Christmas 2008

This year, Christmas was held at Mom's house in Laurens. CJ, the kids, and I went after I got off work on Christmas Eve. My sister, Jenny, along with her daughter, fiancee, and his children were also able to be there. And Derek even got the holiday off and was able to attend this "family function"!! We started out Christmas Eve with our annual tradition of chili and potato soup (it used to by oyster soup when Dad was alive! YUCK!!) with sandwiches and all the Christmas goodies. After the meal, we all sit around and pass out gifts to each other and take turns opening them. Zach's gift from us was an Xbox 360 and Brianna's gift was a Nintendo Wii. Both kids were extremely happy! After much eating and visiting, Jenny and Matt had to leave later that evening to get back home because Sydney was going to her dad's house on Christmas morning. After they left, we spent the next two hours trying to talk the kids into going to bed so Santa Claus could come!! I think we got everyone to bed and asleep by 12:30AM... hope Santa wasn't too mad!!!

I was actually the first one up on Christmas morning!! Not because of presents, but because I wanted to get a shower and get ready for church before everyone else started to awaken and fight for the bathroom!! I had just finished getting ready and had gone into the kitchen to start coffee and some breakfast when my Mom and Zach got up. And of course, Zach went in and woke Brianna up so they could see if Santa came or not! Santa learned a huge lesson many years ago when my sister and I were younger -- some children will wake up in the wee hours of morning and check for presents under the tree! Some certain children have even been known to take those presents and play with them before Mom and Dad even get up!! So now Santa always wraps the gifts he brings to our family members! This way they have to wait until Mom and Dad are up to start unwrapping and see what he brought them!! Well, after waking Brianna up, Zach and Brianna went and woke up the rest of the house so they could open their Santa presents. We have posted pics below!

After presents, we ate a quick breakfast and everyone got ready for the Christmas service. Going to church in Laurens is so different than in Sioux City... first being that in Laurens we can actually walk to church! Mom only lives two blocks away from it!! Secondly, the entire service was only about 35-40 minutes long! In Sioux City, a normal Sunday service lasts at least an hour and the Christmas Mass is even longer because of all the people attending and receiving Communion! The kids saw church in Laurens as a "plus"!! After church, we went home and started dinner -- pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and corn. Not to mention all the sweets sitting around for dessert!! Uncle Bill, my Mom's brother, came down with his two daughters and spent Christmas Day with us... eating, visiting, eating, playing out in the snow, eating... well, you get the idea!! We dreaded the idea of the day ending, because we knew we had to head back home. CJ and I both had to work the following day... Now we are looking forward to next year!! Happy Holidays, everyone!!

O' Christmas Tree!

Just posting a pic of our Christmas tree! We took the picture in the dark so the lights would turn out better!! Beautiful!!

Washington Elementary Christmas Concert 2008

Brianna's school held their annual Christmas concert on December 9th, 2008. The 3rd grade class got to sing four songs and then come back out at the end of the concert to sing the "Grand Finale" with all the other grades! Brianna and her class sang the following songs:

"Making Music"

"The Pinata Song"

"Old Man Winter"

"Peppermint Twist"

Once all the grades had performed their songs, then all the students came into the auditorium to sing the final song. It was called "It Starts With Me". The concert was wonderful and very easy to enjoy! I just love going to these concerts! The kids are young enough that they don't care about how they look or sound -- they just belt those tunes out!! When they get older and you go to their concerts, there are some kids who don't sing at all... or they sing so low and soft that you can't even see their lips moving!! These elementary years are the best... such a joy to watch... too bad the time passes so quickly! Next thing I know, I will be attending their graduations!!

Christmas Baking 2008

Brianna and I finally took advantage of a cold Sunday afternoon and stayed inside and baked Christmas cut-out cookies! They are a lot of work... making the dough, rolling it out, cutting, baking, frosting and decorating, cleaning up the mess... but Brianna loves doing it so much that I make sure we do it every year! We also made fudge, peanut blossoms, and candy cane Oreos dipped in white almond bark. I posted a picture of the Christmas cut-out cookies. Aren't they just beautiful??!

Future Cousins

My sister, Jenny, is getting married this coming summer to a wonderful guy named Matt!! Matt will be bringing three children into this union, which will double the "cousin total" from three to six!! Yea!!! I thought I would get a jumpstart on the family pics with them now before they get too big and we can't get them all together!! The picture is as follows:
Back Row - Alyssa and Zach
Front Row - Lucas, Noah, Sydney, and Brianna...

Two Nieces and an Uncle

It is very hard to get my brother together with all the members of the family, especially since he lives in Ames and is always working when we have our "family functions". (At least that is what he tells us!!) I have lots and lots of pics of Derek with my son, Zach, because Derek was younger back then and still lived at home with Mom and Dad. It is a lot harder to get a picture of him with my daughter, Brianna, and my niece, Sydney. Recently, all of us were home for our grandmother's funeral, so I snapped a pic and wanted to post it on here... Hopefully we can get more family pictures like this one in the future!

Major Snowstorm...

We have been getting snow for the past month... an inch or two here, half an inch there... then last Tuesday, we got 5.3 inches! As if that wasn't bad enough, we got another 7.5 inches three days later!!! December 19th was my day off from work... had plans to go and finish my Christmas shopping, etc. This was also the kids' last day of school before starting Christmas break. Needless to say, the kids started their break a day early and I had to find another time to do my shopping! Zach and I spent the whole day taking turns scooping snow! Brianna also called herself "helping"... if you can call playing in it "helping"!! I posted a couple pics of Brianna "helping" with the snow! C'mon everyone, sing along!: "I'm dreaming of a Whiiiiiiite Christmas..."!!!

East vs. LeMars

The Black Raiders took on LeMars -- this was the last game until after the Christmas break. Zach was unable to play due to his sprained ankle. The Black Raiders won the game 57-39... CJ and I missed most of it because Brianna also had a game at the same time! Posts on Brianna's game are coming soon!...

East vs. South Sioux City

The Black Raiders took on the South Sioux Cardinals last night, winning this game in overtime... 57 - 54. Way to go, Black Raiders! Zach did suffer his first injury of the season, though, with a sprained ankle. He was running down the court in overtime, when he tripped and fell. However, he did manage to score 10 points in this game! Good job, Zach! Hope the ankle heals soon!

East vs. North

Zach's team played another local school... this time it was the North Stars. This game was on December 8th during a snow storm! I thought for sure it would have been cancelled, but they never called it off...


The Black Raiders took another loss with this game... 57-39. North got off to a strong start and we let them get too far ahead. The Black Raiders did manage to come close to catching up by coming within 6 points, but were not able to hang on to it. Zach scored 4 points during this game and their season record is now 1-2.

Arlene Hoben Boblit 1917-2008

My grandma passed away on Friday, December 5, 2008. Her funeral was Monday, December 8, 2008. Though she slowly faded away from us due to Alzheimers, she lived a long and full life, reaching 91 years of age this past October.

Seeing all my cousins at the funeral and reminiscing about the past was a wonderful journey to take. Most of the memories come from having Christmases at Grandpa and Grandma's house each year! There were so many of us crammed into that house!! I can remember sitting on the stairsteps leading up to the upstairs bedrooms, just to have somewhere to sit!!! And we always opened presents in order of age, from youngest to oldest... with Grandpa and Grandma being the last ones to open their gifts.

One present most of us girl cousins remember getting from Grandma were the lacey nightgowns!! Apparently Grandma bought all of us these nightgowns because they were such a good price... never mind that some of us might have been too young to wear something so "womanly"!! I don't think Grandma realized how "grown up" these nightgowns were! They were like these little tops with matching panties, however, on some of us they went down to our ankles!!! I don't know about the others, but I do know that my sister and I loved ours! We wore them all the time!!!

Aunt Sharon gave a wonderful eulogy at the funeral... I never knew that Grandma was valedictorian of her graduating class, or that she had been named "May Queen" for FFA her senior year. She also talked of her memories growing up... I think I can speak for most of the cousins when I say that my memories of Grandma are lime Kool-Aid and her white salad bowl with the red polka-dots!! Anyone else remember these??!!

Rest in peace, Grandma... and tell Grandpa and Dad "hello" for me...

Happy Birthday, Jenny!!

My sister, Jenny, celebrated her birthday on December 7th!! She probably wouldn't like it if I posted her age on here, but she is younger than me!!! Happy Birthday, Jen!! Hope you have many more happy ones!!! Love ya!!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Sydney!

My niece, Sydney, had her 9th birthday on December 6th!! She celebrated with a bowling party and having Brianna spend the night!! Happy Birthday Syd!! We love you!!!

East vs. West

Zach had his second basketball game of the season on December 4th. They played another local school, the West Wolverines. The Black Raiders won this game... 65 - 34 and Zach scored six points with three lay-ups. I wasn't able to see this game, since Brianna had basketball practice at the same time as the game. Way to go, Black Raiders!!

Brianna Has Another Seizure

Brianna had a seizure last Monday night, December 1st. This is almost two years to the day from her first seizure. Her first seizure happened on December 6, 2006 -- she had just gone to bed and hadn't been sleeping for more than 20 minutes when she woke up and came running out to me in the kitchen before she started to seize. Scariest night of my life!! Later, she told me that she was scared because it felt like something was crawling all over her legs and she wanted to tell me. We took her to the hospital that night and they drew blood, took a urine sample, did a CAT scan... and found nothing wrong. She hadn't been sick or running a fever, either. We saw her pediatrician the next morning and she ordered and MRI and and EEG. The MRI was normal, but the EEG came back as "abnormal" so she scheduled an appointment for us with a pediatric nuerologist specialist at Children's Hospital in Omaha. We have been seeing him every six months since. He didn't want to put Brianna on medication because so many people will have one seizure and never have another one. We had another EEG done after one year, and those results came back normal. Now a year later, she has another seizure...

This second seizure also happened at bedtime. We had just come home from Zach's basketball game and she had a little snack and went to bed. It wasn't more than 15-20 minutes and CJ heard her crying, so he went to check on her. He found her seizing in her bed. This seizure didn't last as long as the first one, but was scary just the same! We didn't go to the hospital this time, but did call the pediatrician in the morning. She called the specialist in Omaha and another EEG was scheduled. The results came back as "abnormal" and since this is a second seizure, the specialist decided to put her on medicine. He has not labeled her with anything specific, only calling it a "seizure disorder" right now, but our pediatrician has told us that most likely she has "benign epilepsy"... benign in this case meaning that she should grow out of it when she gets older. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we have her on the medicine for our own peace of mind. We will keep you updated on her prognosis.

Zach's First Basketball Game

Zach had his first basketball game on December 1st. They played Hull-Western Christian -- a very good ball team. Zach's team, the Black Raiders, ended up losing this game... 45-35. Zach scored three points for his team (with a 3-point shot!). I am also posting a picture of Zach's freshman basketball team below:

Thanksgiving 2008

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated the blog... we have been a little busy, as you will see from all the posts!!

Thanksgiving was held at Mom's house this year, as it is just about every year. CJ, the kids and I were going, but my sister and her family were going to Matt's parent's. My brother, Derek, made it home this year! Mom also invited some of her siblings and their families, bringing the total number of guests for Thanksgiving guests for dinner to 13. I made two pumpkin pies and a cherry pie (Derek doesn't like pumpkin!) to take there.

CJ, the kids, and I left home on Wednesday night after work to drive to Laurens. Derek had to work in Ames that night and wouldn't be getting to Laurens until after midnight. CJ and I decided to go uptown and check out the "bar scene" -- see who was home for Thanksgiving and all that. We were still up there when Derek got into town, so he met us up at the bar close to 1AM. We had a few drinks and closed the bar down... then proceeded to go back to Mom's. Since Derek had just got home, he was far from ready to quit and go to bed! So we stayed up the whole morning drinking and talking in Mom's kitchen!! Mom got up to put the turkey in and we were still there! Hadn't even been to bed yet!!

At this point, I decided to lay down for an hour or two, so I could get up and help Mom in the kitchen. I maybe slept for an hour then got back up and got dressed and ready for Thanksgiving. When I went out to the kitchen, I had a headache, so I took some Advil and had some toast and tea. From here on out, I just felt worse as the morning went on!!! By the time some of the relatives were arriving (11AM!) I was doing everything I could to keep from getting sick!! Derek finally laid down shortly after 10AM, only to be woken up when the relatives started arriving. Everyone was having a good time at my expense (even Derek!)... making fun of me for feeling sick!! When we sat down to eat dinner, I just had a little bit of food... my aunt told me all I needed was some mashed potatoes with gravy and I would start feeling better. Not sure about this advice, but I did manage to get some of the potatoes down. Derek had a plate heaping full of food, but after a few bites, he was unable to eat! Miraculously, I did start to feel better and was able to have some salad and pie by the time the meal was finishing up!

I did help with dishes since I wasn't able to help make dinner, and I owe my Aunt Barb for "bailing me out" and helping Mom in the kitchen when she got there!! And I was able to enjoy all the food from dinner... that evening before we left for home!!

Needless to say, this Thanksgiving was quite memorable... just not quite the memory I wanted!!!

Brianna... The Math Whiz!!

Brianna was nominated by her teacher and selected to participate in an exciting extra-curricular opportunity-- Washington School's Math Club!! This Math Club consists of kids who are skilled at problem-solving, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension. Each of these student will participate in a national problem-solving program called Continental Mathematics League (CML). Students participate with other students of the same age and grade level across the United States! Once a month, from January through March, these students will participate in a "meet", which will consist of a six-question test. Their scores are tabulated and sent to the CML offices in New York, where they will be ranked with other student's scores across the nation!! Brianna is very proud and excited to have accomplished this and looks forward to participating! Congratulations, Brianna!! We are rooting for you!!!

Disney On Ice -- 100 Years of Magic!

Last night, Brianna and I went to see the Disney On Ice show downtown... it was awesome!! They had just about every character from every Disney movie ever made!! We got to see Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Lion King, Pinocchio, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and many more that I can't even remember to name. And of course we can't forget to mention Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald!! The whole show ran about two hours long, but it sure didn't seem like it was that long! I was really disappointed when all the characters came skating back out on the rink for their "final bow".

This is the second Disney On Ice show we have been to. The first one was two years ago when they had the Jungle Adventures theme. Then the stories were Jungle Book, Lion King, and Tarzan! These shows never fail to amaze us with all the talent and "magic" that goes into it! I am already looking forward to the next one!!

Football Awards Banquet

Tonight was Zach's Freshman Football awards banquet. They started out at East High with all the freshman players and coaches, along with family, watching a video. The video was made by the coaches and it had little "snips" of highlights of all the games throughout the season. They also had baby pictures of each of the players (courtesy of the parents!) that were shown throughout the beginning of the video!! Some kids looked exactly like they do now, and some you would never have known it was them!! Of course, Zach looks like he always has from day one!! He is never able to deny that is him in a picture!!!


Zach received his Athletic Award certificate along with the '12' (for the year 2012) for lettering in football. Now he wants us to get him a letter jacket!!! The coaches had nothing but praise to heap on these kids tonight -- the kids also wanted to thank the coaches, so they presented them with signed footballs. Each football had "Freshman Football 2008 11-0 Record" on them and were signed by each player. The coaches really appreciated these and some even got a little emotional!


Lastly, the boys were ready to eat!! Part of the way through the season, the varsity head coach told these freshman football players that if they finished their season undefeated, he would take them out to eat!! I guess food works well as an incentive, since these freshman finished the season without losing a game! The coach stayed true to his word and took every single one of them out to eat tonight! The football players are big fans of buffet, so the coach took all 56 of them to the Golden Corral for supper after the awards banquet. Parents were able to come too if they wanted to pay for their own meal! We just dropped Zach off and went to Hardees for supper! I wasn't hungry enough to spend all that money on buffet when I knew Brianna and I wouldn't eat that much! Maybe next time, though, because Zach came home and told us all about all the food they had -- it sounds really good!!

Tribute to Uncle Frank...

Just got news today that my Uncle Frank passed away... he will be sorely missed by all, especially by his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Frank got sick over 4th of July and was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He underwent extensive chemotherapy to fight this disease, but in the end it won him over. He was a strong fighter (and I heard he was a bit "head-strong" at times, too!) and mustered all his courage and faith into fighting this fight. I can only believe that he is in a better place now -- a place with no pain or sorrow and a place filled with loved ones that have passed on before him. Right now, I picture that he is sitting up there ice fishing!! Frank will live on in our hearts and in the stories we tell to keep his memory alive! There will be so many!! One that immediately comes to mind is when my Dad and I went up to Frank and Sharon's to help them insulate their house. It was in February but I am not sure of the year... the only reason I remember the month is because some of my cousins had a Valentine's Dance at their school that evening! I hung out with my aunt and cousins while Dad and Frank were insulating. (Aunt Sharon made the best peanut butter cake that day!!!) Dad and Frank were trying to hurry and finish up because there was a snowstorm heading our way... and Dad wanted to head south back for home before it hit. We got on the road towards home, but didn't make it very far out of town! The winds were blowing that snow so hard that we couldn't even see the road! Now, anyone that knows my dad would know that the weather must have been really horrible for him to turn around!! But turn around is exactly what we had to do... and we had the best time hanging out that night!! My cousins did go to their school dance, but it ended early and some of the kids were stranded in town. Frank and Sharon only lived a few blocks from the school, so several of my cousins' friends stayed at the house also! The boys went out snowmobiling and joyriding around, helping people that were stuck all throughout town!! I had so much fun that I was actually kind of disappointed when we were able to get out and go home the next day!!!

God Bless You, Uncle Frank! We love you! Until we meet again...

End of First Quarter

School has officially been in session for one full quarter -- a whole nine weeks already! Doesn't seem like it has been that long! Both kids got their report cards -- Brianna got all A's and Zach got four A's and two B's!!! We are very proud of both of them!! Keep up the great work, kids!! We love you!!!

Halloween 2008

This year's Halloween was a good night! For one thing, it was on a Friday night, so there was no need to rush to hurry up and get done so we could get home in time for bed. The other thing is that the weather was fan-tabulous!!! Brianna was a cheerleader this year, and since the weather was so nice, she only needed to wear a long sleeve t-shirt under her costume and she was comfortable. No need for jackets or mittens!! Wish it could be like that every year!!

CJ and I took Brianna out to the usual streets. We always hit the neighbors on our street and a few on the next block over. Then there are these two streets on the block behind us that hand out the best candy!! These people decorate their houses to the max for Halloween (they do it again at Christmas, too!!) and have to spend lots of money on candy because they have LOTS of kids knocking on their door!! Of course, we always hit these home every year!! We go up and down both sides of both streets, so that is actually a total of four blocks. Brianna always has to dump her bucket out in the car at least once if not twice before she is done with this neighborhood!! Needless to say, we are done once we hit these houses! Zach did not go out for trick or treat -- he hasn't for a while now! He stayed home and got ready for the Halloween dance at the high school, which was later that night. And no, he didn't wear a costume!!

High School Musical 3

It is finally here! After all the advertising all summer long, the movie finally started showing in theatres Friday night!! And Brianna has been bugging me about taking her to go see it since! We decided to catch the matinee on Sunday afternoon... we did get tickets to the first show we wanted to go to, but it sure was crowded in there!!! Lots of young kids -- girls and boys alike! Brianna loved the movie! She insists that we are buying it when it comes out on DVD... I suppose since we own the first two movies, we will have to buy the third one, too!! Now I wonder how many days until it is released on video?...

Pumpkin Patch Visit

Since my Mom was here for the weekend, we decided to take Brianna to a small "pumpkin patch" here in town. Mosher's Greenhouse actually set up a pumpkin patch on their grounds and called it "Kid Daze" -- it was actually a lot of fun!! When we first arrived, Brianna got her face painted... with a pumpkin, of course! Then she got to go pick out a pumpkin for herself and take it back and paint it! There was popcorn, hot chocolate and hot apple cider available while you were taking in the festivities! Brianna used A LOT of paint on her pumpkin, so we left it there to dry and went to another building where they had set up a huge maze made with hay bales!! Brianna like this the most! She went through with me and Grandma the first time, then wanted to make her way back from the end to the beginning! We had to wait for the tractor to come back to give us a hayrack ride, so Brianna just kept going through this maze with all the other kids that were waiting! The hayrack ride was bumpy and fun -- it took us out through their field where they had Halloween sculptures and pumpkins and decorations set up throughout! By the time we got back to the first building, Brianna pumpkin was mostly dry, so we picked it up and went home! All these activities only cost $1 for Mom and I, and Brianna was $4 (for the pumpkin and face painting included!). Not bad!!

End of Football Season

Friday night marked the end of Zach's freshman football season!! The freshman team ended the season UNDEFEATED! (11-0) Zach even managed to get a sack in the last second of the last game!!! Way to go!! Here is the season recap:

East vs. West 39-0

East vs. Yankton, SD 39-10

East vs. North 30-14

East vs. Sergeant Bluff 48-14

East vs. Heelan 14-0

East vs. South Sioux City 40-8

East vs. North 20-0

East vs. West 42-6

East vs. West 20-0

East vs. South Sioux City 60-7

East vs. Council Bluffs (TJ) 38-12

I have also finally posted some pictures of Zach in uniform! My mom also came up for the last game, so we took her picture with Zach!! Now we are just waiting for basketball to start...

CJ's First "Surgery"

CJ has been having some stomach problems, of which I finally convinced him to see the doctor about. The doctor scheduled a scope "surgery", where they put him into a "twilight" sleep and insert a lighted tube with a camera down his throat and into his stomach and so forth. This procedure was scheduled at the Same Day Surgery Center and took all of 15 minutes! Because he was being sedated, I had to go along to be his designated driver since he wouldn't be able to drive afterwards!

We first arrived to the surgery center at 8:00 AM, where paperwork was filled out and the nurse took us back to a room. CJ was freaking out because everyone kept calling it a "surgery", when he didn't think it was a surgery, just a procedure!! He wouldn't admit it, but he was nervous! He has never been hospitalized or had any "procedures" done, so he didn't know what to expect. The funniest part of the morning was when the anesthesiologist came in to introduce himself and tell CJ what he was going to be doing. Then he asked CJ if the nurses had done the "bowel prep" yet!!! CJ's mouth dropped open and his eyes opened so wide!!! Then the anesthesiologist said, "Oh, never mind, they only need to do that if they were going into the other end!"(Meaning a colonoscopy!) CJ probably would have jumped up and put his clothes back on and left if he was going to be doing that!!!

We had to wait awhile before they came to take him for the procedure. We sat around watching TV and I took a couple pictures of him in his gown and cap! Once they took him, I was escorted to the lobby where I proceeded to make a cup of hot chocolate. I didn't even get time to drink it before they were calling and taking me to the consultation room to talk to the doctor. The doctor showed me a picture they took from the base of CJ's stomach and showed me that he had a couple of ulcers, so they would prescribe some medication to fix this and he will be as good as new. Glad it was just something simple and easy to fix!!! Then I was taking back to the original room we started out in. CJ was already back in there and the nurse woke him up when we walked in and asked if he wanted anything to eat or drink. She went to get him a Coke and some snacks, and he proceeds to tell me that he was awake through the whole thing!! So I asked him if he remembers the tube going down his throat, etc. He wasn't awake... he just didn't realize he was asleep!!! He doesn't remember anything from them putting sticky pads all over him to read his vitals to waking up back in the room! He didn't even realize the nurse had to wake him up when we came in there!!

After he ate his snack, the nurse went over his "discharge orders" and then he was able to get dressed and we were free to go. We were home before noon!

Busy Weekend At Mom's...

We went to Laurens for the weekend to help Mom with little "jobs" around the house that she wanted done. Mom had several projects lined up for us to help her with when we got there, so we made sure we brought all the tools that she didn't have to get these done!! As an added bonus, Zach got to drive us all the way to Laurens!! He did really well!! Even Grandma was impressed when her took her out "cruising" around town this weekend!

We started on these projects almost as soon as we arrived! CJ trimmed some limbs off a tree in the backyard. These limbs were brushing up against and hanging over the top of the shed back there. While he was doing that, Mom and I found some old boards and made rail posts for her basement steps. They turned out nice! CJ then climbed up on top of the house and cleaned the leaves and debris out of all the gutters. While doing this, an idea for another project was born... putting a gutter on the back of the garage! Mom gets water in the basement in this area and the back of her garage is also starting to have a "wavy" look from the rainwater running down it. Dad had some gutters and downspouts laying around in the shed from previous roofing jobs he had, so we used those parts. We only had to run to Spencer to Menards for some connectors and brackets to hang it up. Since we went to Spencer, Mom took us out for supper to The Sports Page, which is where we went to eat for my birthday last month! The food there is delicious!! After Menards and a WalMart "pit stop", we headed back to Laurens and went up to the bowling alley. They had Cosmic Bowling, which is where the lights are turned off and everything glows under the black lights. Even some of the bowling balls were flourescent colored and glowing! The kids had a blast!

On Sunday, we finished up the gutter on the back of the garage, then fixed the door to the shed. Mom made an awesome dinner for CJ's birthday, then she topped it off with an ice cream cake!!! (She always manages to spoil us when we come home!--Love you, Mom!!!) We stuck around until late afternoon because all the good food made us too lazy to get up and drive home!!!

All in all, the weekend was too short (as always!) but we got quite a bit done!! Hope CJ didn't mind all the work on his birthday!...

Happy 15th Birthday, Zach!!

Wow... Zach is 15 years old today!!! I still can't believe he is that old! Only seems like a couple weeks ago, he was this beautiful baby boy in my arms!! (I have to say "a couple weeks ago", since Brianna only seems like "yesterday"!!!) Where does the time go??!

CJ couldn't wait, so he woke Zach up before he left for work to tell him "Happy Birthday!"... this was at 5:30 AM! Then Zach was awake for the day, so when Brianna got up and wanted to surprise him by waking him up and telling him "Happy Birthday", he was already awake. We made blueberry and chocolate chip muffins for breakfast since I have the day off today. Zach has football practice after school, but it should be short since the varsity team has a home football game tonight. Once Zach gets home from practice and gets cleaned up, we are going out to eat to celebrate his birthday. In our house, when it is your birthday, you get to pick any restaurant to go to eat for your special occasion. Zach has chosen Texas Roadhouse! It is fairly new and we have never eaten there, so I am excited to go! I have heard they are very "entertaining" -- the wait staff does line dances and stuff while you are waiting and eating! Should be interesting! After we eat, Zach wants to go to the varsity football game. Our varsity team hasn't had a very good season. They are 1-6 right now, and their only win was at an away game in Des Moines. Tonight, they play the worst team in the district which hasn't won a single game in the last two years... Zach is hoping to see our varsity team get a win tonight!!! We'll keep our fingers crossed!!!

Happy 15th, Zach! Love you!!!

Changes, Changes, Changes...

Did you think you were lost when you opened this blog page?! With "change" happening every day around here, such as the colder weather and leaves changing colors, I thought I would make some changes of my own! I decided to get rid of the pink and update the blog with a few new features, such as the color! I hope you enjoy it!! I also added a section for the "Photo of the Week", but I can't promise that it will get changed every week! I might have to change that title to "Photo of the Month"! We'll see how it goes!!!

High School Conferences

CJ and I attended Zach's conferences last night. Wow, what a change! In elementary and middle school, you actually go sit in the classroom and have a 15-20 minute discussion with your child's teacher about how they are doing in the class, what is expected of them, etc. Once they get into high school, you just get a copy of your child's schedule and then you go into the gym. All the high school teachers are sitting in there (in alphabetical order!) for you to walk up and have a brief "session" with them!!! (Not sure if I would like this "setup" if our child's was having some problems in school, but then I guess you could call and make a separate appointment to meet with the teacher or guidance counselor.) We thought we would just start at the beginning and go in alphabetical order, but we ended up jumping around because some teachers were available while some had long lines. It took us a little over an hour to see all six of Zach's teachers. Zach's grades on his midterm report card were three A's and three B's, so we weren't too worried about what the teachers would say! All six of them did they that they really liked having him in their class! I just hope that he keeps up the great work!!!

School Pictures 2008

Zach and Brianna have gotten their school pictures back!!! Here are the current photos:

EHS Homecoming 2008

East High celebrated Homecoming the week of September 15-20. The whole week was filled with many different activites... every day at the high school had a "theme", such as "Dress As Your Date" day, where girls dressed as boys and boys dressed as girls! And of course, the final day was Orange and Black Day, the school colors!! There was a parade on Thursday night, which we usually walk in with Brianna's elementary school. This year we decided not to walk and instead sit on the side and actually see the parade!! It was really nice! The Homecoming King and Queen were Scott Lahn and Ashley Vanderloo, pictured at the right. Scott is our neighbor (lives behind us!) so it was nice to be able to watch and see him all dressed up! We would see the Homecoming Royalty again at the game, but most of the boys will be in football uniforms!! Zach was also in the parade, riding a truck with the rest of his Freshman football team. I did take a picture but it is hard to see Zach because another boy's arm is in the way! Zach is in the top row, a little to the right, just kind of peeking out from behind that arm! (Can you see him?!) After the parade, the high school had a bonfire/pep rally to get everyone excited for Friday night's game.
On Friday night, EHS played Urbandale. It was a very exciting game, even though EHS lost by a touchdown! Brianna had gone to a Cheer Camp the weekend before Homecoming, so all the girls that participated in the camp got to perform at the game! They went out about halfway through the first quarter and stayed out performing the cheers they had learned! The were out there for a good twenty minutes or so!! Brianna had lots of fun!! She still performs the cheers at her brother's games!! I have posted a couple pictures of Brianna doing the cheerleader thing! (The cheerleader in one of the pictures with Brianna is one of Zach's classmates!)

The final event for Homecoming was the dance on Saturday night. The event was held downtown at the Convention Center. Zach did not attend -- not very many freshman did!! I think we only knew of three that were going!! I wouldn't have had a problem with him going if there was going to be a bunch of them going together as a group. But I didn't even have to worry about that! Zach and his friends thought they would have more fun running around toilet-papering their friends' houses! (Everyone knew about it and it was all in good fun, so no one got in trouble!!!) Except for the game loss, it was a good Homecoming!!

Another New Family Member!!!

Okay, this is the last announcement like this for a while -- at least as far as I am aware!!! I don't think there are any more babies due in the next 9 months or so!!!

Our niece, Shunda, gave birth on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 to a healthy baby boy! He weighed 6 lbs. 12 0z. and was named Kendrick Jr. Shunda and family live in Little Rock, AR and Shunda is the daughter of CJ's sister, Helen. Hopefully we will get to see the little guy next summer when we go to visit!!! Congratulations, Shunda!!! (P.S. Send some pics!!)

Happy Birthday to Me!!! (and Marla!!!)

My birthday was actually on September 15th, but I haven't had time to get on the blog until now to post it!!! I actually got to celebrate my birthday over a span of a couple weekends!!! First, Brianna and I went home to Laurens the weekend of September 6th to see my mom and take some clothes to my Uncle Bill's daughters!!! CJ had to work and Zach had football, so it turned into a "Girls Weekend"! Mom took me out to eat for my birthday - we went to Spencer and ate at The Sports Page, which is a lot like an AppleBee's. The food and drinks were great!!! Thanks, Mom!!!

When the actual day of my birthday came, CJ and the kids and I went out to eat at Chili's -- the food was good, but none of us were able to finish our meals! We ended up bringing home leftovers!

Lastly, I got to go out with my friend, Marla, and celebrate!! Marla is one of my best friends from high school! We reconnected again a couple years ago, when we found out that we only live about 40-45 minutes away from each other!! Marla's birthday is September 17th, so we try to get together and celebrate. This year we met for drinks at Beano & Sherry's Casino in North Sioux City! It is always great to get together and get caught up with each other' lives, but the times together always seem too short! Hopefully we will be able to continue this "tradition" for many years to come!!! Happy Belated Birthday, Marla!!!

Clean-Up Day(s)!

With the kids back in school, I have been tackling projects around the house that have been put off for way too long!! On the last day of summer vacation, I had the kids clean out their dresser drawers and closets... any clothes they didn't want or didn't fit, we took to Goodwill or gave away. Now they have room to put their clothes away when the laundry is done, instead of letting the clean clothes pile up in the laundry room!

With fall just around the corner, CJ and I also cleaned out the shed in the backyard. Since we have patio furniture now for our new deck, we need somewhere to store it for the winter! CJ and Zach took a whole truckload of "junk" out to the dump - pieces of the old deck, small pieces of leftover wood from the new deck, etc. We also got rid of a console TV that didn't work anymore and was just taking up space, lots of empty boxes, two bikes... the list goes on and on! I bought some heavy duty plastic shelves and we put them together and put all of CJ's tools, such as the miter saw, chain saw, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, etc. on that. Then we hung hooks from the ceiling rafters for the remaining bikes and hooks on the wall for the shovels, rakes, hoes, etc. Now there is lots of extra space for the patio furniture and whatever else we want to put in there!

I also decided to clean the hall closet on one of my days off last week! What I thought would be a two hour job turned into an all day job! Well, about 5 hours anyway!!! I threw out two garbage bags of old shampoo, soap, hair products, candles that didn't smell anymore, rumpled up gift wrap and gift bags... I also found all kinds of lightbulbs that we could never seem to find in there when we needed them! Though this project took me all day, I was quite proud of the outcome! Hopefully this closet will stay this way for a long time! (Yeah right... who am I kidding??!)

Our last "project" was last Sunday... cleaning out the basement storage area. Again, lots of garbage and a whole truckload went to Goodwill! It feels so good to gets these spaces cleaned up! Of course, it is just going to be room for more junk to be stored and then we will have to clean all over again eventually...

Zach's Football Update

Zach has been having an AMAZING season with football this year!! Even though his "official" position is Offensive Lineman, Zach also plays Defense and Special Teams! Right now, the East High Freshman football team is undefeated! (5-0) The score recap is as follows:

East vs. West 39-0
East vs. Yankton, SD 30-10
East vs. North 30-13
East vs. Sgt. Bluff-Luton 48-14
East vs. Heelan 14-0

Of the five games played, Zach has been named "Defensive Player of the Game" three times!!! He is averaging at least two quarterback sacks per game and no less than 5 tackles!!! We are quite proud of him! There are six games left of this season -- let's hope the wins keep on coming!! (Yes, I know I still need to post a picture!!)

Brianna and Her Soccer Woes

Brianna actually had her first soccer game back in August, the weekend before school started! She had an awesome game, scoring two goals and her team won 4-0! However, since then it has been all downhill. Her team has played four more games since and haven't won any. They haven't even been able to score a goal! Needless to say, their "morale" is a little down and now all they look forward to is the end of the season. There are two games left... hopefully we can score at least one goal and boost their spirits!!

Football Days (Nights, actually!) Are Here Again!!

Zach is playing football once again! He is on the Freshman Football team for East High, playing as an offensive lineman. He also plays defense quite a bit, so he doesn't spend much time on the sidelines! Their first game was Thursday, Sept. 4th against West High, a local high school rival team. Zach's game are in the afternoon right after school, so it is hard for CJ and I to get to see the whole game, however Zach's team did win, 39-0! Zach took quite a few hits from the looks of the bruises on his body!!

First Day of School

Thursday, August 21st was the first day of school here in Sioux City. Brianna started 3rd grade and Zach is a freshman (9th grade) in high school! I think both of them were pretty excited to be going back... mostly to see all their friends again! Brianna kept waking me up throughout the night -- three times to be exact! First time, she wanted to let me know that she was just going to the bathroom... second time she needed a drink because she was hot, and the third time she woke me up at 4:15AM wanting to know if I should have been up getting ready for work yet!! She said she couldn't sleep because she was excited about starting school that day!! Her first day of school went well -- she really likes her teacher, Mrs. Bliven, and almost all of her friends are in her class, so she is happy. Zach's first day went well, also. Freshman only went for a 1/2 day in the morning so they could have the whole high school to themselves and get used to their surroundings and find their classes, etc. The only complaint Zach had was that he wished all his classes were on the same floor!! I have posted a picture of Brianna on the first day of school, but I didn't get a picture of Zach... I had to leave for work before he was ready for school and then he had football practice after school and didn't get back home until after 6PM -- all sweaty and "stinky" too, so we didn't get a picture then either! (I will post a picture of him in his football uniform at a later date!)

Most Recent Brown Family Member...

Welcome A'Layshia Tianna Dunn!! A'Layshia is the daughter of our niece, Ashley! What a cute baby!!! Just look at those cheeks!!! A'Layshia was born on May 2, 2008, which is actually the same birthday as CJ's Mom. She weighed 8lbs. 9 oz. when she entered into this world -- and seems to just keep on gaining!! Ashley lives in CJ's dad's house with her mom, Belinda, who is CJ's sister. Since this is where we stayed while we were visiting, we had a lot of fun playing with A'Layshia! Brianna wanted to carry her everywhere and do everything for her -- feed her, change her, walk her, etc. Even Zach got into it and held her and played with her! Can't wait to see her again next summer!!!

Here's........... Kelsey!!!!

This is our great-niece, Kelsey! Kelsey was born in October of 2007 to Reggie and Missy Bass. Reggie is the son of CJ's sister, Brenda. Reggie and family live in Little Rock, Arkansas, but were down to Wilmot visiting for the weekend when we arrived down there, so I was fortunate to get a picture! Kelsey is a very happy little girl and her favorite pastime is "blowing raspberries" at everyone! I really think she could do it all day long -- if the Olympics gave out medals for this, she would have the Gold!!!!

Kelsey also has a cousin that we had never met, even though he is over a year old. Reggie's sister, Shameka, was also in town for the weekend, so we got to see her son, Channon, who was born in April of 2007. They also live in Little Rock. Channon has a big brother, DeQuayveon, whom we call "Dee". I am also including a picture of Meka with the two boys!

Our Annual Trip to Arkansas

We recently made our annual trip to Arkansas to visit CJ's dad and other family members that live down there. Of course it was the hottest week of the whole year - 103-104 degrees (119 degrees with humidity!) I would really love to go at a cooler time of year, but it seems like August was the only time we could find an "empty" week in our schedules. Zach played baseball all summer and detasseled corn up to August 1st. Brianna played softball until July 31st. Football practice started up August 11th and soccer started August 7th. So we took this week in between everything and made the trip down south!


Even though it was hot, it was still nice to see everyone! CJ's dad is doing fine, Aunt Thelma (actually she is a great aunt!) is doing much better this year. We went to visit her in the nursing home last summer and she seemed confused and disoriented and not really knowing who we were. This summer, she remembers our names and was more of her "talkative" self!! Aunt Lucille is also doing great -- not traveling as much, but still keeping up with the rest of them!!


We also saw a host of cousins, nieces, nephews... too many to count! There are a few new additions to the Brown clan since we were down last summer, but I will be doing individual posts for them, with pictures.


After staying in Wilmot for the week, we headed back home and stopped in Kansas City to see CJ's sister, Jean, and her family. We spent the night with them and had a wonderful visit -- too short, though. After Kansas City, we stopped in Omaha and took the kids to the Henry Doorly Zoo, since we hadn't been there for a few years. This zoo never fails to amaze me -- there is so much to see there! And they are always remodeling or adding a new exhibit!! It was a nice "cap" to the end of the vacation...

Happy 1st Birthday!

I know that this post is just a little late (actual birthdate is July 13!) but I was waiting until I got some pictures to post with this! Just a quick "shout-out" to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" to Nolan and Lana Edkin -- twins belonging to my cousin, Melissa. My mom got to go visit and stay for their birthday party -- check out the pics! Aren't they cute??!!!

All-Star Game... This Time for Brianna!

We received a phone call one night last week telling us that Brianna had been selected for the All-Stars team for the Floyd Youth Softball League! The game was held tonight after the Awards Ceremony for the season. First, Brianna got a trophy for her team performance throughout the season, then she played the All-Stars game and came away with a medal for that! There were four girls from her team that were selected to All-Stars! Brianna's All-Star team did end up losing the game, but it was a really good match up of players from all the teams in the League! Brianna didn't get any home runs in this game, but she did get 2 singles and a double and scored 3 runs in the game! I have posted some pictures from the Awards Ceremony and the All-Stars game... Way to go, Brianna!!!

Here is a picture of Brianna before the All-Star Game and one with her team trophy!

The Deck Is Done!!!

As most of you already know, CJ and I (along with help from the kids!) have taken on the project of building a deck this summer. We started it on Father's Day and finally finished it this week on Monday night!! Wow!! I know it seems like it took us a long time, but it really didn't... we were only able to dedicate 3-4 full days of working on it , along with a few hours here and there each week. Most nights were impossible to work on it because of the kids' ball games, or because of our work schedules! Anyway, the project is now complete and we consider ourselves very proud to have built something all by ourselves!!!

The previous deck that was already on the house was only 4' X 20' and ran along the length of the house towards the back yard. It was rotting and falling apart and I never liked it because it was too small to do anything on and it also had no way of getting to the back yard. If you walked onto it, you had to turn around (or back up since it was so narrow!) and go back to the front of the house and around the other side just to get to the backyard. I told CJ that if we ever put another one up, I wanted it bigger and I wanted steps going down to the back yard. Well, with this deck, I got both things I wanted! The new deck is 8' X 20' and we put some steps going down the back! Since this deck is sitting over a "hill" that runs down to a retaining wall, we had to build a level platform of some sort for the steps. This is where our wonderful friends, Tom and Sara helped us out! Tom was in the landscaping business for 10+ years, so he was a real lifesaver here because we didn't have the first clue on how to go about doing this!

As you can see from the pictures, Tom did a really great job of creating a landing for our steps... and CJ, the kids and I did a great job of building this deck, if I do say so myself!! Check it out!!