The days leading up to Christmas

It has been a busy few days since my mom and sister showed up on Tuesday. We have spent many hours already baking yummy cookies and preparing all of our goodies for Christmas Day dinner. My brother, Jeff, and his family as well as my step sister, Becky, and her husband will be joining us. It will be a full household. I LOVE IT! I sure hope I have a seat for everyone! Humm, I think the boys can sit on the floor to eat. haha! Just teasing guys!

Here are pics from this week and some from today. The boys coerced me to open one of their presents TWO days early!

The boys and the doggers...


The boys and the doggers...take two.


Nathan being a goofball again! He is wearing his new hoodie from Mema.


Matthew cannot be outdone by his big brother! He too is wearing a new shirt from Mema.


Somehow we ended up with the blue and gold theme so Mom wanted to take a few pics. I was a slob after blowing leaves earlier in the day with Matthew but Mom would not take no for an answer.


Yep...they DO love each other!


We went for a drive to hunt for outrageous Christmas lights but came up pretty short. Thanks to my bro we did see this yard. It was filled with over 50 maybe 60 blow up decorations. It was pretty great. We kept wondering what their electric bill is!!


Nathan got an up close and personal pic with Santa in a bi-plane.


See? I told you! They love each other...


Okay....so maybe they love each other less right now. Actually they said "let's play fight!" I kept imagining me running to the ER with one of them today.


Gracie is very tired after the days cooking activities. She and Sophie stayed at my feet nearly all day today...because I was COOKING! I succumbed and gave them some ham.


May all of you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. I wish you wonderful dreams tonight of sugar plum fairies and all that is good in this world.

BBall Update

I am a bit behind in posting about Matthew's basketball team so here goes...

Matthew has a new coach this year...an actual basketball coach versus a teacher trying to coach or a football coach coaching basketball. Not to fault past coaches but the coach this year indeed knows how to coach the boys on learning plays and how to improve what they are doing wrong in a game. Matthew is having a BLAST.

Carver sponsors a pre-season tourney just before Thanksgiving and that started out a little rough with a loss but then one the second game against Gable.

(Nate hugging Matthew after their loss.)


Regular season is coming along REALLY well.

Matthew is playing awesome and you can tell he is at home on the court. He has started each game and gets a fair amount of play time. He is doing well on assists and has a few steals under his belt as well!

Beat Ewing 73-55 (7 pts)
Beat Whitlock 47-22 (2 pts)
Beat Granard 54-45 (4 pts)
Beat McCracken 42-37 (7 pts) This was a HUGE win for us as they are our cross town rival!

Carver is now 4 - 0! Woo Hoo. Go Wildcats.

Walking on Water

Gracie is at it again. She has now taken to running across the pool cover...almost like walking on water! She has NO fear! And now she nearly has Sophie (Miss Scaredy Cat!) to start stepping on it too!

Gracie and Sophie love to run and chase each other all around the back yard...through the bushes, leaves and now the pool. See for yourself.

Happy Gobble Gobble

Traveling to my mom's the day before the holiday has become our annual tradition. (Over the hills and through the woods.... Oh, that is for Christmas I think...) We then head to my cousin's on Thanksgiving. It is a nice group of about 15-20 each year. They gather from Kentucky, Tenn and SC. I always look forward to my mom's homemade cranberry sauce and Donna's sweet potato casserole... and for some reason I like to snack on those little sweet pickles before we sit down to eat. Donna always has them out...thank you, Donna. (I take joy in seeing my Uncle Jack - not really my uncle, but my cousin, sneaking them as well.)

The boys and I always like to get out in the morning and take some pics at my mom's. Here are a few. They can really be such lovable goofballs!












(Nearly the whole clan. Some snuck out of the picture!)

Pre-Season BBall Tourney

Won one and lost one....

A few pics from Matthew's first two games. Regular season starts December 1st. It will be a much busier season than last year as they have two games a week through end of February. Matthew is VERY excited about the new coaches and looking forward to beating McCracken! ; )

(Matthew was one of the two team captains for the game against Gable. Won 53-40)


(Nathan hugging Matthew after the loss to DR Hill. He REALLY does love his lil brother.)

More Basketball!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MATTHEW!!

He made the basketball team today! 40 boys on day one down to 14 on the team!

SOOO proud of you honey!

Count down to first game has begun. November 21st here we come.

State Marching Band Competition

Nathan and the band headed to Orangeburg for the State Marching Band Competition yesterday.

They performed EXTREMELY well and received a rating of "Excellent." They ended up 11th our of 14 bands. They missed the finals by only 4 points! In comparison, last year they finished 13th and missed the finals by 10 points. They did great considering the large number of rookies! Nathan and kids were so disappointed but eventually the smiles won out.

I am incredibly proud of not only Nathan, but of the entire band. The kids have worked very hard and it showed yesterday. No doubt they are laying a good foundation for next year.

Hugs Nate Daddy!

One thing Nathan told me I will share. He says marching is the "smart kids sport." I laughed and asked why. He said "How many football players do you know that can play and instrument while walking backwards on their tip toes?" Not many I don't think. LOL







Mom, this is for you. I know you wanted to be there. The picture part is not very good but the sound is somewhat decent. I think you can get an idea of how they played.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween

The boys wanted to Trick or Treat this year...first time to dress up in a few years.

Nathan went as Mr. Death. Matthew joined up with his friend Colby and they went as Kanye West and Taylor Swift - too funny.

We stopped by our friend Donna's and the boys got spooked by Paul. He jumped out when he opened the door slooooooowly. BOO! Thanks Donna for all the yummy Reese Pumpkins! We picked up Courtney along the way and dropped off Matthew to hang out with Colby and Zack.

Too bad the rain dampened the number of houses they visited. Quite a number of people in my neighborhood had their lights out. I think each year fewer people participate. I only had two visit my house. LOTS of candy leftover.

Here are a few pics from the night.

(My two boys hamming it up!)


(Matthew, Courtney as the gypsy prey of Mr. Death and Nathan)


(Colby and Matthew as Taylor and Kanye. Too cute!)

Gracie....sweet? Don't let her face fool you!

Gracie. Our beagle baby in the family. She is now 9 months old and completely full of herself. She does her own thing and can only be lured away from it with cheese slices or chewable bones. And sometimes cheese does not even work when she sees the open plains of the front yard and takes off to our neighbors across the street. She is quite the mess.

Oh trust me. She does indeed have her sweet moments. She loves to cuddle while sleeping and acts just like the boys when I go in to wake them up in the morning. She quite honestly looks at me like "Mom....pwweeease....5 more minutes...."

Despite being a poop factory and an eating machine, she is a welcome addition to the family. Sophie has enjoyed a play mate...but she DOES get jealous.


She has a blast playing with Matthew and Sophie in the back yard.


But this starts to be her evil side. She will lick you on the face when you least expect it.


This is a typical "playtime." Love it. Really sweet to see them chase after Matthew.

25 Year Reunion

25 years? Is that REALLY possible? Noooooooo waaaaaay.

(me, Kelley and Amy before the reunion)


Amy taught me how to drive a stick shift in her little red station wagon. She suggested the grave yard so I would not hurt anyone!

Kelley and I went to high school AND college together. Too bad both of them live in Texas! Too far away for a road trip but a flight might be in order.

I really had a good time seeing some old friends. We did not have enough time to catch up though.

More pics to follow.

High School Reunion

My 25 year high school reunion is tonight. I am so looking forward to seeing some old friends...most of which I have not seen since the day of graduation. Facebook has allowed us to get back in touch over the past few months - amazing what a little technology can do - but it will be far better to catch up in person.

I hope to have pics tomorrow to post.

Death

A found out this morning that a co-worker became suddenly ill over the weekend and died yesterday. Matthew Kahn also coached soccer for his son's team while I coached my son's team. We scrimmaged each week after practice for two seasons. Matt was only a year older than me. He has 3 kids. Matt was a nice guy and I enjoyed his enthusiasm for soccer and seeing not only his son improve in the game but all kids. He always cheered on my Matthew.

I found out tonight that a guy that graduated a year ahead of me in high school died last week. I did not know him that well.

It makes me take pause and think if all my proverbial ducks are in a row...on all fronts. Will my children be cared for? Am I right with God? Have I done all the things I really want to do? I truly am thankful for my boys and my family. Life can be gone in a minute. No doubt we ALL need to value and savor each and every morsel...even the bad ones.

Yes!

We got the pool covered today. YAY! I think that is the one thing about owning a pool that does not thrill me....covering it. We have one of those stretchable covers that you pull taut over the pool. It lets the rain flow through but keeps the leaves (tries to) out. It can be a pain to put on but the boys and I knocked it out pretty quickly today. Thankfully we finally had a day of sunshine.

With all the rain we have had in the past two weeks the pool was a sea of green. I really did not want to waste chemicals since we certainly were not swimming.

Thanks Nate Daddy and Maffoo for helping out today. Hugs.

United Way Day at Work

Survivor Day for United Way

This is the IS Team. Barbara, Jerry, Nick and myself. We each had to do a "Survivor" type game to earn points. Jerry had to do the Hula to a hip hop song, Barbara had to eat gummy worms, swedish fish and olives and Nick had to unwrap 10 foiled chocolates and eat them faster than the other teams.


We could either be the GRAPE team or the PINK team. I voted for PINK to honor Breast Cancer Awareness. Jerry was able to find these shirts at Dick's Sporting Goods. Interesting that Nike make pink golf shirts for men and then we realized why. Their shirts had the small pink ribbon on the sleeves.

Mine was lifting 10 marbles out of a bucket of ice cold water. I won handily. I guess those toe stretches in yoga class paid off! lol


We came in 3rd out of 8 teams. It was a nice break from the work day.

First Band Competition

THIRD PLACE FOR THE VIKING MARCHING BAND!

Woo Hoo! 3rd place out of the final 8 bands and 17 bands in all. They really did a superb job. They received a Superior rating during preliminaries and 4th in their class. However, the overall points they received put them into the finals and came in 3rd. They truly did an outstanding job.

Way to go Nate Daddy and the whole band!

Nate and the rest of the bass drum line. You guys rock!

Friday Night Lights - Band Style!

Mema is in town and we went to the Spartan High game tonight against Gaffney.

Here are some shots from the night.

Dinner at Panera with Mema and Matthew. Nate Daddy was already at the game eating with the band.


Nathan raising his cap to the band director after the half time show! They really did well tonight!



Mema and Nathan after the half time show.


Me and Nate Daddy!


Drum Line after the completion of the half time show. I wish I had gotten a better vid but hopefully you get the idea.

Finally! A New Bathroom!

I am finally getting around to posting pics of my new master bath. I am not quite finished but wanted to get these up. I still have to hang the new bamboo blinds like what I hung in the bedroom as well as do something with the sitting stool and floor.

Old light. I really think this light was hung when the house was built over 30 years ago. Ick!


New light. Yes, sorta looks like a booby. lol


Old sink. HAS to be the original sink.


And NEW sink and faucet. Love them!


Here you can see the ugly striped wallpaper (been up there for 13 years!), old light fixture and the old yellow laminate counter top. And, uhm, pardon my mess!


Ta Da!!!!! Check out the new light and marble counter top. I had the old mirror cut down and framed. Saved a bunch of money that way. You can even see the new drawer pulls.
(And yes, I do have all the mess organized now in the drawers!)

Vote for Spartanburg High Marching Band

Spartanburg High's Marching Band is up for News Channel 4's Band of the Week. PLEASE go to their website and vote. The poll is mid way down the page on the right hand side. You can vote OVER AND OVER through 3 p.m. Friday. If SHS wins they will get a 1 min video on Friday's night's newscast.

Thanks!

http://wyff.highschoolplaybook.com/Index.do

Go Vikes!

Viking Band

Go Viking Band!



Nathan has his first band competition this Saturday. The band has been practicing hard and Nate Daddy is REALLY looking forward to it...even a bit nervous.

I have been busy over the past few days hemming uniforms (Hugs Donna for your help!) and replacing buttons in preparation for this weekend. Nathan, Matthew and I spent Friday evening breathing in pvc glue when helping build stands for the competition props.

I hope to post pics Saturday from competition and hopefully a smiling Nathan holding a trophy!

GO VIKES!

A New and Improved Piggers

Some of you have asked about Piggers fate. I had not seen Piggers since her dip in the pool last weekend. Saturday morning while I was getting ready for golf I smelled something HORRIBLE! I looked all around the bathroom and bedroom and could not figure out where the smell was coming from. It did not smell like Miss Gracie left me a "present"....it smelled like something was DEAD.

Yesterday while doing laundry I found the source of the odor. IT WAS PIGGERS! Gracie evidently thought my closet was the perfect place for Piggers to sleep.

The picture does not do it justice but she was a "lovely" pink and matted brown. I pretty much doused her with Shout and spun her in the wash.


TA DA! A renewed Piggers. Amazing what Shout and Gain will do!



To celebrate their friend getting a bath, the dogs decided to run and fight and play while I was on a conference call tonight to Australia. Thankfully Sonya was understanding of the dogs barking and fighting beneath my feet. : )

Have any of you ever seen the series of pictures of the stolen yard gnome? As I recall a yard gnome was taken from someones yard and the family ended up receiving blackmail photos of the gnome in various states visiting our nation's sites. Perhaps Piggers needs to go on a road trip...

P.S. Can you tell I don't want to do more laundry tonight?!?! I needed to entertain myself. : )

A Rainy Start...

St. Mary Magdalene's Annual Golf Tourney.

This makes my fourth (or third??) time in this tourney with Bob and Des. Satish joined us this year. The tourney benefits the children's center at St. Mary's. Bob and Des attend this church and St. Mary's really know how to put on a tournament. Friday night was good BBQ and putting contest.

Our 8:30 shotgun start was delayed by Mother Nature but by shortly after nine the skies cleared and allowed us to play pretty much rain free throughout the day. None of us were "on" but we each had some nice shots through the day. My tee shots were not consistent at all but my putts and short game were reasonable. We shot 5 under...and that certainly did not win it. : (

Despite our higher than normal score we had a great time joking around and simply enjoying playing golf.

(Satish, Bob, me and Des. Can you see how soaked we are already? This was after warming up and just waiting around for the rain to stop.)


(Des and Bob. We were all wet puppies for sure. Thankfully the rain had stopped.)