State of the Children 2016

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Michelle is getting set to graduate from Cuyahoga Community College. She has been taking as many classes as she can in order to graduate. Her grades have been very good. She made the Dean’s List and she is taking Honor’s courses. What is in store for her after graduation? She is looking at continuing her education. There is a college in Maine that has grabbed her attention the enticing part of this spectacular move is the focus on the environment. She plans on applying there. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next.

Patty has started her second semester of classes at Notre Dame College. She originally had planned on getting a nursing degree, but has since decided to lean more towards psychology. She is still playing in the marching band and the orchestra and has a long road ahead of her. She is working and coming home occasionally to do laundry.

Eddy is enjoying his last year of high school. Football is over and now he is focused entirely on his academics. He is also staying after school quite often to make use of the new workout room constructed this year. He is applying to college and will certainly be in for new challenges later this year.

Christmas 2015

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There have been years that the holiday was not spent with family. It was spent working. This year is a very rare year indeed, because it was two whole weeks with family. Patty and Eddy were here. Michelle was working and what not. It is getting very different with the kids being older now. The gifts are smaller. More expensive. There is less to wrap and less to be opened. Maybe next year everyone will be here for Christmas.

We all had fun over the holiday. We played games. Skip-Bo was the favorite for a night. It was interrupted for a bit while we ventured out to (unsuccessfully) find eggnog. They used to sell eggnog everywhere. Then again there used to be convenience stores like Dairy Mart that were not also a gas station. We baked cookies. Chocolate chip. A whole lot of them. Patty and I watched the entire The Hobbit trilogy in a single night. There was much fun to be had. Everyone received gifts and everyone got what they wanted. Eddy asked for movies and games and Patty asked for boots. Michelle has not received her gift yet, but it is not something I can wrap and give to her it is a little more involved than that. She really wants a coat and a new cell phone. We will figure it out I’m sure.

We did not get a white Christmas this year, but that hardly ruined the festive mood. We had Christmas dinner at Becky and Andrews house. It is very busy over there. Five children creates quite the commotion. The triplets are getting so big. They are walking and crawling around now. The meal was fantastic and gifts were exchanged. All the pictures can be found on the pictures page. There are not very many pictures this year.

What a Season

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The last season of football that Eddy would ever play for Archbishop Hoban ended up being the greatest season of high school football that I have ever seen. When Eddy started going to Archbishop Hoban he played on the first undefeated Freshman football team. This last season ended up being more spectacular. Archbishop Hoban finished the season 14-1. The complete schedule and scores can be found here. One of the things that the record does not show is that this year Archbishop Hoban broke the 8 year losing streak to St. Vincent-St. Mary. Not only did they break that losing streak by beating them during the regular season they actually faced off again in the playoffs and beat them again.

The team qualified for the playoffs and advanced all the way to the Division III Championship game. While most of the games during the regular season seemed to already be over far before the 4th quarter the playoff games were intense. So many close games keeping fans on the edge of their seats. The day of the championship game there was a team breakfast, then a trip to the NFL Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and then they went to Columbus to eat and get to the field. There was no school on Friday due to all the excitement surrounding Archbishop Hoban’s first championship game. This is what all the practices, staying up late, having to show up to a game on Friday night and Saturday morning, and giving up part of summer break was for. All the pictures can be viewed on the pictures page.

Marching Band Competition

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Patty had a marching band competition and she was almost late. There was actually a bomb threat underneath a bridge that stopped traffic completely on the freeway. The delay meant that she missed practice, but she did make it to the competition on time. She is playing the violin at Notre Dame College and she is learning to play another instrument for the marching band.

Eddy’s 17th Birthday

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Eddy had a fantastic birthday cookout and plenty of gifts for his big 17. As usual the cookout included plenty to eat for all the people that showed up. The cookout ran a little late into the evening and so the cake and all the presents had to be brought inside. Eddy blowing out the candles was actually done twice – once outside and once inside. He got plenty of presents this year. He got money in some of the cards. He also got art supplies. There were some gifts from his Mom that were Dragon Ball Z themed, including a comic book. He also got two Zelda video games for his Nintendo 3DS. Only one more year till he is 18 and off to college. The pictures can be found on the pictures page.

Patty’s 18th Birthday

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Patty’s birthday cookout was a very busy day. There were quite a few people in attendance. Patty, Michelle, and Kristy all showed up together, because Patty is living in Cleveland with her mother now. She is working and going to be starting college there very soon. Eddy and Grandma, of course. Becky and her five children. The triplets are certainly getting bigger every time we see them. They are ten months old. Christi-Anne and her twins and Tim Smith showed up as well. There was plenty of food. It is always better to have too much food than not enough.

There were hotdogs for the little ones, because they are not exactly going to finish a whole burger. Plus they like hotdogs. There were burgers for those that wanted one. BBQ Chicken for people that did not eat red meat. Bean burgers, of some sort, for the person that has decided not to eat meat. Corn on the cob is always a hit as well. Family and friends all showed up over the course of about an hour. The grill was kept going and food was served as each person arrived.

It was a great time for everyone and now the middle child has turned 18. There is only one more 18th birthday left. It is nearing the end of a very long path that got started a very long time ago. Time really flew by. Two kids in college and my youngest is starting his senior year in high school. Next year it is possible I will have three kids in college. Here is to another good school year for everyone. As always all the pictures can be found on the pictures page.