Papa's Legacy

When my grandfather passed away, he left us a wonderful gift of a trip to Walt Disney World. We are so excited as we never thought that Disney would be an option for our large family due to the expense. We have planned the trip for January-the week of Nathan's 13th, Claire's 8th and my 39th-for the first time, really!-birthday. It will be the trip of a lifetime! We are thrilled that Grammy and Grandpa Dud will be going with us. I think Grammy and I are having as much fun planning the trip as anyone could! It's so fun to dream about the kids' faces seeing WDW for the first time. So, thanks again, Papa. Thanks for your generosity, your love and your thoughtfulness. We miss you so much!

Thanksgiving

We are again at the Thanksgiving time of year. I am so thankful for happy, healthy, fun kids, a wonderful, supportive husband and a whole bunch of terrific friends. I couldn't be more blessed. I am also, as unusual as it might seem, thankful that my Papa is in heaven, not here on this Earth. He was hurting and unhappy for so long, it seems somehow good that he isn't enduring another Thanksgiving dinner. That being said, I will miss him at my table.

I am making Thanksgiving dinner again this year. I love knowing that I can cook up a feast and there will be something there that everyone will love. This year I am making both turkey and ham...not sure why I want both as this is the smallest group we have had in years, but I want both! I'm cooking, so I get what I want! Gary's family will be joining us, but my mom and Dudley will go to my brother's house for the first time. I hope they have a super time, although I will miss them. Maybe they can come over for some dessert when they get home.

I hope everyone takes a moment to reflect on their past year. My wish for each and everyone of my friends and family is that they can find many things to be thankful for and that they take the time to thank God for all of their blessings. I know I will!

What's Up?

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!

We have a new addition to the family! Our old (ok, it was about 5 years old...to me it's not THAT old!) computer gave up on us. We have been without for 2 weeks now. Today, Gary and I went to the Apple store and bought a new computer. We have gone MAC. I think I love it...but we will have to wait and see. I was sold when the guy showed us what the photo program could do. I was ready to sign on the dotted line then. I actually have been told that my old computer could've done that if I bought the software, but this seems so easy. It is really intuitive. Anyway, now that we are back online, maybe I'll get back to our blog. Check back tomorrow and see!