Well, since I've been away for a while, I thought I might try to fill in the cracks. As you can imagine, life doesn't stop just because I don't blog.
My wonderful Papa went to be with the Lord after several weeks of decline on October 23rd. While we will miss him, we are all aware that he is out of his pain and suffering. The children were all able to say good bye and tell him how much they loved him in the days before his passing. He lived a full and adventure filled life and we are all better for having had him in our lives. We had a lovely memorial service to celebrate his life and many kind friends came to support our family. Thank you for all of the kind
thoughts and prayers on our behalf.
Collin and Danny's soccer team, coached by Gary, went 8-3 this season. They were in 3rd place at the end of the season. They did GREAT! The improvement from beginning to end of the season was remarkable. Even a ref commented on it! We were so proud of our boys. Collin was in his boot (due to a bruised heel bone) and missed the last 4 weeks of the season. He was released to play the Wednesday before the playoffs. He was really missed while he was out, and played a big role in the tournament win. Danny, my trouper, had 102 fever Thursday before the tournament. That didn't slow him down though. He was feeling better enough to play in the two tournament games. He really pushed himself to get better in time so he didn't "let his team down". He made the winning goal in a shoot out of the first round win. They had a fun dinner at the local pizza place to get their trophies.
The team was really generous and gave Gary a gift certificate to Cheesecake Factory. We went yesterday while we were shopping for our new iMac and it was delicious.
Nathan's team is undefeated. They won the tournament this past Saturday and have one more game against the winners from across the county next Tuesday night. They will play under the lights at our local high school soccer field. The team is really looking forward to that! Nate is also playing basketball for the middle school. We have had a few conflicts with the practices, but Nate seems pleased to be on both teams. Thankfully both coaches have been understanding. He, as always, is having fun keeping busy.
Kaylyn, Claire and I are now considered professional cheerleaders! We feel like we have cheered from one game to the next, barely stopping to breathe. We love it. I will often give the girls a chance to stay at home with Grammy, but they are my shadows and don't want to be left behind. Sooooooo, off we go to cheer for our boys.
Report cards came out last week. We had conferences for all of the kids. I am so humbled by the blessing each child is. They are so smart, sweet and amazing. Each and every teacher took the time to tell me how great the kids are and how they are kind to other kids as well as their siblings. Kaylyn, of course, had straight A's. Nathan had just one B in high school Algebra, the rest A's. Claire had mostly 4's (the second grade equivalent of A's). Collin and Danny had only 2 B's, a C in Science (apparently there was a Science test that kicked BOTH of their butts!) and the rest A's. Not a dummy in the bunch! How special is that? We are so blessed!
Kaylyn is enjoying the flute. She is just amazed (well, really I am too!) that I can play her music after all of these years. We have had fun working together on leaning to play. She is a fast learner.
Collin and Danny were playing trombone, but that ended yesterday. Apparently Danny was having a hard time finding a note, and the teacher got on him about it. Danny was embarrassed and upset, so both he and Collin decided that they were returning their trombones never to play again. They came home and told me the story and had their minds made up. No matter how many times or ways I asked them to give it one more chance, they were DONE! There was no way Danny was giving the teacher the chance to embarrass him again, and Collin was being loyal (one of his BEST qualities) to his brother. When they left this morning, they both took the trombones with them. I can't wait to hear what the music teacher said. I am hoping that she can convince them to try again, but I don't hold out much hope. When they make up their minds together, there isn't much hope of changing it.
Well, I hope that fills in a little. I have missed being my blog the last month or so. If you stopped by, why don't you leave a little note to tell my you've been here. Thanks!
Right in the middle of all of the pics I have taken, here are a few I had never seen before.
The kids had a ton of fun playing in the snow today. I have to admit, I am not a fan of cold, wet snow. I am a fan of watching the kids have fun, so outside I went. They really enjoyed themselves.
We don't have much of a hill, but we make the most of the little one in our front yard. It's Chip's first winter. 
Although he hates rain, we have found out that he loves the snow. Who knew? Nathan tried "snow boarding" with a sled. 
He did a pretty good job. As you can see, they had a really fun time. I was happy to get the pictures, but was equally happy to go in and make some hot chocolate!
We are in the middle of a blizzard! The first huge snowfall since we moved to this house 2 years ago. We have had over a foot of snow in the last 22 hours, and it is beautiful! Poor Gary spent 3 hours with the snowblower this morning and then another hour this evening.
The problem is that it keeps blowing back over what Gary shovels. It's too cold outside for the kids to go out to play. Maybe tomorrow the wind will stop blowing so much, and we will go out and have a ton of fun. For now, we are thankful to be safe and warm inside!
In addition to a triplet birthday, let me give you an idea of what has been going on around here:
Yep, soccer, soccer and more soccer. Not only do the three boys play, but Gary coaches (yet again) Collin and Danny's team and, when he can, he helps out with Nathan's team. Please, don't think I am complaining, because I'm really not, but we are BUSY! We have practice/games at least 4 nights a week and then usually 2 games on the weekend. Add to that, Nathan has just started ref-ing 7-8 year old games. He is really good with little kids, he knows HOW to play the game, and he earns a little bit of money. 
Not a bad deal! It's been interesting for him to be on the other side of soccer games.
Collin and Danny have both decided to play the trombone for the school band. Kaylyn took up my old flute. Collin and Danny are borrowing their trombones from the school, but, of course, to get my old flute in shape to play, we had to pay $120 for Kaylyn. Oh well, I just hope she gets as much enjoyment out of it as I did..jpg)
Last, but surely not least, Collin has had heel pain on and off for the last several months...maybe even longer. Since he started to consistently limp, I took him to the orthopedist. He was sent for a MRI and it turns out he has a bruised heel bone. We were told if we didn't treat it, it would become a stress fracture. .jpg)
Soooooooo, now Collin has a lovely boot for his left foot for the next 4 weeks. He can't play soccer or participate in P.E. He will get it off just in time for soccer playoffs if it heals properly. I hope so!
Happy birthday Kaylyn, Danny and Collin. You make each and every day a miracle to me!
And here is Claire with one of the birthday boys.
The kids had a ton of fun on the blowup obstacle course they rented. (It was a little hot in there though.) Kaylyn even wants us to rent it for the triplet's birthday next month. Well, we'll have to see.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Actually, SHE had so many tomatoes, as I kill any and all plants left under my care for more than 24 hours. This is what we had left from 2 full bushel baskets! 
One of her giant tomato plants (She can grow anything, but she has an unfair advantage. She's a farmer's wife!) was confused and gave us half red tomatoes and half yellow. (We thought that this yellow tomato was a boy tomato. Wonder why?)
Our culinary challenge (and the surprise) was to figure out what to do with the yellow tomatoes. So we just slipped the skins and made yellow tomato sauce, just like we would've with the red. It was a little sweeter than red sauce, but it was delicious! 
We decided that it could've been served at one of those cool little trendy cafes as "Pasta with Yellow Tomato Herb Sauce and Grilled Chicken". As you can see, because of the light color, you almost can't see the sauce. It just leaves a great flavor all over the pasta that really complements the grilled chicken.
Sounds impressive, huh. I bet we could've gotten $12.95 a plate! It was fun to make something that we knew our families would gag over, but we enjoyed. Maybe one day we'll open our own little trendy cafe. It could be fun!
Like last year, I drove Nathan to school since he would have to leave the house at 6:45 to catch the bus. This year he will ride the bus home. We'll see how long he likes doing that.
The elementary kids were really ready this morning. They even made their own lunches before I got back from taking Nathan! (I thought Grammy had made them, but they told me proudly that they had made their own.)
We even got outside 10 minutes early! That's the first and I am sure the last time that's ever happened! Usually we are rushing out at the last minute, waving to the bus driver so he'll stop.
Well, they're off. I hope they have wonderful first days as a seventh, three fifth and a second grader. Wow are they growing up quickly!
.JPG)
