Diamond Clover 4-H Awards

 Recently, 4-H Awards Day was held.  Ashlin and Erica both completed levels in the Diamond Clover Award.  Ashlin completed the Amethyst Level and Erica completed the Aquamarine Level.  They both received certificates and pins for completing the levels.

The Diamond Clover program has a list of activities at each level to be completed.  Out of the list, you must complete so many activities to achieve success and qualify for the award.  The Amethyst level is for 8-9 year olds and the Aquamarine level is for 10-11 year olds.  The higher you go up in levels the harder the activities and the more activities that much be completed.  Next year, Cara will have a level to complete.  Cara and Erica both received this award last year. 

Another year of 4-H has come to a close.  Next month, our club will host a family soup supper and planning will start on what projects to take for next year.  Hopefully, we get a good winter start on our projects.

Take care,
Michelle

A Season Ended

Cara had her volleyball season cut short by an injury.  She strained the upper shoulder muscle on her rotator cuff.  Therefore, she missed the last week of the volleyball season.  She missed a regular season game against Columbus Scotus and a tournament at Norfolk Public.

 

Therefore, Cara became a coach from the bench.  She helped direct floor traffic from the bench with Coach Freese.  It killed her to sit and watch and not be on the floor.  But, Dr. Adams told her no physical activity for two weeks. She has daily exercises to do to strengthen the shoulder and she has been working with the trainer at school.  Dr. Adams feels that it is just a strain and not a tear because she has too much strength in the arm.  Naturally, this would be her right "swinging" arm.

She shed a few tears over the fact that she could not play.  But, we told her how lucky she is that this happened as an 8th Grader and not as a senior.  She is lucky that it isn't torn.  A tear would mean surgery and 4-6 months of rehab and recovery.  Cara still has spring volleyball to look forward to.  The rest will help, plus basketball is right around the corner.

Take care,
Michelle

Trunk or Treat

 On Sunday afternoon, our church hosted a Trunk or Treat event at the school for families.  First, the kids could paint or decorate pumpkins.  The pumpkins were donated by a family that raises produce to sell.  The Clinch Family raises pumpkins, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.  Their produce ends up in our local supermarkets, but also other grocery stores in the state of Nebraska.

 The kids painted some pumpkins to set on our front steps for Halloween.

 After the pumpkin painting, the children headed out to the church parking lot to trick-or-treat out of car's trunks.  The high school house system and some parishioners had treats ready for the kids. 

 Some trunks were really decorated with a theme and others were not so decorated.  The kids just cared about the treats involved.

 Justin and Bailey made the rounds together in the parking lot.

 Their last stop in the parking lot was Ty's party bus.  Ty is a classmate of Justin's in first grade.  Ty's family had decorated the bus and had treats for all the children.

After the trunk or treating, families were treated to hamburgers, chips and a drink in the Parish Center.  It was a great family event!

Take care,
Michelle

Stanton 6th Grade Tournament

 After watching Ashlin play volleyball at the YMCA in the morning, we went to Stanton to watch Erica and the 6th Graders play in a tournament for club ball.  Erica was on the NC Black team this week. 

 This tournament was made up of eight teams total with four teams in each pool.  Each team plays every team in its pool and then the top four teams, based on pool play records, were placed in the gold team tournament and the bottom four teams in the silver team tournament.

 This tournament featured some teams that the girls hadn't played before, such as, Clarkson/Leigh and Humphrey/Lindsey/Humphrey St. Francis.  Both Norfolk Catholic teams ended up in the gold tournament after pool play with both of them losing their first tournament match and ending their play.

Erica is improving her skills, both serving, hitting and spiking.  She needs to gain confidence in her overhand serve, but it will come.  It was a long and fun day in the gyms.

Take care,
Michelle

Ashlin Plays Y-Ball

I didn't mean to take such a long blogging break, but life has been busy.  Between work, homework, and volleyball, it has been busy.  I'm not even sure where to start since I am behind, so, I guess I will start with this last weekend and work backwards.

 After practicing volleyball with her team, the Bommerangs, for two weeks, Ashlin had her first volleyball game on Saturday.  She is playing volleyball at the YMCA in the 3rd-4th Grade division.  Ashlin is loving every minute of it too!  After watching Cara and Erica play ball, she knows the game and is using her skills.

For being small and skinny, Ashlin has a powerful serve.  She serves about two-thirds of the way back and lets her overhand serve fly.

 Ashlin's team were successful on Saturday earning a win.  This age group is pretty much a get the ball over the net and earn a point, but there were a few volleys and a few three hits on one side of the net points. 

Ashlin is having fun and that is the main thing.  She will get to play spring volleyball and league next summer, so, this is a good learning and practice session for then.  You can tell by watching Ashlin that she has learned some skills from her older sisters and that she has practiced them in the driveway at home.

Take care,
Michelle

6th Grade V-Ball in Laurel Tournament

 After spending the morning in the gym watching Cara play volleyball, we headed for Laurel for the 6th Grade portion of a volleyball tournament.  Norfolk Catholic had two teams in the 6th Grade part of the tournament. 

 The girls struggled with their serves in the tournament and they didn't work as a team.  You could tell they hadn't played in a few weeks.

 They split sets in pool play against two teams.  Then entered tournament play.  In the first game of tournament play, they beat Bloomfield in three sets.  Then Hartington was up next.  After winning the first set, they lost the next two sets to end their play in the tournament.

 Justin, the cheerleader, was at the tournament cheering for his Lady Knights.  Sometimes, he sat on the bench with the girls, would join them in huddles, stand on the sidelines and cheer and also shake hands with the opposing team when the game was over.  He has fun at the tournaments!

Take care,
Michelle

Glowing On The Green

 Saturday night Keith participated in a 5K Glowing On The Green Race at Eldorado Hills Golf Club.  The event was run on the golf course and the running course was lit by glow sticks.  The event was a fundraiser for Kelly's Softball.

 Cara helped with the event with her friends.  Justin, Ashlin and I showed up to watch at the finish line.  Impossible to see when who is who running in the dark.  Therefore, we couldn't tell when Keith was crossing the finish line.

Had to snap a photo of him after he crossed the finish line.  Keith finished in 2nd place out of 22 runners.  It was a brisk evening for a run.

Take care,
Michelle

Wordless Wednesday

Cara & Anna after volleyball practice one afternoon.