630 Volleyball Banquet

The club season pauses mid-February so the boys can join their high school teams for March-May.  They then return to the club for June and July culminating in the AAU National tournament in Orlando over 4th of July.   While most teams will wait until after nationals to have a team party, we felt it was important for these boys to have a last get together before their freshman season.  Coach Matt put together a slide show with season highlights and gave each boy a picture and award.  I'm so glad we got together now; the boys loved seeing each other's pictures and hearing the explanation of each award.

William wears #1 so was up first.   He received the Most Dependable Award.   Coach said that when William (or...Will as he is known on the team and in school these days...) joined the team, he was their missing piece.   That he fit right in from the very first practice and has been there for them since (his) day one.

Each picture frame had three photos of the boy in it.  They had fun getting them out at their table afterwards and picking favorites.   The photos were taken by the dad of our student coach, Andrew.  Luckily he's also going to take Benet photos since Andrew is a senior.

Since the 11 boys go to 8 different high schools, they will get to see each other across the net throughout the next two months.   William and Aidan will play on the freshman team at Benet together.  They are scheduled to play against Jonas, Gabe and Eeshan, and Howie during the regular season.  They may see some of the others at invitationals.  

 

Whole 30

My brother and I challenged each other to a Whole 30 which ended up being a great experience.   I'm tired of egg casserole (which I didn't really love before anyway), and it required a lot of thoughtfulness when traveling or away from home.   But I felt great, lost about 10 pounds, and ate a lot of delicious food.  I thought cheese is what I would really miss, but have preferred to omit versus substitute.   I also ate a lot of date for the sugar.  After my trip to Dubai with dates as desserts, that was easy to comprehend.

Some of my favorite creations are posted below:

Mango, dates, spinach, banana protein smoothie

Homemade barbecue sauce that is compliant (i.e. no sugar)

Whole 30 dinner party.  The cauliflower was amazing.  The Hawaiian rolls are for the guests.  I ate my pulled BBQ chicken on sweet potato rounds.  Maybe I was starving but it was delicious!

This broccoli casserole with a cashew sauce meant to replicate alfredo sauce was a no for me.

I've always loved fresh taco fixings but pickled onions (that I made) were my favorite garnish of the month.

Shredded sweet potato was a great topping for salad.    Looks and feels a little like cheddar cheese and has its own nice flavor.  

 

Chiefs Super Bowl

With our basement out of commission, and just generally realizing it's stressful to watch your team in the Super Bowl, we didn't attempt a party.    I did make a few festive desserts.  Otherwise, I tried to make mostly healthy versions of foods in order to not completely unwind my Whole 30 commitment.

Mama Kelce's Chocolate Chip Cookies - recommend!  They have white and dark (or milk) chocolate chips and a dash of cinnamon.  You also melt the butter first which results in a thinner cookie with crispy edges (my favorite)!

I have no idea how I got it into my head that I wanted to make a red velvet cake.  Probably because the game was near Valentine's Day which always reminds me of my mom's amazing recipe for Waldorf Astoria Red Cake which she would make in heart shaped pans.  This used up all of my "Christmas red" gel food coloring and made me look like I had murdered someone!

I was much more focused on the baking instead of decorating and did not get out a proper tip for the LVIII.  And then I actually thought it was XIII until I did that math and had to edit!   But rest assured, it was delicious!  I started eating it at breakfast as one would do.

Lucy doesn't have any costumes...maybe I need to get her a Chiefs bandana for next football season.

The end!  And you can see that we still hadn't called Christmas quits with the reflection of our tree in the window.