Its Been A While ...

Its been a little over a year since my triumphant return and subsequent disappearance from this blog, but the combination of a few small but timely conversations have convinced me to get this going again.

I have had a couple of people tell me that I need to put my kids on camera.  Just today, kids in my class agreed that we should start a Vlog starring our girls and our home videos, so here we are, trying this again.

A lot has changed in the past year - 2 kids have turned to 3 and that has been a big adjustment.  Our 3rd girl, Zoe Love, has definitely been our toughest baby.  She has been gaseous since she has come out and that has really affected her sleeping habits - which of course has really affected Daddy's sleeping habits as well.  She is just starting to get it figured out, and maybe its because we have resorted to all kinds of random measures - including these wierd chants that I have recently been trying out that we've had some initial success with.

But all in all - I wouldn't change her for the world.  As I'm already out-numbered, I just hope that I can get one normal chick in the house, because between my wife and crazy other 2 girsl - I don't have a shot!!

 My favorite pose with my girls.

They all looked the same when they were born.

 Baby Zoe is growing up on us.

  London-Mila holding Zoe for the 1st time.

My little girls and I.

Easter in East Texas

My mother is from Marshall, TX and growing up, we spent a lot of holiday weekends in East Texas visiting my grandparents.  This is London-Mila's first Easter and this is Alexa's second Easter in Marshall.  We made that 2 1/2 hour drive Friday afternoon, and I was initially worried about spending that extra day down there (we usually just stay Saturday night) with the girls because they are spoiled with everything that we have here at home, including countless toys, countless cable channels and countless saved shows on our DVR.

We ended up having a GREAT time!  We got out of the house and took walks as much as possible.  Lex enjoyed going on 'bear hunts' and searching for pine cones.  We even lucked up by discovering the town's Easter Egg hunt that was put on by a local church.

I have grown to love the quiet simplicity that comes from being in the country.  The grass and trees are just a little greener and the air is clearer.  We had a great time.

Our First Easter

We celebrate each holidays multiple times.  Here are some photos and videos from our 'first' Easter celebration on Sunday, April 13th.

We Could Live In Jamaica

A few weeks ago, Alyssa and I spent Spring Break in Jamaica.  We stayed 6 days and 5 nights in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  It was the PERFET getaway without the kids!

This my wife and I's second time leaving the country to stay on an all-inclusive resort.  We spent our honeymoon in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  While that was an amazing trip, and our resort was absolutely beautify and relaxing, the culture and atmosphere of Jamaica made our second trip unbelievable.

Apon initially arriving, I was not that impressed.  Our resort, on the surface, was not as big or as nice as our resort in the DR; and neither was our beach.  Our beach in the DR stretch miles and miles and spread across numerous resorts.  We could walk those beaches for hours without seeing the end.  At our resort in Jamaica, we were 'stuck' on a private beach and could not explore as we did in the DR.  This initially put me off; I really enjoy being able to get out and explore.

Having a secluded, private beach encouraged us to seek out excursions.  This was the best thing that we could have done!  Our excursions allowed us to see the country, better experience the culture, and see both the 'touristy' stuff and the 'real' Jamaica.

I have posted some pictures and a video to show and express how much we enjoyed our experience in Jamaica.

So Proud Of My Girl Alexa

First of all, this is my first post in forever.  It is my goal moving forward to use this blog as a way to snapshot our family's current events and to put commentary to our pictures that we post of Facebook and Instagram.

A couple of days ago, I aired up a couple of basketballs so that Alexa could start exploring the game of basketball.  I am approaching introducing the game to her very cautiously.  This game has meant so much to me, and I want to be able to pass down my knowledge, passion, and love of this game to her.  She has been doing so well in 'Small Fry' soccer league that I felt that it might be time to start teaching her some of the basics of the game.

Although she is still very young, Alexa has the potential to be a great athlete.  She is tough, she is independent, and she is a natural leader.  She wants to be the best and she wants to win.  She is always wanting to race us, and if she loses, she immediately wants to cry and race again.  If she wins, she throws her hands up in the air and yells, "I am the winner."  I love her competitive spirit, and we will continue to grow and develop that in her because I think being a competitor is the most important quality in an athlete.

But, what made me so proud today that I felt the urge to update this blog was the fact that for the last two or three days, every time she sees one of her basketballs, she has been wanting to practice her dribbling.  It started with a big medicine ball that we have.  She picked up how to dribble that pretty quickly.  Now, she has almost mastered dribbling a regular ball.  I do have to make sure that the ball is aired up and 'bouncy,' or in her words, "I made it bigger."

She has been working on using both her right and left hand, and she seems to really enjoy it; that is what has made me more happy and excited than anything.  I have not had to push this on her in any way.  Her practicing has been completely her choice.

I saw a post from Chris Paul where was working with his son on Instagram with some ball handling drills.  That has been our focus today; mastering this drill.  Once we get it right, I will post it and make a friendly challenge lol.

I'm so proud of my little girl.  She amazes me everyday.  She learns very quickly, she is so excited that when she gets to go to school, she has a wonderful personality, and she has a great energy.

Let's see where this goes from here!

THOUGHTS ON TEACHING/COACHING BASKETBALL FROM BOB KNIGHT

 

THOUGHTS ON TEACHING/COACHING BASKETBALL FROM BOB KNIGHT

 

We try to get our players to play intelligently. A key to that is getting them to understand not just that something works but why.

A coach needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every player who plays for him, and make them understand too.

Only take shots that have over a 50% chance of going in.

Show zone when an opponent comes down the court then after about 10 seconds go to man.

On offense, your players don’t take bad shots. They don’t throw the ball away. They move without the ball. They help each other get open.

A good defensive player can never lose sight of the basketball, because it is the ball that has to be stopped not a particular player.

If the opponents play some form of man-to-man defense, they can determine who will guard our particular players, but I will determine where our guys are going to play.

If it is a pressuring man-to-man, we have got to take the ball to the bucket- catch the ball, face, fake, and drive. Do that, do it well and you’ll be on the foul line.

Kids will be satisfied with what you tolerate.

You are trying to get players to understand that how they play is a hell of a lot more important than whether or not they win.

Winning is a by-product of preparation and work at practice.

Basketball is the ultimate team game, but no game built around a team principle utilizes individual skills more. You do not have to score to be a good basketball player. There is some role for everybody.

We coaches constantly harp on spacing, how important it is to maintain fifteen to eighteen feet spacing among all the players. I think spacing is one of the two keys to utilization of the court in offensive play.

Vince Lombardi On The Key Ingredient To Success

"There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy.”

-Vince Lombardi