November 2014

November is one of my favorite months because it has one of my favorite holidays - Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving as it is one of the few holidays not bombarded by commercialism.  It is all about family, food, and being grateful - to me all the most important things in life.  It is also my birthday month (and my husband's).  Birthdays always cause me some reflection on my life - a chance to see where I have been, what I am doing, and where I want to go.  November is the peace before the storm of December.

This November kept us quite busy with the kids' activities.  Chad did wrestling again and was proud to make the varisty team this year.  He was quite nervous going into the season, but once he had his first match he was ready for more.  He had a great season.  He was never pinned and only lost one match in the regular season and one match at the tournament.

Halle tried volleyball for the first time.  She made the varsity team and really put 100% effort into every practice and every game.  She learned a lot and improved a ton over the season.

Sean started participating in "Math is Cool."  It is an after school program for math teams.  He is loving the extra math instruction and homework.  He also started working on Rubik's cubes and has become quite the master.

Wrestling

Glover

Chad is ready for his first opponent of the year.

He took him down pretty quick.

Garry

Ready for another take down.

Ready to make a move - all before Grandma and Bompa make it to the match.

Northwood

This is one of my favorite pictures of Chad.  This was the one match he lost.  He fought hard the whole time and never gave up!

Great sportsmanship at the end.  Chad found out his opponent has been wrestling for 9 years (this is Chad's 3rd) and that Chad was his first opponent he didn't pin.

Volleyball

Shaw

Lining up for warm-up drills.

Ready for some bumping action.

In formation during the game.

 Chase (vs. Sac)

Halle's volleyball pose.

Eager for some action.

At the net - wanting a kill.

Glover

Ready to serve and make a point.

 Other Activities

Orchestra

The Chase Orchestra performed at River Front Square on First Night for November.

Veteran's Day

Grandpa and Nanny Hansen were special guests at the Chase Veteran's Day con at school.  Chad enjoyed eating breakfast with them.  My dad served in the Air Force.

Halle had Grandma and Bompa Caviness as her special guests for breakfast. Herm served in the Air Force National Guard. Halle also performed during the Con with the Wind Ensemble.

 Birthdays

After a long day - we finally celebrate Dad's 51st birthday.  I had my birthday a week later - but no one ever thinks to take a picture of me - oh well.

Jazz Band

The Chase Jazz Band sets up on stage at EWU for a competition.

Chad gets a little extra instruction from one of the professors who helped judge the bands.

Halle looks and listens.

Our big group.  Easiest group I ever chaperoned!

Thanksgiving was wonderful!  It was just our family along with our friend, Liz Sachse, and two of her friends, Glen and Lori.  Glen and Lori are pharmacist interns working on the reservation.  They really added a feeling of friendship and family.  We had great food, had great stories, and laughed a lot.  Glen gave Sean some pointers on the Rubik's cube and we played a killer game of Five Crowns.  It was the best Thanksgiving!

October 2014

October was just a continuation of September: School, Cross-Country, and Football.  It was also fundraising time for the schools.  Chad and Halle participated in the Chase Fund Run.  Chad (tied with another boy) ran the most laps (13) and got to go to Hogan's for lunch as his reward.  He was very pleased about that!  Sean was chosen to be a library helper at Adams.  So once a month (sometimes more) he gets to go to school early and help organize books at the library.

Cross-Country

Shaw

Halle - First Lap

Looking strong.

Chad - keeping a fast pace.

7th Place!

 

Meeting up with another running family - the Lee family.

 Comstock

Warm-up time.

Halle knows how to stretch.

Warm-up for boys.

Getting ready for their group cheer.

Concentrating on passing up the Mt. Side girls.

Coming up to the finish line.

Giving it everything she has.

Hooray!  The finish line.

18th place!  Great improvement.

Halle and best friend.

Chase takes the lead.

Bompa there to coach Chad on.

Running hard.

Almost to the finish line.

The end in site.

Happy with 2nd place.

Chase

Halle running hard.

 

Sneaking past one more girl at the finish.

Exhausted!

Running in unison at the front of the pack.

Chad keeping his pace (B went down with a twisted ankle)

6th place.

Garry

Halle first time to run around the tight corner at Garry.

 

Go Halle!

 

2nd time around the corner.

Big sprint to the finish line.

Taking the fun corner for the first lap.

Chase in the lead.

 

Run, run, run.

 

Some kick to the finish.

All-City (Shaw)

7th grade mob of girls at the start of the race.

Biggest improvement!!  She worked hard all year and moved from the middle third to the top third of the pack!

8th grade boys mob at the beginning of the race.

Beginning to pass another runner.

End results of Halle's race.  (I totally forgot to take a picture of Chad's results.)

Chad takes 6th place at All City.  Good job Chad and Halle.  It is now the end of cross-country season.

 Elementary Cross-Country

Sean - waiting with his group from Adams.

There he goes!

Here comes Sean!

Great job Sean!

The fancy finish line (not start!)  It feels good to be done.

 

Football

Sean is ready for action.

Sean's last game of flag football for the season.

My "official" football picture of Sean since we missed picture day.

The Fall has been beautiful this year and the temperatures quite mild, especially for Halloween.  Chris and I got to celebrate our 17th anniversary on the 10th.  Grandma and Bompa took the kids for us.  Our original plan to stay at a bed and breakfast didn't work out - but we still enjoyed just hanging out together, watching the movie, "Meet the Mormons," and being childless for a good 24 hours!

October was also picture month.  The kids finally had their school pictures done and we also had a family picture done.

Chad - 8th Grade

Halle - 7th Grade

Sean - 5th Grade

Our 2014 family picture by Amy Stinebaugh at Cannon Hill Park.  (I wonder if Chad will be taller than me in our next family picture for 2015?!)

Halloween was very strange this year.  No more little kids to take trick-or-treating any more.  Halle and Chad were both invited to Halloween parties.  Halle's party started before the trunk-or-treat so she didn't get to go.  Only Sean went trick-or-treating but only wanted to do our cul-de-sac.  We didn't get more than 30 trick-or-treaters at our house.  It seemed very anti-climatic.  I helped out at the Adams fair this year - but never again.  I was helping out at one of the booths, got yelled at by parents because their kids didn't "win," was never relieved by another helper during the second shift and was starving because I didn't get to eat, plus I was sick and I never got to go around with Sean - he was on his own for the whole night.  It was horrible!  We attended the Chase fair the next week - but not all that exciting!  The kids couldn't even find enough things to do to use up all of their tickets.  Oh well.

Sean's Book Pumpkins from the book "Janitors."

Sean had his face painted like a zoombie.

Halle's tattoos for her character.

Halle was "Tris" from the Divergent series of books (and movie).

The jack-o-lanterns.  Chad:  Normal.  Sean:  Spook.  Halle:  Puking pumpkin.

Chad was the Lobster Bisque guy from Studio C.  (He really does a great impression of the guy!)

Sean was "Steve" from Minecraft.  (Unfortunately he lost the diamond sword he had right before Halloween.)