no strings attached... a GIFT... and you let FEAR of the unknown result get in the way of your happiness with this FREE GIFT!

I share all that to say... I'm feel that I've been the 3rd man for the last few weeks. Yes, I've enjoyed what I've done and I've worked hard with the girls and we've had some good off-season workouts. BUT... God has given me this GIFT of coaching and interacting with young people... WHAT AM I DOING WITH IT?!??!?!?!? Am I making more out of that... and doubling the amount? Or am I going to let my FEAR of FAILURE get in the way and just bury this gift that he's giving me?

THIS IS A LIFE CHANGING LESSON FOR ME! I'M GOING TO BE THE FIRST GUY FROM HERE ON OUT!!!!!! :-)

Just had to share...

Mike