Christmas Violin Concerts

Henry's School Violin Christmas Concert. YOu can't see him because he's sitting behind the teacher, but he's there.

Tori's Violin Christmas concert. She's in the front room angled so you can't see her either.

Happy Birthday Josh!

My little ham certainly likes to be the center of attention, so he had a wonderful birthday!

Since Josh's birthday was on Sunday and it was Fall Break that weekend, Mom and Zach got to come and eat lunch with Josh at school on Thursday. He thought that was awesome, until it was time for after-lunch recess...then he took off running without a look back. But he did enjoy the cupcakes that we brought to share with his class.

Birthday night we invited our friends to come over after church for cake and ice cream (and a good card game.)

Josh had an awesome day and enjoyed all the gifts. He couldn't decide what he wanted most to do since he got so many fun gifts, but we found him camped out in a corner playing his Nintendo DS while all the rest of the kids were out and about.

He can't wait until he can get baptised now and is super excited that he gets to do it with his cousin and Texas family!

Touchdown!

As you all know, Henry and Josh have been playing football this year. It was a pretty hard season for all involved, but was a fun, rewarding experience....eventually.

Once he got over the troubles at the beginning of the season and actually commited to playing, Henry did AWESOME!

He played just about every spot on the team except for lineman.

He was the receiver for the punt team (Sorry, Scott and Kyle, don't know the actual name for all the spots...hide my head in shame), the quarterback, the running back, and I'm sure a few others that I could describe but would scare you with my lack of technical knowledge.

It was a sad season in that we played most of the season with only 13 boys. Since we were facing other teams with 40 or more on their team, it wasn't a very good record season for us. We only won, one game. And only had 2 touchdowns.

But my wonderful son, played quarterback for a game and made some awesome throws. While his teammates weren't quite as talented (no bias here) and they didn't score from that, Henry did run in a quarterback sneak for the second touchdown of the season.

It was so awesome!!1 (Again, no bias here!)

Josh had an awesome season! He played flag football for the YWCA. He was in the younger group and had a very young team. But he managed to impress the coaches and became the co-"star" player. He and another boy were the teams lifeline.

The coaches were really very good in letting the other boys play and score, but Cody and Josh were high scorers as they took on the other teams with their trick plays, their long passes, and their fast running abilities.

It was truly an awesom site to behold. (again, no bias!)

Hank enjoyed helping to coach both boys teams and became a GREAT sideline judge to those refs! We all enjoyed the seasons as we got into the games, some more than others! But I'll admit, it's nice to have the season over.

Mood Swings

Between Tori, Henry, and I...life has been "fun" lately.

I'm about to totally lose it. Okay, so maybe I already have. After all, I grounded Tori for two days yesterday for eating a sucker (lest, you think I'm a horrible parent, there was more to the story and the grounding didn't stick.) But come on, I'm going crazy here.

And poor Hank. I think he was actually dissapointed that he couldn't work overtime yesterday. I think he was ready to get out of the house and away from all the mood swings going on between two preteens and a crazy mom!

For those who are curious, and haven't heard, Henry's been having a very hard time with football. He has decided he doesn't like it--he doesn't like tackeling, he doesn't like to be tackled, he doesn't like all the coaches yelling at him, and he's very inexperienced compared to some of the boys.

But he's also really very good. (I honestly don't know if I'm biased on this fact or not.)

Well, they got beat on Saturday. They got beat pretty solidly. They played a team that had at least 40 players and our team only had 16. So our boys were pretty worn out by the second quarter. Plus, it was the hottest day EVER in Terre Haute. It didn't bode well for us. And we were inexperienced and played poorly. So we got beat.

Well, after the game, Henry decided he was done. He wanted to quit football. I had asked him to keep going through the first game. He decided he did that and hated football, so wanted to quit.

I spent the whole weekend stressed, upset, and praying to know what to do. On the one hand, we had told him he could quit if he truly hated it after his first game. I would hate for him to feel like he couldn't try new things because he would be stuck if he didn't like it. But on the other hand, we didn't want him to quit just because he lost or it was hard. He has talent and the team needs him.

So it came down to a real battle on Monday. He didn't want to go and we made him. We were going to try and get there early so we could talk to the coach about the problems, but Henry made us late so we couldn't do that. I spent the entire practice being glared at and given dirty looks by Henry. But I've also never seen him play better. It was very stressful for me.

After practice was over, he said something pretty nasty to me. I told him to go over and turn in his equipment--he was done. He stared at me for a while and then started walking toward coach. Then he turned around and said he would wait until after the game on Saturday. (We are supposed to be playing a bad team.) So he stormed off to the car. I tried to talk to him on the way home and he changed to a good mood enough that when we got home and everyone asked if he quit he just said "not yet."

So I thought we were okay for a few more days. Not so. The next day he tells me again, he wants to quit. I had a mental melt down. He gathered his stuff up and Hank took him early to practice. A half hour later, he comes home and puts his stuff back on and goes back to practice.

Hank tells me the coach told him the same things I've been telling him all week, that the team needs him (they've had 3 kids quit and only have 13 now), that Henry has a lot of talent, and that practices would get better. (I think he's afraid of a mutiny.)

Hank said he did a complete turn around at practice that night. He was AWESOME! He blocked and tackled better than ever, so much so that the entire practice came to a grinding halt when they saw him tackle so good he knocked the kid on his back. He got the whole team yelling and cheering and the coaches were shocked.

When I got home from church that night, he was glowing. He came up to me and gave me a hug and thanked me for not letting him quit. He loves football and was excited. And this morning he asked if he could play next year.

YIKES!!!

I told him, one day at a time...one mood at a time...that's all I can handle.

And They're Off....

It's the first day of school! YEA!!! (Ooops...did I say that out loud?)

No, after the summer we've had, I'm both glad and sad to see them go. And I think they are both glad and sad to go. They are anxious to go back and see friends again, but will miss the staying up late and sleeping in. Not to mention all the fun trips we've been able to take this summer. But now they are back in school, at least 3/4 of them.

Tori started 7th grade this year.

Henry started 6th and middle school.



















Josh is in 2nd grade.

Zach will start preschool at the Y next week. (but he didn't want to be left out of the picture taking process!)

It's Football Season!

Being from Texas, it's only natural that we LOVE football. Well, most of us, anyway.

Henry signed up for tackel football with the Vigo Youth league here in town this year. It's his first year playing "real" football. He played for the YMCA the first year we moved to Terre Haute, but it was touch and he was the oldest on his team, so it wasn't much of a challenge for him.

So for the past three weeks, he's been playing---no scratch that---he's been practing tackle football. And he's not been enjoying it. He doesn't like to get tackled and he doesn't like how the coach yells at him for not knowing what he's supposed to do. He's a newbie after all, what do you do?!?

So we made a deal. He had to stay with the program until after his first game. After all, that's the best part of any sport!

Saturday was his first game...well, sorta. We thought it was a game, so we invited everyone to come and watch him play what would probably be his first and only game. It didn't even end up being a game. It was a scrimage.

All the way over to the field, he talked about how he didn't want to play and would probably quit after that game. We didn't even end up getting his pictures because I didn't want to spend the money if he wasn't going to play.

The scrimage was against Woodrow Wilson middle school. They got the ball for 10 minutes on offense, and then we got the ball for 10 minutes. Henry got off to a slow start, but then he took off!! He ran so fast he caught an awesome ball and almost got a touchdown! The defense tackled him on the 5 yard line and set it up for a touchdown the next down.

During their last 10 minute offensive period, Henry was handed the ball and took off running down the field. Now, there is a little bit of question on what happend next since he got all the way down the field and stopped, but it was still an awesome run and set them up for another touchdown.

After the game the verdict was in, he likes football! Well, enough to at least give it one more week until the next "first" game. At least it should be a real game. But he says as long as we keep going to Dairy Queen after each game to either celebrate or commiserate, he's gonna keep playing! Yea!!!

Jr. Police Academy

This past week Henry attended his second Jr. Police Academy. Jr Police Academy is a week day camp that kids in grades 4-7 can attend to see what police officers really do. It's put on by several police departments in the area, such as the ISU police, the Sheriffs department, the West Terre Haute police, and the Terre Haute police department.

Henry had such a good time this year. He got to shoot paintballs, drive a golf cart, be a police cadet and watch the actual officers blow up items for the bomb squad, put out fires with the firemen, and go to the SORT (like SWAT) obsticle course and see the team at the federal prison.

We got to go see his graduation ceremony at the end of the week where they each got an awesome participation medal and showed off their formation skills. Last year they showed us the video they made of the week's activities, but this year we didn't get to see it. It will be mailed to us in a few weeks. We are all anxious to see it and get the feel for how he spent the week.

We were also impressed that he had such a good time considering he also started playing tackle football last week and has had 2 hour practices every night on top of a busy day at police academy. He's been worn out but having fun!

Zach's Birthday and Holiday World

Zach turned 4 on the 22nd. It was a highly anticipated event for him--not becuase it was his birthday (although he liked that), not because it means he'll start "school" this year (we're trying to get him into a preschool), but because it meant he got to go to Holiday World. That's all he could talk about for days.

He turned 4 on a Tuesday and it was a pretty laid back day for him. We had a small birthday party in the evening where we had dinner and cake with our friends the Kittells. Zach chose to have his favorite dinner--enchiladas to eat. I was pretty glad at that, since it's my favorite meal too! While we were eating, and he was reminding us all not to forget his presents, he, Josh, Rachel and Shelby went outside in the backyard to play. Well, I forgot that was where I stashed his "big" present and he found it.

Zach loves to play in the sand and none of the parks in Terre Haute have sand, so Hank and I bought Zach a sandbox for his birthday. Although I didn't get to see him "open" it, the four of them spent most of the evening out there digging in the sand and making castles. So I'm pretty sure he loved it.

After cake and the rest of his presents, Grammy and Papa called and we gave him their present to him. I think the sandbox was forgotten at that point! He loves his new "big" bike! It still has training wheels--we don't think he's quite ready to get rid of them yet, but he's excited that it's bigger and that means he can ride around the block with Henry or Josh--or while mom goes on her walks! I think he had a wonderful birthday!

And two days later, he got to go to Holiday World.

Holiday World is an amusement park about 2 hours south of us in Santa Claus, Indiana. Each section of the park is based on a different holiday, ie..Christmas, Halloweeen, Thanksgiving, 4th of July. It was voted the cleanest park in the us, given a bunch of awards, but the best part of the whole park (or at least some people say--no names here) is that they have free, unlimited soft drinks. They have little Pepsi Oasis throughout the park where you can stop and get a drink anytime you are thirsty. So its a really good park.

The park also has a water park inside of it. We started at the water park in the morning on the first day. The 4 older kids were let loose on the park and the little kids were in heaven with the little waterslides, wave pools, water jets and lazy river. We met up for lunchables at the pavillion outside the park and then went back to the amusement park in the afternoon. The second day, we started with the rides and did the water park when we got hot later. But by then, Zach was out cold! Too much excitement for him and he slept entirely through the water rides.

I think Zach's favorite rides were the Scarecrow Scrambler (which is one of those rides that kind of throws you to the oustide of your car as it goes in circles) and a small kiddy roller coaster. He loves that roller coaster! At first he would go, but ask me to put my arm around him throughout the ride, but by the end of the second day, he didn't need me at all and would ride with his hands up throughout the ride. That's a four year old for you!

I'm not sure exactly what ride Josh's favorite was, although he really liked being able to drive finally, because by the second day, he was off riding the big rides with the older kids. But I am pretty sure that it was the Voyage roller coaster, which I'm told by those who seem to know, is the #1 roller coaster in the world. It has some pretty high (much to my chigrin) climbs and some pretty steep (much to Josh's) drops, but it was a blast. The first time that Josh went on it, he was kept sinking lower and lower in his seat until I thought he was going to fall out the bottom of it. But when he got off, he was screaming it was "wicked" and he loved it. I know he went on it several more times in the two days we were there, which was nice because the lines were so short you could almost walk on in the afternoons.

We had a great time at Holiday World and I think it was everything the kids were hoping it would be and more. In fact, they are all trying to find a time we can squeeze in one more trip before school starts. A definite success!

Finally We Have Walls!

Okay, so I'm a little late in getting this posted, but it's been a busy last few weeks. Hank's parent's arrived 2 weeks ago and began helping us put our house back together again. After weeks of living in a deconstruction zone, we began living in a construction zone! YEA!!!

They started putting up the wall that would seperate what was once our family/computer/craft room. Where once we had a huge multi-room, we've seperated into 2 rooms now. And they each have a HUGE closet so our family can now come and visit for long periods of time! (hint..hint)


They then proceeded into the living room, where we still kept the big room. Although, we are NOT putting back up the ugly panneling that was in these downstairs rooms. Already, with just the drywall up, the rooms look so much brighter and better. I am so excited! But, it also may have something to do with the fact that we have no curtains and the living room gets all of the morning sun. Which I do absolutely love. I hated, hated, hated that dingy dungeon feeling that you go when going downstairs into our "basement". (okay, slight dig there to the insurance company. I know, I should forgive and forget. sigh...oh well.)

We now have walls all through the downstairs area. We've even managed to mud them, although I admit, sanding has come a little slow. I have heard so many horror stories on the sanding that I keep putting it off. I suppose I was hoping that some little elves would come and do the sanding. I promise, I will make little clothes for them if they come!

But alas, no shoemaker here. I can't complain becuase we have really been so blessed and fortunate through this whole flood situation. In

talking with so many others throughout my neighboorhood and town, we are so blessed. So many are still fighting in so many ways to get

their lives back to normal, and we are almost there. I am so grateful for everyone who has helped us. We are truly blessed in the family and friends that we have! Thank you all!

Food, Friends, & Fireworks!

It's been a crazy last few weeks. After dealing with the flood and all the complications that has brought into our lives, we really wanted to kick back and enjoy a break. What better way than to gather with friends, eat LOTS of food, and blow things up? Gotta admit that after everything, the blowing things up sounded the best to me! Since we couldn't blow the house up or an insurance company, we enjoyed some home fireworks instead.

The kids were very antsy all day to go. We had MORE rain that morning and were afraid the festivities would be cancelled. Zach got up early (for him...he's my LATE sleeper) and got dressed by himself. I'm not sure if he was hoping the rain would turn to snow, or if he just has his mother's genes and is cold all the time!

The rain finally stopped and we gathered at a friend's home for the holiday and enjoyed a wonderful BBQ. There was so much food and it was nice to see old friends and meet some new. We have been so blessed to have some awesome friends since moving to Terre Haute and it was great to spend time with them. Plus, enjoying all their favorite BBQ foods was a great plus! I think the kids loved getting together the most!I know Josh was expecially thrilled to have the party because the Green family was invited. That meant that Abby got to come! He just loves Abby and is convinced he is going to marry her. We have found them slow dancing behind the curtains at church and they've even shared their first kiss. (We finally had to put a stop to that one!) So he was pretty excited to have her show up. We even found evidence of how thrilled they were to see each other again all over the front sidewalks for all the world to see!
After enjoying all the food and company, we took the kids out to the softball fields in front of our friend's house and lit sparklers. That was quite a feat with 20 kids! The kids all enjoyed the sparklers, even Zach who decided to try and light his chest on fire. He was playing with a sparkler when it burnt his fingers, so he flicked it and a piece of the sparkler went down his shirt. He blistered and burnt pretty good, but barely slowed down.

After the sparklers, we enjoyed a wonderful show with some awesome fireworks! We got just a "few" to shoot off and they were better than some of the shows we've seen.
We had a really awesome time. We even were treated to a second show. We got to watch Josh and Abby throughout the fireworks. They sat with Josh's arm around her the whole show. It was quite a show! And the girls spent the evening using the leftover sparklers to dress up their hair. We had a really fun night. What a great way to spend the holiday!

And The Rains Came...

We were having this wonderful vacation in Texas--enjoying the chance to kick Kyle's rear in Go-carts and golf, when Hank calls up and tells me that Terre Haute had gotten a "little" rain while I was gone. (Apparently even the heavens were crying over Kyle's performances! LOL)

Hank had been driving to work that morning and had driven through a puddle. The car in front of him tried to turn around and washed him out. His car flooded and he ended up swimming to work.

It ended up not being the only thing flooding that day. While Hank was stuck at work, the rains flooded our neighboorhood. The roads became undrivable and many of our neighboors had to evacuate their homes in boats. Our adventerous friends were not able to get near our home and check out any of the damage as the current was too swift. I called our neighbors across the street and caught them as they were evacuating. Water was pooring into their house at an alarming rate and they had already lost their basement to the flood. It was really hard to be so far from what was going on and not know what the status of our house was.

Yet, I know it was a blessing that we were not home when the flood happened. I'm told it was so quick in places, that I worry what would have happened if we had been there and had to evacuate with the kids. Its a scary thought and I'm glad that we didn't have to add that to the experience.

Hank ended up having to stay at work until after midnight due to many other guards not being able to get to work because of the flooding. Many of the roads throughout town, as well as part of I-70 were closed. And I'm told now that US-41, which is the road outside of our house, was almost like a flowing river at one point.

Some of the stories that I've heard since the June 7th flooding have made me realize that we were so blessed. We did end up getting flooded and lost a "lot" by worldly standards, but the important things in this world were safe with me in Texas and holed up in prison. (Boy that's something I never thought I'd write.) And the experiences that have come from this have been amazing. But I'll blog more on that later.

All I can say is that it was quite a day!