Thanksgiving 2021

There are no words to express how much it meant to me to see family that I haven't seen in two years because of the pandemic.  We were able to all be together, thanks to the vaccine, and celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  My parents hosted at their new house in Northville and while I thought it might be strange to be there and not at the house I grew up in, it never really phased me.  

We started the morning off, not going to the parade because of the rain, with a big breakfast and the newspaper sale ads (which were super disappointing this year).  We had the parade on TV, my food was prepped to bring over to my parents' house, and it was nice to just have a slower paced morning.

We went over around 1pm and enjoyed some wine and the charcuterie board I made.  Scott, of course, was glued to the TV with the Lions' game on.  Unfortunately they took a big loss.  Dinner was delicious!  Compliments to the chef!  We had pie and ice cream for dessert, the kids played with Transformers from the 80's, and it was finally time to say goodbye.  I'm so glad we could all be together to visit.  

Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours! 

Sean's end of the soccer season and other updates!

 Sean missed both his last soccer game and his last flag football game because of Luka's baptism, but his flag football team was able to finally win a game (of course we weren't there for it...) and his soccer team ended up being undefeated!  He even got a special medal for being on an undefeated team!

Sean is continuing to take drum lessons once a week at the same time Evan takes guitar lessons.  He's practicing White Stripes and Ozzy and the goal is for Evan and Sean to perform "Crazy Train" at their first concert in March.  It's fun to listen to them practice and work towards a common goal.

He also started wrestling, which goes through March, at Livonia Churchill High School in their wrestling room.  He practices two days a week with 40+ kids from 1st-5th grade.  He's not totally convinced this is the sport for him, but he goes and he's giving it a shot.  I'm hoping he'll be willing to try a tournament over the winter, but we'll see.  For now he says no.

Sean's enjoying 5th grade and just completed his first trimester with a good parent-teacher conference.  He's made huge gains in math this year already working with his tutor and getting some extra accommodations added to his 504 plan for anxiety.  His last math test he got a 92%!  He's working hard and enjoying his last year at Farrand (isn't that crazy to think about?!).  

He got his first dose of the Covid vaccine with Evan at Meijer and goes for his second dose tomorrow.  It wasn't pretty, but it was a heck of a lot better than his 11 year old shots at the pediatrician.  

Here's a photo dump of recent pictures:

Evan's end of the soccer season and other updates

I thought the soccer season would never end, but thankfully it did.  Evan's team ended up having two games back-to-back on some of the coldest days we'd had that fall.  We seriously had to bundle up in winter jackets, boots, hats, and gloves.  

The Avengers finished their season strong!  Of the two games, they lost one in a real nail-biter and won the last game with Evan even scoring a goal.  They ended up tied for 2nd place in their division overall.  

Life seemed to slow down once soccer, flag football, and baseball ended for the season.  Evan is still taking guitar lessons once a week and is really quite good!  He's loving playing Ozzy and will have his first concert sometime in March.  

He didn't want to do wrestling over the winter like Sean, so he's doing some baseball clinics.  He did one on Black Friday for two hours with MC9, a local travel organization, and held his own playing with travel team kids.  He'll start weekly clinics in January for two months that will focus on pitching and hitting.  We've decided to do spring ball with GYCBSA again and then we'll let him try out for a travel team over the summer when they hold tryouts in July.  

He got his first Covid Vaccine at Meijer and goes for his second dose on Sunday.  I'm proud of him!

He rocked his first trimester of 3rd grade and got rave reviews from his teacher, Ms. Scott, during parent-teacher conferences.  We are incredibly pleased with his work ethic and his zest for learning.  He loves to come home and tell us stories about school or kids' time.  Here's a photo dump of Evan over the past month or two: