The campaign has been kicked off and hopefully football season is about to start!

I mentioned a while back that Sarah has been nominated to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Student of the Year (SOY) competition.  Since the fall, he has been having meetings with her SOY advisers, assembling her team and holding team meetings, presenting to area businesses asking for donations, and in general working hard.

FINALLY - on Thursday evening her campaign kicked off! And of course, the kick-off celebration was a Zoom call. 

 

She has excitedly been watching donations start to come in.  She has set a very large goal for herself and her team.  We are trying to raise $40,000 in 7 weeks to fight blood cancers.  It's going to be hard to reach that goal but I'm hopeful that she can do it.  The great thing about LLS is that the money used for research to find cures for blood cancers are also being translated into cures for other types of cancers as well.  And since we all know someone who has been touched by some form of cancer, this campaign is for everyone. 

If you are interested in supporting Sarah in the fight to cure cancer, please use this link . It will take you to my fundraising page where you can make a secure donation online.  All donations are tax deductible.

In other news of things kicking off - football is set to start this week.  Peter was supposed to have a home game this Friday night but due to all the rain we've had (with more expected on Friday) they've moved the game to Thursday night and it's going to be played as an away game since our fields are too wet to play on.  

We are bummed out that we won't get to watch this first game in person but we are excited that they are having it.  We were worried that it was going to get rained out and subsequently cancelled with no chance to play it due to the shortened season and all the rules on regulations on how much you can play in a one week period.

I am hoping that the school that is hosting it will be showing the game online some where so that we can at least watch it.  

I went yesterday for my yearly eye exam and went to a new eye doctor!  He just so happens to be my good friend Wendy's husband and she just so happens to be the office manager. If you are local, check them out.  I can't wait to get my new frames in a couple of weeks! They had a huge selection of frames and were great at helping me (who is blind as a bat) select the perfect pair. 

We have sunshine today (praise the Lord!) and it's going to be 68 degrees so I am heading outside right now to get some natural Vitamin D!

A college tour, some tulips, and it's going to ice so I better get to the store.

We got a little ice last Thursday evening so school was on a two hour delay.  But Sarah had the state swim championships in Raleigh so she headed to school and got on the bus.  Thankfully the roads were clear and she had no problem getting there.

She was only swimming in one event - the Medley Relay.  She was swimming backstroke - her favorite. The girls came in 9th and Sarah was happy because she shaved a second off her time.  A second may not sound like a lot but trust me - it is! :)

Her event was the first one of the meet so she got to relax and enjoy the rest of the competition without feeling nervous for another event.  Even though she didn't get to spend the  night in Raleigh like they normally would, she had a blast.

One of the parents organized a welcome party and we all gathered in the extremely cold parking lot Friday night and welcomed the team bus back to the school.  We had posters, balloons, and cupcakes.  The kids were shocked to see us all standing there cheering for them when they got off the bus.  I wish I had pictures but it was cold and we were all cheering and waving signs so no pictures. 

On Sunday, Dan and Sarah and I headed to Wilmington, NC. Sarah is interested in possible attending UNCW and they are doing in person tours.  Since it's a 3 and a half hour drive we decided to spend the night in Wrightsville Beach.

It rained the whole drive there and the whole evening so we weren't able to walk on the beach (it was also cold) and we weren't able to explore downtown Wilmington.  And since it was Valentine's Day all the restaurants were packed.  We ended up at Mellow Mushroom for dinner and while that wasn't my first choice, it was Sarah's so she was happy.

 

Thankfully, the rain stopped on Monday and we were able to enjoy the campus tour without umbrellas! The campus is very nice.  It's a newer college but all the buildings are built to look like traditional classic old-school college buildings.  That was really nice I thought.  

At 14,000 undergraduates, I would consider this university a mid-sized school and I think Sarah would like that size.  She liked the looks of everything we saw and she definitely likes that the campus is just minutes from the beach so I'd so it's definitely a contender for her. 

Dan got me tulips for Valentine's Day and a little box of chocolates:

Yesterday was Tuesday but felt like Monday allllllllll day so now I'm shocked that it's Wednesday.  And not just any Wednesday but ASH WEDNESDAY!

How is it all ready Lent?  Honestly, I have felt like the whole entire last year has been a Lent so I'm not very ready for actual Lent.  Does that make sense?  I've ordered a book that I'm going to be reading and a few other things I'm going to try to do to make my Lent fruitful.  We'll see how it goes.

The sun is actually out today which I am planning on enjoying.  It has been cold, cloudy, and rainy for a week so to see the sun has been nice.  They are calling for more freezing rain tonight with the potential for a lot of downed trees and power outages so I'm expecting the kids to be out of school tomorrow.  They can do remote learning but if there are a lot of power outages I am predicting that school will just be cancelled as it's hard to log into your remote class if you don't have power.

Peter's been enjoying football practice.  He's been coming home every night with new bruises that he seems proud of.  They are supposed to have a scrimmage on Friday night. Not sure how all the ice and rain will affect that.  It's an away game so Dan and I won't be able to attend.  But parents can attend the home games so at least we can go to those four games.  Our governor is still only allowing 100 people to gather outdoors so only parents can attend.  I think that's ridiculous! It makes me sad that none of the students will be able to attend any of these games.   A petition was started online and has gathered over 38,000 signatures so far.  I doubt it will do much good but at least it's something.

Anyway, I'm off to the store to buy milk and bread ahead of the ice storm!  

 

Swimming, College Frustrations, and a Viral Recipe.

Sarah had some good swims on Saturday.  Her medley relay team did well enough to qualify for States which is a huge accomplishment because they are only taking the top 12 times this year due to COVID.  

She was disappointed in her backstroke time even though she PR'd.  She felt like she should have done better.  I'm proud of her and am so thankful that they even got to have a season at all.  If she had been able to swim this summer and fall, her times would have matched the times she set for herself but given the circumstances the fact that she was still able to obtain a personal record is fantastic!

Here's a picture of her and her friends from the conference meet taken from another mom's facebook page.

And here are some photos from the professional photographer from the regional meet:

Due to COVID, the team isn't allowed to go to Raleigh the night before and stay in a hotel so they will be leaving Friday morning in order to get there in time for warm ups.  Sarah's disappointed because half the fun of Sates is staying in a hotel.

Dan and I will be watching the live stream of her event which is the first event.  Sarah's excited that she is in the first event because that way she can enjoy the rest of the meet without being nervous. 

In other news, we watched the Super Bowl of Sunday.  I am glad Tom Brady won.  I think the Patriots did him wrong the last few years of his time there and I was happy that he got another Super Bowl victory.  There's plenty of time for Patrick Mahommes to work on beating that record.  

Now, we just need the Patriots or the Panthers in the Super Bowl next year.  Ha!  I don't see either one of our teams getting there any time soon!

Peter has been trying to complete extra forms and other requirements for colleges he's been accepted into.  Can I tell you how frustrating it all is?  Each school has their own website and within that website is ANOTHER website for housing and ANOTHER website for financial aid and ANOTHER.... you get my drift.

And each one of these websites requires DIFFERENT passwords and user names and each one has different requirements for length, special characters, etc.  It's very frustrating for an adult that is used to being frustrated by username and passwords but add in a stressed out kid who is trying to apply for housing during school hours because that's when the housing lottery opens and you get a lot of ALL CAPITAL TEXTS FROM SAID STRESSED OUT KID!  

Anyway, he said he got everything completed.  I hope so.  I am already praying for good roommates/suite mates, etc.  A bad living experience can ruin your freshman year in college.

Sarah and I tried the viral pasta recipe that's been taking TikTok by storm. Here's the recipe. 

We doubled the amount of feta and did not raise the temp and bake it for an extra ten minutes as she did in the original.  I wanted to but Sarah did not so...

It was delicious and I would definitely make this again.  It was so good, I would make it for guests.  And did I mention that it was easy?  

This is ours before we crushed the tomatoes and stirred everything up.  SO GOOD!!!

If y'all make this, let me know.

 

Conference Champs!

Last Friday evening Sarah and her team participated in the Conference Meet. And they did great!

Both the men's and women's team won the conference title!  Go Villains!  

Sarah placed first in the two relays she swam in and second in both of her individual events.  And she cut some time off of both.  She was very pleased with the meet.

The team has been working hard this week to prepare for Regionals on Saturday morning.  She's been up early and out the door at 5:15 AM to get to 6:00 AM practice.  I am very thankful that she can drive herself.  

As expected, they are not allowing spectators at the event but it will be live stream so I guess I'll be watching from my couch all day!

Here a picture that the team mom took of the team last week at their last practice before the conference meet.

Not everyone is in the picture as some of the year round swimmers were at their year round practice.

And here is a picture of Sarah's medals. I wanted photographic evidence because I'm sure at some point in the future, they will get tossed.  :)

And here is a quick video of Sarah coming on to the bus with the women's trophy!  Not sure why it is repeated four times but I'm just happy I was able to get it on here...