volley-balla

i found myself acting as team mom for the teen's volleyball season.  while i was totally cool with this, i've never done the team mom thing before, nor did i participate in any sports myself.  so really, all i did was create a sheet to be used as a sign-up for bringing snacks every week, make a reservation at the pizza parlor for the team party, enlist the teen's help in collecting cash for lunch and coach gifts, purchase said gifts, and bring cupcakes and cookies.  well, and show up to every game.

while perusing my current favorite cooking blog, i'd bookmarked a recipe for cookies & cream cupcakes that sounded super delicious and really easy.  so i decided to try 'em out for the occasion.  the batter mixed up in no time, and i used my fab gossip girl ice cream scoop to pour it into the cups - cute blue & white polka dot cupcake liners i bought to match the team colors.

i'd picked up some matching sprinkles to decorate with, too.  i was going to create some cute little volleyball cupcake toppers with fondant and royal icing, but i kind of lost my mojo and skipped it entirely.

when i took them out of the oven, i was a little concerned - they looked nice and smelled heavenly, but they seemed to be rather...dense.  poop.  but i didn't feel like making another batch, so i decided to just go with it.  besides, it was nothing a little frosting wouldn't fix.  at least, i hoped so.

plus, i had cookies to bake and frost.  i don't know why i always rope myself into stuff like this, but i do - every chance i get.  heh.  and to make my life easier, i finally got on the ball and put flour into a little canister with holes on top.  sprinkling flour onto my counter and rolling pin with my fingers never works out very well, but this bad boy made it way easier to distribute it evenly.  duh.

the bean had fun with the leftover dough.

the finished products.

that night, i tried another new recipe - this time, for buffalo chicken burgers.  i'd picked up some super cute mini buns at fresh & easy, so mine were actually sliders.

ground chicken is really squishy.  like, super a lot mushy.  i was a little squicked out by it being so sticky that i ended up busting out that ice cream scoop again to make little patties to drop onto my grill pan.

i used my spatula to flatten them out a bit, and they ended up with nice grill marks (if not a bit lot misshapen).

they were really delicious with a bit of melted cheddar and a dollop of ranch dressing.  highly recommended, as always.

sadly, the team (named "the chicas."  yeah.) lost their final game.  but that didn't stop them from heading to the pizza joint to have a good time.  well, half of them, anyway.  for some reason, only 5 out of 10 team members showed up.  i was a little annoyed as i'd counted on all of them participating in the team gifts to the two coaches, but i should've known better, eh?

the bean pointed this out right away.  "that giant pizza is upside down on the ceiling, mommy!"

the girls gathered around to chatter as they waited for the pizza to arrive.

i don't know why red was standing so far away.  i even told her to scooch in closer, but i guess she didn't wanna.

the teen and rock-ell, the epitome of BFFs.

after grubbing down on a gooey slice of cheese pizza, the bean enjoyed a cupcake glob of frosting.  and i was right - the teen reports that they were a little dry and much more muffin-y than cupcake-ish.  oh, well.  she said the flavor was really good, though.  and the cookies went over well.

and both girls came home with a prize - a trophy for the teen, a new puppy for the bean (won by rock-ell's sweet brother at one of the machines).  she promptly named him "pup."  she's super original with her pet names.

'twas quite a fun afternoon.  and there was even more to come!  that deserves a whole different post, though.  i know you're on the edge of your seat with excitement.

my teen, the athlete

the teen is not a huge fan of sports - neither playing nor watching.  well, okay, she's better at following football than i am.  but she managed to inherit my klutziness, which doesn't bode well for her athleticism.  poor thing.

however, her buddy rock-ell somehow managed to persuade her into signing up for the city's co-ed volleyball program.  i was pretty excited when she said she wanted to play, since we're always on her ass to get involved in something.  $140 sign-up fee?  sure.  $60 in black volleyball shorty-shorts and knee pads?  no problem.  let's do this.

she had her first practice last week, and then the first game was on saturday.  since i'd taken the bean to gymnastics earlier that morning, we met up with her and the hub at the local community college.  as always, she was texting furiously on her phone when we saw her.

we found seats right above center court, where her team was scheduled to play.  and tell me this - why do some folks find it necessary to bring their freaking dogs EVERYWHERE they go?  stupid.

we cheered as the girls came inside and ran a couple of laps around the court to warm up.

and then we watched them, uh, adjust stuff and get settled.

a little pep talk from the coach, and then it was game time!

they found me easily in the stands, with my zoom lens trained right on 'em.

the bean was super excited to see her sister play and kept her little face glued to the glass.

more exciting volleyball action.

she's gonna kill me for some of these shots.

and then it was over.  they won the first game, lost the second, and when the buzzer went off halfway through the third they were ahead - WIN!

it's going to be a super fun seven weeks - i'm kind of digging the fact that we have saturday sports activities to attend for both girls now.  but don't call me a soccer mom.  yet.