This Is Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Bren aka Optimus Prime, Leigh aka Ladybug and Gabi aka IU Cheerleader and Uncle Dave aka Uncle Dave :)

Trick or Treating at maw maw and paw paws house

Presley aka Pocahantas, Addy aka Jessie, Reese aka Lion and Gabi aka IU Cheerleader

Emma aka Ghoul and Gabi aka IU Cheerleader
Gabi said she got extra candy because everyone liked IU!  Except for one house...they were "Purduush fans."  lol

Trenton went as "Lester"

Tyler went as a Cowboy one night ...and Mario the next.

Championship Game

Beiger  -Our thorn in our side.  The ones who beat us by 1 point during the season.  We had them again, but we were expecting this.  Our team found their stride sooner in this game, maybe because the jitters were gone from playing this morning.  What an exciting game.  Within a couple of baskets the entire game and ended up tying at the end!  22-22!  Gabi had a total of 8 points at the end when the overtime of 2 minutes was put on the clock.  We did well.  We rebounded well, we were playing defense well.  We probably could have done better on making the shots, but we did well.  Gabi made a two point shot immediately into overtime putting us at 24-22.  Olivia (Beiger's best player) started trying to draw fouls and went to the line 4 times.  She only made 1 of the 4!  We remained calm and we stalled just as the coaches told us to do and we won!  24-23!  Wow.  Ben looked at me right before the end and said, "I can feel my heart beating out of my chest!"  And I would have to agree...the anxiety had to be up there with a wrestling match! 

**As I am adding these photos I noticed I have not action shots during this game...that's how INTO it I was!  It was definitely exciting!

Ben made an AWESOME poster for the team and Brennie even made a little poster for Gabi.  Kaene asked to take it home to put on his front lawn afterwards!

Leigh stole our hearts this morning when she said "I love Gabi."  How adorable and how awesome to have our family there to support and love Gabi!  We were so excited for her.  She has always asked when she would get trophies like her big brothers...well, TODAY was the day.  A well earned trophy nonetheless!  And the winning shot on top of it!  SOOOO PROUD of our baby today!

Game 1 of Tournament

Against Twin Branch.  Gabi had 3 points in this game.  They seemed a little slower this morning but honestly, I think the team was looking ahead to the Championship game and kind of overlooking their first opponents.  We won 20-14.

School Photo

I can honestly say this year's photo is showing how quickly my baby girl is growing...

Carving Pumpkins

This year Gabi did all the cleaning out, tracing, and cutting out all by herself!  She did a great job!

And of course, we had to cut a pumpkin that sported our colleges...IU and North Central!  Go Hoosiers!  Go Cardinals!

We have our Halloween costume all ready to go...

Fall Fun

I was very excited that both the boys made it home this weekend.  Since the Notre Dame/USC game was last night they hung with their friends most of the day and to watch the game.  Trenton was, however, able to get up and go hunting with his dad this morning.  Ended up missing an 8 point buck and was heartbroken.  Considering he was shooting the bullseye on the target Saturday morning every time, I was disappointed too.  But, he set me straight and let me know it is totally different aiming for a deer.  While they were off, I had opportunity to make some chili, cornbread and some apple crisp for dessert.  My parents headed over to spend some time with the boys and eat lunch before heading to the Pumpkin Patch with Chad/Amber and family.  Mom was gracious enough to bring donuts and cider also! :)

We went to the small farm on Douglas to get our pumpkins for carving and to take a few pics.  A beautiful sunny day to do so and absolutely couldn't miss the chance of having them all together for a short time. 

Liberty

Gabi had a total of 13 points today at her game against Liberty.  The score - 36 to 10.  Another good win for her team.  I think she was most excited about the fact that her big brothers BOTH were there to cheer her on!  Along with Aunt Annie, Uncle Jay, Grandpa, Uncle Dave, Aunt Pam, Maw maw and Paw paw, Abby and Max!  An awesome crowd.  It was music to my ears to hear my boys cheering on their little sister.  So proud of them all.  For the support and love they show to each other.  I always want it to be that way.  Always. 

Now it's off to cheer on the Irish against USC - first night game in quite some time and Ben gets to go into the game!  50 yard line seats to boot!  Go Irish!

Irish Madness

It was much to our pleasant surprise that Trenton decided to come home for the weekend along with Tyler, so we have a COMPLETE family as I type.  Last night Tyler got to go with a buddy, Blair, to the first Irish Hockey game in the new arena!  It was sold out and apparently, awesome!  Ben, Trenton, Gabi, her bf Emma and I headed out to Notre Dame as well.  For Irish Madness. 

A pep rally of sorts for the men's and women's basketball teams, which I can say, are looking very good.  We are extremely excited about their seasons this year! 

We got to see Dick Vitale and got to see what this years teams are made of. 

They had a dance off, which the girls obviously won, but they also had a point guard competition, a 3 point competition and a dunking contest.

All were pretty cool.  A fun time for us all, especially for our little basketball player.  I figured she would enjoy the evening ;)  Go Irish!

Grandparent's Day

Last evening was Gabi's last "Grandparent's Day" for elementary school.  Did I just say that?  Wow.  I still can't believe she is in the 6th grade already!  She is sooooo lucky to have a maw maw and paw paw and a grandpa that LOVE her with all their beings.  Thank you so much for going and spending time with her last night.  It meant more than you'll ever know.

Fear The Bird 2011-12

Introducing the 2011-12 wrestling team for North Central College!!!!  Check out our fave - at 0:38 seconds into it :)

Please click here to sign up for North Central College Wrestling's Newsletter!

EDIT

Need to edit from post below...Gabi noticed it today.  She made two baskets yesterday at her game...thus she made 4 points instead of 2 :)

Talked to Tyler today via Skype.  <3 Skpe.  He was carving pumpkins with Abby and another couple.  Was nice enough to share photos...

So far, his grades sound good.  Midterms coming up quick for him. 

Tyler was able to attend Hoosier Hysteria last night for basketball.  Said it was PACKED and already 7200 season student tickets sold!  WOW.  He sent me this photo from that shin dig...I must say with Gabi playing for the past couple of years, I have learned some and am certainly enjoying the sport of basketball much more than before.  The Hoosiers were exciting last year, they are only certain to bring much more this year!

Trenton also thinks he passed his exam to allow him admittance to the Education Department at North Central.  This is all GOOOOOOD news for them both.  Proud. 

Can I say also I am sooo glad to be over the sickness I had this past week.  Wednesday left me with a stomach virus and I am just now starting to feel normal again.  Guess it's going around.  Just happy to be able to eat foods again.  Back to the grinding board tomorrow. 

Heartbreaker

Hums lost a heartbreaker of a game today.  The team did extremely well up until the fourth quarter it seemed and was ahead 21-16.  Beiger put their star player in (a teammate from AYBT - Olivia) and she just exploded going to the basket everytime to basically force a foul for free throws.  To make the painful story short, Beiger came back winning 22-21 with 2 one and one free throws with 2 seconds to go.  UGH...tears....had to remind Gabi of their season last year.  They won every single game (including the team that beat them in the tourney).  It's the tournament where it counts.  Not to mention, it was someone's bright idea to not count individual fouls since these teams were so "aggressive."  Kind of left an edge to our opponent who basically has one player who is aggressive.  Oh well, we will get em next time, when it counts.  On a positive note, Gabi did score 2 points today.

Did I mention that Gabi had the honor of having her uncle as a ref as well!  Ben said he gave him a B average for the game...I would give him a B+ "cuz I don't believe in As ;)"  Nah, we would take Chad anyday as a ref.  Great job, Uncle Chad!

Oh and how cool is this...had Skylar Diggins retweet me this morning :)