November 2024

            The month of November had us transitioning from volleyball into basketball for both girls and starting the holiday season off with the celebration of Thanksgiving. 

 

            We celebrated Thanksgiving this year in Ohio with the Vandervaarts, Dodsons and Grandma. We arrived in the afternoon on the Wednesday before the holiday.  We enjoyed some appetizers and then opened some gifts from Grnadma.  Afterwards, we let the cousins hangout in the basement while we caught up in the living room and watched some home videos from when we were kids. Thanksgiving morning, Pete and Laura worked on getting food prepared while the remainder of us went to go see Moana 2.  When we got back, Pete and Laura had things in good shape so we watched some football and basketball on TV.  We were able to situate the table and chairs so everyone could be at the same table and we enjoyed dinner.  Afterwards, the adults had set up a game where the kids would each get a chance to punch 5 “cups” with a prize inside.  We had several individual games where each group would win and get an opportunity to get their prize and then trade with others if they wanted.  The next day, we left around 2PM to head home and ran into some winter weather along the way which slowed us down a little bit.  The holiday weekend was rounded out with Sarah having 2 basketball games on Saturday and Allison having a game on Sunday.  We went to church on Saturday evening and had Randy and Anna over for dinner, to watch some college football and decorate for Christmas. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah’s fall volleyball team lost their tournament game in early November.  Sarah got a lot better over the season and she really improved her serve.  As mentioned last month, she is playing some basketball with some of her classmates and enjoying being back on the court.  She is also participating in a Sunday evening basketball clinic at Chatard that started in November. 

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

             Allison’s volleyball season ended earlier than expected in their tournament, but she enjoyed the season so much she has continued to go to a few open gyms at Chatard so she can gauge her interest and see how she matches up against other girls.  Her IGB team has played some games and we are hoping that having this time together will help them in the spring season when they start playing in more tournaments.  Allison has been participating as a “ball girl” for the Bishop Chatard girls basketball team during a few games and is enjoying spending more time around the team.  She also took her placement exam for high school this month. 

 

A few more items from this month:

• Debbie and I went out to dinner with Tony & Amy Bultinck at Capri’s on a Saturday evening
• Kyle (Julie’s husband) was in town for work, so he and I went to the Colts game vs. the Bills.  He and I enjoyed hitting up a few spots before the game and having the great seats from Deb’s work. 
• For the first time in several years, we were able to make it to the Watkins’ house for Friends Thanksgiving.  Watkins, Foulke, Anderson, Bleill, Geddes, Wyss and myself were guys from college that were able to make it.
• We also went to the Steffey’s Friends Thanksgiving and enjoyed seeing everyone.