Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! Wish we were together today! This picture was taken at Christmas and I'm showing off the pillowcases she embroidered for me. My mom is so special to me and she goes out of her way to make me feel special to her. Every good thing I've learned about being a mother myself is from modeling after my mom. I never knew how much she loved me, until I had children of my own. You deserve the BEST day today! Hope it was happy!

xxx

ooo

and a 1/2 stick of gum,

Leah

Well Done- Hot Dawgs

Tonight ended the Hot Dawg's (ketchup to us) season. They ended up 3-8. There was great improvement from the beginning to the end. The girls had fun and so that was good. We had a pizza party at Columbo's after their last game tonight. They are going to take some time off and may be join a basketball session in the Fall. We'll see....

What we've been up to this week...

No matter what the weather is like, the calendar has deemed that it is Spring and thus Spring Soccer has started. This was Madison's 3rd practice this week. I picked her and Holyn up... they were like little popsicles. Practicing for 1 & 1/2 hours in a 25 degree wind chill with rain, sleet and snow...is hard on your hands and feet. I would say they are pretty dedicated soccer players wouldn't you? Actually, it's probably more accurate to say we have a die-hard coach.

Quinn has been busy playing hand-baseball (a wildly popular made-up indoor version for our living room & kitchen) with Nate, computer games and playing outside (except today!). He also has been busy at school while taking daily swimming lessons with his 3rd grade class at the high school. Those last for 2 weeks. He wore a crisp white shirt, tie and suit pants for his school pictures this week. The "presidential candidate" look.

I've spent my evenings busy shuttling Madison around to practices and working on Little League things. Cocoa, Quinn and I have enjoyed some long evening walks with much better weather (except today!). Tony has been busy working (of course).

What have you been up to?

Happy Easter!

The Lord is Risen!...

This was the coldest Easter that I can remember... a high of 36 degrees today. It was sunny but with a cold wind. We still have snow on the ground!

Church was crowded today with lots of visitors. People had to get creative with the Easter dresses this year... short sleeves or sleeveless doesn't really work too well with temps in the 30's! I saw lots of cute little sweaters on the girls. Madison's colors didn't turn out too well in her pictures. He shirt under her sweater is pink. She looked really cute. We had a wonderful lunch at Beppe and Pakka's today. Ed, Eileen and the boys were there. Joshua brought a special friend, Miranda. It was a little crowded and a little loud... but what family get together isn't this way? I tried to imitate Margaret's graham cracker fluff dessert... a family staple at get-togethers in Iowa. It didn't have the same texture but it tasted OK. I need to practice that one a few more times to get it right. We decided that no one can make it the way you do Margaret! Give me about 20 years of practice to get it right! We didn't get home until 5:30 so that was basically our day.

Above all else, today was a day of celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If you haven't paused to read John 19-20, please do so on this most important day of the year!

...The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Botched Pedicure

For some reason Cocoa HATES to have her nails trimmed... up until today I couldn't understand it. In the past there wasn't really a reason for it to bother her other than she doesn't like her paws held. The vet tried to show me a "hold" to put her in and he couldn't even get her down! "Boy, she really doesn't like that does she?" Well, today she finally had a point. Tony and I had her in a "hold" and she was still pulling and arguing with us. I was the clipper and I accidentally got her nail to short. Ouch! She yelped and it started bleeding...and it wouldn't stop! I felt so bad! I tried to hold pressure, but she couldn't quite understand the point of that. We sent her outside into the snow as a way to apply ice... and it kept on bleeding....all over... Now imagine this, I even put some ointment on a band-aid, practically crawled into her kennel with her and wrapped it around her little hairy toe and stubby nail. Nate predicted that it would stay on for 3 seconds. He was basically right... and then it pulled some hair when it came off too. Oh my. She stayed in her kennel until it finally stopped. Quinn was all upset. Tony made some crack about Cocoa getting ready to pass out from lack of blood so Quinn was working on some "orientation" questions with her... "Do you know your name? Can you tell me what it is?" And then to us, "I think she's getting light-headed."

That hidden camera that Addi wants me to have... yep, this clip would have been a good one.


PS... Madison was thankfully at soccer practice. She would have been a MESS!

Always in trouble...

Our Miss Cocoa is always finding herself in trouble. Here she has stolen some little beanie babies and is using them as chew toys. At times she acts all sorry when she is caught and you tell her NO! ...but she goes right back and repeats the crime again. Other times, she just tempts you to come get her stolen goods, only to smile and run off when you get too close. It's a game...and only one of us is playing.

Quinn's Quips

Quinn: From the first time I saw Cocoa at the Humane Society, I knew that she had talent.

Mom: Oh really, what kind of talent did you see?


Quinn: The ability to listen ....and do tricks.

Mom: Well... she's got a lot of the tricks part down but the "ability to listen part?"... still workin' on it.

Happy Birthday Haley!

Very special birthday wishes for my niece, Haley! She is a big 5 year old today! Honestly, where does the time go? I wish you weren't a couple of states away! This picture was taken at Christmas. Madison and Haley decorated crowns from an art kit that she got. They even made crowns for their puppies.

Here are some things for you to learn about Haley.
Her favorite foods are peaches and macaroni and cheese.
Her favorite activity is playing with her older sister (Mi)Kayla.
When asked what she wants to be when she grows up she thinks that "since mermaids aren't real, I'll be an angel."
Her best friends are named Naomi, Dayna, Cathy and Lilly
Something that makes her happy is when (Mi)Kayla tickles her.
Something that makes her sad is when she gets hurt or when her dog Oreo had to be put to sleep (last week).
Her favorite Bible story is about Jesus and how he died on the cross just for her.

Happy Birthday Haley! We love you!

Upward Basketball Awards Night

Tonight was the Upward awards night. It's always a fun evening of music, prizes, an Upward gift for the kids and the presentation of the story of salvation. Madison beat out a group of boys and nabbed a free t-shirt that she is modeling. The multi colored ball is used to tell the story of salvation. Tony and his assistant coach (and all of the coaches) received a gift card to the Family Bookstore. The kids all ran through the smoke filled tunnel onto the stage when their team was announced. Quinn is the one with his arms raised. : ) The award this year was a full sized basketball. He was quite delighted with it. A fun evening was had by all.

Undefeated!

Quinn and Nate had their last Upward game this morning. We won 22-20 to remain undefeated for the season (one tie). Tony told them a few weeks ago that if they remained undefeated throughout the whole season they could pour water on him outside. They held him to his promise. It was cold! He does such a good job coaching. He is fair to all the kids. They all get equal playing time (which is a rule) but more than that, he has the boys take turns bringing the ball up the court and calling the plays and carrying them out. Even the boys who have never played before this year and are sure to get the ball stolen away, they get the same opportunity to be a leader on the court. Some coaches play their best players in the same position all the time. They all have improved a lot and I'm sad to see this season end. Check out Quinn and Nate's jersey numbers. Totally by accident!

"March Madness"

Tonight Madison played 2 BB games at the Sports Center. The combined scores were 64-12. Yep, we watched the other teams score 26 more baskets! Ouch. This picture is of Madison on the floor... fighting for the ball with 4 red players. (She's the one in white in the middle). It was actually taken a couple of weeks ago but I thought you needed a picture tonight.

It was a beautiful day today! I'm ready for this BB season to get over and for Little League and spring soccer to start!

Sadness

Sure am feeling sad for my sister and her family this week. If you are an animal lover you'll see what I mean. Click on her link in my side bar...

Say a prayer for them and also for their friends who lost their 2 year old daughter.

Left Behind

Pictures are worth a 1000 words aren't they?

Crazy Busy Saturday!

We actually got to sleep in this morning! I must say 7:30 felt pretty good!

1100-1200
Quinn's Upward BB game. He shot with 2 seconds left to tie up the game! We were undefeated before and so we just have one tie. He had a great game and scored 14 of their 30 points. Some "old lady came and found me afterwards to tell me I did a good job"... and shook his hand.

12:30-1:45
Little League evals. I've got some good leads on 2 coaches now. They are really hesitant and only doing it because I'm desperate. I hope they do ok!

2:00-3:00
Quinn's eval for the Little League. He is playing in the Rookie League this year.

2:10-5:30
Madison had 2 basketball games at the sports center. Her team won both games. They have improved a ton since their first games. Amazing! They play again on Thursday night....their last games until the tournament.

6:45-9:30
A birthday get together for Rod H. and Audra M. at Rod and Beth's house. That was a lot of fun. Lisa and I were cracking up... neither one of us have EVER brought shrimp and cocktail sauce to a get together before. We've been to a gazillion get togethers with each other. Guess what we brought? Yep, we had LOTS of shrimp. Ha! Great minds think alike! (Actually I was just trying to think of something that would be the absolute easiest thing considering the busy day!).

Donkey Basketball

Tonight we went to the donkey basketball game at Bethany. Have you ever been to a donkey basketball game? The "athletes" are comprised of students, board members and local pastors. They actually have a basketball game while riding (mostly attempting to ride) donkeys. It is really funny to watch the players get bucked off or slide down their necks as the donkeys put their heads down to try and get them off their backs. They are stubborn and slow. You have to be on the donkey's back to receive a pass and to shoot. The games were low scoring... 6-2 and 4-2. They gave rides to the kids at intermission and they did just fine then. Madison even rode the most ornery one, "Buck-Master". The donkeys must understand the "heat" of the game. The think the player is on one team and their donkey is on the other. Holyn came with us tonight and is staying overnight. Quinn planned to meet Tyler there so they sat together and Quinn ended up staying overnight at his house. Tony met us there but went back to work after it was over. : (
Overall it was a fun evening. I'm sure you can see the news highlights at www.fox28.com tomorrow. They had a good segment on it tonight.

Really Bored in the Middle of the Night!!

Hello to my sleeping buddies around the country! For some reason I woke up at 3am and can't get back to sleep! Usually this is how stress shows it's ugly head for me... with insomnia. But it's an especially strange night because I don't have anything in particular to be extra stressed about. (Thank you Lord!). SOooo after my usual tricks haven't worked I gave in and came down to my computer. I can't turn the TV on or Cocoa will think she's up for the day. That's all I would need...is a puppy who wants to play. Somehow I stumbled on to this mindless map that lets you check which states that you've been to... for what reason? why? Who knows and who really cares. Mindless entertainment. Obviously I've been through some of these states just to get to another one but if I didn't have any memories that I made there I didn't include them.

Well, it's just about time to get up... may be I'll just get a jump on my day today....nah, I'll give sleep another try.

I want to know... what do you do when you can't sleep?

create your own personalized map of the USA

We've made it to the Mid-Week

Hi Everyone,

I really don't have too much to say tonight. This is Tony's month-end week so he has been working late. He thinks it will be mid-night tonight. Bummer. Madison had a school activity tonight. She stayed after school, had a pizza party, studied about the musical, "Anything Goes" and then they went to the high school and watched the dress rehearsal. She didn't get home until 8:45. She loved the musical and loved seeing Jeremiah in it and also that fact that he waived just to her at the end. Quinn and I played lots of Jocker and Yahtzee. I put the brakes on Monopoly. I've played that game too much and now I'm sick of it! Anyone want to come and play with him? It's the NFL version and if that doesn't excite you Madison has Horseopoly which is a beloved game as well. Monopoly takes too long.

Other tidbits....

Still looking for 2 softball coaches. I'm out of options although I do have someone "thinking about it" however, I was supposed to get a call back from him tonight so now that's not looking too good either. I guess everyone is scared of 11/12 year old girls! There are probably 10-12 girls who won't get to play unless we get this resolved in the next 2 weeks.

I've been to the eye doctor and ordered a new pair of glasses and also prescription sunglasses. I'm SO excited about them! I follow in my mom's footsteps with some photosensitivity in sunlight. Hey, the great big glasses are in style now! I told Madison that I ordered the biggest pair of in-style glasses I could find. She hasn't even seen them yet and she's already appalled at them. "Moms aren't supposed to wear things that are that in style!" Ha! I started Restasis eye drops for dry eye syndrome... it's supposed to take 2 full months to be able to notice any differences. The doc put this green dye in my eyes and normal tears usually wash it away in a matter of seconds. I still had bright green eyes (the whites of my eyes) a good 10-15 minutes later! I was quite science fiction looking for awhile there.

Many of you have enjoyed the picture of Quinn and Cocoa. I need to get another picture without the blurriness. Quinn responded to Aunt Amy's comment by posting his own comment... his first ever post to a blog. He also emailed off his first ever email to G'ma and G'pa this week.

Here is the copy/paste version...

Hi grandma and granpa cocoa is already to big and she is absouluotly crazy!Come vist us In indaiana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Quinn

Well, for not having anything to say I can sure ramble on and on about nothing.
Take care, Love you all, Leah

A boy's best friend...

Even though this is blurry I thought it was too cute not to post!

Weekend Highlights

Sorry I've been so quiet. Some computer problems have been taking my attention...(along with a bunch of other stuff).

Here are the highlights from the weekend:
*Little League player evaluations were Saturday morning. Coordinated this for the Major divisions. Also still searching for 2 more coaches.

*Quinn's Upward BB team remains undefeated. They are 6-0 and have 2 more games.

*Nate stayed overnight on Friday night. Heather stayed overnight on Saturday. Made my world-famous chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Tyler came over after church and stayed for the afternoon. Lots of kid guests. At one time there were 5 kids here for a few hours.

*Saturday night we played Euchre at Chad & Liza's with 4 other couples. That was fun. Makes me want to play more so that I get better at that game. Playing 1-2x a year doesn't really do much.

*This afternoon/evening I've spent trying to get my SD card to work in my new laptop which has involved several hours on-line with the Dell Tech in a chat room. Four hours later, still not resolved.

That's it. How did you spend your weekend?

What I've been up to this week...

...the shortened version.

Monday:
I'm one of the VP's of the softball league. Monday night we held the new coaches/managers meeting. It was a good feeling to have my league (only 3 teams for 32 girls) in place. After the meeting 2 of the 6 coaches backed out!!! This Saturday are the player evaluations and so its really important to have the coaches in place by this weekend.

Tuesday:
I made a phone call to every single household of players registered to play in the major division (except obviously to those that are already coaching in the Major leagues). Guess how many coaches I got? ZERO. Very frustrating. I really don't want to have to make 2 huge teams of 16 each! The girls would only get to play 50% of the time! I was on the phone the whole night!

Wednesday:
Madison had her first indoor soccer tourney game tonight. We lost 0-3 so we are done. I have to remind myself that a lot of the girls we are playing are a year older. Our team is U11 and we are playing U12. (They didn't have a U11 league). One year really does make a difference. She is ready to get outside and back to "real" soccer. During indoor, there are no "off-sides" rules and that makes it harder for the defenders (Madison) to hold off scorers. Outdoor soccer is more like the official soccer rules and the offensive players can't do that. (Are you still with me?).

I have contacted the AD at Goshen College and also the Concord High School softball coach to see if they can think of any alumni that might be interested in coaching. Hopefully something will come out of that! I need to get creative in where these coaches are going to come from!

Well.. that's what I've been doing. Not very thrilling huh?

Cocoa, The Big Brown Dog

We are adding a new name for Cocoa's list of nicknames...Clifford, The Big Red Dog or Cocoa, The Big Brown Dog. You see when we got her at the Humane Society they predicted that she would be a small to medium sized dog. I know it was only a guess...goodness, it's really only a guess as to what kind of a dog she is. BUT, they have obviously gotten it wrong. She is growing like a weed! She gained 9 pounds in the last ONE month alone! She is really about at the maximum size I was hoping for right now at 23 pounds. She's only four. months. old! Just look at those kangaroo paws draped all over Madison! She looks like she's wearing a pair of thick socks. We're not done growing yet folks. So you see, she really does remind us of the Clifford, The Big Red Dog books!

Indoor Soccer Tie, 3-3

We tied a Middlebury team tonight that we previously lost to, so that was better. The frustrating part is that we were ahead at half-time, 3-0. They came out strong in the second half. They had a girl who was so rough that she got a yellow card and had to sit out of the game for 4 minutes, while their team played short. I haven't seen that at this level before. It was so close at the end... we almost scored with just a few seconds left on the clock. If only that goalie wasn't so tall....

: )

How it all came out in the wash

A lot of you have wondered about our washing machine situation. Well... we are now the owners of a Whirlpool. Thanks to Consumer Reports, the sales people and lots of feedback from you all, we had it narrowed down to 2 different ones, a Fisher-Paykel (sp?) or the Whirlpool. We went back to Lowe's to look at them again. The persuading factor was the huge size of the tub. It's the biggest you can buy (for the home). It's 4.7 cubic feet. You are supposed to be able to wash 3 standard sized loads in this one. SOLD. It was delivered on Friday and on Saturday I did 2 loads of laundry which would have normally been about 5 loads. Our Maytag was already the "super capacity" of its day.

So, that's it! If you need to know more specifics... we are totally "up" on washing machines now.

Hopefully we won't have to be "up" on them again for a couple of decades! (Although I was told the average life is only 8 years).

Basketball Blues

Madison had two Sports Center games Sunday afternoon. The first game we lost 10-34. She had 6 points. The second game was about the same. I'm trying not to remember it. We thought we would take some lumps playing at this level and that's exactly what we are doing. The girls are having fun though. It would be a different story if they weren't. Madison is a scrappy player... she is good at defense and trying to anticipate passes and ties up the ball for jump balls. I can already see improvement from their first game so that's good. That's what we need to focus on.

Upward BB 39-28

(Sorry, Blogger isn't in the mood for paragraphs tonight I guess!)
*************

Today was the first Saturday in months that Quinn didn't have basketball at 8am... which meant that Mom didn't need to be up early to take him either! Ahhh, finally, a day to sleep in. Nice idea huh? Didn't happen. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep! Don't you just hate that??

*************

Quinn had his Upward BB game today at 10am. He played really well and scored 17 points! Of course I didn't video this game, but I should have!! I told him afterwards that he did such a good job today. He said, "It was all because of my bladder!"... Apparently he had to go to the bathroom so bad that it gave him some extra zip, or speed, or special powers or something. Ha! Also what was funny is that we are the "Sooners" and we played the "Hawkeyes." On the way there he said, "I'm feeling sorry for Adam Huluska today because they're going down!" (Adam was from last season but who is paying that close attention from 2 states away right?).

*************

Madison wrote a book for the Young Author's Conference that was held this morning. It is called "Cocoa for Christmas" but unfortunately she just hasn't been feeling well and so we didn't get to go. She had a cold, sore throat, headache, and low grade fever earlier in the week. Towards the end of this week, she was feeling much better. Last night her eyes were red and weepy and it sure looked like she was getting pink eye. They looked much better this morning but she just wasn't quite over everything so she stayed home. She was disappointed because "I worked really hard to finish my book this week." I told her we would ask a bunch of friends to read it, to help her feel better about missing out on the conference. She had been looking forward to going for some time now but that's how it goes sometimes doesn't it? Yesterday she was putting the finishing touches on her book and she said, "I really like to be busy." I said, "Well, I'm glad, because you sure are!"

*****************

We are supposed to get rain and then ice tonight followed by 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow night. I love the winter but it is starting to get a little on the long side, even for me. Take care everyone... and stay warm.

Happy Valentine's Day

"The best ever" pancakes for breakfast.

Webkinz and chocolate.

Flowers from Tony.

Cookies from Karla.

Cocoa stealing a Valentine sucker (she actually put it in her mouth like a kid...and RAN thru the house with it...GASP!)

Phone calls to loved ones.

Valentine parties at school.

Sharing my love. Feeling loved.

****************************

Remembering the ultimate demonstration of love... Christ preparing Himself for the cross during these 40 days before Easter...Himself wondering if He could go thru with such an agonizing act...gave His life just for me. And You. Overwelmed with His love.

Indescribable!

This is for Terry, Tine, Monty and Allison today! You are in our thought and our prayers!
We love you guys!

Caution! Not suitable for climbing!

This was a cute little calendar that Eliza gave me to use during 2007. I just noticed the all capital letters on the back... in case someone was considering using the keychain clip for rock climbing or something. Evidence of our litigenous crazy society! HA!

Drop It!

This is one of the games that Cocoa can play endlessly. She races off with a well-known object that is a "No-No" and flies around the furniture, tempting us to just try and catch her. Here she has one of my mittens in her mouth. We've gone to some pretty extreme antics to catch her. The kids laughed as I even tried diving across the floor for her... only to have her slip through my hands. Addi would like a hidden camera to see all of it. I don't think so. Honestly, we would be pretty boring except for some of Cocoa's Cookiness. (Try to say that fast 10 times!).

Mr. Hustle.....AND.....Mr. Workhorse

Wow! Quinn was quite delighted today at his CDBL Awards ceremony! His coach chose him to receive the "Mr. Hustle" award for their team. That was quite a big honor and we were so proud of him. Imagine our surprise when the announcer was ready to present the very last award of the day. He proceeded to say that this was the highest award you could possibly win today... "Mr. Workhorse" would be awarded to the player who improved the most over the season. He talked it up quite a bit, adding to the suspense of the moment. Our Quinn won! We were shocked!..and Quinn was quite delighted! He got a hand-made wooden trophy with his name engraved on it and a CDBL t-shirt that says "Workhorse" on the back. There were many awards given. Nate received a "Mr. Basketball" award and also got a wooden trophy. They took a picture for the newspaper. Practicing good Internet safety, I've whited out the last names on the awards but if you double click, you can probably get a better look at it. His team played their last game. We barely won, 32-30. What a good morning for him!

3rd grade Presidential Race, Part 2

Well, Quinn came in the door this afternoon with a BIG smile on his face. No, he didn't win today... BUT the president (Benjamin) and vice-president (Nate) have already hired him on the side to be their Body Guard and if needed, their Lawyer! He was pretty excited about that! He said that there was a 3 way tie for the Secretary position and he was one of them. The class had a re-vote and he lost. He said he got an A+ on his project, his speech went "very good" and overall he seems pretty happy with his new Body Guard role and how the day went! That's my Quinner. There aren't enough words to describe how much I love him!

3rd Grade Presidential Race, Part 1

In the spirit of our nation's important election this year, Quinn's 3rd grade class had their own presidential race. Each student ran for president. They had to write a speech and present it to their classmates. They had to include information about themselves and their campaign promises. They also made posters. Quinn says, "Vote for Quinn. We all Win!" He gave a token to help the class remember his campaign promises... Hershey candybars wrapped with his 'Vote for Quinn' and his campaign promises. He also handed out fliers. Today was his big speech. He wanted to dress up for the occasion. Doesn't he look sharp in his tie? He wasn't sure how he was going to manage his PE class (volleyball) in that outfit. I wasn't either. Hope it went well! I've been thinking about him all day today. He told me he wasn't expecting to win but his personal goal was to get a good grade on the project. I think that was realistic thinking. He's a realist... like me!

I'll let you know how it went.

Indoor Soccer Tie, 5-5

The Flames didn't loose tonight! Yes! They tied.
Madison had 1 assist and actually scored a goal on a penalty shot. There were 5 girls making a wall in front of the goal and she kicked it hard and high enough that it sailed over their heads into the net. Cool! She is so much fun to watch. A dad from the other team came up to her after the game and shook her hand and told her "Good job, to the rocket in the back(field)".

She definetly has a passion for soccer!

Names for Cocoa...

Cocoa
Cocoa-puff
Cocoa-krisp
Coconut
Coke
Cokes
Coke-y
Puppers
No-No!... No-No-No!

2W, 2L

Today Madison and Quinn both had 1 win and 1 loss in their basketball games. Yes, it was another 4 games today, starting at 8am and then home around 3pm. I don't have any snapshot from Quinn's games today... I video taped them (or DVD'd them... or Memory Carded them... what do we call that process now?). Peyton fell and hurt her arm really bad in the first girls' game. I got it on video and when I went back and looked at it, it looks like she broke her arm!!! It was bad enough that Tony only needed to see it one time... no more, no thanks, once was quite enough. She went to the ER and it sounds like the preliminary x-rays show no break. I'm sooo thankful for that for her. She's just getting to the end of her swimming season. I'm serious, if I was a betting person, this arm was broke! Madison said she had a hard time concentrating after that injury. She felt all shaky and couldn't focus on what she was supposed to do. The rest of the day was spent running some errands with Madison... to the grocery store and shopping for a birthday gift.

Madison went to a birthday party tonight... a slumber party. It was Maddi J.'s Wild-n-Crazy birthday party. Check out below to see how she looked when we left.

Well, that's how I spent my Saturday. My house is a wreck but we enjoyed the games today.

Love, Leah

Weeee!

Ox Bow Park was the place to be this afternoon. We met Karla, Katie and Nathan there. We ended up seeing lots of people we know. Madison complained that we had to leave "so soon"... after 2 hours in the snow! My toes and 25 degree weather don't get along so well for that long. We came home and warmed up with hot cocoa. Yum!




I thought these 2 pictures of Katie and Nathan were so cute! The picture in the back is of Madison with Katie on her back, sailing down the hill, while it's still snowing!

My haiku

Too much snow. No school.
Falling, blowing, beautiful.
Hot cocoa, games, rest.

Indoor soccer

Another indoor soccer loss tonight, 3-7. We played the team that we previously lost 0-8 to so I guess we are doing better. They actually looked pretty good in the first half. At half-time is was 2-3. I guess we can't expect much when they really aren't practicing at all right now... just getting together for 1 hour to play. Indoor is very different from soccer outside. Madison got kicked in the ankle, to the side of her shin guard. She came home and put ice on it. She'll probably have a nice bruise. We've sure had lots of lessons in losing and how to be good sports about it all I guess.... (sigh).

Earthquake in the midwest?

Quinn ran into my bedroom the other night with this half-scared-to-death look on his face. "Something" was so loud and it vibrated the house so bad that it knocked some books off of his book shelf. ...The washing machine! OK, time to wave the white flag. We've put up with some abnormal vibration for some time now but why wait until the foundation of our house actually cracks right? Well, you see... we have Maytags. When we bought them, we felt like we were buying the best and expected to have them for decades, 3 to be exact. After all my mom and dad had their Maytag set for 30 years. Ours are still a young 14, so it can't be that bad right? Wrong. The look on the repair man's face was almost as bad as hearing that the school nurse was on the phone... "you're better off replacing it." After the initial shock and hearing myself sputtering something like... "30 years" and "14 years" and "You're telling me....?!" I've finally accepted the news. Old faithful needs to be buried. We've never had a problem with it in all 14 years but 7000+ (literally) loads later, we are told it's time to say good-bye.

Now, you might be thinking "what's the big deal?" However, those of you who know me well know that decisions like buying a major appliance (or a small camera... not to mention the agony of even bigger purchases) are HUGE to us!! We have to read all the Consumer Reports, read all the on-line reviews, compare stores for prices, talk to the sales people, our friends, our family and then go back to the Consumer Reports and start the process over again. We feel like somehow we are going to get ripped off in the end and spend too much money for a product that isn't worth it and make a bad decision.

Anyway, we've started the process. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I made a promise to Quinn.... no more late night laundry and so therefore, no more earthquakes either.

BTW... According to the Lowe's lady, most washing machines are made to last only EIGHT years now. Pathetic. (Insert big sigh)

2W, 2L

Four basketball games today! Quinn had CDBL and Upward and netted the wins. He does a good job of including others in his game. Some boys~ you know if they get the ball they are going to dribble and there will be a shot, no matter what. Quinn does a good job of passing the ball around. Today he tried so hard to get the ball to Tate, who hasn't scored this year (OK, may be he scored once?). Tate is a cutie. He would just pass the ball back to Quinn or another boy.

Madison's Sports Center team debuted today. They are the "Hot Dawgs" and in smaller print it says "Try to ketchup." They lost the first game 5-36 and the second game 10-26. Ouch. Actually it's about what we expected. The teams playing at the Sports Center come from all over. These teams are put together and coached by individuals (not a school or community based group). Today's teams were from South Bend and one from Wawasee... both about 45 minutes away. The teams that play here are for the girls who are "serious" about their sport. We knew that if we wanted our daughters to improve in this sport, they needed to play against players better than themselves. The elementary ball just didn't cut it. I'm excited to watch how they will improve. The girls said they had fun playing... Kiley even told me that it was "awesome"... so I guess we have a team with excellent sportsmanship. Ha!


Look at how much bigger the girl is that is guarding Madison (#2)!!

A special thanks to Nancy all the way in Kansas City who helped me with my header. I love you Nan! Wish you were here to help with this basketball team!

Playing Jocker with a puppy around

The kids and I played Jocker tonight. Cocoa felt left out because she had to be in her kennel. She would have those cards scattered all over and chewed them up if we let her out. Madison pulled her kennel right up to our game so she could be involved. I guess it did help. The pathetic whining and sad looks stopped. What has life come to??? : )

6 things that made me smile today...

1. Quinn woke me up by cuddling up to me and saying, "I think I would like a pancake today for breakfast because yours are the best!" He later added that my pancakes are "spectacular" and "awesome" and "spectacularly-awesome". I'll share my secret recipe with you another day.


2. Hearing Quinn's voice on WFRN after he called to request "Made to Love You" by Toby Mac. He was so nervous and told me, "I'm too shy... you do it!" It was his idea to call in and request a song so I refused. He finally decided to do it and did a good job! The DJ said, "I bet you're the one who rolls his window down and hangs your head out when this song comes on right?" Quinn said, "Yep"... ha! He loves this song!


3. Hearing Madison say that Abby's professor counted her as a student during his attendance taking this morning. Ha! She loved her time on campus. They stayed up until 1am watching movies and talking. She enjoyed campus and the information about Martin Luther King, Jr. today during chapel. She's tired but would go back in a second. Guess where she wants to go to college now?


4. Getting to take a 1/2 hour nap during the middle of the day. LOVE IT!

5. Watching Madison pick up Cocoa and love her, kiss her, hug her and tell her how much she loves her. Madison told me yesterday afternoon before dropping her off with Abby, "I'm sorry Mom, but I think I'm going to miss Cocoa more than you tonight." Move over Mom!!


6. Tony's "help" started today!!!!! "Help" has a name... Beverly; like Quinn proclaimed today at lunch, "This lady is going to change our lives!" Ha! I asked him what he meant and he said that this means Dad won't have to be at work so much!

Madison is off to college!

Abby invited Madison to come and stay overnight with her in the dorm at Bethel College. She was so excited about it!! That was so nice of Abby to invite her. Madison doesn't have school tomorrow and so she is going to go to Abby's first two classes with her at 8 and 9 and then to chapel at 10. I'll pick her up around 11am. They had plans of playing games and watching a DVD tonight. Abby has one roommate but used to have two so there is even an extra bed. I can't wait to hear about their adventures tomorrow!

CDBL Winners, 30-28

Quinn had basketball from 8-10 this morning. They played a game from 9-10 and we won a close one by 2 points. Quinn had some nice passes, an assist and 8 points.

Upward BB: Sooners 30-17

Today was the opening day for Upward Basketball. It was different without Madison playing in this league this year. She played for 4 years and will play at the Sports Center this year. Quinn's game was at noon. Tony is coaching and Quinn and Nate are on the same team. They had fun and their team looked really pretty good. Better than his CDBL team from this morning. After each game they receive a special colored star which will be ironed on to their t-shirts. Tony gives a different colored star to each player after the game. They sit in a circle and he tells the player things they did well and why they earned their colored star. Upward is big on "Everyone is a winner" and so this is one way to build up self-esteem with an adult complimenting them in front of their peers. Quinn was awarded the gold star today which is for good sportsmanship. He gave high-fives to his team mates after they scored, passed the ball well and encouraged other boys to shoot the ball... not always calling for the ball (which is what they often still do at this age). The players will get green stars to iron-on if they repeat their Bible verse. LOVE this program!!!!

Our team is the Sooners... there actually is a Hawkeye team and Quinn is all worried about playing the Hawkeyes already! Ha!

In other news, Cocoa went to the vet today for another routine check-up. She gained 2 1/2 pounds in 2 weeks! The doctor made several comments about how easy she seems to handle and what a happy puppy she looks to be, what a nice coat she has. It made her mommy (Madison) smile! She got vaccinated today for... something... can't remember. Ha! Can't remember the non-human names for vaccines I guess.

Notice Madison's sleeve in the picture above. It has some of her Upward stars on it from last year. I love how she doesn't mind wearing her Christianity on her sleeve. She said she told her whole class that her favorite Christmas gifts this year were her new puppy and her new Bible that has a nice carrying case too.

OK, that's all for tonight. Madison is making a recipe from her Cooking with Kids cookbook. I better go and check it out.

Love, Leah

Indoor Soccer

Madison had an indoor soccer game tonight. We have a nice indoor facility close by. She is playing with her Flames team. They lost, 1-3, but she played very well defensively and she felt good about it. Indoor is very different from outdoor soccer. They use the walls to their advantage and the ball has a much bigger bounce. They haven't been practicing for indoor soccer so I think they did a really good job. Last week was their first game and we lost 0-8. Much better tonight! They play 6 games, mostly on Wednesday nights.

Our entertainment

Addi had a special request today... "Can you update your blog tonight?... because it's been like 2-3 days now." Ha! I said that there wasn't really anything to talk about so I'll just post pictures of Cocoa. She bought in so here you go. Most of these pictures are of her when she is sleeping... because when she is awake she basically doesn't hold still long enough to have her picture taken.

She's been a lot of fun. We've had her 2 weeks now. We are learning her personality. She's very sweet and also playful as I imagine most pups are. She enjoys tearing around the circle with an off-limits item in her mouth, taunting us to catch her! The house training has good days and not-so-good days. Overall I think she is doing as well as can be expected for a pup. The kids just drip all over her... especially Madison. She is so good with her. They will be such good buds as they grow up together now. They both tell her how they love her so much and give her hugs and kisses. She isn't short on love I'll tell you. Tony thinks he is her favorite because he gets her out of her kennel late at night to play with her.

Anyway Addi, you've had something to read now. Post some more pictures of McGraw when you get a chance. She just adopted a sweet kitten and she named him after Oprah's star: DR. PHIL (McGraw)!!!! OK, just kidding, she named him after Tim McGraw... I guess he's some country singer or something. ; )

Good-night!

PS... the green patch blanket is straight from Goodwill...for like $2. It's a lap-blanket size which means it probably was used for someone in a wheelchair or someone who was sitting down most of the time. We thought it was perfect for a puppy and Madison liked the Concord colors as well. : )

CDBL Basketball

Happy Saturday! Today Quinn had his CDBL (Concord Developmental Basketball League) from 8-10am. They played a game from 9-10. His team won today, 17-8. He scored 9 points. It's fun to watch.

Quinn went to Nathan S.'s birthday party today... a football party. He wore his Vikings jersey. They went bowling and he had a good time. Madison is at Mackenzie H.'s (from Flames Soccer) birthday party tonight. She invited a couple of girls to go ice skating and then she is staying overnight. I wish I could see her ice skating... and I hope she doesn't break anything! She'll probably be extra tired tomorrow in church.

Tony worked until 11pm last night and so is taking today "off"... he has gotten a few things done around the house and is spending time working in his office tonight. We have a congregational meeting tomorrow after church so he is putting together his last financial report. (!)

I've done a little running kids around today, laundry, made homemade pizza, watched Cocoa and even snuck in a short nap. Madison and I tried to do a craft project today... we tried putting "rub-on transfers" onto a jar to make a treat jar for Cocoa but for some reason we can't get them to transfer. We are following the simple directions so may be the transfer is defective. I don't know. Nothing is ever easy.

Well, that was our day. Hope you've had a good day too.
Love, Leah



Using his "bad hand" as he calls it...

Quinn making a free throw.

Look at that form!

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

The good news is that Addi's 92 year old boyfriend played 2 songs on his harmonica for us today... because I gave him samples of medicine. He played my request of Amazing Grace and then a song called, "When are you too Old to Dream?" or something like that. How sweet is that? He's been playing since he was a kid. That's a mighty long time.

The bad news is that one of my patients I've had for 6 years now was diagnosed with a brain tumor today and was transferred to a hospital in Fort Wayne for possible surgery/chemo/radiation. His horrible headache was my challenge to control over the last 24 hours and basically has been in excruciating pain. Poor prognosis is my guess. I keep thinking about him today. So sad, only in his 50's... very hard working guy, super nice.

The ugly news is that I spent about 3 hours cleaning up water in our basement tonight because our sump pump's float isn't working (as diagnosed by Dr. Ed V.) and we've had tons of snow/rain and the ground is saturated with standing water. Cocoa had potty and poo accidents, Madison had trouble with wheezing/chest pain and needed inhaler treatment. Tony picked a good time to be out of town for work huh?

My back aches and I'm going to bed!

Monday morning...

Today my day started out by finding flowers and a really nice card on my desk... which I quickly discovered was from a very challenging patient whom Addi snuck onto my schedule as the first patient on a Monday morning after a holiday week when Dr. Poovendran is gone. You get the idea? Ok, may be it was Randa. Neither one will probably ever admit to it. I've told my family some general information about this patient before... like the first several visits he would give me a hug at the end, because he is so appreciative of my care. That's OK the very first time, may be... but after each visit? No. So I've found creative ways to avoid that. Even Tony was trying to give me pointers about how to get a handshake instead. It's weird. He comes with his wife and she's with him the whole time. They are my age or younger. He's had the run around at many an office and he truly does appreciate my care... but please don't keep hugging me. So I was telling Madison about the flowers and card and she asked me, "What's next?... a heart shaped box of chocolate with 'I love you' on the box, next to a teddy bear?" Boy she loved teasing me about this let me tell you.

Speaking of boyfriends, I'm going to see Addi's boyfriend tomorrow. That's how she refers to him. He's about 99 years old give-or-take-a-year and just as cute as can be. He can't remember a thing. He was supposed to call me back with a doseage of medication and he called back and left this essay long list about the Tylenol and Advil he takes. ha!

She at least got the cute one.

: )

Christmas break...

...officially has come to an end. We played a lot of games over the last 2 weeks. Lately we've been playing Jocker (aka Golf) with cards at home and tonight we even got in a game of Scrabble. Madison won big time by getting to play her Z and Q letters. The kids aren't really looking forward to going back to school yet. I'm not looking forward to helping with the homework again. It's been a great break for them. They both had these vague stomach complaints today, which is translated by this NP as not wanting to go back to school tomorrow! They'll be fine once they get there. Routine is good for you but a break from it is also refreshing. My day tomorrow promises to be busy. You all know how I love Mondays. Dr. P is still on vacation (2 1/2 weeks) so I'll be extra busy. That's OK... my day will go fast! : )

With warm holiday memories,
Love, Leah

A few of my favorite things...

A while back someone challenged me to do a post on "A few of my favorite things," so here goes.



Center: This is a cross stitched picture that I made the first year we were married. I loved the saying on it and still do... "I hear footsteps down the hall, you are home again and safe, all the burdens of the day are lightened, and all the night noises are music to my ears." Tony was working in public accounting then and was getting home very late at night. Who would have guessed that this saying is still applicable 17 years later. And yes, I still have this picture hanging up.

11am: This is a set of bowls that Amy gave me. I love them! They have a rubber-type of "waistband" and fold flat for storage. The best part though is that you can wash them while flat in the dishwasher and they still get clean. You know how your mixing bowls hog all the space in the dishwasher? Not any more! Love 'em!

Noon: My mom embroidered these pillowcases for me for Christmas this year. One reason they are so special is because she is not a crafty person... and she would be the first person to tell you this... and I don't think she's ever embroidered before (at least I can't remember it!). It took an extra special effort to get this gift to come together. She told me these pillowcases have been prayed over and that is perhaps the best gift of all. Look at how well they match my comforter. Thanks Mom!

1pm: This should make you laugh. This symbolizes both my BED and the HEATED mattress pad we got this winter! Ha! Tony tells me sometimes that I love my bed more than him. That's not true of course but I do love it an awful lot. I love to sleep. Last Spring we got a new bed and after we went from a warm water bed we noticed the shock of cold sheets every night. He came home with the heated mattress pad one night and now I love my bed even more!

3pm: A picture that Archie sketched of Madison, Quinn and Jade. Isn't it beautiful? What a gift he has! Such an awesome way to capture a moment in time of their childhoods. Already they look so different. I have this framed and on our fireplace mantel. I love it.so.much.

5pm: This little statue was given to me by my mom after we had to make some really, really tough decisions about where to send Quinn for childcare/school for his kindergarten year. This little figurine can still make me cry if I let it! It is such a reminder of God's care during a rough time in life.

6pm: I have a few Precious Moments figurines that have always been special too. (I really am not much of a nick-knack person but I guess that's pretty much what these last two things are... I'm surprising myself...anyway...) Tony gave this to me on our first anniversary. We were pretty strapped for money at that time and this was quite the splurge and yes, it made me cry then. It doesn't have that control over me now but I still like it enough not to put it away.

7pm: This picture is a little hard to see. It's of Jenna, my Grandma and Madison as they celebrated their birthdays together. The little girls were celebrating their 8th and my grandma was celebrating her 90th. They had a Kim Possible party and wore party-hats, the whole thing. It was great fun and I'm so glad my kids have the blessing of knowing their great-grandmother.

9pm: Last but not least... I know I really should move these pictures, hang them upstairs or something... but I just love them as they preserve a snapshot in time when the kids were each 6months old. I loved the baby stages. Yes, I do have plans to move them upstairs... some day.

Putting together this post made me realize that most of these favorites are actually favorites because of the memories attached to them. I could come up with a bunch more but didn't really want to spend all day on this little project either.

So there you have it. Now just imagine Julie Andrews singing, "These are a few of my favorite things!"

How it all happened...

A lot of you have asked how the kids acted when they found out we were getting a dog... something they've asked regularly for for at least 2 years (especially Madison). I thought I would just post the pictures so you could see for yourself. One of these days when I figure out the video stuff you can see the short clip. I can't wait to look at it again myself. Here goes...

They know they are getting the same gift... but have no idea what it is!

Madison has this look of shock as her gift of dog treats and dog toys is processed. Quinn told me later that he was wondering why we gave him dog treats for Duchess... hmmm...he was thinking "that's weird."

Madison quickly fills Quinn in and he "gets it!" There was suddenly a lot of screaming and yelling.

They quickly dashed out of the picture! Quinn ran around the circle several times. Madison came and gave us big hugs. They couldn't believe it... they were seriously going to get a dog!

Madison right before she gave me the first of multiple big hugs!

Soon to take home the "best Christmas present ever!"

Happy New Year!

Today we spent the day at home with a near perfect day. The kids played in the huge amount of snow we've gotten. Tony helped them make an "igloo" which even has a "door" to keep them warm inside. We watched plenty of college football. We also made countless trips outside with Cocoa to keep up the house training. At first I wondered how this was going to go with all of the snow but Tony dug a path out for us and it actually went just fine....it's pretty chilly to go outside every hour but Madison did most of it today. Terry, Karla, Katie & Nathan stopped by for a bit this evening. They ended up taking Madison and Quinn home with them to stay overnight. They were already planning on spending the day with them tomorrow. I told them that will probably be the last time they stop by... they picked up 2 unexpected kids in the process! ha!

Enjoy the pictures. The picture in the top left is of our neighbor's house across the street. Everything looked so pretty with all the snow.