We started the month with our first volleyball tournament. We went to Springfield for the 417 tournament and played against 16-year-olds. whole family was going to go but Emily got sick so she and dad stayed behind. I was really hoping everyone could come.
I spent a lot of time with Aaron this month.
I skipped the Church Christmas dinner the next day and spent time at
Aaron's. I also went to Aaron's
basketball game at Rock Bridge, hung out with him on first day of break.
The day before Christmas break during practice, Kaya and I were diving for a
ball and she ended up kicking me in the head.
I ran off the court crying. This
was my third concussion in a year, and the second one in a month. I knew there was a possibility that my
volleyball career was over. Because it
is so close to the holiday, I can’t get into the doctor until after. It is giving me some time to rest.
I hung out with Aaron the next day and didn't want to go to volleyball party
at Gamma Phi Beta, where Kaya's grandma works. Mom and Dad talked me into
at least making an appearance and I had so much fun with my teammates.
They made sure to save the calm activities for when I was there. I knew I
wasn't going to spend the night, but I sure wanted to! It was so much fun hanging out with them; I didn’t
want to leave!
I decided to skip seeing Santa this year.
Emily thought it was strange that I wasn’t there. We went to visit Great-Grandma Rose and then
went to Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom's for Christmas. Uncle Steve did the saran wrap ball game
again and it was quite a hit! We left to go to Church’s Christmas Eve service after
that. We got to have Christmas at our
house in the morning and went to Aunt Lisa's in the afternoon. It was nice that Nana Arden actually stayed
for a while! We made a stop on the way home...to pick up my new
kitten! We struggled with the name-Shout, Turbo, but finally settled on
Smudge. We were told it was a girl, but Mom is pretty sure it is a boy.
This was confirmed later that week when he had his first vet appointment.
He also had ear mites that I got to see in the microscope-yuck! He stays
in my room with his stinky litter until he gets used to being downstairs. But man, is he cute!
Papa Ron and Linda came for a visit to celebrate Christmas at our house one
day. I love playing games with
them. Mom took me out for Ellie Day. She said she spent way more than she normally
would on clothes for me, but also knows that I don’t have many new clothes, except
for volleyball shirts.
I went to Aaron's for New Year's Eve.
Our family went to Aunt Lisa's because Jonathan was in town and we got
to meet his girlfriend Nina. She was really nice.
I finally got to have my CT scan after the new year. I watched volleyball practice, which was
hard, but I’m glad I could at least go.
Lila’s mom suggested the MU concussion clinic and I got the best
news! The neurologist said that I could
have a slow start back to play, increasing the time and intensity as I went
along. I started by playing at Cedar
Ridge with mom on a snow day. We have had
several late starts and more snow days from school. This has given me some good rest so I can be
at my best for the next tournament (crossing fingers!)
When I went back to school, I started my online French class. I just wasn’t learning much in the in person
class. I learned more in one week online
than I had all last semester. This was
definitely a good choice. Dad took me to
watch Aaron's basketball game. Aaron
came over another night and we got take out from George's. Aaron ordered
a cheeseburger without cheese which I thought was funny.
Exciting news-I was nominated to the courtwarming court! My volleyball coach nominated me. I have to raise a lot of money for St.
Baldrick’s. Mom was the second adult at
youth in January. I was upset because
that was my place to enjoy without family and I wasn’t really prepared for that
happening. Lillian is working to find
another second adult. I was supposed to
babysit one night for two kids from church (one being Emily's friend) but it
was cancelled because of an ice storm.
Mom and I went to Kansas City to spend the night at Jill's before our
Sunflower Slam tournament. I had begged the neurologist to be a serving
specialist in the tournament and was given the go-ahead! I was feeling
good and ended up playing DS for the tournament. We took second place in the
gold bracket! Taylor's team was there but we didn't get to play
them. We did however, end up playing the 15-2s team and beat them pretty
bad.
We were off school today for MLK Day and I spent the day at Aaron's. I hope next month slows down just a little
bit, but I’m thrilled to be back playing volleyball.
Missouri Juniors 15-Blue
Celebrating New Years with Aaron
Thumbs up!!!
A few service aces
