NYS National Championship Tournament

Waaaaay back in June, James played in the NYS National Championship Tournament in San Diego. It was a double elimination tournment and the Arizona Bandits won their first game but lost their next two. The losses were very hard on the boys but it was a great learning experience for them.

The weather was fantastic...

much nicer than what they were used to playing in.

Our boys were by far the best dressed team out there. Their jerseys were custom made and they certainly earned them after practicing so hard all season.

Coach Rick said this about the type of player James is, "This kid is a solid cornerback for us. And when we run our offense (during practice), we have a few of the kids on defense, and his mission and motivation is to destroy our play. And he consistently does that. It frustrates me but I respect it tremendously because he doesn't quit. He never quits. He has the best of attitudes, has not missed one practice. He's gonna be a super-star."

We couldn't possibly be more proud! James' third season with the Arizona Bandits starts in just a few weeks. :)

Happy Birthday James!

Waaaaay back in June, we celebrated James' 11th birthday at Lifetime Fitness. There was swimming, rock wall climbing and a lot of sugar. :) Bryar, Payton, cousin Tim and James' whole football team was there!

The kids had a blast. That's James making his way up the wall. These kids had no fear! James picked this for his party because, as he told me, he and all his friends are athletes!

What a good looking kid. He takes after his mom...sans mohawk. <:)

Happy Birthday Payton!

Payton celebrated her 7th birthday at My-Tee Paintworks by painting pottery with her family and friends. Everyone (even the boys) had a great time. Here she is getting ready to paint her masterpiece.

Payton had her Mom, Dad, brother James, Granny, Grumpy, Aunt Jen, Aunt Jamie, cousins Taylor, Trenton, Trinity, friends Julia, Keara, Elizabeth, Mia and Zach at her party.



She picked a flower plate and did a really fantastic job on it! Granny painted a flower plate too, Aunt Jen painted a frog, James painted a 4-wheeler, Taylor painted a puppy and Trenton painted a tarantula! Grumpy supervised. ;)


And I don't know what they were talking about here, but I'm sure Aunt Jen took whatever advice King James was dishing out. ;)

Bald is Beautiful

The complaining parents win out! Bryar shaved James' head this morning. Of course, the boys had to do it their own way. It's a mohawk...


...ala Chuck Liddell.


We're still working on Payton. :)

Long Haired Hippies

Payton is growing her bangs out...

...and James has refused to get his haircut for the past few months. I thought I would be able to handle it but it's getting to be quite challenging.


For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching me do Payton's hair, she reacts like I'm beating her with a 2x4. (The above picture was taken after the blood was wiped away and the tears were dried). And James insists on using hair glue even though it ends up in hard-as-a-rock globs all over his head and doesn't make his hair look even slightly better.

Can't we just go back to the way it was?

Big Man on Campus

Bryar is about to finish his freshman year of high school in a few days. This year went by so fast! He stayed busy by playing sports: football, basketball and baseball. The seasons overlapped and practice was required during every holiday break so he didn't have any down time all year. I don't know how he did it...but we hardly ever saw him doing homework and his grades were still pretty darn good.

Although he has never quarterbacked before, that was his position on the freshman team. He did a fantastic job and handled the responsibility well. He had some impressive runs and scored several touchdowns himself. Unfortunately, now we get to listen to Jim and Bryar argue over who is the better (and better looking) football player. Jim was the Defensive Player of the Year when he was in high school and, well, quarterback is an offensive position. So even though Bryar is following in his dad's footsteps, he's making his own path.

Basketball was much less stressful and a lot more fun for him. He played almost every minute of every game and came to be known as the white boy who could jump. (Bryar's school is primarily Hispanic and African American so he naturally stands out.) He scored an average of 15 points per game which is almost half of all the points that typically went up on the board. He's looking forward to his sophomore year of basketball because the cheerleaders don't cheer for the freshman team. He said something about a bunch of girls screaming his name. Priorities.

Bryar was bored to tears playing baseball. Compared to the physical demands of football and basketball, he felt like he wasn't challenged enough. He's already decided that he won't play another year of baseball and might try track next year. You have to admit though, this is one good-looking swing. :)

Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

James has been playing with the Arizona Bandits tackle football team for the past 2 seasons. Their motto of "Let The Bodies Hit The Floor" is perfect for this tough group of boys. King James, #23, is the team's Kicker and also plays Tight End and Corner. They are currently 5-1 with 2 more games in the regular season. But even then, they won't be done...they're playing in the NYS National Championship Tournament in San Diego June 25th-28th! How fantastic is that opportunity?

We're making a family vacation out of it and James is loving the fact that we'll be spending his birthday in San Diego. The team and their families are staying at the Bahia Hotel and a lot of us are going to add another day to the trip to go to Universal Studios after the tournament. We're still trying to talk Jim into that...he would have to take another day off of work and we all know how that goes!