Chess Club

Tonight was the first official chess club of the year for Bethany Christian.  Cameron was very excited to be able to join.  They met right after school and Cameron had a great time.  He played four games and only lost to the chess instructor.   He also went to North Webster on Monday to play with Evan.  They have a chess club that meets once a month.  The first tournament of the year is at Bethany on the 31st of October.  Glad that he has a chance to play with others before then.

Elkhart Memorial

Tonight I drove to Elkhart Memorial to watch the girls soccer game.  I was glad that I did as Meg played very well and the JV won 1-0.  She had several shots on goal and I really thought that she was going to score.  The ref called her offsides several times and that prevented one of the goals.  The varsity game was a good one as well.  The girls ended up losing 4-0, but they played hard and Meg once again did very well.

This has been my second trip to Elkhart Memorial this fall.  As I drove home I wondered why they chose to join our conference.  They are the farthest drive from Wawasee and even farther from several other NLC schools.  I think that there have to be conferences that are closer to them that they could have joined.  Although they are bigger than Wawasee we usually compete with them well.  That is one benefit to having them in our conference.  I just wish the drive was easier.  

Can't Keep My Eyes Open

I can't remember the last time I went to bed before 10 o'clock. In fact a couple of years ago I was always up until at least 11:30.  Lately, however, I have noticed that I've been going to bed earlier and earlier. Last night was the first time I was asleep by 10 o'clock, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

It just seems that all we do is get busier and busier. The schedules are catching up with me. I knew when I drove Cameron home from school that I had already had already hit a wall, but I still had to make it to parent teacher conferences for Cal and Meg plus a library board meeting. Conferences went well I am glad to say. Meg is off to a great start in high school with all A's and Cal is doing well considering he has three AP courses.  I didn't make it through all of my library board meeting. After an hour and a half I realized I needed to go home. I was able to get six loads of laundry folded before I finally said I was done for the night.

Someday our schedule will slow down a little bit. For now I'll just try to keep up with it all.  One fog delay now and then wouldn't be so bad either.

A Beautiful Day

Today was another beautiful day. In fact the weather this September has just been gorgeous. I've been able to take a walk every afternoon between two and three before I pick up Cameron. Doug was able to join me today and I appreciated the company. He walks faster than I do which makes me work harder, but I don't mind.  It's a great way to get exercise and spend time with him as well.

Doug was also able to get outside this afternoon and start on the fall yardwork.  We bought a beautiful mum for the front porch. Soon I'll decorate for Halloween. This is by far one of my favorite times of the year. Everything is so colorful and beautiful. Having nice weather to go along with it has made September very special this year.

One Busy Day

Cal had two rounds of NLC today at Northwood.  His first match was a 9 a.m. and he won easily.  Cam and I were there to see his match and to bring food for the event.  Once Cal finished we kept ourselves occupied with a game of Bocce ball, eating breakfast and playing paddle ball.  Cal had one of the longest waits of the day and was scheduled to go back on around 1 p.m.  I missed the very beginning as I had to take Cam to my Mom so he could go to a birthday party in Goshen.  Cal played well in his match.  He ended up losing 6-4, 6-3, but competed well especially on such a windy afternoon.  He ended the NLC season in 6th place at #2 singles.  Doug said that made him 14th overall in the conference in tennis and we couldn't be more proud.

Once tennis was over I headed home to quickly catch up with Doug.  He and Meg had two soccer games this morning against topped ranked Warsaw.  Meg had the play of the day when she took down one of the Warsaw players in front of the Wawasee crowd.    My Dad yelled out in the crowd, "That's exactly what I taught her."  Doug said she played awesome and he was very proud.  The JV tied 1-1, while the Varsity lost 0-8.

I picked Cam up from his birthday party in Goshen.  He had an awesome time celebrating Conner's birthday.  They played Minute to Win It games, jumped on the trampoline and had a Nerf gun battle.  I was so glad that he was invited and thrilled that he had a great time.  Switching schools is never easy, but I feel that he has made the transition very well.  It was a lot of fun to see him with his new friends enjoying the day and being included on their activities.

We ended the evening with a bonfire and a game of cards with my parents.  Everyone was pretty tired, but still had a lot of fun.  Soccer and tennis are winding down for the fall and I will miss watching the Heinisch children play.

Extreme Green and Gold

Tonight was extreme green and gold at the football game in honor of homecoming.  It was a fun way to end a great week.  Cal and Meg both enjoyed the dress up days and besides the talent show Cal also participated in capture the flag.  Meg had Kaitlyn and Gabrielle over to get ready for the game.  Paula bought green and gold paint and by the time they left they were covered.  Cal and the Glon boys also joined in the decorating.  They ran to Goodwill to buy a Green Lantern outfit and stopped at Wal-Mart for all of the green and gold glitter they could find.  By the time Meg and Cal got home from the game they were both covered head to toe.  It will be challenging to get out of Meg's hair and Cal's shoes, but a small price to pay for an evening of fun.

A Rare Night Off

Tonight's soccer match was rescheduled for yesterday and the tennis NLC was moved to Saturday to accommodate a funeral of a student from Plymouth.  He chose to end his life on Sunday afternoon and the story has been resonating in the news all week.  The Plymouth superintendent said that it was the first suicide that had happened since he had been in charge of the district and they wanted to take time to honor the student.

Since Cal started high school there have been four students who have committed suicide at Wawasee.  When the first two happened Doug was reading a book called "The Tipping Point."  It talked about the prevalence of suicide in smalltown, rural communities.  Everything that he read discussed the importance of downplaying the event.  Teenagers do not always understand that suicide is forever.  They see the attention that one student gets for ending their life as a way to stop their own hurting.  I worry that all the attention of this week will cause more students to see this as a viable option.  I hope and pray that this is not the case.