Santa, Nutcracker, Chocolate, and Jingles

Typically, on November 1 we receive our invitation to go meet Santa at the Mayfield-Ingle residence.  This year was no different, and so once Thanksgiving was over, we welcomed the Christmas holiday season with our first official event. Although we have attempted to get family pictures before, this is the first time we really to a good one of all four of us with the jolly guy.

One of the best things about this event is that the girls get to truly engage with Santa, and Reese took every advantage of the opportunity this year. This Santa is really a good guy and always seems to know how to get the kids talking.

This year we decided to reenact a picture we first took eight years ago when all three of these girls were only three years old and not at all interested in interacting with Santa. They have gotten a lot taller in the intervening years and clearly a lot more comfortable with the whole situation.

Another grand tradition for the holidays is the girls trip to see the Nutcracker.  Fortunately, we were able to make it happen even though we only remembered to get tickets a couple days before the performance. It was another great time together and we were able to see Katherine Bracken in yet another role.

Although we have lost count of just how many years it has been going on, Sarah and Kelly once again invested a whole day into dipping chocolate. They dip cookies, pretzels, potato chips, bacon, and just about anything else that isn't nailed down and is edible. Everyone benefits from all of the work they do.  And the best part is that they have a lot of fun doing it.

Another great event to mark the holiday season is Ms. Stringer's Winter Concert at Cassidy. She puts so much work into making it a lot of fun for all the kids and parents. Part of this year's fun was the fact that Callie's friend Addie played the role of DJ Jingles, her friend Holland was the principal, and Callie got a spotlight role as the Grinch. Great times all around.

The only way to celebrate a performance like that was to head to Graeter's and get some quality ice cream with family friends. And the holidays kept rolling on!

Long Awaited 5th Grade Activities

There are a lot of events that happen during the 5th grade year at Cassidy, and Callie had been excited about most of them. One thing she was very much looking forward to was the day at Biztown.  The preparation for this day takes several weeks, but the day itself is what everyone looks forward to. Callie was super excited because she was selected to be the CEO of Forcht Bank. Although this sounds impressive just in terms of the title, her bank had to produce all of the paychecks for the entire fifth grade.  And that was responsible for providing the cash flow for all of the student run businesses on site.  It was quite a responsibility.

Callie was up to the task and took her responsibility seriously. In fact, she got the award of Top Business and Top CEO for the day. If this minor simulation foreshadows the future, we might be able to stop saving for retirement and just let her take care of us. But in all serious, this was a phenomenal experience and all of her friends seemed to enjoy their various jobs and responsibilities.

Next up for the 5th graders was what is known as Colonial Days, where each student learns and then demonstrates a particular craft or trade.  Callie was a potter and got to get her hands dirty all day long.

The students also had to dress the part, and we were very fortunate in that a friend's older sister still had her outfit from her Colonial Days experience.  So we didn't have to buy anything but a slab of clay and some good hand soap for the potter in training.

Another experience from 5th grade was Callie's flirtation with the alto saxophone. Following her failed engagement with the violin in 4th grade, she decided to try her hand at the band. Unfortunately we have to report that this experience was short-lived as well. But we did have the good fortune to attend two different band concerts over the year.

Thanksgiving in CO

With the exception of the year Sarah was nine months pregnant with Reese, we have spent every Thanksgiving as a couple in either California or Connecticut.  Well 2018 was groundbreaking because the Bowes family headed to Colorado for Thanksgiving at the Hannens.  We all gathered outside Denver and looked forward to a new experience.

Reese and Callie always love to have time with their cousins.  Reese especially loves this time with Zoey because this is the time of year when they are both the same age until Reese's birthday in December.  And Zoey certainly seems to appreciate the attention she gets from her older cousins.

Of course it isn't just about the little ones. The Balestracci boys have never said no to a good time either, especially the oldest Balestracci boy.  Callie and Reese love their Uncle Chris, that's for sure.  It was great to have the whole crew together, and fun to hear how Brendan's first year and Michael's last year of college were going.

It just so happened that a great Thanksgiving 5K was held in the town next door so we all got to head outside Thanksgiving morning and get in some good exercise. It was a little chilly at the start, but the girls were all ready to go.  We hoped that this turkey trot experience would be better then our last family one in Sacramento.  At the very least neither one of us wanted to have to carry Reese for the last 2 miles.

So here was the official 5K crew.  We made it in time for the start, had our own personal cheerleader in Sport, and had packed our good attitudes.

We weren't able to stay together for the entire run, but we all managed to finish with smiles on our faces, so that's a good thing.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had definitely earned our meal.

And in the midst of everything we were able to spend some time with some good friends who live in Denver.  Thomas and John went to college together and were roommates in Los Angeles when they were both dating their now wives.  In short, the four adults pictured here have known each other for a while and don't see each other enough.  But we got some in some ice skating, a visit to Powell's bookstore, and a nice breakfast.  So when all was said and done, we had a wonderful visit to the Rockies.  Can't wait to get back there!

Fall Fun

There are many reasons why it's wonderful to live next to the Chrismans.  One of them is that on occasion we will get their tickets for a football game.  These have always been good tickets since they are near the 50 yard line and only about 15 rows from the field.  But since the renovation of the stadium they have gotten even better because they come with access to the field level premium community area - a.k.a. room full of free food.

John was out of town and Reese had a sleepover, so Sarah and Callie got the take advantage of the royal treatment.  It was a cold night but the two of them had an absolute blast.  And Chris's sister and brother-in-law were at the game to show them the ropes. Callie's smile says it all.

Another year of school means another year of Variety Show fun at Cassidy. Reese branched out this year and joined girls from her class to perform a dance number to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It was sweet, age appropriate, and somewhat coordinated.  The thing that melted our hearts the most, though, was that when Reese had her mini solo, Callie and her fifth grade crew erupted in cheers.

Callie, meanwhile, was participating in Variety Show swan song, and this was her fifth year being a part of it. So what better way to cap it all off then to have a showcase of all their previous performances. They did a phenomenal job and we are truly thankful that Laurie Preston had the drama-teacher background that brought it all together.

With the Variety Show concluded, it was time for the next opportunity to dress up.  We were all pretty excited because Reese has had her costume since our July visit to the Everglades. For some reason this year Callie never really pulled a costume together. Lucky for us we have a basement full of options from previous years, and a butterfly seemed like it would work well.

We ended up actually outfitting both her and one of her friends and grabbed a net for Reese so she could chase her sister all night.  It ended up working out quite nicely.

For years we have had a tradition of getting together with Harper and Kennedy for Halloween, and this time around we decided to go around their neighborhood.  Now we must admit that their costumes have always had a darker tone than ours, but this year they really took it to another level.  Doesn't seem to bother Reese and Callie and they don't really know what the story of the costumes is.  But as long as it doesn't interfere with their candy collection they don't mind.

Although we had a busy fall, this year we were lucky that we were able to fit in some family photos.  The photographer was fun to work with and we got quite a few good ones of the girls. Yet out of all the photos we took we only had one family picture that turned out well.  But this is the one that qualified for the blog.

In the month of October and November, five of Callie's good friends, including herself, all have birthdays. This happens to be a picture from Addie's birthday party, which had a movie theme.  The girls took pictures and made their own short films. They are certainly a creative bunch and a silly group when they get together.

Every year at Cassidy they host a big Thanksgiving meal and invite all the parents to attend.  Unfortunately John's teaching schedule didn't allow him to join in the fun, but Sarah was able to eat not one, but two helpings of instant mashed potatoes.

This continued the farewell tour of all of Callie's annual Cassidy events.  Her last Thanksgiving celebration in elementary school.  This event is always couple with the book fair.  Callie capitalized on her mom's sentimental mood and was able to make quite a large purchase of books that day.

Fall Soccer LFC Style

In Fall 2018 we embarked on a whole new soccer adventure with Lexington Football Club.  Both Callie and Reese were playing with LFC for the first time, so we did not know what exactly to expect.  Reese was excited because she was going to be with the U9 LFC Academy, and her friend Ella Hughes was going to play on the team too.  In fact, Reese had numerous friends from school on her team.

Of course the fall is also the time for high school soccer, and we have become huge fans of Lafayette's Girls Soccer because of Ella Abraham, who was looking strong for her sophomore year.  It was her second year starting varsity and she was getting a lot of playing time.  Therefore the games were even more fun to watch.

Reese and her friend Ella were embracing the soccer theme every chance they got, and that included face paint.

Of course we are also fortunate to live about a mile from the University of Kentucky's home soccer field, which means it is easy to catch a game if we have the time.  Reese's team did a group outing to a women's game early on in the season and had a great time.

Callie's LFC team was going to be a challenge from the start.  To make a long story short, she and three of her friends were going to be playing on a team made up mostly of girls who were born in 2006.  So for the whole season they would be playing in a league of teams made up of older girls.  Regardless of anything else these four girls had each other and that made it a much better experience overall.

Reese not only enjoyed the social aspect of her new team, but she also flourished on the field.  This is a special picture because it captures the one and only time that Claire Abraham reffed a youth game.  After this one she hung up her whistle and called it a career.

One thing that Reese and Callie have in common is that they are very coachable when it comes to soccer.  John likes to think that he laid some good groundwork, but it may just be that they are very happy to have a coach who is not their father.

Although we did not know at the time that this would be Claire's only appearance as a ref, Sarah made sure to do a proper photo shoot when the game ended.  What follows is a photo series we like to call, "Red Card".  The first photo is subtitled, "What?!?"

The second photo is, "You've got to be kidding me, ref!!"

And last, but not least, we have, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it!"

Callie's Amazing Birthday Race

Callie asked for a scavenger hunt for her 11th birthday celebration.  We thought that this was a great idea, but of course we needed to take it up a couple of notches.  We decided to combine a scavenger hunt with the show Amazing Race, which has always been one of our favorites.  It took some time and intricate planning, along with the help of a few friends, but we pulled it off and were ready to go.

We had fourteen girls split up into four different teams.  As you can see here, the teams were indicated by the color of their headbands, and their first task was to come up with team names.  Once that job was done everyone jumped into cars and headed to the Summit at Fritz Farm.

Once everyone had gathered at the Summit, we took a group photo and prepared to descend on the various businesses, most of whom had given their approval ahead of time.  We had Jessica Johnson as one of the game masters, and she was set up in the Barn for an ice cream taste testing with Crank and Boom.  John and Patrick Lakin held down the fort on the Whole Foods patio with a Connect-4 challenge.  And those were just two of eleven total tasks in honor of the new eleven-year-old.

Teams had to complete each task given in order to get the next clue, and we made sure the compile the lists so the teams were not all doing the same task at the same time.  You can see the yellow team completing the task of finding five different animal sculptures throughout the Summit and getting a picture with each one.  To appease our family's Captain Caution, teams were penalized if they were caught using poor judgment when crossing streets or putting their team in jeopardy at any point during the race.

Blind taste tests are never as easy as one might think.  Each team had to have a member correctly identify three different kinds of Crank and Boom ice cream.  Here we have the red teams' Amelia guessing a flavor.  We were very kind and had ice cream as the blind taste test portion when we could have picked the wheat grass juice bar at Whole Foods.

If you have ever watched Amazing Race, they have things called Detours, where teams have a choice of tasks.  In this case, a team could choose between 1) dressing up in the gear we provided and running around the green space in the center of the Summit singing a tune from the Greatest Showman or 2) answering a Fritz Farm history question.  Needless to say, the history professor in our household was disappointed to hear so many Greatest Showman tunes that afternoon.

Another major decision of the game was deciding between juggling a hacky sack eleven times or counting the number of glasses frames displayed on the walls of the Warby Parker store nearby.  Surprisingly enough, even though we had numerous soccer players at the party, the hacky sack was not the big winner here.  And there were over four hundred glasses frames on the wall of the store.  We finally let teams pass the task if they got within one hundred of the correct number.

As teams were finishing the race, the girls were hanging out and talking through their strategies.  They also had a chance to debrief the funniest moments, especially for those who had to go in to the Kentucky Spirit store with Groucho Marx glasses to ask if they sold any Louisville gear.

Although all the times that finished were winners, the team that completed the tasks first was the yellow team.  You might be able to  tell by looking at this picture that not everyone was living by the "we are all winners" attitude.

The crew headed back to the Bowes residence for one final fun activity - build your own ice cream sundaes.  No tasks needed to get the sundae other than saying please and thank you.  It was a great group of girls and we had a lot of fun.

Based on Callie's smile, we are pretty sure she had fun too.  We hope she has a great year ahead.