Week 8

Monday, Feb. 17th

I woke Renna up at 6:00a to get her up and out for her little President's Day soccer tournament.  We played at 7, 8, 9, and 10.  An early, condensed morning, but it worked out since we had to be in Cromwell for 11:30.

Our rescheduled tailgate happened.  The first one was rained out, so we down-sized it and squeezed it in on President's Day.  Smaller since not everyone had work off, but we lucked out with 50 degrees and sunny.  It was GLORIOUS to be outside.

 Football, corn hole, and Kelly soaking in the vitamin D.

  

Tuesday, Feb. 18th

I found this on my phone.  RENNA!  Renna had responded to her coach as if it was me!

Tuesday, Feb. 18th
Lots of street hockey these days. 

 Wednesday, Feb. 19th

A tough 2-3 loss against a good team.  We tied it up with 6 seconds left, but the refs waved it off.  According to the team's footage and the rink's Live Barn footage, it was a goal.  BUMMER!

Thursday, Feb. 20
The only picture from the day.

Friday, Feb. 21st
Renna helped me pack up bags for the hockey team.

 Rehearsals continue for a skit for Fine Arts.

Nick and the boys came down for 2 nights to give Mama Bear a much-deserved break, so as many as could gathered at Ninny's for her famous spaghetti.

Saturday, Feb. 22nd

Sandwich production for the hockey team.

Bad picture of the "celly" after his goal!!!!!!  I post game pictures on a team Shutterfly site, so I a

I post game pictures on a team Shutterfly site, so I am consistently getting the players' feedback from Nathanael.  "______ asked if you could get more pictures of him." or "Mom, the boys just want more pictures of the 'cellies'."  Apparently referring to the 'celebration' after a goal is scored.

Sunday, Feb. 23rd

Karen, Andrea, and I drove up to Portland, Maine for Olivia and Brandon's baby shower.  Cannot believe we didn't take a single picture (no one did), but it was a lovely afternoon with family and a few friends of hers.  As the 14 or so moms sat around chatting about how tired they were, I thought, "Why don't baby showers include an opportunity for each mom to find a cozy corner or bed and take a NAP!  Why do we all just sit and talk about how tired we are?"  One first-time mom in particular just had twins 2 months ago and they just came home 2 weeks ago and she drove 1.5 hours to be at the shower.  I'm like, "Girl.  Let me hold your coffee.  Go upstairs and find you a nice spot to steal an hour of rest!"

Anyway, we chased the most gorgeous sky all the way home.  What a treat!  And I opened the garage door to find these sweet faces.

 Missing Mama for Daddy's dinner.

Colombo's been doing Sunday afternoons with Mike O. and usually takes a kid or two along.

Week 7

Monday, Feb. 10th

Tuesday, Feb. 11th

Wednesday, Feb. 12th

Thursday, Feb. 13th
Showin' Mama her acro costume for recital.

Friday, Feb. 14th
Apparently this is their thing.  So very sweet.  Hand-in-hand the entire time.

Not surprisingly, when the group split into two games- the bigger kids for football and the smaller ones for tag, Renna was the only girl to choose football.

 Sleepover at his best bud's.

Saturday, Feb. 16th
The team is really starting to gel and understand the fundamentals.  They actually won!  Their teen male coach is awesome.  He is so sweet with the girls and entirely enthusiastic and encouraging.  It's adorable!

 Juliet joined us for church and shenanigans after.  Sword fights, sing-a-longs, and a ridiculous amount of laughing.

Sunday, Feb. 16th
She thought she was hot stuff getting to sit in the front with no seat belt for the car wash.

Somewhere in between flag football, rehearsal, and indoor soccer.

Week 6

Monday, Feb. 3rd
My only picture was a memory from 7 years ago...winning 1st Overall.

Tuesday, Feb. 4th
Somehow Lisa convinced me to co-lead the kids' Fine Arts drama this year.  I reached out to Pastor Brian (my old youth pastor), hoping he had a skit in his authored library that he'd let us use.  He did.  The kids love it and rehearsals are coming along.

 Maddy in LA.

Wednesday, Feb. 5th
I think it's been 3 years since we did Homeschool Swim and Gym, but we're back.  (It's also weird that for those 3 years I don't think I stepped into the place once.  Now I'm there like 4 days a week, sometimes twice in the same day! for football, soccer, swim, and gym.)  Nathanael had a half day, so he joined us.

 Twin Day for spirit week at the studio.

Nathanael often has Wednesday night games and I'm thankful C4 is willing to grab Renna from the studio and keep the other littles so C3 and I can make the games.  This was a big upset, beating Simsbury.

This is Nathanael taking out the ref!  (also unique to this game: the game was stopped for half an hour when a player getting checked shattered a pane of the glass!)

Thursday, Feb. 6th
Milo looking all sharp to meet the Mayor for his artwork.

Friday, Feb. 7th
These two sweet lovebirds did laps for an hour, hand-in-hand. #goals

 The UConn baseball team was practicing as well.

Saturday, Feb. 8th

Three months of this on weekend mornings.

I snuck up to Boston to steal Maddy away from her convention.  She was nursing a sore back, so she willingly skipped one of the workshops.  We went to a precious lunch spot and she iced her back.  Even though it was a short visit, it was oh-so-lovely to be with her, just the two of us.

I drove straight back to Nathanael's game in South Windsor.  Not the greatest picture, but this is him and his buddy, Sean O'Connor.  They've been buds since they were 5.

Trevor spent the day at a JBQ meet and then slept over his buddy's for a birthday party.

We were at the house playing Yahtzee with Rocco and Renna at 9:00p when the Maddy called to say she though she broke her foot.  Given her incredibly high pain threshold, we took her seriously.  So C3 jumped in the car to grab her and take her to the ER.  I kept texting all my bossy instructions in rapid-fire succession. "Wear masks!"  "No opioids!"

The bullet points:
* they were there from 11:30p-5:30a
* no major fracture- bone chip on top and tendon/muscle/contusion on the bottom
* the orthopedic on call was a younger female doctor and former college athlete that really connected with Maddy and her need to "get back in the game"
* Maddy's roommate willingly bunked in another room so C3 could stay in Maddy's room
* boot for 2 weeks, follow-up with another orthopedic in Cali
* I tried to convince her to stay in CT at least for one of the two weeks, but she wanted to be back in Cali, still in the mix, and has continued to attend nearly every class to watch and do as much "marking" as she can
* the swelling and gross bruising lasted several days, but has since subsided
* 9 days post injury, still in a boot, she went to Disneyland and her park-provided wheelchair got her to the front of lines quickly

Sunday, Feb. 9th

Colombo had actually planned to be in Boston on Sunday anyway.  He was going to go to C4's game (C had a two-game overnight Boston road trip with his team) and then have his turn to steal an hour or two with Maddy.  So he was still able to get to the Harvard game-a campus that he reported to be 'a different world'.  Exhibit A:

 Then C3 and C4 still grabbed Maddy, had an early dinner, and dropped her at the airport.

I missed out on the Sunday fun because we kicked off The Passion and the Cross!  Yup...Easter is just around the corner.