This & That

Hi Friends!  It feel like forever since I connected with you here.  Here are some highlights from the past week:

**JV Conference was Monday night.  Our girls cleaned up.  There were Neenah swimmers at the top of the podium for every single event.  Emily won the 100 back and the 400 free relay, and made the podium for every event she was in.  Maddie took third in the 100 back, 6th in the 50 free, and also made the podium for all of her events.  Raffi swam personal bests all night.  It was a good night to be a mom to those three incredible swimmers.
** I absolutely can not believe that it is the end of the season for our Junior Varsity swimmers.  This year has been good.  Seriously good.  Last year's season was hard.  By this time last year, I felt like I had been through the wringer.  But this year!  This year was a joy.  I love that I get to work with so many fabulous young women;  young women who are well on their way to becoming incredible women.  I saw courage this year and kindness.  I saw tears and laughter.  There was a lot of growth, both in the water and on deck.  I will miss my JV swimmers.
**Our varsity swimmers are still training hard, every day.  For many in this select, elite group, there are still three huge meets to go.  Our varsity swimmers carry the weight of a huge winning tradition on their back.  They are fighters, and they are amazing.  Truly.  They will continue the winning legacy for our team.
**John and I snuck away on Saturday afternoon for a little walk.  It felt so good to just be outside together.  I miss both of my boys during swim season.
**Yesterday was my birthday.  It was a good day.  I felt loved:  flowers, tea, dinner out, and many choruses of "Happy Birthday."
**I haven't opened my birthday presents yet.  They are still in a big, 'ole fun pile on the dining room table.  We just didn't have time to do it after dinner last night;  we had to get back to the house right after dinner so Emily could host a huge study session in the basement.  I firmly believe that you should wait to open gifts until you can thank the person who gave them to you.  Hopefully, we will all be together at some point tonight so I can open them.
**I really, really wanted to take a picture of all the big brains gathered in my basement last night, but I knew Emily would have a heart attack if I went down there with my camera.  I think there were 15 of Neenah High School's best and brightest down there studying together for Thursday's calculus test.
**I'm pretty sure I never studied for a math test two nights before the test.  (Although if I had, I might have been better at math...)
**Emily took the PSAT test last Wednesday.  She said there were 6 questions on the test she didn't know the answer to.  Six.
**Jack is busy trying to figure out what he wants to be for Halloween.  There is a costume party after school on Friday.  He really, really wants to be Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.  He spent the entire ride to school today trying to get his friends to agree to be the other characters.  Love it!
**My *very favorite* moment from Monday's meet was watching Maddie's reaction to her time and place after her 50 free.  She did one of those Michael Phelps two-arms-in-a-victory-pose leaps in the air.  There is nothing like seeing your child that happy and proud.  Nothing.
**John's parents drove up for Monday's meet.  John's mom said it was "better than the Olympics!"  Love that.
**On Sunday I tried making Austrian Farmer's bread.  It was an epic failure.  I think something got lost in the translation.  I will try again soon.

What's new with you?

XO,

Vicki