Captain Joel

This past week, Joel had the honor of being an "Honorary Captain" for the football team at the high school where he works. The team voted him as the teacher they wanted. It was the first game of the playoffs and he was very excited to fulfill his duties. He was able to go into the locker room with the team prior to the game and then he walked out on the field with the captains (four of the five he knew & had as students) and was there for the coin flip. He was even on the local news' "Prep Rally"!

Anders & I hung out with Grandma J--well, mostly Anders--he had fun walking around with her. It was very cold & rainy/snowy, but we had fun. Sadly, we couldn't stay too long as Joel had a prior commitment, but it was fun nonetheless.

He's the tall guy with the green shirt & black hat on the right.

8 Kids and Counting...

When I first started working at Lincoln Academy in 2001, there was a group of us girls that were single and basically footlose and having fun. We had lots of fun together (including one other friend who happened to be married). Now, 8 years later, we are all married and have kids, but live all over the place. 3 of us live in town--and still work together, one lives in NC (her hubby is in the Air Force) and one lives overseas.

This past Friday, 4 of the 5 of us got together with all of our kids--8 total! (We hope that we can get all 10 kids together in December!)

We met at Pump It Up and the kids played, played, played for almost 2 hours. Then we all came to my house for lunch where we snapped this picture. JJ's two kids are on the far left (boy, 3 and girl, 10 months), BS's two kids (girl, almost 3 and boy, 10 months), then Anders (15 months), then AE's three kids (girl, 4, girl, 3 and boy, 8 months). Crazy times!

We had lots of fun chasing the kids all over and catching up on life. I am so blessed to know so many wonderful people!

Joel, sans beard

Sideburns since college=13 years
Goatee since starting teaching=7 years
Beard since 2005=4.5 years
Shaving it all off=10 minutes
Priceless.

It's "No-Shave November" at Joel's school and this year he chose to participate. So, the beard is gone and there will be no shaving for him this month.

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on the hair-growing process.

How do you think he looks?