Zach's 8th Grade Graduation

Zach has graduated from the 8th grade! He will be in high school in the fall!!! Where I come from (small towns!), the only graduation that you get is when you graduate from high school! Not here in Sioux City! We have been through Pre-School Graduation, 5th Grade Graduation, and now 8th Grade Graduation!

Since the graduation ceremony itself was in the morning, I had to take a couple hours off from work to be able to go, but I am glad that I didn't miss it. It was a very nice ceremony... almost just like the high school graduation ceremony! All the students had their names read off as they came down the aisle to their seats, the choir sang a song, and the Superintendent of the Sioux City School District, Larry Williams, gave a little speech. Awards were handed out and even retiring faculty members were honored during the ceremony. After the ceremony, parents were able to go down to the courtyards and find their son/daughter to take pictures, etc. I had to get back to work, so I left. After this ceremony, the eighth graders had lunch and then had a dance in the gym for the rest of the afternoon. We will probably take Zach out for supper, but we have to find a night when all of us are available! It may not be until we go on vacation next week!!! Anyway... Congratulations, Zach on your 8th Grade Graduation!!! We love you!

Memoral Weekend 2008

Wow! What a nice weekend! The weather was great!! CJ and I had to work on Saturday, but we still managed to go to a wedding on Saturday night. Our neighbor's son got married. It was a very nice outdoor wedding with the reception being immediately after. Brianna was having a lot of fun running around and dancing! She didn't really want to leave!

On Sunday, we stayed home and worked around the house and yard. CJ and Zach loaded more branches from the trees that were cut down in the backyard and hauled them off to the dump. We are also in the process of building a new deck on the side of the house, so after CJ and Zach ripped the old deck down, I spent the afternoon filling in all the cracks in the foundation. I wanted to get them filled in before we built the new deck in its place. After all this "hard work", we decided to grill some hamburgers and hot dogs for supper, then we started a bonfire in the backyard with some of the trees and parts of the deck still laying around! The neighbors had family over for a little get together, so we were all hanging out together in the backyards! Brianna wanted to go camping, but since I had to work for a little while on Monday, we didn't go anywhere. We did improvise, though, and put the tent up in the backyard and camped there!

On Monday, CJ and I got up early (due to sleeping on the ground!) and had some nice quiet time while the kids kept sleeping. Once they got up, we had some donuts for breakfast and Brianna went to work with me. I only had to work for a couple of hours and she was a really good helper! We were home before lunchtime, so we still had the whole day to enjoy. Brianna's friend, Madison, called to see if Brianna could come play with her. Brianna went over there for part of the afternoon, while CJ, Zach and I went to the mall. Zach wanted to look for a shirt for his 8th grade graduation the following day. We picked up Brianna on the way home, and ended up bringing Madison home with us. The two girls ran through the sprinkler in the backyard while Zach filled up water balloons and threw them at them! Madison went home at supper time and we had barbecued chicken strips for supper... something simple and easy! The kids had showers and went to bed without any complaining. I think the activity of the weekend was catching up to them... I know it had caught up with me!!! I was not looking forward to going to work in the morning! I am just glad that it will be a short work week and then we are on vacation! YEAH!!!

Latest Sports Update...

Zach has had three baseball games since the last posting, however I don't have lots of details since I missed some of them because Brianna had practice, or it was a late game on a school night, etc.

The Phillies played against the Devil Rays on May 20th. Zach pitched the first 6 innings of this game and did a really awesome job! The Devil Rays weren't able to get any runs in during this time, and the Phillies were up by 4-0. By the 7th inning, Zach was close to his "pitching quota", so they took him out and put him at 1st base and put another pitcher in. The Phillies went through two different pitchers in this inning because the Devil Rays were hitting off of them and the players in the outfield were making lots of errors. It was a very nerve-racking inning, but the Phillies were able to pull it off and they won 4-3!

Since this was a double-header night, the next game was immediately after. The Phillies played the Orioles. Zach played 1st base and center field for this game. I had to leave to go home and put Brianna to bed since it was a school night, but the Phillies won this game 7-1!

On Thursday, May 22nd, the Phillies had a rain make-up game from the beginning of the season. They played the Royals. The coaches let the younger kids start the game and play most of it, while the older kids just played the required two innings. It was a nice break for some of them and they didn't need to worry... the Phillies won this game also, 19-5!





After these three games, the Phillies' record stands at 8-1 for this season! Way to go!!!

Court of Awards

Brianna had her final Brownie meeting for this school year on Friday, May 16th. A "Court of Awards" ceremony was held in the evening for all the girls in 1st thru 5th grade for three schools in our neighborhood. It was a really nice ceremony, with each troop of girls performing a song or some type of skit up in front of all the friends and family in attendance. The older Brownie girls even got to "cross the bridge" to Girl Scouts during this ceremony. Punch and cookies were served afterwards at a little reception. Brianna got her star pin for completing her third year, she got a couple of badges that were earned, and she also got her Cookie Patch and all her prizes for selling over 300 boxes of cookies!! The only patch she is missing is for the trip her troop took to Sioux Falls the weekend before this ceremony. They went up to the Washington Pavillion and spent the night inside the Kirby Science Center! According to Brianna, "it was a blast"! She had a lot of fun running around that place all evening and sleeping among the exhibits! (I keep imagining the movie, "Night at the Museum"!!) The theme was dinosaurs, so she learned all about the different kinds of dinosaurs, saw a movie about them, and even brought home a wooden model of a dinosaur to put together. Hopefully they get their patch for this event soon! The current troop leader, Trishia, is moving to Jackson, Nebraska this summer. So she will be stepping down from her leader position and handing it over to another mom. The new mom/leader is a wonderful person so we are looking forward to a great year ahead!!!

A Soccer Game... Finally!

Brianna finally was able to play some soccer last Saturday! Zach had a baseball tournament going on at the same time, so we were running back and forth between his baseball games and Brainna's soccer game! It was a really nice day for ball games, though. I had a sunburn going on by the time Brianna's game was over and we still had another ball game to sit through!

Brianna's team won their game! She scored one goal during this game! She thought she scored another one, but the ball went in on the side of the goal and through the net instead of through the front! She has been playing really well!! She has one game left at the end of the month and then she will be done. Her team has two games left, but Brianna will miss the last one because we will be on vacation. She will also miss her first two softball games while we are gone...

City Baseball Tournament

The City Baseball Tournament was held May 15 - 18 at various fields throughout Sioux City. The Phillies (Zach's team) played one game on Thursday night, one game on Friday night, two games on Saturday, and then played two games on Sunday for the Championship! The Phillies are now the City Champs!!! They won all their games -- the scores were as follows: 12-2; 28-2; 42-3; 10-5; 7-1. They will be getting 1st place trophies for this tournament! Yay Phillies!!!! Great job, Zach!!!

Late Game Last Night...

Zach had a ball game last night at 8:15 PM... and it didn't even start on time. The other team was from Lawton-Bronson and they had a track meet going on over in Lawton, so they were late showing up to the baseball game. Since it was a school night, Brianna and I only stayed for the first two innings, then I took her home to get to bed. When we left, Zach was pitching and the Phillies (Zach's team) were up 2-1.

Zach and CJ got home about 11:00PM. I stayed up waiting for them so I could hear about the game. Zach pitched three innings (the only details I got were that he did "alright"). He struck out twice up to bat, and then walked the other times. He was disappointed because he didn't get a hit. The Phillies did beat Lawton-Bronson... 9-4. This makes their overall record 5-1.

There is a city-wide tournament starting Thursday night. Zach has a game Thursday night, Friday night, and two games on Saturday. Depending on how his team does, they may have a game or two on Sunday. I will let you know how it goes in future posts!!

Sports Update

There are no soccer updates to post... Brianna's game was cancelled again on Saturday because of rain!

Zach had a ballgame on Wednesday night. His team(Phillies) played against a Lawton-Bronson team. Zach pitched the first 4 innings and had six strike-outs. He also went up to bat 3 or 4 times during the game. He did get a double and a single, and the other times he walked. The Phillies won the game 5-3. This was a late night for me because after Zach's game I had to work in the concession stand until close. We can't close the stand until the last game is over. It was almost 11:30pm when I got home! This is really late for someone who gets up at 4:15am!

Zach's next game was Thursday night against the Royals. This is a local Sioux City team. It was a very cold night for a ball game, but it didn't rain! Zach played 1st base and left field. I can't remember how many times he went up to bat, but I think he only walked once, got a double, and the rest were singles. This game seemed to go on forever... The Phillies won 12-5.

Next game is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13th... Check back for the highlights!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!! It was a really nice day for it! Saturday was rainy and yucky, but Sunday was a nice day!

We went to Laurens to see my mom... we got there Saturday night and came home on Sunday night. On Sunday, I got breakfast in bed(!!!) and CJ did the breakfast dishes so that Mom and I didn't have to! Mom also fixed a nice meal for dinner and Jenny and Matt came over with their kids for dinner. The kids all played up at the park and then Matt/Jenny/kids (this is easier than naming each of them!) had to leave and go to Matt's parent's farm between Alta and Storm Lake. It was also Matt's youngest son's birthday so Matt's mom was having cake! Noah turned 7 years old! Happy Birthday, Noah!!

We headed back to Sioux City around 6pm, so we didn't get home until almost 8pm. It is always hard to leave... especially when it feels like I just got there! I also couldn't get the kids to get ready to go because Mom was "dog-sitting" for the Graffs. "Ceasar" was spending the weekend with Mom while Graffs were visiting their youngest son in Mankato, MN. They would have taken the dog along if Jon didn't live in an apartment! Ceasar is such a good dog! I am sure he was pretty wore out... Brianna took him on so many walks over the weekend... he has probably never walked that much in his life!! From the looks of things this past weekend, I am sure Graffs can have a babysitter anytime they want to leave. If Mom won't do it, Brianna will!!

A Cold Day For Ball Games...

Well, Brianna's soccer game was cancelled in the morning because it was too cold and wet from all the rain on Friday. Zach's games were rescheduled from morning to afternoon, but it was still cold and windy! I did manage to get a sunburn (or is it a windburn???) on my nose and cheeks! I look like a racoon because I had sunglasses on!!

Zach's first game was at 1:00 against the DevilRays... it was extremely cold and windy! Brianna and I were bundled up in hooded sweatshirts, coats and blankets! The wind blew so hard sometimes that when the kids hit the ball during the game, the ball almost looked like it was floating in the air! Zach hit a grounder towards 1st base and got out his first time at bat, but then he got walks the next two times. The Phillies (Zach's team) won this game 8-0.

The next game was right after the first one. We played against the Orioles and changed fields, so the wind was blowing in a different direction. It was still cold, but it didn't seem as cold as the first game. This game was also A LOT more exciting to watch!! Zach struck out his first two times up to bat, but the third time, he connected with the ball and hit all the way out to the fence!! We thought it was going to go over the fence and be a homerun, but it dropped just in front of it. He got a double out of this! He did get to bat one more time after this, and he got a walk. He also pitched one inning at the end of the game and got two strikeouts. This game was a close one, but the Phillies ended up losing 9-8.

The next game is Wednesday night... stay tuned!!

Let The Games Begin!

Well, our summer is well underway... even if the weather doesn't feel like summer!! Our weekends (and some weeknights!) are now filled with ballgames, ballgames, and more ballgames!

Brianna's soccer season started three weeks ago. So far, her games each Saturday have been FREEZING cold and windy. She is doing really well this year -- she scored three goals for her team in their first game and they won 5-2! She had her second game last Saturday and she scored one goal for her team and the game ended in a tie... 3-3. Tomorrow will be her third game of the season and it doesn't look like it will be warming up at all...

Zach's baseball season was supposed to start last Saturday, but water was still being pumped off the fields, so they were postponed to a later date. He had his first game Tuesday night against a Sergeant Bluff team. Zach's team (Phillies) won 10-0! Zach pitched two innings and had 4 strike outs. There are new rules for pitching in this league -- a pitcher can pitch no more than 95 pitches per game; however, if they pitch 20 or less, they are eligible to pitch every game. If they pitch 21-40 pitches, they have to rest one day before they can pitch again. And when pitching 41 - 95 pitches, they have to have two days rest and skip one game before they can pitch again. There are at least 4 guys on Zach's team who can pitch, so they all took turns pitching an inning. This keeps them all eligible for the next game, which is tomorrow. We actually have a double-header starting early in the morning if the weather cooperates. Anyway, back to Tuesday's game... Zach went up to bat three times during the game. His first time up to bat, he struck out. He was a little bummed, but I think with it being the first game he wanted to hit the ball so bad that he was swinging at even the high pitches. His next two times at bat, he didn't even get a chance to really hit. The pitchers on the other team were horrible -- most of the balls were bouncing off the ground in front of home plate, or they were being thrown so hard and far off to the side that their catcher couldn't even catch them. They walked so many of our players... Zach had walks both times up to bat. Now that the first game is out of the way, maybe this season will get more exciting!? Stay tuned, I will try to keep updates on this blog!!!