Yowzers. I had thought that I wrote something much closer to 2023 than September. Guess I have a lot to unpack. To be honest, I'm really not going to be able to remember much.
October
Let's see. What happened in October. I think this was the month that academic bowl started. I had to check my previous post to see if I mentioned it and it looks like I didn't. So, this year, I decided that I would help coach the 5th/6th academic bowl team with some help from Kim. Connor did it last year and it was online, but this year would be the first time, any of them, actually, they would be doing tournaments in person with buzzers and stuff. I've never done anything like this before, so it would be new to me for sure. Anyway, the practices, which were once weekly, went alright overall and towards the end. In the beginning, though, things we rough as I got used to them, vice versa, and getting to know the rules for in-person tournaments. The biggest thing was them talking during our practice and in between questions and stuff. The first couple practices we didn't even get through the practice question packets, which were about 24-32 questions. We got maybe halfway because of all the talking and stopping. Finally, I decided to implement a reward, aka candy, system every time we could move on to the next question without delay. They slowly caught on and we were finally able to start finishing up packets. It was and is still hard to decide what to practice because, overall, they don't really practice on their own out of practice time because, well, they're in 5th/6th. Most of how well they do during the tournaments really is up to how much they studied beforehand. Anyway, we got into the groove after a while and they started to figure out the routine, how I expected it go, etc. The other big problem was getting them to get along with each other. We definitely had a few quarrels and incompatibilities, but that's to be expected, I guess, especially with a mix of grades. We had an 8-person team, which I thought was a bit too much as there was a lot of substituting going on at tournaments. It twas 6 5th graders and 2 6th graders. They were all good kids, though, for the most part, so that helped.
November
I don't think we went anywhere like Estes Park this year, so it was really just a month of school stuff, planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and getting things done. Oh, and trying to make the kids not get sick before the important days. Of course, that backfired. I'm pretty sure that someone got sick during Thanksgiving, or maybe that was Christmas. I think the McGuires came out for Thanksgiving and then Christmas, too. Wait, no they came out in October and then came out for Christmas. I can't remember things anymore. I actually think Thanksgiving was a calmer event this year. It was just the Yams + Ken or something and the Lemons came just for the day or something.
December
Ah, Christmas time. Really just a month of trying to not get sick at the worst time and also doing presents and stuff. Emmeline also had her theater performance, which she started doing this fall. She did great in Rudolph. We also had our first academic bowl tournament right before Christmas break. We didn't get shut out but we only won 1 I think. It was a learning experience for us all, though. It was good to figure out who was good at answering and who liked what subjects and what not. The crappy part, though, was that one of the kids was definitely sick prior to/on the day of the tournament (and this was confirmed later on) and, of course, they're all in each other's face and area, so Connor did end up getting some kind of flu thing the week before we were to go to Tulsa. Everything was so tense, especially Laura as she didn't want to miss a Christmas again. We also had the Christmas dinner or something with the Lemons right before, which didn't help.
Anyway, the timeline of events went sort of like this: Connor got sick the Sunday/Monday before Christmas. I'm actually not sure if he got sick from our academic bowl tournament, which was that Wednesday before or during the basketball practices he had, which was Friday, I believe. Strangely, he actually got over it quite quickly this time as he was better by the following Tue/Wed or so. The crappy thing this time was that he got ME sick. I started feeling like crap, probably the worst sick I've been in a while, starting around Mon/Tue. I was sleeping in the guest bedroom for the next few days trying to get better before the dinner with the Lemons. Of course, Laura didn't want to mention any kind of sickness to anyone, so it made it even worse. I usually don't get this sick and usually get over it after a few days, but this one lasted a little longer than normal. I had a fever, which I rarely get, and was just sore all over and cold. Things were looking grim around Fri when I wasn't better yet. I think our dinner with them was on Saturday and I FINALLY got better overnight literally the day before the dinner. I was still feeling bad and sniffling, but I could at least walk around without a headache and a sore body. I still don't know if Laura told the Lemons that I was sick or was recovering, but I went to the dinner and tried my best to "look" normal. Finally, we all went to Tulsa for Christmas where the McGuires were there. It was fun time and to see them. We didn't go to Christmas Eve mass because I think there was too much going on or something, but I did tell Laura that if she wanted to go, I would go. In the end, we all just stayed home. Then, however, Dave got sick with something for a few days, so he missed out on some stuff. I believe it was after Christmas day or something. There just was a lot of sickness going around.
New Year's came and went like normal and we had our New Year's feast as usual. Nothing much to report.
January
What went on in Jan? Well, to be honest, nothing much from what I can remember. There was a cold spell I think for a few days but nothing crazy. My birthday was of course in this month, but not a big deal. We had our 2nd academic bowl tournament this month as well. We actually did great and it was a bigger tournament with 6 teams. We went 4-0 for the first 4 games and I think we got cocky or something, lost the next 2. If we had one either of the last 2, we would have placed 2nd, but unfortunately, we placed 2nd in a tie with another school and when that happens, the amount of points you scored in the tournament becomes the tie breaker and we didn't have as many as the other team. So, we placed 3rd, which was okay and still pretty good. 2nd would have actually made us go into the harder of the last tournament, so. The winning team went 5-1 and the cool part is that we gave them the loss. The kids had fun, though. On to the last tournament in Feb!
February
We just had our last academic bowl tournament and it was a smaller one because 1 team dropped out at the last minute. Like mentioned above, this was the weaker of the 2 final tournaments. Weaker as in the lower teams of the first 2 tournaments ended up here. That was both good and bad. Good because I knew we could beat them all except 1 team we hadn't played yet and bad because, well, it's literally the losers bracket. Anyway, we went 3-1 and we could have won our loss, too. What was unfortunate was that Connor decided to get sick literally the day before our tournament. I'm not sure if he would have propelled us to victory on our loss game, maybe, but it would certainly have helped. I think the saddest part was that he just wasn't there to participate with his friends on the last tournament. We're gonna have to take another picture with the plaque as a team because he wasn't there. Oh well...maybe they'll learn to watch their hands more and not put it in their mouths as I tell them every day to stop doing that. Might say it's totally random, but, well...it's all fine and dandy until it affects things around you. There'll be next year, I guess.