Happy 4th of July! (and Julianna's birthday- she's EIGHT!)

All-Comers Track Meet

My children participated in an all-comers track meet the other night. Pretty fun!

Here's a little video of some of their races (our battery was getting low so we didn't get everything & some of it was cut short). Also:

1. We were on the ferry on the clip in the van so don't worry if you see unbuckled children. 

2. Yes, we need to work on Tessa's running form. She's only 2, people!

3. Yes, Tessa needs to learn to stay in her lane. 

4. Lucy needs to not run next to girls who want to socialize during the 200m dash. (that girl's super cute!)

5. When watching footage of Josiah running the 200m, Gabe says to him, “You got CREAMED, Josiah!” and Josiah replies, “Hey! Those boys had deeper voices than YOU!”

6. It was super fun to have a little relay team made up of my own children. We weren't sure if they'd let them run it- it was co-ed but we weren't sure about the ages. Josiah, Millie, Gabe & Gracie all ran it and we were pleasantly surprised that not only did they NOT get last place, they almost caught the 2nd place finishers! The first place team was a team of high school boys. They did great & finished with a time of 4:49 or so. Battery was dead so didn't get to record the race. Bummer.

Here are the events they did:

Tessa (2)- 50m & 200m dash

Lucy (newly 5)- 50m, 200m dash & long jump

Julianna (7)- 50m, 200m dash & long jump

Josiah (11)- high jump, shot put (practicing for pentathlon!), 200m dash, kids mile & 4x400m relay.

Emilia- (13)- high jump, shot put, 200m dash, kids mile & 4x400m relay.

Gabe- twisted his arm to join the Team Long 4x400m relay

Gracie- high jump, 1500m (5:07) & 4x400m relay

Nine Kids!?

Easter Sunday! First picture of my NINE children!
It is REALLY hard to get a decent picture of NINE children!
Tessa's happiest when she's with her GABE.
See what I mean!?



Gracie told everyone to make a funny face. And then she didn't make a funny face.
Easter egg hunt at Freedom Farms... an egg hunt on HORSEBACK!! How fun is that!?
Tessa was not a bit afraid of these large animals!
Little Lu didn't mind either!
Julianna had fun! Anything involving candy and she's in!
And then another Easter egg hunt at Mima's house.
These two. :)
Tessa & Lucy, wearing their matching dresses their Aunt Kelly gave them for Christmas.
Tessa
Lucy
The lovely Miss Gracie
The stunning Miss Millie
Grandma & her youngest grandbaby, Lorelei.

Gabe

Gabe was starting point guard in his first season of PAHS basketball, playing for the C team. He improved quite a bit over the season and we saw his confidence grow as well. Kenton thinks he averaged about 10ppg. He played hard, sometimes playing the entire game without a break, including a game where they went into double overtime. He played with a great group of boys & they had a good season together. We really liked his coach too.

Good job, Gabe!!

Christmas Day at Grandma's

Yes, I actually made it into a picture... and I guess I don't mind it much since I was made into a cartoon. ;) I think my girls' favorite thing to do at Grandma's house is to confiscate her phone & take a zillion selfies and us-ies and all kinds of other pictures and videos and they make the rest of us join in sometimes. I wonder if Grandma has any memory left on her phone!? 
My favorite Christmas gift! I don't know when or how she did this, but Gracie made this for the baby! Isn't it adorable!? I love it. She is so thoughtful. It's super soft & I love the colors.

Christmas Eve

A quick shot before heading to Grandma's for Christmas Eve!

Over the River and Through the Woods...

To Grandmother's house we go!
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

Cross Country Season Wraps Up

Various clips & pictures from cross country season (October '15). Also, Gabe had a great season too, with a PR of 18:28.   And she's off! GO MILLIE! And a picture of Josiah playing soccer thrown in, since soccer season is also during cross country season!

Middle school race results!

High school league championship results! Gracie & her teammates Gracie and her track coach, one of her favorite coaches ever! Coach Sheedy. :) One of Gracie's most amazing races EVER! Not only did she PR (get a Personal Record) but she won league championships despite the pain she had in her foot AND with a tough competitor running right on her heels the entire race! Super exciting win! But then... the pain in her foot was so intense that a doctor at the meet, also her competitor's coach, strongly suggested she get an MRI as he suspected her foot was fractured. Sadly, this was confirmed with an MRI. Emilia crossing the finish line at the league championship meet. FIRST PLACE! The MRI confirming the pain Gracie had had in her foot for a couple of weeks was indeed a fracture. That meant she was out for the District meet (which she won last year) and the State meet. What a bummer.

Cross Country Season

Cross Country season has begun for 3 Longlets: Gracie as a sophomore, Gabriel as a freshman and Emilia's first year in 7th grade. 
Gracie had a really tough season as it started with a hip injury. Then in the middle of the season she caught a cold which triggered a new diagnosis of asthma (she had a couple of asthma attacks during races!) and at the end of the season? A FRACTURED FOOT!!!!!!! She ran in 2 races before she got that diagnosis. We were told it was tendinitis before that. She still did amazing though!
More about their seasons in a post next month.

For now, here are some newspaper clippings and photos to summarize this month!

 






One of the teams that was supposed to show up to this meet got stuck in traffic and was unable to make it so they ran the boys and girls together. Her teammate, Lucas, an exchange student from Germany, encouraged Gracie the whole way.