Blogger bug

Not sure if I've been bitten by the blogger bug again or just boredom, but two posts in a 7-day period is certainly rare for me!

So, another Christmas has past and another year about to come to an end. As they say...time flies! Everyone had a fabulous holiday as usual. In keeping with tradition we spent Christmas Eve at my Aunt Bev's house eating too much, opening gifts, and playing games.

Austin helping his grandma with one of her gifts.

Christmas morning started bright and early at our house with Austin tearing through gift after gift (he told me later I went a little overboard--good to know he hasn't lost sight of what the season is all about. And, I thought I was scaling back!). He loved everything he got, was surprised by a few of his gifts, but I think his favorites were some of the least expensive gifts he received (t-shirts from Spencer's he'd asked for--which, by the way, were some of my least favorite to buy! lol)! His tastes are certainly changing! After we opened gifts at our house we went down to the in-laws for more of the same.The rest of the day was nice and relaxing. Austin spent the afternoon at his dad's, coming home just in time for dinner. Only thing left to do now...is take him shopping to spend all his gift cards! lol!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas cards used to be one of my favorite things about the holiday season. I loved everything about them from choosing the perfect cards to send out, to addressing them and sending them out. As my schedule (like so many others) got increasingly busier over the last several years--especially during the holiday season, something had to give and I abandoned this practice. This year I was hoping to bring back that tradition. Once again, however, time has gotten away from me and so another year goes by without addressing one card. I do miss sending out Christmas greetings, so I have decided to use my blog as one big Christmas "card" to everyone.

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you, and best wishes for Happy New Year!!

I've never been one to include a summary of the year's events in my Christmas cards, but since the original purpose of my blog was to keep everyone up to date with our family's happenings I'll run through a quick recap.

Since my last blog (that included anything to actually report on) was about Austin's track season, I'll pick up from there. He graduated from 8th grade in June. Yes...it was a loooong school year!! Snow days held us over until the first week of June, and needless to say, EVERYONE was ready for it to be over!

8th grade graduation.

The following week we had a party for him on the patio.

The summer was full of "firsts" for Austin (and a couple for me!). He attends football and basketball camps every summer, but most of those are day camps and I just transport him back and forth for the duration of the camp. This year he went to his first "away" overnight basketcamp at ISU. He got to stay in the dorms and everything. He thought that was awesome! His team performed really well during the camp, he learned a lot of new drills, and met a lot of new people. He had tons of fun!

Kiki (who is a junior and the brother of one of Austin's good friends) was Austin's roommate at camp.

While the cat's away, mice will play! While Austin was away at camp, Bryan and I plus a big group of us all went up to Chicago for the weekend where I had one of my firsts. My first Cub game at Wrigley Field. I've seen the Cubs play before at other stadiums, but never at Wrigley, and it was everything it's hyped up to be! AND...to make things even better--THE CUBS WON!! The game went into 13 innings! But, was well worth the wait. :)

Another first for Austin was his first trip out of the country. We went on vacation in July to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic (another first for me--Bryan has been before) for a week. I wasn't sure how Austin would do on a "resort" vacation with a lot of laying around the pool and on the beach since he is used to going on more action-packed vacations with us. But... he LOVED it, and can't wait to go back! We took a couple day trips during the week going into "town" (if that's what you want to call it) to do a little shopping, and we went on a boating/snorkeling excursion where we even got to swim with the sharks (we were told they're not the kind of sharks that eat people--hmm) and stringrays (that had their stingers removed of course). Austin met all kinds of other kids from all over the world--Germany, France, Spain. He had a little 13 year old girl from Germany following him around (or was he following her around? lol!) all week, and spent a lot of time hanging out with a boy from France (until Austin realized people in France are a little more "relaxed" than we are in the States and didn't like some of the things the boy was "inviting" him to do--smart kid!). Although his little friend from Germany could understand Austin, she couldn't communicate in English very well so it was quite a learning experience for Austin. He picked up a few German words and also learned how limited we are by only knowing our own language! He was amazed that everyone he met could not only speak their own language, but could also speak ours (if not fluently at least enough to communicate).

Pool volleyball with his new friends.

Austin with his friends from Germany.

With one of the locals.

The rest of the summer was equally busy for Austin between a very intense football camp and his first job! He got a taste of what it's like to actually earn a dollar working for Bryan at BASF pollenating corn. Can't say he loved it as much as he did his other "firsts", but it was a good experience for him.

He's entered the world of high school now and is absolutely loving it! He was a starter for the freshman football team. They ended up with a 500 season--not too bad considering the kind of weather they had to play in this year! It was a WET football season! Austin probably played his best game ever (in the rain!) the last game of the season with several tackles and an interception. Basketball season has started now, and so far his team is 3 and 1. Austin's been leading the team with 3 pt. shots, and has been playing better than I've ever seen him. He starts driver's ed in the 4th quarter and that's all I hear about. (Actually, that's been all I hear about for a while now! Lord help us all when he actually starts driving!! lol!)

OK...so for the amount of time I've spent updating this blog I could've hand delivered Christmas cards to everyone! lol.

Seriously, I do appreciate all the Christmas cards I receive every year so thank you for keeping me on your Christmas card list even though I've neglected to reciprocate lately.

I truly hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Facebook

So...I was going to title this post "Blogger Flunkee" because I've allowed an entire summer to go by without once updating my blog. Lots happened over the summer, and none of it was documented on "Keep In Touch," but most of it was posted on Facebook. Clearly, I'm not a dedicated blogger no matter how much I like reading other people's blogs. Facebook has pretty much preempted my blogging. I started facebook about the same time I started my blog, and while I don't include as much written detail behind the pictures--it is just easier. Post a few pics, make a quick comment (maybe?), update status--done. So, for the 3 of you (jk...I know there's 4! lol!!) who check my blog...you're better off just staying "in touch" via facebook. In the event (rather... on the off chance) an exciting event happens that requires more than a one line explanation, I promise my blog will be updated immediately (I mean...eventually). If you aren't already a facebook friend (even though most of you are) and are on facebook, this would be the time to add me or send me a message to add you.

More later. At some point... ?

No more apologies

So, once again... there has been quite a gap in my posts. I'm not even going to apologize for that any more because, apparently, that's just way things are going to be. Sporatic. I do have several things I want to get posted and plan to be making the updates soon. Bare with me. Accept the randomness that is. :)

Record breaking week!

OK... not world records, but personal records at least! In last week's track meet Austin not only improved his times, once again in the 1600 and 800, he did it by more than just a couple seconds this time! He took 12 seconds off his 1600 and 10 seconds off his 800. These times are good enough to send him to the Clinton Challenge--an all-day track competition we hold each year at our school. They only have the top 2 in any event participate in the Challenge, and this will be the first year Austin has ever made the competition--for BOTH of his running events. We are very excited for him! The competition will be held Saturday, May 9. Look for more updates after the competition and keep your fingers crossed for Austin!

Jr. high band takes a trip to Six Flags

Every year the jr. high band takes a trip to Six Flags for a band competition (the competition is actually held at a school in that area, not at Six Flags), and a day of fun in the park. This year, the band won four of the highest honors at the competition. The concert band (which is the one Austin is in) received a Superior Rating, and was selected as the Outstanding Band of the Jr. High/Middle School division. The combined cadet and concert bands also received the Excellence Rating, and both were also given the Espirit De Corps award for their excellence in performance, discipline, behavior, and sportsmanship. It is the first time Clinton Jr. High has ever received that honor!!

Track season begins!

Track season has gotten off to a pretty good start. This year Austin is doing the 800, the 1600, and the long jump (a surprising event for someone who is only 5'4", but what do I know?). So far, he has beaten his best time in both the 800 and 1600--this is his first year for long jump, so every jump is a personal best :) . At the second meet of the season, in Rochester (Monday, April 20), he scored 1 point in the 1600 (which means he placed 5th), and 3 points in the 800 (3rd place) which was his personal best in this event. His next meet was at home, and the one where he got his personal best time in the 1600 and earned 3 more points for his team. So only three meets in, he's already scored more team points than he did the whole season last year. Not a bad way to kick off the season! Warming up

Long jump

Easter at the Martin's

Once again...I am going to attempt to get my blog caught up. (Hopefully, successfully this time!) Easter's been over for a couple weeks now, so I'll be back-tracking again.

We spent Easter at Bryan's mom's. She always makes a fabulous dinner and then Bryan and his sister's husband, Josh, goes outside to hide Easter eggs for the kids to find. As you can imagine out here in the country there are absolutely TONS of places to hide eggs, so this can take quite awhile sometimes...especially when the kids who are looking for them are only 4, 6, and 7. But, of course, Austin is there, too, to kind of guide them as he looks for his own. He may be 14 now, but he knows there is good stuff hidden inside of those eggs so he isn't about to miss out. I think he ended up with about $30 and more chocolate than the child will ever eat (since he doesn't like chocolate! Clearly it was just the money he was after!).

Austin, Kloe, Kolby, Kole, and (my sister-in-law) Brooke sitting in the kitchen floor opening their eggs to see what they got.

Austin looking at what he got from Brenda.

Kloe and Kolby showing off their new sandals I got them for Easter.

Last jr. high honors assembly...

Again, I've let myself get a little behind on updating my blog so I'm going to be back-tracking a couple of weeks.

The last day of school before Easter break (Wednesday, April 8) was the last jr. high honors assembly Austin will ever have. An honors assembly is held after each 9 weeks (except for the last 9 weeks, of course) to recognize students making the honor roll. In his three years of jr. high Austin has made the honor roll every single time, and as a jr. high staff member, I have had the opportunity most parents don't have of watching him receive his award each time. I was going to take a picture of him accepting his last award for jr. high, but decided to save him the embarrassment. Grades have always been important to Austin and he works very hard to keep them above average. Over the last 3 years his GPA has not fallen below a 3.5, and that was during an exceptionally tough 9-week period for him, but was still high enough for him to receive an award. For this last awards ceremony he had received one 'B' and the rest 'A's--which is typical for him. Needless to say, I am very proud of him and his hard work!

Reception the Country Club and some quality family time

My aunt recently got remarried (a destination wedding in Florida) and celebrated with an open house reception at the Country Club two weeks after her nuptials. An event like this is a perfect photo opportunity so, of course, we took a bunch! I'm only going to post a very few.

Me and Debbie (acting like we like each other! haha!!)

This is also the type of event that gives out of state relatives the perfect excuse to visit! I ALWAYS love, love, love it when my cousins from Omaha come back to visit!! I just don't see them nearly enough more. They came back this time with all kinds of news, so we had plenty of catching up to do. I had them over for lunch Sunday afternoon for a little 'quality' time.

Erica with Cameron and Matthew

Pacers v. Mavericks

We went to Indy for the weekend (last weekend 3-20) and took Austin to his first NBA game to see the Pacers and Mavericks. Him and Bryan are both Bulls fans first, of course, but they do like several Mavericks players as well, so that's who we were cheering for. (Yes, we were a little in the minority being at a Pacers game, but oh well...) The whole game was really close which made it even more exciting, and the fourth quarter was back and forth with the teams tying it up with 1.1 second to go! One of Austin's favorite players, Dirk (don't ask me to spell his last name!) ended up hitting a last second shot to win the game for the Mavs. Pretty exciting night!

Austin in his Bulls hat showing where his true loyalty lies.

Pacers warm-up

Happy Birthday Austin

Austin turned 14 on March 7th which means the REAL count down to driver's ed and the day he gets his license is on. At least for him... That is all he talks about! He can not wait till next school year when he gets to take the classroom portion of driver's ed the 4th quarter of his freshman year. (They certainly do things differently than when I was in school!). He's actually been counting down for several years already, but he has amped it up quite a bit lately--picking out what he wants his first car to be, what he wants on his license plates, and on and on and on and on! UGH!!

Austin, Tanner, and Jerrod

The older Austin gets, the harder he is to buy gifts for (I'm not sure if this means he's incredibly spoiled and doesn't need anything or what), but the last couple of years all he's wanted for his birthday is to be able to pick out whatever he wants. So we declared the 7th "All-About-Austin" Day and took him shopping for whatever he wanted. He never goes too crazy, and he got just what he wanted. We kind of kept things low-key after that because we've had enough of the all-out, crazy birthday celebrations. He had a couple friends stay over and they joined us at our family lunch (for 20!) the next day in celebration of his birthday. (Yes, lunch for 20 may not be considered 'low-key' to some people, but technically for our families it is because we had several people missing.)

Austin has become a huge fan of Tapout and UFC fighting (not something I will ever understand!). This was one of his favorite shirts he got for his birthday.

I'm back!!

Not that I 'went' anywhere, but I have definitely been neglectful in updating my blog! Not intentionally and not out of lack of things to post... just a lack of hours in the day!!

So, since the holidays we have been pretty busy. There are going to be several gaps, but I'm going to try and get everything caught up in a nutshell.

So the 7th/8th grade concert band played for the 7th grade basketball state tournament this year. The kids were almost as excited about doing this as if they were actually PLAYING in the tournament theirselves. It really was a big deal. This is them getting ready (again... sorry for the poor photography! I certainly did not miss my calling there!). Austin plays trumpet. He's standing in the back row.

And, there's Austin (5th from the left) blowing his little heart out. The band sounded great!! It was the first time they actually played "The Star Bangle Banner" for an audience. I was really impressed! I guess all that ear-deafening practice does pay off! They also played several upbeat songs (couldn't tell you the name of them) before each game and at each half-time. This was their second concert since the holidays, and they have one or two more before the end of the school year.

Awesome end to the b-ball season... (aka. Lost photo op!)

OK... so, the one time I don't bring my camera with me to one of Austin's games (because I figure--how many basketball pictures do we really need of the same season) he has his best game ever! He was leading scorer for the game and hit 3 of his 4 3-point shots. (Not that I would have actually been able to get one of those shots because I'm not--as I'm sure you can tell--the best photographer.) He was so pumped!! The team ended up with a record of 5-11. Not as good as last year, but at least they finished strong!

Quintuple overtime!!

Our game against Mt. Zion went into FIVE overtimes!! I had never heard of such of thing! We (in an effort to stay consistent) ended up losing by 5, but not from lack of effort. EVERYONE was exhausted after this one. Not just the boys! Our record so far for the year is 3 and 7. About half as good as it was this time last year, but the boys keep playing hard.

Holding their own

Whenever anyone plays Lincoln they automatically expect to get their butt kicked. Lincoln seems to dominate in the sport of basketball and has for a long time. In our game against Lincoln the boys really held their own. They were only down by one at half time, and even took the lead a couple times. In the end, Lincoln did win... But, our boys gave them a run for their money this time!

Last day of Christmas break

We spent the last day of Christmas break hanging out at Brenda and Randy's watching the Illini game and making cookies and popcorn balls. Austin spent half the time texting his friends until the girls got him into a game of Uno. We all left with a belly full of chocolate chip cookies!

Ringing in the New Year!

We had Greg, Mariah, and Teresa over to help us bring in the New Year. We had gotten a new game for Christmas and had tons of fun playing it! Austin had been invited to stay the night with a friend so he missed out... but, actually probably had more fun at his friend's.