November 2023

Because teaching a room full of sleep-deprived, sugar-infused kids is never a fun thing, LNC had the day after Halloween off.  I took this as an opportunity to get the truck's emissions and inspection done, clean the house and get caught up on laundry.  Avian applied at UNC Greensboro and Jeremy registered for his classes.  

November 3rd was the Knight's Cup.  It was called PowderPuff Football when I was in high school, but the idea is still the same.  LNC uses this night as a fundraiser for prom.  The girls play flag football and the boys are the cheerleaders.  They also have really fun half-time activities.  Avian went to cheer on their friends. 

One of the half-time activities was a representative from each grade dressed up in an inflatable costume and had to catch a pass, punt the ball and then run it into the end zone.  I saw video of it and it was hilarious.  Ryland won for the seniors.  He was the unicorn. 

View on my Saturday walk.  

November 4, Nick refinanced his car in his own name and got a credit card so he can start working on his credit score.  His dream of owning a house is one step closer.  

Avian went to Lea's Halloween party and had a great time.  

Gangle, from The Amazing Digital Circus)

November 8th Nick headed to Ocean Isle Beach to be a part of Blake and Victoria's wedding.  He was so excited to have a few days off, get to be at the beach and get to be with a group of really fun people.  

He came home with so many stories of fun games they played and being with the whole gang.  It was good to see him relax and have fun.  

November 9th was the volleyball banquet.  The Lady Knights had a 23-3 season (one loss was a fluke, one was to the team we tied for co-conference leader, and one was to the team that would eventually become state champions).  It was definitely a night for celebration.  We all gathered for a cozy night at Mama's Pizza.  The decoration committee had asked for baby pictures of all the players so they could have fatheads made which was super fun.  

The Varsity table

The seniors presented the coaches with their gifts.  

Coach Hannah, Avian, Coach Jordan, Alex, Sarah, Joy and Coach Kiley

I told you it was cozy and snug, but it was the perfect night. 

Avian received their letter in volleyball.  That was a very pleasant surprise.  

Announcing the top awards.  No surprise that Joy was top assist, Sarah was top kills and Danielle was top saves. 

This team had such a great year.  

As a thank you for such a fun year, the Atwells bought each varsity player a conference champions t-shirt

Our four seniors!!

November 10th we went out to dinner with the O'Briens again.  The last time we went out was right before my dad died last December.  It was definitely time for some fun again.  They picked a great spot called Crave and the main fare is gourmet hotdogs.  The food was definitely worth it and we will be returning, but the company was even better.  Holly and I got talking about how things were when we were younger - Learning to read a map on road trips and later printing off MAP Quest directions before heading out.  Sending letters in the mail before email arrived.  Registering for college on the phone and punching in each class code to see if there was still room in the class.  Taking pictures and having to wait for them to be developed.  Busy signals when someone was on the phone.   AAAAAHHHH, the good times.  

November 11th, LNC marched in the Huntersville Veteran's Day parade.  It started to rain just as we got there, but we had garbage sacks for all the kids to keep their instruments dry.  The rain didn't take away from the fun the kids had.  They just love being together and playing.  

The new parade banner looks really sharp.  

After the parade, Avian came home, showered and then left for Raleigh to spend the weekend with Max and UNC Chapel Hill.  Nick got home from the wedding.  Jeremy spent most of the day on campus planning a big event.  I went to leadership training at the church.  Steve went to Woodcrafters.  That evening, Steve and I went shopping to get all the ingredients for Avian's birthday dinner - sushi and cheesecake

Avian sent a picture to let us know they got there safe and sound.  

They made Bootleg Chicken and Dumplings for dinner

November 12, was stake conference. This was a cool day for a couple of reasons.  1. Nick had told us there was a Sister Weenig serving in the singles branch.  I reached out to Bob Weenig and he was able to tell me how we are related.  Here is his response:

Madi is the daughter of Chris and Sarah Weenig. Chris is the son of Keith Bingham Weenig. Keith is the son of Christian Noorda Weenig. Christian N Weenig is the son of Cornelis Weenig, who is the son Christiaan Frederk Weenig.  ...or rather Christiaan Frederik Weenig II KWN2-VBG who is my great grandfather, and your father's grandfather.  So your son and Sister Madi Weenig's common ancestors are Christiaan Frederik Weenig II KWN2-VBG and Maartje Stolk KWN2-VB2  So she and I are 2nd cousins twice removed. She and your son are 3rd cousins once removed.

I finally got to meet her at stake conference as well.  I love meeting Weenigs!  There are not that many of them and they are all family!

2.   Our visiting authority was Elder Erich Kopischke.  I absolutely loved listening to his advice and counsel during the leadership portion of conference and I was not disappointed during the Sunday session either.  He said so many good things, but the one that stuck with me the most was the difference between believing in Christ and believing Christ.  To believe IN Christ is a mission state of faith.  To believe Christ is a test of the mission statement.   It is amazing to me that one small word can change the meaning of something.  He urged us to believe Christ, to choose Him and to love one another.  

An interesting side note - Jeremy had told me that saying "damn" over the pulpit in Brazil was not offensive.  Damn does not carry the same weight in Brazil as it does here.  Well, as you may have already guessed, Elder Kopischke is from Germany and apparently in Germany "shitstorm" is an innocent way to explain chaos.  Steve and I got a good giggle out of it. 

That evening Steve and I left the house at 3:10 to take dinner in to Blayke since her family had been sick and she was tired.  Normally this would be a 20-minute drive, but not today!!!  1-85 was completely shut down due to an accident which made all the side streets a mess.  It took us an hour to get to Blake's house!!!

Up in Raleigh, Avian and Max went to a live showing of "Welcome to Nightvale".  Max bought these tickets months ago as a birthday present for Avian.  It is their favorite podcast.  

Picture proof of how close they were from the stage.  

November 13th - AVIAN IS 18!!!  They spent the night in Raleigh and headed home when Max went to their first class.  Also, Avian didn't want to miss the second half of the day which is when all their heavier classes are.  They could have taken the whole day off, but decided it was easier to not have to make things up.  They even came and helped with Drama Club at the middle school.  We all sang "Happy Birthday"!  I went outside to help with carpool and came back to Lea and Avian belting out show tunes with the headsets.  It was fun to see. They had been asked to test all the mikes to see if they were working, and they were!

Back at home, Steve took Avian over to Lowe's to see if there were any part-time jobs available.  Avian had been waiting to turn 18 to apply.  They found that there was a part-time position in paint (YAY!!) and how to apply.

That night we made sushi, opened presents and ate cheesecake.  It was a great birthday!

Card from Grandma

They really wanted this SCAD sweatshirt when we visited in September.  Now they have it to add to their collection!

Blowing out the candles

November 17, Avian interviewed for a position at Lowe's.  I went to the Relief Society Friendsgiving at the church.  By the time I got home I was exhausted and really starting to feel sick.  

November 18th I drugged myself up and got the house ready for Avian's party that night.  Avian and I went to get their haircut that afternoon and then I came home and went upstairs. Steve stepped right in and made sure the pizzas were picked up on time and the kids had everything they needed.   The plan had always been for us to be scarce during the party, but now I had a good excuse to stay upstairs.  I really didn't feel well.  I did sneak down occasionally to see how things were going.  At one point they needed more tables and chairs set up.  At another, one of Avian's friends pulled a muscle in their back and Avian wanted me to make sure they would be okay.  I also wanted to be there when they sang Happy Birthday and opened presents.  This is such a fun group of kids!!

Playing Cards Against Humanity

Eating dinner

Singing Happy Birthday!

Blowing out the candles

I did come down at the end of the night to say good bye to everyone.  They all seemed to have a good time.  I heard a lot of laughter the whole night.  

November 19th I stayed home from church and took a COVID test (which came back negative a second COVID test on Tuesday night also came back negative - PHEW!!)  Jeremy helped Steve get the old washing machine out onto the front porch so our new one could be delivered on Monday.  If you remember back to June of 2022, when the washing machine started dying on us, we looked into machines and found the one we wanted.  Well, almost 18 months later we were finally getting our Speed Queen.  So excited to have a washer that does what it is supposed to do!!!

November 20th I called in sick to work (that should tell you how unwell I felt).  Also, Avian heard from SCAD that they had been awarded an $11,000 academic scholarship.  They also found out they had been accepted to UNC Greensboro.   AND we got our new washer.  It was a great day!

November 22nd, Avian found out they got the job at Lowe's.  They will be starting in appliances part-time and then move to paint when a position is available.  The thought of earning money again is very exciting to them.  

November 23rd I woke up at 3 a.m. drenched in sweat.  I hope that means the fever has broken and I am on the backside of the flu.  This has not been fun.  Nick got up bright and early and went to run in the Turkey Trot.  I was sad because I haven't missed a race of his, EVER!!!  He got there and signed up 5 minutes before the race started.  He didn't have any time to warm up and he still ran a 21 minute 5k.  He placed in the top 20 overall and was 3rd in his age group.  

Nick's favorite Thanksgiving tradition.  

Since I was feeling better everyone let me come down into the kitchen and help with dinner prep.  We were all a little excited because this was the first time in two years that we would be together for Thanksgiving. Last year Steve was in Utah with his family.  Everyone pitched in to help.  Steve had never made the cranberry sauce before so I put him in charge of it. 

Steve and Avian playing the tradition game of "find all the cloves in the cranberry sauce"

Dinner was yummy and we all enjoyed being together.  After dinner, the kids cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes and put the food away while I laid down.  We talked to the Cannon clan later in the day.  They were all at Rick and EllaRene's for dinner and passed the phone around so we got to talk to everyone.  

I put the turkey remains in the crock pot and let it go over night.  The next morning the meat was falling off the bones and we had some excellent broth for soup.  The bones were so cool.  I cleaned and saved them for the 5th grade students who have been studying the body systems in science.  Turkey bones look kind of like dinosaur bones. 

November 24th I was really sick again.  I had Steve give me a blessing and I felt better.  I was able to get a little bit of sleep which helped as well.  

November 25th Nick and his friend, Seth, went apartment hunting.  Nick was so excited to tell us that they found THE apartment and they would be moving in the first part of February.  I am thrilled for him because I remember the feeling of freedom that came with my first apartment, but I am also sad that he will be leaving.  Oh well, this is why we work so hard to raise them right so they will be confident to head out on their own.  

Steve and I started our Christmas shopping and then he left me at home to relax while he supported his friend, Marty, at a craft fair in uptown.  

November 26th Jeremy left bright and early for Vegas.  He is attending an E-sport convention with his team from UNCC.  This club has been a great experience for him. I can't wait to hear the stories when he gets back.  (I am typing in the present because I am actually all caught up at this point!!!  Miracles still happen)

Nick and his friend, Seth, signed a lease on an apartment.  They move in on February 6th.  My babies are all growing up.  I am excited for Nick to have some freedom and a place of his own.  I remember how exciting it was to move into my first apartment.  I still can't believe that it is already time though.  

November 29th I picked Jeremy up from the airport.  He had a good time but was stressed about all the make up work he had to do now that he was back.  He has one group project that is due on Friday, December 1st and his group is not happy he has been gone for three days.  He told them he would get everything done he was assigned to do, but they were not being very nice about it.  He is super stressed about it. 

November 30th - Jeremy turned in the assignment one day early and the professor loved it.  His group had already submitted something because they didn't think he would do it.  The professor loved Jeremy's edit of the interview and told his group they should take some pointers from Jeremy when compiling their footage.  So much for Jeremy not doing his part of the assignment.  He just didn't do it on their time line.  He is still stressed out because his group is still being nasty and won't talk to him.  I told him that it is the professor that is giving the grade and he should just continue to do his best work.  Hopefully this professor is a fair grader.  

October 2023

 

October started out with Avian applying to SCAD!  This is all getting real fast!  I am excited that Avian is getting excited about colleges and applying and all the things that make senior year so much fun.  

That afternoon when I had my weekly Zoom call with Mom she was delighted to find that all the kids were home.  She got to talk to each one and catch up with what they had all been doing.  

October 2nd, LNC played Concord.  We beat them in 3 games but the last game was too close.  It was a good lesson for the girls to never let their playing level come down.  They needed to remain competitive, especially going into the second half of the season.  

October 3rd, Steve left for his conference in Colorado.  He was excited for the yearly getting together of the whole company.   Incite has been the best thing for him.  He feels valued with this company in a way that was lacking during the last few years with Premier.  It was hard and terrible and scary at the time he got RIFed, but it has turned out to be the besting thing for him.  

October 4 we played East Rowan at LNC.  We lost the first set, but came back to win the next three.  Allison made each of the senior moms a t-shirt to wear to show our support for our seniors.  It was fun to wear it with pride.  Our girls really played their hearts out.  

Allison made each of the senior moms a t-shirt to wear to the games.  

Me, Windsor, Terri and Allison

Our players number was on the back

Our serious game face in front of Avian's poster.  To say we had a lot of fun with this is an understatement.  

After the game, we came home to find this package in the mail from High Point University.  Avian is only half joking that we need to get a restraining order.  High Point has been mailing Avian something daily for the last month.  

We have frogs everywhere in the front garden.  This one decided to hang out on the hummingbird feeder.  

This one was by the front door (along with 5 of his friends)

Steve sent this from Denver.  The crew went on a nature walk in the mountains.  

One of the beautiful lakes they saw on their walk.  

October 5th was a day to remember.  Avian was home by 3:15 and I got home by 4:15.  That DOES NOT happen, but it did today.  

October 6th - Steve finished his work trip and started his visit with Bradden.  They were both most excited to go fishing.  

Steve in his happy place!

Their fishing buddy.  

On Sunday (October 8th) Steve drove through the Valley of the Gods while Bradden and Hyrum went to church.  

October 9th was another fishing day for Steve and Bradden.  Every time I talked to him, I expected Steve to tell me to pack up the house and get ready to move to Colorado. He loved spending time with Bradden fishing.  

Bradden with is catch!

Beautiful view

Steve finds the coolest wooden things where ever he goes.  This time was no exception.  

Back in North Carolina, the Lady Knights played JM Robinson at JMR.  We thought it was going to be a relatively easy game since we beat them very handily when they came to LNC, but that was not to be the case.  We were down two of our star players, so we knew we were going to have to step it up.  We played as well as we could, but they ended up beating us in three sets.  I think they got it into their heads that they couldn't do without Joy and Sarah.    It was really sad because Avian had a great game - blocks, serves and kills.  The game was still a fun one to watch.  

This picture was featured on a webpage that followed all the high school volleyball teams in North Carolina.  LNC instagram reposted it.  Super cool!

October 10th was the Serve and Play day at LNC.  I was outside helping with getting all the bushes in the high school parking lot mulched and accumulated 14,273 steps by the end of the day.  The students helped mulch all the trees, bushes and flowerbeds at all three schools.  They helped beautify for an hour and then were able to join in games on the football field for an hour.  The campus looked much better at the end of the day and we were all exhausted.  

Steve came back from Colorado and had some good stories to tell.  Nick has been working really long hours waiting for the new guy to start.  He was upset because the new guy had to postpone his first day for a couple more days.  Nick will be so relieved when he gets some help.  

October 11 we played Carson at LNC.  We lost the first set, but came back strong to beat them in the next three games.  I don't know why playing Carson is so stressful and tense, but it is.  They are a good team.  It was good to win the last game of the regular season.  Now into the playoffs for Conference Champs.  

We wanted to do these photos on Senior Night, but Avian was too emotional and asked to do them later.  

October 15th was another solar eclipse.  Laura and her family went down to the family ranch in Southern Utah and got a perfect view of the total eclipse.  She sent is all pictures.  

October 16 we beat West Cabarrus in Round 1 of the conference playoffs.  Steve started passing a kidney stone.  

October 17th we beat Carson in a nail-biting 5 games.  We were going to the championship game and would play the winner or East Rowan vs. West Rowan.  They are both good teams, but I would MUCH rather play West Rowan.  Their fans and team are much nicer!  

October 18th I woke up to texts from the volleyball moms announcing that West had beaten East!!!

The line up at the beginning of the game.  

It was a very tense 4 game series.  The score for all four matches only had the winner up by 2 points.  The last play of the game, we had the ball and the score was 25-26 (we were up).  We served the ball and there were several good volleys on each side.    When the ball went down on the West Rowan side of the court it took our girls a moment to realize that they had won.  

They were SOOOOO excited!!!

Conference Champions!!!

Our four seniors

In other news on the same day, Steve is still trying to pass his kidney stone.  Jeremy is really having fun running the Esports events at UNCC.  Nick is looking at apartments with his friend, Seth. 

The garden Jeremy helped design and plant back in July is really looking nice.  

The butterfly bush really likes its new location. 

October 20th was Senior Night for Knight Watch during half time at the home football game.  

Don't let the sunny skies fool you.  Just a few minutes before it had been POURING rain. 

A few days before, Scaringelli had asked if I would help move a huge shelf from the MS to the HS on Friday.  We had to wait until after carpool to do it as we would be bringing the shelf out the band door.  As luck would have it, just when I got there with the truck, the skies opened and it started raining and hailing.  We were all wet by the time we got the shelf unloaded at the high school.  I went back to my office at the middle school and let my sweatshirt dry out with the aid of my mini heater.  

The skies cleared up about a half an hour before the game was supposed to start, just in time to honor the senior football players and cheerleaders.  They had to split the seniors into two groups because there were 48 seniors to be honored.  The class of 2024 is very active!

At half-time they honored all the seniors in Knight Watch, golf and cross country.  

Avian waving to the cheering fans. 

We heard someone yelling from the crowd and then noticed Nick up at the top yelling and jumping with waving arms to get our attention.  We didn't know if he would be able to make it.  

The 14 Knight Watch Seniors!! 

Right after half-time, the sky opened and it started pouring again.  The band scrambled to get under the canopy.  The band parents gathered all the drum stands and coolers and ran for the band room.  The band was stuck until the rain slowed down enough for them to get back to the band room.  They played from under the canopy.   It stopped raining with about 10 minutes left in the game.  The band went back to the stands and played until the end.   It was their last home game and they wanted to ride it out to the end.  

Avian's section presented them with a basket of goodies. It was a fun way to end their last football season.   

Back at home I hung up all the senior banners to make sure they were good and dry before rolling them all up again.  I guess you could say that I hung them all out to dry!  

 

This was on the LNC volleyball instagram page  

October 21, Steve went to a woodworkers fair in Hickory in the morning.  He had a great time walking the isles and seeing all the cool new tools for woodworking.  He got back in time to go and cheer for the Lady Knights in Round 1 of the state tournament.  We beat them in three games. 

Going up for the block

They were all so excited to win Round 1

October 23 and 24 I got to do the chicken lab in Ms. In's and Ms. Colberg's rooms.  I love watching the kids think they are going to be grossed out and end up really curious about the muscles and tendons and ligaments and bone marrow and...

October 24th we played South Rowan and beat them in 5 games during round 2 of the tournament.  They really wanted to beat us since they thought they were going to be Conference Champions.  It is always fun the beat South Rowan but this time was extra fun!  On to Round 3!

October 25, Avian and I had an early morning dentist appointment.  I got to meet our new dentist, Dr. Sahil Vasa.    He seemed very nice.  Later in the day, Avian called me during school.  That never happens and I was immediately worried.  It ended up to be a really exciting reason for the call.  Avian had just talked to their advisor at SCAD who was calling to officially welcome Avian to SCAD.  They were so excited they couldn't wait to let me and Steve know.  

To make the day even better, Steve FINALLY passed a 5 mm (at least) stone!  

October 26 - Round 3 of the tournament.   We drove to Kings Mountain to play the #3 team (we were #7).  They beat us in three sets, but we went down swinging and left it all on the court.  Losing is never fun, but we lost to a phenomenal team!  (who went on to win the state championship!!!)

Avian was bummed, but now they can concentrated on Knight Watch and the parade season (which they really enjoy).  

Kings Mountain 10/26/2023

Avian got to serve a couple of the last serves of the game.  

October 28th I walked 18,024 steps.  I started the morning with a walk with Sandra.  Nick went to the gym.  Avian (FINALLY ) went to the chiropractor.  Jeremy was on campus helping with Freshman day in the morning and then in uptown filming for a class in the afternoon.  That night Knight Watch played as the guest pep band at the Davidson football game.  We had never done a night game before and it was so much fun. 

A football game under the lights make it so much more fun.  

The moon looks like a Christmas tree topper