Girls in Sports Day is a Fun Day!

Girls in Sports Day is a very fun day for everyone.  The "big" girls and the "little" girls all have fun coming together and just playing.  The young girls divide into several different groups, and then shuttle through the different stations set up by the college sports teams (lacrosse, track, volleyball, field hockey, etc.)  For our Volleyball station, we lowered the net, got super light balls (almost like beach balls), and the team taught groups of these adorable young girls in half hour blocks all morning on a Sunday in early March.  The most important thing that was a constant all day was the many smiles from big and small girls alike!

Chili Fest 2014!!

I was worried that the cold might dampen the turnout, but apparently there was a great turnout, despite the cold.  It's amazing what turning the main street of town into a pedestrian zone and filling it with all kinds of different types of chili and cornbread, and (for those of age) a beer tent, and music, and enthusiasm.

Chili Fest is a fun day where they block off the main street of town and dozens of different businesses and individuals enter their recipe of chili into the contest.  You buy a ticket at one end of the street, and with it comes a pin (to signify you've paid), and a spoon!  Then, literally, you get in line and just walk down the street and back tasting a million different types of chili and you vote on your favorites.  It's so much fun!

It's a great event, and I received a fun email and picture from Angela, who came up with Ann and Paul to experience it, and visit their daughters, so thank you for sharing.  And, they ran into Amy while they were there, too!  Here is what Angela had to say about Chili Fest 2014:


"Andersons and I decided it would be fun to attend Chili Fest this year. It was cold, windy, spitting snow, did i say cold yet. Ha. But it was fun to spend time with our daughters and taste the different chilis and corn breads to the sounds of dj's and a Mardi Gras percussion group. I must admit that Megan/MJ and I did not taste the winning chili, but, congrats to men's cross country team!! "

NICE!!  Now, with time change, it's ALMOST starting to feel/look like spring.  Although, spring in MIDD means more snow is to come, so, right on cue, they're predicting a new snow storm Wednesday...bring on more chili!

Katie Named Dodge Ball Legend for J-Term

Katie participated in a J-term PE course called Dodge Ball.  And, she's now the undisputed LEGEND of the class, and has the tee shirt to prove it!  The teams were split several times each class, and the winners got awarded points.  At the end of the class, the person with the most points, thus the most team wins, was awarded the Dodge Ball Legend tee shirt.  This is a coveted tee shirt, or at least, the opportunity to get your own entry in the Team Blog was coveted by Kei$sha, who was also in the class. 

Katie and Kathryn had said how much fun the class was, and invited me to join them, but I kept putting it off.  After confirming with Pete (the instructor) that they often had "guests" in class, I joined in on the last class myself to experience the fun firsthand.  And, FUN it was.  I hadn't played Dodge Ball since middle school, I don't think.  I hadn't laughed and had that much fun in ages!  Thanks for prodding me, guys, and congrats to Katie, the new "Dodge Ball Legend!"

Team Hosts 4v4 Tournament to Honor NESCAC Rival

This J-term, our team hosted a co-ed, 4v4 tournament. The idea was for it to be a lot of fun, but also provide somewhat serious competition, and we decided to do it as a fundraiser, with all entry money going toward an organization of our choice. The team got together, and came up with an MS Organization to honor a NESCAC rival now living with the disease.

We have many different rivalries, but there's been one particular rival that's fueled our fires, so to speak, over the past several years.  This year, that rivalry started out like any other, but at the end of the season, we discovered something about a key leader for this opponent that really hit home for our team.  Suddenly, this competitor became much more than simply a rival, but a comrade in the arms of life.  What we share is so similar, it's just our uniforms that differ.

To Sophia, we are all supporting you from afar!  We'll continue to strive to beat your alma mater, as they will undoubtedly be striving to beat us along with the rest of NESCAC.  Meanwhile, you will be striving to beat this new rival of yours.  MS doesn't know what kind of fierce competitor it's up against in you!  Go get 'em!! 

As for our tournament, we had 11 teams enter, so we raised over $200 for a to-be named MS Organization and the money will be donated on behalf of Sophia.  There was a lot of fun had by all during this day of volleyball, back in January.  In the end, the championship came down to Allie's Angels, and Had 4 Humanity.  Well fought, right to the end, but Allie's Angels pulled it out for the victory...and the free tee shirts!!  Congrats to all that participated in this worthy fundraiser.   We're hoping it can become an annual J-term competition!

Winners in the top picture with their "cool" 1st place tee shirts!!  Hannah's team to the right, in second place.   Everyone on the team chipped in in one way or another, either playing, being the up ref, keeping score, supporting, or even commentating for the finals.  Let's face it, the next best thing to being in the finals, is getting control of the microphone to commentate during the finals! Everyone was there to help out, and Amy was the one senior to participate--and her team made it to the semi-finals! (I think?!)

Next year we may have other fun awards, for things like most spirit, best outfits, best team name, or things like that, but we had a lot of team spirit by all groups, and some great team names, too.  In addition to our top two teams, Christophe had a skier group  ("Snowboard Club") which had my vote for best team outfits; Olivia got some crew members to form a team called "Boat Haus"; and of course, Kathryn's team was called, "Ke$ha's Army!"  In addition, we had "Peary and Co," "Team CALAMITY," "Sets on the Beach," "The Black Panthers," "Ladiez and the Tramp", and finally, "Jogreglottouf;" I think!? These are just some shots of the FUN day!

Happy Birthday, Lizzy!!

We seem to have several birthdays during the season, which is always fun, and then I usually know about them.  Out of the season, I tend to be a little more out of the loop, and I don't always know what happens with other birthdays.  However, not long ago, most of the team got together to celebrate Lizzy's birthday with her, which was a lot of fun!  The team cleans up well.  And, someone (Jordan?!) made this great poster and hung it in her dorm!  :)  Happy Birthday, Lizzy!!

Team Involvement with Special Olympics Has Big Impact on All!

All season, and now into the off-season, several members of our team have been involved with Special Olympics in one way or another.  They've mentored athletes, coached them, and just hung out with them. 

In turn, a couple of the athletes were special fans of ours this season, which was awesome!  Here are a few pictures.  Above we have the "gang" all together.  To the left are our SUPER FANS at one of our games sporting MCVB official jerseys, and below that we have Kathryn with them again on Senior Night.

 Also,  we have pictures and (hopefully) video of Amy playing basketball with the Special Olympic athletes and other MIDD athletes.  It's been a win-win for all involved! 

Making Christmas Cookies!!!

We decided that getting together to make Christmas cookies would be a great study break during Finals Week.  Meg and MJ came out in the morning to help make the cookies, and wave two came in the afternoon to decorate them.  We played Christmas music, had the fire going, and just had a relaxing time rolling out the dough, selecting the cutters, and then baking and decorating the cookies.  And, of course, eating them at every stage along the way.  I always loved eating the raw dough, so I always let my kids (big or small) eat the dough, so we had to taste it along the way in all of it's different stages.

It was also fun seeing them decorate the cookies, and how their choices about that say a lot about who they are.  Meg wanted them to be decorated as they would naturally occur in the world (trees should be green, and candy canes should be red and white), but MJ had more of a "liberal" decoration scheme.  Also, I learned that MJ had never rolled out the dough, or made icing.  So, we let her do it all--everyone should know how to make cookies!!  :)

Then, in the afternoon, the second wave came and we decorated the rest of the batch of cookies, and had fun taking pictures of the creations.  Gabi and Kathryn won the Holiday Spirit with their festive sweaters, but fun was had by all!  And, sugared up and armed with a few cookies to take back with them, they headed back to the college to keep plugging away at the work still left for them.

And, Gabi and Kathryn definitely had the most Holiday spirit with their awesome sweaters!!  Nicely done, ladies!