Time Needs to SLOW DOWN!!

I swear I put it on my to-do-list to write blog posts and for some reason or other I end up getting busy and putting it off, and before I know it, almost a month has passed.

What's been happening in the last month .....

Marching Band season has ended along with Cross Country season.  David had a very good cross country season, medaling at every race that gave medals.  He ended up placing 18th at Regionals -- just 3 spots shy of making it to States.  He PR'd in that race though, so he went out in style and was happy with the way his season ended.

Jonathan has started (and is in the middle of) driver's training class ... watch out world, this boy wants to be behind the wheel!!  He seems to be doing pretty good so far, and should have his permit before Christmas.

David was nominated for 12th grade student of the month for the month of November.  Here's what Mr. Bennett had to say about him:

David Gormley: nominated by Mr. Bennett:  “David is diligent about making sure all his work is done and done correctly.  He combines a strong work ethic with a pleasant sense of humor to make for a student that is a joy to have in class.”

If you visit www.montabella.com and look on the right side, you can also see his picture and the write up on the school's webpage.

I got to go to Louisville, KY for the annual TLCU Conference the first week of November.  (TLC = The Library Corporation and is the company that sells our library automation software, the "U" stands for Users) .  It was a nice trip ...  a pretty easy drive down and back.  We had a nice time and learned a lot.  We went "incognito" ... our rental car was from Illinois. I don't know why it surprised me that the car could be from a different state, but it did.  The other picture is of the view out our hotel room.  It was kind of pretty at night.

We've hit the busy time at work ... all the selectors (the people who buy the materials we have available here at the library) have a deadline of 5:00p.m. next Wednesday (night before Thanksgiving) to get all their budgets spent, so everyone is busy buying, buying, buying and so the three of us who catalog and process books are busy, busy, busy!!!!

Both boys have started basketball practice and this momma can't wait for the season to start.  I have 2 new, really cool, shirts to wear while cheering on my favorite players!!

Well, that's all for now .... I hope everyone is keeping warm, it seems winter has descended upon is fast!
~Kati





 

Hail to King David!

David's senior year is off to a great start!

He's been running well and enjoying cross country, and he and his friend Taylor were voted as this year's Homecoming King and Queen.  He looked pretty spiffy in that white tuxedo! 

The football season will be coming to an end today (Friday, October 20). The marching band has looked great and I'm excited to see their entire show at tonight's game.

I signed Jonathan up for Driver's Education classes yesterday .... it's hard to believe he's old enough to be driving.  They are growing up too fast.  

David is filling out college applications (made this momma's heart happy that he applied to SVSU ♥) and he got his very first college acceptance letter in the mail yesterday as well.  He has been accepted to Montcalm Community College, which at this point is where he thinks he will start out, but we will see ...

Well, that's just a quick update, as I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted.

~Kati

5 for 5!!

Saturday was HOT!!

But this kid still ran a great race and so did the rest of the team.  David came in 9th place, and the team took first place overall!  Way to go Mustangs!!

We were supposed to go camping in Central Lake (where the meet was), but decided at the last minute to not go, which was disappointing ... but since we didn't go camping I was able to get a little more crafting in this weekend than I probably would have.  I finished the last of the squares I needed to sew together for my Cubbyhole Quilt. Hopefully next weekend I'll be able to start laying it out and sewing it all together!
 

 It's Homecoming week in Mustang Territory ... the boys have a 1/2 day of school today (Tuesday) and another 1/2 day tomorrow ... seems weird, but that's the way the schedule rolls.  Friday will be a busy day with the parade, and ball game, etc.  David was voted onto the Homecoming Court and has his tux all ordered ... I will be sure to share pictures of him all dressed up later this week.

Hope everyone has a great week.

More later,
~Kati

Senior Year off to a GREAT Start!!

Well, as always, I have been slacking and haven't done a good job of keeping everyone up-to-date on what is happening with those of us here at the Red House.

Summer went by too fast ... it felt like it lasted a whole of 15 minutes.  We did get some camping in.  We were able to visit Outdoor Adventures Mt. Pleasant, Hartwick Pines State Park, Interlochen State Park (picture to the right was taken at Sleeping Bear Dunes), we went with the Cross Country team (team camp picture below .... great group of kids to hang around with!) again this year to the Dutch Treat Campground in Zeeland, we camped in Benzie for David's first cross country meet and will be camping again this coming weekend in Central Lake for another of David's cross country meets.  This weekend coming up will probably be our last trip for this year.











David had his senior pictures taken ... here's one I snapped on my phone.  We're still waiting to see the final product and pick out what we want to buy ...
 
We've closed the pool and are slowly getting the yard ready for winter.  I'm NOT ready for winter yet ... and David has been working on his senior project ... he's redoing the porch on the front of the house.  He made it a little bigger than it was previously. The plan is that someday we will have a professional come in and finish it off into a 3 season room so we can sit and enjoy the summer breezes without getting eaten alive by bugs.  I've picked out this railing for it -- we wanted something that didn't require stain and wouldn't be too expensive, since we anticipate it will be temporary.






The boys' school year has started off well.  David has medaled at each of his races so far this year -- hopefully he can keep up this streak.  The team as a whole is doing very well and they are hoping they can continue with the way they are running.  Their goal -- States!!

David was nominated to the Homecoming Court last week, so we've been busy making "Vote for David" posters and getting ready for Homecoming.

All the seniors medaled at the Central Montcalm meet!

Jonathan seems to have transitioned into high school quite seamlessly ... he and his classmates will be using our barn tonight to decorate their Homecoming banner (they don't do floats anymore, each class decorates a banner for the competition).

Busy, busy, busy as always, but we try to have some fun along the way.  Hope this finds everyone well and enjoying this bit of Indian Summer we seem to be having.

~Kati

What a Great Game

Monday night's game was very exciting.  The boys came out strong, scored first and never let Sacred Heart get ahead.  A win everyone was pumped about, as SHA is one of our leading rivals, and we have rarely beat them!  Here is the write up that was in the announcement the next day.


The varsity boys basketball team was back in action Monday night against rival Sacred Heart. The Mustangs used a total team effort to get their first win of the season. The teams were even at 16 at the end of one quarter of play.  The Mustangs shot out of the gate in the 2nd quarter and outscored the Irish 25-6.  The Irish fought back in the second half but the Mustangs would not allow them to narrow the gap any closer than 6 points, with a final score the Mustangs 64, Irish 58.  The Stampede was led by Connor Riley scoring 24 points, pulling in 7 rebounds, and finding his teammates for 7 assists as well.  Jordan Balhorn scored 12 points, going 4 for 4 from the free throw line in crunch time.  David Gormley added 13 points and 6 rebounds, along with 3 blocks.  Cody Christensen added 10 points and 6 boards along with some great plays on defense, including a charge in the 4th quarter to stifle an Irish run.  The motor of the mustangs, Wyatt Sackett added 12 rebounds and tough defensive play as well.  The Mustangs showed great energy as a team for all 4 quarters.

Go Mustangs!!

Mustang of the Month

Every month the coaches at Montabella nominate2 kids who are doing great things to be recognized as the "Mustang of the Month".  So proud to say David was nominated in December, his picture will be posted on the office window with the following write-up for the month of January.

Congratulations to our December Mustangs of the Month:  David Gormley and Carson Dalrymple!   David Gormley is in the 11th grade.  He was nominated by Coach Simon for Varsity Basketball.  David averages 14 points-per-game and 3 rebounds-per-game. His coach said "David started the season off with two games scoring nearly 20 points, while averaging 14 through the month of December.  He also earned the honor of being the 3rd captain during week one of the season, which is earned on a week-to-week basis, based on work ethic, teamwork, and performance in practice and games."      Carson Dalrymple is also in the 11th grade.  He was nominated by Coach Balhorn for wrestling. Carson has a record of 14&2 in December and leads the team with 17 take-downs. His coach said "Carson has been a great leader and done a great job encouraging others to perform at a higher level." Congratulations again David and Carson!

Way to go David .... so proud of you kiddo! Keep up the hard work on and off the court!

I Need More Hours in My Day!!!!!

So, seriously, I need more hours in my day.  I have so many things that need to be done and then add to that the things I WANT to do .... well, you know how it goes.  Since there aren't unlimited hours I end up planning on doing things or thinking I'll do them, then they don't happen.  :-(  One of those things .... keeping my blog posts up-to-date.  So, here goes, let's see if I can catch you all up on what's been happening at the Red House since I last posted (OK, now I'm truly embarrassed ... July 19th was my last post.  *sigh*).

So, since mid-July was my last post ...
Chris and David ran the Warrior Dash, along with Craig, Marybeth, Jenna, Chad, Cory and Chase.  They had fun ... and got really dirty.

Chris and I helped with Cross Country Camp again this year.  It was a fun time and although we had quite the rain storm the first night and a lot of the kids' stuff got wet, we managed to get things dried out and the rest of the weekend went well.
David's had a pretty good Cross Country season so far ...  
He was injured in early September which affected his times and actually kept him out of at least one race, but he seems to be bouncing back and had a season record at last week's meet at Portage.  His PR was from last year at the Mustang Invite which is this Friday .... hopefully he will PR again!!

We enjoyed camping this past weekend in Kalamazoo ... the weather was FABULOUS!  It's nice when we can camp the weekend of that Portage meet.  It's much nicer to get up at 5 or 5:30 rather than 3:30 or 4, LOL.

Lastly, a little shout out to Chris .... he got the "results" back from his teacher evaluation for last year and he ranked as "Highly Effective".  Way to go Chris!!
Well, that's all for now .... more from the Red House soon!!
~Kati