Clover Street Chronicles: November 2015

Monday, November 30, 2015

Turkey Tournament

On Saturday, Elizabeth and some of her teammates from Middletown Lacrosse played in the Turkey Tourney in East Lyme. Although they didn't win any of their four games, Elizabeth was so happy to be playing for Coach Heather and with her old teammates. They played much older girls (it was a U15 tournament and Elizabeth is only 11) and for us and Elizabeth, it was a taste of the years ahead of us - her team is moving into a new age group, and she will be the youngest by at least two years for a while.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Ragged Mountain Invitational

Over the weekend, Elizabeth competed in the Ragged Mountain Invitational, a robotics competition. For various logistical reasons (conflicts with other activities, etc.), there are only five members on her team this year and Elizabeth and one her classmates were involved from the beginning, designing and building their robot over the summer. Elizabeth presented her team's project to the judges, did several challenges and was involved in programming as well. She was very, very into the team this year and the competition was exhausting for her. They did not move on to states (only 6 of 23 teams advanced), but we are proud of the work that she and her teammates did.

Working with Duane on one of the challenges.

The second challenge.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Edible Book Fair

This week, JPII held its first ever Edible Book Fair - a book fair comprised of projects made by the students that are completely edible. As I'm sure you can imagine, I was not thrilled when I learned about this project as I am pretty much the least crafty person I know. Elizabeth had the great idea of involving one of our neighbors, who makes amazing cakes for her sons' birthdays, and she graciously showed the girls how to work with fondant and lent them a bunch of her tools. The girls set to work, practicing and practicing and put together the fondant accessories for their projects. They told me what kind of cake they wanted, which I baked for them. Their final projects, along with all of the other projects made by 4th through 8th grade, we presented at the Edible Book Fair on Thursday. Some of the projects were absolutely amazing, but we are so proud of what Elizabeth and Emily designed, all on their own!

Practice makes perfect.

Elizabeth designed a tea table, as the pivotal scene in her book occurred during tea time between the Queen of England and a spy.

Emily created a Harry Potter cake, complete with Harry's scar, scarf and glasses, as well as the sorting hat.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Fall Fear Tournament

Elizabeth played travel lacrosse this fall for the Connecticut Cardinals Tournament Team. She doesn't like the tournament team as much as she likes playing with her friends in Middletown, but she muddled through. On Sunday, we got up very early and drove to Devens, Massachusetts for the Fall Fear Tournament. Her team went 1-2, although both losses were only by one goal (and that's saying something in girls lacrosse). It was bitterly cold and she and I were both secretly glad that they didn't advance to the next round.

Freezing in Devens at 7:45 a.m.

Uncle Peter and Auntie Kathy surprised her, arriving in time to take in her final game.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

November Sports

Although indoor soccer started in early November, Emily still had plenty of outdoor games to finish up. In fact, over one weekend, she played both indoor and outdoor games within a few hours of each other. The first two weekends of November were loaded with games - first a tournament and then the overlap. In all, Emily played 11 games over four weekend days. She sleeps well, that much we know! Elizabeth also geared up for a lacrosse tournament, playing four games on Sunday afternoon in preparation for a big New England tournament.