Sweep the Leg

This is the first year that Will has ever wrestled.  Thursday night was the first time I have ever seen anybody wrestle.

It was... interesting.  I still have no idea what's going on, but I do know that one opponent has to pin another opponent, and they look like they're trying to kill each other (some of the time) in order to do so.

Will's team competed against two other schools the other night, so I got to see him wrestle twice.

The first match, the timer went off 5 times without anyone (let me be honest; Will)  being pinned.  Will was not giving up.  When he was on the ground, he held his shoulders up every time until the timer went off.  The other kid was trying his best to pin those shoulders and just could not do it.

During the last two rounds, Will's teammates were all standing  in front of their chairs chanting his name.  His coach was standing at the edge of the mat encouraging him, saying "18 more seconds!" and stuff like that.

Will lost his match, but he did not get pinned.  His coach gave him a big hug and then his teammates mobbed him after he came off of the mat.  The  lady sitting behind us said, "They don't love him or nothing, do they."

After it was over, his school team won by 2 points.  If Will had gotten pinned, the other boy would have gotten another 3 points and the other school would have won by 1 point.   So I think Will was proud of that.

The second match, the other boy pinned him in 3 rounds.  But he made him work for it, too.

Will is really enjoying wrestling and the boys on the team seem like good kids.  There is a kid with Down's Syndrome on the team and when he goes out, he gets lots of applause from his teammates.  It is awesome to see them encourage him.

'Tis the Season?

Laura had her birthday party at the roller rink last Saturday.  She was so excited; she'd been talking about it for months now.  I think a good time was had by all.

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We are going to be crazy busy for the next month.

Will was recruited to join his school's wrestling team (which he is enjoying), Natalie auditioned for and won a role in a local community theater production of "A Christmas Carol", and our community choir is getting ready for our Christmas concert.

It's all fun stuff, but we'll be putting a lot of extra miles on our cars and I may go a little nuts trying to balance out everyone's schedules.

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The kids were out of school for election day and the Biltmore started celebrating Christmas this past weekend so I decided that yesterday would be a great day to maybe see the house without the big crowds that will surely be there on weekends, since apparently a lot of people like to visit during this season to see the house all decorated.

Will's coach decided to have a wrestling practice yesterday since they missed so many days last week (due to weather) and John offered to work from home and chauffeur Will so that the girls and I could still go play.  I have the greatest husband.

It was snowing at the house and starting to dust the ground when we left.  It was a chilly, rainy day down in Asheville.

Natalie, Laura and I had a wonderful time at the Biltmore.  I've never been there at this time of the year.  And the three of us really loved seeing all of the Christmas trees in the house. 

The girls always want to get a picture with one of the lions.

One of the two Christmas trees in the entryway by the front door.

 There are a few signs at the entrance saying that no cameras are allowed inside, so I always put mine away.  It's probably a good thing, otherwise it would take me more than four or five hours to get through the house.  And I would have even more pictures to go through than I already do every time I go there.

Lots of the rooms had Christmas trees, some more than one.  Natalie's favorite was the big one in the banquet hall.  It was the biggest one in the house.  The gift-wrapped boxes underneath it were porportional; some of them were as big as Natalie.  The banquet hall had a total of seven trees in that room.  And it was not crowded at all.

Laura's favorite was the one in the music room, it had musical instrument ornaments and rolled up sheet music tucked in the branches.  We had fun figuring out the themes of different trees and admiring all the ornaments.

It had stopped raining by the time we finished touring inside, so we took a walk around some of the gardens and the conservatory.

Yes, it is still fall!

I love this tree.  It is so pretty!

Those flamingoes were just cool.

Natalie decided that Will and her Daddy need to come see the house and she, of course, wants to come back with them.  So we just might get to see the house with a crowd next time.