Where to begin?......

I have been a very, very bad blogger! I haven't posted a thing since August! You've got to be kidding me?! I'm busy but not THAT BUSY! We are in the last three weeks of the second quarter at school and if you're a teacher you know that means half the year is done! I have had such a wonderful school year thus far I can't imagine 2011 being better but I know it will be. My classroom is AWESOME! I MEAN AWESOME! I have 4th - 6th grade and have one other 2nd year teacher with me who is the BOMB plus 13 wonderful students. Life at Rhema Christian Academy is good and I mean GOOD!

Dakota is doing wonderful at our local junior high. His grades are very good and he is loving it. His basketball is in full swing and his is averaging 14.2 points per game. He and his best friend, Adam, are having a wonderful basketball season. My grandparents, who are both 85 by the way, have been to one game and are coming tomorrow to his game as well! I am blessed to have such vibrant, active and HEALTHY GRANDPARENTS! I hope this is a sign as to how long my own mother will live. I want her with me forever or until Jesus returns.....whichever comes first!

Jordan started a new medicine for sickle cell called, Hydroxyurea (sp), and he has been very healthy. That medicine helps his fetal hemaglobin raise which does not sickle and he hasn't had a sickle cell crisis since Sept! Yeah!!!!! He has a slight temp today but it has nothing to do with sickle cell so I am going to his basketball game in about 45 min. He didn't want to stay home and have me call him in sick. He's a serious ATHLETE!

We are in the full swing of winter sports at the Limberg household and I am loving it! Have a very blessed holiday season!

Baseball, Soccer & Sunburns

The beginning of the 2010-11 school year is in full swing at the Limberg house. Kota is in 6th grade this year and this is his first time going to public school. He is officially in Junior High! I am now the mom of a sophomore in high school and a junior higher! It's hard to believe but it is definitely true.

Kota loves school and baseball continues to be in full swing but with school ball and not little league. He is doing great playing on the 6th-7th grade team. He plays shortstop and pitches. He hit a triple and a double the other night at the ball field. Yesterday at the soccer field his team won 5-0 and he scored 1 goal. My grandparents were able to come to the game which was so nice. Joel is one of his soccer coaches along with Coach Brown who coaches him in almost every sport.

Kota's little league team placed 3rd in the state of Illinois which means they were in the top 36 kids in the state playing little league in the 10 and under age group. Not too bad when you think about it!

Jordan isn't playing soccer this fall. He wants to concentrate on basketball and said soccer requires way too much running. I don't blame him! Plus with the heat he gets tired so quickly!

So that's the baseball and soccer part of my post.....now for the sunburn. The noon sun at Kota's game yesterday got me good! I sat in it for only a little over and hour and I am fried to a crisp! I am feeling sick with the burn even. I will never sit in that sun without 80 SPF sunscreen! I hate sunburns!

Have a great week all!

Section 5 Champs!

Dakota's 10 yr old all star team did it again! They won sectionals and are going to play for the State title starting on Saturday. The team beat Manteno two times in championship games to advance for a run at state champs. State play starts Saturday afternoon. After the game the team is going to see a minor league baseball team and have dinner and then watch the fireworks. All of this is compliments of Little League Baseball! My mom is going with us and she has been to all of Kota's post season games minus one. We were talking on the way home from night 6 in Moline and I said Dad would have loved this! He would have bitched and complained about the long drive for 6 nights straight but he was such a baseball lover and watching Kota play would have been such a highlight to him. I still miss him everyday!

Kota has played some awesome post season ball coming into this tournament. His pitching has been better than great! His fielding has been superb (he fielded three ground balls hit to him at shortstop the other night to retire the inning) and his hitting has been wonderful. He can lay down a bunt like no other and he's super fast. I dare say he's the fastest one on the team. I could be wrong but he's one of the fastest!

We are looking forward to this weekend. The boys play Sat. afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night, off Tuesday, play Wed. night then if we end up with one of the two best records after playing Round Robin against the four other teams we play for championship State Title on Thursday night. At least with all the driving we will be doing it will be different scenery! This takes place in Evergreen Park, Il. I'm so sick of the drive to Moline! Staying home last night was such a treat. And Sunny loved having me home as well. She spent the whole night as close to me as possible! Which if you know her is very, very close! LOL!

This is the baseball season that never ends and I'm loving it!

Kota playing 3rd base.

Kota waiting for Section 5 pin.

Jordan and Kota with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Ellie.

Team huddle

Section 5 Banner

District 20 Champs!

Dakota's all star baseball team won the District 20 Championship. We head to Silvis, IL for regionals this weekend and if we win 2 games there we go on to play for State Champs. Here are pics from the game last week. Go Streator 10's!

Kota getting his pin.

Kota playing centerfield

Team photo with banner.

Knee Surgery

It seems like every summer I have surgery so it won't interfere with my school year. Last week I had knee surgery to fix torn cartilage that has been bothering me for over 4 yrs. now. It's something that started to hurt over time when I was at my heaviest. I was getting cortisone shots in it for the last 2 yrs. trying to hold off on getting surgery. I finally got the much needed surgery done and am on the road to recovery.

Jordan has been playing summer basketball thru the high school so that has been keeping me busy with running him back and forth to practices.

Kota's travel ball team is done. He has 2 more games with his city team and all stars starts on July 12th. He got picked for the All Star Team and we are so proud of him. He plays baseball so well and he loves it. I didn't go to his game tonight but Joel just called to tell me he hit a home run in the first inning! Yeah! Baseball is the sport that Kota loves most. His position is short stop and he plays that spot with determination and passion! I love watching him play!

My poor Sunny has been a nervous wreck this last month. She is deathly afraid of storms and going to the vet and getting groomed and she's had more than her share of fear to last her the rest of the year. When the tornado hit Streator we were not home and she was here by herself. My mom came to check on her and ended up staying for two hours until we got home. Mom said she was a shaking, nervous puppy. We have also had more than our share of thunderstorms. She shakes terrible and pants. I give her Benadryl but that doesn't even seem to help much anymore. I took her to the vet for her yearly shots and when I brought her home she was itching and scratching like crazy. She was a mess and couldn't relax. I called the vet and she said to bring her back cause she was having an allergic reaction to one of the vaccinations. She gave her a shot of cortisone and I gave her prednizone for a few days after. She is better now thank God! Then she had to go to the groomer and get all that fun stuff done so my poor baby has had a terrible summer this far!

That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of June cause it's almost over. The 4th of July will be here soon enough. And the fireworks will make Sunny scared as well!

Root Canal

After 4 visits to the dentist I still have not been able to do the second part of my root canal! I have been so full of infection and I'm on round 3 of antibotics! I have to go back Monday and have it cleaned out again then hopefully in 2 wks I will be able to get it finished! This has been a nightmare that actually gave me nightmares about losing my teeth!!

Summertime and the living is Easy.....

It's official! I'm on summer vacation. For the next 12 weeks it's sleeping in, sun, baseball and good times! I love being off with my boys in the summer. I am free to run them here, there and everywhere! This will be the last summer for only 2 drivers in the family. Jordan will get his permit in Aug. and then be able to get his license next May! Oh my.....a whole new set of worries to consider. I will be happy to not have to run him all over God's green earth though. I'm not gonna lie!

Kota is almost done with travel baseball. He played last weekend and they won first place in the Gold Glove Tournament in Champaign. He played awesome baseball and even had the other coaches talking about him. Joel and I were beaming with pride. So blessed to have him for my son!

Jordan is playing basketball thru the high school in a summer league. He will play two times a week. It was invite only by the coaches and he did get invited to be in it. Again, so proud of him as well! He says he's not gonna play soccer this fall. He wants to play basketball in a league an hour a way from here. We'll see how that pans out.

Took Sunny to the vet today. She was a nervous mess when she got home. Between the thunder storm last night and the vet today she's wiped out. She was running around, rubbing her her head on the couch and acting like a crazy dog when she got home from the vet. I gave her benadryl and she's finally calmed down and is sleeping! Thank God! Poor thing :(

My new favorite spot

Well, it's been such a long time since I last blogged. Where to begin?! I'll start where I left off:

Jordan turned 15 at the end of Feb. He finished up his freshman year in basketball with a great season! We are so proud of him. He continues to grow at a super fast rate. He's had a few bouts with sickle cell pain which is uncommon for him to have so many so close together but sickle cell has it's own time table. Much to our dismay! He has brought his grades up in the two subjects he was struggling in! Much to our DELIGHT!!!

As for Kota....he made that awesome game winning shot and finished his travel basketball league with 3rd place out of 8 teams. The neat thing about that is his team consisted of all 5th graders and they played in a 5th-6th grade league so they played against teams that had mostly 6th graders. I am a believer that if you play kids older than you it only makes you a better player and that held true for Kota's team! And Kota!

We went away on Easter weekend and stayed two nights in Chicago. We shopped at Water Tower place and I went in the Coach store. We ate lunch at the ESPN Zone (Jordan's pick) and the boys played for about 3-4 hrs. When we left the rain had stopped and we walked the Magnificent Mile and I went into the Coach store there too. Actually, if the truth be told I browsed at every Coach store/dept in every store that carried Coach products. I am a Coach addict and see no reason for rehab! LOL!

For supper on Friday night we ate at The Melting Pot and we all hated the main course of cooking your mean in broth at your table! The fondue was not the best tasting stuff either. Needless to say, this was my pick of restaurants and Joel and the boys were not liking it at all. They teased me the entire meal and I kept telling them I was sorry. I felt somewhat redeemed when dessert came and it was melted chocolate that we dipped strawberries, sponge cake, rice crispy treats, ect....and it was AWESOME!!!! The meal was very expensive for having to "cook" it yourself.

For supper Saturday night we ate at Harry Carey's which was right across the street from our hotel. It was very good, but OMG on the prices!!!! There's something to be said for small town living and eating out. We don't have as many choices as city folks due but the prices are so much cheaper.

Yesterday (Wed.) Jordan had an ortho appt. and I made a dentist appt too cause I've been having a problem with a tooth hurting all the way up by my nose. The dentist took an xray, said it looked normal but with my symptoms he could tell I needed a root canal. He did part 1 of the canal yesterday right on the spot and I go back on Apr. 21st for him to finish. I was full of infection and the roots of the tooth were dead. He put me medicine and sent me on my way to try and each lunch with a numb face (right side) all the way to my bottom eyelid.

Sunny stayed with my boss/friend. He said she was very good and he enjoyed it a lot. I'm so happy she was good for him. She has been stuck to me like glue since I picked her up but she's afraid I'm gonna leave again.

Kota started travel baseball practice last week and his inner city team practice started this week. His coaches for the Streator Little League are both 19 yrs. old and just graduated for high school last spring. I think they will be good but hope they can handle any discipline problems that may occur.

Now onto telling you about my "favorite spot". If you've read my blog at all you might know I have an over sized green chair with matching ottoman that I sit in in the living room. In my family room we got rid of the love seat that was broken. It was a recliner that the boys broke my jumping over the back of it when coming into the family room and the back of the love seat was permanently in the reclining position. We bought a new tan recliner and end table and the room is so much better. I know love to sit in this room and watch TV and recline with my feet up. I just love my home and love being home! Now if only the kids were quiet I would be one relaxed, happy momma! I guess I have the rest of my life for peace and quiet cause all too soon the boys will be gone and I will long for the days full of chaos!

Hope you all enjoyed Resurrection Sunday! So glad it's spring!

Jordan is 15

I can't believe it's been 15 yrs. since we brought that precious baby home and named Jordan. Time slips away so fast and before you know it they are ready to move out. I do admit some days are quite long when the boys are fighting but that's normal....at least it's normal at my house.

One more year and he will have his driver's license and then a whole new set of worries begin. We had his birthday party a week late since Kota was in a basketball tournament. Family came over on Sat. night and we had food, cake, ice cream and fellowship with one another.

Jordan, I love you with all my heart and it's a privilege to be your mom!

One Proud Mama

I have been so lax in posting lately. The basketball season is coming to a close and baseball is getting started. Jordan isn't playing baseball this spring/summer but Kota is making up for it. He's on a travel team AND the city league. He will play every weekend on the travel team plus play Streator Little League during the week. I am so glad I only have two children......I wouldn't be able to handle any more than that!!!!

Kota made the game winning shot this weekend on his travel basketball team. With 1.9 seconds left on the clock and down by two points the play the coach called for was to inbound the ball to Kota and him to bomb it down to our basket. He made the half court shot and banked it in and we won by 1 pt since that was a 3 point shot! The gym erupted into cheers and it was amazing! Needless to say, Joel and I were very proud. Kota was flying high the rest of the day. He's such a great kid and I can't imagine my life without him. God has blessed me beyond measure when He gave me my two boys.

SNOW DAY!

It has been freezing cold in my neck of the woods! I mean freezing! I took Jordan to school yesterday and the thermometer in my van read -3. YIKES! And that was without the wind chill factor. Then we got dumped with a bunch of snow late last night into today. All area schools are closed so it's the first official SNOW DAY of the year!

I was up early to get the call that school was off then I had to text the other teachers and let them know. Then I laid back in my nice, cozy bed and checked facebook on my iphone and fell back asleep around 7:30. I should have stayed up when I got up at 6 but I didn't so therefore I slept in until.....I'm embarassed to say this but........um..........12:30PM! I know.....how could I sleep that late? I have no idea! It just happens! What can I say!

The nice surprise was when I did get up the boys had already shoveled the driveway, shoveled the perimeter of the front yard so Sunny has a path for the bathroom (that is Joel's idea...and believe it or not she actually sticks to the paths he shovels for her!) and were sipping hot chocolate at the kitchen table when I emerged from my master den. I told them Dad would be so happy with them, then they informed me they did it for ALLOWANCE! Guess they're both broke since they spent all their Christmas money so it's time to do work around the house and earn some dough $$$$. Joel will be happy non the less that they did do it and gladly give them their allowance. Now if only their rooms were clean!

Anyway, that's what's happening at my house right now. I hope if you had a snow day you enjoyed yours as well. I'm off to do some laundry! God Bless!