Saturday, February 22nd, 2014

Congratulations to Nolan for CRAWLING FOR THE FIRST TIME today!!  He even did this while grandpa & grandma Eben and Lynn were watching him :)  He is 223 days old now just in case you were wondering...

Nolan with his prize after crawling

It was early in the morning when everyone was finishing up with breakfast when he crawled.  I was eating an apple, and Nolan was sitting on the living room floor looking up at me like he wanted the apple.  So I held it down at ground level and said "Ok, Nolan.  You can have it if you crawl over here".  Amazingly, he lunged forward from sitting onto his hands and knees, then actually crawled a little ways towards the apple!  He has been so close to crawling for a couple of weeks now, but until today he hasn't coordinated the arm-leg pattern to crawl forward.  We were all so proud of him for finally crawling!! 

Nolan having fun with grandpa Eben.  Nolan was really pulling on his hair quite a bit!

Grandpa and grandma enjoyed their visit and played quite a bit with Nolan.

We all went out to eat at Red Lobster for lunch today. 

Thursday, February 20th, 2014

Today we had Nolan try a new type of baby food... spinach and carrots.  I thought that he was going to hate the flavor, but surprisingly he loved it!  He ate all of it without hardly letting any of it get on his bib.  He's getting to be such a good eater :)

Taking his last bite...

...and still smiling afterwards :)

Who knew that he would like spinach? 

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

Another blog post, another CYCLONE VICTORY!!

This evening I enjoyed watching my 17th ranked Iowa State Cyclones defeat the 19th ranked Texas Longhorns, 85-76.  It was a complete game for Iowa State as three different players scored at least 20 points (Ejim 25, Kane 22, and Niang 20). 

This was the third time that I have witnessed a top-25 showdown between ISU and another ranked school (the other two were this season against Iowa and Oklahoma).  This was also the fourth basketball game that I have seen played between Iowa State and Texas (2004, 2012, 2013, and today).  I'm happy to say that the Cyclones are 4-0 against the Longhorns in those games!!

The Longhorns controlled the opening tip.

Way to go STATE!

Saturday, February 8th, 2014

After tonight, we should probably celebrate February 8th each year as "National Melvin Ejim Day".  Well, at least a state-wide holiday if not a national one. 

48 points, 18 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist. 

That was Ejim's official stats for the game against TCU today.  He was an amazing 20 of 24 from the field including 2 for 2 from long range and 6 for 6 from the free throw line. His 48 points were a record for the Big 12.  It seemed like quite a few of his points came from alley-op dunks, and the Horned Frogs simply could not guard him. 

Tonight Elizabeth and Nolan came with me to watch the game.  This was Nolan's second time watching the men's basketball team at Hilton, and it was the first Big 12 conference game that he's been to. 

Tip-off between ISU and TCU

We had Nolan wear head phones so the noise wouldn't be too loud for him.

Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

Wednesday, March 2nd, 1988.  I would have still been 3 years old.  That was the last time that Iowa State won at Oklahoma State in basketball... until last night!

I am pretty exhausted right now because I stayed up way too late yesterday watching a thrilling basketball game.  Tip-off was at 8:00, so it was a late game anyways, but the fact that the game went to triple-overtime really kept me up past my bedtime!  Coming into the game, ISU was ranked #16 in the country while Oklahoma State was ranked #19.  There was so much drama in the game that it is hard to fully describe.  The biggest shot made by a Cyclone all night was the only field goal that Naz Long made.  Trailing by three points (89-86) at the end of the second overtime, Matt Thomas missed a three pointer, Kane picked up the long rebound and found Naz who amazingly hit the game-tying three pointer with 1.4 seconds left.  Before that basket, Long had not played for a majority of the game, and he has been in a shooting slump where he has not made a three for multiple games.  That was gutsy to say the least for a bench player to step up at such a key moment.

Here is a video of the SportsCenter highlights of the game.

I am so excited for the rest of the ISU basketball season!  Chances are that they will end up with a much better seed in the NCAA tournament than they have had the last couple of seasons :)

Saturday, February 1st, 2014

I just got back a while ago from Hilton Coliseum where I witnessed a nice Cyclone victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, 81-75.  Coming into the game, Iowa State was ranked #16 in the country, and Oklahoma was ranked #23.  This is the second time that I have seen an Iowa State game in person where both teams have been ranked (the first time was the Iowa Hawkeye game on December 13th).  I'm happy to say that ISU has won both of those top-25 match-ups so far! 

Georges Niang was the player of the game for Iowa State as he scored a career-high 27 points.  He nailed a huge 3 pointer to put ISU up six points with just under a minute to play in the game.  Three other Cyclones joined Niang in double figures scoring (Ejim had 22, Thomas had 13, and Monte Morris added 12).    

This gamed marked the fifth time this year that Iowa State has beaten a ranked opponent (Michigan, Iowa, Baylor, Kansas State, and now Oklahoma).  If they keep playing well, things will be looking good in terms of seeding come March!

Iowa State controlled the opening tip.

Cyclones win!!