February Frenzy

Over the long weekend, our school basketball teams participated in the February Frenzy, a pretty good local basketball tournament.  Unfortunately, our teams did not fare well, going 0-8.  The girls varsity played a few good games - disappointing outcomes in both games, but better play than we've seen from our girls in a while.

Coach Mike keeps things humorous while Coach Dave is all business. 

Terrified of a violation, Elizabeth's shoots foul shots without jumping and from a few inches behind the line. 

With the swish.

And Another...

As posted on the school Facebook page last week.  We are so proud of this girl.

P.S.  If things do not work out on M10, Elizabeth will attend NWC next year.  Her receipt of this acceptance letter brought relief to the entire family.

Ice Dams

If you follow national news at all, you may know that there were two huge ice dams causing a great deal of havoc in Connecticut in January.  In Kent, a mile wide and 12 foot deep ice dam flooded the Housatonic River and caused the Kent School to evacuate for more than a week.  Closer to home, the ice dams at the Haddam Swing Bridge caused massive flooding in Haddam.  The ice dams and the flooding were so historic that the national morning programs were live in Haddam for almost a week. We passed near Haddam while driving home from a basketball tournament while the ice breakers were starting to break through and took a little detour to check things out.  It was pretty spectacular and the property damage was really extensive.

Ariel footage of the Connecticut River.  The river is 12 feet higher north of the Swing Bridge. 

Photos do not do justice to the size of the ice chunks.  Bigger than cars.  Just amazing. 

January Odds and Ends

A few left over photos from January:

8th graders at mass for Catholic Schools Week.

St. Francis of Assisi cupcakes (Emily's extra credit for a Language Arts presentation). 

When your sister tries on a bunch of different heels loaned by a friend and you don't want to be left out of all the fun, even if you are wearing your soccer uniform. 

8th grade moms working at yet another Father Daughter Dance.

Catholic Schools Week

The final week of January was Catholic Schools week and the girls had so much fun.  The festivities began on Saturday night with the Father Daughter Dance.  On Sunday, the girls were both tour guides for the Open House.  It was the largest attended open house in school history and they both did a great job touring.  Among others, Elizabeth toured a couple who is good friends with Nick & Agnes and Emily toured a family whose daughter decided to enroll after her visit.  During the week, the girls enjoyed participating in all the spirit days.  It was a great week!

Father Daughter Dance 

Character Day.  Elizabeth is America Singer from The Selection and Emily is Meg McCaffrey from Percy Jackson. 

Decades Day - 90's grunge. 

Career Day - Elizabeth is a vet and Emily is a SWAT team member. 

Spirit Day.  Elizabeth was acting like a 13 year old, so there's no photo of her final spirit day.

Father Daughter Dance

Catholic Schools week kicked off with the annual Father Daughter Dance.  Everyone in our family loves this tradition so much.  Lee has a group of guys to hang out with and the girls have a blast with their friends.  Usually, I get a few hours to myself, but this year, there weren't enough volunteers so I worked the dance.  If Elizabeth goes away next year, this will be her last Father Daughter Dance, which is a lot to think about... Anyway, they all had a great time and it was a great way to kick off the most fun week of the year.

8th grade girls 

6th grade girls 

Love this photo so much.

January Basketball

Basketball season is going really well.  Although the girls are 4-6, they are playing so well, especially considering the talent on the team.  Elizabeth is just tenacious on defense and completely focused while on the court and Emily's confidence is really growing.  She is averaging several steals and several rebounds and is becoming more confident with her shooting as well.  Emily is the 1st man off the bench and the girl she usually subs in for has been in foul trouble a lot, so Emily is really benefitting from all of the extra playing time.  Both girls are benefitting from being in such good shape - they usually play the entire 4th quarter of every game, as most of the team is completely gassed and ours are never tired. It is fun watching them get better and better and watching their team improve as well.

Elizabeth's first successful career foul shot - it came in a close home game (although wasn't enough to put us over the top)

Never a question - she's always the shortest kid on the court, and usually the youngest as well (varsity is only 7th and 8th grade).  She's scrappy and tough.

Elizabeth shooting a foul shot.

Olympian Rebecca Lobo was kind enough to pose for a photo with our team after the game.  She coaches three different teams at her daughters' school and is so incredibly selfless with her time.  I admire her as a competitor and respect her as a coach but I hope we beat them next year (we were winning at the half and only lost by 4!).

Christmas in January

Although my family usually gets together to celebrate the holidays the weekend before Christmas, my nieces' college exam schedule made that impossible this year, so the festivities were pushed out until the week after New Year's.  Joe and Karen kept up their Christmas tree and decorations, so everything still felt festive and fun.  We had a great visit with everyone and enjoyed spending time with family, as always.

My dad loves getting McDonalds gift cards!

Traditional ornament from her godparents.

Harry Potter sheets!  So exciting!!