Tonight was the first Junior High Boys Basketball game. Well, gameS — a 7th grade game and then an 8th grade game.

Everybody’s always asking me which is which, so I try to come up with some association with their name and number so I don’t have to keep answering. We have talked to Will before about getting 11: 11 equals double L’s, and I was pretty pleased when he came home the other day having chosen that. We’ve tried to get Joe to get something with a Zero in it, but at least his is not at all similar (he’s 31, and has the ball in the picture). It was hard the year they were 52 and 54 in football: those numbers are just too close together and didn’t have any good mnemonic that I could teach people.

The 7th graders did pretty well for their very first junior high game. It was a loss, 31-18, but they played hard and were trying. Mark said the team actually took about 40 shots, so they were taking the opportunities, but now they need to work on actually MAKING all of the baskets…

Mark is helping coach this year, and I hope he is having fun. He and the boys have to be at school at 6:20 AM for practice every morning. Better them than me. I am NOT a morning person. Unfortunately, I’ve been too much of a night owl lately, and even my 7AM wakeup call has been giving me trouble. I need to figure out how to get the stuff done I want done, AND exercise AND get to bed at a decent hour. And no, I’m not even talking about trying to get the house cleaned and the laundry done…

For Christmas, I would like a few extra hours per day. What do you guys think? Any chance Santa will help me out?