More Football - 'Cause It's So Darn CUTE

Reed's Cardinals played the Colts last weekend. The Cardinals are slowly improving but the Colts had a better showing. Look at my baby score. Please ignore the fact that he didn't have any flags left. He scored!

The Cardinals really need to work on their defensive line! Wait, I guess that would be the offensive line, right? Maybe?

Yes boys, you got him down, now LET HIM UP or Mamma's coming in to save him!

I'm coming baby!

I thought it was a little poor planning when we got to the field and they were painting the lines. Really? Must you paint the lines 10 minutes before our game starts? Reed showed them, he tried to take most of the paint home with him.

Walk-a-thon

Millie's school had a walk-a-thon last week to raise money for the school. They do this instead of selling a bunch of stupid overpriced junk that no one wants to buy anyway. I love the idea. So thank you so much to my mom and dad, Laura and Joe and Jeff and Lyndsie for donating to Millie's school. Millie even got money out of her "give" jar to donate to her school, I thought that was very nice of her. She had a great time and I was able to go with Reed and watch and cheer them on. It sure is handy being able to see the school from our house, we just walked over and joined them.  And thanks Laura for the UT bow, in came in handy for this event so that I could pick Millie out in the sea of orange.

We Moved (incase you missed it)

I am sure this does not come as a shock, we have been here several months and we move all the time but I have not officially blogged about it yet. So after our big RV trip in late May/early June we moved out of our house in Knoxville, stayed with my parents for a few weeks and in mid July we officially moved in to our house in Westfield. We closed on June 24 but it needed A LOT of work (still does) so we spent a lot of time cleaning, painting, cleaning and more cleaning before we could live there. And by 'we' I mean the kids and I. Rick was already living there but I didn't feel too sorry for him. It was his fault we had to move anyway.

Now I guess it's time to talk about the house. This house is stupid. I mean, really stupid. The people that built and designed this house were not right. I will never again buy a house without looking at it first. I realize most people wouldn't do that anyway but we didn't have a choice. Millie was still in school in Knoxville so we couldn't just leave and look at houses for weeks on end. We had to have a residence as soon as possible so that Millie would have a school to start in August. The timing of the move couldn't have been worse in terms of trying to take time to find a house we loved. So basically we found one online that seemed ok.

The problem with online buying and using a realtor who is so terrible they should be publicly tarred and feathered is that no one is really on your side or helping you out. Online you can't tell that your basement smells like dead bodies and an abandoned pet store, that the living room or bedrooms have no lights in the ceiling, that the lights for the master bath room are not actually located IN the bathroom but just OUTSIDE the door, that the basement that was listed as FULL, is actually not full and is tiny, that the kitchen cabinets, although more in number than our other house, are too narrow to fit most of our small appliances, pans or dinner plates, that the house is covered in a layer of soot from the previous owners smoking in the house, that the house stinks like cigarettes and cat food, that about half of the lights are basically placed or wired backwards (up is off, down is on), the garage is actually smaller than our garage in Knoxville was which I never thought would have been possible (Rick has about 1 inch in front and in back of his truck) and that the extra bedroom I was so excited about is now my craft room because the basement was too small for my tables, so much for having a guest room.

So that is just a few of the things that make this house stupid. I am still really irritated about this move and that we were so rushed to make a decision that I can't see myself ever being happy with this house. That being said, as stupid as this house is, I am very happy with the neighborhood, the town, our neighbors, Millie and Reed's schools and our church seems pretty good too. Those were the things that lead us to this particular location to begin with, thus leading us to this house that seemed like it "would do".  Everything we need, grocery, bank, both schools and our church are all close enough that we ride our bikes most of the time.  That is pretty neat and not stupid at all so I guess it balances it all out and makes it ok.

We are not going to just sit by, though, and let this stupid house fester. I mean, it is where we will live until we are moved again.  We have already taken action! We have painted 90% of the inside, got some new door handles (this house was all about the brass hardware), bought a new refrigerator, bought shelves for the third bay in the garage for all our tools, bikes and such, painted some of the brass interior lights, installed ceiling fans (with lights!) in 3 of the bedrooms, installed new toilet seats and shower heads, removed all existing landscaping and replaced with new and planted 6 new trees in the back yard, painted exterior lights and ordered and installed blinds on the windows in the dining room and kitchen. That sounds like a lot but we have much more to do. Rick is almost finished with the plans for a screen porch and deck. When that is over we (I) still need (want) new kitchen and bathroom counters, lights, mirrors and faucets, crown molding all around, new hardware on all interior doors (brass must go), stain the existing light oak floors a darker color, add hardware to the too narrow kitchen cabinets and figure out how to get ceiling lights in the living room so we can use it at night.

Most people may think this all sounds fun but trust me, it's not. When you know you will probably just be forced to move again against your will, you just see yourself throwing money down the drain because if the past proves anything, it will prove that we will take a loss on the sale of this house just like we have on all the other 3. Thanks a lot, been a pleasure, NOT!! It basically just means we live in a constant state of trying to make a home feel like ours just to hand it over to someone else on a nice perfect platter. I try not to be bitter but I can't help it.  I'm kind of over it.

Now, if anyone is actually still reading this rambling jumble of my thoughts and gripes, here are a few pictures of what we have done on the landscaping.

Before landscaping...

After landscaping...

3 redbud trees. I have planted a redbud tree at every house we have lived in in honor of my grandfathers, Nelson Reed (Red) and Albert John (Bud). So at this house I planted 3, 1 for Nelson Reed (Red), 1 for Albert John (Bud) and 1 for my new guy, Reed Albert.

3 pear trees, for no reason other than my neighbor behind our house sits out and smokes while staring in our back sliding door. Now we don't have to stare at each other.

There you have it! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the Tylenol?

Reed's Preschool Work

Reed brought home this beautiful picture for me today from preschool. Interesting choice of colors. Reminded me of Billy Madison.

Billy Madison: Well, I made the duck blue because I'd never seen a blue duck before and I wanted to see one.
Miss Lippy: Well, I think it's an excellent blue duck. Congratulations Billy, you just passed the first grade.
Billy Madison: Wow, Miss Lippy, that's great. What do you think of that Mr. Blue Duck?
Billy Madison: That's quacktastic.

The Highlight Reel

Now for the highlights of Reed's first game.

This highlight was one of the first plays of the game.  Reed was pretty ready to go as you can tell.  He came from the back field, busted through the line to cause a fumble and even recovered the ball.  That's my boy!


The following highlight was a great carry as the running back.  He was nearly unstoppable! 



This shows how determined he was to score.  He had a great carry even if he did have both flags pulled and was tackled before reaching the end zone.  That didn't stop him.  He still "scored"!

Meunier Football Domination Continues

It was inevitable really. Football is in the Meunier blood line. Before Rick and I were even dating in college, I went to a few of his old high school football games to watch his brothers play. No matter what his family says, we really were not dating at the time. Those games were my first ever experience with football and at the time I couldn't have told you the difference between a linebacker, quarterback or water boy. Well that hasn't changed much but I have developed a fondness and respect for football after seeing it through Rick's eyes and heart.

Last week I discovered our new church has a great Sports Ministry program. And to my great surprise I noticed they offered flag football for preschool and kindergarten. I contacted them immediately and found out they had 1 spot left and I could sign Reed up.

He is a Cardinal and proudly wears the #1 jersey for the team. Fitting since he is not only the smallest player on his team but by the looks of it, seems to be the smallest player in the entire league. He proved in today's game, though, that just because you are the smallest one out there it doesn't mean you don't have the heart of a big kid! He had such determination it was hard to tell him he was not supposed to tackle in flag football.

Or that you really were only supposed to pull the flag of the player with the ball.

Or that you really didn't need to pull flags after the play was over.

Or that you were only supposed to pull the flags of the OTHER team.

He just knew that there were flags and by golly if he wasn't supposed to tackle he was getting those flags!

It was also pretty special seeing Rick out there with Reed helping and teaching him about the game. I may not have football in my blood, heck, I don't have any kind of athleticism in my blood at all, but it was easy to get teary eyed watching Reed and Rick sharing that special time together.

And now for a little play by play...

Notice the position of the ball in this next photo. Doesn't stop Reed from holding back 2 kids twice his size long after the play is basically over!

Watch Reed as the Running Back...great pick up here...

The ball was as big as he was but he ran like the wind!

Checking behind him to make sure all was clear without missing a step. This boy may be a natural.

Speaking of naturals, Millie is pretty darn good too. Unfortunately by the time I found out about this league, it was too late to sign Millie up. She would have been great and Rick would have been just as proud!

So she was (somewhat) content to just watch but she has made it perfectly clear that she will play next year. Yes Ma'am!

De-Landscaping

This house had a lot of un-landscaping to do so we had the last round this morning. Apparently Rick found some extra trash while he was working.

We had a LOT of mums to remove. We gave some to our neighbor and threw the rest away. Seemed like a waste but we didn't want them.

Reed's First Dentist Visit

Reed has his first dental visit this week. I was pretty sure he would do ok but you just never know. Well, he lived up to my expetations and did fantastic. I actually got mine cleaned first so he watched and chatted with the hygienist the entire time. She asked him if he wanted to use the sucker thing and suck the water out of my mouth. His response, "Of course of!!" So he loved doing that and then was pretty excited when it was his turn.

He hopped right up there and did just what they asked him to. He kept hold of the sucker and did a fine job.

He was pretty comfortable, just kicked back chilling with Sesame Street. We will have no problems getting him to go back and he even got his picture on the wall for the "No Cavity Club"

A Day on the Farm

Labor Day weekend we went to my parent's house which is always fun for the kids. Turns out my dad had a tree that fell across the creek and since he had Rick to help him, they figured it was a good time to get it out.

The kids enjoyed driving the tractor and buggy, climbing on the tree, playing in the creek and well, just getting really dirty.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

I just figured out I can blog from my phone so this makes me SUPER excited. So now I can share stories of the fun things we do with photos taken from my phone. I am really digging this new iPhone stuff. I should have thrown my old phone from a train a long time ago!

So a few weeks ago we took the kids to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. A super big thanks to Aunt Hannah, Uncle Brian and Uncle Pat for the great birthday gift for our little critters.

They had a blast. The museum is basically 4 full floors and I didn't think we were ever going to make it out of the lower level. We didn't want to rush them so we let them take their time. We only ended up covering 2 floors so we still have 2 floors to go.

I can't wait to go back and check out the rest.

So now it's time to publish this post. Not sure where the photos are going to end up but I guess we will just have to see.

PS. The big colorful water thing is a clock which we were all mesmerized by for at least 15 minutes. We even set the alarm on our phone for 11:50 so we could make sure we were back to watch it empty and start at noon. So cool.

Preschool

Reed's first day of preschool was last week, I know, I am behind. He was very excited about it and could not wait to finally start.

Millie kissed him goodbye at her bus stop and as soon as she was on the bus we had to leave to take Reed. He was not fearful at all, running right up to the door and heading to class. He was excited when he found his name on the wall.

He was most excited about the barn he found there on meet the teacher night. He played with it until he noticed play dough. That is about the only thing in his world that would pull him away from the barn and farm animals.

He had a great day and I know it is a great program. It's nice that he is finally in a Catholic program. I am sure we will all love it.