Life is Hard

We had a "hard lesson" day on Saturday. You know- those hard lessons we want our kids to learn but then when they are faced with them all we can think of is how we can soften the blow? Well, it was Theo's turn Saturday morning.

We headed to the Pinewood Derby bright and early and it was just as exciting as he had hoped it would be. Both sets of grandparents were able to make it, he had built a cool car,

and then somehow things went terribly wrong. While he placed 2nd in 3 of his 4 races, his car was not fast enough to get a trophy. And, while he and Jeff had shaped and painted a really cool car, his car was not voted as the favorite for any of the categories.

The poor kid was in tears. As much as I really wanted him to get a trophy I just hugged him and let him cry. It was when he started to get a really bad attitude about it all that I had some stern words for him about good sportsmanship. He didn't want to hear it but on the way to the restaurant after the derby he managed to pull himself back together and enjoy his chance to eat out (his favorite thing!) and his family that had driven quite a way to see his race.

I hated to see him go through it but it was bound to happen at some point and the sooner he learns how to deal with disappointment the better because, well, life is hard and I can't change that.

Then we were off to our final basketball games of the season. They both have made an incredible amount of progress so it was so great that the G-parents could see them play. Neither had ever seen a game before this season nor had they ever dribbled a basketball. We all learned that basketball has way more rules than we had ever imagined but we love the game and they had a ton of fun- and gave 110%. We can't wait until next winter to play again!
Leah had the advantage of always being one of the tallest on the court. If she can find a little meanness within she'll make a fierce opponent. All the girls are so sweet to each other. Some are more aggressive about stealing the ball than others but they don't play basketfootball like the boys do.

Theo is still in the 6 year old stage of his sports development. He had a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time but he put a lot of effort into that one thing (defense) and got quite good at staying with his man.