The Keene Family

We were so excited for Haley to turn nine! We started with a family birthday dinner a couple of days early. Haley is now 4 foot 3.5 inches, making her 38th percentile, which is exactly where she was last year! She has dropped in weight and BMI, but her muscular gymnastics body is the reason why - and her doctor pointed that out! One of her most exciting gifts was a new desk for her room. Haley rearranged over the summer and has been hoping for this addition to make her vision a reality. We had an ice cream sundae bar for dessert... And then woke her up on her actual birthday for cinnamon rolls and gifts. JT planned a scavenger hunt with clues placed around the house for her to find her gift. It was really sweet! And she was beyond excited to get a new beam AND tumbling mat for the play room! Then we went to her birthday party with friends - an ice skating party for five friends. The girls had the best time skating together and g...

Oh my. I signed a contract to write a book, with my co-author Kathi. We posted our announcement on August 1, and got started writing. Eeek! Our book is about the importance of the 7Cs in education: community, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity, computational thinking, and changemaking. For each C, we talk about how to use a Microsoft tool and give classroom examples from our own experience as well as teachers around the world. The manuscript draft is due in January but we're hoping for earlier - and the book will be out in June 2020 at the latest. This is a lifelong hope for me, and I'm thrilled to be working with Dave Burgess Publishing to make this vision a reality!

This year, we convinced our friends Heath and Cacee Lee to do the Lake Meridian sprint triathlon with us! Originally, Cacee and I were going to do a relay tri with another friend, but that friend got pregnant and had to resign her spot. I gave Cacee the option to resign (and I would do the whole thing) or still do the run (and I would do the swim and bike). She said, "What if I did the whole triathlon with you?" Great answer! And then her husband said he would do it too. Suddenly it was a double date! I am sooo proud of my friend Cacee for finishing strong. She was deathly afraid of the swim, new to road biking, and totally nervous. But she did it! Jim took fifth in his (very competitive) age group, which was awesome. I took a few minutes off my time from last year too! We had a great time doing this race with friends... and the good news is that they enjoyed it too. We plan to do another one together!

We have such a great time on this annual tradition of camping with family. (We spent part of the week arguing about how many times we'd all been there... just kidding.) This year, due to booking circumstances, both sides of the crew were there together. We tried to explain to our kids just how special it is that all four grandparents would be camping with them - and at their parties and holidays and school functions and sporting events - and they just can't comprehend life any other way. We are beyond blessed. I loved the view from our spot this trip! We didn't waste any time getting matching shirts on to hike the rock. This year, Grandma Keene hiked with us and we are so proud of her! We also enjoyed two trips to the marina for ice cream. And lots of time in the water! Ali and I paddleboarded one afternoon - it was super fun and we went all the way across the lake. Jim followed along in the boat to pick us up at the end of ...