Don’t they look cute all dressed up? We were on the way to the Nutcracker ballet and they allowed me to take some photos. Owen requested the bow tie for his holiday outfit this year. I had to crop Jack out because he was all scowly because he didn’t want to get dressed up and wanted to stay home and watch football.
I just realized….Owen and Fiona are touching. Does that make this a bizarr-o photo?
Wrestling has started again. We’re taking it a bit easy this year…no CB Raiders, just Redhawk and some tournaments.
The first tournament of the year for us was Sunday. Jack won his division and Owen placed second. They both wrestled really well, picking up from where they left off last year after placing in the AAU Spring Nationals in Tennessee.
I was especially proud of Owen, who wrestled like a maniac in his last match, but just couldn’t pull out the win to take first. However, he was at the doctor with potential pneumonia five days ago, so I guess he gets a break!!! 
Jack is really starting to develop his “style.” (I’m not sure Owen has an identifiable style yet…he most goes forward and is strong. Owen’s infamous quote is: “I know moves no one else knows.” At some point, he’ll probably have to learn to use some “real” moves, but for now, his own moves are working just fine.)
Jack goes into each match with a clear plan, which helps him be aggressive and stick to his best moves. I’m sure his last opponent thought he was going to pound Jack, but Jack controlled the match pretty well, taking it into overtime and I didn’t think it was as close as the score showed. He even won overtime on a takedown (takedowns are NOT Jack’s strongest skill.)
As we’re not managing weight this year (although I could probably use some weight management!), both boys are “light” for their division. I think Owen gave up about 3-5 pounds in his last match, and Jack was undersized by about six pounds and eight inches on his last opponent.
More photos are here.
Apparently, I never posted the photos of Fiona’s special vacation (just mom and dad, no stinky brothers) last summer to Dutch Wonderland. We had a great time…did all the rides, went to the movies, at out for dinner and slept in hotel.
The boys got to go to Alaska…Fiona went to Dutch Wonderland, but everyone seems pretty happy about it.
So, without further ado, the Dutch Wonderland photos are here.
I washed my dustpan today. I actually moved furniture (with Kevin and Jack’s help and Fiona’s “help”) and swept and swiffered underneath. As I was putting my dustpan away, I realized that it was very dirty (DUH, you use it to collect dirt).
So, I washed it. It looks nice.
Wonder what cleaning miracle I will perform next?
Germantown sent out this email today as part of the annual fundraising campaign to highlight what’s being done with contributions. That’s all well and good, but what the email neglected to mention (!) is that it is JACK’s team (he and another boy) who currently are in first place in the US in the TD Bank fantasy stock market game.
He’s available to take calls for a fee if you’d like to discuss your 401(k).
The Math Market Club in Lower School (pictured above) meets weekly after school to directly apply their developing math skills toward buying, selling and trading stocks in this unique imaginary marketplace. Fourth grade teacher Graham Martin leads the students in learning market values, understanding stock symbols and all of the preliminary elements of investing and trading in this fantasy market scenario. The kids enjoy learning about the presented elements of commerce and “high finance.” Currently, their successful efforts have resulted in four of the top 20 spots, to include the number one spot, in this national web-based competition!
Extracurricular opportunities like the Math Market Club are made possible by your donation to the Annual Fund. This is Your Gift In Action!
For more information about the Annual Fund, contact Kelli Toland.
I made the football-related posts password protected because apparently my views caused some controversy.
Although this is MY blog and never advertised itself as objective, but rather a medium for MY thoughts and feelings, I don’t want to cause any more turmoil.
I’m happy to share my writings and photos. If you’d like access to the passworded posts, please email me and put “password request” in the subject line and I’ll send you the password.
Apparently, playing linebacker and fullback wasn’t enough. Sunday, Jack played a number of series as … NOSE TACKLE!! According to Jack, he caused at least three injury timeouts from that position, as well as at least one fumble.
(I wish someone would explain to me why my two sons, who are each one of the smallest if not THE smallest guy on the team play positions like center and nose tackle, which are usually huge big guys. Are we doing something wrong???)
He also did his usual standout job at linebacker and fullback. Unfortunately, although the team played their best game ever, they came up a bit short. A learning season, nonetheless.
More photos are here. (Jack is #33 in the gold jersey)
Owen’s football team won a wonderful game — their last of the season on Saturday.
Owen played the whole game at center and had not a single bumbled snap.
He had to fight off hefty #29 who looked like he was about a head taller than Owen, but he did a great job.
After the game, the team celebrate their great season with a pizza part at Giuseppe’s.
More photos are here. (Owen is in the gold, #53 jersey)
I came across this today. Whatever your political beliefs, it should make you think.
Consider your spontaneous response to the following hypothetical situations:
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected a reality, if the tables were turned, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative characteristics in another when there is a color difference.
And, think of this - the candidates’ educational backgrounds:
Barack Obama
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn’t everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.
You make the call. Go vote tomorrow.
The kids brought home more candy this year than they ever have, so I guess trick or treating was a success.
We dropped Jack and Owen off at Jack’s friend Charlie’s house about 6:00 and Charlie’s dad took them around and then brought them home. In the slideshow, Charlie is the grim reaper.
We were worried that Fiona would be upset about not being included, but she was quite happy to be an only child for the evening. Her only request was that she wanted to get out of the car to show Charlie her costume.
We went to ‘Seppe’s for dinner to kill some time (FIona insisted that we couldn’t start trick or treating until it was dark out.) Then we took Fiona around a small neighborhood near us.
She very much enjoyed being in charge of ringing the doorbells and collected a large bag full of candy.
A few more photos are here.
The annual Halloween parades were this morning. Jack and Owen’s was a big production around the quad at Germantown.
Many parents were there and most of the upper school came about to watch and some of the older kids were dressed up as well.
Owen went as a Myrmidon (a soldier who fought for Achilles) and Jack went as a rapper. Later today, Owen’s class is going on a hayride and to a corn maze as their Halloween party and Jack’s class is having the traditional sugar-filled class party.
I made it back to CEC in time for Fiona’s party and she look quite “swee” as the candy corn fairy.
Photos from both parties are here.
Jack’s soccer team, the Solebury Storm (under 11 boys), is selling trees as a fundraiser.
You can get your very own 6′ tall maple or sweet gum tree for $30. Better yet, get your tree a friend and buy TWO for $50.
Delivery in Solebury, just let me know.
Look at that beautiful sweet gum tree to the left. Would you love one of those in your own yard?
Jack scored his first points for the season. He got the PAT by running in the ball. He didn’t exactly execute the play he was supposed to, but he got the point nonetheless.
(Personally, I think he was doing his Ernie Davis impression and pretending like he was winning the Cotton Bowl — we had just seen “The Express” the night before and Jack was all psyched up. He says he wants to be #44 next year.)
Although the team lost, I thought there were many moments of their best play all year and I was proud of how they hung tough, despite a less-than-gentlemanly Penndel team (a coach and player have been suspended by the league for poor sportsmanship.)
The rest of the photos are here.