Our "Rising Star"... LOL

As most of you have probably seen on FB, Brianna got her "15 seconds of fame" tonight!! Sioux City is building a new children's museum downtown, and several of the museum's "creators" wanted to get input from the children that would actually be visiting and making use of this type of museum! What better way to do that, than to meet with a group of kids and have a "talk session" about what kids what like to see in the museum.

Several local news stations were on hand today at Brianna's school, and Brianna happened to be one of the few chosen for the meeting and interview by the news team!! She came home from school, so excited to tell us all about her "meeting" and all the questions she got to answer!! She was such a natural in front of the camera!! (Not sure where she gets that from!!)

To see the video from the news segment, click on this link:

http://www.ktiv.com/Global/category.asp?C=132524

Go to the Search box located at the bottom right of the video box and type in "children's museum". This will bring up the video, just click on it and watch!!

Royalty In The Family

Congratulations to my cousin, Jessica!! She was voted in as Homecoming Queen for her high school!! Great job, Jess! It is well deserved!! You have a winning personality (like your mom!) and we are very proud of you! Hope your senior year continues to be full of many more accomplishments!! Love you! (Sorry for the slightly blurry pic -- it's from a cell phone!)

Would Have Been 40 Years...

I wanted to post this yesterday, on the day of what would have been my parent's 40th wedding anniversary if my dad was still living. Happy "would have been" 40th anniversary, Mom!! Love you...

More Football...

Zach finally got to actually go on the football field during a varsity game last Friday night... in Urbandale! We were sad that we couldn't go to see it, but excited for Zach that he actually got to participate this time!! CJ had to work Saturday morning and we wouldn't have gotten back from the game til about 2:00 am, so we decided not to go. Zach was on special teams -- he went on the field for the kick-off return -- but he never got to actually touch the ball! Hang in there, Zach!! East did end up losing the game to Urbandale 57-37.

In Junior Varsity news... the East High JV football team beat Sergeant Bluff-Luton this past Monday night! The final score was 25-12. The East JV team is now 4-0!!! Zach did play some during this game, but no touchdowns for him!! LOL! They played a lot of kids that don't always get "field time" during this game!! Way to go, Black Raiders!!! WOO-HOO!!

Talk About A Baby Boom!

Just this month alone, the Brown family has added three new members!!! We just want to say "Congrats!" to the new parents and "Welcome!" to the new precious little bundles of joy!

September 4, 2009:
Madison Grace Brown
6 lbs. 6 ozs.
September 5, 2009:
Ja'Kylon Lashar Ray
4lbs. 2 ozs.
6 weeks early, but doing well and is now home from the hospital!
September 14, 2009:
Drayden Steele Brown
7 lbs. 1 oz.

There was one more baby born back in July... just don't have any pics of her! Welcome to the world, Chelsi Lashae Pace!!

Happy Birthday Marla!

Happy Birthday, Marla!!! Hope you are having a WONDERFUL birthday!!! I am looking forward to our annual tradition of going out this together to celebrate our birthdays!!

Boys Volleyball Team

During our Homecoming week, the high school boys and girls "traded" sports for an evening! The girls had a PowderPuff football game and the boys played a volleyball tournament! I am posting pics from the volleyball, but I think both the guys and girls had a lot of fun playing the "other sport" that night!

Zach waiting to see if Austin needs "help" with the ball:

The Sophomore Volleyball team picture:

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Happy (belated) Birthday to me!!! My birthday was actually on Tuesday, September 15th, but I didn't get a chance to post it on our blog!! Thanks to all the friends and family that posted all those birthday wishes on FaceBook, though!! You are the best!!!

Haven't celebrated my birthday yet... with work, school, and football going on, we didn't have a lot of time on Tuesday. But Zach is supposed to get out of practice early tonight since they have a game tomorrow, so we will go out for supper to celebrate... just not sure where yet! Famous Dave's???? I also haven't gotten my birthday present yet, but I do know what it is! I am getting a new pair of Nikes since my other ones got ruined when we did the roof!!! I just have to find time to go shopping and pick some out!!! Good thing I have tomorrow off!!!

Sophomore Football: EHS vs. Yankton, SD

On Monday, September 14th, Zach and the rest of the sophomore football team travelled to Yankton, South Dakota to play against their JV squad. Zach had an awesome game!! Two touchdowns and he also made both kicks for the extra point!!! Way to go!!! We are quite proud of how well he has been playing!! Here are the stats from the newspaper and some pics from the game:


Zach getting ready to kick the ball and start the game:

Zach just kicked the ball -- it ended up in the end zone!

Zach getting ready to punt the ball:

My Superheroes

During Homecoming week, the kids had "theme" days. One of the days was "Dress like a Superhero" day! Zach made a Superman t-shirt, but instead of an "S", he put a "Z" in there! And Brianna wanted to be Wonderwoman, so we transformed a cheerleading outfit from a previous Halloween! Check out the pics!

Another Varsity Football Game

Zach got to suit up with the Varsity football team again for the Homecoming game on September 10th. East High played Indianola -- what a game!!! Zach didn't get to see any action on the field for this game, since the score was so close the whole game. We ended the fourth quarter in a tie and took the game into two overtimes before Indianola ended up winning the game 45-38. East High probably could have kept the game going, but we got a 15 yard penalty for "illegal formation" -- one too many players on the field -- and that set us back too far to be able to score. The boys shouldn't be disappointed, though... Indianola is a very good football team and we are the first team they played that actually gave them some competition!! Most other teams are lucky to even score when playing against them! Great game and hope the kids continue to play this well in the future! (Without the illegal formations!!)

JV Football: East High vs. West High

Zach had his second JV football game on September 8th. They played city rivals, West High, winning the game 45-8. I didn't get the stats from our newspaper for this game, but Zach didn't score any points. Keep up the good work, Black Raiders!!

A New Roof

CJ and I decided that with a three day weekend for Labor Day, we would put new shingles on our roof... what a CRAZY idea for a relaxing "extended" weekend! Whose idea was this, anyway???!! Oh yeah... mine.

We thought we would do the roof in the spring of 2010, but when we saw a sale ad in the paper, we decided to just go ahead and do it now. All I can say is that I am never doing it again!! We did everything manually -- you know, the "old-fashioned" way. We didn't have a nail gun to make the job go quicker, just good ol' regular hammers. The first day was CJ and Zach doing the work while I did most of the running up and down the ladder for more supplies, bottled water, etc. The second day, CJ, Zach and I were all on the roof. When Zach had to quit to go to football practice, my brother-in-law, Matt, came over and helped for a few hours. We quit a little earlier in the evening and had a barbeque since Mom was in town for the weekend and Matt and Jenny had come over. The third day, it was just CJ and I on the roof because Zach had football practice for both JV and Varsity. By the time he came home later that afternoon, he was too tired to help! Who could blame him?? Luckily Matt came back over and helped us finish up the roof. Even Brianna came up towards the end and pounded in a few nails!! The only thing we didn't get done was the hip and ridge pieces that go over the peak, but CJ and I finished those up the next night after work. Everyone was sore and tired from all the manual labor... I have never had so many bones and muscles ache at one time in my life!! Some muscles I didn't even know I had!! I even still have a blister trying to heal on one of my hands! Well, at least it got done and we don't have to worry about doing it again for a long time (hopefully!) Thanks to everyone that helped us!!!

Happy Birthday!!

I just want to give a shout out to two cousins that have birthdays today!!! I know I don't always post all relatives' birthdays, but I happen to be off work today and I also happen to remember the September birthdays... probably since they are so close to mine!! HAHAHA!


First I would like to say Happy Birthday to my cousin, Dan!! Miss you and your family and hoping you have a wonderful birthday!! Be sure to take some time out and do something special with the wife to celebrate!! Love you!! (and I just had to post the "Sheriff Dan" pic -- gotta love it!!! LOL!!)


Second is my cousin, Tammy!! Here's hoping you have the best of birthdays and that Dan and the kids treat you extra special on your day!! I couldn't find any pics of you by yourself, so I posted one of the whole good-looking family!!!

Love to all and hoping for many more special birthdays to come!

EHS JV Football Team Rocks!!!

Woo-hoo!!! Congrats to the East High JV football team on winning their very first game of the season!!! They played SC Heelan and won 36-8!!! Zach played a very good game, even running in a 27-yard touchdown!!! What a great way to start off the year!!! Great job, Zach!!! Keep it up!!!

Here is a copy of the stats from the paper:

A Letter from the School...

Got home from work last night and headed straight to the kitchen counter... that's where CJ usually piles the mail when he brings it in from the mailbox when he gets off work. I start going through the pile, separating the "junk mail" from the actual bills, etc. On this particular time, I come across a letter from the School District addressed to "The Parent/Guardian of Brianna Brown"... and in those few seconds before I got the letter open, I went through so many thoughts and emotions.

My first thought was that it was not time to get a report card already for the year!! Next, I started to feel dread! (Not sure if this had anything to do with a friend's story about a recent "not-very-good" visit with her son's teacher!!) I started wondering what happened that Brianna didn't tell me about... then thinking about how both of our kids know better than to get in this kind of trouble... this thought actually calmed me down a little bit and I thought I might as well just open the letter and see what it was all about...

Well, those few seconds of all those feelings and emotions were for nothing!! The letter was actually a good one!! Turns out Brianna has been selected and put in the TAG Program!! TAG stands for the Talented and Gifted mentoring program that meets weekly with certain students to provide further challenge in the areas of math and reading!! Wow, we were really amazed! And so proud of our little Brianna!! She is quite happy, also!!! Way to go, Brianna!!! Keep up the amazing work!! We love you!!