Everyone is sleeping in this morning around here...well, except me, of course. I have a difficult time sleeping in...am a morning person (not that I am as much of a morning person as I used to be when I had all those years of getting up at 4:35 a.m. to get Matt to morning swim practice), and am enjoying some quiet time before the rush of the day begins.
One nice thing about having parties at your house is that the house is always extra clean and sparkly and I love that! Here are a few photos from a few random things that were happening things from this past week, as you can see, things are moving along. 
On the 19th, we went to the last evening of the Angels Sing Christmas concert, always a wonderful time, here is the traditional yearly photo of Matt and Ali in front of the Christmas trees at the concert. 
Another fun shot of the two of them in their formal wear sitting on the floor waiting for their choir performance...they look like bag people, don't they? 
And another fun shot of Matt with a bunch of the girls, Ali on his shoulder not quite dressed for the concert, but still in on all the fun.
On the 21st, CHS had a swim meet and Matt placed first in both of his individual events and both his relays placed first. There were four teams at the meet and CHS won, winning 9 of the 11 events and all the relays, so the guys were all really happy about that.
Photo of Roch and Chris, Matt's two high school coaches, Roch now being at CHS coaching, so that is nice that Matt still gets to see his Guerin coach for the past two years continue on for hopefully his last two years of high school swimming. Two better coaches I cannot think there are.
The scoreboard from Matt's 200 Freestyle swim...he was in lane 5 of the top heat and finished first by quite a nice margin. Always fun to see a swimmer just own the swim and finish so far ahead at a meet. Even more fun when it is your swimmer. Yes, the boy is still swimming with a bandaged hand, but hopefully this will come off on Monday and the only thing left to do is schedule the pin to be removed between short course and long course swim seasons so he doesn't miss any time in the water. It makes him easy to spot with the bandaged hand, I will say that.
And, how else do you spot your swimmer in the melee of swimmers down on deck at a swim meet?
Well, it helps immensely if he happens to always be the tallest swimmer around. You can pan the crowd and just search for the highest peak.
On the 23nd, Matt went up to Elwood to help Grandpa put up their Christmas tree as he has done for years and years. It's a special thing they do together and Matt enjoys it each year. He was really busy this year, but determined to find time to go up and do this with Grandpa, it's a tradition with him, and he is very big on tradition.
And, how else do you spot your swimmer in the melee of swimmers down on deck at a swim meet?
Well, it helps immensely if he happens to always be the tallest swimmer around. You can pan the crowd and just search for the highest peak.
That evening Matt was invited to go with Daniel and his family, as well as Nik this year, out for dinner and to the Yuletide Concent downtown Indianapolis, where they had a visit with Santa, etc. Dan and Kathy have their children each pick a friend to go with them and this year Brooke and Daniel got to pick two friends each, so it was a lot of fun for Matt to get to go to this again...they all get dressed up and have six hours of a really great time. The photo on the right is the Three Amigos in front of the S & S Monument decorated for Christmas, Matt being the more serious of the three...Nik and Daniel sporting fashionable (to silly 17/18 year old boys at least) headgear. All three are swimmers. Nik is headed off to Boston College next year to swim and Daniel will grace the Princeton pool next year.
Do young men still have time for Santa? Apparently so, Nik behind, Matt and Daniel no longer fitting on Santa's lap. And, a nice shot of the six of them, Brooke on the right with her two friends included as well.
And, the last shot is just in case anyone had any ideas where Matt's loyalty lies and where he might perhaps be thinking of attending college.
Just in case you were wondering and all. The shirt was a gift from Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Phil up in Elwood yesterday and was requested by Matt on his Christmas Wish List. Too early to tell, and we are carefully saying nothing too much in the way of encouragement....yet. We shall see, we shall see. Speaking of "we shall see," Alex has agreed to appear in a photo "sometime this week," so it's just possible that such will appear. A rare occasion indeed. Too early to tell, but we shall see.
Do young men still have time for Santa? Apparently so, Nik behind, Matt and Daniel no longer fitting on Santa's lap. And, a nice shot of the six of them, Brooke on the right with her two friends included as well.
And, the last shot is just in case anyone had any ideas where Matt's loyalty lies and where he might perhaps be thinking of attending college.
Just in case you were wondering and all. The shirt was a gift from Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Phil up in Elwood yesterday and was requested by Matt on his Christmas Wish List. Too early to tell, and we are carefully saying nothing too much in the way of encouragement....yet. We shall see, we shall see. Speaking of "we shall see," Alex has agreed to appear in a photo "sometime this week," so it's just possible that such will appear. A rare occasion indeed. Too early to tell, but we shall see.