Soooooo.......I took the plunge and started playing in a USTA league. I've taking clinics for about 4 years now, I guess it's time to put it to use. A couple of friends that I take clinic with, asked Ann and I to join their team. We obliged, and it has been so much fun!!!
On the day of my first match, Maddie wrote about it at school. Maybe she was a tad excited for me too??
With a new school year upon us, with that, comes new crossing guards. The school crossing guards are seventh graders. So Peyton got to retire from it, and Jack got to assume the position. Here is (and Jackson) are on day one of the new gig.
Gus LOVES, LOVES, LOVES going to the park where he can run wild!!!! Doesn't he just look so happy?!?!?!......and tired!!!
Towards the end of summer, we discovered this little ice-cream shop (that also turns out to have pretty good fried chicken and fish), down the bike trail that starts on Marshall Rd. A few evenings that we didn't have much going on, we'd load the bikes up and take them down to Marshall, ride to get ice-cream (sometimes fried chicken and fish), and then ride home.
Jack finished his trainer to be a server for church at the end of February. He was suppose to serve his first mass, right at the start of COVID in mid March. He finally got to serve his first one at an all school mass a couple weeks into September. He was sooooo nervous. He said he didn't remember anything from the training. I tried to reassure him that nobody would notice if he messed up and that the priests and deacons would give him cues if/when he missed something.
There are three servers per mass at our church. He knew which position he had, so we watched the school mass from the week before and he focused on his position. Turns out, once he got there, Father Greg was giving mass, and he can't walk very well, so there is no procession before or after mass.....so all his "studying" didn't pay off.....oh well! He did great and he said it wasn't too bad.
The mask laundry is REAL!!!! Holy smokes!!! I do not know which chore I like least....making lunches or doing mask laundry.
Jack and Maddie go through a minimum of two masks a day at school. They sweat at recess and then need to change. On PE days they go through three, from sweating at recess and PE.
After two weeks of going to school for a couple hours, they got to go back full time!!! What a glorious, happy day!! They are cutting school short at the end of the day, having the kids get out at 2:00 instead of 3:00. This allows the kids to ease into a full day of mask-wearing, and allows the teachers more plan time at the end of the day and more cleaning/sanitizing time.
Well, his mouth finally healed from the removal of his extra teeth and it was time to go get braces on again. This time he actually came out with braces on!! Yippee!! He was nervous to get them, but quickly realized they really aren't that big of a deal. Although, he did whine a lot the first few days of sore teeth. More than I remember Peyton complaining...
Crazy how once they get braces on, they instantly look so much older!!!
For one last hurrah, we hit the road for our first ever real ROAD TRIP!!! We were headed to Hilton Head with the VanCleaves and Rineys.
We spent lots of time riding bikes, swimming in the pool and ocean and just hanging out. Due to COVID we pretty much just ordered groceries and stayed in. Gina and I did make it to a cardio tennis class one day, and it was ok.....it was no Karin clinic, but it was still fun. There ended up being two other people from St. Louis in the clinic....crazy!!
Their was some small hurricane action our second day there that brought in ALL THE JELLYFISH!!!! I think everyone in the entire party got stung and some multiple times, except Peyton and I. Jack got it the worst!!! He still had a mark on his knee a week after we got home!
We did have a St. Peter Zoom call while we were there, that did say that we were going to go back to school in person!! So that was exciting!
Peyton had a fun day/night celebrating Vita. Manis and pedis, pizza, and movie and hangout time at the Lorms'.
OOPS!!! Maddie's sweet little friend, Elaina, caught Maddie in a big backswing. SHOOT!!! At first Maddie was fine, but then she caught her tooth in her hand and started to panic. She did have a loose tooth at the time, so I was really just hoping it knocked that tooth out. Once I got down to her, nope, wasn't the case. It had chipped one of her permanent teeth.
I called our dentist, well kind of stalked him actually. Called the office, no answer. So then I texted him, and being the nice guy that he is, he got us in right away. I sent him some pics, and he said that she needed to come in cause he could see from the pictures that the root was exposed.
I took her down and he fixed her up in no time. He built her up a tooth, and said he was hoping that would work and if not, then we'd have to do a root canal. But so far, so good! Thank goodness!
Poor Elaina was crying and feeling so bad and her mom kept texting us that day to see how Maddie was. The next day she greeted Maddie with he sweetest note and a gift card to Fro-Yo! Little did she know, Fro-Yo is one of Maddie's faves!!!
Hallelujah!!!! Such a beautiful thing!! After 3 long months, COVID months at that, so lots of time spent at home.....the basement is finished!!! Mike can move his office out of our BEDROOM, Jack can move the TV and Xbox out of his room (not that he minded!), and Maddie got her gymnastics stuff back!!! Everyone is HAPPY!!!!
