Nic and I attended the Eagle Scout Court of Honor Ceremony for Caleb Kisler, and participated in the celebration.

A wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with Uncle Joey and the family, and of course Lucas!

Nic broke his hand pretty good, and it required surgery to have a screw inserted to ensure all grows back well.  He recovered quickly and hopes to be back in full action soon!

Nic in his role as International Thespian Officer with the EdTA (Educational Theater Association) took a trip out to Hollywood to attend leadership workshops at Disney and then attended the Thespians Go Hollywood! event where he met Bernadette Peters, Megan Hilty, and Val Kilmer!

Nic continues to be committed to outreach for the drama program, once again speaking at our school board meeting to promote the arts!

Nic completed his Eagle Scout Service Project and submitted his Eagle Scout Application just before his 18th birthday this month.  Nic's project involved renovating the costume room at Pennsbury High School West.  Nic successfully planned and executed his project that involved a ton of cleaning and organizing costumes and props.  He also replaced the existing costume racks that weren't designed to carry the loads of costumes (he used gas pipe to strengthen and support), built cabinets and purchased large storage bins to organize props, added mirrors and LED lighting to enable the room to be used also as a changing room with the LED lights allowing the room to be used during shows.  It was a huge effort, totalling 236 hours of work by Nic and all of the volunteers who helped.  Now it's just a wait for his Eagle Scout Board of Review completion in order to call him "Eagle Scout"!

Nic and the PHS Concert Choir performed one of Samantha's favorite pieces, "Sunrise Mass".  The sound of the choir with the orchestra was one of the best we have heard.  Always hard to remember these are high school students performing!

These folks are family to us - Caroline, Johan, Emma, Chris and Chris visited us in November. We took them to a Flyers game since the boys wanted to see an NHL game, and the few days that they were here were all enjoyable.  Love these folks, and hope to see them again soon! (Thankfully we get to stay in touch via technology!)

Ed was able to attend the annual Knights of Columbus deceased members Mass with some of his brother Knights.

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Nic in his role as International Thespian Officer with the EdTA (Educational Theater Association) took his first trip to visit other thespian troupes around the country.  This trip took him to the Kentucky State Thespian Conference. Nic had a great time, where he represented EdTA, Pennsylvania (he is serves as the Pennsylvania State Thespian Officer - STO), and Pennsbury High School, and he presented a leadership training session at the conference to attendees.  Nic commented that he loved the experience, and also was overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone he met in Kentucky. At the end of the conference he was inducted as a member of the Kentucky State Thespian Society!

This album will be a work in progress as we post miscellaneous photos of Sam's Junior Year at Carnegie Mellon University into it.  CMU is her second home, and we are very happy for the family of good friends she has developed there.

Nic appeared as Henry and Eddie in the Newtown Arts Company's performance of "Damn Yankees".  We loved the performance of "Who's Got the Pain" with his friend Olivia (pictured here), and especially loved opening night when all of his friends in the audience gasped when he came out in his outfit which included yoga pants!  Great performances by all!

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Nic's Thespian Troupe performed in the classic "Our Town".  There are a few small videos of Nic's part as Simon Stimpson.  Great performances by all!

Ed took his Boy Scout Troop to hike up to Sunfish Pond up on the Appalachian Trail - if you haven't been there, check out the pics - and they barely capture the beauty!

Nic and the Pennsbury High School Chamber Choir and Falconairs visited Boston where they performed in several locations including the North Church and the JFK library.

Nic attended Junior College Night, where he met with admissions staff from Temple, Penn State, and Pace.   During the event he was interviewed by the PHS news crew as well.

Nic's Thespian Troupe worked with the Middle Schools and did Outreach, and also attended their shows.  During the show, they held a "Minute to Give It" fundraiser where he and his friends ran around the audience and collected as many donations as possible to benefit CHOP, the autism classroom at one of the middle schools, as well as the thespian troops both at the middle and high schools.

Anthony and Nic helped Ed to conduct an Open House to help with recruiting for a new girls Troop that will be a joined Troop with the Boys troop Ed has led.  The event was a success and we were able to charter a new girl unit!

Nic and the Thespian Troupe board members attended the Pennsbury School Board meeting during "Theater in Our Schools Month" to promote the arts and drama in our schools.  They did a great job getting the message out about the value of the arts and how it contributes to students academics as well.

Nic performed in Falcon Idol at PHS; his music soundtrack was somehow misplaced, so in the true spirit of "The show must go on..." Nic jumped on the piano and sang, which is problematic when you haven't taken piano lessons and had no music notes to play along with - but he gave it his all, and we still loved it!  So many talented kids from PHS performed that night, very entertaining and impressive! 

Damari performed with the Pennsbury Community Choir where she loves performing with some great friends; this is where the kids get their singing talents!

Sam sent us a pic and video to show how many layers of clothes she had on at the CMU lab at work; it's a bit of a walk to the lab, and it was extremely cold with 20 below temperatures that week in Pittsburgh.

Ed grew a "shutdown beard" during the 35 day government shutdown - he had to work every day to keep things going during the staff furlough

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Ed came across these on a miscellaneous post on Facebook that were of him and his friends at the Jamboree at Flushing Meadow Park when he was younger; he couldn't believe I found them! The kids thought some of them were of Anthony.