Happy Halloween!!!

Hi everyone!

Bean and Tiger had a great time trick-or-treating tonight. They both decided to dress up as woodsy things: Bean was a Woodland Fairy and Tiger was a Druid. They had the best time talking to everyone in the British accents they've been perfecting and seeing everyone's reaction. It was great! After trick-or-treat, Tiger's mom served us the most delicious beef stew for dinner. It was extra yummy because it was so warm and we were SO cold from being outside in 35 degree weather. Brrr! I gave out over 20 bags of candy and still ran out before the official end of trick-or-treat! Next year, I guess I'd better get 25 bags. Zowie!!

Gone Feisin'

Bean had a great time at the Feis in Holland. Of course with it being the middle of swim season, her focus hasn't really been on dancing, but we love going to this Feis and it was for a good cause (one of the hosting school's dancers and her mother were involved in a car crash on the way home from a feis in the UK and the mother was killed, so this feis was to raise money for the family). I'd really love to show you video of her dancing, but all the schools use different choreography and video-taping and pictures while they are dancing is prohibited. I'll be able to video her at our school's feis in February, though.


There were about 20 dancers in her age/ability group and she placed:
5th in the Beginner Light Jig
3rd in the Beginner Slip Jig
5th in the Beginner Single Jig
3rd in the Primary Light Jig
5th in the Primary Slip Jig
1st in the Beginner Heavy Shoe (yay!!)


TTFN~

Check out Tapestry of Grace's new sample

Wow!! Those of you who know me, know that it was Tapestry of Grace's 3-week sample Go to Egypt that sold me on switching to this curriculum. Like I've said before, "TOG is everything I never knew I always wanted." Having everything (history, art, philosophy, literature, writing) woven together and learning how all of it is tied to God's grace has been such a blessing for us. We are nearly finished with Unit 1 of Year 1. Bean and I are learning SO much.

Now, Tapestry has released a new 3-week sample from their newly redesigned Year 2 program. It's the first 3 weeks of Unit 3 and it's called Sail to the New World. Every time I look at it, I get more and more excited about this curriculum. Bean and I are both getting a deeper understanding of how history, art and literature tie together. I hope you'll check it out!!

TTFN~

Away Meet

WOWZA!! Bean had an awesome meet at our first away meet (or, I should say, our first away meet that didn't require a plane trip!). She knocked 9.72 seconds off her 200 IM and 1.66 seconds off her 50 Breaststroke (finally under 50 seconds -- WOOHOO!!).

She had a great day hanging out with her friends. Tiger wasn't feeling too well, so Bean spent most of her day hanging out with IMMonster. I'm glad she has so many good friends on the team.

Our next meet will be at home in two weeks. Next weekend, we are headed off to another Irish Dance competition. There will also be a Halloween party after the first night of competition. They actually have Domino's pizza where we are going, so I know what we'll be having for dinner. Woohoo!

Gone a little Bard-Crazy

Okay, I went a little bonkers at Amazon today. I'm planning to teach a "No Fear Shakespeare" class at our co-op in the spring. My main goal is to show the 7th-12th graders the genius of Shakespeare's writing and storytelling. With that in mind, I got on Amazon and ordered over $75 in books about Shakespeare!! I did have fun.

Another Home Meet

Well, we had quite the eventful day! It started off by me dropping Bean at another swim family's house so they could take her to the meet. Then I had to drive DH up to the airport so he could leave for his training. That was an hour to get up there, then trying to drive on the Autobahn and cry at the same time. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the pool from the aiport. Praise the Lord for my iPod!!

Bean had a great meet!! She dropped time on two of her events: 0.35 seconds on her 50 Free (another "A" time) and 2.51 seconds on her 200 Free. I talked to her coaches and they said not to worry about the little drop on the 200 Free (I was expecting a bigger drop since she hadn't swum that since before CHAMPS last year). They said that at the point they are in the training cycle, they are pounding the kids with 6000-7000 meters a day!! Their goal is to make them tired, cranky and hungry at the end of practice. Check, check and check on those for the Bean! LOL The coaches said the goal for right now is for the kids to get close to their personal bests and they will look for huge improvements at the next "rested" meet (which will be the Long Distance Meet and the regular meet the day after). Works for me!

Now, we just have to learn to go about our life without DH. Please be praying for us!

TTFN~