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

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

It was a fun but tiring day.

Concord 28, Baugo 3

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

The Whirlwind Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another trip to Chesterton, IN

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

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

How we did...

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

>>>>>>>>

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

>>>>>>>>

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

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

>>>>>>

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

Good-night!

Cookies and Coffee Anyone?

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Leah

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

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

Grand Rapids Soccer Tournament

(Sorry, Blogger refuses paragraphs tonight!)

The girls' first game was at 9:30 this morning. They played a very good and FAST team from the Vardar-East soccer club. I still can't figure out what part of MI they were from. Anyway, we lost 0-3.

After the game the girls had a chance to walk around, watch some of the other teams etc... There were 16 teams just in our age group alone. A lot of the girls bought these soccer balls on an elastic rope that the tied around their waist. A great thing for eye/foot coordination. Madison couldn't leave hers alone. I told her to stop she wouldn't get worn out... still a full game to go. She told me "it's addicting, I just can't stop." Ha! Sounds like she'll use it a lot. They also got a little silly and made this pyramid...while the moms worried they would fall and hurt themselves... a silly sounding "soccer" injury.

The 3rd game was at noon against Alliance FC. They were the hosts of the tournament. We won 4-3 in a nail-bitter!!! The last 5 minutes took f-o-r-e-v-e-r because we were ahead and trying to defend. I'm sorry to be bragging all the time. Madison did a great job as captain, and gave good directions to her team on how to stall... and run the clock. Their coach isn't very verbal from the side lines so she did especially great without his directions I thought. The other team got multiple breaks from the refs. It was so tense that I got a bad headache afterwards... sometimes that happens to me. A let down of adrenaline I think.

They have some fancy way of scoring teams based on wins, goals scored, goals gave up etc... Out of 8 teams in our pool, we came in 2nd...and 3rd place out of 16 teams. The two 1st place teams in the two pools went to the championship game. We were really, really happy with that high of a place... especially for our first tournament like this. I honestly was afraid we would lose all 3 games so 2-1 was great!

We got home at 5:30 tonight. At bedtime tonight Madison asked me a question about church tomorrow. She had to pause and figure it out when I told her today was Sunday and that tomorrow was school! It did feel strange not to be in church on Sunday!

Last night she told me she couldn't wait for today to come... because "Number 1, I get to play soccer. Number 2, I get to buy a soccer ball (on the rope thing) and number 3, I get to play soccer!" She has a nice big bruise from an elbow she got in the upper arm and some sore feet but she went to bed smiling from ear to ear.

Whew!!! I didn't play even one minute, but I'm having sympathy fatigue for the girls myself!

Softball, Baseball, Soccer Tournament

Yesterday it was nearly 80 degrees but of course because it was Opening Day at the Little League fields, it was 45 with strong winds! It was FREEZING! What a cruel joke from mother nature! Madison had pictures at 8:15 and her first game at 9. Her team lost in the bottom of the last inning after they stole home after a ball got passed the catcher, 4-3. Bummer. Her team played pretty well for their first game though. Madison didn't have any errors while at 1st base and even caught a high pop fly. She struck out once and grounded out twice. Overall she played very well, considering the weather, lots more layers of clothing, the wind and her nerves. She was very nervous to bat against a fast pitcher.
Pictures, L to R:
Opening Ceremony and our friend Grant was the cub scout holding the flag.
Madison fouling a ball off.
Madison and Pakka on the field. Pakka was a base ump for 1 inning while Tony ran and got his pictures taken with Quinn's team.



Quinn's game was at noon. By now the heavy clouds were gone and every now and then the sun peaked out. It was still cold, but was better. Quinn's team scrimmaged for 3 innings. This was his first time to pitch and he did great! He said he wasn't nervous at all and really looked like he was having fun. Three different boys each pitched an inning. Quinn struck out 2 batters! He did so great! He also played 1st base. We were very proud of him. Nate pitched too and did a nice job as well.



After Quinn's game we traveled to Grand Rapids, MI to the Alliance FC Spring Invite soccer tournament. These were nice fields out in the middle of no where! The actual address was Lowell, MI but seriously, the closest town of Lowell was a 15 minute drive. This was the first tournament outside our league. I had no idea what to expect. Our U-11 girls played GREAT tonight! We played the Tri-City Strikers from Grand Haven, MI at 6pm and won 3-0. The girls were so excited. It was a great start to their tournament and a big confidence booster. Madison about took 2 girls out. Two of her kicks hit them so hard that they had to take a knee two different times (for an injured player, they take a knee). One of them was mostly drama and I caught Madison and a few close teammates trying not to snicker!


We had some starving girls to feed afterwards. We ate some wonderful Italian food afterwards. The girls got a little giddy. The pictures of Mariah D. and Kiley H. were taken by Madison.

Quinn and Grant were the only little brothers along for the weekend. They weren't quite sure what to do with all of these girls!

More weekend adventures to come!

Mid-Week

Last night we handed out all of the uniforms. Out of over 1000+ items ordered I only have a few things to fix yet (they sent a few pairs of wrong pants, some late shirts are coming). I would say that's pretty good.

The kids have had lots of practices lately and we are frankly all tired of practices...let the games begin! Softball/baseball starts on Saturday. Never in my life have I thought so much of Little League as this year. It's amazing that it takes year round work to pull off a season. I'm praying that Opening Day will all go very smoothly. Madison's team has never played a full game on Opening Day... usually just "exhibition games" on that day. She plays a full game at 9am. Say a prayer for her as she is still quite nervous when up to bat...ever since she got her tooth knocked out. She thinks she is going to play 1st base again and she's happy with that. Quinn plays an exhibition game at noon on Saturday. I've only been to one of his practices (since Tony is the coach) so I'm excited to see his team and how they do. Tony thinks they'll be pretty good.

I had a board meeting at church on Monday night, 6:30-9:30. We interviewed a person for our Outreach Pastor position. I think it went pretty well. We'll see...

Well, I've got 1 hour before I need to go do the pick-up from baseball/softball practice. I have a mountain of clean laundry that needs to be folded. I thought I would take 5 minutes out to say hello to all of you.

Love, Leah

U13 Flames game

Today was a busy day. Previously I spent 6-8 hours planning the worship service for this morning. It was a lot of work! I never imagined that it would take that much time! Anyway... the service was very nice I thought and it went smoothly....and I am glad it is over.

Right after church Madison and I picked up Holyn and took off for Fort Wayne. Madison agreed to be a substitute for Coach Todd's U13 team (girls 13 or under). This is a league two age levels up from the one she is used to... they play with 11 on the field (instead of 7) and on a MUCH bigger field.

This is the first season that these girls have played together... and most have never played club soccer. We actually scored the first goal and kept up really well until towards the end of the first half, we went into half-time 1-4. They got creamed in the second half and lost 1-9. Madison played probably 2/3 of the game which was more than we expected. She had fun... even against girls much bigger than her.

Quinn played this afternoon too. Tony said he was still more timid than usual but played better. They tied against the Jr. Irish, 1-1. I wish I could have been there too.

We got back into town about 5:30 and met Tony & Quinn at B&P's for homemade pizza and icecream for dessert. We got home about 8:30. It was a good but long day.

One question for you... Where in the world did this weekend go?!

Quinn's Quips

While taking a shower, Quinn said to me...

"Mom, I think that it's really good that we have central nervous systems and everything, but in a way, it might be better if we didn't have any nerves at all."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, because if you cut your leg off, it wouldn't even hurt."

I tried to give him the mini-symposium about how pain is also a protective mechanism etc... but I think I lost him.

Flames, records both 0-1

Today kicked off the Spring soccer season for the Flames teams. Madison's U11 team played at 9am. They played pretty well... it was a better start than last year. They lost to the South Bend Invaders, 1-0. The only goal that got by was a ball that was wet with dew and it rolled right between our goalie's legs. Painful to watch. Poor thing. Madison told me that she encouraged Kiley to just laugh about it... they both knew that was an easy one that she normally would always have gotten. I was proud of her for encouraging her and not getting down on her.



Quinn's game followed at 11am. This is their coach's first season with this team. He is the high school boys soccer coach. He seems like a nice guy. Just have to figure out how to get 8 & 9 year olds functioning as a team, instead of teenagers! Quinn was quite nervous and didn't play his best. He was quite tentative which isn't his usual. He wasn't jumping into the action like usual... playing it "too safe" I think...trying to not make a mistake. First time jitters. He has only had 2 practices with this coach, so what can you expect? His team lost to the Goshen Stars, 1-4. One of his teammates accidentally scored on our own goal. Wrong place at the wrong time and your body is the thing that redirected it in. (Thankfully it wasn't Quinn though!). Madison has had that happen to her. It will be fun to watch this team change, grow and improve. They are playing U10 (under 10) and the "gold" division... which is harder than the division they played in last year.

Traveling Light

Heather stayed overnight on Friday night and will again Monday night. Her dad is working out of town right now and her mom works the night shift at the hospital. Jennifer walked her over after Heather "packed." This is what she brought! I had to laugh. Max Lucado's book, "Traveling Light" popped into my head. What a cutie. (No, Madison is not standing on her tip-toes).

Earthquake in Indiana

I'm sure most of you have heard that we had an earthquake this morning at 5:37am EST. I missed it by 8 minutes! My alarm went off at 5:45. Shucks. Madison however, felt it. She said she was up going to the bathroom at that time. I asked her what happened, she said she was sitting on the toilet and their toothbrushes started rattling in their holders and the water splashed her on the bottom. I laughed so hard! I asked her what she thought had happened... she said she was so tired, she really didn't think much about it, and went back to bed. Ha! How can you get splashed by cold water on the bottom and not wonder what happened? Anyway, her teacher was quite excited by the whole thing. She noticed it too. They went to a web site and registered what they were doing when it happened... and she made sure Madison registered her unique experience too. She'll have some interesting memories of her first (and hopefully last) earthquake! : )

Mid-week post... at the end of the week

Seriously, last night after I went to bed I thought, "Boy, I really should post a mid-week note to my blog soon"... viola' it is already Friday night. AND THEN... I got this harassing email from my Mom today at work telling me that Cheryl and Addi get all the information and BTW where have I been?!?!?!

Here are a few words to explain my week.

679 little league uniforms
8 different sports practices

6 hours of planning this Sunday's church service

3 major softball teams to organize

4 days of work for pay

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

Memories made... priceless.

(And I'm not implying that they are all good memories!)

First three soccer games of the season this weekend... watch for the ESPN Sports report.

The long road home

It took us 11 hours to get home. The kids traveled great. We got home at 10 tonight.

Interesting things we learned/saw while gone...

Matt & Lisa can drive past 41 (literally) signs for the Meramac Caverns and not notice one of them.

We saw buffalo, emu, long-horned cattle, a fox and coyote (ok, these last two were road kill) along the way...well, some of us saw them... one van did not.

Madison can some how find the accidental way to get her long hair caught in the cooler's running fan. We thought about leaving her little head plastered to the lid of the cooler for awhile... but Mom gave in and climbed into the back with her to cut her hair out.

We saw a crazy person riding their bike along the interstate (well, some of us saw it).

Madison and Dylan counted 31 Mustang cars while on the trip.

We already knew that Matt & Lisa were super great friends and so easy to get along with. We had a GREAT time traveling with you guys!

Cocoa had a successful week as well. She had her "fixed" surgery on Friday. Karla picked her up yesterday morning and had her waiting for us at home when we arrived. (Thanks Karla!). We were all happy to see her (OK, and Tigger too).

Our last day in Branson

We spent our morning playing ping-pong at the Activity Center


and pool too...

In the afternoon, the guys and kids threw in some more laser tag and went to see the movie, "Nim's Island" while Lisa and I did a little more shopping at the Tanger Outlets. We made a taco meal for supper and then it was back to the Activity Center for swimming and Euchre...



and then back to the condo for Jocker, cookies and icecream.



The week went really fast. We are getting ready to take home lots of good memories of Spring Break 2008.

Silver Dollar City

Today we went to Silver Dollar City. We've been watching the weather all week, trying to decide what day would be the best weather-day to go. It turned out to be beautiful, in the 70's and sunny so we were thankful for the right choice. We spent almost 7 hours here. The park usually has 20-30,000 per day. Today their count was 1,020. We basically had the park to ourselves. There was never a line and on most of the roller coasters, they let us stay on and keep riding and riding. At one time Tony and Brock were in the front car and Quinn and I were in the last car... with no one in between. Eventually 3 of us got tired out and Quinn was the only one on the whole ride! We definitely got our money's worth. We went to the Chinese Acrobat Show as well was the Irish Dancers. The kids weren't into the shows as much but tolerated them for the 30 minutes each. We went to Mazzio's Pizza for supper, then it was back to the condos for ice cream and warm cookies, swimming and euchre, melting into bed about 11:30. Tony hasn't worn his watch all week on purpose... not wanting to live by the time like we usually do. Hope your weeks are going well too.

Dixie Stampede

The Dixie Stampede has definitely been one of the biggest highlights of the trip. The kids loved it and is was especially fun because Matt and Lisa were chosen out of the audience to do some "barrel-racing." They told the guys to run to the horse that they wanted to ride. As soon as they got to the real horses, they had them stop and said "not those horses... THESE horses" and showed them the stick horses. They won the race! It was hilarious and fun! Brock was yelling at the top of his lungs... "That's my mom and dad and they are going to win!" It was so cute. They got medals to keep. We didn't know that we would be hanging out with such famous and talented people! : )

More of Dixie

Just a few more pictures of Dixie for you. We came back to the condos and some of the kids went swimming, some played video games and Lisa and I got smoked in Euchre by the guys. We are staying up late and sleeping in. Our sleep is going to be all off schedule but we sure are having a fun time!

Ripley's Believe it or Not

Lots of unusual things... they had hundreds and hundreds of these nail aprons with the company's name on it. We looked for Kalona Lumber but didn't find one. The kids enjoyed looking at all the unusual things. The picture in the top right hand corner is the vacuum cleaner designed for the Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang movie... a favorite in our house.

Catch Phrase

This morning Matt & Lisa went and sat through the Fairfield/Wyndam time share talk. We played Catch Phrase with the kids for an hour and then watched a movie. It's rainy and over cast today.

Highlights from Tuesday

Happy Birthday Karla! Hope you had a wonderful birthday in DC! I've never been on vacation on my birthday... I'm sure that puts a different spin on things.

Today Lisa and I went shopping to some of the outlet stores here. We found Crocs for the kids for $20 a pair. That was our biggest bargain. Guess what? I ran into Myrna who used to work at the CCC at GGH in the Croc Store. It really is a small world isn't it? It's so weird to run into people... 10 hours from home! I wonder who else is wandering around here from our area.

The guys took the kids to play laser tag while we shopped. They had fun and were all a buzz about their scores etc... That was the first time for our kids so they really enjoyed it. Lisa made us a sloppy joe dinner for supper and then we went to the Hamner-Barber magician/ventriloquist show. It was very funny. I don't know that it was the MUST SEE as was advertised to us but we all enjoyed it. Quinn was chosen out of the audience to receive one of two DVD's that they gave out. I think it was the 3rd-grade-arm-waving-with-the-correct-answer type of thing that sold him. He was quite delighted about that and stood in line after the show so that they could autograph it for him. We stopped at Sonic on the way home. It was a day with very few pictures taken. Cameras weren't allowed at the Hamner show and of course laser tag is in the dark so you'll just have to use your imagination today.

The weather was rainy and cool today...and looks like more of the same is predicted for the rest of the week. The kids have spent quite a bit of time at the activity center... swimming, playing basketball, ping-pong etc... They certainly haven't been bored.

Today (Wed) we are planning on going to Ripley's Believe it or Not and then our family of 4 is going to the Dixie Stampede tonight. Yahoo! More adventures to come...

Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf

(As usual, double click on pictures for a close-up look).

The afternoon was perfect for 18 rounds of putt-putt. This pirate's cove place was super neat. The flowers were gorgeous as were the water falls. I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep and I realized that I never even heard what my score was. Quinn was quite concerned for me... I'm sure he didn't want me to lose. Ha! There were several holes in one (not by me). You'll never believe this... we actually ran into one of the Ox Bow teachers and her family here at this Putt-Putt place. See... may be Branson really is a hot-spot for Spring Breakers. : )

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the condos... going on a walk, reading, watching the NCAA Championship game. We ate such a big late lunch that we really didn't need much more the rest of the whole day. The adults had dessert for supper (icecream and brownies)... hey, we can do that, we break rules for vacation! : )

Lambert's

We made it to Lambert's! We went at 2pm on a Monday and got right in! Are we clever or what? The food was delicious as advertised and the rolls melted in your mouth. The kids loved the rolls flying through the air. Most of the kids bought the big drink coolers as a souvenir. Madison chose the hat instead.

Wish you were here....

Fish Hatchery

We even managed to fit something educational into our trip. We went to the Fish Hatchery which is less than a mile from our resort. Highlights from this stop was seeing a 4 foot black snake when we went on a walk in the woods... enough to make Quinn declare that "I'm never coming to Missouri again!" (Cheryl, thought of you down here in the holler). Of course we saw lots of fish and the kids fed handful after handful of fish food. We stood and watched some fishermen fly fishing for awhile. The weather cannot be any more perfect.

Just for Addi

Take some more insulin now....

Just for Dad!

One of my Dad's favorite TV channels. : )

Snap Shots

The flowers are gorgeous! This is a picture of our condo and of the kids eating supper tonight. I made a spaghetti dinner. Check out that blue sky behind Quinn. Awesome!

Wyndam Classic

Tonight was a 2 on 2 basketball tournament at the resort. Our group had 3 teams and there was 1 other group of two guys that showed up. It was great fun to watch. Quinn took it so seriously. He ran all the way back to our condo (a jaunt for little legs) to report that Madison had dropped off of their team and that it would now just be Dad and Quinn together...no subs. Madison and Lisa formed their own team. He wanted Tony to put on his shoes and come practice with him...and "are you going to be able to keep up with me Dad, because I'm going to run back too." (We take sports very seriously, can you tell?)

This is how the tournament came out.... (thanks for reading!)

Madison/Lisa vs. Tony/Quinn

Matt/Brock vs. Josh/Dylan

Young guys vs. Tony/Quinn

Young guys vs. Matt/Brock

Young guys were the champions

The Track

Today was a beautiful day in Branson. The sky matched this pool water color...not a cloud to be seen. As you can see we went and drove some go-carts this afternoon at The Track. The kids loved it! Quinn and Brock especially loved the bumper boats and were soaked afterwards. Quinn would not back off from squirting this poor girl out there. I was yelling at him, trying to get his attention but of course he couldn't hear me. He was relentless and laughing the whole time. He made us laugh! In Madison's competitive style, she made it a point to win as many races as she could. She was quite delighted when she finally over took Dylan in one close race, shortly after the middle picture was taken.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!... all the way from Branson. We hope you have a great today. I would post a picture but I don't have any of you on my laptop here. Here are some interesting things about my dad.

Ever since my brother won 4 lambs at the 4H fair, my dad has been a shepherd of a flock...every single year since, what do you think... since the early 80's?

My dad is retired but only because that is part of his age description. : ) He drives a school bus, takes care of his sheep, is restoring an old wooden wagon, cuts all their wood for their wood burning stove...and much more.

He has something that Quinn covets... "Grandpa has one and it's what I've wanted most in my whole life"... the pack of gum that shocks you when attempting to take out a stick!

Loves John Deere tractors, antique tractors and cars. He even drives his antique John Deere tractor in a local parade each year... just because it's fun.

Has been an active member of the local Optimist Club F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!

Likes to tell jokes... and likes to laugh at the jokes that he tells. : )

One of favorite memories of my dad is how he tucked me in bed when I was a kid. He would always pick up my feet and tuck the covers in snug around them and say "Good-night, don't let the bed bugs bite." That was our good-night typical saying in our house forever.

I love you Dad! Happy Birthday!

Our Condo

We finally checked into our condos last night at 8:30pm. They are right next door to each other. Tony called the front desk and reported something was wrong with Matt & Lisa's door bell. When you push the door bell button it buzzes so loud it sets off a bright flashing light on the fire alarm... alas, that's what it was supposed to do! Other than Matt & Lisa's being equipped for the hearing impaired... they are great! Ha! We quickly made the ruled of NO ringing their doorbell! for the kids! The guys took the kids swimming and Lisa and I went to "Jubilee" to get groceries. It felt good to melt into bed tonight. It feels wonderful to get off of our usual spinning world into a different one for a week!

Lambert's Cafe... almost!

We attempted to go to Lambert's Cafe when we got close to Branson. SOooo many people have told me about it. The "home of the throwed roll." There was an hour and 20 min. wait and we were tired and hungry so we opted to find something else. We borrowed a GPS for the trip and she was supposed to take us to Mazzio's Pizza (we didn't know that was a chain!) but took us in circles. We never did find it. We finally chose what was sitting in front of us... a Shoney's. The food was bad, the kids were complaining... something smelled really "fishy" about the whole thing when we walked in (literally). Some how we lucked upon the all you can eat seafood. Now for those of you that know us well... Tony and I do shrimp and that's it. Long story short, this was the sign that we should have seen annoucing this buffet but it was facing the opposite direction. We all decided that this was the last bad choice we were making for the week! How we got from Lambert's to an all you can eat seafood buffet, we aren't exactly sure. Nasty.

Baseball Game

Today we went to the St. Louis Cardinals vs Washington Nationals game in St. Louis (obviously). The Cards won 5-4. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day. It actually felt hot sitting in the sun but when we moved to the shade, it was too cool. Weird. We got to the brand new stadium (it's really nice) early. We bought tickets off the street from a guy who lied to us about every single thing he said but we ended up getting the tickets for $12 off the ticket price... Let's just say that the tickets weren't behind home plate and there were no free drinks through the first inning! Ha! I've learned at work that if people say "I'm not lying to you"... they usually are! We wanted cheap tickets and that's what they were... even if they were in the outfield, the highest level. The kids all brought their gloves to catch a foul ball. Check out Quinn's "ready position" to catch a ball up in the nose bleed section. Ha! We had a great time though. The kids got free t-shirts at the entrance. They got to do some batting in a cage and threw balls to measure their speed. The field is right downtown within walking distance of the arch. The flowers are starting to bloom here and the trees are budding already. There is Spring around the corner! (sorry about the center spacing... it has a mind of it's own today)

Spring Break 2008

I've been scurrying around this week, trying to get ready to leave for a week of vacation. We are all so ready for a break from the real world! This year we are headed to Branson, MO and are staying at the Mountain Vista Resort. Matt, Lisa, Josh, Dylan and Brock are going with us so that will help add to our fun. We've never been to Branson and have heard good things about it. It's not your usual spring break "destination hot spot" but we made our plans only a month ago so we'll take what we can get! ha! The weather is supposed to be in the 60's so that's a 20 degree improvement from Indiana. We are leaving tonight and planning on staying overnight east of St. Louis and may be going to a Cardinals game tomorrow. Cocoa is going to "doggy camp" as we've been calling it. She is going to be kenneled at our vet's office. Madison was already in tears last night at bedtime because "I miss Cokey" already...even though she was right downstairs. : ) Quinn asked me this morning if I thought they had "highly trained workers" at the vet's office, to you know, take good care of her. I told him that they don't come anymore highly trained than your own dog's doctor. He suggested that we "stop by Minnesota on our way and drop Cocoa off at Uncle AJ's and Aunt Bonnie's house" since Bonnie is a vet. A little out of the way so we'll just use our vet that's 1/2 mile away.

I'll be taking my laptop and will try to blog faithfully. Stay tuned... more adventures soon to come... and you know there certainly will be ADVENTURES!

Trip update

We left at 7:30 tonight... only about 2 hours later than planned. Tony thought he could be home by 5 but it was 7 instead. It actually worked out fine because Matt didn't get home until about that time any way. Tonya called to see how our trip was coming... we were sitting in the Wendy's drive-thru lane in front of Meijer's. Ha! All 5 minutes of the trip had gone great so far! We stayed in Highland, MO tonight. We got here at 2am and went straight to bed!

A less than perfect world

Madison asked me the other day, "Mom, why don't we live in a perfect world?"
I answered her by telling her that God gave humans the ability to choose... between right and wrong. When Adam and Eve made their first wrong choice in the garden, when they chose to disobey God, this was when sin entered the world. We live in a world with sin present and it will never be perfect on earth again.

She replied, "Well, way to go Adam and Eve!" and then... "Actually I'm kind of glad... because if they wouldn't have sinned we would all be walking around without any clothes on!"

*****************************
Last night Madison and Heather were sitting at our kitchen table working on their homework. I heard Madison say, "Did you know that if Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned that we would be sitting here naked right now?" They had to giggle about that... and then got all grossed out.

I love to listen to their conversations. : )

That was then...

(December 29, 2007) and 3 short months later...

This is now...

5 1/2 months old

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?