Eden | Six With Sticks

March 17, 2014
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Six with skis

Last night, we took a little trip up to Ski Liberty. None of the kids had ever been skiing before. And I hadn’t been skiing since before Marcia and I met, over 17 years ago. So, we piled the oldest 4 kids into the van and drove up there.

We started them off with a lesson.

Marcia – dropping off kids at Ski school

Ready for ski school

Ready for some skiing

The kids were off with their instructor and Marcia and I were able to take a few runs by ourselves. I took a few runs down the back side of the mountain by myself and was able to ski a Black Diamond before meeting back up with the kids. An hour lesson and they were doing great.

Maggie – hands on her knees, no poles

Eden – flying down that mountain

Liz – focused on her turns

Noah – No fear

And then some night skiing as a family.

Having fun

Kennedy gang at Ski Liberty

We mostly stuck to the bunny hill.

I love how comfortable the kids all were. They got on the chair lifts by themselves, and were calling to each other from the chair lifts and waving to each other on the mountain. It was really cool. Before the night was over, I took Liz over to a bit faster hill for one last run.

It was cool that I remembered how to ski after all these years. And it was interesting that Marcia and I had never skied before. She kept remarking that she never knew how good of a skiier I was. Interesting that we have spent all these years with each other and there are still sometimes things that we don’t know about each other.

Very cool night. They all wanted to do it again. Eden wanted to spend the night. On the way home, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast at night. This morning, with 7 inches of snow on the ground, I took Liz to an early morning bus to NYC to spend a few days with her godfather. The rest of us have a snow day 🙂

January 14, 2014
by davekenn Leave a comment

I See

I see, you see, Eden took her ISEE.

I am so proud of Eden. She is very brave. On Sunday, she took the ISEE exam as part of her application process for St. Paul’s School for Girls. She had to get up very early in the morning to be at Friends School for the test at 7:15 AM on a Sunday morning. She had her number 2 pencils and some blue and black pens.

It was a small group. Most of the kids were high school age, clearly much older. A few of them even drove themselves to the test or took a bus. There were a handful of 4th and 5th graders, maybe 7 or 8 kids. Eden was the smallest. But, they called her name, and she stood up confidently. She gave me a hug and went down the hallway. She didn’t look back.

She had worked for a few days practicing for this test. So, she felt confident walking down that hallway. She was scared. I am her dad, I can tell. But, she suppressed her fears. She put on her brave face, and she took care of business.

She said that the first few minutes she was nervous. She had to plan out her time to answer all of the questions. And she could tell which kids were in 4th and which were in 5th. But she recognized some of the type questions from the practice test she took.

I’m proud of my girl. She never ceases to impress me.

December 15, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Old Yeller

With the title of this blog post, I am not referring to the dog. I’m referring to myself. I am taking some time to evaluate my parenting skills.

I love all of my kids. I have 6 of them. I am failing Eden though. Last night, I yelled at her. She was continuously disobeying me. I’d tell her to do something. She’d backtalk and do just the opposite. Eventually, I lost my temper, and I yelled at her. It would be more accurate to say that I screamed at her.

She is building a brick wall between herself and her parents. And every time I yell, it is like I am handing her bricks, or mortar, or giving her the trowel. All I am doing is creating resentment.

I was up late last night reflecting on all of my parenting decisions throughout the day. It was a trying day with the kids, and I made lots of mistakes. I can change, and as parents, we constantly need to accept our faults and try to improve on them. But, I am very worried about the emotional scars that Eden wears. Old Yeller has done some damage.

Eden does so many wonderful things. Last week, she cleaned the kitchen better than it has been cleaned in over a year. I don’t think I could have done such a good job. And then yesterday she spent hours making her Grammy a card and decorating it. She stuffed all kinds of surprise snowflakes inside the card. I am proud of her for all of these things.

However, my parenting was wrongly focused on the things that she was doing wrong, and not praising her for all of the things that she was doing so well. I am very worried that I am losing her. I need to do a better job today.

October 6, 2013
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Field Hockey girls

Yesterday was a really fun day of sports. I got to take all the boys to Noah’s soccer game, a game in which he played really well and his team won 5-0. He played goalie the second half, and had one spectacular dive save, which was really cool. And then we all went to a field hockey tournament and watched the girls, Eden, Liz and Mom, play.

The girls won the Gold division of their age group. They played hard, with total effort, no subs most games and down a man for one game. 5 games total on the day. I was very proud of how hard they played in the 5th game, when they were visibly exhausted, but they kept running up and down the field and making plays. Eden scored 4 goals across the games. Liz played really tough. And Marcia coached the team really well, the best the field hockey team has looked in a long time. One of the highlights for the day was when Eden notched the winning goal in the semi-finals in the last 2 minutes of the 1-0 game against Brandywine.

Although the championship game atmosphere has become a little old hat for me and Sean and all of the Redshirts girls, many of these girls and their parents had never been in this type of position before. So, I was very glad that the girls were rewarded for their tremendous efforts with a few exciting wins and a 1st place ribbon.

And I am very proud of my wife. She motivated them. They were in the right positions to be effective. And they moved the ball better than they normally do. She put them in the best position to be successful and they delivered.

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Team Pyramid

Eden scores against Perry Hall

Liz in traffic

Eden scores 2nd against Perry Hall

Coach Marcia

Liz getting down

Eden

Girls win 1st place

September 2, 2013
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Labor Day field hockey

Our hometown’s recreational program hosts a play day for field hockey on Labor Day. Liz and Eden are on the same field hockey team this year. This is the first year they’ve actually been on the same sports team for anything. Eden is playing up, as a 3rd grader, in a 4th/5th grade league.

Eden held her own yesterday through three games. She had one shot, and just missed the goal. Besides that, she was in on some action and fought hard on the field. Smallest player on the field, but one of our best players.

Liz is really playing well. She is unassuming, but is the best player on our team. It was on full display in the last game on turf. The other team was stacked, and the rest of our team was pretty gassed. It was like heavyweights throwing punches, the other team’s best players kept making tremendous plays, and Liz would counter. Big drive, Liz stops it cold; Liz dodges through one player, stopped by the next, then Liz runs her down and takes the ball back. All game long.

The best part is that a bunch of high school players were watching the game and working the clock and tents. After the game, they saw Liz and told her that they had been watching her play and that she is a star.

Even better, Liz shyly said thanks, and never told her mother this. Humility. I just happened to overhear it all. Proud dad.

July 15, 2013
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Field hockey evals

No rest for the weary. The day after lacrosse ends, field hockey evaluations. Marcia and I are coaching with Sean. Eden and Liz are going to be on the same team. Eden is playing up in age, and we didn’t know how she would do.

She showed up in the tryouts! I ran all the girls a good long run at the beginning and Eden finished 3rd. And she looked good in the scrimmage. Go Eden!

July 15, 2013
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Club Nationals

This weekend, the girls competed in the Club National Championship. It is a 3-day tournament with teams from all over the country. Eden’s team was playing way over their ahead against older competition. They went 0-4 but they held their own in most games. Elizabeth’s team dominated. They earned the #1 seed in the playoffs. They rolled through the 1st round, 16-2. Then played some stiff competition in Fort Hunt 2019 in the quarterfinals and won in dramatic fashion in overtime. Next, they beat Motion 2019 Purple in the semis to set up a matchup vs TLC 2020 Red.

We dominated most of the game, outshooting the other team 10-2 and had a 2-goal lead heading into the last 3:30 of the game. At that point, the wheels came off, or rather the referees whistles got busy. TLC ended up in the final minutes with 3 free position shots and a bunch of turnovers by the referees, and was able to take the lead with 30 seconds remaining. It was a dramatic comeback victory for TLC, but leaves me and the team feeling empty. I personally feel like the team was cheated, even 2 days later.

What is worse, my daughter feels like she failed. She was a finalist in the Club National Championship and should be very proud of that. But, she is having a hard time getting over the fact that they should have won the game and did not. Their tournament record for the summer was darn impressive, going 18-2 in 3 major tournaments, winning one of them and runner-up in the other two. They outscored their opponents 210-54 in those 3 tournaments. But the sting of the last loss will hang with me and them for a while.

Small solace, but after the game, John Harbaugh, who was watching, came over and talked with the team. He told them that they had big huge hearts. And he said some other stuff to comfort them. And then he told me that he likes what I’ve done with this team. It was good to hear the praise.

Elizabeth told me though, on the ride home, and again yesterday, that she is determined to come back and win this tournament next year. I am glad to know the drive that inside that little body. Love you Liz!

July 5, 2013
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Knights Run

Bernie Wrisk organized a 4 mile run through Catonsville. The proceeds from the run would benefit charities that Knights of Columbus supports.

Eden and Elizabeth signed up for the 4-miler and Noah ran the 1 mile race.

Noah won his race, but it was not uneventful. It was a good thing I showed him the course the day before, because there were no people on the course to direct him, and nobody on Frederick Road to stop traffic. When he got to Frederick Road, the traffic was humming and he needed to cross to get to the finish line. Luckily, Marcia spotted him and went and helped. He cruised into the finish line and won the race. Pretty cool for him.

Elizabeth ran by herself. She did well and won her age group. Although again not enough people on the course directing traffic and she got lost. As she rounded the elementary school, she was supposed to hug the building and circle it, but not enough people ahead of her to know where to go, she went to Frederick Rd and then hung a left. She got a block away before she realized she had gone the wrong way and doubled back. She probably spent an extra two minutes with this and was pretty upset with herself. A couple different adults told me after the race that they saw her do this. Weird that none of them called out to her. She still won her age group.

I ran with Eden. Really proud of her. This was the longest she had ever run. She did not complain much, and she did not walk much. She just kept going and focused really well. When it came to the last stretch, about the last 2 or 3 blocks, she was determined, and turned up the jets and finished strong. She looked great coming across the finish line. She also won her age group.

All 3 kids had a lot to be proud of and each went home with some hardware. Very nice. Great event that Bernie pulled off!

July 5, 2013
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Great Day to be a Redshirt

Rock the Fields. Two days of lax. Two Redshirt teams crowned champions. 1 Team won spirit award. 1 Team won dance competition. The story lines were different, but equally impressive.

The 2019/20 team dominated the playing field. In pool play, they beat each of their competitors by more than 10 goals, and some by more than 20. And in the playoffs, none of their games were close. Goalie play was outstanding. Defense was stellar. Ball movement was great. The girls dominated. And they won a championship.

2020 Rock the Fields Champions

The 2021 team dominated their age group in pool play as well, except for one opponent that was evenly matched. MD United East was a pretty good competitor. The Redshirts tied them in pool play, 8-8. And then in the championship, they played the same team. They got down 3-0 at half. Then were down 4-1 with only about 6 minutes left. That is when they mounted an awesome comeback. 4 straight goals, and they won 5-4.

2021 Rock the Fields Champions

June 16, 2013
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my team is crowned tyker champions

me and my team with the trophy

Yesterday my team played in a tournament; we played four games and we won all of them. Then, we played in the championship game and won 16-2. Then we got medals and a pic with the team