Ballpalooza 2024

Still fun to make the jokes.  My best of the year was a question:  Are balls with nuts redundant?

I made Almond Joy balls (hence the question)

 and eggnog balls.  Normal golden oreo recipe with some eggnog and nutmeg added.  Tasty.

So. Many. Balls.

Lynn made Little Debbie Christmas tree and peanut butter rice Krispie balls.

Missed getting a picture of Beth.  She made coconut balls too but without almonds.  Bad communication on my part.  I thought I was going to have to leave early because of Steve's retirement party so I only planned to do one kind.  Turns out I had the day of Ballpalooza mixed up!  It was the day before the retirement party so I had all day and quick picked another kind to do.  

Such a great day with my sisters!

Vocal Concert

We haven't been to a high school Christmas vocal concert since Samuel was a 7th grader.  It was nice!  It's my friend Amy's first year as the director so it's fun to see how things are going for her too.

First, Julia played flute to accompany one of the junior high songs.  You can barely see her over on the left in this picture.  

Then she sang with the Madrigals.  Show choir technically didn't perform but it's all the same kids as the Madrigals anyway.

It was a nice concert!

I Love My Job

Usually.  But it was kind of a kick in the gut to find out my 20 year old who will have an associate's and squat for experience will be interviewing for an entrance level construction job that pays EIGHT THOUSAND dollars and a company truck more than I make with a bachelor's, 12 grad hours and almost 10 years in the classroom.  And I adjusted that number for the fact I "only" work nine months a year, it would be much higher otherwise.  Sigh.

But gifts like this are priceless.  I wore them most of the day.

I wouldn't change my choices or want to miss the joy on Lainey's face when I put them on, but it speaks to what our country is willing to pay for and makes it pretty easy to understand the teacher shortage.  

Mom? I Have a Problem...

It was 6:45 am and I was not ready for a problem.  "I made a list of everything I want to bake for Christmas and it has 11 things on it."  (11 complicated things I might add.)

We pared it down to four:  Swedish flop (a yeast coffee cake)

macaroons, baklava, and torrijas (Spanish french toast).  None of which we got a picture of but all of which were really tasty.

Thanks for not having a major problem at 6:45 am Julia!

Christmas Band Concert

It was a nice concert as always and Mr. Kellett DID come up with another word for his O wreath.  Glory!

Julia and Izzy love playing together.

Philip was a little hard to see from our angle.

Nicholas and the 6th grade band sounded great too.  

 Nice job everyone!

Back to High School Wrestling

After fully enjoying last year's break from high school wrestling, we're back at it.  Obviously the families have changed a bit but it's still a lot the same.  Philip is a little over a .5 record I'd say.  He's been wrestling at 126 (twenty pounds lighter than Samuel and Thomas their freshmen years!) but just this week he dropped the last couple pounds he needed to start at 120.  Between Christmas and having no one who could make it down to 126 and bump him out of that spot, he wasn't super motivated to make 120 until the Christmas sweets were mostly gone.

Since the football team was in the Championship, they practiced a full month past regular season.  Except that only the varsity did anything more than stretch and watch.  It showed at the first meet (only 3 of the 10 wrestlers weren't on the football team).  Football shape is not the same as wrestling shape.  But they're looking better every meet.

At the first meet of the year I did have to text my wrestling mom friend Kelly whose twins graduated with Thomas.  "I finished grading my papers, I don't have a little kid with me, I tried to sit with the other freshmen moms but they were picking out matching wrestling mom shirts, and you're not here.  I don't know what to do with myself."

The freshman moms are nice, they just are all new to high school wrestling and more of the sports mom type than I am.  We'll be fine but not besties.  (I knew that coming in anyway.)

Promptly got the first black eye of the year.

Have a great season Philip!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Nicholas was super happy to get new St. Nicholas socks.  His old ones were in tatters.

Thank you Godmother Jessica!