Black Friday with the Johnson Girls

While Mom went Black Friday shopping with the Stephenson / Paul family, the kids and Dad got to have Kenny and Rory come over to play. We played hard for a while, then took a walk to RA Long. The girls were getting tired, with Rory refusing to be put down to walk. We had to carry both back just to get home.

Moana 2

After Thanksgiving dinner, Auntie Greta took the Peterson Cousins to the movies to watch Moana 2:

Afternoon Walk

Kenny and Rory came over for some Wednesday babysitting while both Rick and Heather were home, and after a bit of playing following their usual morning routine, we went for a walk:

Kenny likes to be a lion (or monster?) and growl and attack.

Thanksgiving Feast

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, with 16 family members attending. Mom made lots of turkey and mashed potatoes (which our kids ate most of), and everyone else completed the offerings. The front room was repurposed for adult seating, and the kids got their own table:

LCC Front Row Seats

Tor and several of his Ballers teammates went to a LCC men's basketball game. Tor said the players were really big, and dunked a lot. At halftime, they let the boys do a shoot-around.

Toby Mac Concert

Jillian and Bridget joined Aunt Julie and cousins Erika, Debs and Rhonda at the Toby Mac Concert in Eugene on Sunday. They grabbed dinner out, then went to the Knight Arena to see the opening acts Zac Williams and Mercy Me, followed by Toby Mac (who Bridget called "old"). They also got some souvenir T-shirts. It was a late night, arriving home a 2 am, but they had a good time.

Serenade

Tor broke out the viola for Kenny and Rory during their stay here, and played a handful of short, well-known tunes. Kenny was mesmerized, and would sway to the music ... Rory found other things to do.

Wish Lists

All 3 kids put together their Christmas Wish List:

Aspire 17-2 Royal

Jillian tried out for the Aspire NW Volleyball Club this year, and made the 17-2 Royal team!

She had gone to several Aspire open gyms leading up to this, to gauge the coaches' interest, and they were impressed with her setting abilites. She'll also be playing with one of her RA Long teammates, Ella, so they'll be connecting again on the attack. The coach is not wasting any time ... the team has practice tonight!

Toutle Lake Champions

The Longview Ballers Pink basketball team went to Toutle to play a two-day tournament, and came away undefeated, winning some championship T-shirts and a state-qualifiee ticket. Their toughest game was against the Ridgefield Ninjas - it was close in the first half, but the Ballers pulled ahead and won by 11 points. Tor played tough defense, grabbing many steals.

One More Pic

Here's one more pic from Jillian's 2024 RAL volleyball season. This was posted to the school Facebook page, honoring all of the RA Long All-League athletes:

Ballers Pink

Tor is playing tournament basketball, again for the Longview Ballers Pink team, with many returning teammates from the past season. Tor plays primarily as a shooting guard, and is counted on for scoring and defense. The team played in a tournament in Salem this past weekend, and placed 3rd overall.

One of the parents for the Ballers has a nice digital camera, and takes lots of action pics. Here's the photos of Tor:

Pre-Game Breakfast

Prior to their final district match, the RA Long volleyball team started off their morning with breakfast at Macy's house.

This is out of sequence, but they had a sendoff on Thursday on their drive to Woodland for the first round of district matches.

The final match against Mark Morris didn't go their way. Despite that, we are so proud of how Sweetie Pie played this season, selflessly giving her all for the team to get them this far.

Another District Win

Jillian's RA Long volleyball team played very well against a tough Ridgefield team in the first round of the district playoffs, but came up short, setting them up for a loser-out re-match against Washougal. Their defense came alive, with everyone scrambling to dig every ball. The first game was close, but then RAL dominated the next two games to sweep the Panthers and send them to a winner-to-state match against Mark Morris on Saturday.

Jillian had an excellent day again at every rotation, providing consistency and hustle for the team.

Pigtail Victory

The RA Long volleyball team notched their first district win in the pigtail match versus WF West.

Here's some media snippets:

Volleyball

DISTRICTS: R.A. Long def. W.F. West, 3-0 — (25-17, 25-7, 25-18)

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- Jillian Woodruff — 12 kills, 7 assists, 4 digs

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- R.A. Long coach Whitney Nailon: “We did well tonight on offense and executed quick plays with our middle and outside. Eve Huhta did a great job with defense and running out of system balls. Jillian Woodruff added pieces in every part of the game. She’s quite the dynamic player.”

1st Team All-League Volleyball

Jillian continues to be recognized for her stellar 2024 volleyball season, as the coaches voted her 1st Team All-League for Greater St. Helens 2A Volleyball!

League Tie-breaker

Though the outcome of the league tie-breaker was not what we hoped for (ending up with a 5th seed to the district playoffs), some nice photos came out of it: