TGIM!

Good Monday Morning!

I think this is the first time I've actually been thankful for a Monday.    Monday means normalcy.  Quiet mornings with a cup of coffee and time to just be.

Well, usually...

This morning I woke up to the sound of the little man retching beside the bed, only to be hit with my own nausea when I sat up.  Luckily, it seems to have passed for me - that's sheer mom determination right there - while he's sacked out on the couch.  Fortunately he was able to eat a couple of biscuits, so hopefully that has settled his stomach.  Noah, on the other hand, is still upstairs in bed after an evening of the upset stomach.  Eva had the same yesterday, but was feeling fine this morning, so hopefully its a fast-moving thing.

So, instead of going to order our family pictures and partaking in fall parent-teachers conferences this afternoon, I'm home.  And actually kind of glad for it.

What an insane weekend we had!

I'm not quite sure I'm ready for the full-on go-go-go of youth wrestling season.  But I sure did enjoy it!

Saturday found the boys weighing in at 10:00 am at Nashua-Plainfield's Little Huskies Tournament.  N-P usually boasts super-good competition since its the first local tourney of the season.  We were not disappointed.

Noah had a phenomenal day.  He won 4-2 in OT against a boy that beat him 14-2 in his 1st match last year at the same tournament.  That one was a humdinger!  The 2nd match he pinned his opponent in the 1st period and the 3rd match was just as riveting as the first.  I wasn't sure Noah would win since the other boy had pinned the other two kids in no time flat, so we had prepared him for the possibility.  But my boy FOUGHT.  He ended up winning 3-2.  Whoo!  A very well-deserved 1st place for him.

Gotta be "serious" for his pictures on the stands.  ;)

Ian had a tougher day, which I think is going to be the case for him this year.  He's going to be a 5th grader in every 5th/6th grade bracket and you've got kids that are already starting to enter puberty.  In wrestling that means muscles on top of muscles and growth spurts.  Plus, since he just started 2 years ago, they've got technique up the wha-zoo from several years of experience.

He pinned his first match within the first period for a nice win against a very talented 6th grader.  The 2nd match...  Eh.  Another 5th grader and one he's beaten twice previously.  Once in an overtime situation and another match 1-0.  Always close matches because the boy usually just grabs a leg and doesn't move - but is impossible to turn.  Well, the boy got some technique since the last time we saw him.  He showed us!  LOL!  Ian had him on his back for the pin, got too far over the top, got flipped and pinned in 2 seconds.  It was over just.  like.  that.  Ian was not a happy camper, but still managed to go out and pin his next opponent in the first period to take 2nd.  I think he was okay with that.  We've taught both the boys that you respect the kids that beat you, learn from your losses, and move on.  He did awesome on sportsmanship and that's super important in this sport and more importantly to us as parents.

Ian doesn't mind giving me little faces on the stands.
He doesn't take himself as seriously as Noah.  LOL

Sunday found us up bright and early to head to Vinton-Shellburg's Viking Wrestling Tournament, about an hour and a half south of us.  We made a promise to ourselves that we weren't going to do two tournaments a weekend this year, but since we knew a family that lived in Vinton that would be there, we decided to make an exception for this tournament.  And oh my!  I should have known when they requested last year's records and inquired about State Qualifier status that we were going to be in for a tough day.  Bracketing according to record pretty much always means super tough competition, although not always.  Since Vinton is a pretty small town, I wasn't too worried about it.  WRONG!

Vinton turned out to be the Who's Who of Iowa Youth Wrestling.  Everywhere you turned there were names with faces you'd heard from parents talk about who was the tough of the tough.  I saw kids do some things that left me just gob-smacked.  Total excellence.

By the time the boys' brackets were up, I was literally shaking inside and trying to put on a calm, serene expression for the boys.  I knew that both of them were going to face some of the toughest competition they'd ever seen, outside of AAU Kids' State.  To be honest, I wanted to throw up.  Stupid for a little local tournament, I know!  LOL!

Usually, I video tape their matches so we all can sit down and watch them later.  At the minimum, I take pictures.  Yesterday, I didn't do anything but watch...  and mutter prayers.

Ian had an insanely tough bracket.  The only 5th grader in the bracket against three other 6th graders with a TON of experience.    While Ian qualified for State last year as a 4th grader, he didn't place.  But I have to admit I've gotten used to big wins and quick pins.  That totally didn't happen yesterday.

He won his first crazy tough match over a Kids' State Placewinner, 8-5.  The 2nd match he was pinned in the last few seconds of the 3rd period, although he was still losing 7-0.  And the 3rd match...  Well.  Let's just say he found out what it was like for the kids he's been pinning in the 1st period.  It was over that quick.  He took 3rd and although he doesn't believe me, it was the best I've EVER seen him wrestle.  Try explaining that to a competitive 11 year old.  He sulked in the car for the remainder of the time we were there, but at least he held it together on the mat and didn't resort to some of the displays of bad sportsmanship that I saw.

Noah.  Oh, my Noah.  Wow.

Noah has gotten some name recognition over the last 6 months since he won SPW State Runner-Up and qualified for Kids' State as a 2nd grader, so we knew that he would probably be in a crazy bracket.  Yep!

Not only was his bracket tough, he was the lightest of the four.  The first boy was from Wisconsin, outweighed Noah by 6 lbs., and I was rendered nearly speechless by how tough they both wrestled.  And if you know me, you know that's pretty hard to do! ;)  I just didn't know what to tell him.  LOL!  Thank goodness he had 2 of our coaches in his corner and a ton of Go-Hawk supporters!  Noah won that match 7-0, but don't let that zero fool ya.  It was insane.

The 2nd match was even tougher than the first.  He was up against another State Qualifier, a 4th grader, and a name I had heard many, many times - but we've never had the opportunity to wrestle. That match went into overtime, tied 2-2.  Noah took a bad shot at the whistle and ended up in a headlock.  A TIGHT headlock.  He was turning purple around the lips and I was grabbing the arm of the coach sitting next to me (Sorry, Chad!) telling him to stop the match.  Then the official called a stalemate.  There was some confusion as to why the other boy didn't get the points to win it and it literally came down to the fact that Noah had kept his hips twisted in such a way that the ref said the other boy didn't have control.  It was that close.  I was as shocked as the other parents were.  So they went at it again.  I really didn't know how Noah was going to do it.  He had just been purple 2 seconds before!  This time the other boy took the shot, but Noah got behind for the 2 and the win. WOW.  I about fell over!  Unbelievable.  I actually searched out the official (from the look on his fact I think he thought I was going to be one of those crazy wrestling parents that want to argue a call  LOL) and asked him to explain to me why Noah didn't lose since he was in the headlock.  I think he was pretty surprised that I wasn't some nut, but just a parent that wanted to make sure it wasn't a bad call and the other boy deserved the win, like I had had someone come up and tell me.  Scott, on the other hand, thought I was nuts.  Take the win and run with it, right?  Nope.  If the other boy deserved it, he was going to get it.

The 3rd match was a squirrely little 4th grader that Noah pretty much dominated, but couldn't get pinned.  He almost had him, but his hand was underneath on the boy's shoulder blade, so the ref couldn't call it.  We all kept telling him, "Move your hand!  Move your hand!  Your hand is in the way!"  But he kept moving his other hand and not the one underneath.  Finally he just stops moving, looks up at me, and says, "What the frick?"  I just burst out laughing.  It was so typical Noah.  I hate it when he says "frick" and usually get after him, but that was hilarious!  Although, I probably shouldn't have laughed so loud because I got a really dirty look for the other boy's dad.  I think he thought I was laughing at his kid.  Which I totally wasn't!  Anyway...  Noah won that match 10-0 to take 1st.

The other two didn't stick around to be on the stands.
It really was a long wait for that.

 The thing that I really like about wrestling is that most parents instill in their children respect for the opponents you lose to.  And in especially hard matches, they learn to really like and respect the better opponent.  Noah and Jake were fast friends by the end of the day, despite Noah winning in overtime and spent the rest of the time running around together while we chatted with Jake's parents.

Jake pretending to sock Noah.

Noah "wapping" Jake with his jacket string.  LOL!

It was a good day, but a long one.  We didn't get home until 7:00.  Next weekend we'll be at it again, but not two.  Nope.  Like we promised.  We'll go to a Saturday tournament and go to church on Sunday.  And that's the way it should be.

This week is a crazy one, so don't expect a lot of postings about anything crafty.  I've got dentist appointments, parent-teacher conferences, and wrestling practices.  Although I don't want to lose any of you as followers!  I'll just do the best I can!  Just gotta get into the swing of wrestling season.  :)

I hope y'all had as fun of a weekend as we did and  were able to get up to some craft goodness!

Take care,