Screens, screens, everywhere screens.  Blocking out the scenery, eating all my beans.

We are a family sitting on couches, glued to screens.  Fighting over chargers.  We just bought ourselves a new TV, 50″, and are putting the old TV in Noah’s room.  Noah probably spends to most time on screens.  We will see how this plays out.

It is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  We are sitting lazily in bed.  And Maggie gets a hold of the computer, and shows me her creativity.  In just minutes, she creates these drawings of apples and pies.  It is pretty cool.  She did it with Jack.  He wanted to help with the stars.  So, she let him.  And then she drew him on the floor.  He ate the gross pie on the left and got sick.

I spoke on Tuesday with the Maryvale lacrosse coach.  She had come out to watch Liz’s team on Sunday morning.  She paid compliments to the team, and to 4 girls in particular.  Liz was among those 4 girls.  She said that these 4 girls would have an immediate impact on lacrosse at Maryvale.  She said she meant that they would play varsity as freshmen or at least as sophomores.  We have not heard this kind of commitment or interest from a coach before, and Liz is flattered.  For such a humble kid that works hard and does things the right way, I am glad that she is having this kind of opportunity fall in front of her.

This year, Noah, Elizabeth and I ran the Turkey Trot together.  Maggie had some interest, and the youngest two boys were interested, but we decided just the three of us would do it.  Terribly out of shape, I ran with Noah.  What a difference a year has made.

I struggled on a tough course.  Noah did not complain once.  Nor did he need to.  He set the pace, and I tried to keep up.  When I stopped to walk, he would realize I wasn’t there and stop and look back.  He motivated me to keep going.  He finished 4th among his age group, 10 and under.  He did awesome.

Liz … cut over 2 minutes off of her time from the previous year.  She ran with the top runners, and finished 6 overall female!  It was a darn impressive run for a 13 year old.  She was less than 2 minutes off of the top female finisher, who won $500.  Liz won a $50 gift certificate, as she finished 1st amongst 11-19 year olds.

When Sandra announced the winners, she said that she was hoping to get Liz to the high school.  The Roland Park coach was also there, and was talking to Liz about trying to get her to RPCS.  It is great to see Liz getting positive attention for her efforts.

When they announced the top 3 finishers, Liz noticed that the 2nd place girl was wearing a shirt from a college running competition.  She said, “Mom, did you see her shirt!”  It was maybe the first time the thought had crossed Liz’s mind about running in college.