For the Kids

Mike and I love being parents.  We love being involved in our kiddos activities and cheering them on in whatever they do.  I have no pictures from this past weekend because we spent most of our awake hours in a gym helping our AAU basketball team run a fundraising tournament.  We are weary and tired, but thankful for our basketball family working together to raise money for our team. 

We love our kids and whatever our kids love doing we too love.  Kyle is a basketball nut and he also loves his baseball.  David is currently playing Upward basketball but hopefully soon we can cheer him on in Special Olympics.  Hope went to her first gymnastics class last week and she LOVED it.  We do not know a ton about gymnastics, but if it is something that one of our kids loves, then we too will love it. 

Mike and I both understand that these short years of raising our kids and being involved in their interest and loves are it.  We get one shot to be active and "hands on" parents and we are giving it our all.  I desperately want our children to look back over their childhoods and remember that we were there, engaged and involved in whatever they were doing.  I want them to remember every ref I yelled at for them, every ballgame we attended. 

Mike and I are not perfect parents.  Attend one AAU tourney with us and you will see that we are sometimes one step away from a Jerry Springer show.  Mike is an intense coach that loves his players and I tend to yell loudly often at referees.  Kyle plays post and I do not like it when he gets banged up under the goal. 

We are not perfect parents, but we fiercely love our kids.  We know that these special years are short and fleeting and that one day I will miss these crazy weekends in a hot and stuffy gym.  One day I will have time to make sure my house is spotless, my car is pristine, and I am the picture of organization. 

Mike and I just get it that these short years are not about us.  These precious years are about making sure that our children are trained up right and that they know that they are so important to us that we chose to follow them in whatever game or activity they are involved in.  We want them to know that they are so precious to us that we will sweat in a gym all weekend for them, freeze in an early spring baseball game for them, and spend countless hours together riding up the interstate for their latest "game." 

We are just thankful and blessed that we have been chosen to be parents and that we have these little gifts in our lives to treasure and to encourage in all that they do.  This tired AAU Momma is off to bed:)