Omaha

(This must start with a disclaimer. My blog is under construction. I cannot do a thing without the help of my personal I.T. guy so until Scott is "free" it may look like this for a while.)

In October we took the kids to Omaha NE to honor my sister-in-law Audrey, who retired from over 25yrs in the Air Force. What a cool experience for all of us whose lives are not directly touched by those who unselfishly serve for our freedom. We are so proud of Audrey and her family for all the sacrifices they have made over the years.

While there, all the grandchildren on my side of the family got to enjoy time in the pool and time at the zoo.

Matthias and Nolan.


The little man. He loves to swim. Thumbs up from him.


Rachel and Elizabeth warming up in the hot tub.


Hannah with cousin Jared. She is so lacking in expression. :)





We watched this kind of play go on forever. And they call this fun? Boys will be boys.


The next day we went to Omaha's Henry Doorley Zoo. If you haven't ever been there it is well worth the drive. You can spend all day at this zoo.

Hannah hamming it up for Jonah.


Hannah didn't want Nolan to feel left out. He wasn't going to have anything to do with her craziness.


Our o-so-serious man. Not!


We took a ton of animal pictures but did want to share this one because let's face it, I am a sucker for any baby.....even a baby gorilla.


The Mattley cousins had to leave early so enjoyed the Zoo with the Bennetts.

Hannah Played Volleyball

I am still playing catch up from early fall. I didn't want to let any more time go by and not document Hannah's fall sport. This was the second year for organized volley ball for the girls. They are in the earlier stages of learning the game and have grown tremendously from last year. Very fun to watch!

As a disclaimer, we have not mastered "gym" photos yet so these photos are as good as they come for us. You will get the idea. I see a lot of gym time in our future so I better get it figured out soon!

Their coach really stressed "down and ready" position.


This may appear to be a look of disrespect but on the contrary it is Hannah soaking up info when they were falling behind. She is such a hard worker and a positive influence out there on the floor. Proud of that more than anything!








Still freaks me out every time I see the girls moving anywhere they please along the back of the court. That and the fact that a serve that touches the net and tumbles over is GOOD still catches me off guard. Finish that all off with the rule that a point is awarded every serve to whomever "wins" the volley.....we'll just say it is a very different game than I remember. I am convinced that this does NOT make me old but that there is not an area of life where change is not happening. So hard to keep up is the problem!

Time Spent with Good Friends

A few weeks ago we got to go out to the Boatmans, to enjoy fishing, fire pit, a hay rack ride, pumpkin carving, and some really good eats with treasured friends. It was chilly but that did not hinder our fun. We just so enjoy our time with these people. Storing up memories!

Here is Doug bringing in the tractor and trailer.


Here is a view of their beautiful property. Pictures do not do the handiwork of God justice. It was stunning.


Love the sheer delight on Ana face. I think she was engaged in something with Miss Jessica.


I didn't get a group picture sadly because I didn't have the camera the entire time. Here is Ana's sister Tyhesia. Hannah trying to help her "cooperate" with the photographer. Such shy jr. high girls.


Pure joy!


Here is Ana and her mother planning their pumpkin attack.


Mrs. Boatman.


Christopher had the most complicated design hands down.


Grant, Ana, and Jessica working on their masterpieces.


Here is Hannah's pumpkin almost finished. She just had to cut out the sun's rays.


You would never guess that Zach did this one.


This is Elizabeth's design for Frankenstein.


Here are all the finished works of art. If you click on them you can see them all in greater detail.

Here are the kids on Halloween. I must confess that I am a bit of a Halloween Scrooge because, plain and simple, it is a lot of work for someone with left brain mentality to come up with 5 different (and cheap) costumes every year.

The 3 younger kids have an annual parade in"downtown Oxford" to let everyone take a look at their costumes. This year it was windy and chilly but at least there was not a sign of snow.

Here is Miss E behind the veil of her teacher, adorned in her football costume.


Aaron's choice this year was to be a jailbird.


Issac had to remind me what he was because I cannot keep all those Star Wars names straight. He is some kind of Clone.


Ok, this is NOT me but I loved the costume so much that I had to add it. This is a teacher that my kids think a lot of. She is clearly a lot of fun.


So here is Aaron, Isaac, and Elizabeth with her friend Meyghan who was half devil, half angel. They were ready to head out to fill their bags with tooth rotting goodies.


The first two kids pictured are twins, friends in Zach's class, who are posing as homeless people. Zach was an Immortal (I have no idea what it really is but he and Scott talked about it--probably from some movie I won't see) and another friend whom I never did figure out what his costume was supposed to be. Bottom line, they all just wanted candy.


Here is HB. I am told that she was a spy. She and 3 of her other friends designed their costumes for their Halloween dance. I wish I had a picture of all of them but this will have to suffice. So intense. If I were a bad guy I would run. I mean, a glow stick could really hurt someone. :)


One might be inclined to think that she is part of team "ispy" when in fact it is actually team "i-spy." I was just so thankful that it was homemade and one less that I had to figure out.

The Dance Review

The post dance conversation this past Friday was highly entertaining as Scott and I learned more about what exactly jr. high. dances look like.

The first question posed to the kids was how "fast" dances were handled. I was very please to hear that the girls all dance in circles with their friends while the boys come and dance around them on the outside. Zach made it clear that you were NOT to look them in the eye and Hannah clarified also that boys definitely don't enter the girl circle unless, "you think you are all that."

The probing question in my mind was that of the "slow" dance. It was best explained by example (willingly on the part of my kids....they crack me up!). I was able to sneak the in first picture. What cannot be seen here because I was stealthy but not quick, is that Scott is holding a tape measure. He told them he needed to know the exact distance.


I must say that I was pleased to see "soldier-like" dancing still does take place. They did say there were a few couples who left no distance but that that was rare and nothing they took part in. Praise Jesus!


They were both good sports but did see the ridiculousness of their dad's tactics. I loved it!


Jr. High years are not without their fair share of drama but I must admit, I totally love it!

Zach Plays Football

Seventh grade is the first "real" opportunity to play tackle football in school. Zach tried it out this year and really took a liking to it. Let's see, in his words, "it's so fun to wear pads and just hit people." We were so proud of his hard work!

Here is Zach in motion, number 62.


Here he is right in the center of the picture, wearing a long sleeved black shirt under his jersey, getting his guy.





Can you tell they played on real grass/mud?





Here's one guy who needs a shower and a run through the stain cycle. That reminds me, those muddy shoes are still sitting in the garage by the back door. Someone should really get on that.

Lunch by Hannah

I feel as though I cannot do anything consistently right now. Life is always busy so I have to quit using that as an excuse to never post. As I have said many times, this may likely be the only documentation I have of these years so I must persevere or there will be no history of what our days consisted of.

Over this week I hope to start catching up as we have gotten to do some extra special things lately. I will start simple. A couple weekends ago we left Hannah in charge of all the kids for the entire day while Scott and I took a road trip to Madison. We went to start looking for housing/neighborhoods/schools with some very dear friends of ours who have lived and worked in Madison.

This is what Hannah made the kids for lunch. I had made this years ago when I stumbled upon it in a magazine. It was originally made in Ramen noodles that were died green and the octopus faces were made with ketchup and mustard. She remembered. From what I heard, it was a hit. She did a fabulous job being in charge all day. I do think she decided that she is not ready to mom full-time. :) Great experience for her.

Catching Up, Randomly

It seems as though getting back into the swing of life this fall has found me falling behind here in blog world. Slowly I am going to try to start catching up here.

About a week ago we were all outside playing various things. The little boys were doing chalk, HB and I were playing volleyball, and Zach and Elizabeth were.....well working on Elizabeth's pitching. Upon agreement to participate Zach left momentarily in order to don this. It seems that his trust levels were low and pad levels were high.


Zach has really been enjoying football lately. This is his first year playing tackle football and he has taken a liking to it. It has brought out and new found confidence in him and it has been really fun seeing a new side of him. After his last game he came home with his dad fully clad in his hulking bulking attire. His younger brothers thought it was great! They took turns hitting him just to see if all those pads worked.

The next morning Zach needed to get all his gear back to school and insisted he still ride his bike. I tried to talk him out of it, partially for his sake as his load was cumbersome and partially out of fear of ridicule. Maybe I should just own that one as a pride issue. Anyway, he had a great time messing with me when he told me he was "ready to go." I turned to see this!

I gasped mildly and told he might, just might get made fun of. He laughed and admitted he was joking. He did say that he could then leave his bike helmet at home.


Instead, this is what he looked like as he left for school. Notice he even has his blue mouth guard in place. I decided to rest in the fact that the young man was determined enough to get to school on his own, load and all, and self-assured enough not to care what people think (for the most part as at least the helmet came off).

Fabulous 14

Today Hannah turns 14! I look at her in disbelief. How is that possible? I can only deny it until she comes and stands before me, just shy of eye to eye. It is so fun to watch her grow! If she passes me up that would be really cool!

These last 12 months have been a kick to watch as Hannah has grown in far greater ways than the length of her legs. These are the things we, her parents take note of this September 4th:

1. She no longer resembles a "child" at all. I see a young woman standing before me.

2. She still tirelessly (95% of the time) includes her little sister and receives her homemade birthday presents with true excitement and gratefulness.

3. She has shown great fortitude and attitude in her sports endeavors (VB, BB, Track, SB).

4. Hannah still remains a "cheerleader" at heart. A couple different coaches have commented on her ability to stay upbeat and to be a positive influence on their teams.

5. When we threw her the curve ball about our move to Madison she waded through those waters with honesty, openness, and with greater integrity than I would have had the courage to ask for. I should have known better. Again, she sets a great example for the younger kids.

6. She is creative and musical. Hannah's life seems to have always been set to music. That hasn't changed a bit. She wrote a cool song that honored her Savior and that she had the boldness to share it with the entire student body. I am in awe.

7. She repeatedly gives great counsel to her little sister and still chooses to share a room with her.

8. She and Zach have really grown a great friendship. It is so cool. Together, these two jr high kids provide lot of laughs! These are really fun times!

9. She is not too busy for her youngest brothers. She is often found showering them with love and attention.

10. We have seen her walk through peer conflict with deep love and unselfish devotion. She shares a Christ-like persistence and grace that humbles me.

11. The "follower" that I sometimes saw in her has grown into a much more confident leader.

12. Her heart is still the size of Texas and she doesn't keep it from me. I love knowing her so well.

13. We have openly admitted that we are learning to parent as we go with her and she repeatedly shows Scott and I great patience and grace.

14. We are most thrilled with how we see the Holy Spirit transforming her into His likeness, not to our credit but by His grace.

HB, we love you deeply! We are so blessed to have had another 12 months with you. We love watching the Lord work out His will in your life. It is a joy! You are a joy!