Fat Tuesday

The Jr/Sr High Students were all called into the gym today at 3:00 thinking they were "in trouble" only to receive a "Fat Tuesday" surprise of candy and root beer floats!

 

Cara and Erica both thought that the students were in trouble for something today when all the students got called to they gym. 

What a great surprise for the students!!!

Take care,
Michelle

January Bake Sales

Justin decided to join K-Kids this year at school.  K-Kids is the grade school level of Kiwanis on the adult level.  It is a service organization.

Justin's poster for the bake sale on the front door at school.

Every Friday during the month of January, K-Kids has a bake sale to raise money.  The money raised helps pay for the schooling for a little girl in Africa.  They have supported the education of this little girl for the last three years.

Every week Justin would have to take baked items to sell for 50 cents after school.  He took chocolate chip cookie bars and brownies.  The first week he got mad at me because the whole pan of bars went to the bake sale and none for him to eat at home.

Every week there was a mob of kids trying to get an item (pop, juice box, cookies, donuts, bars, puppy chow, chex mix, candy, etc).  After bake sales for four weeks, the group made a total of $669 to send to Africa.  These little sales are a huge success!

Take care,
Michelle

Winside Wrestling

Last Sunday was little wrestlers competing in Winside.  The NC Takedown Club competed as individuals, but also as a team.  They brought home the 2nd place trophy as a team.  The trophy was placed up in the wrestling room at school.

 

 Justin helped the team earn points by pinning opponent #1.  Justin weighed in two pounds less at this tournament than the last tournament.  This probably helped him bracket-wise.

 More points were earned with pin #2 on his next opponent.

 Then came opponent #3, Trevor.  Justin and Trevor were on the same baseball team last summer and they know each other from the playroom at the YMCA also.  The photo up above is what the coaches tell the kids not to do, "If you are down, don't put your head down.  Keep your head up because then it's harder to do a half (flip-over)."

 Both of these kids were looking for their coaches to find out what to do next.

 Almost a pin up above, but time ran out.

 Justin could not get Trevor pinned.  He came close so many times, but Trevor would wiggle out of it and fight a little harder.  Justin kept looking at Coach Kevin for what to do next.

 All smiles today when they presented him with his 1st place trophy.  Then the parents talked the four in the bracket into a group photo.

Take care,
Michelle

A Surprise Party

We were invited to a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend, Janelle, last weekend.  Janelle and her husband, Tom, have six children and they totally surprised her.  Out of the six children, Hannah and Maggie are out of college, Luke and Dani are in college, Mary is in junior high and Nolan is in 4th Grade.  Plus, they have Even, a foreign exchange student from Norway currently living with them.  This great family lives just two blocks from us and I am the "bus driver" that gets them home from school every day.  Janelle does in-home daycare and takes everything in stride.

She walked in the house Saturday night from a day of shopping and was totally surprised to see a houseful of family and friends.  We enjoyed a Mexican feast of tacos, nachos, veggies, Mexican roll-ups, 7-layer dip, cake, etc.  And of course, there were margaritas and coronas to enjoy!

Janelle's true birthday isn't until February 4th, but it was a great celebration!

Take care,
Michelle

Academic Success

We had one pretty proud Freshman at our house when the Norfolk Catholic first semester honor roll was posted at school!  Cara had made the white honor roll for the semester.  When it was announced at school that the honor roll was posted by the office, Cara went and looked for her name.  Then she took a photo of it with her I-pod and sent it to her Dad as proof.  (Even if it is against school policy to text during school.)  She got a response back from Dad telling her how he was proud of her and he knew that she had worked hard to achieve it.  The photo above appeared in the Norfolk Daily News a few days later. 

When we got home from school that day, she proudly announced it to her siblings.  In celebration of the event Ashlin pronounced, "Pops all around for everyone to celebrate!".  Erica was disappointed that junior high students do no qualify for the honor roll because otherwise Erica would have made it also.

Very proud of Cara on her academic accomplishment!  I know she worked hard for it!

Take care,
Michelle

Sportmanship

 Justin has been anxious to get back on the wrestling mat for months.  He has been practicing for the last few weeks and his first tournament was last weekend in Battle Creek.  He weighed in at 53.9 lbs. for the day and was placed in a 4-man bracket.

 In his bracket were wrestlers from Pierce, Elkhorn Valley and Plainview.  Justin fought hard for a 7-4 win in his first match.

 Then in his second match he lost by pin and in his third match he wouldn't finish the match because he said he was hurt. 

Justin had some poor sportsmanship qualities on Sunday, such as, not finishing a match, crying when losing a match, not going up to get his 3rd place medal, etc.  He has been talked to about his behavior and had a few things taken away.  He must learn that it is okay to lose and that he will not win all matches.  This was a tough lesson, but hopefully it will make him better. 

Take care,
Michelle

3rd Place in Elgin

Erica and I travelled to Elgin last Saturday morning for a club basketball tournament.  The girls were playing in a combined 7th/8th Grade bracket.  Out of the 8 teams playing, we had the only all 7th grade team and all 8th grade team.  Our 8th grade girls club team made the trip also.  Elgin is a little town of about 750 people about an hour from Norfolk.  Not much to do and not very many food choices.

 It was a very long day in the gym.  Erica and I left home at a little after 7 a.m. because her first game was at 8:55.  We got to the gym at about 8:15.  They won their first game against Boone Central 29-15.  Then they didn't play again until 1:30 against Elgin Public/Pope John.  They again won 27-6, which put the next game at 5:10.  The tournament was double elimination so they had to switch back and forth from the loser bracket to the winner's bracket.  All games being played in the same gym which slowed things down even more.

 Game #3 pitted our 7th grade girls against our 8th grade girls.  Not a good situation for the girls to be in, but at that point they were the only two teams undefeated and in the winners bracket.  7th grade lost 11-28, dropping us down to the loser's bracket with a game against O'Neill on tap.  The game came down to the last minute with a chance to win, but we lost by three giving the girls a 3rd place medal.

 Not too shabby considering they played against quite a few 8th graders.  It was a long day as Erica and I pulled into the driveway at 9 p.m.  The trip home was long with blowing snow and some white out conditions. 

Take care,
Michelle