The Holidays

We had a very Merry Christmas. We had Christmas Eve at my house with my sister and her family and my mom. I made roast beef and we had potatoes, gravy, ham, cheese tray, etc... Had tons of left overs! Either we need to cook less food or have a bigger family! Guess we should cook less food.

Dakota says he had the best Christmas ever. He's only 10 remember. He got a ipod touch which he wanted sooooo very badly! Jordan got money from us since he's at that hard to buy for age. He went shopping and got what he wanted which was mostly clothes.

Speaking of Jordan, I have to brag for a minute. Jordan is a freshman in high school and plays basketball. He was playing strictly on the B team which was a joke. He has worked hard and managed to move up to the A team and become the starting point guard! We have been so proud of him. With high school sports comes a lot of "political" crap. Joel and I kept quiet and said nothing to the coach or other parents and Jordan has worked his butt off in practice to show the coach he has what it takes to be a starter and it's payed off for him.

Kota played a tournament in Bloomington over the weekend and did well but they didn't advance to the championship round. His normal travel team's league starts after the first of the year. He is on a really good team and loves to play for the Streator Heat!

Not sure what's planned for New Year's Eve but no matter what I do as long as I'm with the love of my life, Joel, and with my boys it will be a great night. Happy New Year to all! Here are some pics from Christmas 09.

Stolen Shoes

Once again Jordan got another thing stolen! He had his first high school basketball game last night and in the two hour time span someone stole his $115 shoes out of his locker! We bought them for him about a month ago as "practice" shoes so he didn't have to wear his "game" shoes to practice. The practice shoes where much more expensive than the game shoes and obviously another boy saw that and decided he would like to have them and not work for them or have his OWN PARENTS BUY THEM FOR HIM!!! I am so fed up with people stealing from us!!!

Joel went to the Dean of Students today to tell him about it cause his coach was useless in the matter. The Dean said he would let the police know and do some digging around of his own but I'm not holding my breath that they will be found or anything will get done.

Life

Life is going full force in our house. I have been so busy I think I meet myself coming and going. Basketball season hasn't officially started yet but I do spend a lot of time running Jordan to open gym time. Kota's season wasn't to start until January but I got a call this week from his coach and they are playing in a tournament this Sunday in Bloomington. The team hasn't even had one practice yet but I guess they will do okay just to play and have fun.

Jordan will begin his freshman basketball season very soon and I hope and pray things go well. I am praying he plays well, gets good playing time and listens to the coach and does what he says. Last year Jordan didn't care for his basketball coach so he had a few disagreements with him and that in turn infringed on his playing time! He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes. You might say....the child never talks but believe me when I say he will and does open his mouth when he wants to!

Kota again will play with the same travel team for the third year in a row. He loves this team and can't wait for his practices to begin. He will have the same coach he has for almost every sport and that is just fine with him. I have to say I am looking forward to his basketball season as well since I get to sit with my friend, Missy, and visit. This would be my social life!

Joel has finally been released by his Dr. to go back to regular duty at work. He has been on light duty and working in the office since January following his rotator cuff surgery. He is happy to be back and is getting some overtime FINALLY!!!! YEAH! Just in time for the holidays.

Oh, What a Day.......

The past two days have been........well........hard!  Jordan has been sick since Saturday with the flu and he's had the worst bloody nose known to man I think!  We have had him to the ER two times in the last 24 hrs. trying to get his nose to stop bleeding.  He was running a low grade fever since Saturday and had a cough.  His nose started bleeding (which we are used to) on Sunday afternoon and we could not get it to stop for nothing!  I preceded to take him to the ER where they clamped his nose, took blood, hooked him up to an IV, ran medicine thru the IV and diagnosed him with type "A" flu which they consider the swine flu at this point.  They got his nose to stop bleeding (thank the good Lord!) and released us with a prescription for Tamiflu and told us to "watch" him due to the sickle cell.  I called his Dr. on Monday and they wanted me to report in with them everyday until he is well and let them know how he's doing.  When the Dr's office called on Monday his nose was again in full fledged bleeding mode.  We once again could not get it to stop so the Dr's office told me we could take him to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat specialist) or take him back to the ER.  We once again headed to the ER to get his nose clamped and be sent home 2 hrs. later.  This visit will be a very expensive (how to clamp your son's nose properly) visit!  Anyway, he goes back to school tomorrow and now Joel is not feeling well.  I'm off now to Walgreens to a script for Tamiflu filled!  Hope everyone in your neck of the woods is well.

What's Been Goin On??????

Boy have I been busy! I'm in full time school teacher, soccer mom, busy wife mode! School has been keeping me busy every day but soccer has overtaken my life! LOL! I have time to post now since Jordan's freshman high school soccer season is officially over. They finished the season with I think 16 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties. It was a great season and Jordan had 7 goals. Not too bad for his first year of high school.

Kota plays his last soccer game this Saturday. It has been a horrible season for his team! They have only won 1 game! Kota has had a very good season individually though. His whole team has only scored 9 goals all season and Kota scored 4 of those. We are proud of him! He says he's not playing soccer next year. By the way, he's not a very gracious looser!

Since soccer is almost over that must mean only one thing...............BASKETBALL IS ALMOST HERE! That's right people...the favorite sport in our house! Kota will once again play on the travel basketball team and Jordan will play his freshman year of basketball. Jordan just brought home tonight the order form for team shoes. Thank God the school gets a break on the cost of the shoes. I know Kota will get good playing time on his team and I'm hoping Jordan does is well. We will just have to wait and see and pray for the best.

I took my class on a fieldtrip to the zoo last week and we had a blast. The photos below are of said trip.

The Inspiration to Get a Schnauzer....

Came from these two beautiful puppies! Their names are Buddy and Missy and they belong to our Pastors Chuck and Sharon. Pastors have always had mini schnauzers and when I saw them I loved how friendly and loving they are. I think the white ones are extra cute too. Buddy is the one on the left and is sleeping peacefully in own bed. Missy on the other hand is on the right and she would much rather snuggle with Buddy than sleep in her bed which you can see sits empty.

So to Pastors Chuck & Sharon, Buddy and Missy: Thank you for passing on the "Schnauzer Fever". If it weren't for you all we wouldn't have our Sunshine!

Happy 19th

It's been 19 yrs. since I married the love of my life. Joel is the rock that holds this family together. He treats me like a queen every day of my life........even on the days when I don't deserve it! I wouldn't want to walk thru this life with anyone but him. I love him more today than I did the day I married him. He makes this family work! Happy 19th Anniversary Honey. I love you!

Sunny loves her Daddy!

We took the Sunshine (our dog Sunny) to Jordan's last soccer game. We sat in the shade in our lawn chairs but as you can see Sunny prefers to sit on Joel's lap. She's loves her some Daddy!

They all Got the Message

That's right..........all my girlfriends got the message to dress in the same colors a couple of Fridays ago! Not really, but it sure looks like we arranged it that way. Jane, second from left, said we needed a picture so we all obliged.

Begging????

Who's begging??? I certainly don't seen any beggers here.....do you? She's sweet though! And cute!

What Not To Do At Your Son's Soccer Game

Ok, so Kota had an early soccer game today. It started at 9:00 am and he's not a morning person.
What this has to do with the story I have no idea other than he didn't play like himself the first half of the game because he was TIRED!!!

Toward the end of the game Kota collides with another boy on the field and they both go down to the ground. The coaches come out from both teams to check on them. Joel is sitting beside me and is ready to get up and go out on the field to check on him but I assure him Kota wouldn't want him out there so we stay in our chairs. I have learned one thing about my boys...........if they get hurt the last thing you do is run on to the field to check on them. So here we are being good parents sitting on the sidelines watching with all the other parents as the other boy gets up but Kota is still on the ground. We sit and wait and wait and wait. He doesn't get up but the coaches don't call us over so we keep our cool. Finally I've had all I can take and get up, take the long dreaded walk over to the other end of the field to check on my youngest and always precious son. As I get close to him he gets up, everyone starts to clap for him, I look at him and say like any loving mother would...."Are you ok?" He looks at me and between gritted teeth he says to me "Go sit down". He's not happy I have made the long walk and embarassed him. So I hang my head, cover my eyes and try to hurry off the field in hopes I haven't made a fool of myself. As I am walking in front of all the parents I tell them I have been ordered off the field by a 10 yr. old. They all clap for me now as I find my rightful seat on the sidelines, cover up with my blanket and try to blend in with the crowd. I told the coach from now on he will have to call me onto the field if Kota gets hurt cause I have learned my lesson!

Cubs Game

We went to the Cubs game last Saturday when they played the Pirates. The Cubs won 3-1 and it was my very first major league baseball game. It was my girlfriend, Lynette's, 40th birthday. She had no idea what she was doing that day or that 5 other couples were going with her. We met at the church at 8:15 in the morning and were on our way to Chicago. We sat in the bleachers half way down right under the scoreboard. It was sooooo hot!!!! I put on SPF 50 sunscreen 3 times in hopes of not getting burnt to a crisp and it worked! Not even a hint of sunburn at all! I guess if you reapply it every 80 min. like the directions say it really does work. I hate sunburns!!!! Here are some pics from the game.

Lucky's sandwich shop where Adam Richmond from Man vs.Food did a food challenge.


Centerfielder


Alfonso Soriano


Players warming up


View from bleachers


Ballpark Entrance

Look Mom!

The other night the boys took the little trampoline that Gramma Gloria gave them (I'll bet gramma never used it like this!) and started dunking the ball. I had to catch a few shots of my future NBA superstars! Here they are:

One Year Since Gastric Bypass

I went yesterday for my one year check up. I have lost 122 lbs. and feel so much better! I feel healthier than I have in years. I can climb stairs without struggling for breath. I can walk in the mall and not have sweat dripping down my lower back. I have the stamina to be gone all day and then come home and still do the chores and not feel like I need to sit down and die! I move so much easier! There is a spring in my step! Here are pictures to show you the progress:

Before:


Before:



AFTER!!!!!

It's So Quiet Here

Both my boys are gone so right now as I blog it's sooooo very quiet here! Almost eerily quiet. Strange quiet. Especially when it's so dark outside due to a rainy, stormy day. It looks almost "tornado" dark right now. Now on to where are the boys?????

Jordan has been at his cousin, Joey's, house since yesterday morning. He's eating at a restaurant right now then on his way home. Kota went camping with my brother in law and his wife and kids. Joel took him to his brother's house last night and they left today to go camping at the Wisconsin Dells. Kota will be home Sunday night. He was so excited to go. They just got a new camper and a new boat so Kota was ready to hit the pool and the lake to do all kinds of fun stuff. I know my two nephews, Isaiah and Gabriel, were looking forward to Dakota going with them. They love to play with Kota!

So for the next three days I will not have to listen to fighting, bickering, teasing, whining or anything that resembles a quarrel! Jordan will be at his wits end on who to tease and Kota will be in his glory without a big brother to tease him. I do have to say I miss them both like crazy! They bring so much joy to my life. Can't wait for Jordan to get home and give me some company. When I have them one on one with me they are great. It's together that they mix like oil and water at times.

And You thought Baseball was Over!

So did I but guess what???? We are still going strong. Kota is in his final tournament (I think and I hope) this week. He has played the last two nights an hour away and he plays again tonight. If we win tonight he plays either Thurs. night or Friday night. Then we're officially done!(I think and I hope).

Joel also has a concert Friday night. He plays in a band with his brother who is an Elvis impersonator. Joel plays guitar and sings.