Randos

Here's another random post with pictures that can't excluded, but also didn't really fit into previous blog posts...

The kids' school pictures turned out great this year 😁

The photographers asked Colin if he wanted to take off his headphones (I think he was working on his computer in class prior to this) - he said, "no" so this is what we got!

Poor Scarlet...she's gone through the wringer in the last few months!  I guess that comes with the territory of being an old dog.  In the middle of November, we decided to give her a bath at Tractor Supply.  She was a good girl.

Later that week, while Danny was out of town, Scarlet had another episode where she couldn't really walk after laying in her bed all night.  She kept slipping on the floor.  Cadence and I had to carry her down the stairs and support her with a towel when she went outside.  After moving around a bit, she was a little more steady, but was still leaning to one side and couldn't really walk straight.  Danny and I took her to the vet that weekend.  Dr. Badami checked her out & said it could be a number of things.  She seems to have periodic episodes like this.  It's becoming more difficult for her to walk on the hard floors.  Poor pup.  It's rough watching her get old.

I was influenced by a friend's elf post on Facebook.  Since Colin is "in the know" these days, Cadence and I had fun with this one.

With basketball games in the late afternoon on the weekends, I've been making a lot of crockpot meals - one Sunday morning I had Colin help me cut up the onions.  We wanted to see if it would make his eyes tear up - it most definitely did!

😂

Cadence never takes a serious photo when I want to send Danny pictures of the kids when he's traveling...

This year, I got several members of Danny's family tea towels with his grandma's handwriting on them for Christmas.  I got the image of the phrase from an old card she had sent to us.  I hope they think of her every time they look at it.

We finally finished THE puzzle!  The Coca-Cola Santa puzzle was finished the FIRST time, and we realized we had several missing pieces (we know for a fact Olive ate at least one piece).  Mom ordered the same puzzle, in hopes that we could find the missing pieces.  After she received the puzzle, we learned that the pieces were larger than the puzzle she already had.  So, we did the entire puzzle over again, with the goal of finishing it around Thanksgiving (with the intent on framing it for my parents' Christmas gift).  We were successful!  I'm proud of us for getting it done!

We quickly finished this puzzle (a gift from the Lastivkas from Christmas 2021) and Colin told his Ohio State fan teacher that we would frame it for her - so we did and gave it as a Christmas gift!  Danny's parents got Colin the same puzzle for Christmas - so it looks like we can do it again!

7th Grade Winter Band Concert

Danny was out of town for Cadence's 7th grade winter band concert, so I took a lot of photos and videos to share with him.  Luckily Mom & Dad could attend.  The kids did a great job. We actually got there as choir was wrapping up their performance.  Cadence had to arrive early, so Colin and I enjoyed the orchestra performance first.  Next, the 7th grade band had their turn.  They performed A Christmas Proclamation, Rockin' Through the Snow, Up on a Haunted Housetop, and Bunker Hill Overture.  The last piece wasn't "Christmas-y," but the kids like to play it and it's impressively difficult!  My favorite piece of the night was Up on a Haunted Housetop - it was fun!

So proud of our first-chair clarinet player 😁

 We stuck around and watched the jazz band and the 8th grade band performances.  It was a good night of music!  It will be fun to see how much they grow next year.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We enjoyed another quiet and laid-back Thanksgiving this year.  It's nothing extravagant, so I didn't take many pictures.  It was just the 4 of us, Mom & Dad, and Mike (Gina was in Florida with her family).  When we got home from campus, we made mac & cheese and the kids helped me with the apple pie.  Check out that pretty lattice crust!

That morning, we worked out downstairs and I took many trips down the the basement to get things out of the extra refrigerator to make the green bean casserole, stuffing, and corn pudding.  While Danny was still working out, I went down toward the fridge and noticed something small on the ground.  I thought it was a leaf or maybe even an onion peel that had fallen out of the refrigerator.  I took a closer look and noticed it was a mouse!  I didn't move and kept an eye on it while Danny grabbed a storage container to put on top of it!  It was super chill, so we thought maybe it had eaten some rat poisoning we had in the basement.  Danny humanely put it outside...but at the fence line.  NOT at least 2 miles away like suggested on the back of mouse trap boxes! 😮

We enjoyed dinner with the family and also had pumpkin and pecan pies, as well as pumpkin roll!

The next day, we started decorating the house for Christmas.  Rhonda had suggested when they visited, that we should try to fit the tree in the living room this year.  I'm so glad we tried it.  It was a treat to have it where we could enjoy it all month long!

That Sunday, Cadence helped me put outdoor lights on the front bushes and Dad helped me put lights on one of the pine trees out back.  It's January 12th as I'm writing this and the lights are still on.  It's so pretty!

Beat Xichigan

One of my favorite new traditions is heading down to campus the day before Thanksgiving.  This year, I was able to work from home that day, but in years past the family met me down on campus since my office is close by.  In recent years, The Game has fallen on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.  This gives us a perfect time to head to campus and cross out some Ms!

We always start with a trip to Adriatico's for the best pizza and Buckeye "balls" on the planet

Right after we ate, the kids got busy finding those naked Ms

Cadence filmed herself at work and made a pretty cool video that she posted on YouTube

The Game

They are goofballs

The library had some really cool Buckeye artifacts on display, including this impressive LEGO display of the 'Shoe!

Photo-bombed by Colin!

Danny made a friend on the Oval - he was staring at him for several minutes!

We made a stop at the Union

And walked down High Street to...

...Buckeye Donuts, of course!

Damn, I should've bought this sweatshirt! 😂

Unfortunately, our hard work did not pay off this season.  TTUN beat our beloved Buckeyes.  Onto next season!!

10u Travel Basketball

The 10u travel basketball season has been quite the learning experience for Colin.  He did not make the team that majority of last season's teammates are on.  Colin was disappointed at first.  He would miss his friends.  His ego took a bit of a hit.  He was also worried about playing with boys who didn't have any experience on a travel team.  He knew it would be a bit of a struggle.  We explained to him that this switch would be a good thing.  Coach Jim is an awesome coach and would be the head coach.  Colin would have the opportunity to step up and be a leader.  He would have more time on the court.   The team has seen more Ls on the schedule than Ws, but the the boys have been fun to watch.  Colin is really learning and excelling on the court.  We've struggled with his attitude from time-to-time, but he's slowly showing improvement.  When things don't go his way, or his team is down, it takes him a while to shake the negativity.  He also can't mask how he's feeling and it's a discouragement to his teammates.  We've had lots of talks with Colin after games and practices (mainly Coach Danny), and we're getting there.  I'm proud of #21 so far, and look forward to what the next couple of months bring.

Here are some shots from the preview tournament at the beginning of the season.

Someone tied to the league has season suite tickets to the men's Ohio State basketball games - they allowed the team to attend one of the games and the boys had a good time.

Here's a really good picture I got of Colin right before he made a shot during a game last month...

...check out that air!