Whatta night.

Elizabeth is officially a cheerleader groupie. Yesterday she participated in the school cheerleading clinic, which they offer every year. This was her second year participating. (Third? I can't remember if she did it in kindergarten or not.) Today all the cheer clinic girls performed at the school pep rally. So Elizabeth was all excited, and we wound up attending the basketball game tonight. Wowza. We arrived early, to watch the JV game, since one of my carpool kids is on the team. I, the perpetually frazzled spouseless mom, arrived all flustered and not-together. Got to the admission table, found I'd left my cash in the van. I left the kids with a friend who happened by, and took off running for the parking lot. Got halfway across the parking lot, missed a curb, and totally bit it right there in front of God and everyone. I'm thirty years old and I skinned my knees. Revisiting your childhood? Not so much fun. I'm pretty sure I ruined my jeans too. But I hobbled back inside for the game. We were heading for our seats, when the JV cheerleaders spotted us, and asked if Elizabeth could hang out with them and cheer for a while. You would have thought the child had won a trip to Disneyworld. She was just beside herself. They gave her a set of pom poms and made sure to do cheers that she knew from the cheer clinic. Of course I took pics. She wound up staying for the whole game, then hanging out with the Varsity cheerleaders for the next game. I did give them an out. I slipped over and told them that if she started getting annoying/in the way, to tell her that her mom was calling her and I'd keep her in our seats. They were all, "No, she's great!" These are just the NICEST pack of girls you will ever run across - total opposite of every cheerleader stereotype. I love them.

The JV kids won, it was great.
Then all of our friends started arriving for the Varsity game. This was a biggie, against a team that has beaten them every time. So the coach promised to shave his head if we won. We won, and everyone went wild. What fun. The coach (who is also Elizabeth's gym teacher, and her friend Allie's dad) will be all kinds of bald Monday morning. The kids had the time of their lives and are already begging to go to the next game. Will do.

I'm hoarse from the screaming. My knees hurt from my tumble in the parking lot. My thighs hurt from my sprint across the parking lot. And my hiney hurts from sitting on the back of a folding chair all night, which was the only way we could see. But it was worth it. Whee!

Whatta night.