Reggie's football highlights

We felt a little whiplash going from last year's football season to this year's season.  Last year Reggie's team lost every game except one non-conference game.  After WAA's first win, we all lavished a little in the strange feeling of victory.  Well it turned out that Reggie liked to win, and his team went on to win every game of the season.  

There was only one close game - against Stillwater.  In that game, Reggie played almost the entire game.  The rest of the games, Reggie would usually play offense until they were 3 touchdowns ahead (usually the first half) and then they would put in the second string. He would still get some defensive playing in the second half.

I'm excited about this team because they had a great quarterback and many players who could make the plays necessary to win.  They also had a great kicker (when he wasn't playing soccer 😉).  Of all the 7th grade football we watched, our team was the only team that ever attempted kicking for the extra point!  

Yes, there's talent, good coaching, and hard work. All of which there was more of than last year's team at OAA. Bryan always talks about the mental aspect of sports.  Last year, it felt like the team stepped on the field expecting to lose.  This team expected to win, and did!  

Reggie waited all season to play against his buddies in Oakdale and finally got the chance in the post-season.  They had a pretty good year, too.  Moving is hard.

Another strategic move our organization made that we think secured success was the size of the team.  There were 39 players.  Many organizations chose to create two smaller teams to guarantee more playing time for each player.  However, this ended up weakening the teams.  The surprising result of keeping the 39 players together as one team was first string tended to play the first half and second string tended to play most of the second half. (Last year OAA only had 20 players on their team.)

With football starting in August, it was great for Reggie to start out at his new school with friends.  He says there are football players in every class, on the bus, and in his lunch.

I hope they stick together for some really exciting highschool football in a few years!

down on the farm

It has been sooo long since we've made a trip out to the farm during harvest.  I don't think my kids have any memory of it.  On a random day, Reggie asked if he could do some woodworking with grandpa, so we made plans to go during our fall break.  

It happened to be right during harvest so the kids got to ride in and even drive the tractor and combine!

Aside from seeing my parents, the highlight of my trip was these turkeys.

The kids also had some fun on the four wheeler.

flag football highlights

This was the first year since Covid that Brett managed to get in a real full season of flag football.  He decided to play with the Blazing Stars.  Lydia got recruited to be a unified partner.

Some Special Olympics sports are unified sports.  Unified sports are designed to encourage inclusion by providing opportunities for disabled and non-disabled peers to enjoy sports together. Using the avenue of sports, people of varying abilities can come together, learn from each other, and build community through relationship.  The mission is bigger than just playing games and giving people with disabilities opportunities...it's revolutionary. 

Unified Flag Football is played five-on-five on a 40 yard field.  At all times there are 3 athletes and 2 unified partners on the field.  It is the unified partners' goal to uplift the athletes.  There are lots of rules like a unified partner cannot throw the ball to the other unified partner.

We were set up in a bracket of four teams.  The first game was a good matchup. It was close, but the Blazing Stars won.  The second game was for the championship.  While our team had two unified partners who were teenagers with average athletic ability, the opponents' unified partners looked like they were college athletes!  The Blazing Stars were up against goliaths and didn't stand a chance.  But they played hard, had fun, and built community. 

Mission accomplished!

first day of school

Reggie is in 7th grade!

Since I am writing this at the beginning of the second trimester rather than on the first day of school, I can also share that with one trimester down, Reggie has done a great job of adjusting to his new school.

The middle school is twice the size as their old school so that gives him more room to avoid his sister, and the feeling is mutual.  There are six lunch shifts instead of three, and from what I've been told, the lunches are the same amount of gross.

Reggie is taking band again and plays percussion.  His favorite teacher is his social studies teacher and his hardest class is intermediate algebra.

Lydia is in 8th grade!

She jumped right in and joined the volleyball team.  She chose band and gym for her electives. She joined the jazz band and got to participate in a district and metro honor band.  

As we had hoped, the expectations in the new school are different from in the old school.  The kids aren't given limitless chances to turn in and revise their work.  There are actual deadlines and sometimes even homework.  The band students were expected to participate in the winter concert as a part of their grade. There are less fights aand less kids wearing pajama pants to class.  The teachers send out forms with expectations for parents to sign, which seems so odd.  

A 3 out of 4 is actually a C and not a B. And there are things like expectations of respect and detention.  It's called the "Wildcat Way."  

In essense, the teachers haven't given up.  Our old district focused on serving the needs of a certain population.  It had some great teachers who were overwhelmed. And they were doing nothing for my kids.  

People can argue that there is school choice, but in reality that's not true.  There are transportation barriers to school choice, and the more resourced districts are full with no room for open enrollment. And the quality charter schools have lotteries. In reality, privilege begets privilege.

Brett is in 9th grade!

His transition was the biggest transition of all, and he has us all impressed.  He went from full-time homeschool to full-time public highschool.  For Brett, my primary hopes are growth in independence, social navigation, and contentment.  I think he is making progress in all of those areas.  He rides his bike to school. He spends half of his day in general education classes and half of his day in special education classes.

Brett really likes going to school.  As expected, his favorite class is gym, and I've set it up so that he will probably always be taking gym. ; )  He also took drawing and enjoyed it. This trimester, he is taking Fundamentals of Food Prep.  I told him that after five years of homeschool, he should be able to teach that class!!  But I suppose they will teach him the "right" way to do things rather than my way -"cooking with your five senses". 

Brett likes going to sporting events and sitting in the student section.  He also joined a social club called Royal Connections and he enjoys it.  I'm proud of all his work! 

Brett's softball and baseball highlights

Brett played softball for his second season with the Blazing Stars (Special Olympics).  This year, Bryan got recruited to help coach.  Unfortunately, his only tournament got rained out, but he had fun at practice!

Brett also had a couple of other opportunities to enjoy America's pastime. The Twins put on a baseball clinic for youth with disabilities.  I don't have pictures because Bryan took him.  It was organized by Twin's personnel and put on at the fields of a local highschool (not Target Field).  Brett got a t-shirt and bag of loot. The second clinic was put together in partnership with the Beautiful Lives Project and the Saints.  It was at CHS Field and run by the actual Saints front office staff, coaches, and players.  The day was beautiful, the atmosphere was comradely, and the participants were fast friends.

To make the day extra memorable, Brett made the news story with a great hit and interview!

CBSNews

We have an author in the house!

Last spring, Lydia entered a short story young authors writing contest and was one of the winners!  As a winner, she received editing mentorship from a published author to polish her work.  All the winners' stories and poetry were then put together and published in a book!

In August, the Society of Young Inklings hosted a virtual book launch party.  The authors are from all over the country!  We had a small celebration to celebrate Lydia's success.

Lydia received two copies of the book - one for herself and one to donate.  It was sorta intended for her school, but her school from 7th grade was literally a pile of rumble.  Since our friend Bonnie worked for the local library, she helped us get Lydia's book into circulation, so it can be checked out!  It can also be purchased on Amazon!

Writing is something Lydia likes to do with her cousin, Audri, who was a book contest winner in 2021.  It's a special way they can connect over the miles.

Happy 13th Birthday, Reggie

For Reggie's birthday, we celebrated with cheeseburgers and cake at home and then while we were in Green Bay we went to a virtual entertainment center.  Reggie was granted the 13-year-old privilege of having a smartphone and life hasn't been the same since...

Reggie was 5 ft 7 and 127 pounds. He still has braces; we've been doing that for 2+ years now.  His favorite junk foods are kitkats and muffins. While sports consume most of his time, he does well in school and enjoys playing percussion in band.  Out of the five of us, he is the most social.  He's not one to draw attention to himself, but people are drawn to him and he has a natural ability to connect with all sorts of people.  I consider myself both blessed and challenged to be given such a responsibility as guiding him into the man he is becoming.

all the other summer things

Our first summer in Woodbury turned out to be pretty great.  We had a nice balance of structured activities and leisure time. 

The very first weekend, Brett and Reggie went on a youth retreat with our church.  Thanks to Covid, I'm pretty sure this was Reggie's first overnight stay away from family and it was both of their first overnight youth retreat.  They had a lot of fun!  Lydia went on a 9-day RV trip with my parents and her cousin Audri.  They went to see the Creation Museum and Noah's Ark.  She made a lot of special memories with her grandparents and cousin.

Bryan and I took advantage of an empty house and drove to Milwaukee to attend a Brewer's game!  When we got back, we took the boys to a Saint's game, which is now a minor league affilliate of the Twins.

When I took the boys to Albert Lea for a baseball tournament, Bryan and Lydia had a weekend at home.  They took a bike ride to try out the ice cream scene in Woodbury.  Lydia approves.

Reggie did strength and agility training at the high school.  We met someone connected with the highschool wrestling program at a youth tournament last spring and through that connection Reggie was invited to weightlift with the wrestling team.  Bryan and I have a joke when Reggie gets a little restless at home.  We tell him to go to practice - ANY practice! Lydia did a couple of volleyball camps.  We also had some new beaches, parks, disc golf courses and fishing docks to check out.  

We spent July 4th at Papa and MeeMaws.

We took in a couple of Twins games, and another Saints game.  We seemed to have a knack for choosing the rainiest nights to go.  

We went to Family Night in Green Bay after two years of not going.  Reggie celebrated his birthday in Green Bay.

We went bowling, to the zoo, and to the science museum.  Bryan and Papa did a golf tournament and dinner while the kids, MeeMaw, and I did a "mini-golf tournament" and ice cream!  We "cooperatively" made a quilt for our new cousin.

Our city has a really fun annual carnival and it is at the park by our house.  Bryan and I enjoyed the Taste of Woodbury Tent while the kids hung out with their friends.  And we topped it all off with a day at ValleyFair.  Before we knew it, summer was coming to an end and we were getting ready for new schools.  I really do love summer.