He Plays the Violin

In 4th grade students get to decide whether or not they want to play an instrument and, if so, which one. Noah decided to follow in the footsteps of Savannah and chose the violin.

"He plays the violin,
He tucks it right under his chin."

It really would have been nice if he could have just used the violin we have sitting down in storage but oh, no, the students need to start with the size that most appropriately fits them. Yay, more money to spend on renting one! Noah has been coming along nicely and loves sharing the music he has learned so far.

Go Buccaneers!

At the first scrimmage of the season the boys played so well that the parents got extremely excited about the season. Unfortunately the season didn't turn out all that well but the boys always gave it their all. Our game against Fallston was particularly tough, not just because our team lost so badly but Xander didn't play all that much.

Hangin' on the sidelines with his best bud, Devin.

One of the few plays he was in.

It's always important to look for the positives in any situation so that's what we did with the Fallston game. First, one of Xander's best friends, Drew, plays for Fallston so it was fun to watch him play and talk after the game.

Second, his lack of playing time motivated Xander to step it up at practice, to prove to the coaches that he belonged out on the field during games. Xander worked extremely hard at all his practices and the result was he had a ton of playing time against Stemmers Run.

Playing offensive line.

Playin' tough!

A brief pause to give mom a smile. He was having a ton of fun on the field and I was so proud of him!

Heading over to congratulate a teammate on his touchdown!

Our game against Stemmers Run was one of our few victories. For the rest of the season Xander practiced hard and quite often was a starter on either the offense or defensive line.

Bike Rodeo

For September's pack meeting the cub scouts participated in a bike rodeo. Noah had a fun time!

Leading those scouts in the oath and law.

Ready to ride all over the parking lot with his fellow scouts!

Noah and his fabulous smile!

Racing against his buddy Nathan and stopping on a dime.

Uh oh, we have some bandits on the loose!

There goes my cute little bandit!

Playing High School Soccer

Savannah had to miss YW camp in August because high school soccer tryouts started that same week. We weren't too concerned about Savannah making the high school team because not only is she a fabulous soccer player but Edgewood usually doesn't make cuts. Considering not enough girls showed up to tryouts to fill both the Varsity and JV teams, we knew she'd be fine. And yes, Savannah made the JV team! The first official high school soccer event for her was a small tournament held at North Harford High School right before school started. I was so thrilled to watch her play!

High school brought her a new number - 32. At first she was super upset about losing #7 but she tried to make the best of it after I told her a bunch of famous athletes have worn #32, including one of my favorites, Magic Johnson. We told her we would just have to call her Magic Sav!

Going for that header!

They won their first game and since there were only 4 teams in the tournament they got to play in the championship game against North Harford, a team filled with some of her teammates from Northern Elite. Unfortunately David and I had to leave before the big game to get Xander to his football game so we missed the exciting game, overtime and penalty shots. Big bummer - our girls lost but what a great start to the season!
The official high school soccer season started at our home field!

I love this picture of her! She had a great first game, scoring a goal and the team with a win.

The game against Patterson Mill was super exciting! It was a battle for the full two halves...

and then, with under a minute to go, we had a throw in, Savannah fought to get the ball and succeeded, sent a fantastic pass up to Payton who took a shot and scored in the final seconds! It was amazing!! At that game Savannah had a few fans show up to support her - Sister Hardy and Emma, Sister Wine, and one of my all time favorite soccer campers, Jesse. All smiles after that awesome game!

Early Morning Seminary

And so it begins! For the next nine years David and I will be getting up before the sun to get the kids off to seminary and it all starts with this girl. On Savannah's first day she was all smiles. Most mornings she remains that way. We've never had to wake her up or push her to attend. Although she doesn't like getting up so early she truly enjoys seminary which obviously makes us so happy!