She has drive and determination and I love watching her play.  Each week of the season, she focused on something different, from calling for the ball, to making herself open, to working on her shots.  By mid-season, she was handling the ball quite often and taking the ball up court in search of the shot. 

She received the Dreamweaver award and this award is a pretty spot on description of Harper’s 2024 basketball season.

Harper was selected for the All-Star Team, although she is not able to play as a result of being in a boot for a month.

We made it though January sick free…no COVID, no flu!  Congrats were in order for only so long as it was February 7 before the first of patient zero’s symptoms began.  Avery was complaining of her stomach hurting, that turned into a bad cough and sore throat.  A visit to the pediatrician the following day confirmed negative for strep so we chalked it up to a bad cold. Later that night Justin’s cough, which had been bad, took a turn for the worse along with aches and pains. A visit the following morning to the doc confirmed the flu.  When Emerson arrived home from school that afternoon not feeling well and her temperature quickly spiked, I knew she too had the flu.  By Sunday, Avery still wasn’t feeling good and I had a few aches and pains in addition to a worsening cough.  I wanted to know if Avery and Harper were well enough to attend school and me to go to Nashville on Tuesday for a work trip.  The swabs indicated positive for flu for Avery and me.  February is apparently our new January!

This girl signed up for the National Scripts Spelling Bee at Thoreau, an in-person Spelling Bee none-the-less.  For weeks she studied a list of over 300 words.  Her commitment to studying and bravery to get on that stage were admirable.  I couldn’t be prouder of her effort and her willingness to take a risk.  

She spelled “Vultures” correct to move on to the second round.  “Innards” tripped her up in round two.  But, again this time it was pure recognition of the effort, the results didn’t matter.

I can’t wait to see this girl up on stage again next year in the 8^th grade Spelling Bee!