Give Thanks in All Circumstances

1 Thessalonians 5: 17- 18 says "Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances." This can be pretty hard at times can't it? What about when we are going through hard times? Do we have to feel thankful during these times? I have a dear friend who has a broken heart from a broken relationship this Thanksgiving weekend. Is it really possible to feel thankful??? The Bible doesn't say, be thankful when things are going well and life is good. It is pretty clear isn't it?... give thanks in All Circumstances. Now I don't think that this means we have to be thankful for the hard things we go through...I really don't think that feeling is part of being a human. BUT through the hard times, perhaps we can find things to be thankful for. Cheering our own souls up as we give thanks to God for He really is good.

During this Thanksgiving holiday weekend we often find ourselves making a list and checking it twice of things we are thankful for. I've been trying to live in an attitude of thankfulness to God. Besides all of the "obvious" thankful stuff... here are some of the things I've been able to look back on today and recall that I gave thanks during my "attitude of thankfulness."

• I'm thankful for my co-workers who make my life so much easier at work by working together. I'm thankful I can ask Randa if I'm being mean (about a difficult pain decision) and she gives me her honest opinion.
• I'm thankful for an Internet site that helps me make difficult math calculations when working with high doses of pain medications (oh so thankful!)
• I'm thankful that my family isn't traveling this holiday weekend, and that family is coming to us.
• I'm thankful that I'm not at the grocery store today with the mad rush for last minute things (I've been there 3 times this week already!).
• I'm thankful for a washing machine and dryer that work and are dependable when I keep them oh so busy.
• I'm thankful we are "rich enough" to serve turkey tomorrow...one of my patients told me she wasn't.... (I really didn't know that was part of the definition of being rich).

Those are just a few examples. I hope and pray that you all will be able to find special things... little things... to feel thankful for this holiday.

Pictures from Splash Universe party

Here are a few pictures from the birthday party. If you dbl click on the collage it will make it larger for you. The party was a huge success. There were may be only 10 people in the whole place when we got there and it never even felt busy by the time we left. They had a great time on the slides, lazy river and climging jungle-gym type of thing. We brought home some tired kids around 7:15 Friday night. It was one of the easiest partiest I've ever planned and Madison gave it an A+ so I would recommend it to others for sure!

Front row, L to R: Nathan, Nate, Quinn, Peyton, Heather
Back row, L to R: Alexa, Katie, Maddi, Madison, Holyn, Kiley

Madison gives a sly look to her friends while they sing happy birthday to her. Jade is happy to help blow out the candles.

Splash Universe

In less than 2 hours we are headed to Splash Universe for Madison's 11th birthday party.... and taking 11 kids!! They get out of school early today (1:05) so we are hoping it won't be too busy. Here is a picture of the newly completed cake... a triple layered Fun-Fetti Cake.

Indigo on 17

Tonight I had the opportunity to eat at the new restaurant, Indigo on 17, with my colleagues from work. I would describe it as a fancy restaurant with a really neat modern atmosphere. I did not see one child or even a teenager there in the 2 hours we were there. The food was gourmet and delicious. I had shrimp with pesto and these red and white stripped ravioli's with butternut squash inside. There was no sauce on the outside but they were really good! If you go with an open mind to try new things you'll do well. The highlight was the apple crisp for dessert. Wow... was that ever good. Jeremiah is bussing tables there but I didn't get a glimpse of him... he must not have been working tonight.

Well, that's what I did... what did you do???

Ox Bow 28, East Side 12

Madison's basketball team won this afternoon. She played very well and scored 14 points and was 7 for 7. Tony didn't get to go to the game but I've got her points on my new video cam. Some day I'll learn how to edit and combine my scenes and then put the short clips on blogger... then watch out! ha!

Quinn had his CDBL (Concord Developmental Basketball League) evaluation tonight. Basically they put you through different stations to measure some of your basketball skills as a way to fairly divide up the BB teams. Upward BB does the same thing. This is Concord's version and it starts in 3rd grade. He looked so nervous out there! This was the make-up night and I thought there might be 10 kids there and it would be in/out in 30 minutes. Boy was I wrong. There were about 40 kids there and it took almost 1 1/2 hours.

Aunt Michelle helped Madison with her homework tonight at home while Q and I were gone. Here is a good one for you. Madison is writing a report on a state. Peyton "stole" the state of Iowa so she chose Minnesota to learn about instead. In her report she stated that there were Mayo brothers who started the Mayo Clinics. Now... under the section where she was asked what kind of souvenir she would bring back if she were to visit Minnesota... she drew a nice big jar of mayonnaise. Hmmmm... where did that come from? She thought that the Mayo brothers started a mayonnaise factory and called it the Mayo Clinic. Made us laugh!


Here is a Quinn's quip for you...
As we were driving to the BB evaluation he said out of the blue, "I just can't wait to go to heaven!... but I want to live a lot of years on earth with you and Dad... but I don't know about Madison... she's pretty outrage(ous) at times."

My computer is really slow tonight for some reason. It must be telling me to go to bed so... good-night!

Hawkeye Fun

We had a great time during our fast trip to Iowa this weekend. The Iowa vs Minnesota game was great and Quinn was especially thrilled that Iowa won and got "Floyd" the pig back. Madison decided not to go to the game so Grandma Jo went with us instead! That was quite a treat to have my mom go with us. It was a crisp fall day but not uncomfortable. We took the the Hawkeye Train in to the game... my mom hasn't ever done that before and of course Quinn is always up for a train ride. After the game Tony and Quinn poured down onto the field with another 20,000 people or so. Quinn picked about 4 blades of grass as a souvenir.

Last night we were at Amy & Jeff's house for pizza and today after church we left to come home. Short but sweet.

Off to Iowa...

We're heading off to Iowa for the Iowa vs Minnesota football game. Help us cheer on the hawks tomorrow at 12pm (est)!

Becky Tirabassi

Several years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Becky Tirabassi in Chicago. She was recently at my alma mater, Olivet Nazarene University, and spoke at their chapel service. She gave her testimony. I just wanted to point you to her podcast that you can click on and listen to on-line or download to your iPod. She has a wonderful testimony that will surely be inspiring to all of you. Just scroll to October 11 and click on Play or Download. If you know someone who might be less-than-perfect, point them to this podcast!

What I've been up to...

Ok, Ok, Ok... I've been reprimanded... by email... "why aren't you blogging?" and I was met with the hands on the hips this morning at work..."why haven't you been blogging?" (which totally cracks me up since I see them the most regularly out of everyone in my whole world I think!!).

Over the weekend I was gone to our annual scrapbooking weekend. It was great fun and I got 30 pages done! (except journaling yet to do). Blogs are more fun to read if there are pictures so scroll down for a few pages that I completed of our Smoky Mountain vacation this last Spring Break. I'm sure you'll have to dbl click on them to even see them. I sure wish I had more time to scrapbook more often!

The last few evenings I've been using my free hour of the day to read through the instruction manual of our new video camera. (So SORRY, I haven't been blogging!) I learn so much better with a demonstration so I have to read everything so carefully because there isn't anyone to show me the ropes on it. This camera has way more bells and whistles than our old one. It will take some practicing...

So, really, that's about all the excitement around here. This is the month-end week for Tony so he just walked in the door now. The staff accountant that works with him is leaving as of this Friday. We've been praying for a fast replacement but so far they haven't even had applicants they are interested in interviewing. If you all could say a prayer about this, we would appreciate it.

Happy Halloween!

Well, tonight was trick or treating for Madison our rock star, Nate the cheerleader, Quinn the football player, and Jade the bunny.
Madison wanted to color her hair... and came up with her idea after thinking about "who in the world would color their hair blue?" Several people asked her if she was KISS. She finally asked me, "Who is KISS?!" Really that wasn't the orginal thought and the star was a last minute add-on... : )

It was a nice night for trick-or-treating... probably the nicest in a couple of years. Last year it was freezing and the year before it poured the whole time. Tonight it was cool and crisp but not bad at all. They both still had candy left over from last year but now they are all loaded up again. Basically most of the kids on our street and parents walked around together. Katie and Nathan (& Terry & Karla) came along too. Katie was a surgeon and Nathan was Harry Potter. The only picture I have of Katie is of her back! : ( I think I counted 12 kids. They were on the move most of the time so I really didn't get too many pictures this year. I loved trick or treating as a kid!


Madison took Jade from house to house. Jade seemed to really enjoy it (Madison did too).

Heather went as the Corpse Bride.


Nathan as Harry Potter

Trick or treating was from 5:30-7:30 and then we went over to B&P's for supper, to celebrate Pakka's birthday. Uncle Archie started a "tradition" (as it has become) with any cake. Once he asked Madison to smell her cake and so when she bent over to smell it, he pushed her face into the cake. So, Tony had to keep up the tradition with Jade tonight. He just tapped her head gently so her nose got frosting on it. She didn't know quite what to think of that! It was really cute though. Scroll down for a few more pictures from evening. Happy Birthday Pakka!

Happy Birthday Pakka!

Carving "Humpkins"

This evening Jade, Michelle, and B&P came over and we carved "humpkins" as Jade called it tonight. Isn't that so cute? She's just so cute and sweet and everything that comes out of her mouth is so funny! Tony helped her take off her jacket and she said, "Thank you Mommy!" to him. Ha!


Here is Jade decorating her humpkin... with markers. This is the toddler version of carving humpkins. A good idea I think!


Here is Madison enjoying the guts of Quinn's HUGE 40# pumpkin! He wimps out on the cleaning part. Madison enjoys it... future surgeon some day?


And here is Quinn... complete with rubber gloves on his hands because he can't stand the slime, and the traditional clothes pin on his nose because the smell makes him gag. I don't even know why he "likes" to carve pumpkins. He can barely get through it because he gets too grossed out.



The final products on the porch. Madison's is the cat on the left. Quinn's is the bat on the right. Ok, Ok, Ok... Quinn's is much darker because his 40# pumpkin could have used some more cleaning and whittling from the inside but I was tired of this 40# pumpkin myself by now so this is as good as it gets!

Madison tried to inspire some sympathy tonight... "can you believe that we have to go to school on Halloween??... a holiday?" Boy, life is hard around here!

Earlier tonight we went to Madison's basketball game at 4pm. We played South Side and won 28-8. Madison made a couple of baskets, a good steal and I captured them on our new video camera! Now... if I can just figure out how to download the darn thing!

Iowa weekend

Has anyone missed me? ha. We were in Iowa for a 3 day weekend. We had a wonderful time!!! Last week the kids had 3 1/2 days of school (parent/teacher conferences) and had Friday off so we left on Thursday night. Here is the run-down...

Friday~ Madison went to school with Jenna for the entire day. She goes to a private Christan school and you can bring a visitor if you plan ahead (and may be because your aunt is a teacher there?!). Tony, Quinn and I met my mom and bro-in-law, Jeff at "Grandma's mall" (you didn't know she owned a mall huh?) for lunch. The 3 of us then went to Best Buy for almost 2 hours and finally bought a new video camera!!! We've been without a video camera and I could hardly stand it that I missed getting snips from the last 4 soccer teams! Quinn was so patient!!... he thought he was going to throw-up from "lack of clean fresh air" by the end but overall he did great. I was just as ready as he was to go kicking and screaming out of that store! Ughhh! Friday night we went to celebrate my grandma's 93rd birthday with her. There were 2 of my aunts, an uncle, and cousins that I haven't seen in a LONG time! The party was great. We celebrated Madison and Jenna's on the side too. The party had a rough ending though... my grandma fell right at the end of it. Long story but she wasn't hurt and we are soooo thankful for that!!

Saturday~ Uncle Jeff some how got tickets on the 4o yard line, 12 rows up, behind the Iowa bench for Quinn and him to go to the IA vs MI ST game. Quinn of course wanted to go so bad and I was debating about giving him my ticket again... this way we all 3 got to go. I'm so glad too because it was a GREAT game... finally winning in double over time! After that we went to the IA basketball game, a scrimmage. A cheerleader threw Quinn a basketball t-shirt and then after the game he got the free player's trading cards and the back of his t-shirt signed. According to Quinn, Saturday was a "sports-tacular day!" Ha! I thought that was pretty good for an 8 year old. We roasted hot dogs over a bonfire at Amy & Jeff's in the evening and the kids "sat" in the hot tub. During the football/basketball game, Madison and my mom shopped around at the mall, ate Chinese and then met the girl cousins to see the movie, Get in the Game, which I guess they all loved.

Sunday~ Went to church with Amy & Jeff. Their church plant is really growing...they have purchased land for their own building and hope to break ground in a year of so. We ate lunch at Hu-Hut... a Sanford & Mary Lou recommendation. It was good and unique too! After that we drove home and got home around 7:45pm.

It was a great weekend. We love going to Iowa and our kids love it too!

Thanks for reading! Love, Leah

Quinn eating breakfast... and is ready to go to the Iowa game! I peeked on him and Uncle Jeff through my binoculars from time to time. It was so cute to see them giving each other high-fives and Quinn saying a big OOOoooo... when his section spelled out the "O" in IOWA. hee-hee

Michael W. Smith's Christmas Album

It's A Wonderful Christmas

For those of you who know me well, you already know that Michael W. Smith is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE singer and muscian. I've been following him since he was the opening act for Amy Grant back in the 80's! Although I know he is human the man can sing no wrong in my eyes! I've been listening to his new Christmas album (which I pre-ordered in August and finally received only a week ago) and of course it has exceeded my expectations. It is awesome!

My suggestion is to go and buy this album... give up something else in your life if you need to in order to purchase this. I know this Christ-filled music will be a blessing to you!

Just click on the album title above or right HERE to get a small sample of this new album. Now RUN and go get it!!! : )

No cookin' tonight!

Tonight we went to B&P's house for supper. Michelle and Jade are back for a few months and Tony's Aunt Tine is here from Kansas. She does HR type of stuff for Mennonite USA and she is here to meet and do some policy revision work (yuck). I'm glad there are people to do things like this and that I am not one of these people! : )

That little Jade is SO CUTE! She is talking so much more this time around... this is the biggest change that I've seen in her. The last time we saw her was July or August. Just in a few months her language is exploding! I loved this stage. Jade & Tony were playing hide and seek tonight and she walked around saying "where are you?"... just clear as can be. When she would find him she would say, "there she are!" How cute!

Well, today I thought it was Wednesday all day.... I don't know why... I even told a patient that today was Wednesday and she didn't even correct me. So now I have her convinced it's Wednesday too! I was so happy to have the middle of the week over! I seriously don't think I realized it until I was driving home from work! Oh well... tomorrow I get to have a Wednesday all over again.

For those of you that know Troy, Jenny, Cole and Kennedy... say a little prayer for Kennedy. She fell off a step and fractured her femur (thigh). She is in a full length cast on one leg and has the other leg in half a cast. Poor thing!! And the poor parents too...to have a preschooler in a body cast!! Anyway, if you want to send her a postcard or anything to cheer her up, let me know and I'll get you her address.

That's all folks...
Love ya, Leah

Soccer Championship Game: After 2 overtimes and a shoot-out...

...we LOST! What a tough game. We played SO WELL and these girls have much to be proud of!! They got 2nd place trophies... the same as in the Spring. It was so stressful though! Madison walked off the field a little upset but was really just disappointed... not mad. She was happy with her play and her teammate's too. So that's good... She was able to feel good about her runner-up trophy. May be next year...(sigh).

A brief re-cap... Chesterton scored within the first 10 minutes. We were down 0-1 for quite a while. There was a penalty on them and Madison took a direct kick (basically they sit the ball down and she gets to start the play again by kicking it). She was way outside... 30 yards from the goal, she ran and kicked it and this ball sailed for like... forever... right over the goalie's head and into the far corner of the box! The girls went wild, as did the fans. It was so fun!! Her second goal this season... and both occurred while playing defense! That really energized the team. That made it 1-1 and it stayed that way through 2 over-times. It finally went to the shoot-out. 5 players from each team get to kick against the goalie... the team with the most points at the end wins. They got one more point than we did and we lost 2-3. Our goalie, Kiley, played great though...she really did... it's just a super tough spot to be in! The girls were exhausted from running so much and long but they played awesomely!!! (is that a word?)
So, this weekend ended our soccer days for awhile. We weren't even off the fields and Madison was asking me if there is an indoor team she can play on for the winter... we'll see. : )

(Ang, click on this square for Picasa)

Saturday's Sports Report

Last night Tony and I went with an Iowa group of 6 others to the Iowa vs Purdue game. We stayed overnight last night in Lafayette and came home tonight. We had a great time eating, laughing lots and sleeping in today. I'm not even going to comment on the game. I'll just say that this same group has gone to one away game a season for about 15 years now and we think we've seen them win 4 times on the road. I guess we are bad luck charms!

On the good news side of things... Madison's Flames team played two tournament games today and won them both!!! They play in the championship game tomorrow at the Invader's field in South Bend at 3pm. It was so hard to be away and missing 3 soccer games today (one was Quinn's). I guess they played so much better than last weekend and they even beat the #1 team in overtime, 2-1. Michelle said, "I don't know how you do this all the time... it's so stressful!" ha! Yes, it surely can be stressful. That's why I like to win big and sit back and relax! Madison was quite excited when I talked to her on the phone... "thrilled" would be the word I would use to describe her voice. I'm so glad we'll get to see the championship game tomorrow!

OK... speaking of knocking off a #1 team, Quinn's Flames team lost this afternoon, 0-3!! He called me to say they lost and I was waiting for him to start laughing and tease me... only he didn't and his voice sounded sad. I guess it was 0-0 until the last 10 minutes of the game and then things fell a part. We were shocked because they've had such a good season! We were fully planning on going to his championship game tomorrow (instead of Madison's). He sounded soooo disappointed. : ( He got a nice big trophy for winning the league play during the regular season and has it sitting out for us to see.

We got home at 9:15 tonight and they both are sound asleep in bed. I guess Madison melted into bed around 8:45 or so and fell fast asleep... tired from playing 2 soccer games without coming out for a break I guess. A special thanks to B&P and Michelle for keeping our kids last night and running them all over today. We bought these away game tickets in MAY... we've decided we'll have to choose a November game next year so we don't miss this big tournament weekend.

Hopefully I'll have good news to report tomorrow after Madison's game!

PS... for some pictures of the tornado damage in Nappanee, click on Addi's link in my side bar. So sad...and I'm so thankful it didn't touch down here!

Happy Birthday Jenna!

Today is my niece Jenna's 11th birthday. Amy and I were due on the same day, 11 years ago. The girls were born 13 hours apart and have their own calendar birthdays.

Here are just a few things for you to learn about Jenna.

Jenna Nicole...
...plays the guitar and has a beautiful voice. She already has led her church in a few worship songs.
...wants to be a Worship Leader when she grows up. (At least that's what it was a while ago).
...plays volleyball and is a very consistent server (so important!).
...loves penguins! She has stuffed penguins, penguin clothes, penguin jewelry, penguin pictures on her bedroom door... you get the idea!
...travelled from Iowa to Indiana to Michigan to go to Camp Friedenswald with Madison this last summer. Not bad for a girl who has gotten horribly homesick in the past.
...had her mom as her 4th grade teacher... and even attempted to call her Mrs. (last name) for a time, before giving up and settling for "Mom."
...likes to play Club Penguin and Webkinz.
...apparently sat on her own birthday cake this year!!! (I have yet to hear that story)!

Happy 11th Birthday Jenna! We love you!

Happy Birthday Madison!

Today was Madison's 11th birthday. It's been quite an interesting evening for sure. Abby dropped by for about an hour after school and surprised her with a really nice card. That was sweet. She had her last Flames soccer practice prior to their tournament this weekend. I made cupcakes to give to her team after practice. We have had storms rolling through this area tonight so half of her team had left by the time we got there (early) to pick her up. Oh well... that means we have leftover cupcakes at home. : ) After practice we went to Hacienda for supper. Madison invited Heather to go with us this year and we met Aunt Michelle & Jade, and B & P. Madison was quite surprised to find a huge bouquet of balloons from her Uncle Archie sitting on our table. He's in Arizona now. Aunt Michelle arrived with a HUGE poster of Uncle Archie (http://flatdaddies.com/). He didn't get to join us in real life but his poster sat in a chair the whole evening and he even called Madison during supper. We attracted quite the attention! She was quite delighted with a couple of gift cards... as far away as Arizona (Thanks Stutzmans!), Heather gave her a Webkinz (all the rage), a pedicure from Aunt Michelle & Jade, a set of her collectible dishes and gift card from B&P, a black & gold basketball and knapsack from Quinn and an iPOD from Tony and I. She made a haul! We are going to have a birthday party with her friends but not until mid-November (long story).

So... there are really bad storms tonight and we've already had our kids out of bed and down to the basement once. Quinn is such a deep sleeper, he's really hard for me to wake up at this time of night. I basically had to drag him out of bed and carry him all the way to the basement. Nappanee got hit. : ( Tigger is outside and Madison is tearful about her kitty. I'm sure she's hunkered down somewhere and ignoring our calls to come in... not wanting to dash through the rain.

Well, enjoy the pictures.
Love, Leah

PS... I asked Madison what the best part of her day was... it was going to Hacienda and having Uncle Archie "sit" with us at the table and then getting to talk to him on the phone. The best part of my day?... was when my 11 year old birthday girl came downstairs this morning and climbed onto my lap to be held. Her head towers above me when she's on my lap and I can't see a thing but I'm delighted she still wants to sit on my lap and let me hug her and that I'm home in the mornings for her to do that. For now, I'm going to relish in these moments because I'm acutely aware that these moments won't be around forever.

Girls Basketball: Ox Bow 40, East Side 18

Tonight was Madison's second school basketball game. The games go so fast! The quarters are only 5 minutes long and the whole game is over in about 30 minutes. It's a piece of cake compared to soccer. She barely breaks a sweat. She deserves something on the easy side doesn't she? I told Tony tonight... "why couldn't she have chosen basketball to fall in love with (instead of soccer)... we're inside, out of the sun, rain, wind, snow. There are REAL bathrooms right outside the gym, you don't have to bring your own chairs, there are drinking fountains just steps away..." Something to think about huh? : )

No new pictures tonight. Just use your imagination I guess. ha!
Love, Leah

Weekend Re-Cap

Saturday Quinn's CYS team lost in the championship game 0-3. It was a bummer. He still got a little trophy and he told me "I'm collecting them now"... so he was happy with that. He did a great job with sportsmanship and sought out his buddy (Benjamin) on the other team and wanted his picture taken with him. Nate and his dad came out to watch his 9am game so that was nice.
Nate, Benjamin & Quinn

After that, we moved on to Madison's Flames game. They played against the Goshen Stars... we beat them earlier in the year but lost to them today, 0-4. Unfortunately we played .... not good. I'll be polite because Madison may read my blog. : ) She herself actually played OK, for some reason the team just looked like it was their first game, not last. They ended their record with a 2-3-1 record. Addi and her husband Brian, and Cheryl came out on their precious Saturday morning to watch. That was so wonderful of them. This was Cheryl's first ever soccer game to go to! I just wish they would have played better!!! Addi took a ton of pictures so pop on over to her blog to see them. (See my link in the side bar).

Saturday night we went out to eat at the Emporium to celebrate Lisa's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday Lisa! It was quite a monumental month for her. Lisa, Tracy and Beth just completed the Chicago marathon on the hottest day of the marathon's history. Pretty amazing. We had a really nice time visiting... just the adults, with about 18 of us there.

Today it was the usual church morning. Angie, Linda and I sang in a trio so that was fun. Quinn had his last Flames game in Plymouth at 2pm. They are undefeated (6-0) and played the #2 ranked team. We won easily, 5-1. Quinn even scored 2 goals. One of the other dads gave him the nickname of "Oscar" after the game. He told him that he was cleaning up the trash from the other kicks on goals that bounced off the goalie etc... and Quinn finished them off by kicking them in. (Obviously that's how he scored twice today). It was so much fun. I just love those stress-free games when the kids play well and we win too! His Flames team will get a trophy for winning 1st place in the regular season play and probably get a bye in the tournament next weekend. See below for a couple of pictures.

We were supposed to go to small group tonight but I got kind of car sick on the way home from the game and felt YUCK! We basically were on the move the entire weekend and I was tired. Tony is still working on tax returns.... yes, believe it. The 6th one to finish up is due tomorrow so he just has to get it done! We ended up not going. Madison went with Peyton and it sounds like they had a lot of fun... bowling and then to Rex & Angie's for a bonfire. I'm afraid being gone the entire waking day today would have pushed me over the edge before I got up tomorrow to start another week at work. My co-workers will thank me for not going! ha!

BTW... belated blog birthday wishes to my brother-in-law, Jeff, and my brother, Doug, who both had birthdays this week! We celebrated Hawkeye style for Jeff (who is originally from Illinois) by upsetting them in the game on Saturday. Jeff, just covert totally to a hawkeye fan.... "come to the black and gold side"..."even when we are playing the Illini". Doug, I hope for your sake that the Diamondbacks continue to do well for you... even after biting off our dear Cubs.

Well, that's all from me. I need to get to bed early and get caught up on some sleep.

Love ya, Leah

PS... I added a picture collage from my trip to the 10-5 date!

U10 Boys... Flames hold onto first place!

Top left: Quinn shows off a new "form" of kicking.

Top right: Right after he scored!

Lower left: A before game huddle. Quinn is at 12 o'clock... just his blond hair showing. I LOVE this picture! As the girls at work tell me...and I've read in books... "A busy child stays out of trouble if they connect with a group and feel like they belong. This just does my heart good! : )

Lower right: Jade and Michelle are back! Tony played dolls with Jade during the 2nd half.

Girls Basketball: Ox Bow 36, Southside 9

Today at 4pm was the first 5th grade girls basketball game. This is a school team. They practice after school and play the other elementaries. So far they've only practiced 3 times. This is the first "organized" sport that the elementary itself offers. They only play like 6 games or something. Our A team easily won. We have only 15 players between the A & B teams and a lot of them have played basketball before....like Peyton and Holyn. That makes a big difference. Madison kept in line with her defensive soccer skills and had about 8 steals. She needs to work on her shot though... she missed quite a few of them. It's always good to watch how much the team improves by the end of the season.

I had 2 meetings at church tonight so I first got home for the day around 8:45pm. It was a long day.

That's all folks!
Love, Leah

I'm the Mom!

A special thanks to Jenny in Iowa for sharing this with me! If you are a mother... you HAVE TO SEE THIS Christian comedian! This made me laugh so hard because it is SO TRUE! Enjoy by clicking on the links below! (Start with I'm the Mom)

I'm the Mom! (only 3 minutes long) by Comedian Anita Renfroe. (Choose "demo clips" from her web site~ it's probably about 10-15 minutes long but well worth the break! )

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy-Jig

I'll try to catch you all up without being boring. Niagara Falls was great last Thursday. We went out on the Maid of the Mist and saw the Falls up close. It was all kind of a dejavu' from last summer. However... we enjoyed a beautiful rainbow while out on the boat. I have some awesome pictures. That was so special! We stayed overnight in Erie, PA and drove the rest of the way on Friday. We got home at 3:30... in time for the bus to come 20-30 minutes later. The kids were so happy to see me, they nearly knocked me down one at a time as they ran full speed from the bus into my arms. So cute.

Madison had a CYS tournament game on Friday night. They lost to a team that they've beaten twice this year already. Figures that they would loose in the tourney doesn't it? Her CYS season ended with a 5-4-1 record.

Saturday involved 3 soccer games, one right after the other. Madison had a Flames game at 10:30, Quinn had a CYS tournament game at 12noon and he had a Flames game in Chesterton at 2:30. It pretty much took the whole day. They won all 3 games so that was a bonus. Quinn scored 2 goals in the Chesterton game. He played goalie for the whole CYS game. His coach called and left us a message... she was sorry that he had to play goalie the whole game but "we wouldn't have won without him back there." That was really nice wasn't it? His CYS team will play in the championship game next Saturday. During regular season play his team's record was 4-5-1. They won their first tournament game last week and now they just beat the #1 team in order to make it to the finals. Wow!

Today was church and Quinn had a Flames game at 1:30 against FC Indiana (yes, that was 5 games this weekend). They won 3-1 and Quinn scored a goal. It was blazing hot... I'm telling you! We are having abnormally HOT Fall days... high 80's. YUCK!

Mom and Aunt Fern left this morning after we left for church. They had gotten their full share of soccer games for sure but I think they enjoyed them.

I haven't even down loaded my pictures yet from our trip. I'll let you know when I've had a chance to update my blog with my vacation pictures.

Pictures from our MA & VT trip!

Red Lion Inn

Today we went to Stockbridge, MA which is only about 45 minutes away. Several local people had told us we must get to the Red Lion Inn while we were here. It is a hotel that was started in the 1700's and has been fully restored and is an inn with 100 rooms and has a large dining area. We went for lunch. It is a gorgeous place to be sure!! They have a huge collection of tea pots. Full of history and of stories of famous people that have stayed there in this quaint little town.

We also stopped at a Country Curtains shop. My mom has gotten this magazine for years and it's located in the back of the Red Lion Inn. It was really neat, of course. I didn't buy anything though.

Tomorrow morning we are going to leave early and head back, stopping at Niagara Falls along the way. I was just there last summer but my aunt has never been there. She lives in CO and who knows when she would be this close again! It's worth it to take her there! My mom hasn't been there since her honeymoon. : ) We'll stay overnight somewhere in that area and then come back home on Friday night. I'm not sure if I'll find Internet access tomorrow night or not.

Well, we're going to do some relaxing at the resort for the rest of this day. We haven't done too much relaxing believe it or not. We've been on the go!

Love ya, Leah

Norman Rockwell

We loved Vermont so much yesterday that we decided to go back today! The highlight of our day was a Norman Rockwell exhibit.... in Arlington, VT which is where the Rockwells lived for 14 years. Many of the people that he painted were from this small town. Amazingly we actually met 3 of the "models"... those who posed for his paintings. It was so COOL! One of them was an 8 year old girl at the time and now she is in her late 60's. I'll fill in more details about this when we get home but it was soooo incredibly neat. I've always enjoyed his pictures but I have a new appreciation for them now. This was not the formal "museum" but rather just the small town's "gallery" of his paintings. The museum is actually in a different town. Two of the models happened to be volunteering today. The 3rd model we met down the road at a restaurant. wow.

Vermont is very pretty... looks just like the calendar pictures. The leaves have 25-50% turned in color now. Next week I'm sure they will even look better. We spent the rest of the day shopping at the Vermont Country Store which is a huge store in a very tiny "berg" of a town. They send out a catalog that my mom has gotten for years. We went to a Cheese House and also the Chocolate Barn which had over 800 antique molds for chocolate. They hand dip 100's of pounds of chocolate each day and over 35,000 pounds of fudge each year. This was also just a small shop along the side of the road... not even in a town.

We've been taking the back roads, the scenic routes, and today I felt a little car sick winding through the mountains. We're having a great time though.

I've heard that Madison's team won their first tournament game tonight for their CYS team, 2-1. Boy it sure is possible to have two feelings at once... glad to be here and sad to be gone from home.

More adventures to report later...

Love, Leah

Vermont

Today we spent the day in Bennington, Vermont. Madison was amazed... "you were in Mass. and now you drove ALL THE WAY to Vermont?" I told her it is like traveling to MI from our home in IN... very close! Here are the short highlights...again people are waiting for Internet usage. : )

We stopped at an Apple Barn gift shop that sold... you guessed it... apples. ...It was like a Kercher's Orchard with more gifty stuff too. We drove through 3 covered bridges....after having to find them. The back roads are so gorgeous. These New England homes are so unique and CUTE! They aren't afraid to use colors! The people have been so friendly here too. We went to the Bennington Monument which is a monument to commemorate this area's role in the revolutionary war and took pictures from the top. This was very close by to the Old First Church in Bennington, VA. It is a huge, gorgeous, OLD church... that was one of the very first churches in VT. It is the picture-book style with super high steeple and spires. We walked through their cemetery because it is "famous" for people being buried there in the early 1800's. Robert Frost is buried there. I told Mom and Aunt Fern that my kids will think we've "lost it" when they see pictures of a cemetery! Ha! We are doing all kinds of things that would totally bore my kids.... so that's good right? We also went to Camelot Antiques... which sells, that's right, antiques. They also have a huge consignment craft area with about 200 booths.

Tonight we had supper in the condo and are going to relax for the rest of the evening. We haven't made any plans for tomorrow yet. We are having a great time but I'm really missing my family A LOT! I called Quinn around 4:30 today and thought that would be a "safe time" to talk to him but he sounded all sad and missing me. That made me feel bad. : ( I miss them so much!

Well, my time is up.
Much love to all, Leah

Mohawk Trail

A brief update on Sunday's details. I'll have to finish posts when I get home. There is someone waiting for this computer and I only have about 7 minutes left of the courtesy 15 minute use limit.

On Sunday we drove along the Mohawk Trail which is about a 2 hour circle through the back roads. There were incredibly beautiful views along the mountain roads. The weather is perfect. We took a 2 1/2 hour detour to the Yankee Candle Village. This is where is all started. After 2 1/2 hours we still didn't see it all!! We think we might need to go back because we didn't get to the museum or even to all of the store yet! Because it was getting dark, we cut the trail short and so we think we might have to go back and finish that too. We got a late start, leaving at 11am but some how we were gone 9 hours. We also went to a Pumpkin Farm, Bridge of Flowers which is a landmark and some famous geological potholes. (can't think of the name right now).

We went to a hole-in-the-wall local place, "Bubb's BBQ" for supper. Famous for... you guessed it, their BBQ. The atmosphere wasn't great but the food was tasty.

That's all for this fast update.

Love, Leah

Bentley Brook

We arrived at Bentley Brook this afternoon. We drove 11 hours yesterday and drove through some heavy rain and eventually darkness. We decided to stop and stay overnight in Syracuse, NY. We travelled the rest of the way, 3 hours, today. The resort is beautiful. The leaves are just starting to change so by the end of the week they should be brilliant. The rolling hills make me wonder once again why I live in the Midwest. ? ? ? We have only done some relaxing since we arrived, with no desire to get back in the car so soon. The weather is perfect for walking around the resort. There is a neat pumpkin farm with a hay ride just a little ways down the mountain. We'll have to check that out.

I talked to my family this afternoon and Madison's CYS team lost this morning and her Flames team tied 2-2 this afternoon. Quinn's team lost 0-2 to Nate's team. Today is Nate's birthday, complete with a soccer birthday party.

Hopefully I'll be able to post about more adventures to come. They have free Internet usage in the main lobby. Pictures will have to wait until I get home though.

Lots of love, Leah

So long for now...

Tomorrow morning my mom, Aunt Fern and I leave for Hancock, MA. Click here to see where we are staying. I have mixed feelings about going but I'm sure we will make a lot of good memories!

Grandma and Aunt Fern arrived tonight around 5pm. They went to Quinn's CYS soccer game. We won 3-1 and Quinn scored 1 goal. It was a beautiful evening.

Well, I still have packing to do. I'll try to update when I'm gone but I'm not sure how much Internet access I'll have. Addi told me to do whatever I needed to do to update my blog. She told me she would pay for the Internet access... just update it!! Ha! I'll try Addi!

Love ya,
Leah

"This day is gonna be awesome!"

Those were Quinn's words this morning on the way to the hospital. He woke up and was basically fine the whole day and quite happy to not be going to school. I didn't give him any medicines until tonight when he was complaining of a sore throat. He did great at work with me. He was thrilled to be going with me! He watched DVD's, played with his airplanes, shredded some papers for me and entertained my co-workers. I made my colleagues promise to vouch for me... for the reasons my Internet history will show a bunch of games were being played today! He liked "pretending" to be my patient, laying on the exam table while I checked him out. He probably didn't really realize that I really WAS checking him out! HA! He really should have been in school but they have that 24 hour rule... you can't send them unless they haven't had a fever for 24 hours. My opinion on that whole thing will have to wait for another day. It's too long.

My cold is much better but I still have a lingering, annoying cough. For those of you who think I needed an antibiotic... read this which summarizes why I think you should hold off on antibiotics if you are at least showing some gradual improvements after 1-2 weeks. Just an FYI for you. Yes, I work in a hospital and that's probably all the more reason I agree with this! : )

Well, I'm trying to get things arranged to be gone next week. My mom and Aunt Fern arrive tomorrow afternoon! I can't wait! In the meantime, we've been doing some more dog-sitting this week. Duchess was here for 6 days. She left tonight. Madison is dog-watching for Honey again for 3 days.

Love ya all, Leah

Quinn has a fever

Quinn came home from school today not feeling very well. He said he had a headache and his day at school was "just OK". I didn't think too much of it. Both of our kids will get headaches from time to time. They take after me. He went outside to play and came back in and laid on the couch and then asked for a thermometer. He had a 102 temp! Soooo, that throws a huge wrench into working tomorrow because he obviously can't go to school. I guess he is going to have to go in with me for a few hours because neither of us can take off without causing major problems for our employers. All of my patients would have to be rescheduled and that makes me feel horrible. We'll see how it goes. He's planning on bringing DVDs, books and his airplanes to keep himself busy. Once he had Tylenol on board he acted very normal.

Otherwise, life is cruising along in the fast lane as usual. I'm trying to get ready to be gone for a week! Yes, me! The soccer mom is officially going on vacation! I'm going to Hancock, MA with my mom and my Aunt Fern. A couple years ago the 3 of us went to Myrtle Beach together and had a great time. I'm amazed at how much coordintation it is taking before a mom can just up and leave the family's routine for a week. Sunday night I spent 2 hours trying to figure out after-school stuff and transportation to/from events. I guess we accidently picked a bad week because the first week of the month is Tony's super busy week when we pretty much don't see him. I still have some coordination to do but most of it is done.

Well, I have tons to do yet so I need to close.
Say a prayer for Quinn tonight please... and that this clears up fast. I'm pretty certain it's viral respiratory stuff. Hmmmm, wonder where he got it? (Yes I did a home strep test that was negative, his ears are good and not too bad of a throat...but has swollen lymph nodes in his neck and a dry cough). I will have a mighty hard time leaving sick kids on Friday morning.

Love, Leah

Soccer Scores

We had 4 soccer games today and we came out only winning 1 game (sniff-sniff). Here is the brief version of the sports report today.

Quinn's CYS game was at 8am this morning. He told me on the way that he prepared to play this 1st place team by eating "2 Sweet Tarts this morning to get ready" for the big game. We lost 0-4. I guess he should have bumped up the Sweet Tarts some.

Madison's Flames game at 10:30am was in Warsaw, 30 miles away. They lost 0-1. It should have probably been a tie, 0-0, but somehow they scored a "dumb" goal. : ) She played very well though... the rearranged formation helped the defense a lot, just not our offense. The poor field condition didn't help.

Tony stayed back and coached Madison's CYS team at 9:30 without her, and 3 other Flames players that are on our team. He tried his best to get the time changed to a later time but without success. One of our girls sprained her ankle early on and so they played 6 on 8 most of the time and lost miserably, he thinks it was 1-9. Most of the time if you play a team without all their players you play the same number as they do. (6 on 6) It's not a rule but it's a respect type of thing. I guess the other coach didn't get the "gentleman's agreement" training...it actually talks about it in our rule book but it's not officially a rule. Not only did they play with more people but he also played his girls in their best spots for the whole game... the other unwritten rule is that when you are miserably beating a team you put your players in unfamiliar spots so that takes away some of their advantage. His team is in 1st place and obviously was afraid of our team... like we might come back and score 9 goals in the 4th quarter or something. OK, enough, but you can obviously tell how I feel about people that play without sportsmanship! I'm glad I wasn't there. I really hope we get them in the tournament. (insert evil snicker)

Quinn's Flames game was at 11:30 on our home field. He got there with 5 minutes to spare because apparently he had taken off his shin guards and left them at the CYS fields so Tony had to turn around and go back over there to get them. I'm sure that wasn't a pleasant truck to be in. According to Tony, Quinn hustled a lot and played very well. He had the assist to Nate and Nate scored our one goal. This was our only win today, 1-0. I wish I could have seen that but I was on the way back from Warsaw.

So, tonight we are getting ready to watch the Iowa game at 8pm. I hate to be a downer but I do know the odds aren't in our favor. I just hope it's not a thrashing.

It was an absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, perfect day weather-wise today. Madison is staying overnight with MacKenzie from her Flames team and we'll pick her up in the morning for church.

Later, Love, Leah

Highlights from today...

1. Katie, Nathan and Karla showed up this morning bearing pumpkin bread (yum!). Katie and Nathan have been getting on the bus at our stop a few mornings a week. They're easy.

2. I about coughed myself into cardiac arrest today at work. Seriously. Addi and Dr. Poovendran were hovering outside my bathroom, wondering if I was ever coming out. I coughed so hard I threw up (sorry, gross!) Talk about make-up being ruined for the rest of the day! I'm plain old TIRED of this cold. Actually the upper respiratory stuff is MUCH better... it's lower resp. stuff now.

3. Quinn's CYS soccer team won again tonight 3-2 and he scored one goal which was really sweet. The mosquitos had a good feast on everyone.

Half-Way thru the Week

Quinn's Quip:
Don't worry Mom, I'm never going to get a tattoo... but if I did, it would be a heart with your name, "MOM" written in it.


Madison and I were home tonight. She was actually happy to realize she didn't have soccer practice tonight. I guess she was ready for a break. She was kind of tired today I guess. We had an early start to our day today with an unexpected trip to South Bend with an appointment at 8am. Her filling from the dentist visit yesterday was too high and was driving her crazy...she couldn't get her teeth to touch together without it hitting the filling. This was her first filling so I don't think she quite new how it should feel when she was done. Our choices were to wait until next Monday when this peds dentist comes back to town or go to South Bend to get it polished down. With ISTEPs happening all week and her telling me how that's all she could think of all day long yesterday, I didn't feel like we had too much of a choice. It took us an hour to get there with horrible morning traffic! I've always liked this dentist but this was enough to make me decide to change dentists for the kids... to one that's in town all the time! I had her to school by 9:06 though. Just a little late.

Quinn had soccer practice with Nate tonight. Tony got home around 7pm. That was it. Pretty calm and quiet this evening. : )

Ball Girls

Tonight Madison and Peyton were the "ball girls" at the Concord varsity girls soccer game. They were invited to do this by one of the secretaries at their school who has a senior on the Concord team. (They held spare balls and gave them to players when the ball went out of bounds and then fetched the out of bounds balls). They loved it and it was a great way for them to pay attention to the game. Madison says she can't wait to be playing on that field. It was a beautiful evening. Concord lost 0-2 though.

Yesterday Madison's Flames team lost 0-2 also against the South Bend Invaders. Her coach is trying a new formation in the field... how they play in the field... and I don't think it's working too well. Hopefully that will be changing soon. They only play with 2 defenders...and the others in front more. Madison kicks all of the corner kicks and goal kicks from both ends of the field and then she has to sprint to the opposite end of the field if the ball quickly gets through. Not good.

Our pastoral candidate came and preached for the first time yesterday. Ron Guengerich is his name. I think he will be really good. We vote next Sunday and if all passes he will start near the beginning of December.

The kids had dentist appointments this morning at 8am. Pakka picked up the kids from the office after their appointment and took them on to school and I went to work. That was so great and got me to work on time.

I'm still fighting this cold and was up for a few hours during the night coughing. I felt better during the day though so that was good. It was a busy Monday at work.

The kids have ISTEP testing that starts tomorrow (ITED tests for you Iowans). They are dreading it but I think they are as ready as they will get. They have been reviewing a lot and Quinn came bounding in the door this afternoon talking about how he couldn't eat any sugar tomorrow for breakfast and he needed to get a good night's sleep etc... (Sounds like things we say all the time any way doesn't it?).

Well, I've got to go and hit the Nyquil bottle. Yuck!!!...but it helps.

Love, Leah

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary! I say that number and think I must be talking about someone else. Surely it was just a few years ago... But when I think of the changes in our lives; jobs, cars, kids, vacations, looks... yep, I guess it's been 17 years. I thought I would jot down 17 reasons why I love my husband. Actually this was pretty darn easy. These are in no particular order.

The reasons I love Tony...

1. He makes the bed in the morning.

2. His dirty clothes make it into the clothes hamper AND he never turns his socks inside out when taking them off.

3. He will do a household chore without asking if he sees that it needs to be done (vacuum, laundry, dishes...dusting is not included!)

4. We both love the state of Iowa and the sports too.

5. He likes to surprise me ... a trip to Jamaica, an overnight dinner train trip...

6. He fixes things quickly when things break at home.

7. He is a great dad and likes to tease all the kid's friends.

8. He has been the kid's soccer/basketball/softball/baseball coach and does a really good job with realistic expectations.

9. He kisses me good-bye every morning and tells me he loves me.

10. He doesn't ask how much money I've spent after I go shopping.

11. He tells me I look nice.

12. He loves the Lord.

13. We share long-term goals.

14. He works way too many hours at his job without complaining so I don't have to work as many at mine.

15. He can glance at any map and easily get us to where we need to go.

16. He brings me flowers without needing a reason.

17. He knows me so well he can practically read my thoughts. (not all of them...ha!)


Happy Anniversary Tony! I love you!

Now on other notes... we are going to go out to eat and celebrate a different time. This cold has really gotten me down so I didn't feel like doing much. Quinn's CYS team won this morning 2-0, their 2nd win. His Flames team tied this afternoon 2-2 and he scored one goal. Madison had practice but no games. Iowa stunk the first half of their football game and lost to ISU 15-13 with a field goal with 5 seconds left. They should know by now that ISU considers this their BIG game of the year, even though the U of I doesn't. They are always really "up" for this game when we aren't : )

That's all folks.
Love ya, Leah

Does it mean I'm old?

Does it mean I'm old if I'm glad to be home this Friday night doing nothing? Ok, I know I haven't felt very well this week with a cold and all. It just sure feels good to be at home in my sweats. I started feeling some better this afternoon finally but now my cold is traveling down and I'm getting a cough instead of a sore throat. 10 hours of sleep last night helped though!

The kids had a 1/2 day of school today. Madison got picked up around 4pm today and is staying overnight at Holyn's house. They are going to Holyn's brother's baseball game tonight. Nate just left our house. He and Quinn had supper and drank hot cocoa. They've played outside for hours and came in cold. It's in the low 60's and of course Quinn is out there in a t-shirt and shorts.

Quinn and I were watching part of the Cubs game tonight (that was a replay from yesterday) and he said this to me... "I don't really care if they get a homerun or not... what I look for is their spirit... and how much effort they put into their game." Does that sound like our Quinn or what?

We're just going to hang out the rest of the evening....ahhhhhhhh

Drought

Sorry for the drought of postings. I've been fighting a cold these last few days and so I've used my spare time in the evenings to sit on the couch and go to bed early.

Madison's CYS team tied 2-2 on Tuesday night. (Record now 5-2-1)

Otherwise the week has been pretty uneventful at home. The Dr. that I work with has been gone this whole week and I've been really BUSY without him. At least that makes the day go fast. The timing with a cold doesn't work very well though.

Have a good day. Leah

Nothing to say...

Really I have nothing to say but I know that an average of 21 of you check my blog each day and I don't want to let you down! : )

Madison had Flames practice from 5:30-7:30. Quinn had Flames from 6-7:30. My phone was ringing off the hook with car pool requests tonight. I had 6 sweaty soccer players to deliver tonight after practice. I don't mind though. I enjoy listening to their conversations. It looked like rain so I waited in the van for them... and talked to other parents and worked on a Christmas project... I can't tell you what it is because the person it is for is a faithful blog reader. Sorry! : )

Tomorrow night Madison's CYS team plays Peyton's again. We lost to them the first time we played them, 2-10. It was ugly. They were our very first game though and we've improved a lot. We'll see what happens. I realized at 9:30 tonight that her uniform wasn't clean. whoops.

I have a scratchy throat tonight so I think I'm going to head to bed. That's all... see really nothing much to talk about. Sorry to bore you.

Flames 3-2

Well, you could tell it was their first game because they were a little "rusty" in some areas but the Flames won their first game today 3-2. It was very close, too close for comfort. It wasn't Madison's best game and afterwards she told me she was nervous so may be that was it. Things that she is normally very good at, she wasn't. I can't come up with a more nice way to say it. She is bound to have better games! Ha! She did play the whole game though. Her little face was so red and sweaty afterwards! They had her and Gabby wear these "Captain" arm bands... why, I'm not sure. Madison's drove her crazy, it kept sliding down her arm. I asked her what the purpose was for them... she doesn't know. It sounds like the coach picked them up before the game. : ) She didn't like her new socks..."I never want to wear those again!"... the sun, moon and stars just wouldn't line up for her today. I'm so glad they pulled off a win but it was much more difficult than I expected.

Here are some pictures that Tony emailed me from the Iowa game last night. This is the view from their seats. The bottom picture is of Quinn with his special football hat from Aunt Amy & Uncle Jeff. He loves this hat and wears it for his "special" occasions.

They should be home around 9pm tonight.

That's how our weekend was... how was yours???

Love, Leah

A good sports day

Today Madison and Quinn both had CYS games at 9:30 this morning. Madison played mid-fielder for one quarter and actually got to score a goal. That was a highlight for her since she rarely ever gets to attempt. Her team won 4-0 (record now 5-2). I was at Quinn's game and his team finally won their very first game today (record is now 1-3-1). He had to leave after the 3rd quarter to get to his Flames game but his CYS team was up 7-1 when we left and he scored a goal too.

This picture was taken during his first Flames game. His team won 4-3 and he scored 2 of the goals. He played only about half the game but made his time in there quite productive. He looked a little tired from running 3 quarters during his CYS game. Anyway, he is scoring in this picture. Don't you love his shoe laces...untied!

Tony, Quinn, Beppe & Pakka left from the Flames game to head to Iowa to make it in time for the Iowa game tonight against Syracuse. They've only played 3 night games in the last 78 years or something so it was a pretty big deal. Right now Iowa is ahead 35-0. Tony & Quinn called from the game... it sounded loud and fun and Quinn said "This is AWESOME!" They scored the first 4 TD's in their end zone so they had a great view. Madison and I went to Hobby Lobby and then got home around 3pm. We made some soup from scratch... out of her kid's cookbook tonight, she made a little craft project and we just enjoyed being together. Her first game is tomorrow at 12:30. We are watching Duchess tonight and she's also dog-sitting for Honey again for part of the weekend.

Take care. Love, Leah

Soccer Mom

Definition: "Mother who consistently drives children to and fro... practices and games, practices and games, practices and games. Considers changing permanent postal address to 'blue mini-van some where between CR 17 and CR 45'. Professional fast supper fixer, water bottle filler, uniform washer, band-aid applier, and reminder of all needed soccer paraphernalia. Criteria involves not minding wasting one's time sitting at practice and games, practices and games, practices and games."

I've decided that I've become a professional soccer mom. Really this definition sounds quite sarcastic but if I really didn't enjoy being a soccer mom I would certainly hang up my keys. If my kids didn't enjoy it they could certainly hang up their cleats. It would be nice for a soccer mom vacation of some sort though. I've learned to bring along magazines and I even have a Christmas project that I've started working on from the driver's seat in the parking lots. I've made some really nice friends while visiting with the other moms too.

Good news for Madison tonight. Her Flames coach made her the "defense captain" of her team. They've never had captains before but they decided to throw this in too so the girls have a chance to learn about peer leadership. Tonight they had their last practice before their first game on Sunday afternoon. They've been practicing for 6 hours a week since shortly after the fourth of July. I'm so anxious to see how they are going to do! Their spoken team goal is to win the championship in the league tournament this year.

Quinn had practice at CYS tonight. It went well and was easy. He had fun. I think his coach wants him to play goalie some more. NOT ME! Too stressful for the mother on the side lines! I much prefer him playing offense which is really what he is better at anyway. We'll see what happens.

Quinn's highlight of the day was that he made the front page of the Elkhart Truth's Sports Section. They were taking pictures of the Flames soccer team practicing last night. I was able to copy/paste the picture for you here. Quinn is on the far left, in the back.


So, that's what I did tonight. I got home from work and put on my professional soccer mom uniform and off we went... the blue mini-van driving off into the sunset.

Wednesday

Really not an exciting evening. Quinn had Flames practice. I had a church board meeting from 7-10pm. Tony worked late. Madison stayed home by herself for about 2 hours. Pakka came over and put the kids to bed.

The end.

Leah

CYS girls 1-0

Madison's CYS team won tonight, 1-0. It wasn't a very exciting game, wasn't very pretty and we were practically carried away by mosquitos, but we won! : ) Madison got totally tripped with both feet being knocked out from under her. She landed flat as a pancake and right on her face... of course her hands were at her sides. This all happened directly in front of me. You would be proud of the restraint that Beppe and I showed by not stepping out on to the field to brush her off. She jumped up, hardly missed a beat and kept on playing. We got into the truck and she told me her nose was killing her!... It will probably be bruised tomorrow. We'll see...

Tony went back to work after the game. He's basically living at work during the first full week of each month. Apparently Rollpak gave like 20 days to do month-end type of stuff and Berry Plastics requires it to be done in 4. That doesn't seem quite fair to me if you don't give them extra staff to do it in. ughhh, I don't know about this job folks....

That's pretty much it. My Cubs are losing to Tony's Dodgers right now...

Love ya, Leah

Labor Day

Well the Silverwood softball guys lost this morning. According to Tony they "self-destructed" this weekend. That's really too bad because usually they are a pretty good team! They lost 5 out of the 6 games they played. I guess it wasn't their year... He was home by 12:30 today so that was good.

Madison spent the afternoon with Peyton and then went to soccer practice from there. Her Flames team was supposed to have a tournament this weekend but it was cancelled due to not enough teams signing up. Bummer. We (Tony, Quinn, Nate and I) went to B&P's tonight with the plan of ordering pizza with them and Terry & Tine. Wouldn't you know it... I called like 10 pizza places and none of them were open!! Who would have thought that most of the eating places close down on Labor Day. OK, OK, OK... so the majority of the county was probably at home grilling out. We had already done that this weekend so we were ready for pizza. We ended up going to Texas Roadhouse after like 1 hour of trying to figure out what was open! Live and learn. We'll be grilling at home next year! Madison and her soccer team were supposed to have pizza at the field tonight after practice. Apparently Pizza Hut was so overwhelmed with phone calls that her coach never could get through the phone line so that was a bust. She was quite disappointed. Not to mention the dozen parents that picked girls up, expecting that they had been fed, only to realize that they were all starving! What is the life skill we are supposed to be practicing here?... oh ya, the life skill of flexibility. Tonya whisked the girls through Arby's because the rest of them had already eaten. Oh boy.

Well, that was pretty much our day. I do have to post this picture of Quinn and Nate playing Life this afternoon at our house. It was so funny to listen to them talking about their "grown-up" lives and hear them giggle about getting married... and then having babies and adding them to their cars. You had to be there... They giggled all night long about something or other. They get along so well. It's actually easier to take Nate with us, it gives Quinn someone to constantly talk to. We all know that Quinn is the talker of our family!

Hope you all have a good week. The rest of ours is going to be busy so I've decided to take just one day at a time. I feel really thankful for a long weekend though. Tomorrow will feel like a Monday but it will be a Tuesday already. Yippee!

Love, Leah

Dog Days of... Soccer...?

Have you wondered where I've been? Sorry, I was just on a bit of a blogging break for a few days. Here are the highlights of the holiday weekend.

Friday
In the morning I met Angie, Karla, Lisa, Tracy and Eliza for coffee and to celebrate Angie's birthday. I then spent 3 hours at Meijer!!! Yes, 3! Half of the time was sitting at their picture kiosk, going through pictures and deciding which ones I wanted printed. I haven't printed pictures for a long time and ended up with almost 200 pictures. Next time I will sort them at home and take them to Meijer on my travel drive. I don't know why I didn't do that at home before! Oh well... live and learn. The rest of the time was grocery shopping. The remainder of my day and evening was spent cleaning and doing my mountain of laundry. It felt good to have this done before the weekend officially started. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Fridays!

Saturday
Tony left for Fort Wayne for the weekend. This is his 17th consecutive year of playing in the Mennonite Softball Tournament over Labor Day Weekend. Each year he comes home a bit more sore. This year he started the anti-inflammatories before he left! Quinn was out the door by 7:51 to help sell lemonade at Nate's garage sale. Several hours later he had drank most of the consumable goods so he was home for awhile. In the afternoon Madison and I went to the Concord vs. Elkhart Central varsity soccer game. It was a good game and Concord scored their winning goal with 35 seconds left in the game. It was quite exciting. She had practice for 2 hours after the game.
The Flames team decided today was "dog-day" for practice. They wanted to bring their dogs and chose a mascot. We took Duchess and since there was only one other dog that "tried out" for the prestigious job of Flames mascot there wasn't any voting but rather I think they were both winners. ha! In this picture, Duchess is taking a break after running a soccer field. See more pictures below.

Of course we watched the Iowa game this afternoon too! The Hawkeyes played Northern IL at Soldier Field in Chicago. Wish we were there! Addi sent me a text message from Boston... she saw 2 people with Iowa football shirts on and thought of me. We are everywhere! Thanks Addi!

Friday around 5:30pm, Tony's Aunt Tine and Uncle Terry arrived from Kansas for a weekend visit. ("Tine" is pronounced teeny...her name is Christine and the family's nickname for her is Tine). We enjoyed spending the evening with them and John & Evelyn at Beppe & Pakka's house for a BBQ. Quinn lost a tooth while we were there.

Sunday
After church Madison and I went out to Hacienda for lunch with Katie, Karla and Nathan (Terry is in Fort Wayne too). Quinn went home with Tyler from church. So, we took advantage of the girl-time and went to a movie. We saw Mr. Bean's Holiday and both decided it wasn't as good as we hoped. The 3 of us spent the late afternoon and evening at B & P's with the Vander Werf side of the family. I think I counted 25. Madison decided to spend the night. Quinn decided not to leave me by myself at home and he is going to keep Tony's side of the bed warm for him and sleep with me.

The guys have played 5 softball games so far and have lost 4 of them. Their only win was enough that they have to play at 9am tomorrow morning and so they stayed down again tonight. That's kind of a bummer. I wish it didn't dribble over until Monday. Basically the weekend is gone. If they lose, he should be home by noon so that will be good.

More pictures....

Madison thought Duchess needed to try her jersey on. Doesn't it look cute on her? : ) We don't know what the mascot's job description looks like yet!



Some of the Vander Werf family tonight...




Terry & Tine from Kansas... of course there was coffee and Koeke there!