Welp, Andrew's soccer career is over.
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| #11 |
His team lost in the Sweet Sixteen round in the state tournament last night. Poor kids, but they had such a wonderful season. Phil drove the 1 hour 45 minutes to go to Andrew's last game, and I missed it because I had to bring Declan (age 8) to his first basketball game last night. It was very cute if you're not competitive at all, which I am, so I've already enlisted Declan's older basketball playing siblings to practice with him before the next game. He's just too nice on the court!
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| #8 |
Phil and I took Andrew to vote for the first time on Tuesday night, but when we got there, his name wasn't in the book. Apparently we checked a box that we shouldn't have when he got his license? He was bummed not to be able to vote, and the nice Town Clerk was trying to help see if she could fix the problem so I said with a chuckle, "His brother's name is in the book, but he's in Austria right now, so Andrew can just vote for him!" The Town Clerk said under her breath "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that" and she smiled slyly at me, and I thought she was implying that Andrew could indeed vote in place of JP as long as she didn't hear about it. And I was shocked! But then she continued "That's voter fraud." So I nervously said, "Oh yeah, I was just kidding" because I had been originally just kidding, but her response made me think it could happen and so I was all confused. Andrew did not commit voter fraud, and we calculated that for the next presidential election, it will be the first time voting for all three of our oldest kids. JP just missed the last election because he turned 18 the next February, and Eamon will turn 18 right before the next one. That's wild that we get to vote with three kids in two more years!
Scene from a lunch break walk this week:
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| Lord, you outdo yourself. |
I just heard about Franciscan University's Unplugged Scholarship, where students who agree to give up their cell phone receive a $5000/year scholarship. I think it is a great idea! Every generation before them attended college without cell phones and made real connections with the people right in front of us. It is so sad to see the addiction and social isolation and anxiety that phones can cause, and these poor kids don't even know life any other way. Watch The Social Dilemma with your preteen and teenagers if you haven't yet, it's the reason I got off of Instagram and significantly reduced my anxiety.
That reminds me that Gabb phones and smartwatches are having a huge sale for a free device when you sign up for a two year plan. We used a Gabb phone for Maggie and we will continue to get them for the rising 13 year olds in our house. Highly recommend.
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| Not our living room, but a girl can dream. |
I had to laugh with the facial hair; every once in a while I'll get this outrageously long one on my chin - like I could braid the thing?! I'm also blonde (well, dirty blonde), so it's not always noticeable until it's like insanely long! Oh the joys of aging...
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious about the Gabb phone - we're a few years away from thinking through a phone, but it does seem inevitable when our daughter starts high school because of all the coordination it will require. For now, I'm just so thankful we're not there yet. And also - YES, I went to university without a phone and it was fine and great and I'm so relieved I didn't have to juggle social media and texting and everything else. I honestly feel so, so sad for teens (and even us adults). There are lots of positives to cell phones and various internet options - but I think it is a net negative overall.
I also just sent the "retired" graphic to a friend - so good and 100% relatable! You speak truth, my friend <3
The Gabb phone is great because it looks like a smart phone but no app store and no social media. It's a great first phone for kids to keep in touch for rides etc once they get older. Once you start researching about the effects of screens and social media, it's so disheartening. I think that's why most parents want to keep their heads in the sand and just don't want to see the negative effects because it's such a fight with kids to take it away or not give them one when all their friends have one. But we have to do our best for our kids, and not care about giving them what they want but don't know could be so bad for them. I think we are all going to look back one day after enough research has been done and see how stupid we all were to be on our phones all the time.
DeleteI went to college without a phone for a while, my parents got me one after the car broke down and I had to walk down the road and ask someone (fortunately a lady, outside doing yard work) to make a long distance call! lol
ReplyDeleteI drove by Franciscan last weekend (was vising family in the area) and I think the dorms-that-used-to-be-hotels are a little creepy and feel far from the mail part of campus, so I'd want at least a flip phone for safety when walking back and forth. I'm also way more weirded out than I should be in that area due to the hostage situation that occurred at the Steubenville Kroger probably 25 years ago, so I am probably way overthinking this!
I never thought to blame the one rouge hair on my chin on the hair growth vitamins, but i might start!
Oh wow, I had to look up that Kroger's situation - never heard of it!
DeleteI've had a long hair like that, but I'm not blonde. It's fun having a giant black hair coming out of your face! Or the opposite.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely the opposite!
DeleteI have a long hair in the middle of my nose that I occasionally SEE and yank out. I don't think anyone else can see it. Thankfully.
ReplyDeleteCell phones and teenagers - Oh how I dislike the overuse and the nonsense that they can see on there.
Sorry Andrew's team didn't win another game. I'm honestly relieved to know that other people have kids who don't willingly read books. We have a bit of both.
I am SO interested in that fireplace insert thing. I laughed at your 'not my living room, but a girl can dream'. I hear you.
The insert we like best is about $7000 with installation and won't be in stock until March so it's probably going to be a NO.
DeleteHa - the voter fraud exchange would have thrown me for a loop! What a bummer that Andrew didn't get to vote this time, but kind of neat that all the kids can share the experience next time.
ReplyDeleteThe long facial hair made me giggle. I am not having any long facial hairs (that I notice, at least!) but I have one extremely long eyebrow hair that insists on being bright white. My hairdresser taught me how to cut it, though, and I wear eyebrow mascara so it blends in most of the time.
Eyebrow mascara? You really are the queen of all brow knowledge!
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