This and That

This weekend we had our annual Diocesan Youth Rallies.  Here is Carolyn (on the left) at the middle school event that I was able to attend.  (I took the picture.)  Wasn't it nice that the Pope could attend?  Ok - not really - but what a great picture!  The Bishop did say Mass and Carolyn was an Alter Server.  Matthew attended the next day with the older kids.  Our Youth Ministry team is amazing.

 So I am back on the "eat healthy wagon".  I had rolled under the wheels for over a month.  Here is Joel helping me make hummus!  Thankful for such good helpers and good eaters.

 Just had to document this picture somewhere.  These are 3 of my kids golfing in my parents living room.  (My brother sent this golf kit to my Dad after his hip surgery.)  It just makes me laugh because the older grand kids weren't really allowed to play in the living room and now kids can golf there - ha ha!!  I said several times, "are you sure you want them to do this in the living room?".  I guess you worry less about your living room when you are 80!

 Anna lost her first tooth.  It really deserves an entry of its own, but alas here she is.  It has been a very exciting couple of weeks with a wiggly tooth.  In the end I pulled it out because it was getting stuck in an "owie" position.  She was happy to have me do it.  She wants me to pull out the other wiggly one, but we are giving it some time.  She plans to write a note to request to keep tooth 2.

Happy birthday Matthew

Matthew turned 15 this year.  Although he is in 9th grade, he is still in the 8-9 middle school.  This year, however, our town opened a 2nd high school and due to the smaller enrollment, for the 1st time, the 9th graders were able to march in the high school marching band.  A better blogger would have a great photo of Matthew in his gear, but alas, I have none.  He has to wear his uniform 1 more time this year and I will get a photo.  He loved the marching band, so I know he will be back in uniform again next year despite the 4 day/week 7:00 am start time, Thursday night practices and frequent early Saturday start times.

 Matthew's literacy class read "10 little Indians" by Agatha Christie.  (I know it has a more politically correct name now, but I forget.)  HE LOVED IT, so I got him more Agatha to read.  This summer he received an "early" birthday hammock to take to scout camp too.  He took candy bars to share at the lunch table at school.  School is pretty intense this year, but aside from the home-work, I think he enjoys it.  He just finished his fall soccer season and is aiming toward Life Scout in the near future.  (Next comes Eagle.)  Very proud of how is is growing up!

Where I'm From - by Matthew

I am from incorrectly assembled Lego sets,

From Pokémon and oatmeal bars,

I am from the swing set in the backyard

(Wooden, sturdy,

It looked beyond perfect.)

I am from the milkweed,

The cherry tomato plant

Delicious and fresh and in excess

I’m from Christmas at Grandma’s and

From Elizabeth and Kenneth

From the praying before dinner

And the healthy eating

From respect and try your best

I’m from God loves you

And what would Jesus do?

I’m from Nebraska, Schillings and McCleary's

Pancakes and chicken lip dip

From the money my brother put into the outlet

To my sister’s slammed finger

Placed within the albums

Right on the shelf

I am from my childhood

The building blocks for my tower

The structure of my building

Lovelies

I know you think I am crazy posting a picture of our peppers.  You must know, we have NEVER grown a good pepper.  We have tried before, but they have been yucko.  These however were left to vine ripen.  It helped that we only spotted them (fully grown, but green) last week.  We are getting a total of 5-7 snack size peppers, but aren't they beautiful? 

The family is doing well too :0)

Joel's knee had to get "braces" (staples) last week when he fell ON his bike (not off).  The nurse said he was the first kid his age they didn't have to hold down to do the staples (well the lidocain before the staples).  Very brave.  And I will spare you the picture!!

First day of school

August 15th
Joel - 4th grade
Anna - 1st grade
Matthew - 9th grade
Carolyn - 6th grade!
Me - not in school - yeah!

Might be better than Disneyland

oops this is a draft from June

Joel's Cub Scout Pack had a Family Campout this weekend and Springbrook Park.  I had never been before, but Ken was going with Matthew to Scout camp the next day, so I volunteered to take the other kids.  It was awesome.  I will go every year from now on!

First we helped to band birds.  The park ranger was awesome and he is holding a bird in one hand and Carolyn's hand in the other.

 Now Carolyn is holding the bird (that was later banded).

 Here is Joel with members of his Den doing a water survey.

The kids also kayaked (Anna with me holding onto the back in the beach area), did archery, had smores, fished, investigated Owl Castings and watched a movie.  (Ken came for part of the day and got pictures of some things, but is at Boy Scout camp until tonight.)

The food was prepared in the cafeteria and we slept in cabins, which is a good kind of camping for me.  I truly feel like I had more fun at Springbrook at Disneyland!

Super summer

I know I have been a total blog-slacker, but not because of lack of material!  We had a great summer and here are some pictures.  Not representing everything, but just a smattering.  Right now my computer hard drive is full and probably has “issues” so I can only load a few pictures at a time.  I can’t get blogger to download everything in one post (perhaps related to computer issues).  I’ll post a few here and a few in another post.

 Ken's best bud (who must be taking this picture) visited Iowa and we went to McBride State Park to see his family.  Awesome weekend.

Matthew's first Summer fest parade in the band.  He is in the back of this pic.  Marching band - he is loving it!

Joel was in the parade with the scouts (and his dad!).  I have a pic of Matthew and Ken in a parade in Newburgh - but since I am slacking - I am not even searching for it!  Still - good memories.

Carolyn is 12!

Carolyn celebrated her birthday with her best buds (minus one who was at a wedding).  We took the girls roller-skating and I think everyone had a ball.  Carolyn is LOVING this time in her life.  Sorry for the blur - it was a little dark in there!

Why you should never put your tuba into the washer/dryer!

 Because you end up with a Baritone - obviously!

(September 2012 - Carolyn with her school tuba)

Carolyn with her own baritone (May 2013) !!  The enormous difference in size isn't done justice in the pictures.

Carolyn decided to try playing the Baritone instead of the tuba at the end of 5th grade and I went to rent her a school Baritone for the summer.  (I then learned that the school actually uses a Euphonium....who knew - see below for your new info of the day)  

I then went to the music store to buy her a mouthpiece so she could keep one at school and one at home.  In the window was this beautiful Baritone.  It is an antique, but plays beautifully.  Now I don't need insurance on a $2000  instrument nor need I worry about every bump and scrape it might receive.  It doesn't have a case, but the cost for purchase was approximately the price of 2 years rental + insurance for the school horn  (and I thought that the rental was a great deal!).  Plus it is gorgeous - I want to hang it on the wall when if she ever stops playing it!  

(She gets to use a school euphonium for band practice, so she doesn't need to lug this one around.  Didn't know that these were two different instruments - but the euphonium has an upward bell and keys-the band instructor said it was fine to play one at home and one at school.) 

   (euphonium pic from Wikipedia)

This is our mantle,above our fireplace.  My sister gave us the lovely "family name" art.  I love it.  My parents have their name as do my sister and brother's families.

You might call them boys but we call them GIANTS

While we were gone on vacation, Joel's baseball team - the Giants - played 3 games in our year-end tournament.  They lost the first game, which put them in the consolation bracket.  They won the next 2 games, which put them in the semi-final game tonight.  One of the player's grandmothers pitched to Joel in the batting cage to help him warm up, since he had been gone so long....yep we had a great team.

It was a nail-biter folks, but they played like champions.  Bottom of the 4th - final inning - we were up by 2 (19-17) and we quickly got two outs.  Unfortunately, the Brewers came back and won by one.  It was the best-played game of the year and the boys had a lot to be proud of.

The Giants were a team that didn't exist after the first draft this spring, but the league decided that the teams were too big.  Our coach wasn't signed on to coach originally, but stepped up when two more teams were added and was fabulous.  Here he is at the end of the game telling them how proud he was of them and how hard they played all season and that he hoped they all played again next year.  He let everyone who wanted to pitch try it during games.  He let kids play all different kinds of positions and it was such a change from Newburgh-cut-throat baseball (no offense Indiana).

Here is our favorite Giant with his cheering squad.  Ken is in Minneapolis for work and ironically was invited to a Twins game at the same time our Giants played tonight.  He told everyone he would much prefer to see the Giants - and he meant it 100%.

The 6 year-in-the-making trip!

Around the time that Anna was born I had friends and family taking trips to Orlando.  It was then that I decided that I wanted to visit this vacation destination, but only once :0)

I decided that summer 2012 or 2013 would be perfect - Anna would be 5-6 years old (and might have a memory of it) and Matthew would still be young enough to not have a summer job.  I was in school last summer, so that was ruled out for both time and financial reasons.  So June 2013 was the our goal.  We planned most of the trip in January to book flights and hotels etc.  It was especially exciting to find out that Ken had enough "Hilton points" to pay for all but one hotel night and we could stay on "Universal" or "Disney" properties.  Before I write a book about our trip - which was great fun - let me post 2 pictures and focus instead on downloading all the pics to Snapfish and fold some of the dozen loads of laundry!

Day one - Universal Studios - The boys biggest thrill was getting to ride the Transformers ride at a "soft opening", weeks before the ride officially opens.  Anna liked the simpler things, like playing at the Curious George ball factory.  Carolyn alternated between thrill rides with the boys and hanging with Anna and me.

The Harry Potter area at Islands of Adventure was a big thrill for the majority of the family (even me - and many things about theme parks don't get me too excited) .  Every thing was made to be realistic looking and felt authentic-LOVED it.

Other days found us at Magic Kingdom, Sea World, water parks and the beach, but the laundry is beckoning me and sorting through the 900 pictures we took will be a pleasure! I love digital, because you can print just what you want and make sure you got a great shot without wasting film!  Also I will print many "collage" photos that will put several related pictures on a 4x6 - perhaps I am trying to convince myself that this will be a reasonable amount of photos in the end!

A little bit of this and that

 I have been a slacker with posting and so rather than going for perfection I am just posting a bunch of fun photos that make me smile!

Anna's first organized sports team!

 Joel going for a shot.  

 Easter with Ken's folks.

 Kate's wedding.  Carolyn and I shared a room and a lot of fun with Leslie and Julie.

 Although there were no young cousins, Carolyn had great fun with her big cousins (shown here - Andrew and Christopher, brothers of the bride).

 Flower girl!

 From "I need my training wheels again" to "go speed racer" in about a week.

 Carolyn's school presentation

 Miss Bev and Mr. Charlie, our beloved crossing guards

 2nd to last day of kindergarten

 Carolyn's design was chosen for next year's art shirt!  (also Girl-Citizen of her class!)

 2nd to last day of 3rd grade

 2nd to last day of elementary school

 Carolyn performs at the Spring Talent Show

 Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa Schilling

Anna's big day(s)!

Finally!  Anna had her first birthday party with friends.  It was fairy princess (think Tinkerbell) themed and was a great success!

 The girls made their own pizza and did crafts and played outside!  It easy to please the 4-6 year old girl group!

 Ken took this photo on Anna's actual birthday.  I think she is talking on the phone to me, because I was in Iowa City at the time for my Dad's surgery.  (He is on the mend now!)  The unicorn helmet and American Girl craft book were her gifts from us.

"Head"line news

Don't you wish your camera could take pictures this fast and clear?  

Me too!

We are so lucky to have a person in Matthew's scout troop who takes pictures at many of the events.  Double lucky because his boys are on Matthew's soccer team.

Matthew had a great game Sunday and the photographer mentioned above shared 200 photos from the game with the team.  After I thanked him for sharing, he sent Matthew's photos in high resolution.  I can't want to see these in print!  (P.S.  Matthew came up with the cheesie name for this post...gotta love it!)