Noelle's First Day of School

Monday, August 27th was Noelle's very first day of school! If you read this blog you likely know that we homeschool our children. However, they always go to public school starting in middle school. Today is Noelle's first day of 7th grade and her first day of school EVER. If you have children, this of this as the first day of kindergarten.



Here is Noelle in front of our house before school.



Here are my three oldest children. This was Shawn Jr.'s first day of high school and the start of Brittany's junior year. Oh man! Where have the years gone. Misty and I are lucky to have such wonderful children.



Here is Noelle and her good friend Kaymi getting ready for their first day of school.

Brittany, Shawn and Noelle - Go get them! Have a great year. Remember to do your best, work hard and be a great example for others. I am proud of you!

New Addition to Helms House

There is a new addition to the Helms house - a 3 month old kitten named Lilly.



She is really cute and playful.


She will be lucky to survive the Helms kids.

Noelle & Berkley Qualify for USA Beach Junior Tour Championships

Noelle and her partner Berkley took 3rd place at a national qualifier sand volleyball tournament in Galveston, Texas today. With their 3rd place finish they won a bid to USA Beach Junior Tour Championships in Milwaukee, WI on July 28th.

MadFrog 12s Wins National Championship

Noelle's volleyball team, MadFrog 12s National Lew, went undefeated and won the USA Volleyball National Championship in Columbus, Ohio this past week. This is an amazing accomplishment. The USA Volleyball National Championships are the Super Bowl of the youth volleyball world. Only the very best teams from around the United States qualify for nationals. Noelle's team went in ranked #2 and played 4 great days of volleyball to come away with the national championship.

MadFrog on the metal stand.

Noelle with her gold metal.

Noelle with the championship trophy.

This is MadFrog being announced before the final game.

This was the final standings.

This was the gold bracket. The teams that made it to the gold bracket were from Texas, Florida, California, Kansas, Ohio and Puerto Rico.

This was the team after the the semi-final game.  They had just beat a very tough OVA team to make it to the championship game. 

The girl in the middle is Shanel Bramschreiber, the captain of the team and an unbelievable player. She played great the entire tournament.

This is a view from the top of the bleacher. As you can see - it was a huge event.

Noelle and her MadFrog teammate and sand volleyball partner Berkley Adams.

Noelle and Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope. Ashlyn was the teams top hitter all year. The girl has some serious power. Ashlyn played her best at the most critical times of the tournament. She was very clutch down the stretch.

Noelle and Shanel.

The girls getting their metals.

The MadFrog mascot.

The girls are all getting national championship rings. Very cool!

Below is Noelle's ring.

Noelle and Berkley Qualify for AAU Nationals in Sand Volleyball!

Noelle and her partner Berkley took 1st place at the NRG AAU National Qualifier sand volleyball tournament on June 16, 2012 in the 12U division.  With this win they won a bid to the AAU Beach Volleyball Championships in Hermosa Beach, California on July 28 - 29.   They beat a very good team of Kylie and Emily in the championship match.  Both of these teams play for a beach organization called NRG Beach.  

Berkley and Noelle with their AAU National bid certificates 

 Berkley and Noelle after the match

 Berkley and Noelle pose by the pool

Noelle, Berkley, Kylie and Emily