Citizenship Award

Our Quinner is following in his sister's footsteps in school. He makes us so proud with his grades and leadership skills. He received many awards at his 3rd grade awards assembly... the life skill of friendship award, runner-up for a reading award, runner-up for an economics award, the all A's & B's award and the most special award was the Citizenship Award. That is awarded to only 2 students per class. Quinn and his buddy Tyler from our church won the awards this year (top left picture). Madison won that award last year. God has really blessed us with children who enjoy striving for their personal bests. That's all we've asked from them as parents... to do their personal best in everything they do. Pointing out their positives to them, instead of their short-comings (which they definitely have as well), has produced only more positives. It just so happens that some awards have followed for them. Quinn's teacher, Mrs Heyse, is retiring after this school year. She looped with this class so this was her 2nd year with them. She considers them all "my kids...because that's really how I think of them." She got choked up while telling us all that this was her easiest class she has ever had in all her years of teaching. She said that she enjoyed this class so much that at times she felt like she shouldn't even get a paycheck because they were so much fun! Isn't that so nice?? She promised to keep in touch with them and gave them all her cell phone number and her new address in North Carolina. Every single one of our kid's teachers in this public school system have been wonderful Christian examples for them. We feel super blessed for that as well.

Well, I'm trying to stay up to watch the Cubs vs Dodgers game tonight. The Cubs just tied it up. I'm afraid if they go into extra innings that I'll have to read about it in the morning.

Only 2~1/2 days left of school. The kids are counting down until their summer starts!

Love, Leah

Memorial Day at the Cubs vs Dodger's game

Cubs win! 3-2

The 6 of us drove to Chicago together in Mom and Dad's car. We went to the Cubs vs Dodger's game. Happy for 4 of us the Cubs won. Tony & Madison are Dodger's fans. Why? I still don't know why Tony likes the Dodgers... and Madison... she just likes them because her daddy does. The weather was nice, almost a little too muggy but we had a nice breeze off the lake. They had a bald eagle fly across the field at the start of the game and landed on the handler's arm, who was standing on the mound. It was really neat and a nice tribute for Memorial Day. After the game, Mom and Dad finished the drive home to Iowa and our family took the South Shore back to South Bend where we picked up the van and arrived home around 10:15. It was a great and fun day to top off a fun weekend. Thanks mom and dad for coming out! I'm sure you had some recuperating to do once you got home.

U10 Jr. Irish Invitational Tournament

The U10 boys played in the Jr. Irish Invitational this weekend at Newton Park in Lakeville, IN which is about 30 miles South of home. There were 202 teams on the whole tournament. That is huge! The boys played 4 games and lost 2 yesterday and won 2 today. Today we left home at 6:20am for a 7:30am game. Quinn and I are morning people... but that felt ridiculous. Even though it meant 4 round trips, (and an emergency trip thrown in to see a patient in the hospital) it was a beautiful weekend to be outside!

Webkinz... Wheel of Wow!

This afternoon we got home at 3pm and Quinn's party started at 4pm. We went putt-putt golfing at Flagstix. I made his cake in several different stages as I had time... starting on Friday morning. I know I'll need to explain. : ) He told me he wanted the "Wheel of Wow" from Webkinz. Apparently at the Webkinz web site you can spin the Wheel of Wow once a day and you get the "prize" that it lands on. This could be Webkinz money, a refrigerator or furntiture for their Webkinz rooms etc... I couldn't manage to get a refrigerator on the cake but I did get candy and some chocolate coins for the money. It was windy at the golfing place so we didn't even try to put the candles on and light them. We just had him blow out pretend ones. He is growing up! It didn't even bother him. Yipee!

Putt-Putt Golfing

Nine boys celebrating Quinn turning 9!

Too many presents

Good Friends

Grandparents

It was a treat to have all 4 grandparents here for Quinn's 9th birthday celebration. Grandma & Grandpa came on Friday night and were "here" for the weekend. I say "here" in quotations because we really haven't been at home... basically just to sleep. It's been fun to be together. My mom and dad bought our pizza tonight while out to eat for our "hospitality"... HA! We've been home for ONE meal this whole weekend... one breakfast. Hardly any hospitality! We love to have you here!

Bonfire

Tonight we had a bonfire at B&P's house, down by the river. Terry, Karla, Katie and Nathan came over to join us. It was just a bit chilly but the fire felt good. Cocoa was too brave by the river and actually fell in twice... well, now we know she can dog paddle. Ha! If you are wondering about Nathan's face, he had it painted at Kurious Kids on his field trip today. He has vowed not to wash it off. Good luck on that Nathan.

The Count Down

This is a big day in our household! Today is Tony and Quinn's birthdays. Tony turned over the odometer with the big 4-0 today. "One step closer to death" is his thought on the subject. They picked cheesy scrambled eggs for their breakfasts. Quinn turned 9 at exactly 8:17am. He stared at the clock until the exact minute and then danced around the kitchen in celebration. Don't you wish we got that excited over our own birthdays?

School Birthday and Good Deeds Beads

"This was the best school birthday EVER!!" It just happened that the 3rd grade won the Good Deeds contest so they were awarded a pizza party in the library at lunch. I went and hand lunch with Quinn. I brought in cupcakes and as you can see they are in the shape of an alligator. He thought that was awesome too.

A Birthday Win

Quinn was the winning pitcher tonight in a close game, winning 3-2. It was way too close for us. Beppe even said she had butterflies in her stomach. Ha! Beppe and Pakka had these neat airplane cookies made up at the bakery and brought them for Quinn to pass out to his team, along with mini cans of pop. All the boys sang happy birthday to Quinn and to Tony in the dug-out. It was a little chilly but otherwise a beautiful sunny day.

Celebrating after the game

After the big game we went to Beef O Brady's for supper. We needed something failry quick because it was going to get late. Tony sarcastically laughed at his "40" card that the kids and I (and Nate) signed for him. : ) We bought a TV for our bedroom so that was Tony's present. Not too much of a surprise... but he's not much into surprises. He did NOT want a birthday party...even if he is a big 4-0 now!!! Quinn got an airplane bank for his collection, a gift card to Best Buy (like father, like son) and we gave him a Nintendo DS for which he was wild about. Check out the WILD eyes he has going on in these pictures. "This was the best birthday EVER!!"

Birthday Boys

Don't I have some handsome men in my life???

Our 9 year old!

Softball 7-22... OUCH

We were on the losing side tonight... it was like the Bad News Bears out there. We played one of the other Concord teams. We played them once before and lost 3-4...just barely. We've lost to the same team twice now; our only losses. I liked these pictures from after the game tonight. Madison and Tony sat down in the backyard and just talked about the game while they threw the ball to Cocoa. Madison tried racing her a few times (and always lost). Finally they got the hose out and laughed as Cocoa tried her best to bite the water.

We Haz Jazz...5th grade musical

Tonight was Madison's musical at school. They've been working very hard on this during music class at school. They all did a very good job. Madison was a hobo and was supposed to wear old, torn, clothing, and look kind of dirty. I told her before we left that I was having a little bit of a hard time with this look! She literally went outside and found some dirt to smear on her clothes and face. Nasty! We went out for icecream afterwards. It was a nice evening.

Quinn's Quips

Dear God,
Thank you so much for my brilliant family. If I wasn't born into this family...well... I would have been born into a different family.... and wished that I was born into this one.
Amen

Scores

Too tired to write much.

Quinn's baseball team won: 10-0
Quinn's soccer team lost: 2-3
Madison's soccer team won: 3-0
Madison's softball team won: 12-2

Beginning Band

Last night was the band open house at the high school. I have to say it was very well organized and everyone was SO NICE! Madison has her heart on playing an instrument next year. When will she possibly fit this in you ask? This was one of my questions too. The 6th grade band meets before school for about 50 minutes, M-F. They catch the junior high / high school bus and it takes them to the junior high. After band, it takes them to their elementary school. During 7th and 8th grades the band class is one of their classes during the day.

So, she played a few instruments to "test-drive" them. She went in with her heart leaning towards the trumpet...


but said she sounded "like a dying goose" when trying to get a sound. (It wasn't that bad!!).

Next it was the trombone.


Much easier to get a sound out of. But pretty big to be hauling around on the bus.

On to the percussion section...


and she left beaming... signed up to play the drums! The percussion teacher had her play a few lines from a drum book... basically checking to see if she had any rhythm. He told her he would love to have her in the percussion section and that her 3 years of piano will definitely help... even though she thinks she doesn't remember much now. AND, she only has to carry a set of drum sticks in her back pack... and will use the school's drums at school during band class.

Watch out Ringo, here comes Madison!

rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat

PS... Does anyone know of a good used snare drum or xylophone we could borrow/buy???

Happy Birthday Addi!

Today was Addi's birth-month...er, I mean, birthDAY. Happy Birthday Addi! We hope it was a memorable day for you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mom-in-law! I'm blessed with 2 of the sweetest and neatest women in my life. Two Godly examples to follow as I walk where their shoes once walked in mothering children. I truly am blessed today in many ways! I'm always thankful for healthy children. I don't take this for granted! It truly is a blessing. I also pray for their future mates. Today they are children some where, and I pray that they are growing up in loving Christian homes with positive role models to mirror some day as a spouse and parent to my children and grandchildren!

Today I sang a duet with Angie in church during communion. It's always good to sing with her. I don't like going out to eat on Mother's Day so Tony grilled a delicious dinner for us, including B & P. It was very good. The kids made cards... Quinn's was a booklet that he made at school. He told me his favorite page was the acrostic. To answer the sentence, "What Mother Means" this is what he wrote.

M=me (being a mother to him)
O= outstanding
T= thoughtful
H=helpful
E=exciting
R= reliable

Aren't you glad he thinks I'm reliable? I thought that was so cute.

Don & Isy brought me this really pretty/cute planter. She brought her delicious chocolate sheet cake which I've eaten too much of already. They stayed until about 4pm. They are having their small group over tonight. I was SO TIRED from yesterday... I had to take an hour nap after they left.

It's been a good day... I feel very blessed to be a mother today!

A day outside...

It was a beautiful day on Saturday... a great day to be outside! We were outside from 8:30-5pm so it was a good thing. My face is sunburned.

Madison's softball team played at 9am. They won 14-4 and got to finish after the 5th inning because of the 10-run rule.

Quinn had a soccer game at the same time. Tony went to that and I went to the softball game. The soccer game was tied 1-1.

Madison's soccer game was at noon. They played Shipshewanna and easily won 13-0. I'm serious! The coach tried not to run up the score... he traded our offense and defense around. Madison and our other 2 defenders played as forwards. That was weird. Madison scored 2 goals so he eventually took her out. : ) He tried to have the girls pass the ball around a lot. Our goalie touched the ball one time the entire game. The other team seemed younger and definitely hadn't been playing together for 2 years. The poor things. I felt sorry for them. Our first season was filled with games with scores like this! We always had the 0's so we know what its like! I asked Madison what Marcus (the coach) said about the game.. He said, "I'm not very impressed with some of you"... too much dribbling, shooting and scoring! That's a change... to get into trouble for scoring too much! (He wasn't talking about her).

Quinn's baseball game was at 2pm. His team won 7-2. It was a good game. This picture is of Quinn batting and Pakka as the umpire behind the plate. If the pitcher walks the batter, the batter's coach comes in to pitch to them until they hit it, or strike out (it eliminates any walks). The "highlight" from this game was Nate hitting a line-drive straight to Tony after Tony pitched him the ball and hitting Tony on the right wrist. It swelled up pretty good and is pretty sore today. Nate was close to tears but I'm not sure if its because he hit Tony or if it was because his solid hit bounced off Tony and was then easily fielded and got Nate out at 1st base. It all happened so fast.

You thought our day was over huh? Nope. At 8pm we went to Jeremiah's pop concert at the high school. Jeremiah had a solo and was involved in a lot of the singing throughout the whole show. He did a very nice job singing in front of all of those people! We didn't get home until almost 10:30. We melted into bed. The kids were asleep with their lights on, within minutes of climbing into bed.

It was a fun but tiring day.

Concord 28, Baugo 3

An easy stress-free night at the ballpark. I think Madison made it home like 4 times. : ) Promise, we weren't trying to run up the score!!!

The Whirlwind Monday

Today right after the bus dropped off the kids, Madison and I drove back to the school for Peyton's volleyball game. It only lasted 1/2 hour. I can't say it was the most exciting thing I've ever watched but we were glad we went and watched her friends play (Peyton, Holyn, Paige, Lillie, Gabby, Megan etc...). See... that's one sport Madison does not play! Madison went home with Peyton and they went to the Sports Center for some batting practice tonight.

Quinn and Beppe went on a field trip today to the South Bend Chocolate Factory and Notre Dame. As Quinn described it... "We walked 2 square miles today!" He described him and Beppe as being dead at the end of the trip. I guess he fell asleep on the way home. Beppe said he was very sweet, stuck by her when she fell to the back of the walking pack, cuddled on her lap etc... That's my Quinner. Sweet as sweet can be. His teacher even came up to Beppe and told her what a sweet boy he is. That was so nice. He really did look tired when he came home too. Get this... they gave the class chocolate covered raisins at the Chocolate Factory! COME ON PEOPLE! Beppe said kids were spitting them out after tasting them, or refusing to taste them at all. Who in their right mind would give that to 2 bus loads of kids? Obviously, someone who doesn't know any kids. They both decided that the church on the Notre Dame campus was their favorite part. They said it was beautiful. All the kids were quiet and reverent inside. They had their sack lunches along the river walk. I wish I could have gone on this field trip so badly! It was a beautiful day but Dr. P is gone to China for 2 weeks so my patients needed me more today I guess.

Tonight Quinn had a baseball game. We won, like 21-3 or something. I don't even think Tony knows the exact score. Quinn pitched one inning and struck 2 boys out. He did really well and said he wasn't nervous. Nate had an awesome diving catch play. I asked him for his autograph later. Quinn's first hit was a triple! After that he had 3 singles. He had a great game. I was feeling sorry for the other team. There is a 5 run rule per inning...but not a 10 run rule in the 5th. Thank goodness for the limit on the runs per inning!

I had a Little League board meeting from 8-10:15pm so I had to leave his game a little early. I was home for about 15 minutes today. I guess I need to go back to work tomorrow so I can rest up. Really I'm just too busy to have a job! Ha!

Special thanks to Randa, Cheryl and Addi... I brought in my video camera and made them watch Madison's soccer goal from yesterday. Aren't they so sweet? (They really had no choice in the matter!).

Well, I just finished my supper of a PB & J sandwhich so its time for bed now! Good-night!

Another trip to Chesterton, IN

Today was an absolute gorgeous day! So different than yesterday. I had a meeting, immediately following church. It got over at 1:45 and we left for Madison's soccer game in Chesterton at 2pm. Yes, another trip to Chesterton this weekend! Yesterday was nasty, rainy and freezing. Today was sunny, warm and beautiful. We've never beaten this Northwest IN team, we've tied them... until today!! We won 2-1. And guess who scored the goals? Madison and Peyton! Yes! Madison stayed overnight at Peyton's house last night and so now that is the "good luck charm"... staying overnight. Ha! We've so rarely let them do this, on a night before a game. Madison slept on the way there...and on the way home! Madison had a sweet goal, scored from just over the half-line (towards the goal)...a penalty kick off of a hand ball. It sailed clear to the goal, caught the goalie off guard and it slipped through her hands. I think Madison was just as surprised. She put her hands on her head, like she couldn't believe it! It just so very rarely happens to a defensive player. AND guess what?!... I got it on video! I was so excited! We went out for pizza afterwards and got home at 8pm tonight. Quinn had homework to finish and I just started washing Quinn's baseball uniform for tomorrow night. It was an awesome day!

Back to work tomorrow so I can rest up for the next weekend! Ha!

How we did...

This morning Madison & Quinn both had games at 9am. I hate that we have to split up but there is no other choice. Tony & Quinn went to his baseball game (because he is coaching of course). This was their first full game of the season. They lost 3-4 but I was told that it was a very good game and that Quinn got a hit and 2 RBI's and also played well at 1st base. He plays again on Monday. He'll probably pitch so that will be exciting.

>>>>>>>>

Madison's soccer team played the Goshen Stars at 9am. Her team also played well and won 2-1. It felt good to beat Goshen because we have had a tough time with them over the years. Last year we played terrible when we played them.

>>>>>>>>

Quinn's soccer team played in Chesterton which is 1 & 1/2 hours from here. We left sunny and a little bit windy/chilly Goshen to arrive in Chesterton with gusty wind, no sun and rain! The majority of our boys didn't even have long sleeve shirts on under their shirts. The other team had long sleeves, some even wore sweats and stocking caps! I couldn't believe the change of weather, just in 75 miles! This was Quinn's best game this year. He played more like his old self, feeling more comfortable on the field and perhaps a teeny bit more comfortable with his new coach. Our team scored the first 2 goals of the game, went to half-time behind at 3-4 but got trounced in the second half and lost 8-3. Ouch. The other team was very good and hopefully our boys will learn just from playing against them. This team won their first two games, 6-0 and 11-0, so if you look at it like that, at least we scored against them! I took just a few pictures of their game. Thankfully it stopped raining for most of the game. The weather was so nasty that they even started the game early. Let's skip the warm-up (because there isn't such a thing) and get the show on the road!! Their Flames record is now 0-2-1.

(Quinn is on the far left in the huddle).

>>>>>>

We were back home around 5pm. Quinn invited Nate and Nater to stay overnight tonight and Madison is staying overnight with Peyton. Nathan stayed overnight here last night. (Do we have a lot of Nathans in our life?). The boys are having lots of fun with the Nerf dart shooters. They're good boys.

Good-night!

Cookies and Coffee Anyone?

Are there any other moms who are tired of fund-raisers? I have my hand raised too!!! I know volunteer organizations can't survive without fund raisers but it takes so much effort on my part! Ha! Lazy aren't I? At least I don't have to pull mustard weeds in Iowa! Actually Madison was born a door-to-door saleswoman. She and Heather hit their "beat" as soon as they can. They walked around in the rain earlier this week...not minding a bit! Heather doesn't even play softball! I bet they were gone 2 hours... and sold 7 items. : ( She was thrilled though! Quinn on the other hand is more shy about his selling. He did take his order form to school ... spilled his water all over it... laid it out to dry... forgot about it...and now it has finally made it back home... with no sales. : )

So, most of you missed out on the school's fundraiser for Peelers because they are only good in our local communities. We just turned that in last week and now it's on to the Little League fund raiser! Yahoo! (not).

Anyone interested in some cookie dough or coffee? We bought the cookie dough last year and it was actually very good. You can freeze it... and refreeze it again if you want. All of the products are $12 each. On the link... look for the different kinds of cookies and coffee. It is cookie dough... not the dry ingredients for cookies. What?... You live too far away? Oh, not to worry. I can donate your cookie dough to our church for VBS if you would like.

Anyway, sorry for the marketing pitch. I know Concord Little League relies HEAVILY on their one and only fund raiser to make it a successful organization.

NO PRESSURE!! (Unless you are Grandma Jo).

Love, Leah

Should I?... or Shouldn't I?

Have you ever felt like this before? This was Cocoa after our walk tonight. She was more tired than usual by the end and came home and plopped down on the couch. At one point she thought she should probably get up and go do something (what, I don't know) and got only this far off the couch. She just couldn't make her caboose follow her. She stood/sat like this for about 30-45 seconds... just looking around, before she got it all in gear and headed on her way.