Lucas Oil Finally

Finally able to upload photos from when Reed and Rick played at Lucas Oil on September 28th of this year.

Crazy Crazy Weekend

Busy busy as usual.  Friday was my sister's 40th birthday so we went out to eat with her and my mom and dad. 

Saturday morning Millie had softball practice then Reed had basketball practice.  Right after that mom picked me up to head into town to set up for Laura's surprise party.  She totally had no idea and I was glad the slideshow I made for her worked the way I had intended. 

Sunday morning it was up early for church and Sunday School, cleaning and preparing food for my family's thanksgiving that I host every year.  We had to have it a week early to fit in Rick's family's Christmas next weekend but it worked out.  We were a bit late to our own party since Reed had a game but it's family so I had the door unlocked and coffee was already brewing when we got home.

Still hoping to upload photos soon...

Dumb Computer

So, I still can't upload any photos so let's do a quick run down of things going on these days...without photos.

I think I left off around September because I know I wasn't able to blog about Reed playing football at Lucas Oil Stadium.  I even rented a big fancy lens to be sure I got great photos but I can't share them here.  It was a lot of fun and they won their game.  They went undefeated all season with Rick as their coach but they lost the last game of the season...the only one Reed didn't play in.  Coincidence...I think not...

My super wonderful mom had been really wanting to take all three grandkids to Florida together and it needed to happen before they got much older.  So she planned this super wonderful surprise trip for us.  The original plan was for the kids to have no idea what our destination was but mom couldn't hold it in after she took them to see Dolphin Tale 2 at the movies.  So she told them we were going to see Winter and Hope.  Of course the older ones then realized we were going to Florida but she wouldn't tell them anything else.  Heck, if that was our only outing that would have made them the happiest kids on the planet.  But, she had tons of games planned for them in the van (she rented with a movie player - kids in heaven) and they did puzzles to figure out that we were going to Orlando but then still didn't know what all we would do there.  She had other games and worksheets for them to do in the car to earn spending money, they turned them in to her for their "Mammy Credit Card" balance.  Each night she had a fun reveal party for what was happening the next day.  I have never seen so much joy in kids in my life.  On top of the amazing resort we were in, she took us to Medieval Times (I wish I would have videoed Reed's expressions, he was in a trance he was so loving it), Universal Studios with HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!, seeing Winter and Hope along with a beach day, a beautiful lake boat tour in Winter Park, dinner at the T-Rex cafe at Downtown Disney and a few fun pool days.  The weather was perfect and it was a perfect trip.  Millie even got to hang out with her best friend one day at Universal and became a total roller coaster maniac.  Rick was able to come down separate on his motorcycle and joined us for a few days while he camped and mountain biked on the way down and back.  I don't think the week could have been more perfect.  Thanks mom!

Millie's Fusion softball team won their first tourney in Santa Claus a week or so ago.  It was super exciting!

What's going on now???

If you recall we adopted Hercules - the dog - this past January.  It has been constant trips to the vet trying to figure out what all is wrong with him.  On top of thyroid issues, he also has Lupus.  So he's on steroids which is helping but at the same time they will slowly cause his body to break down.  So we will enjoy the time we have with him knowing he at least feels good and just be happy that we could provide him a loving home and make him comfortable for at least a little while.

Reed has had 3 basketball games playing at Floyd Central in a mini-league.  They have won all three by about 30-8...we haven't seen much competition yet.  Millie was supposed to play in a tennis tourney today but no one else signed up for it.  Guess they saw her and figured there was no way they would win ;-)

That about sums it up.  We are busy as always but blessed beyond belief.

My dad

So, my computer still won't upload photos so I can only post from photos on my phone. As I was looking through phone photos I came across these beauties of my dad. Every year we go to see Branson on the Road with him at Derby Dinner. He was telling some sort of silly story and I decided to take a bunch of photos of him. 

Harvest Homecoming Window Painting

Millie was chosen to represent her class by the art teacher to paint a window in New Albany for Harvest Homecoming.  She was super excited because they got to do it during the school day. 

Cross Country

3 of the top 10 girls play for Fusion!  They have become great friends!

As a fourth grader Millie had high hopes for this year's season but I knew it would be hard. One of her very good friends who goes to a different school (above in the blue) had been training hard all summer but Millie was busy with softball and didn't do any running. She had a great season (4 races plus championships) but she just couldn't win one. Not that second place out of about 200 girls is shabby by any means...All races were 1 mile.

Race 1 - Finished 3rd 7:08:46
Race 2 - Finished 2nd 6:42:02
Race 3 - Finished 2nd 6:31:20 (different course at Floyd Central High School)
Race 4 - Finished 2nd 6:34:58
Preliminaries - Finished 2nd 6:45:65
Championship - Finished 2nd 6:32:21

She's not sure if she wants to run next year for middle school. I'll leave it up to her to decide when the time comes. She wants to play basketball and maybe tennis in middle school as well so there's no point in overbooking if she doesn't want to. But if she wants to I will continue to do all I can for my kids to support them in their talents. The time may come eventually when I can't do that but for now, I will. My kids will always come first to me and although I meet myself coming and going some seasons, nothing makes be happier than seeing them set a goal, work hard and then reach it. My kids are learning that hard work pays off no matter if that's in school work, piano or sports. They are also learning that they are part of a team. By joining a team, they have a responsibility to that team to do their part and be their best. I never want my kids to think I expect them to be the best, but I will always expect them to do their best. I was so very proud of Millie during this season but I was more proud of how she was happy even with second place. She cheered for her other friends and was truly happy for all them, even if they beat her.

An ice cream celebration with her best friend after the championship. 

Football Summary

Reed's football season has come to an end and they were undefeated until the last game. Reed wasn't able to go to that last game so I like to think because of Reed's football domination, they couldn't keep it together without him. We'll go with that anyway. He had more fun as the season went along but he's still not sure he wants to play anymore. I won't force my kids to do things like this unless they want to but we will strongly encourage him to not give up yet. We shall see what next fall brings.

His basketball season starts this week and he is really looking forward to that. He has a few buddies on his team so I'm sure he'll have a blast.

Silver Creek Retains Undefeated Title After Beating Charlestown 19-14

Reed's team played on their field this weekend. I have to say, so far Silver Creek has hosted the best games. They had announcers, music between plays and they seemed much peppier than the other games.

Reed is enjoying it much more than he was at the start. I wasn't sure if we were going to get him to stick through the season. If he had been given a choice, he would have quit but I wouldn't let him because I want my kids to know that when they make a commitment, they have to stick with it. I won't make him play next year if he doesn't want to but I won't let him quite something halfway in.

Millie was a great sport and stayed with me there from 8:30am to about 3:30. Her and I had a booth set up selling bracelets to raise money for her softball team. We sold about 60 bracelets so it was worth it!!

The boys had a blast when they discovered the drinking station. I was glad one of the coaches finally noticed that they had sprayed about half the water all over each other and put a stop to it.

The game still can't hold Reed's attention when he's not in but boy those cheerleaders can. He spends most of the time watching the cheerleaders. And boy he loves to strut around in his uniform. I think those 2 things alone will keep him playing.

This was our closest game so far since the other 2 were blowouts but we pulled it off beating Charlestown 19-14.

And we were happy to finally get our official game jerseys. They sure look good!

Football - Silver Creek Dominates North Harrison in 36-0 Victory

I thought Reed's first football game may have been a fluke with them winning 22-0 against Scott County. However, they did it again this week but even better defeating North Harrison 36-0. Way to go Dragons. Maybe Rick really knows a little something about football after all. He has really worked hard with these boys and had them running some good plays. We aren't trying passing yet but our hand offs are usually successful and our reverse was working well this week.

Reed got the ball once this week in an attempt to score. He got the hand off but kind of panicked when those boys were charging him and he may have forgotten to run. That's ok, he took it well and hopefully he will remember the running part next time.

He claims he tackled a guy down who had the ball one time but I must have missed that one. Granted I couldn't see the play from where I was sitting so I guess I'll take his word for it.

Reed getting the hand off

And although these jersey are not shabby, they are just practice jerseys. We have played 2 games now and our game jerseys still have not arrived. Our league director is less than happy. I hear they are supposed look nice...

Are You Ready For Some Football!

Reed had his first tackle football game yesterday. I'll have to admit, I was worried. He was very excited about football this summer but after his eye injury he has gotten scared to play. He cries during practice and just doesn't want to be there. Well, I'm not letting him quit. I explained that he made a commitment to this team and he will finish the season. If he doesn't want to play next year, that's fine but he has a responsibility to finish this season.

So we got ready for his first game, first dropping Millie off at her softball tourney that morning then we all bailed on her to watch Reed. Let's face it, we've spent a lot of time watching softball this year, we all needed a change of scenery. My mom did stay with Millie so it's not like we just kicked her out of the car and peeled out. But it was a little like that.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be down by the field to take photos but I figured I was going for it until someone told me I couldn't. I created a site to share all my photos with the other parents so I figured they weren't going to complain. I ended up uploading over 200 photos for everyone so hopefully someone actually looks at them.

Reed told me he was nervous before the game because he was afraid he was going to get hurt. I explained that he had his gear on and that would protect him. He thought the other team would be much bigger but I also explained they would be the same size as their team. He went in excited though and never cried, whined or complained - victory.

Reed didn't get too much playing time and that's to be expected. I explained that if he wanted to play more, he had to give more effort in practice. He did well when he was out there though. I think experiencing the game setting helped him a lot. Hopefully this will show in practice so he can play more during the games.

So I'm sure you want to know how it went, right? Reed plays for Silver Creek - The Dragons. We played Scott County and beat them 22-0. I can't really say Reed had much of a part in that but maybe one day he will grow a little and get some speed. Until then, he will look really cute on the bench.