We celebrated my birthday at our "typical" birthday celebration restaurant, Red Robin, thanks to grandma and grandpa's generosity! I also got to wake up to a play off football win from Mikey and the FGR football team - what a treat! I did a little Joker make-up for the Halloween theme for the game and both Paulina and Lucy requested Halloween make-up too. It actually snowed on Halloween 2023 and was extremely cold which is funny because I'm typing this blog a few days after a VERY foggy Christmas where it hit 50 degrees!
In honor of their playoff win, Anastasia gave all the boys who were willing a playoff mullet! Just in time for senior yearbook photos!!
I also got a chance to go out for my birthday post-birthday with some moms - Jennifer sitting next to me with purple hair actually shares a birthday with me though she's a little bit younger. Actually I think everyone at this table is younger than me! LOL
Peter started high school and less than a month in had already been to more "parties" than all of the other kids combined LOL. This is one that Mateo got invited to as well.
Some pictures with the statues at the Solanus Casey Center where Mike and I got to visit when we chaperoned the 4th grade HVCS field trip on our 26th anniversary!
We had another great Thanks-sister-mas in Cincy thanks to the Masons being willing to host us all again! Mom and dad stayed in a local hotel with Goldie and the rest of us took over all the Mason bedrooms save one! It was a wonderful long weekend with everyone except Isabel able to be together!
Aunt Maeve's saran wrap balls are always a hit! She did two this year - one for the little girls (Paulina, Mazie, Nadine and Lucy) and one for the teens (Peter, Kendall, Mateo and Avery)
Thanks to Amy (blond in the pictures above) we got to have a lovely 4-top table at the SCA Gala. Amy works for the school along with our friend, Lia, pictured above with the short gray hair.
I always enjoy when Mateo's photo shoots show up in my icloud.
Mazie and Nadine in their cool skeleton costumes and make up!!
This Facebook post showed up in my feed almost a decade to the day that my "career" as Mikey's football mom indeed did end. Who would have known 10 years ago? Obviously not me. LOL
The girls love playing with this random white board they bought at a garage sale in the neighborhood.
Servants of God's Love are a group of sisters in the area and every other year they host a bazaar where they sell crafts and handmade items - it's my favorite place to Christmas shop!!
What a beautiful football banquet after a very hard loss in the post-season second playoff game (which I have not a photograph of but which kept me up several nights sleepless. UGH.) Mikey's stats for the season: tied for most tackles, 53 with 41 solo, 12 assists and 5 TFLs. He also had one pass break up and 5 touch downs with 41 carries for 316 yards rushing - which is an average of 7.7 yards per rush!! Not bad for a guy who has no interest in playing college ball. I'm so proud of him, his hard work and his whole team and I've been in such mourning I'm actually following all the UM games and NFL/Lions games this season!
The coaches, coaches wives, trainers and most are teachers as well - we are so blessed by FGR football!
Just as football ended, middle school basketball started so the Gentit and Denja families still get to hang out on the regular!
I got a little antsy after it had been awhile since we had seen Rosie (and depressed about the football loss NGL) so we all drove over to GR/Hudsonville for the day one Sunday for Mass and to hang with the Devries and Rosie, even grandma Paula came with us!
Carmen made Christmas cookies for work - the kitchen at the condo was like a factory assembly line!
The Michigan-OSU game was the Saturday of Thanksgiving and we had the least people ever show up at stadium clean up. I was literally bruised and battered by the end of the 3.5 hours (more than twice as long as normal!) Ah well. It's over now...for another year anyway....
Finn and Mateo have the exact same size shoes in black and in white...this is how they've played several games.
We didn't get her for the Cincy Thanks-sis-mas but we got her for her birthday and Thanksgiving the next weekend - I can now legally drink with 3 of the 8 people who often drive me to drink! Salud!
This last pic isn't actually from Thanksgiving but when my mom went back a few weekends later to go to NYC with Maeve, Kendall and Avery for a broadway show!
