2nd place; cousin Katie; bloody nose; bad dog

Good game Team Dynomite! They played against Team Storm (undefeated), in the championship game this morning. Team Storm remained undefeated. The first photo is of the coach from team Storm, giving runner-up medals to Team Dynomite. (Kyra is #10 in orange jersey adjusting her newly received medal). When the coaches realized that the Park representative wasn't there and that they would have to give out awards themselves, I found it heartwarming to hear Coach Webb tell Coach Stoner that he would like to give the runner-up medals to our team. Wow! What amazing sportsmanship!

The second photo is of Team Dynomite after placing 2nd in the 4th-5th grade league. From left to right is Mikayla, Gracie, Grace, Alex, (Coach Stoner), Kyra, Milan and Caroline. Four of the girls will be playing on the All Star Team next week. They are all looking forward to the End of Season Team Celebration on Sunday!
After the game, we stopped by the grocery store and then headed home to wait for Aunt Laura and cousin Katie to arrive. A group of Laura's college buddies are having a reunion of sorts in Snellville this afternoon. Katie's going to stay and play with us, while her mommy goes to play with grown-ups.

Kyra and Katie had a great afternoon of play. They started out by creating Mii's for Katie and Laura on our Wii system. Then they had fun playing several games. The 3rd photo in this blog entry is of Kyra and Katie "boxing" with the Wii system. But like all children, they became bored with this after trying most of the sports games.

Then they went outside to jump on the trampoline. I was busy inside the house changing sheets, doing laundry, dishes, etc. But I peeked out the window frequently to check on them. It was a beautiful day with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s. I went out on the deck a few times and snapped some photos. The 4th photo in this blog entry is of Kyra about to go into a flip. Wow, she sure can jump high! The 5th photo is of Katie touching her toes. They jumped for what seemed like hours.

At one point, I looked out the window and noticed they were no longer on the trampoline. I assumed they were tired of jumping and had found something else to do in the backyard. A few minutes later, Katie came walking up the stairs and said, "Aunt Sammy? Kyra needs you" in a very calm voice. So I just assumed that she needed help getting something or moving something for them to play with. I started walking down the stairs, following Katie, and I asked her if Kyra was OK, since I thought it was odd that she would send Katie in to get me. Katie calmly said, "No. Her nose is bleeding." When I walked outside, Kyra was standing a few feet from the doorway with blood pouring out of her nose like water from a faucet. There was a puddle the width of a salad plate in front of her feet and there were blood stains on her clothes. Of course, Kyra's had lots of experiences with nose bleeds so she was calm too. I, on the other hand, was not as calm due to the large amount of blood and the flow rate. I told her to stay there and I ran back upstairs and grabbed a roll of toilet paper. I returned to her, pulled off a handful and had her apply pressure. We went through about half the roll before it finally stopped. At the same time, Riley was walking around with Katie's shoe in his mouth. Kyra told him to bring it to her and drop it, and thankfully he obeyed. Katie's other shoe was by the trampoline. On a fluke, I told Riley to go get Katie's other shoe, and I was shocked to see him do exactly as I had asked. He walked over to the trampoline, picked up the shoe, and then brought it to me! When Kyra's nosebleed slowed, I had both girls remove their bloody socks (Katie had stepped in the puddle) and we walked up stairs. Kyra sat on the couch while I crouched on the floor with the roll of toilet paper. While sitting there, I noticed that Riley had chewed the corner of the couch! ARGH!!!! I have been bragging that although he chews up almost everything, he hadn't chewed the furniture. BUMMER!!!

After her nose quit bleeding completely, I told the girls that they would need to stay inside and do a calm activity. Kyra was feeling a little dizzy, so she agreed easily. I suggested a movie, but they decided to make a craft. Kyra's teacher had given her an assortment of "puffles" a few weeks ago. She's been making a community for them. She's made a house with a pool, basketball court, movie theater, etc. out of empty food boxes, shoe boxes, egg cartons, paper, etc. So, Kyra and Katie worked on expanding the mansion. They decided to create 4 familes, as depicted in this last photo, and named them. Starting at the 12 o'clock position, the first family (red and pink), are "John and Kate plus 8". Clockwise to the right, "Barbara" (green) and "Chip" (brown) have four children. Next is "Grape" and "Snowball" and their 17 children. And the most impressive family of all, the "A to Z"s, "Apple" (yellow) and "Zeus" (blue) and their 26 children which are yellow, blue and green. I thought it was so insightful how they assigned children of similar colors to the parents, and in the case of A to Z, green which is an appropriate mixture of the parent colors.

Then they played veteranarian's office, which was about the time Laura returned. We had dinner at Mah Jong (Chinese), and that surprised their staff. Kyra and I eat there most Sunday's at lunch. When we arrived Saturday evening, the host commented that we were "early". Too funny! We were all ready for bed by 9 p.m. What a day!