Cross Country 2010

Yes, you are correct in thinking that I'm paying a disproportionate amount of attention to David lately on this blog. But the boy is a SENIOR after all, and a mom only gets to celebrate her son's senior year once, right??

I took the 2 hour trek up to Fort Dodge on Thursday to see David run Cross Country. To my shame, I haven't made it to any meets before this. David is running CC for the first time this year, mostly to stay in shape for wrestling but also to fulfill "other obligations" related to the Iowa rules regarding academic eligibility. I'll let you read between the lines on that one....

It was a perfect evening, and an even more perfect setting at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course. Georgeous. That's the only word for it. David was amazingly calm as he warmed up...

I'm getting a bit of 70s vibe with this headband and the socks.
Seriously, do you see socks like this on any of the other guys?




















I was so grateful for my friend Lori Lipscolm, who oriented me to the routine. First, you yell and scream as the team takes off... (see if you can find the socks.) They actually shoot a gun off!

Then you run to the other side of the golf course to cheer them on...

Then you line up at the finish line to wait... and wait...

Until you see your kid nearing the finish line, and you nearly pee your pants with excitement!!!

Seriously, David was solidly in the middle of the pack and finished with a respectable time. I was proud. But what really impressed me was the sportsmanship and encouragement that everyone, and I mean everyone, exhibited. There were at least a dozen teams, and not one bad sport. Everyone encouraged everyone, regardless of what team they were on. These athletes were running to compete mostly against themselves, to improve their own personal performance, and what I saw was a collective effort to encourage each one to do his personal best.

What if we encouraged one another like this every day?

As an aside, I caught this photo as the varsity boys finished the final stretch to the finish...

It was definitely worth the drive.



Homecoming. And an Anniversary of Sorts.

If you scroll waaaaaay back to the beginning of this blog, you will realize that I started it all two years ago this month. I blinked, and two years was gone. Two Christmases. Two Thanksgivings. Two years of birthdays and anniversaries and school events and sports seasons. And here we are again, at the beginning....

Last weekend was Homecoming. Again. I recorded the 2008 Homecoming on this blog. Somehow I missed 2009 (although there are plenty of photos.) Which underscores the importance of maintaining a consistent record of life. For some, it's a simple diary. For others, video recording. For me, it's photos and scrapbooks and this blog.

This is David's senior year. I'm not sure how he feels about that. In true 17-year-old form, David doesn't think open communication with his parents is very cool right now. As for me, David's senior year has ushered in some familiar emotions: anticipation, excitement, pride, and nervousness; and a few new ones: terror (of bad grades), angst (about his attitude at times); and awe (at how handsome he is - not sure where that came from.) Homecoming marks the first of many "lasts" for David's high school years. As is the Johnston High School tradition, it was a lavish affair.

In Iowa, there are two seasons....Winter, and

SOFTBALL.

If you measure this blog by the number of softball seasons, this is year three. Wow. How does that happen?

Actually, softball has been underway since the beginning of March with practices and Rec League games in April. This weekend was Hannah's first ASA League tournament of the season. The Fillie Spring Fling in Grimes. Hannah moved up to the 12U level (which means 12 and under) and the whole game has stepped up a notch. Don't worry. This gal is up for the challenge! She's definitely one of the strongest hitters on her team, and has shown a lot of growth as catcher.

Today we were wrapped up in blankets to protect us from the cold wind. Next week, who knows? We may be sweating in shorts. This is Iowa! If anyone wants to join us for a game, give us a call and I'll send you the schedule.

Stocking Feet...and Other Things That Make Me Happy

It's been awhile since I've posted anything about Darrin and McKenna. They're doing fine. In fact, I'd say they are doing just peachy. Last Sunday they spent the afternoon helping me put the finishing touches on the new doors on the first floor (I still need to tackle the upstairs), waiting somewhat impatiently for the big pot of vegetable soup to be cooked, watching football with Al, and generally just hangin' out.

We've decided we love McKenna, which is a good thing given how much time she is spending with Darrin. I do have one complaint, however. McKenna is one of those people who can eat like a wolverine and stay georgeously thin. A lesser person might be spiteful about that fact, but me - I just fantasize about stealing her skinny jeans.

Mostly, I'm just happy for Darrin. He seems genuinely smitten. I remember those days of gazing lovingly into Al's eyes for hours, hanging on his every word, fascinated by his every gesture. If only it could be bottled.....

If it's winter....

.....it must be wrestling season! How quickly I forget just how long tournament Saturdays are when you're sitting on bleachers for 6 hours getting your eardrum shattered by the screams of overzealous parents. David won one of his four matches, but demonstrated a lot of improvement since last season. I feel confident we will see some more wins this season.

I'm not sure what to title this one...

I can finally talk about it. Darrin and McKenna Sprague are officially "dating." I have to be careful what I post on this blog for all to see. You see, dating is a very big deal in Darrin's circles. It's not the casual, "let's just have fun" thing that it was when I was their age. (What am I saying? I was married with two kids when I was their age!) It's more like "dating with a purpose."

I are getting to know this lovely young lady and I'm pretty impressed. She's got a good head on her shoulders and a solid faith. It sounds like she has some experience with family chaos, which will come in handy if she hangs around the Miedema house for very long. But most important, Darrin seems simply smitten with her. And as a Mom, there's almost nothing better than knowing your offspring is happy. Although, in Darrin's own words, I'm not quite sure what she sees in him.

First Day of School

This week Hannah and David went back to school. David began his junior year and Hannah is a sixth grader at Summit Middle School. Hannah, especially, was excited to transition to middle school. David, well I think the photos speak for themselves.




It wasn't a dress this year, which must say something all by itself. But she did shower before school, dried her hair and even borrowed my flat iron to control those beautiful waves. Why is it everyone believes that stick-straight hair is beautiful until they have kids of their own? That book in her hand was a prop of her own doing - like she was going to read on the bus the first day of school? Right!



This poor young man is simply miserable. He can't even get out the door without his mother nagging him to at least take a pen in his pocket and one notebook on the off chance a teacher actually passes out the class syllabus. He firmly believes that there is a law against first-day-of-school homework and that his imbecile mother has had her head stuck in the sand. I honestly don't know how I became so hideously out of touch with reality.



But at least he doesn't have to ride the bus anymore.

Tournament Time!

Right now our lives consist pretty much of softball, sandwiched between work and softball and mowing lawn and more softball. So far we have had weekend tournaments in Adel and at home in Johnston. Next week it's a road trip to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The girls are winning a few games, losing a few games, and developing skill and character along the way. Because of this immersion in all things related to yellow balls, I don't have a clue what else may or may not be going on in the world. I'll have to trust the rest of you to keep me informed. In return, I'll treat you to a few highlights.

Paintball

There are some things that I will never understand. Like the attraction men (even smallish ones) have to that which is violent and aggressive and competitive. The constant need to prove who is the toughest. It must be something in the DNA.

Paintball is a game (some call it a sport) where the goal is to shoot your opponent with a little ball of paint that is blasted out of a small, light (and expensive, I might add) air-pressurized gun. The battle takes place in any number of locations, usually at the end of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. A course is set up in a field or a yard or an abandoned parking lot. There are junk cars, makeshift "buildings" and blow-up barriers that serve as a maze that the players navigate as they "kill" one another. If you get shot, you are out of the game. The team that has the last man or men standing wins. There are prizes, but mostly the winners get bragging rights in exchange for about $100, which covers the entry fee and a case of paintballs.

Yesterday David and Al had some male bonding time as they travelled to Cedar Rapids for the night, and then to Shellsburg, Iowa (which is a "blink-and-you-miss-it" town just north of CR) for a tournament. David's team got second place out of 12. Not bad for 5 city boys.

I just wish he would put as much energy into his school work.

Braces!

It seems to be a rite of passage for these kids...getting braces. Hannah has actually had her's on for a couple of weeks, but these are the first photos of her soon-to-be million dollar teeth!

Pinned!

Turn him over (clap, clap)
On the mat (clap, clap)
Turn him over, on the mat, lay him flat! (clap, clap)

The old wrestling cheers are coming back to me as I've spent a LOT of time at wrestling meets over the past two months.

For those of you who missed the wrestling meets of the past week, there has been some pretty exciting stuff going on! David seems to be pulling things together and has done very well in several matches against Urbandale, Union, and Knoxville. Yesterday in his first match he pinned his opponent! It was a well-matched competition, with David nearly getting pinned himself in the first period, but getting a reversal and pinning the Knoxville junior in the second period. The Johnston crowd was ecstatic, but was probably more entertained by the insane mother who was screaming at the top of her lungs! I was so excited I thought I was going to have a heart attack!

Later, the conversation with David went something like this:

Mom: Everyone was so excited for you, David!
David: Yeah, I could hear it.
Mom: Could you hear me screaming?
David: Yup.
Mom: Does that bother you?
David: No; Actually it kinda helps.

Gotta love that kid!

The Next Male Supermodel?

So he said he would get a haircut in January. True to his word, here is Darrin's haircut, done at one of the most exclusive, expensive salons in town. I think he got robbed... But then again, if the look you're going for is male supermodel or rock legend, maybe? Or perhaps we've been teleported back to 1977? One can always hope....

The wrestling season has begun!

I know it's hard to tell, but that is David's purple butt in this photo. The Des Moines Register's caption under the photo reads "At 140 lbs. North/Hoover's Juwan Parrish got the victory over Johnston's David Miedema." Now, is it just me, or does anyone else have an overwhelming urge to twist young Juwan's thumb right off? I mean, isn't there some rule about excessive celebration? This may sound a bit like maternal sour grapes, but I get pretty passionate about sportsmanship. And from my vantage point, this doesn't look like great sportsmanship.

David may have lost on Thursday, but he won 1 of 3 matches on Saturday. Not the strongest start to the season, but hey, he's only a sophomore, and there's a lot of season left. Go Miedema!

The Music in.......We

I've never considered us to be a musical family. While both Al and I played in our high school bands - he played trombone and I played french horn - neither of us could probably squeak out a note today. I took 6 years of piano lessons, and retained about 6 months worth. And singers we definitely are not! Which is why it is so amazing to see half of our offspring demonstrate some real musical aptitude.

This has been a music month. It started with Hannah's very first band concert. She is playing clarinet and has progressed nicely beyond the squeaks and squeals of the first weeks of practice. I was a dutiful parent and carried my camera along to capture the event, only to find that I had left the battery at home in the charger! So, we'll just have to treasure that memory in our minds. This past week, however, I managed to actually capture her signing a solo in her fall chorus concert.



And just last night Hannah played a fun little number titled "Jukebox Boogie" at the annual Fun Fest recital. Papa came along and was so proud of his granddaughter!



And we have no idea where Darrin's talent came from! I know I'm biased, but he just keeps getting better! This past week he coordinated all of the music for Walnut Creek Community Church's annual Celebration Sunday. He was so stressed out that he got sick (either that or he got sick and it added to the stress of the whole thing.) But this morning over 800 people were inspired by music that ranged from a choir singing How Great Thou Art to a rockin' rendition of My God is an Awesome God. It was flawless, and I was incredibly proud. Again, no photos of today's event, but here's a picture taken earlier this fall at a church retreat.



Music definitely has the power to energize or calm, encourage or depress, teach, touch, and heal. Find some music to minister to your soul today.

There were no Jack-O-Lanterns at our house this year...

It was kind of sad, but it appears that we are at the cusp of letting go of Halloween traditions. Oh, Hannah still participated, but she was more interested in getting together with her friend than in the whole carving and costume thing. So we dropped her off at another neighborhood (sigh) and the rest of us went to the Urban Grill (yes, we ate at a restaurant on Beggar's Night!) to celebrate Darrin's and Chris' birthdays. Wyatt made it clear he had absolutely no interest whatsoever in trick-or-treating.

So, since I have no photos of the carved masterpieces this year, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and enjoy a few photos from years past....
Happy Halloween.

David in 2002


2003


David, Hannah and Wyatt in 2004


Pumpkin guts 2005


Hannah and Wyatt Trick-or-Treating 2005


Hannah 2006


Dorothy and the ghoul 2006


The Piratess 2007