November Odds and Ends

NWC girls soccer made a run at the state title and all of the playoffs games were within 3 miles of our house so we went to all of them! (Portland, CT) 

Durham, CT 

Middletown, CT 

Basketball season has begun! 

Black Friday 3v3 tournament 

NWC Semi

Elizabeth attended her first semiformal last weekend. At NWC, only upper classmen are invited to the semiformal, so this was her first opportunity to attend.  We had a bit of a struggle over the dress, as she wanted something shorter and I wanted something appropriate, but we were eventually able to compromise and she looked amazing.  After seeing all of the dresses posted on social media, my (biased) opinion is that she was the best looking girl there.  Best of all, she grudging agrees that her dress was the classiest of all.

O Christmas Tree 2019

We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, the earliest I've ever gotten a tree in my entire life.  I'm glad that we went the day that we did because the tree farm we've gone to the last few years was closed by this weekend!  This year, we were able to find a tree pretty quickly - we narrowed it down to two different trees and Lee vetoed the larger tree because it was enormous and because it had a crooked trunk, so he was pretty certain it would fall over.  We brought the tree home, put it in the stand and strung the lights and then decided to let it settle for a day before we hung the ornaments.   At some point during the night, the tree fell over (oh the irony!) - which hasn't happened since we invested in an industrial tree stand from Sweden more than 16 years ago.  Lee. Was. So. Mad.  We got the tree upright and it's ratcheted to the sliders in the sunroom, holding steady for a week now.  It's smaller than usual, but has already caused more than it's fair share of trouble..

October Odds and Ends

Gorgeous day for a run along the Connecticut River

Halloween 2019

Enjoying a NWC football game after the entrance exam. 

Last cross country practice - for everyone in this photo.  #allthelasts 

Together Live

A few weeks ago, one of Lee's college friends reached out to me with an unusual request - she had tickets to Together Live in New York and wanted to know if I was interested in going with her to see the show.  Together Live is a traveling event that brings together diverse women and storytellers for an amazing and inspiring evening - and two of the biggest names in the event are Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach, both of whom I greatly admire.  I jumped at the chance - even though I haven't seen Ellen in more than 20 years and even though it was in NYC on a Monday night.  We had an amazing time together and it was such an incredible show.  I'm so glad that I went (despite only getting 3 hours of sleep!).

I'm so glad that Ellen asked me and I'm so glad that I said yes!! 

Third Row Seats!! 

Abby Wambach 

Glennon Doyle 

They close every show with everyone - and I mean everyone - dancing to P!nk's "I am Here" 

November Soccer

The Sporting girls finished out the fall season playing in some brutally cold conditions.  They started the month with a 1-1 tie on Long Island on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The following weekend, the played on Saturday night in below freezing temps, following by a Sunday morning game in similar temps but with the benefit of the sun.  The final game of the season was played on the night of Veteran's Day, the warmest day of the long weekend.  The girls finished the fall season strong, winning two of three games, and both of those wins came with their backup goalie and many girls playing new positions.  While they will play indoor this winter, it's a much easier pace with only one practice and one (shorter) game each weekend.

This was after the tying goal - I love how happy these girls all are for one another.  

After their 1-1 tie on Long Island.

I didn't get any photos of the night games and Emily barely touched the ball when she was on our side of the field during the last day game.  Here she is, running down a through ball during one of her only chances to play offense this season.  Her speed and strength are two things that we are going to work on over the winter.  No matter what sports she ends up playing in high school, increasing both will serve her well.

Musical Revue

This year, Elizabeth auditioned for and made Big Band, which is her school's jazz band. One of things she was drawn to when we first visited NWC was that they had two flutes in their jazz band, which is unusual.  After putting in some work on jazz pieces over the summer, she auditioned and was accepted as a member of Big Band.  Two nights a week, she stays at school until 8:30pm for rehearsals (it's exhausting for these parents, let me tell you), but she really enjoys it and she loves the other musicians in the group.  Last weekend, they had their first performance, at a fundraiser for the school.  They sounded really good and she told us that several parts of songs were improvised, which is just amazing.

Middle School State Championship Race

Our final middle school cross country race of the year was last Saturday, the state championship meet.  I am so proud of how well our team ran this season.  And Emily is soooo glad to have run her final cross country meet (she told me that if she doesn't make the soccer team in high school, she is going to learn how to play field hockey!).

8th graders

Emily and Faith - Sporting teammates, track girls with me all summer, and cross country runners this fall.  

NWC Cross Country - October

Elizabeth had a rough cross country season this year.  She started out with a bang and we really thought that her pace would only get faster over time.  It didn't, and as she became plagued with foot pain, she started to slow significantly.  Elizabeth is not a complainer and so when the pain seemed to get worse, we took her to the ortho, who after ruling out a stress fracture, diagnosed severe tendinitis in her right foot, along with some compensatory tendinitis in her left foot.  She was able to suffer through the CCC Championship race but after that, we decided that enough was enough and made her sit out states.  On Monday, she went into a boot, which she will be in for at least three weeks, followed by physical therapy.  Although she'd like to be ready for winter track, we are looking long term and just want her to be healthy and 100% by the time lacrosse pre-season begins.

Pre-race prayer - one of my favorite team traditions.

Only home race of the season.

I love the school principal is in the background in this photo, taking in the races and the soccer games a the same time.

Kicking it hard to the finish at her only home meet.

Before.... 

This is what pain looks like - she received her diagnosis just two days before this photo and was supposed to go into a boot immediately, but wanted to finish out the season.  I've never seen her in this much pain before. It took my breath away.

After...love these girls.

She couldn't run states this year, but she was there to cheer on her friends. 

Our new normal.