Our Furry Heartbreak

With heavy hearts, we made an unexpected farewell to Quincy yesterday. After five visits to the vet and animal hospital in five days, he passed peacefully overnight. It was a seemingly sudden end to us, but I remain grateful that it ended quietly and at home.

Quincy was the best cat we could have asked for, and truly a member of our family. We are blessed to have had nine years of warm memories with him. I like to think the heavens are relishing his company now.

Halloween 2017

I don't know if it was all the rain the weekend of our mountain trip, or the general busyness of life these days, but we never got around to buying pumpkins this year. And with Halloween falling on a Tuesday, and high school students for whom activities do not halt for this holiday, our plans were a bit haphazard. Yet, the Francos managed to pull off another stellar evening of fellowship - and BBQ!

Since Gabrielle invited a friend to join her this year, Danny (dressed as soccer star Ronaldo) did as well, which expanded our merry band. Laura, the fierce black kitty, fairly graciously conceded to accept Daddy as her partner, fortunately. 

Lastly, Clare and Isabella dressed up as Wonder Woman and Cat Woman, but proceeded to spend the evening doing homework, like the diligent students they are. Never fear, there was *plenty* of candy to go around!

We can't help wondering what next Halloween will look like, as the kids get older. But for now, we'll treasure these sweet gatherings!

Clare's 9th Grade Homecoming

Turns out going to Homecoming in 9th grade is a bigger deal than I originally thought. Whether or not you have a date, you go! Which, upon reflection, is exactly as it should be. Clare joined forces with several other girls and had an absolutely marvelous time!

Starting early in the afternoon, several of them gathered at a friend's house to get ready, do each other's hair, etc. - so fun! Later more joined them for dinner and a picture party.

After the dance itself, Abby's sister Maggie (home for the weekend from college) picked them up and took them to dessert at The Cheesecake Factory, where they happily debriefed each other on their evenings. 

A glowing success from start to finish!

Mountain Weekend VII

Our seventh escape to the mountains with the Francos has come and gone in a flash! It feels as though each get-away goes by even more quickly, which I suppose is a measure of how much we enjoy it. 

This year found us back at Trout Trap, as last year's house was already booked. While we prefer last year's house, and its amazing vistas, it was fun to be back directly on the river. Danny, in particular, relished this - and managed to catch an actual trout!

We crammed in quite a bit of outdoors time on Saturday, from hiking (both on and off the trails) to fishing and lunch in downtown Ellijay.

We did this by design, knowing that Tropical Storm Nate was bringing quite a bit of rain our way on Sunday. As in, Danny and Laura were the only ones to venture outdoors that day! Fortunately we had books, board games, a satellite dish and wifi to pass the day pleasantly.

Until next year!

It's All About Laura

Over the near-decade that we have been at Christ the King School, a LOT of things have changed. But one constant in the First Grade curriculum is to start the year off with the "It's All About Me Tee" poster. This glimpse of Clare's is a bit poignant on this, her first full day of high school - but it also shows me that at 14, she's really not so different from her 6-year-old self, which is truly heart-warming. This look at Danny's (and an updated look at fifth-grade Clare) made me chuckle, both because Danny is also pretty consistent but mostly because of my comment about wondering what Laura's project would look like. In the blink of an eye, we found out.

Favorite subjects:
P.E.
Math
Library
Art
(In other words, not a ton of overlap with her siblings.)

Places I like to go:
Disneyland
Slingshot
Xdrenaline
Pool
(Note the recurrence of places that involve action.)

Things I like to do:
At home: Playdates (preferably with Meghan)
At school: Be with friends
In the community: Play soccer

This is my favorite:
Food: CAKE!
Song: Ways to be Wicked (from Descendants 2; biting my tongue from making comments here...)
Movie: Descendants 2
Book: Isle of the Lost (Which is the first Descendants novel. Herein lies the one flaw with this project - these types of answers easily vary from month to month or even week to week. Oh well!)

In summary, Laura is very much her own person, and her own Seymour - and we like that just fine!

First Day of 5th and 1st Grades

Incredibly, yet another new school year has rolled around! Laura is off to First Grade with Ms. Bradshaw, while Danny heads into Fifth Grade with Mrs. Nagle. Should be a good one for both!

Laura the Pianist

Laura has been asking about piano lessons for a while. I'm guessing it's a combination of having seen her older siblings attend lessons, as well as her continued attraction to music. Based on our neighbor's glowing recommendation, and the wonderful convenience of the teacher's location (five minutes from the house!), I made an inquiry and secured her a slot for this year. She was thrilled. I would say the first lesson was a great success, too, and hope it's the beginning of a long career!