Thursday, October 25, 2012

October 21, 2012-- Last game of the season





Jack and Ellie-Kate at Mama Renie's for the soccer team pizza party!

October 20, 2012

 Promoting 4-H at the Chili Cook-off!


 Ellie-Kate enjoyed the children's museum in the mall. As of this date, she's 44 inches tall!
 Emmy and Christie at the Girl Scout Halloween party on October 20, 2012
 Elizabeth, Kali, Teagan, Christie, and Emmy celebrate Halloween!


Soccer-- October 14 and 16, 2012

 Ellie-Kate gets ready to go after the ball-- October 14, 2012.

 Go Ellie-Kate! Over the season, she scored a number of goals, and she had two on this night :)

Mall Playground Fun-- October 9, 2012




Sunday, October 7, 2012

Random reflections...

Hi everyone--

Well, it's been another busy time for the Beck-Aden family, but not quite as zany as the summer... Ellie-Kate has been loving pre-school. She goes every morning and stays on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Her friends include Jack, Corbin, and Macie, and she adores her teacher, Miss Tammy. She has been having a good time with soccer, and she is even enjoying dance this year (thanks, Miss Kelly!). She's dabbling in gymnastics at Twist and Twirl, an activity that she does every Thursday at pre-school, and we're starting to work with her at home on reading (thanks A Beka curriculum!).

Emmy has been a blur of activity-- soccer every day from 3-5 p.m. Girl Scouts, Model UN, Science Fair, band, cello, and, of course, school. She's doing awesome in her classes, earning all As thus far, but, wow, she's just exhausted. We're looking forward to at least a bit of a break between soccer season and basketball season.

Chelsea is loving Baylor. She's hit a few speed bumps during her first few weeks at school, and she's still looking for a job, but, overall, she's doing very well. She's earning good grades in her classes, and she's hoping to rush a sorority in January. In the meantime, she's hanging out with friends, studying, and competing on the Baylor Club Tennis team. In fact, in her first match, she played doubles, and they beat their opponents 6-1. Her team placed fourth in its bracket. Very cool!!

Britti is busy with 4-H stuff and wedding planning. We're hoping to secure the location and finalize dress selection in the next month.

Roger has been busy with soccer, prepping for his book and a leave grant, and helping with all of the kid stuff. Meanwhile, I have been busy with regular work stuff as well as developing campaign materials for my candidacy for NCA Second Vice President...

This whole election thing has been very odd-- definitely unfamiliar territory. On the one hand, I want to spread the word about my qualifications, interests, etc. On the other hand, I'm not comfortable with doing things that scream "hey, look at me." I've definitely learned that I wouldn't want to be a career politician! I truly love doing association work, and I'd be very grateful for the chance to do it, but it was very odd to introduce myself and hand out flyers at OCA. I'm not a "look at me" kind of gal-- I'm much more of a roll up my sleeves and do the work kind of gal. I'm really struggling to navigate what is appropriate, what is expected, what is obnoxious, etc. in terms of putting myself forward for this office. I absolutely *loved* the chance to meet new people at OCA. I'm just going to relax and enjoy those same types of interactions at NCA. It's so much fun to chat with new people and to hear their ideas and to learn about their experiences. Even if nothing else comes from this adventure, what a cool "take-away" it will be to gain some new friends in the discipline and to re-connect with old ones. I'm smiling as I type now because my friends in the discipline have been very cool and supportive, and they have really been amazing.

As always, thanks for listening and for caring about our family! I'd better head for bed so I can get up tomorrow for another busy week!!

Christie

October 7, 2012

 Well, between the temperature (50 degrees!) and light rain, none of us was really very comfortable at Ellie-Kate's soccer game. However, Ellie-Kate finally warmed up (literally) by the end, and she scored two goals in the last quarter! Yeah, Ellie-Kate!!


4-H Awards Ceremony-- October 6, 2012

 Britti (the Athens County 4-H educator) poses with Pet Pals members, including Emmy.
 Emmy was recognized for Pet Pals, Outstanding Exhibitor (rabbits and dog), Skillathon winner (rabbits), and County Award winner for Food and Nutrition. Chelsea won a county award for leadership. Britti did a super job on the ceremony so, overall, a very nice night for our family!

Britti, Ellie-Kate, and Emmy after the ceremony!