Battle of the Saints

On March 20 (Ethan's birthday!) we had the fourth annual Battle of the Saints game! The Battle of the Saints is a basketball game played by the dads from St.Lawrence versus the dads from St. Boniface, our rival school. Our dad was on the team this year, along with some of our friends' dads, plus some others. Ethan sat with the fourth grade on the St.Lawrence side, and I (Kelsey) sat with my friends above the sixth-graders. All the seventh-graders who were there and went to St.Lawrence last year stood on the St. L side. We also had some former St. B students stand with us because our science teacher was offering extra credit points for cheering for St.L (her kids go to St.L too)! Our dads got off to a rough start, but they started coming back and were suddenly winning by about ten points! They kept their lead and won 54- 39. The first year the dads tied, the next year St.B won, and St.L has now won twice in a row!!

Ethan's Pinewood Derby

A couple weeks ago, I (Ethan) had my school-wide Pinewood Derby race for Boy Scouts. My car was purple with a yellow stripe and was designed to look like a lightning bolt. Me and my dad worked on the car together. There is a practice race track that we tested our car on. I got third out of about 30 overall. Then I went to the district race.

In the district race, I got second in my heat out of eight. I won my first and second races. On the third race, I lost and went down to the loser's bracket. I won the next race and went to the championship. I raced the same person I lost to in the third race and lost to him again. During the fourth race, my car flipped over on a piece of popcorn! They had to clean off the track and redo the race. I had a good time racing and making my car.

Ethan's basketball season

I (Ethan) just finished a season of basketball with my friends. For our season, we had 7 wins and 1 loss. This year, we focused mainly on defense. We had plays called motion, 1-4, and CC. We lost to St.Boniface, but their coach teaches them the same plays as us. Here are the people in the picture: top row: Ben, Jake, Noah, Cedric bottom row: Clayton, Jack, Coach Yeaman, me, and Nathan. I am looking forward to a good season next year.

Elizabeth Grace's Baptism

A couple of weekends ago, we went up to Elmhurst to visit our grandparents and go to our baby cousin Elizabeth's baptism (her nickname is Elly). They day before her baptism, on Saturday, my mom and I (Kelsey) went to my Aunt Becky's baby shower (we haven't updated in so long, so she's now had her baby, Nathaniel Justin Horne!). There, we had dessert foods, soda, and punch. We played games, like trying to guess what characteristics Becky wanted the baby to have between her and Justin (for example, whose eyes, whose ears, etc.). We also got twenty birthday cards, and each person chose a card to write to Nathaniel. On each of his birthdays for the next twenty years, he'll receive a card from someone who was at his shower! Then on Sunday morning, bright and early, we drove to Aurora, where Aunt Cori and Uncle Ben live. We went to their church for mass and Elly's baptism. After that we had some time to kill while Uncle Ben finished cooking lunch (barbeque sandwiches). We sat at a McDonald's with the rest of the Hardings and the Volmers (Cori's family). Then we went back over to the church for lunch and dessert. After that, we hit the road back home so we could be home in time for school and work on Monday.

Kelsey's Basketball Team

This was my (Kelsey) first season of playing basketball for CC! I played mostly on the B team, but I was often put into the third and fourth quarter of the A game if we were winning easily. The A Team was 29-3, and the B team was 30-2. We won the Clinton Central tournament (we played Clinton Central and Tri-Central), and the B team came in 2nd in the city tournament (we played Tecumseh the first game and lost to West Lafayette in the championship in over time. We lost to West Lafayette in the regular season, too. They were our only two losses.) The girls on the team were, in the picture, from left to right starting with the top row, Coach Katie, Lucy, Lexie, Coach Tharp, Emily D., Kelsey, Coach Jenna, Sarah, Megan, Morgan, Vicky, Shelby, Madison, Courtney, Emily E., and Taylor. Katie and Jenna won the State Championship when they played for CC in high school, so they were able to teach us a lot about the things we'll have to be able to do in high school. We had a lot of fun this season, and hope next season is just as good, if not better!

Snow Fun with the Cousins

Over Christmas, I (Ethan) was in Rockford, IL, and played in the snow with my cousins Michael, Emily and Ellie. Kelsey didn't want to come out! Me and Michael made a huge snow fort that had peep holes inside it and shelves to hold snowballs. We got a bunch of sleds and tried to sled down my grandparents' front yard. It worked pretty well. It was pretty cold, and we came inside after we were done to get warm by the fire (and take a hot shower). My cousins probably really liked it because they live in Texas where there isn't any snow!

Food Sculptures

My (Ethan) friend Sam gave me a calendar last year that had pictures of food sculptures. I really liked it. Yesterday, I was using a gift card at Borders and found a new one. I really like all the pictures in it. Then, I figured out on the computer that he has a book about his food sculptures and lots of pictures online too. I put some here for you to see. If you want to see more, Google Saxton Freymann. He's the artist. A book about his sculptures would be a good birthday idea for me!