Picture of the Week - 11/28/2019

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Grateful.  Thankful.  Blessed!

Picture of the Week - 11/21/2019

As we move quickly into Thanksgiving week, I really couldn't be more thankful for the extra time I've gotten to spend with the boys over the last couple of months.  It's been a blessing that I do not take for granted.  It will come to an end, but the impact these last weeks has had on me, my relationships with them, and my mindset about a great number of things will remain.  I am refreshed.  I am thankful.  Grateful.  Blessed.

I thought I'd share a glimpse into one of the most creative solutions to a "situation" that popped up at school in a long time.  Zane is in 4th grade this year and is in a class full of, let's call them high achievers.  He's having a great year.  He's always been a good student, but this year he's also getting into extracurriculars.  He was invited to join the Junior Beta club.  He participates in the running club.  He engages in a wide variety of ways and topics.  All in all, he's just an easy kid to parent through elementary school.

So I didn't really think much about it when he started talking about Pokémon again and pulled out the old Pokémon cards.  I mean this same thing happened with Minecraft...  what was cool for the big guys eventually becomes cool for the littles as well.  So we got all caught up on the world of Pokémon.  Turns out remarkably little changes...  and got used to the chatter between Zane and Beckett in what sounds suspiciously like a foreign tongue.

Then one day disaster struck.  His teacher thought that the Pokémon chat was becoming too big a distraction and she - GASP - banned the cards at school.  Zane was pretty bummed about this.  Then he ran outside to play...  and I didn't really think much more about it.  

A few days later he asked if we have any index cards.  Yes, of course.  What kind of respectable family with a bunch of kids in school doesn't have index cards.  Do you want white or colored?  He took a stack of the white ones and off he went.  I didn't ask why.  I didn't really care, to be honest.  

The next thing I knew, he was working on these cards every chance he got.  He pulled out a bunch of old colored pencils.  He carried them back and forth to school in a zip lock bag.  Finally curiosity got the best of me and I asked him what he was doing.  His answer was very matter-of-fact.  He and his friends were making their own battle/trading cards to sell to each other to take the place of the Pokémon cards.  They found a way around the teacher's ban.  LOL  And honestly, if I were the teacher, I would support this whole-heartedly!  These cards have rules, there's a storyline, there are drawings.  In short, there's some serious thought and creativity going into this project.  

I just love that kid and the way his mind works.  There's no stopping him - especially if he decides to work around whatever future roadblocks hit his path.  Lookout world...  Zane is coming for you!

Sporty news (because what's a POTW without a sporty update?)

- Spencer is back full time on the mats with the Varsity team.  He wrestled in his first dual last night and went 2-0 with a forfeit and a pin in 23 seconds.  

- Quinn wrestled JV yesterday and ran into another hammer who is working on dropping weight so he can get back onto his varsity team.  He lost, but gets to try again soon.

- Zane and Beck are doing a tourney on Sunday.  They are both ready and looking really good.  They are really motivated this year.  I'm excited to see what they can do!

- Quinn and the JV team are going to a tournament on Monday (which I'm really looking forward to seeing!)

- Both Spencer and Quinn are wrestling on Tuesday in the West Thanksgiving Duals.  This is always one of my favorite events - despite the amount of work that goes into making it run.  It's a fun one! 

Then we get to take a breather and enjoy some downtime for Thanksgiving break before hitting the ground RUNNING in December!

Picture of the Week - 11/14/2019

How'd it get to be the middle of November so fast???  Wow!

Bob and I had a great time on our mini-vacation to Asheville.  What a cute little town.  We stayed in a fun, trendy hotel and ate tapas and drank fancy cocktails.  It was like we were grown-ups or something!  We also got to visit the Biltmore house, which just happened to be hosting a Downton Abbey exhibit.  A few thoughts on this...  

Biltmore is beautiful and impressive.  It did pale a bit after visiting castles in Europe...  but was different enough to not feel like an imitation.  I can't wrap my head around living like that!  We lucked out because it was all decorated for Christmas already.  Gorgeous!  I'm so glad we got to see it decorated.  It really did put us in the holiday mood!

We started watching Downton Abbey a couple of months ago.  We didn't watch it back when it was "new", so we are only through about 2 seasons.  I'm really glad we watched it before visiting Biltmore because it was MUCH easier to imagine what the house was like after watching the show.  I do, however, wish we had finished the series before going through the Downton Abbey exhibition.  We learned some things about the storyline and some of the big plot twists were kinda ruined for us.  We'll still watch...  but I wish we didn't know what was coming.  I think this is a little like reading a book and then watching the movie.  It's still good, just different...  

If you ever decide to take a road trip to Asheville... we highly recommend the Foundry Hotel and you MUST eat at Curate.  Get the lamb and thank me later.  Stop at the Social House for cocktails and order the one with the basil in it.  Yum!

In sports news...  Spencer's football team has a playoff game tomorrow night.  It would be a colossal upset if they won, so his football season is likely over this week.  He's really anxious to wrestle, so it's kind of a win/win for us.  Quinn's mostly recovered from his concussion, but going to take this weekend off and should be good to go next week.  Zane and Beck are into practices 3-4 nights a week and seem to really be enjoying themselves.  Their first tournament is a week from Saturday.  

Here are a couple of pictures we took at the pumpkin patch.  I've not shared them before, but thought I'd send them along because they make me smile.  

Have a great week everyone - spend some time prepping the Thanksgiving menu and thinking about all the things you are thankful for this year.  There are SO many... for instance...  I just figured out where to buy my current favorite wine, which I feared I'd lost forever when Total Wine didn't have it.  3 cheers for the Fancy Kroger and Storyteller Chardonnay!

Picture of the Week - 11/7/2019

Happy November!

Fun stuff happening here!  

Spencer's last regular season football game is tomorrow night.  They will go into the playoffs next week, but we have to wait and see if they can pull out a win against a big in-county rival tomorrow.  Oh and it's supposed to be in the 30s!  I may freeze...  

Beckett/Bob's team lost last weekend, so both Beck and Zane have transitioned to wrestling season.  They are both really into it this year.  Far more than last year.  Should be a fun season for them.  They are working out with the high school coaches and also a couple of nights a week at Morris Fitness.  I figure 4 nights a week ought to keep them busy for a while.  LOL  We will be doing some tournaments with them this year.  Both are still in the same age brackets as last year, but this year they are the OLDER ones.  I think they should have good seasons!  There's a huge difference between a 7 year old with no experience and an 8 year old with a year under his belt.  And both boys weigh almost exactly what they did last year, so I expect they are going to have a lot of fun!

Quinn's NOT having a fun week this week...  he and another wrestler smacked heads pretty hard yesterday morning.  Quinn ended up with a mild concussion and has been home for a couple of days.  He's feeling much better, but will have to sit out the team's first tournament of the season.  Spencer isn't wrestling yet either as he has to finish out the football season first.  They are both anxious to get out on the mats again.

Bob and I are practically counting the minutes until Sunday afternoon when we are leaving the boys with my parents for a couple of days to take a little trip to Asheville, NC.  We figured we should take advantage of my free time, Bob's plethora of PTO, and a relatively quiet sports schedule to have a get-away.  We are ridiculously excited!  I'll let you know how the Downton Abbey exhibition at the Biltmore is!  I think we are going to miss peak leaf color in Asheville, but the forecast maps show that north GA will be in peak color for our drive.  Yahoo!! 

Have a great week everyone!  Here are a couple of pictures from wrestling practice last night.  Beck is trying to look intimidating, I think...  or maybe that's his evil alter ego coming out???

Picture of the Week - 11/1/2019

Oops - missed Thursday two weeks in a row.  I'll get back onto a schedule soon!

Last night was Halloween (of course) and the boys had a blast.  It's a chaotic evening these days.  Long gone are the days where we could get everyone all dressed up and leisurely wander around the neighborhood.  

Beckett was a skeleton last night.  He was thrilled with this costume when it was 80 degrees.  It was a little less practical after the cold front came through yesterday.  He was eager to get going and went all out for about half the neighborhood.  Then he got cold, went home and was perfectly content to sit and watch TV the rest of the evening.

Zane probably had the best time last night.  He adored his "blow up man" costume.  (I admit it's one of my favs too!)  He ran with the group (and Bob, with Brutus) for a long time, then took off solo with a couple of other boys.  This is the first time he's ever gone off on his own and he was LOVING LIFE!!!  Also, picture in your head "Blow up man" with a blow up dino RUNNING.  SO funny!

Quinn went to a party with a few friends and came home late.  I haven't even talked to him about it yet because he was back up and at wrestling practice at 6 AM this morning.

Spencer had a friend come over and took over handing out candy duty.  I really appreciated him holding down the fort at home while Bob was trick-or-treating and I was playing the role of chauffeur.  

Crazy Halloween this year.  I know I will miss this chaos someday...

Tonight Spencer's team takes on an in-county rival.  Tomorrow Beckett's team tackles round 2 of the playoffs.  If they win, they are in the championship game.  I'm taking Spencer over to Tuscaloosa for the day to attend an admissions brief to learn more about the Naval Academy.  Busy day!!  

Have a great week!  Happy November!