Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break started with a soccer tournament, which Emma's team dominated! It was a long couple of days way across town, but the girls were thrilled to leave with gold medals.

We made our now-traditional annual trek to Broken Bow on Tuesday, staying again in a new-to-us cabin. We really liked this one! The huge indoor and outdoor living spaces offered plenty of entertainment.

We shot many games of pool ...

... roasted countless s'mores ...

... played cards ...

... tossed bags ...

... watched football ...

... cozied up by the fire ...

Steve got me a "Christmas Vacation" mule mug to use. No eggnog, but I still felt festive drinking out of it!

Thanksgiving morning consisted of cinnamon roles and the Macy's parade. I'm glad the girls will still slow down and tune in (and actually enjoy it).

We had to hit up Girls Gone Wine, as well as the Mountain Fork Brewery a couple of times for pizza and brews. We had great weather - a little chilly (cold at night for fires) - and enjoyed sitting outside with the heaters.

Sara had to get in an insta photoshoot.

Emma made herself at home in the woods, exploring and finding a couple good walking sticks.

And Jim absolutely lived his best life. He needed a good bath and a long nap when we got home.

The final activity before we said goodbye for this year was to break the wishbone.

It was a quick snap in Emma's favor!

We made it home yesterday in time for me to do a bunch of laundry, for Sara to dive back into her social life, and for us to watch the Cyclones win their 10th regular season game for the first time in history! We are thrilled that they are headed to Arlington next weekend for the Big XII Championship. Tickets are pricey and our schedule next weekend is full ... but we may try to see if we can get there anyway. Time will tell, but either way we'll be cheering loudly!

Now I'm back at the airport with a repacked suitcase to head to Grand Rapids for a couple of days with a group of people from my school district. We are going to explore a furniture company, that's really all I know. I don't like not being at school, especially coming off of a break, but it was nice to be asked to attend this trip. Should be interesting ... and a little chilly! Steve is holding down the fort, and when I get back Tuesday evening it'll be right back into the busy schedule. We have something every weeknight and weekend for the next few weeks, including Sara's final driving practice and her test. Steve and I also need to manage to find time to Christmas shop. Another whirlwind ahead of us!

Ready to Rest!

 We have made it to Thanksgiving break! It has been a busy few weeks since Halloween ... here's what we've been up to ...

Emma's softball season ended. After primarily playing 2nd base and outfield this season, she took one more turn behind the plate, which was fun to see. I'm not sure if she'll play softball in the spring as her team is likely going to be primarily a tournament team, and there's just no way to juggle that with soccer. I love watching Emma play softball, so I'm hoping she'll want to continue with a league team, but we'll see.

Emma also brought home several awards from school, including a recognition from her pre-athletics coach. I'm so proud of Emma's transition to middle school!

She really got into attending volleyball games this fall. She was there so much that the coach often asked her to be a line judge, which she loved! This winter she's going to play on a volleyball team at PSA in hopes of making the school team next year. We'll see how she does with a new sport!

I got a new car! It's a VW Taos and I LOVE it. Since we're about to have three drivers in the house (hoping Sara passes her test in a few weeks - fingers crossed), we needed another vehicle. I knew I wanted something smaller than what I'd had, and this smaller SUV was perfect for our needs at this point. Steve and I have both enjoyed driving it ... Sara hasn't had a turn yet.

Sara's competition squad competed at UCA Regionals. Here they are before loading the bus.

Super fans ... we were among a huge Plano West section! Since we could only handle so much cheer comp, we snuck out between West's performance and the awards for a bite and a bev.

This team has had several obstacles this fall, primarily with some coaching issues and athletes quitting. We really had no expectation going into this competition, and we're just glad when they weren't called first during awards (meaning they would have come in last). As the teams were called and the rankings got higher, we got so excited that they might even place. They did better than that, though ... they WON! Parents and athletes were all shocked and thrilled!

After so much work and some heartache, they got their bid to nationals in Orlando. I'm proud of Sara's hard work and her leadership as captain this year.

Now that the team is heading to Orlando in February, they have increased their fundraising efforts ... which included a car wash that the girls were less than thrilled about. They were good sports, though, and made several hundred dollars.

I made a quick weekend visit to MN to surprise Melissa for her birthday! It was so fun!

We watched movies, went to brunch, went to a craft fair, and squeezed in a Triggerfish gig (complete with a sloppy joe at the Hopkins Legion in true MN fashion).

Cal was so excited to tell me that he's FIVE now! He read me a book and showed off all his new toys. He really looked great in his backwards jersey.

Group pic! I was there less than 48 hours, but it was a bucket-filler!

Emma has a soccer tournament this weekend and Sara has to work. We have a couple of appointments on Monday, and then Tuesday we are headed back to Broken Bow for our 5th Thanksgiving in the woods. We are all looking forward to some time away to rest and reconnect. Things will be busy again after Thanksgiving, but the slow-down next week will be just what we need!

Halloween '24

Halloween 2024 was LOTS of fun spread over a couple of busy weeks! At one of Emma's futsal games the afternoon of pumpkin carving night round one, a booth was selling these cute cookies so I had to grab a few.

Sara and Zach walked to the pumpkin patch at the church up the street and picked out pumpkins.

They all decided to try some of the insides ... pretty sure they all regretted it.

Their pumpkins turned out really cute! This was a week and a half before Halloween, and the weather was still warm, so they didn't last long outside. Still a fun evening for them to get in the spirit!

Emma's soccer team spent a Friday night at the Haunted Shadows trail. She said it was a lot of fun and much scarier than expected!

Between cheer and soccer, we ended up carving our own pumpkins at 9:00 on October 30th. Just in time! Made for a late school night, but always worth the tradition.

I wasn't going to roast the seeds since we got a late start, but I was out-voted. Delicious, of course - much better than the raw pumpkin insides!

On Halloween, my admin team at school dressed up as the Australian breakdancing team from the Olympics. We got LOTS of laughs. It was such a fun day full of silly poses and "performances". Most of our staff and students also dressed up, too.

Emma and a friend went as minions; Sara and Zach were the Statue of Liberty and a NYC tourist.

They all went out trick-or-treating and came back with tons of candy. We're already looking for next year when Halloween will finally ... FINALLY ... be back on a Friday!