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!!)