Throwback Thursday a few days early….

In 129 days, Alex will officially be a high school graduate!  It’s hard to believe that the little guy in the first photo now is ready to move on to the next phase of his life.  Alex has already got a good plan in place, much more so than most of his friends and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Alex and Sam have both become world class Whovians!  They love the new Dr Who show (along with Dad) and are now up to Season 8 on Netflix – the current season is 9 and they hope to catch up by the summer.  Anyway, in Season 1 there is an episode about a little boy during WWII that walks around asking “Are you my Mummy?”  Of course, he is wearing a gas mask as is most of the population because an alien medical ship is trying to heal them by turning them into a type of walking zombie.  Both of the boys thought the episode was pretty creepy, but Alex probably a little bit more.  So for Christmas Dad made him a new night light for his room.  A genuine WWII gas mask mounted on a mannequin head.  We think he genuinely loved it, but we noticed he hasn’t used it as a night light yet.  :-0  🙂

  More basketball for the boys as they had two games to close out the week on Thursday and Friday.  The games on Thursday were not pretty – both teams lost by double digits and the games were never in question.  The other teams were just much bigger and more athletic than our team – the schools are much bigger too.  Sam only had a minute or two of playing time in the JV game, so he didn’t see much action.  Alex, on the other hand, had one of his best games ever.  He, of course brought some great defense to the game but also finally starting to take more of a leadership role on the team.  Alex scored five points – including a beautiful 3-point shot (nothing but net) that had the whole bench off their feet. He also had several assists and was dribbling more on the floor.
 The games on Friday night were split, with the JV team losing but the Varsity team winning on Senior Night.  Sam got 2-3 minutes in the JV loss, but took advantage of the time with 1 shot attempt that just rolled out and 2 rebounds.  Alex had another great game taking 4 or 5 shots and getting two points.  Alex took some good shots and played great defense as usual.  He also had several rebounds , couple of steals, and a few assists – overall another great performance.   The team is starting to rely on him on both ends of the floor!

Alex pulling up for a 2 point shot on Thursday that just rimmed out.

The 3-Point shot on Thursday that had the bench and Mom and Dad on their feet!

Sam taking a 2-point shot on Friday – just rimmed out.

Senior Night, Alex chose not to get flowers, balloons or candy… just a new soccer ball, that made all the other boys jealous. 🙂

Alex fighting for a rebound on Thursday

Alex once again drew the big man assignment on Thursday – this guy has about 6 inches on him.

  More basketball games over the last few days and they still have 2 more games this week with Senior Night on Friday.  Alex and the Varsity team lost both games (Friday and Tuesday), with last night’s game going into Overtime for the loss.  The team is choking down the stretch as they tend to stop shooting when they need to the most, especially the guys that can keep them in the game with 3 point shots.  Losing their 2 best players has definitely hurt their chances of making it to the playoffs at this point. Alex has attempted three shots over the last couple of games but none of them have connected.  Alex however continues to play outstanding defense – they generally put him on the best player even if the opponent has a large size advantage.  The game on Friday night was probably the worst game of officiating that we have ever seen… it was so bad that Dad was actually booing (and one of the refs was Dad’s friend).  Alex and two other players fouled out in that game and then last night 3 players fouled out as well…. there is definitely not a home court advantage with these referees.
  Junior Varsity split the last two games as they lost on Friday but handily won on Tuesday.  Sam got quite a bit more playing time last night – several minutes and took advantage of it.  Sam attempted three shots in the game and scored once from the free throw line!!   The bench all stood up and Sam high five’d a teammate while Mom and Dad almost fell out of their seats.  🙂
  Another game at GCA tomorrow night, which will probably be a bloodbath since they lost the first encounter and they had their 2 best players on the team still – it’s also that schools Homecoming game.  GCA is in the league above Trinity.  The game on Friday is Senior Night for Trinity and of course is at home.  Mom and Dad have to walk on court to give Alex a present – all Seniors from both the boys and girls will be have a short introduction…. could be a long evening. 🙂

Sam right before the shot heard around the arena!

Varsity team all got new warm-ups with their name on them this year.

Apparently Alex dribbles and shoots quite a bit in practice, b ut we don’t get to see this much in the game.  🙂

Alex is guarding number 32 – directly in front of him.

Finally some cold weather…..time for everyone to snuggle up with their gadgets.

It was a short visit, but everyone had a great time and it was good to see everyone.  Here is what is now the annual christmas photo shoot on the stairs.

Alex and Sam… tough guys.

It was great to see everyone on the 26th and we are looking forward to May when we can all get together again for Alex’s graduation.  Here is a photo of Lillian with the boys – they had a great time visiting with her.  Unfortunately the blogmaster only received one photo to post, hopefully next time we can get some of the whole gang.

Is that James Bond 007 or Alex Payne 000?  This has to be Alex’s best school photo he has ever taken – we guess he was saving the best for last.  We should have another one soon of him in a Tux… we are going to rent one tonight for Homecoming on the 29th.  Alex even has a date!

How hard is it to get 2 teenage boys and a dog to pose for their Christmas photo…. we’ll let
you be the judge.  🙂

Time for Farley’s nap…

Are we done yet?

Do you smell that??

Farley is done at this point…

Why are they looking at the fireplace??

Finally we get one of them both smiling, but unfortunately Farley didn’t make the final cut.  😦