February 2025

            February included a lot of volleyball for Allison and basketball for both girls.  Without much else on the calendar for the month, we will focus on the sports. 

 

            I’m coaching Sarah’s 56B team this year and we did better than we expected.  Last year, we didn’t win a game, but this year we have played better.  I always like meeting new families and coaching the girls.  This year, I was able to partner with Phil to coach the team, which has been a great experience (although the girls may not agree!).  As of the end of the month, Sarah’s team was undefeated and so was Allison’s Cadet A team.        

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah’s softball team has continued to practice most weekends at an indoor facility.  She has enjoyed meeting some new girls.  The team is gearing up for some tournaments on Sundays in the spring.  She will also play on another team in her league that doesn’t travel to different locations.  She has been playing some good basketball in most games and is very aware of her surroundings when playing help side defense. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison’s volleyball team had 2 tournaments on back-to-back weekends in early February.  She continues to enjoy the friendships she has on the team.  Her basketball team has been playing well and, on a few occasions, she has had to play the full game as some of the girls are missing due to volleyball commitments. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• Deb and some other moms did a great job helping out with the trivia night at the school.  It was sold-out and she powered through even though she wasn’t feeling well that weekend. 
• I went to a Pacers game vs. the Grizzlies with Anderson, Watkins and Wyss.  It was good to see Zach Edey playing well and starting the game. 
• The girls got tickets to the UCONN vs. Butler girls basketball game for Christmas.  It was a chance to see several stars on the UCONN team and the girls had fun watching the game from some good seats. 
• We had a good time celebrating Erin Dodson’s birthday in late February.

January 2025

            January was full of volleyball, basketball and softball.  We had a big snowstorm here that extended Christmas break an extra day followed by some very cold temperatures that has kept the snow around for the entire month. 

 

            We think we got about 10 inches of snow the Sunday before the girls were supposed to go back to school so they had the day off from school.  After doing some e-learning, Sarah was outside playing with her friends in the snow a majority of the day.  Allison was a little more challenging to motivate to go outside, so I decided I would teach her how to cross-country ski with Deb’s equipment.  She and I had fun going around the neighborhood loop. 

 

            For the last few years, we have attended a Purdue men’s basketball game over Christmas break and the girls enjoyed it, but kept asking to go to a game “when the students are there.”  So, we were able to get some tickets from my Aunt Linda for a Big 10 game in January vs. Nebraska.  Purdue won, hit a bunch of 3’s and the girls enjoyed the environment with the student section in full force. 

 

            As one of her Christmas presents, Sarah and Debbie went with some neighbor moms and daughters to see the new women’s professional volleyball team (Indy Ignite).  They said there wasn’t a bad seat in the house and the volleyball was very impressive.  Everyone had fun as it was the opening night of their first season, so there were all kinds of entertainment planned. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah has continued her weekly practices with her softball team as they start to get ready for playing in some tournaments this spring.  Her basketball team won their first game, which was pretty exciting as they didn’t win any games last year. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison has really enjoyed playing volleyball in January with the Jr. Trojans team.  There were 2 tournaments in January and they played well.  Probably the best part for her is experiencing a new sport and making some new friends that will be her classmates next fall.   

 

A few more items from this month:

• I went to the Pacers vs. Cavs game with Jeremy.  I got some tickets through work and I owed him for all the times he has gotten some great seats and invited me. 
• Deb and I went to Woodland bowl for the 6th grade class party.  Deb left around 9 as she was getting up early to take Allison to volleyball the next morning and I hitched a ride and came home after a few beers at KSR. 
• We quietly celebrated my birthday this year.  I got some gifts and we enjoyed some cake.  The following weekend, Deb and I went to Sullivan’s for dinner. 
• The last day of the month, Foulke, Anderson, Wyss and I went out to watch the Purdue vs. IU game.  IU played harder, but Purdue was able to pull it out with great shot by Kauffman Renn in the last 10 seconds. 

 

December 2024

We started off the holiday season by going to Yuletide at the Indianapolis Symphony.  We were fortunate enough to be invited for the last dress rehearsal and had great seats.  Randy and Anna came along this year and we all enjoyed the dinner and drinks that were part of the invite. 

 

            We celebrated Christmas in Indy this year and went to mass on Christmas eve with the Dodsons and Wahmans.  Afterwards, we had everyone (plus Mark) over for dinner and drinks and enjoyed catching up.  Allison and Sarah hung out with Molly & Erin in the basement most of the time while the adults hung out until about 9PM.  On Christmas morning, the girls slept in until 7:30. Sarah got a new softball bat and a bean bag chair.  Allison got tickets to see Megan Maroney in concert in April.  Debbie got a gift card to go to a spa with one of her friends. I received a Yeti cooler.  Later in the afternoon, we went over to the Dodsons along with the Wahmans and Mark.  Molly and Erin did a musical show for us and we brought back a tradition of shooting free throws as a family (even though it was raining).  We got home and watched Christmas Vacation before going to bed. 

 

            The following weekend, the Shafers came to town and they stayed with us on the first night.  Kyle, Randy and I went to Upland for a few afternoon beers before coming home to open presents and eat dinner.  A few of us stayed up a little later than we should have and the next morning Julie, Kyle, Debbie and I went to Orangetheory for a workout.  Afterwards, we made our way up to Randy and Anna’s house and the kids enjoyed pizza with them while Julie, Kyle, Debbie and I went to the Grindstone restaurant in downtown Noblesville. 

 

            On New Year’s Eve, we went with the Verspelts to do an Escape room with the kids in Fishers.  It was a race car themed room and we were able to find our way out.  Afterwards, we went back to their house and met up with some friends from school to watch some college football and ring in the new year.  

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah finished her basketball season with her Jr. Trojan team and has started practicing with her CTK school team.  I’m coaching her team again this year.  She has also had a few softball practices at an indoor facility with her Bluehawk team. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison decided to go out for a Jr. Trojan volleyball team and that started in December.  She made the team and has had fun making new friends from other schools.  Her IGB fall season ended in December and will pick back up in March.  She also has started practicing with her CTK school team. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• I made a few trips to Chicago this month as the company I work for acquired a business located in Wooddale. 
• We went to the annual Bassett Christmas party and enjoyed catching up with everyone. 
• We had a few neighborhood families over for some holiday fun the day before school was out.  The kids made gingerbread houses and we had some fun trivia games for everyone. 
• We were fortunate to be invited to have dinner to celebrate Kent Campbell.  We went to Binkley’s and then went to the school parking lot and lit lanterns and watched them float away.