January Excitement

January flew this year!  I cannot believe how close we are to February - it feels like we just had Christmas!  All is pretty good in the Sprague household.  My cute boys are back in swimming and doing so much better now that they're in two days a week.  It makes us busy, but they are so much nicer kids when they're getting exercise - especially this kid!

One big event over the past few weeks was the Reflections Ceremony.  Ethan made an awesome picture of the Olympics - so proud of him and how hard he worked!

 The kids got recognized in front of everyone and got a pin saying they are ambassadors to our city from the Mayor.

 I missed the official "shaking of the hand" picture, so I took one afterward with two very important women - our Mayor and our Principal.  Two women I thoroughly admire.  Ethan looks so teeny!

Another big event was our assembly on Tolerance.  Ethan was part of a reading of the poem/story "The Crayon Box that Talked".  He did a great job and those cute kids were a hit!  There was more narration - and I was pretty proud of the way it all came out (I wrote it).  I think it's important for kids to learn about some of the great people throughout history who have shown tolerance and love!

 Also starting this month?  Basketball games!  We've had our first - and it was a riot!

 The kids looked so cute all lined up.  They tried really hard to listen well - but it's hard when you're so excited.....

 Ethan played so hard!  He got the first points of the season - in the first play of the season - but it was for the wrong team....  We were all cheering till the ref pointed out the problem....  Oops!

 I just couldn't believe how aggressive Ethan was.  Last year he'd kind of hide from the action - not this year!  We do have to work on remembering to dribble.... this was a rare moment when he did....

 But it more often looked like this....  And sounded like me yelling, "Dribble Ethan Dribble!"  I'll spare you the video!

(Thanks to my friend Jessica for the great game pics!)  The boys played hard and I was impressed with how hard they all played!
On a sad note - one of Ethan's teammates had to drop out as they discovered around Christmas that he has Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  It's heartbreaking, and we're doing what we can to support his family and send him smiles.  I can't imagine what his mama is going through!  Ethan's had a hard time with it - though he probably still doesn't totally get the severity.  So even though we've been hit with a bit of a cold and various bugs - we're feeling oh so thankful for our health this month.  For all you that are praying folk - send out your prayers for our friend Ethan G.!
And now I'll head back into my chores and school work - so much going on!