Districts are Stressful!

Like no other meet.  Sheesh.  And ours was a roller coaster this year.  We were in Madison and Friday everything was pretty good.  Only two of the ten Neumann guys got knocked out.  One was Connor who is a senior and had been having a great year, so that was disappointing but overall it was a good evening of wrestling.  

Samuel and Thomas ended up wrestling at the same time though.  That wasn't fun.  They had a mat in between their matches and Thomas was across the gym from where we were sitting (packed in like sardines with the other 15 teams there).  It's never great when both your sons are wrestling on different mats at the same time but at districts it's enough to get this mom's heart pounding.  Samuel won but Thomas lost so that put him in the consolation bracket since it's double elimination.

We stayed overnight at a hotel with the other BN families so it was fun to have dinner together and the boys were able to have some down time with their team mates.  The littles had a blast swimming and Jeremy enjoyed the brewery that's attached to the hotel.

The next morning the roller coaster started.  After seeing everyone pretty cheerful at breakfast we walked into the gym and found out our best wrestler, Aaron, who had a great chance of taking state in his weight, had been medically disqualified because of lesion on his chin.  He has acne so he and his family were pretty sure it wasn't fungal but the officials wouldn't budge.  He was out.  He's our most serious wrestler and his whole family took it pretty hard but at the same time, after he got over his initial disappointment he was right there by the mat for all the other guys so I was proud of him.  We had wins and losses throughout the day and most of our guys made it to the heart break round.  Then Josh started acting funny.  In the end they determined he had a concussion but there wasn't a specific hit we could link it to.  He was understandably disappointed to end his senior year forfeiting the heartbreak round but it was the right call.

Thomas worked his was back through the cosolation bracket winning two more matches and was in the heartbreak too.  He wrestled a kid who'd been puking the day before (on the gym floor... in a bucket during his match... he was obviously sick) so I wasn't thrilled about that, but Thomas won!  He got fourth place and earned a spot at State!!  He'd been steadily improving and we were all so proud of him!

Samuel won all his matches so he had less of them.  In the championship match he had to wrestle a kid from Raymond Central who'd been in a serious ATV accident this fall and didn't wrestle until late in the season.  I was stressed watching that match less because of whether Sam won or lost-by then he'd alreay made it to state- and more because I didn't want my kid to be the one who rehurt that guy!  He's a great wrestler but Samuel beat him and was the 170 pound district champion!  (The kid he beat went on to be in the State final and when they flashed up his record it was something like 26-1.  I looked at Jeremy as said, "Guess we know who the 1 is!")

Nick had some fun during a break.

Fr. Lee came to districts which was fun.  He was right there for all the Neumann boys' triumphs and disappointments and it meant a lot to the boys (and their parents) that he cared enough to come.  

Every time I asked for a picture of the two of them all season it started or ended like this:

1st and 4th, both headed to State!!

Trent was a district champ too so he as Sam tested their gold medals.

We had four guys make it to State!  Two district champs and two 4th places.

The seniors (including the student manager) Samuel, Alexis, Josh and Connor.

State Tournament in less than a week!

Champs!

The wrestling team got steadily better all season.  At the beginning they got a lot of team 2nd and 3rd places at meets.  Then they tied Fillmore for first at the Fillmore meet.  Then they won the home tournament, then they won the Wahoo Public/Neumann duel!  It was a big deal, the whole time I've been watching that duel (about 4 years) Neuman has lost but by less and less.  Finally this year was their year!  

The team won Norfolk's tournament too, which I think was the largest meet they won.  It was fun to watch the team have so much success.

The week the team won at Norfolk both Samuel and Thomas got first place in their weight classes.

Thomas 182

Samuel 170

Catholic Schools Week

 Always exhausting fun!  There were less picture-worthy dress up days this year.  On the day in the top picture you were supposed to dress up like someone who worked at the school.  Philip chose Mr. Weiss the pricipal and Nicholas chose Mr. Benal, the janitor.  The bottom picture was animal day.

The theme at my school was books so I decorated my part of the hall as Narnia.  I had a friend's daughter, Veronica, paint Aslan and Mr. Tumnus for me.  They are amazing!  I also spray painted a sheet to look like a wardrobe so the kids could walk through it to my section of the hall.  After I convinced the 6th graders they should watch The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe for the movie day they earned, there was more appreciation (or maybe understanding) of my hall decorations!

January Wrestling Wrap Up

January is a heavy wrestling month.  High school wrestling is in full swing and club wrestling starts for the little boys.  For most of January all I did was watch wrestling and grade papers.  Or at least it felt that way.

Philip's season started off pretty good.  He's an average wrestler for his age.  He kept getting matched up with a kid from Public who throws a lot of headlocks though.  It's the kid's current go to move.  Unfortunately Philip isn't good at avoiding the headlock and once you're in it, it's pretty hard to get out so he had some rough tournaments.  But at the tournament in thes pictures he came in second to the headlock kid!

Nick's season started off good too.  He's an average wrestler for his age too, although I think he knows more moves than some kids his age, just because he's watched so.much.wrestling in his life.  At this meet he earned the distinction of getting the fastest Vrana pin ever (that we remember at least).  He pinned a kid in five seconds.  He's pretty proud to be the youngest brother and hold that unofficial record.  He came in first at the meet in these photos I believe.

Samuel has been having a stellar Senior season.  He brought home first from most of his meets.  It was fun to watch him be so successful in something he enjoys so much.

Thomas has had a great season too.  He started off about at his normal 50-50 record but they added a third coach in January who really helped Thomas hone in on some places to improve and he steady got better.  Somewhere in January he brought home a fifth place, then a fourth, then a first!  It's been really fun to watch him improve and start having more and more success after so many years of hard work.

The new coach, Coach Thompson, noticed something he wanted Thomas to work on before his next match so he had Thomas and Samuel work on it in the hall.  He's braver than I am. I don't let Samuel and Thomas wrestle at home!

There's still lots of wrestling left...it's only January.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Thomas turned 17!  You're growing into a great young man Thomas.  We love you!

We did his favorite thing, EAT, for his birthday.  :)  
 

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

He got a snow day for his birthday!  This is how he felt about that!

We'd been watching some Star Wars and he told me he wanted a Porg for his birthday adding, "It'd be okay if I got two because then I'd have a flock!"  I figured Porgs weren't something you just go to the store and buy so I enlisted my friend Karen's daughter Maria, who loves to crochet.  I knew Maria had crocheted Jaba the Hut for Karen for Christmas so I asked if she could find a Porg pattern and crochet two for us.  She did not disappoint!  Nicholas is very happy with his "flock" of Porgs and even made them a nest in his room.

 Happy 9th birthday Nicholas, we love you!

House Date

Jeremy and I went on a date to look for some more furnishings for the basement.  We got these two ottomans (both open for storage) and two end tables.  Now there's a couple nice places to sit, but definetly not enough forthe whole family yet.

We also refreshed the kitchen rugs 

and weekly calendar while we were at At Home!

Things are looking good!