Nutcracker 2021

Four of our beautiful girls danced in our local ballet production of The Nutcracker:  a little reindeer (Emory), two street urchins (Maclaren and Dabney), and a baby mouse (Addy).  

We're so proud!

O Christmas Tree

Our whole crew gathered at a local tree farm to select and cut down a gorgeous Christmas tree for our home in record time . . . they're fast in choosing!  We found a semi-free Saturday to make our traditional outing, squeezed between a basketball game and a part-time job  (and working around Nutcracker, cross country, and scouts).  So thankful to have all 15 of us together!  

Our big boys got the tree up in our living room - we'll decorate our closer to Christmas and enjoy the fully decorated tree for the twelve days of Christmas, concluding with the Baptism of the Lord. 

All Hallows Eve

Happy Halloween 2021!  

The kids were super excited to go out "trick-or-treating" for the first time in Ohio.   They planned and prepped and created - wearing self-made costumes or hand-me-downs (thanks Gramma!).  The week prior, our four ballerinas had fun wearing costumes at dance classes, our 3 boy scouts had a costume competition at their pack meeting (Hendrick and Kolpin winning prizes!), and Tesfaye sported two different costumes at different events . . . for the actual day, only our "trick-or-treaters" dressed to venture out into the neighborhood.  

artist (Maclaren), classic ghost (Kolpin), frog (Dukes), greek goddess (Maegli), kangaroo (Addy), CSI agent (Davis), queen (Emroy), genie (Dabney), "Captain America" (Burke), teddy bear (Alarie)

It was wonderful going door-to-door to see (and meet!) our neighbors.  We were impressed to see so many groups of kids and families out in the neighborhood - fun!  The kids had a blast and came home with too much candy - which mostly immediately disappeared (!).  The littles stayed with mom and dad, and the biggers went out on their own covering nearly two miles.  Cuties!

Afterwards, we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over a backyard fire, and enjoyed hot cider and caramel apples outdoors while listening to Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow."  

Regional Meet - XC 2021 - State Bound!

 
All season, the Golden Eagles have been working towards their goal of qualifying for State.  They've fought, one race at a time.  They've had their ups and downs - so many things can happen in a race!  They've battled through injuries, falls, heat, rain, and mud.  Not every race finished the way they had hoped, but they never gave up.  These boys are warriors!  

The Golden Eagles were not favored to finish on top at the Regional meet.  They boys haven't had the best of luck on this course in the past . . . and today's course conditions brought an additional challenge: sloppy, mucky, muddy, mess!

"Guts are a combination of confidence, courage, conviction, strength of character, stick-to-itiveness, pugnaciousness, backbone, and intestinal fortitude.  They are mandatory for anyone who wants to get to and stay at the top."  - D.A. Benton

Tesfaye's personal goal was to finish top 20.  The top 32 individuals qualify for the State meet.  

The top 8 teams qualify for State.  That was the team goal!

From the sidelines we watched Tesfaye fight! 

The course was so mucky in spots, it was hard to get traction.  He did his best to keep up with the pack.  At the halfway mark, he was running about 45th/188.  At 2-miles, he had moved up to 32nd.  Going into the final 800m, Tesfaye was 25th.  In the final finish, Tesfaye passed 7 runners!  

Tesfaye finished 18th overall!!!

Tesfaye qualified for the Ohio State XC Meet!!!

 

After the race was over, the wait began . . . did they do enough on the course to qualify as a team?

The Golden Eagle varisty boys finished 8th overall!!!  

The boys are going to STATE!!!

Led by Tommy's 1st place finish, and Tesfaye's 18th place - the Golden Eagles XC Team are State Bound!

So proud of these boys! 

*While this will be Tesfaye's 3rd State XC appearance, this will be his first in Division I competition and first in Ohio! 

Pumpkin Patch

 

Another fall tradition checked off Mama's list for 2021 - yay Pumpkins!  

We found a magical pumpkin farm open early weekdays, perfect for a busy homeschool family.  Our visit to Richardson Farm fit beautifully between ballet classes, art lessons, basketball practice, play rehearsals, and school - on a gorgeous fall day in late October!  

We were only missing our three oldest - our visit didn't line up as well with cross country (Tesfaye) or college classes (Davis and Hendrick) . . . 10 out of 13 these days is pretty amazing for us!