You don't what you've got... 'til it's gone. (Cinderella--Long Cold Winter)

It's here AGAIN! Ice! We had our make-up Consolation Finals of a tournament from 3 weeks ago that was post-poned due to our last ice storm! Mother nature just doesn't want this tournament to finish... BUT... she DOES want us to play all of our 3 games as scheduled! Go figure that one...

... Anyway if a 5 game losing streak wasn't enough (6, after today's loss)... we lost our only returning senior-starter in today's game. She was going up for a shot on the baseline and a defender tied up her shot and WACKED her really hard on her other (left) hand. Call: JUMP BALL... Bad call... because she was in tears and trying to hold her hand up (this girl DOESN'T complain about being hurt at all--so this was a big deal). Diagnosis: She had an MRI or an X-ray done... broken hand in 3 places! OUCH! I felt so badly for her... she's a great young lady and plays so hard... not to mention that she's done so well this season, I hated for her to go this way. We won't know for sure about her future until probably tomorrow, but it's not looking good. I told the other girls that someone (or someones) was going to have to step up! We'll see what happens...

In other news... Lindsay and Joel are starting to act like their normal selves after having the "junk" for the last few days. Last night, I don't think that Joel even went to sleep! I checked in on him at 10:15 before I went to bed... he was in bed, in the sleeping position, but not sleeping. Then later in the evening, I heard him coughing and playing with one of his toys. THEN!!!!! From 2:00 am (yes AM!) until about 5:00 he came into our bedroom and was ready for the morning. Had to put him in bed a couple of times, then I just decided... "HEY! Why don't you watch Disney at 4!" When my alarm went off at about 5:45 this morning, Jeanise and I went to check on him... AND THAT TURKEY WAS SLEEPING! ah!!!!!!!! Lindsay woke up a few times too. Hopefully they'll both stay asleeep tonight.

On a funner note: Lindsay was walking from Jeanise to me for about 10 minutes tonight! It was pretty cool! She was so funny and thought it was some game. Then Joel wanted to get involved and then it was just halarious. She's been getting around the house with this little plastic chair that she pushes in front of her everywhere... we knew that it was only a matter of time before she started the walking thing.

Gonna get back to TV with the wife... L8r.

Long Cold Winter (Cinderella)

January has been really cold around here... people (including me) getting sick. Weather on top of all of the cheering I do from the sidelines/practices... I really haven't had a voice in 2 weeks. Things (vocally) are starting to come back to normal... JUST IN TIME for tomorrow night's game and 3 tournament games this weekend! HO!

Today's practice was fun for me. What started out as a "let's get pumped and back to the grindstone" kind of practice turned into an offensive filled gusher! While trying to take a nap yesterday, I was dozing to the SMU vs. Tulsa women's basketball game. I saw a play I liked... wrote it down (before I forgot it) and then fell asleep. So I put it in today... drew it up for the girls... and they ran it well (eventually). Then I thought... "hm... let's do this with that" and then it went "now how about an option with 2 cutters"... and then POOF! I had 3 set plays! I was so excited and the girls enjoyed watching me develop all of these on the board. It was cool. I'm not real good at coming up with offenses, but in the last 4 months, I've really started to put some things together that are really working for us.

In the famous words of Hanibal from the A-team... "I just love it when a plan comes together!"

Night!

Back in the saddle again... NOT!

Still the ice and the horrible roads remain. Thursday school is cancelled AGAIN, which means that we're probably not having practices or games like are scheduled. It's been kinda' nice to have this break... but we just had one and I'm ready to get back into a groove with school again. Why couldn't this wait until after Spring Break when we don't have a holiday or vacation until school ends! Now, it's looking like we'll miss some of our extra snow make-up days.

I had a really nice article in the Edmond Sun about my team... wanted to share.

Well.. back to family. Lindsay surprised me tonight with 4 steps on her own! Missed the photo op.... sorry...

Let it ICE... Let it ICE... Let it ICE

Monday... Tuesday... and now TOMORROW! We've been closed for school. It's not a bad thing, though. It's been nice staying home with the family ... sleeping in a bit... getting to take an afternoon nap on occassion. But we all know that we'll have to make it all up in the end; whether it's during "other days off" or tacked on to the end of school (UGH!). Either way, it's been nice staying home and trying to fight off this allergy/cold thing that I've come up with. It kinda' started a few weeks ago, when I didn't have a voice left after our Home game on the 5th. And my voice just never seemed to recover... which means, getting sick is creeping up next. Needless to say, still don't have much of a voice and I'm still a little congested. But hopefully by Thursday it'll all be gone... or at least leaving!

Now on to the more... regretful news... I took out a pilar at the mall! Sad part... I was parked and going into reverse. Let me explain: I had just dropped the kids and Jeanise off at the pull-thru at the mall (so it's not like I was even driving when I did this!). A car had pulled in front of me by the time I got back into the van. They were parked smack-dab in the middle so I could pull around them... and I waited about 5 seconds... no movement or any sign of getting out by anybody in the car... so I decided to back out of the pull-thru. As I'm pulling out, I don't see anything in my passenger mirror until the back-up sensor goes off. I'm thinking, "that's weird why is it?... BAM" Oops... didn't see the 3 foot high, cement pilar sticking out of the ground. Thought I was clear and that all was left was street... NOPE. Needless to say, the passenger side rear doesn't look as new as it did. I felt bad... not to mention seeing the look on Jeanise's face when... Oh ... that's right, she was pulling into the doors of the mall when she heard the thud. So I did see the look on her face! It was probably worse than the look on mine. Well... now we have to go get that fixed. And it wasn't even a snow/ice accident! That'll be coming out of my lawn mowing money in the summer! :-)

Be safe! (or safer than me)

Speechless (Steven Curtis Chapman)

OK... I had written a really long posting about everything that I had done (or lack thereof) over the holiday and about transitioning back to school... my team, etc. and then blogspot erased it! WHile I was trying to post a picture, I hit the logo and lost it all.

So, here's the short version of it... you just read it! :-)

and here's the logo...

More later...

Mike

Christmas, Christmas Time is here!

Do you all remember Alvin and the Chipmunks? I used to love listening to their christmas songs and then singing them in my own "chipmunk voice." That was a really funny album (I heard it on a record)...

Well... school is out for a few weeks. We had a Christmas party every night for about 4 nights! It was amazing... I'll post a picture of our teacher's party downtown at the Trattoria (sp?). Great food and I even ran into a parent of a young lady that I coached in softball in my first year at Western Oaks Middle School (~10 years ago)! BTW... is that a Mountain Dew you're drinking?!!?!?!

It's also been fun hanging around the house and playing with the kids. Jeanise and her mom have played harp and flute for several people the last few days. They played at Penn Square Mall one time and they played at Tealridge Mannor (retirement home by OC) yesterday. They also went out on Friday and had a girl's day with some of their friends and had a great time. I had the whole day with the little ones and it was great. Although Lindsay got her flu shot on Wed. and had a mild reaction to it... thus being sick and not sleeping well on Thursday. But, we got to spend a little daddy/daughter time and that was fun for me. Joel has been having fun in his new bed-fort. He loves it (pictures) and is getting better at sleeping in it. It's a big change from his toddler bed, but it's "real cool" he says.

We all went over to Grandma and Grandpa Morton's for lunch yesterday and had a great time. Joel and Lindsay love playing over there and getting all of the toys out. Joel is pretty much at "home" over there... Lindsay is still trying to figure everything out and explore. It's really funny to watch. Jeanise's brother and sister-in-law are in town and we're doing a bunch of family "stuff" this weekend. Good to see them.



Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

You know I'm Bad... Who's Bad?... (Michael Jackson--remake)

It's been way too long since I've blogged. Lindsay woke up about 5:15 this morning and since I've got to get up a little earlier than normal (Trash Day!) I told Jeanise that I'd take care of her. Lindsay is getting so much older and her personality is really starting to come out. She is a TALKER... wonder who she gets that one from, hm? She loves to sit in the back seat of the truck/van and just talk to her video or talk to her brother (who by the way is wondering, "dad, what' she sayin'?). She loves to play with her brother and Joel loves having her around.

Basketball is about to do the "hurry up, then wait" thing. We played on Tuesday... had to travel 1 1/2 hours South-west to Anadarko, OK. We battled back and forth with a team that was very athletic, but smaller than we were. They settled for the 3 point shot (and made quite a few of them, I might add), but with about 45 seconds left, we cut a 4 point lead down and ended up winning by 2. It was a great game, but I have no voice left. We are now 3 - 1 and the running joke (sorta) around the coaches at my school is "Hey a win is a win... but your 3 wins are by fewer points than your one and only loss." TRUE! But you know... when people look at the 3-1 and the rankings... they don't see the score... just the "W". And you know what?!!??! I'll take a W over a L any day. I'm really proud of my girls... it's great to have a team that fights so hard to win and succeed. There is a lot of tradition here sometimes that gets you thru the W of a ball game. We play in a festival today and tomorrow... 2 games and we're done for the holiday. We're a bit banged up, but hope to make a good showing this weekend.

So did anyone notice...

That the title of my last entry kinda' fits with the words in the real song?

Let it snow...
Let it snow...
Blah blah blah (let it snow)

I know that the joke really isn't THAT funny if someone has to explain it, but I just wanted everyone to know how clever I was... AM!

Let it snow... Let it snow... blah blah blah...

Who'd a thunk that we'd have a 4 day weekend?!?!!? On one hand... it's been rather nice. Got the opportunity to stay at home with the wife... play with the kids. It has been nice. Although... I've been rather antsy too. Basketball season... you have the 1-2 days of practice then a game and then the routine starts all over again. Our game Friday was cancelled due to the snow, so now all of the weeks worth of practicing for one team has to wait for the re-scheduled game. Now Monday's practice highlights the next team that we'll play on Tuesday. I'm sure, though, that the girls are ready to play too.

Joel and I went out into the snow yesterday. I shoveled the driveway (2/3 of it) enough for our cars to get in and out and Joel was jumping around and throwing snowballs onto my clean driveway. He's hilarious. While I was taking a break (that's really hard work, by the way) I thought that I would introduce Joel to throwing snowballs at daddy. He loved it! and kept on doing it while I was shoveling... it was really funny. When I finished... I was exhausted and just fell down in the snow to rest. I then thought, Joel can make snow angels! "Hey Joel... watch this!" As I fell backwards into the snow (had trouble getting up, though; back hurt), I saw Joel taking the "Neste plunge" and doing the exact same thing. He was kinda' cautious at first, but then he kept doing it and it was just too funny.

Well... better get back to the OU/Nebraska game! GO SOONERS!

Yeah!

The first game is out of the way... and we won! It was a real defensive battle at the beginning... to either team 4 minutes to score. It was kinda' tough, but once we scored we were fine. Final score... 42-40 and it came down to free-throws with 9 seconds left. We had several offensive runs where we were up by 5, 6, or even 8 points, but got a little soft somewhere and allowed the other team to come back. El Reno tied it up with 2 three-pointers in a row... on the same play... and really gave us fits. But I'll have to hand it to my girls, they came into the time-out huddle un-rattled and not fazed at all. They BELIEVED that they were going to score on the next possession and take back the lead. I knew that this game was going to be a nail-biter because both JV games before us were decided by 2 and 1 points.

Glad that one is over... and it was good to finally play a game. It was really nice to see smiles in the locker room after the game. Need to keep that feeling going and continue to work hard in practices. We have a week and a half off before we play again (which is good) so we can get a good scouting report and be ready to fine-tune some things.

Have a wonderful THANKSGIVING...

We're Playing Ba - sket - balllllllll... (rap song from the 80's)

Tonight's the big night! 6:30 pm tip-off and the season is under-way. Did pretty good about going to sleep... just woke up at 4:15 hoping that it was time to wake up. Nope... but after about 45 minutes of tossing and turning... decided to get up and do some computer stuff. Just trying to relax.

Went and saw my freshman team play last night, versus the school who we'll play tonight and they did awesome! They won by 10, but 1/2 way thru the 2nd quarter we were up 16 points. It was fun to watch. My girls, are really ready to play! Practice wasn't as efficient as I had hoped and as it usually is, but we got things done. I think that all teams are experiencing this... at the the first game time.

Hope that I can concentrate enough on things today in my regular classes... ;-P

We are Family...

Woke up this morning... at 6 rather than at 5:45... It's amazing what a difference 15 minutes makes in my outlook today. (don't know if that's the real reason, but I'm going to use it anyway)

I just want to say that I'm so blessed to have a wonderful family. My wife is so loving and caring toward her 2 wonderful kiddos and is always encouraging me. I have a 3 year old son, who even-though sick... loves to play with his sister--gives her toys to play with, and also loves to jump and play with his mom and dad. Then there's my 1 year old (who will actually be 1 year old TOMORROW!) who still wakes up about 1 or 2 times a night... but "crawl-charges" at me with this funny face and it is just the funniest thing you have ever seen in the world. I love coming home to this.

Yesterday, seemed like the longest day... didn't get home until almost 7:00 pm. During game season, I've gotta find a way to get home... recharge... and then head out to the gym.

Well... almost time for me to leave for school. Hope everyone can have a blessed day! 1 week until the first game!!!!!!!

In The Still of the Night... (Whitesnake)

Again... another Whitesnake song title. I used to love to listen to those hard rock ballads right before a game to get pumped up. Don't think that I ever "really" listened to the words (as my wife would probably attest to at times) but the beat/music was always just kickin'. Good news this morning... My team is "ranked"! No... not RANK.... ranked!

DAILY OKLAHOMAN NEWSPAPER 1/13/2006
Class 5A
1. T. East Central…24-4
2. Claremore…21-7
3. Harrah…22-5
4. Tulsa Kelley...14-12
5. Tulsa Edison…24-4
6. Bixby…15-12
7. Carl Albert …24-3
8. McAlester…21-4
Sweet Sixteen: 9. El Reno, 12-13; 10. Ada, 20-6; 11. Deer Creek, 27-2; 12. Duncan, 19-7; 13. John Marshall, 18-5; 14. Tulsa Hale, 7-16; 15. Coweta, 15-11; 16. Tulsa Rogers, 3-19

That's right... we're 11th, which really isn't bad considering... we have moved up a class and lost 4 starters from last year's 4A state champions run. We face off against El Reno (#9) next Tuesday for our first game. Thank goodness it is at home. It's going to be a tough road this year, but fun. Great group of girls to coach and they've been working hard. Gotta run and get the kids in bed... just thought that I'd post so that people would know that I'm still surviving!

Later

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!

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!

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.

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!

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

Take Me Out to the Ball Game... (Harry Carry)

Harry Carry here... Just wanted to say HEY ... and stretch 'em if you got 'em. (ok Harry, get out of here!)

Joel and I went to Bricktown tonight and watch the Pacific Coast League Champions take on the International League Champions. The Tuscon Sidewinders vs. the Toledo Mudhens.

vs.

Interestingly enough, I saw the Mudhens play a long time ago when we lived in Va. Beach and they played the Tidewater (now NORFOLK) Tides. Even the colors are different now (used to be Royal blue and Orange)! Whatever happened to tradition, huh?

Anyway Joel and I had a great time at the game. He learned about the pitcher and the batter and knows about where 1st base is. He clapped and cheered (charge!) and enjoyed the game. I think that he was trying to figure out what was going on though...

The funny part of the evening was when some of the inflatable animals danced out on the field. There was a monkey (NY Yankees) a giraffe, and a roach from Seattle (Ichi-roach funny... get it?). Anyway, this last inflatable sang the Take me out to the ball game song... and it is the famous song sung by legindary Harry Carry from Chicago. Singing in his place tonight, was Harry Canary (picture included) . BTW... I'd be afraid of this guy...

Well during the 7th inning, he caught Joel's attention behind us. We had seats that we about 15 rows up from the dugout and about 20 rows behind us was this big Harry Canary thing. Joel watched him for about 10 minutes when low and behold, he came down the stairs we were sitting close to and did his thing on the 1st base dugout. Cheers, laughs, waves, and so on. Joel did not take his eyes off this "thing." After about 10 minutes on the dugout, this canary decides to go into the stands... taking a step into the 1st row and then steping into the second row. Making its way up the middle of the stands and moving up. Then Joel sees what's going on... he's coming right for us! He started getting a little worried, but not too scared. Once that big ugly thing got right in front of him, I told Joel to give him five... no dice dad... don't let him come any closer! He started to shake a little... but didn't cry. Just clung to me harder and harder. After he passed by us, he sprayed confetti on all of us and it was just hallarious! We kept telling Joel that it was OK... but he knew that thing was around somewhere, and he was going to be ready for it!

All in all it was a good night.

I like it... I love it... I want some more of it...

Was that sung by the Rolling Stones? Can't remember...

Anyway... It has been a while since I've blogged, so I'll just write a quick one and see what happens. I just love coming home. A long day at school... class after class; then practice (which is going well) and then weight training for the girls. It's a long day. But the drive home, even though it is only 10 minutes, seems like forever! I can't wait to be in my living room, to see my wife and my kids! They are just a high for me that can never be fully explained. When I shut the garage door... the familiar, "Joel, whose that." Then you hear the scamper of little feet on the carpet and a loud, "DADDY!" as he tackles my legs. As I carry Joel into the living room, I'm greeted by a little girl who just smiles sooooooooooooo big when she sees me. She knows who's coming to play with her. And to top it all off, I get to kiss the wife, who I haven't seen all day, but in the picture on my desk. Nothing like a real-smile from your "honey" to make the drive worth coming home for. (there could be a serious biblical lesson in there somewhere...)

We've taught Lindsay her first conversation word... not sure if she knows what it really means... but it's "Oh oh..." She's so cute...

Off to school. We have our first newspaper coming out today and I need to be there just a weee bit early.