Matthew Football

 (Shout-out to the photographer moms who take great pictures and share them!)

I honestly have no idea what the win/loss records were for Matthew's teams this season.  I think they did pretty well.  His season ended on Saturday in the second round of play-offs, where they lost to the other Tallmadge team.

What I do know is that Matthew worked hard, no matter the circumstances.  He was 100% focused for two straight games every Saturday.  (He usually only played a few plays in the varsity game, then played the entire JV game.)  He wasn't often put in his favorite positions.  He didn't get to touch the ball much (and when he did, he usually got hit immediately).  But he had a good attitude, was an encouraging teammate, did whatever his coaches asked, and helped his team greatly with his fantastic blocking. He still loves it and says he want to play again next year.

Is he taking the hand-off? Or is he the decoy? 

look at his face!

It's hard to hold on to a pass when you have two defenders hitting you.

blocking hard to clear a path for his buddy Cam

Tallmadge Blue, C Division, JV and V team

Other Fall Stuff

Our church hosted a "trunk-or-treat" event for the community.  We passed out candy to hundreds and hundreds of families from the community!  It was really fun, and people's creativity was impressive!

For trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, Micah stayed home to help Scott pass out candy.  Hannah made herself a cow costume.  She walked around with some friends at first, then Elle and Fae.

Matthew made a "skater dude" costume and invited his friend Luke to come walk with him.

We saw a bunch of Cornerstone friends and Tallmadge friends.  The boys were extra excited to go to Mrs. Hawes' house (their teacher).

Hannah with two of her former teachers and another Cornerstone alum. 

I get excited every year for the trees lining this street in our neighborhood to turn red!

Hannah and Matthew wanted to pick out pumpkins and do the corn maze.  There wasn't a good time for us to do it as a family, but they said they could figure out the maze on their own, and they did!  I followed their lead, and we made it out in 15 minutes!

I finally fulfilled my promise to the kids to take them to Cedar Point.  It was not an ideal day, but we all had fun. And we discovered that all the kids like roller coasters!

Matthew's good buddy Luke spotted us in line, and his mom got a picture of us!

 Here are everyone's school pictures.

Hannah Soccer and XC

 Hannah has finished all her regular season cross country meets.  (She is hoping to go to nationals in November.  Mom and Dad are waiting to see if she is dedicated enough to keep running on her own between now and then.)  Her last three races were all the 3k distance, and her times were about a minute faster than her first 3k of the season.  Her best was 13:31, which is a 7:15/mile pace.  She had a lot of fun with the 5th and 6th grade girls on the team and is looking forward to being on the middle school team next year.

Hannah's soccer season ended in the best way possible!  They won or tied their last four games, ending the season with a 4-3-1 record! That's quite an improvement for a team that hadn't won a game in the past two seasons.  They also won a scrimmage against a local premier team, which was one of Hannah's best games.  But the last game held the most exciting moment of all....Hannah scored a goal!!!

There was a penalty on the other team inside the box.  I heard one of the girls call to the coaches, asking who should take the penalty shot, and a coach yelled, "Hannah, take it!" So she did.

Earlier this month Hannah also had an overnight trip for school, which I ended up chaperoning.  It was a beautiful YMCA camp right on Lake Erie.  

This was our group - 17 sixth graders and 2 high school helpers.

and cuddles with Sadie at home

Fall Update

[Disclaimer: any good sports pictures were taken by people more talented than me.] 

Sadie

Sadie is growing, as puppies tend to do.  She's gotten really good at a few things (potty training, being left alone in the house) and still needs work in a few things (jumping up on people, walking nicely on a leash).

oh, did you want to sit here?

House

Our house has been under construction since May.  We're putting on an addition so Scott can have his own dedicated work space, and we have a bigger guest room.  There's light at the end of the tunnel, but it's not done yet.

Micah

We are very proud of how hard Micah is working at both school and cross country.  So far he has A's in all his classes, including two honors classes.  In cross country, he is pushing himself and proving to be a valuable member of the team.  Out of his six meets so far, he has been 5th or 6th for his team at four of them, which is pretty impressive as a freshman.  He is also working as a referee for youth soccer, like he did in the spring.

Micah got to see two of his Cornerstone buddies at a race.  (Neither was running; they were there to watch their brothers.)

Micah and Ben have been battling for the 5th place on the team.  This race Ben got him by .01 seconds.  

Hannah is also doing well academically.  Even with her transition to a new school, she still has all A's.  She is also working hard at cross country.  She grew 4 inches from last season, so she's learning how to make those longer legs work for her.  She is consistently second for her team and has placed in the top ten of every race so far.

the 5th and 6th grade girls

 

The exciting news in soccer is that after two season with no wins, Hannah's team has won three in a row!

win #3 was a cold, wet, miserable day

Matthew still loves football.  He's been disappointed that he rarely gets to carry the ball this year, but his coaches rely on him in several other positions (especially for blocking).  He usually plays the entire JV game, both offense and defense.

#84

he was a captain for this game

Scott and Deb

Scott and Deb are keeping busy: driving the kids, training the dog, washing lots of laundry, cleaning drywall dust off of every surface (multiple times), cheering our heads off, packing meals and snacks, cooking dinner at weird hours, nagging about homework, running Fantastic Friday, recertifying for foster care, leading our small group, and working.

Scott did ALL the jobs this weekend while I went to "suite retreat".