September - phew!

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 Because dancing on the blocks is WAY more fun than dancing anywhere else:-)

Thank goodness Mommy pursued her Greystone dream at the pool - Tetherball with the Cors!

Even when it's thundering, there is always some fun to be created a Fairview---why not help the guards clean the mats?!?

 

Bennett!   Baby Ben joined big brother Jack next door very quickly one fun Monday night:-)  We were thrilled to have Jack with us so Mom and Dad could go to the hospital!

Ah, our first orthodontic treatments.  Sigh.  Likely due to long-term thumb sucking, Margaret has a palette expander preceding her first round of braces.  For three weeks she was a champ at the twice daily turning, but I will tell you that turning that key is NOT for the weak. 

 Finally, on his first field sport team!  Matthew is loving every single play of flag football.  When his coaches tell him it's his turn, he dashes from the side-line to the center with such eagerness and pride one can't help but smile.  And then this reaction after every touchdown and to conclude each game----what joy. 

Hysterical play = longest "start" of play EVER.

"Just the way we drew that play up!"

QB'g his first touchdown---funny kid at the end, "Am I supposed to be blocking you??"

 

Shortly after we left Baltimore on Labor Day, Susan fell ill.  But Wednesday, she was in emergency colon surgery due to a tear.  The bright side is seeing the kids' response as we send notes, homemade cards, and video messages daily.  

 Too. Much. Hair!  And I don't need it.  Someone else does. 

 

 

 And off it goes in an envelope!

 

Labor Day in Baltimore and then bag again 10 days later----wanted to help around the house since Susan didn't know she was going to be hospitalized when she last left her house.   Then back again two weeks later---she was discharged after a week and has been at dear friend Carol's house.  Wanted to give Carol a break, take Susan home to sleep in her own bed, enjoy her view, etc.  Took the kiddos this time since Michael was in a City of Arlington meeting from 8:00-5:00pm Saturday anyway.  Watching "The Greatest Showman" with M and M and just being home seemed to do her soul some good.

 It finally stopped raining for a day, so we enjoyed our regularly scheduled mental health meeting at Pippin Hill instead of at home.  What a blessing.  We laughed, we cried, we worked through our book, and we "Enneagrammed".  Yep.  

Just verbed it.   

In the eyes of an 8-yr-old

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We'd celebrated Margaret's birthday with her friends a few weeks ago with movie night at the pool, but we still had her little family celebration to go. I video'd her presents so that those who love her could also enjoy the way an 8-yr-old delights in even the smallest things.  

 

 She will love her James Avery charm, "With God, All Things are Possible" more once it's on her bracelet:-)  

Hurrican Florence and Redskins Game

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Since last year's Camp-Out at Fairview was such a fun success, I planned it again with a few more activities in mind to encourage folks to bring guests.  But massive Hurricane Florence side-lined any hopes of camping in the grass.  But all week the teenagers had been asking JJ if we could still hang, so I shifted our effort to a Hurricane Party. As always, whereever two or more are gathered at Fairview, fun just happens. 

The teenage boys had an awesome volleyball match. 

But "everything gets hotter when the sun goes down..."

Slip n slide on the pool mats - why not???

The only logical thing to do next is to add soap and a whole train 

of 5-15 year olds.

And, of course, it would have made no sense at all 

not to ultimately end up in the pool!

Never a dull moment.

While the girls played Hurricane at the pool, the boys enjoyed the Redskins' game with the Bronson boys...in the owner's suite.  Yeah. Not kidding. That's how Aaron roles.  Matthew, of course, was elated since his flag football team is the Redskins:-)

 

Awards Banquet & FLIPS Galore!

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The team is patient from Champs (end of July) to Labor Day for their Awards Banquet, but they always find it's well worth the wait.  JJ is so detailed about his selections and puts so very much thought into who he recognizes and for what. 

Andrew is simply in his element with swim team, so it's never a surprise that he does well.  But what's so neat is that he has won the Most Improved and Coaches' Award multiple times.  Newly created this year were his Effort Award (for exactly that---his immense effort---and in three, sometimes four practices a day.).  The UVA breast stroke coach observed him during the last week of the season...above water and under water...and said he wouldn't change a single thing about his stroke.  Simply said that the child had mastered it:-) 

Participation

Meet Attendance

 Most Improved 9-10 Boy

(Achieved 5th place in the entire league in breast stroke---probably would have been higher had he been given the opportunity at Champs, but did not compete because his points were needed elsewhere. Best race of the season was a home meet in which 4 of the top 5 ranked breast strokers competed and to the naked eye, it appeared to be a 4-way tie.  Hundreds were captivated during this race and the coach/crowd reaction was priceless!)

Effort Award

Coaches' Award

Leadership Award

These three awards go hand-in-hand for Andrew.  He voluntarily does 2-4 practices/day and focuses the entire time, giving everything he's got.  He's also an amazing supporter to his teammates and gives them every ounce of encouragement he can muster. 

Participation

Meet Attendance

 Most Improved 7-8 Girl

(blitzing down in free and fly, also started doing 25 no-breathers!)

Most Valuable Swimmer

(high point scorer for the season)

Meet Performance Award

(as a 7-yr-old, placed 2nd among all 7-8 girls in butterfly)

Matthew was bouncing all over the place and they don't do all of these various categories for 6 and under, but he was sufficiently proud for being the fastest 5-yr-old in the entire league - what a joy to see him compete this summer, finally!

 

Too many to count = too many memories to recount.

 Personalized water bottles, certificates, medals and ribbons galore.

Pros and Cons.

They are PROUD, and should be.

They work seriously hard all summer long.

As if he hadn't accomplished enough during the season, the end of the summer was Matthew's time to master his front flip. Nope, the others haven't even tried (despite several professional helpers), but Little Man has it down. 

2018 Swim Team Banquet (Plus Champs & Spirit Week)

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There are no words for what an amazing summer it was for these kiddos.  Andrew did great in 9-10's, which might be the toughest age-group jump of all.  When you start at 4 or 5, you're rocking 7-8's.  Then at 9, you're suddenly swimming all 50's rather than 25's, you're swimming against kids that are nearly (or already) 11 and HUGE, and swimming against many year-round swimmers.   But he beat all of his PR's, fell in love with butterfly "because it's the biggest challenge), was heat winner is ALL of his individual races at the JSL league meet and shaved SIX seconds off of his 100-free!   He remains completely committed and such an incredibly hard worker.

Margaret was swimming at 3 and started the team at 4, so we've long been waiting for her summer in 6-unders when she would be almost 7 and crushing it.  But as it turned out, the team was unusually light in girls' 7-8, so she missed her opportunity altogether to light up 6-unders as JJ swam her up in 7-8's.  Flattering, sure, but sometimes it's just fun to smash it, right??? Of course JJ knew exactly what he was doing and by the time she swam 7-8 in JSL's, she was winning heats and scoring points for the team, the ultimate team contributor. 

Little Man started swim team at 3.5 when he finally started swimming the length of the pool.  So he was elated to start with the team from scratch this summer.  Even though you can't compete until you're 5, he took pride in practicing each and every day with the 6-unders, and occasionally the 7-8's!  Matthew just beamed when he finally got his first banquet medal...I laughed and cried remembering Matthew's first banquet attendance as I rocked and nursed him past bedtime.  Oh, how things have changed.  The oldest of 3 was his very age now!!!

Rewinding to Spirit Week, leading up to Champs at UVA....

What a group of bearded ladies!!!

 The Greatest Showman Mom Song rivaled the best of all time, "Welcome to My House", which just may be our theme song forever. How is there no video of our, "This is Me"?!?

 It can be hard to share the mic in a trio.
 

 Our sweet neighbors, Gracie and Lily, sang the most beautiful duet...

And then Gracie graciously "Rewrote the Stars" with Margaret.

 

 Love their focus when supporting friends.

Peanut Butter Jelly lives on!

Then off to Champs at UVA...

9-10 boys ready to go with their beloved Coach Timmy!

 National Anthem - let the games begin!

 

Matthew's first walk across the bulkhead.

Almost up!  Matthew is on the far left.  Notice his little legs compared to his two competitors in the middle.  Giants.  Probably 7 already.  The only time that Matthew has ever looked small compared with his "peers"!
 
Last minute reminders from Coach Bailee.

 Matthew's relay start---awesome for a 5-yr-old, considering most just jump off the side of the pool, rather than dive from the tall blocks.

JJ's pep talk---it worked, 'cause Little Man finished 1st of all 5-yr-olds in the league!

Up close and personal - the advantage of volunteering on deck....:-)

 JJ's last minute chat before backstroke got the job done, too!  First of all 5-year-olds in both back and free.  Way to go, Little Man!

 Looking back on half of the stands....it's like a city outside in the team tents, but it's like a roaring lion inside for the events. 

 Squirt just gets giggly before her races.  I LOVE her spirit and that it's all excitement and no nerves, as it should be.

 Backstroke start series...

 Gotta straighten out that dive, but nice to be on deck to capture the evidence.

 

 These two....loving on each other since 2013:-)

 Fastest 7-yr-old in Fly, but more impressively, 2nd overall out of several hundred 7-8 year old girls, many of them year-round swimmers.  Fly is her thing!

 Nice free and back finishes for bottom of the age group...

Hard to see, but Little Man was the only 5-yr-old on the leader board for Free and was 6th overall out of a bizillon 6 and unders. 

   Session II:  Andrew's first walk across the bulkhead.  It's such an awesome feeling when the crowd joins in!

Time to party....all night long!

Matthew loving Mom's creative entry in the "Mommy Dip":-)  

Fast forward to Labor Day Swim Team Banquet...

 Patiently waiting for his first swim team medal.

Matthew's Medal - he was so very proud:-)

 

Andrew and Margaret were wonderful teammates this summer.  In addition to their participation and perfect meet-attendance certificates, what else they achieved is what has really been making us proud each summer...

 Andrew 2018

Most Improved (4th year straight!) 
Coach's Award
The Effort Award
2017:
Outstanding Championship Performance
Most Improved
Leadership Award
Team Spirit Award
2016:
Outstanding Championship Performance
Most Improved
Great Attitude Award
2015:
Most Improved

Can't confirm anything else

Margaret 2018
Outstanding Championship Performance
Most Valuable Swimmer
Most Improved
2017:
Outstanding Championship Performance
Most Improved
2016:
Outstanding Championship Performance
2015:

Can't confirm

Matthew 2018
Outstanding Championship Performance

The league does not give out age-group first place medals for 6 and unders, but Matthew's freestyle and backstroke were both the fastest for 5 year olds in the entire league, so JJ gave him Fairview's Outstanding Championship Performance award. 

All of our gratitude goes to JJ and his coaching staff for another amazing year.  The kids are learning things they know not yet, and having fun swimming while they're at it:-) 

The annual jump...