2nd week of 2 a days!

Used to; I hated this 2nd week. I called it Hell Week because Josh was gone from BEFORE the sun rose to WAY after it went down and I had 2 kids in diapers that were driving me crazy! (there ARE some parts of football that I don't like, I do miss Josh from time to time:)

Well, it is no longer Hell Week- I enjoy it much more now than I ever have! Especially because the boys are bigger! I have had more fun going to the practices than I ever have before. For the first time, ever, I stood ON the field with Josh to watch practice. My secret to getting him to allow this is that I had my camera and he know how important taking pictures of this stuff it to me- so although I was taking pictures, it was just because it was my ticket to standing in the middle of things:)

I LOVE hearing (most) of the stuff these players say. It obviously gets more and more crude the older that they get! ha. I heard some things that i am not sure I wanted to hear. (not anything bad- just things that I didn't really want to think about:) But overall- its pretty cool, they are pumping each other up and giving one another boosts of confidence, and sometimes getting mad- but in a good way.
These are the things that build a team camaraderie. These are the things that help the players learn to trust each other and to build team unity. I just love it- there is NOTHING better than this.

I have to say one more time how impressed I am with the players and how they interact with my boys. It makes me smile and I just love taking them out there. The treat them with a lot of respect in the fact that they offer to let them tackle them, they never curse in front of them, they give them high fives, they don't trample them even when my boys get in their way, the know the boys names and it is just so awesome for me. My boys love it and ask about them all of the time. They are starting to remember some names- they know Tai and Lucky.
Lucky is especially good with them!
And the trainers! They always offer the boys water and hold their hands when they think that they are getting in the way.
It is just such a great thing to watch. I really appreciate all of your kids and how wonderful they all are.
At the end of practice- Ben Morris carried Judson over to the huddle and Judson sat down with the boys on a knee.

I appreciate Josh allowing this too. I don't ever take this for granted. We know coach's that work for other Head Coach's that don't even allow their wives to call, much less allow them to come to the practice! I have a lot of coach's wives that always email me after reading my blog and they tell me how lucky I am that we are allowed to do this because they aren't a part of their husbands program other than cheering for them at games! I can't imagine not being a part of it all and I just really appreciate Josh for allowing this for me and the boys and the other Coach's families Josh worked under Chris Ross (at Cedar Park HS & WFHS) for 7 years before landing the Rouse job. Josh has ONLY worked for Chris, and Chris was always so nice to include the wives and our kids in everything, so in addition to thanking Josh- I am also thanking Chris for showing Josh that it is important to have your family around.

Lady Raider Football Camp!

I am not going to post much on this site about the Lady Raider Football Camp. Check out my third blog on this! ha
www.ladyraiderfootballcamp.blogspot.com

The only thing I will write is that it is very obvious where some of our athletes got their talents from!
Linda Zarsky and Lisa Pelt are very competitive.
Bertha and Naiya Gadison(I know I am spelling that wrong)were the BEST!! They were tackling the heck out of each other.
Speaking of tackling... Virginia Torres!!! She beat the crud out Lucky! They were hilarious and she gave him all she had!
Kim Zauzig has an amazing throwing arm
Kristi Harrison is much more atheltic than I will EVER be! My talents are definitely not on the field- I do much better at cheering!

EVERYONE had fun and I am SO incredible blessed that so many people came! and Thank you to all of you coach's and wives that helped make this so successful!
Please read more on the Lady Raider Football Page!

Fan and Parent Night!

Friday, August 7th!
The 2nd Annual Fan and Parent Night was AWESOME!

I am hoping some of you will start sending me some pictures because most of mine are of my boys- sorry for that:)

For me- Friday started out with NOT having to WORK! I took the day off to get things ready for Saturday's Lady Raider Camp, so I was at the school ALL day long.

After Julie Cooper, Kristi Harrison and Taylor Elrod and I finished decorating for our event,we headed to the stadium to watch the scrimmage, which was so cool.

First of all, I have NEVER seen so many people in the stands for a scrimmage. I have to say- it was really neat. The seats were full, we had a ton of student body and all the 16 cheerleaders! (yea!! We have 16 cheerleaders!!!!), the dance team and a lot of the girls athletes we there! I was so excited by this.
People were having fun and laughing, cheering and being loud. The main thing is that they were having FUN!

Don't you just love our MC? Ken Zarsky does a FANtastic job at being the voice of the Raiders! He has given me my very first nickname: Mrs. Coach Mann! He is the only one that calls me that and I love it! It makes me laugh everytime he says it!

Did you notice all the kids sitting on the field in red jersey's with Cougars on their shirts? Those kids were from LCP Pop Warner- they were teammates of Zach Pelt and Coach Mann invited them to come sit on the sidelines of the scrimmage. If any of you have little kids that would like to do this too- talk to me- I bet I can sweet talk the coach into being a part of the team for a night! (scrimmages or practices are the best time to do this- during games, is not a good time)
Anyhow, these boys were SO wonderful. They played with my boys and gave ME a MUCH needed break, so I was very greatful to them for this!
My boys tackled them and did running drills with them and I thought that was so cool. I feel certain that these boys had a blast hanging out on the sideline and I hope that they get to do it again very soon!
I didn't even have to take the boys to the concession stand or the bathroom- these boys did it all for me. They even tied Judson's shoes.

I know I am getting a little sidetracked with the LCP kids, but I want to say that 1) they were VERY well disciplined. I was VERY impressed and it was genuine
2) they were so thankful to be out there and it was so good for them (both players and the young guys). I wish every young kid had the opportunity to do something like that- to see what they have to look forward to in the future- even if they don't understand it right now.
The Big guys are huge role models for these young boys and now these little ones have them to look up to. I just think that is so neat!


At 10:45- in the middle of a play- the lights shut completely off. I mean it was pictch black- no one could see and thankfully some people went to their cars and turned their lights on- otherwise it might have been really bad. I could barely find my boys. I also heard that someone in the stands fell down. I hope that didn't happen, and I am sorry if it did.

I ran over to the team huddle because I figured that the boys went there- and sure enough that is exactly where they were! The LCP kids were right there with them in a knee- just like the players!
After they broke out with "Raiders", the players surrounded the LCP kids and gave them high fives and told them thanks for coming out and were asking them what positions that they played. It was really cool- they weren't shy (either of them) and it was just awesome to watch.
Last football season, I could barely get the guys to give my Raider Rousers a high five, much less talk to them and now- they are picking them up- patting their heads, talking to them and it is just awesome to see that how much they have grown in just a years time. So much more mature! Now they are even talking to me.. LOL!








Anyhow, the scrimmage went well according to Josh.
EVERY scrimmage, Josh comes home and asks me how I think that they did. (I think he is just being polite to me:)
Anyhow, and EVERY year, I tell him that I can NEVER tell in a scrimmage because I never know who to cheer for! Aren't we supposed to be happy for all the kids when they ALL do well- not choose sides?
I learned the answer to this on Saturday!

Josh was FURIOUS over the lights going out- and Jace wasn't much better. Josh had told him that he could go in on the last play and try to score a touchdown, but when the lights went out- that all changed. Jace was so upset, it hurt his feelings so bad! Josh promised him that he would take him to practice on Monday and he made good on that. Josh felt horrible about it because he HATES telling someone something and then not doing it- it really bothers him, so on top of already being mad that the lights were shut off- then having to break a promise to Jace- he was really ticked!

Josh came home around 1am and he ate a grilled cheese, talked to me for a minute and then fell straight to sleep for our big day on Saturday!

1st day of 2 a days!

Want to know something?
EVERY year since I have been a Coach's Wife, the week leading UP to 2 a days, the weather is so beautiful. It is typically in the 90's and is somewhat cloudy. THEN, the VERY first day of 2 a days- it is ALWAYS steamy hot with the sun blazing straight down on top of you with the temp being over 100 degrees!
(one year in Wichita Falls, it was 121 degrees- a record high and it was MISERABLE- so count your lucky stars that you are in the Hill Country and not in North Texas!)

Either way- it DOESN'T matter!!! FOOTBALL IS HERE!!!!!!!!
We have waited for this day since October 30, 2008!







I know it was a hot day- but I bet it felt so good to get out there and play! I know that Josh barely slept all night because he was so excited! And like clockwork- he was up and out the door at 5am! I don't know how he does it sometimes!







I have been keeping Coach Cooper's kids the last few weeks and on Tuesday- the 2nd day of 2 a days, we called Josh (because Jace's tooth came out and he wanted to tell Josh)- Anyhow, I called knowing that he was in the middle of practice- but I thought I would leave him a message, well I guess Coach Mann heard the ring because he turned his phone off- but it was in his pocket, so he accidently answered instead- but he didn't know it. So, I turned on our speaker phone and Jace, Judson, The Cooper boys and I listened to about 30 minutes of their practice! It was fun! It was especially cool because Josh must have been working with offense and because of that we were able to hear Coach Cooper yelling and telling them how to run their feet and whistles blowing, some cheers and some "you can do it better than that", "thats ok- but try it this way".
The kids thought that was pretty cool!

1st Annual Rouse Raider Football Team Picnic!

Sunday, August 2, 2009
What a fun event!

The Sports Reps put together an amazing first Team and Family football picnic! It was a lot of fun and it was so nice to see so many of you there!
The Coach's and their families started out at 5pm, with Chad Taylor taking all of our family pictures and we also did some group ones. I will post those at a later date!
Then we headed over to talk to all of the parents and mingle and horse around with all the kids. People kept coming and kept coming, and there was a ton of pizza
and a lot of yummy snacks and deserts. I think I tried a little bit of everything!
I went over and watched the players play football in the park! It was really fun to go and watch them cutting up and just having fun. That is the fun parts of football that you rarely see.

Thank you so much to Bertha Gadison, Lisa Pelt and Liza Gonzales for putting this on and doing such an amazing job getting it together.
Putting together these type of events is hard,and stressful: so the next time you see one of these ladies, please give them a huge hug and tell them how much you appreciate them because I am sure that they do not hear it often enough:)

Some Raider Funnies for the Day!

Hope you have a sense of humor today, because today is
Raider Fun Day!


Is it me- or do we have a Celebrity among the Raider Parents? I am pretty sure that I am seeing double here:





This is a HUGE compliment to Joe. (and lucky Bertha:) Haha!!!
















One year ago this summer:
July 25, 2008- Kristy Harrison leaves town for 1 week and look what Josh does to poor Luke Harrison:































Ok- here's the deal: Josh gave the boys a haircut and Luke saw Josh doing it and asked Josh to TRIM his hair for him using the 2" guard on the clippers. Josh was doing a dang good job until ooops.. the guard just fell off! It happened so fast that Josh didn't move the clippers in time and he made a line right down the middle of his hair. Josh was forced to have to shave Lukes entire head.
Some of you may by suprised to know that when I first met Luke (he was still in college) he had a HUGE head of beautiful curls. Really big- afro like hairdo. I would give anything to have a picture of him then and now.


Josh and I hosted a Rouse New Coach get together! It was a lot of fun and it was only 1 of several get togethers to come.










We also helped Coach Cooper and Julie move into their new house:







And we are so lucky to have everyone here! Last year was so much fun and I can only imagine what we have in store for us this 2009 season.
Steve and Melissa Walker moved into their new house today! We are so happy to have them here!
Last night I had an incredible night out with girls! Bertha Gadison, Lisa Pelt, Liza Gonzales and I went to eat dinner at Chili's and discuss the Raider jamboree! Or at least that was the plan! I think we spent more time talking about non Raider stuff than we did Raider stuff. Either way- I had a great time and I was blessed to go and enjoy some time away from my guys and hang with GIRLS! I NEVER hang with girls only and I have to say- I missed it! It was fun getting to hear stuff about their boys and it really made me realize that although I am sad that my boys are getting bigger- I have SO much to look forward to as a mom with boys!

We have an incredible group of parents and I am so glad to know ALL of you!!!!

Tomorrow is the 2009 First Annual Raider Football Family picnic! It is going to be a lot of fun and we hope that you all can make it!!