Go New Hope!

Finally got some pictures of our girls in their uniforms. The last few months have been so busy with softball and cheerleading.

 

Yellow Flowers

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch Saturday afternoon. The weather was great and there were lots of fun things to do.

Poor Emma!

Emma has been complaining about her foot hurting for a couple of weeks now. I took her yesterday to an orthopedic doctor thinking she might have a stress fracture. It's not broken. She has what's called Sever's Disease where the tendons are pulling away from the growth plate. It's somewhat common among children her age who are active in sports. The cure is to immobilize it for a month, so she got a boot. Just glad she didn't have to get a cast.

Softball Celebration

The New Hope community welcomed home the 14-time 5A Slowpitch Softball State Champions.

The players walking the red carpet off the bus onto the field.

Each player got a yellow rose and a chance to speak to the crowd.

Vicki Wyers Gerhart and I were both on New Hope's first state championship team in 1989. Now our girls are playing. Vicki with her daughter Kelsie and me and Anna Kate are the first mother/daughters to both win state championships.

The team with their state championship t-shirts, medals and roses.

The "Seven Sevens": there are seven seventh graders on the team.

Our family there to support Anna Kate.

Anna Kate with the rock. It's a long story, but the rock is a very important tradition to the softball team.

Anna Kate with the trophy.

State Champions

New Hope is the 5A Mississippi Slowpitch Softball State Champions. This is the fifth straight championship, 11 out of the last 12 years, and 14 total since Mississippi started state championships for slow pitch softball in 1988.

Way to go New Hope! We are so proud of you.

Tim and Anna Kate with the game ball. Emma and I were not able to be there since we were at GA Mother/Daughter camp.

Softball Sendoff

New Hope gave the softball team quite a send off to Jackson for the State Championship. The softball team was part of the football homecoming pep rally.

Each player made tags for each other and they all wore the tags for the pep rally.

Then it was time to load the bus.

The bus got a police escort out of town while students and fans cheered.

GA Mother/Daughter Weekend

Emma and I had a great time at GA Mother/Daughter Camp this weekend. This was my sixth year to attend and Emma's second year. I attended the other years with Anna Kate.

We started off the fun with a camp fire.

Time for bed. Here are all the girls in our cabin with their Pillow Pets.

Cute photo of Emma.

Sweet picture of us.

The whole Mt. Zion group. There were 26 of us.

Geocaching Trip

Tim and two of his buddies took a week-long geocaching trip in September to Nevada, California and Arizona. They found over 2,500 caches.

The two main places they cached were on the Extraterrestrial Highway and Route 66.

Halloween Has Come Early

This is Homecoming Week at school, and today is Celebrity Day. Emma is dressed like Sharpay from High School Musical, and Anna Kate is dressed like country music star Miranda Lambert.

On Our Way to State!

This picture was taken at New Hope right before the first round of state playoffs. The junior varsity players (Anna Kate is the third player from the right with the long blonde ponytail.) are watching the varsity girls warm up. We easily beat Yazoo City to advance to the North State Championship series, which was held last night. We beat Neshoba to claim the North State Title. We now advance to the State Championship series against Picayune this Saturday. A win will give New Hope its 14th State Championship (5 in a row).

What Happened?

New Hope Softball state playoffs are in full swing right now with all kinds of fun extras added in. Prior to the first playoff game last week, the team had a "fun night" of playing games and dressing up. I had no idea this was happening, so I was quite surprised to pick Anna Kate up from practice and find her like this...

She had a great time. I hope I can get some more pictures that some of the parents who watched took. I hope to get a team photo and a better one of Anna Kate. By the time I took this photo, the shaving cream on her face had started to melt off.

Check out the teeth!

Dance Camp

Emma had a great time participating in New Hope's Mini Dance Camp this past week. As an added bonus, they got to perform their dance at halftime. Emma did a great job!