League Meet

 The cross country team does their own "spirit week" on the week of the League Meet.

Monday: Fall pictures

Tuesday: Twin day and Senior Recognition

Wednesday: Pink

Thursday: Race Day

Sadly, our best runner was not able to participate (she would have easily won the race) and a couple of other girls (including Hannah) are running with injuries. But even with those handicaps, the girls team still won second place! One of Hannah's best friends, Allie, had her best race ever. It was so fun to see her and Hannah running together for most of the race!

Friday: Dress Like a Coach and Saturday: Dress Like Your Water bottle (I don't currently have pictures.)

Micah was home for fall break this weekend. And Kollers were in town for a family member's bridal shower. It was fun to have some family time and a full house!

The Injury Update

 Matthew had a check-up at the orthopedic doctor today, and his collar bone is healing nicely. He can take the sling off when he's at home this week and start doing some mobility exercises. We go back again in two weeks. 

His football team finished their season 6-2 - an accomplishment to be proud of! Here are a couple of pictures from the game before he got hurt:

And after he got hurt:

Hannah is still battling hip pain, but the results of her MRI showed no structural issues, which is good. She may not be able to perform at the level she'd like, but she can at least participate in the post-season. 

These pictures are from last week in Columbus.

Her face made me laugh

As for the other broken things - my van, the furnace, and the water heater are all working correctly! The surgery to remove my gallbladder is scheduled for the second week of November. 

Visit From Nana

 Nana came for a visit this week. We had planned it for her to get here in time to see Matthew play football Wednesday night, but his broken collarbone ruined that plan. On Thursday morning, she and I drove out to Grove City to visit Micah for a few hours between classes. 

Nana made this blanket for Micah

Friday was a day off school for Matthew and Hannah, so they had a coffee date with Nana. Then Hannah left for Columbus with the cross country team for an overnight trip. 

Friday night the middle schoolers played with the high school marching band at the football game. Matthew did the best he could to play one-handed.  Video

Pre-game dinner

Hannah has not been running the last few weeks due to her hip pain. Rest, therapy, and chiropractic visits have helped somewhat, and she felt strong enough to run on Saturday! She still had some pain, and she said her cardio was "terrible", but it's improvement!

Even though she hasn't run the past couple of weeks, she still got caught by the team photographers. 

We took advantage of Gramme's pool for Hannah to do a water workout one night. I quizzed her on biology notes while she ran in place for half an hour. 

Besides all the appointments for Hannah's hip and Matthew's collarbone and my gallbladder, we've also had annoying life things like my van needing repairs (three times) and multiple visits from the plumber, HVAC, and gas company to get our furnace and hot water heater running smoothly. Hopefully we've gotten all the broken things out of the way and can have smooth sailing for a while!

A Marathon, A Clavicle, Homecoming, and The Zoo...oh my!

 We got to have Micah home last weekend! It was great to catch up with him, hear about his experiences so far, and spoil him as much as possible. He and Ryan survived their first ever half marathon! We had fun cheering in several different spots along the way. In typical Micah fashion, he felt "fine" after. 

Neiva didn't run with them, but proudly wore her matching shirt after. 

Sadly, Matthew's football season has come to a premature end. He was playing basketball on Sunday and got tripped up with another kid. He landed hard on his shoulder, breaking his collarbone. The good news is that he does not need surgery to repair it. He'll be in a sling for 4-6 weeks and is unsure if he'll be able to move it in time to try out for the basketball team. 

Matthew's last football game before his injury was an exciting one! Matthew played every single snap of the game - offense and defense. I'm sure the team will miss having him for the last few games of the season. 

Hannah and her lovely friends had homecoming on Saturday. They had a lot of fun taking pictures and going out to dinner before the dance. After the dance, a couple of the girls came back to our house to watch a movie. 

Gwen

Gianna

Maria

Allie and Kaedra

Summit County residents could get free admission to the Akron Zoo for the month of September, so I took Kensleigh one day. 

She loved touching all the goats

She took a car nap on the way back to our house, then we played toys, walked to meet Matthew's bus, and had a snack until her mom came to pick her up.