Blessed

Well, Christmas is over and we're back home after spending almost a week at my parent's house for the holiday. It was so great getting to spend time with my parents, my brother and so many other family members. We really enjoyed getting to see my cousin and her family. Their three girls always get along so well with our boys. Being with family for Christmas and realizing that next year at this time we will be nearly 2000 miles away from them makes me think about how blessed I am to have family that no matter how far apart our homes are we are always bound by love. My parents have always been a source of strength and support for me. They supported me even in college when I decided to follow a less than easy path toward television news instead of something more "sensible" or "stable". They stood by me when I knew that even though Kevin and I had just met and only had one official date he was the man I was meant to marry. And now 15 1/2 years later they see what a terrific man he is and how we fit together so perfectly. My brother is, as always, funny and easy going. He is so easy to be around and I enjoy his company so much. Growing up we were several years apart and so we didn't always share many experiences but I've always known he was a talented, smart and trustworthy person. I would trust him with my life and the lives of my family. My grandmother is 91 years old and still has her sense of humor and an incredible mind. I love being around her and remembering how much I loved growing up around her and my grandfather.



I am excited about the new adventures ahead of us, as we prepare to move to Rhode Island next summer, but for now, I am going to enjoy having my family driving distance away.

14 Years

It's hard to really take in, but our oldest son turned 14 today. Fourteen years seems like such a long time but it's really only a blink. He's grown and changed so much, especially over the last couple of years, and yet he's still my little boy. My little boy at 5'11", that is. It's hard to imagine that he is only a couple of years away from having a driver's license and only 4 1/2 years away from graduating from high school. Garrett says that there is nothing really spectacular about turning 14, but I disagree. Fourteen seems like a huge leap to me. At 13, he was just finding out what it's like to be a teenager. Now, he wants more freedom, more privacy and more choices. He's such a responsible young man and he is a leader among his peers, whether he's on the football field, the basketball court, the classroom or with the youth group at church. But he's still my little boy and his brother's aren't all that far behind him. This time next year, I will have a high school student, a middle school student and an elementary school student. Sometimes it makes me feel old, but mostly it makes me proud of the young men they are all becoming and of how they continue to find their passion for Christ and for life. I am excited about their futures and their ability to dream about the men they are becoming.

Broken Bones

Ironically, just last night at our church's Deacons' and Wives' dinner Kevin and I were talking about how fortunate Garrett had been to avoid injuries in all of the sports that he plays. Well, he came home yesterday with what appeared to be a jammed finger he hurt during basketball practice. During the night, it continued to swell and turn black and blue. So, I took him in to the doctor this morning and yes, it is broken. It's a small fracture but he'll still be "out of the net" so to speak for a few weeks with basketball. This is all new for him. He never misses a game or practice of any kind if he can possibly avoid it. Now he's got to sit the sidelines for Monday's game. It's fortunate for him that next week is the last week of school before Christmas break. So, he should only sit out for one game and have the following two weeks to heal before school starts back up in January. Good thing his Christmas band concert is over. I don't think he'll be able to play his bari-sax either. Guess he'll remember his 14th birthday on the 14th!

Another Day, Another game

Yes, it seems like we are always at some sporting event. It's hard to believe, that me being such a klutz and definitely not what you'd call athletic, that I have three boys who are all three athletic and love sports. Garrett's Basketball team won tonight 54-16. They are now 2-0 and it looks to be a fun and exciting season. I can't believe how much I enjoy watching the boys play sports. It doesn't matter whether it's football, soccer, basketball, baseball or track, I enjoy watching them no matter what. I hate it whenever I have to miss a game. Right now is especially fun because both Garrett and Jacob are playing basketball and yes, BB happens to be my favorite. I have always loved the fast paced game and it's really exciting to see how the boys improve their game every year. They both went to the San Antonio Spurs camp this past summer for the second year and a row and this year I can really see their skills developing more and more.



Tomorrow night I get to see another side of them that I love to watch....their musical side. Garrett and Jacob have their Christmas band concert Tuesday evening and that is always a lot of fun. They both seem to really enjoy band which puts a smile on my face, considering that I was a total band geek in high school. Garrett plays the Baritone Saxophone and Jacob plays the Trombone. Just tonight it was so amazing. Kevin and I were sitting downstairs watching television and we heard what sounded like the Christmas song "Up On The Housetop" playing upstairs. It turns out it was Jacob playing on his keyboard in his room. He was playing the music completely by ear, without music. He has such an ear for music and now he's asking me to start teaching him piano again. I think God has given him a real talent for music and I'm looking forward to seeing him develop as a musician.



Now Matthew, on the other hand, seems to have a talent on the stage. Sunday night was our church Children's Christmas program and somehow, Matthew and the other two wisemen turned their non-humourous parts into a little comedy bit. It really was cut and funny and their little bit of mischief actually added to their performance. He did so great. He is really fun to watch!

December 5, 2008

It is so cold here in Texas today. Right now it's 28 degrees with a 20 degree chill factor. I am freezing. Wouldn't you know, our last winter in Texas and it looks like it's going to be a cold one. Perhaps that is God's way of preparing us for our move to Rhode Island next year. I can't believe how unprepared we are for weather like this. Here we are digging to the bottom of the basket trying to find hats and gloves. The boys are finding they've outgrown their heavy coats, or even worse, they are so use to the warm weather they don't want to wear heavy coats so I'm worried that they are freezing to death while they are waiting on the bus. BRRRRR! A fire in the fireplace would sure be nice right now.

December 3, 2008

I said yesterday I'd come back to the subject of moving and even sooner than expected I am back on that topic. Kevin got his official notification today that he will be attending the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. As hard as it will be to leave Texas, with all our family, and so many dear friends here, we knew we couldn't stay forever (although in Army years, a total of 7 straight years here kind of seems like forever), so we will be packing up and moving north sometime in July 2009. This is an exciting time in Kevin's career and we are planning to make the most out of living somewhere new again. The boys and I took a trip to Boston in July 2007 and while Garrett was at a NYLC Leadership conference, Jacob, Matthew and I took a day trip up to Newport . It was beautiful, though rainy, and entirely different from anywhere we've lived before. I can't wait to show Kevin all the neat places we visited in Boston and Newport. And just to make Kevin and Garrett happy, maybe we can throw in a few Red Sox games. Ha!

No rest for the weary

Well, Thanksgiving is over and we had a great visit with everyone. Our middle son, Jacob, counted at one time we had 21 people in the house. Whew! That's a lot for me. But we made it through, with plenty of food and lots of fellowship. It was great to host the holiday since this will be our last year here in Texas, at least for a while. We are heading north in July, probably way north; but until it is actually official, I'll hold off on that story until later.

We came right of our Thanksgiving with Kevin being ordained as a Deacon in our church on Nov. 30th. The ceremony was a wonderful experience, even though the questioning may have made Kevin a bit nervous. He even managed to add his own brand of humor into a couple of his answers. Only Kevin could get away with that!

Then we blew right into December. Garrett had his first Basketball game of the season on the 1st. He made the A team again this year and he scored four points Monday night. They won their first game in overtime 46-44. It looks to be an exciting season. Jacob has started his basketball season and they will have their second practice tomorrow night. He has really improved since last year. It's going to be fun. And yes, I love basketball, always have and probably always will.

November 24, 2008

Wow, it's Monday again. The house is a mess and Kevin's family starts arriving for Thanksgiving tomorrow so I will have to get serious about cooking and cleaning today. We are all tired after driving to Dallas on Sunday to pick Garrett up from his latest conference. He was attending the National Young Leader's State Conference and really had a productive and exciting weekend. Tonight we start our every busy fall/winter sports schedule. Garrett will have basketball practice and Jacob starts his BB practice tonight. I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if we didn't have to attend a practice or a game. Well, I'd probably get a lot more scrapbooking done but I can always enjoy the games now and scrap them later. Afterall, the pictures will still be here, but the boys won't always be. Since it's Monday, I had my bowling league this morning and I continue to wonder why I bowl. It has to be for the fun and time spent with friends, because my bowling ability is questionable these days. I did bowl rather well at our church's Turkey Bowl on Saturday. I actually won a turkey for having the highest score. I bowled a 144. Speaking of Turkeys it's time to get back to holiday preparations!

Championship game

Fall is here

Wow, I guess I'm not so good at keeping up with my blogging. It's busy as usual. Since I posted in April we've been through a very active summer with soccer camps, basketball camps, church camps and trips to see family. The boys are back in school and super busy with homework and extracurriculars. Garrett's 8th grade football team just won the District Championship for 4 years in a row, and also remains undefeated for four straight seasons. He had a great season playing tight end again. He's really looking forward to playing high school ball. And it's right into basketball season. Garrett made the team again this year and they start games in less than two weeks. Jacob is playing basketball again and starts practice with his team next week. Jacob is really adjusting well to middle school, loving learning to play the trombone and making lots of new friends. Matthew is as always...fun loving and easy going. Unfortunately that fun loving part seems to get him into trouble occasionally at school. The good thing for him is that his teachers always think he's adorable. We're actually experiencing some cool weather in Texas which is awesome. At least we're getting a little taste of fall.

Kevin and I are tired this evening as we were on the road most of the day, after driving Garrett to a leadership conference. He'll be gone for four days and yes, we're already missing him.

April 29, 2008

Tuesday, April 28
Wow! Just a few more weeks and the boys will be out of school for the summer. It looks like these last few weeks of school will be busy. This week Garrett is getting together his application for National Junior Honor Society and has baseball practice. At least all of his school sports are over for the year. He finally gets to ride the bus everyday instead of me having to pick him up after practice everyday. It does make getting dinner together easier each evening. Jacob and Matthew had a great time at the RA Congress this past weekend and both brought home tons of ribbons for their achievements! We are so proud of them! Garrett finished up his Track & Field season last week as he participated in the High Jump. He only got to practice one afternoon after he was told he would represent his school at the District Qualifiers and did pretty well considering he had never done it before. Matthew is loving learning to play Tennis. I think this is a sport he's going to have a lot of fun playing. Jacob did awesome on his Math TAKS test and actually won third place in a classroom math competition yesterday. For someone who doesn't like math he sure is excelling at it recently.

Kevin was on the local news this past Sunday! How exciting that was for all of us. It was so fun to see him on television and he looked and sounded great! He spoke to a group of youth volunteers and members of CampfireUSA who were putting together care packages for soldiers for Global Youth Volunteer Day. He really has a gift for public speaking! Having my degree in Speech, I wish I could take some credit, but it seems Kevin really has a natural talent for it.

Well, I'm planning on doing the not so exciting job of steam cleaning my carpets today so that perhaps by the end of the week I can sit down and enjoy scrapbooking our families recent trip to DisneyWorld. So I'm off to clean!