Youth Hunt

First one of the season! Tyler qualified for a youth hunt put on this year...under 16 years of age with a hunting license can take a doe by gun before the actual season begins. He went out this morning and got one. We didn't get to weight it in but Ben thinks it would have dressed out at about 110 lbs...nice size. Tyler hit it nicely also and tracked it very quickly. Uncle Dave and grandpa came out to help get it loaded up and taken to DC Meats for processing. Looking forward to restocking our freezer full of low fat deer meat. Great job, Tyler!

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Today I promised Gabi I would take her on a shopping spree...she had a couple of gift cards from her birthday left at Target and she had a little extra money to spend. Gabi got all dressed up in her new clothes from Justice and she was lookin very cute (thanks maw maw and paw paw for the outfits!) She had been saying she would like this when she saw it on the commercials and she has really been into reading lately so I said I would take her to the bookstore. I have also been wanting to go to the American Countryside Farmer's Market - the new one in Elkhart and I was finally able to go this morning. Got some good things! Got some cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies from this vendor, some apple cinnamon potpourri, some very fun candies (from back in the day) - slo pokes, fun stripes gum, and marshmallow ice cream cones, some fall gourds, apple butter from this store and some specialty bones for Maizy. Looking forward to going back closer to Christmas time. By the time we finished at the market, we picked up Tyler and headed toward the mall. We stopped at Target to get Gabi's toy she wanted and get a gift for her friend's birthday party tomorrow. We also stopped in at Halloween Town USA just down from Target to pick up some accessories for Gabi's costume this year. All taken care of now and I am on top of things! Tyler wanted to go to the mall to get an Abercrombie sweatshirt and a quick stop to get a sweet tea from Chick fil A, and off we were to get Tyler some running shoes from Kohls and Gabi's books from the bookstore. She's lovin these books! She got two-this one and this one! It was 2 pm by the time we finished but we had a good time shopping. Daddy decided to take us (just Gabi and I for girls only night) here for dinner. Great steak! Good evening.

Big Rivalry Game

This weekend we opted to stay home for the weekend (and of course, it is supposed to be beautiful weather). We stayed home for the big rivalry...Penn vs. Mishawaka football game. Boy, what a game! I must say it was so touching to watch Mishawaka play with such heart and soul. Made me proud to be part of that school again. It was so close all the way through the game and I was very disappointed that Penn played so dirty (taking shots at players that never got called, personal fouls, etc.) Our team never faltered though, and the quarterback shined tremendously throughout the whole game. He definitely wasn't afraid to run the ball when he had to. It was like a movie, with the score being 13-20 and only seconds to go, Mishawaka had the ball, it seemed to go in slow motion...I looked down at the team on the sidelines and they had gotten in a line, held hands and knelt on one knee to watch last play. Sadly, the long pass into the endzone was caught, but called out of bounds by the refs....very controversial call. I watched a slow mo on the news and it looked like it was caught in bounds to me. Oh well. Heart breaking loss, that's for sure. I guess the 30 some year winning streak for Penn continues...for now ; )

Happy Birthday, Dave

Happy birthday to the most supportive, loyal guy I know...my brother in law, Dave! David is the kind of guy that would give those he loves the shirt off his back. He is a straight forward kind of guy...one who stands up for what he believes, supports those he loves and helps his friends and family when they need him. In fact, he spent most his morning helping to track a doe Tyler got this morning in the woods (youth hunt)! There was a short time he was gone (living in NC) and he was dearly missed...we were so glad when he moved back home. He supports our boys...whether it be sitting and watching their games/matches or helping us out by getting them to and from when we just can't and he absolutely adores Gabi (and she adores him). We love you, David, and we hope you have a wonderful day!

Land

Here it is...our lot where our new house will be built-look at the view of the lake we will have from the backside of the house...just picked out all our colors last week...more on that and other exciting developments to come...

Marian

Tonight Tyler's team lost to Marian 6-27. Unfortunate for the team but we saw alot of this out of Tyler...

That's right...he was in on a bunch of tackles and he caught a pass for a first down as well. We thought he had a pretty good game considering the team's loss. The upside of tonight would be the family that showed to watch him - it made me smile to have such support there to cheer him on. My parents, Ben's dad, Dave, Chad, Amber & Presley, Pam, Jeff & Bren, Aunt Annie, Shannon and Kristi, Marissa & Dennis (Marissa's dad) all showed up. I'm so thankful for family. Thanks for coming to watch our Tyler play tonight.

Homecoming Parade

Today I was able to go to the Homecoming Parade for Mishawaka. It is fairly short but it's exciting to see everyone come out of their homes and businesses to wave and cheer on their hometown high school. Billboards posted with "Go Cavemen" and colorful business windows displaying their support as well. It brought back alot of memories...our old high school - the little town of Mishawaka. It was neat. The parade was basically to recognize the football team and the other fall sport teams. Tyler was able to ride in a huge dump truck with the rest of his team. He wasn't the least bit embarressed when I (along with Maizy) was waiting on the side of the street with a sign saying "Tyler #22" - in fact, he threw me a football. I couldn't have been more proud...proud of a son that is proud of his new school, his new friends, his team and of course, loves his old mom in the midst of it all ; )

Survivor China

If you know me at all, you know that I am a big fan of Survivor. I have watched almost all the seasons (give and take some shows throughout some seasons but have always caught up on them). This season Survivor went to China. I am not sure who I am liking best quite yet, but I can say the grave digger (James) grew on me during the first episode. I can't say he will go far as of yet, because he is too quiet right now. If he continues to be quiet and reserved it may be cause for him to leave, but hopefully, he will open up and we will see what he is all about. He seems like a nice guy and one I could root for this season...we'll see.

Peanut Gallery

You've heard the saying "no comments from the Peanut Gallery." Well, in blogger land it's the opposite...I LOVE to see comments from people who have visited my blog! It is really simple to leave a comment...you go to the bottom of my entry where it says "0 Comments" and click on it. Leave a comment in the box provided and scroll down toward the bottom of the page. You'll have to type in some letters (for spam purposes). If you have a blogger account click on that circle...if not, click on "Other" or "Anonymous." and click on the red box "Publish My Comment." If you don't have a blogger account, be sure to leave your name in the box where you typed in your comment. It's that simple! At the time of this entry...my blog has been visited 7142 times! I certainly have not had that many comments to compensate for that many visits! So, come on peanut gallery! I love to hear from you and love to see what you think of my blog! Leave us a comment!!!!

The BEST Banana Bread

I wanted to make something a little bland for my baby's tummy last night but yummy enough to satisfy the sweet cravings of our other family members...came up with this banana bread recipe from my new Taste of Home magazine (Oct/Nov 2007 issue). I left out the pecans because my kids aren't big fans of them and it was absolutely the BEST banana bread I have ever had! I can see why it won a prize for one of the best recipes! YUMMY! If you try it - let me know how you like it!
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 pkg. 8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. chopped pecans, divided
Glaze:
1 c. confectioners' sugar
3 Tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange peel
In large mixing bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add bananas and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture. Fold in 1 c. pecans. Transfer to two greased 8 in. x 4 in. x 2 in. loaf pans. Sprinkle with remaining pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. In a small bowl, whisk the glaze ingredients; drizzle over loaves. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
ENJOY!

"Throwing Up Mood"

This little girl was breaking my heart last night. After a great weekend she woke at midnight or so and vomited a few times. Lucky for us, she has good control and makes it to the bathroom -makes for a lot less mess for me. I don't miss the early ages where it happened wherever. Anyways, I sat up with her, she was shaking like a leaf on the bathroom floor, refusing to go back into her bed with a bucket. I got her warm fleece blanket and wrapped her up and she just layed on my lap by the toilet as I brushed her hair back with my hand softly...waiting. I felt so sorry for her as she continued to whisper, "thanks mommy." Eventually, after about 45 minutes I talked her into going to her bed where I thought she could sleep better. I carried her into her room, covered her up and Gabi just said, "I think you are right, mommy, I'm so tired." She wanted me to stay with her for a while so I layed quietly on the floor with my pillow and fleece blanket. I made sure the boys were quiet this morning while getting ready for school but Gabi was up about the time they were leaving-bright eyed and looking much better. She just looked at me and said, "I don't think I am in the throwing up mood, I just have a bad runny nose now," and she proceeded to the couch to watch some Disney channel as I got the boys off to school. We probably won't do much of anything today...just some R&R but we are very thankful that Gabi is feeling better this morning. I did find an interesting site on WSBT...the sick watch. The zip codes where my kids go to school are pretty high with sickness. Guess it is time to pump them with vitamins and OJ!

Witching Weekend

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend at Jellystone this weekend. The weather was perfect (sunny and in the 70's) and Gabi was able to bring her best friend, Emma (something she has been wanting to do all summer)! We skipped out on friday night football and headed for the campground to enjoy the evening. The girls got ice cream, explored the campground, took a swim in the indoor pool and enjoyed the campfire with s'mores all before turning in that night. Saturday morning we got pictures with Yogi (as usual) and we did ceramics. Trenton even joined us...he did a frog, Emma did a turtle and Gabi did a couple of seals. We got to go on the hayride and take another swim before the Notre Dame game started. The boys kind of watched while the girls continued the explorations of the campground. It was "witching weekend" and the campground gave out prizes to the best decorated sites. There were some FANTASTIC ones - I couldn't believe the effort some put in. It was amazing. One had a GIANT sized blow up haunted house that you could actually walk through - complete with fog machines and sound effects also! It certainly kept the girls busy checking out all the Halloween stuff in between playing at the park, scootering around, and watching the fish in the lake from our pier. Saturday evening was trick or treat throughout the park. What great costumes some people had. One family dressed their entire family in Wizard of Oz characters - from the actual house (with the witch's feet sticking out under) to Dorothy (the mom) and (her baby son) Toto. It was too cute. They had just about every character in there. Another cute idea was a dad dressed as a crazy jailkeeper. He had five of his children in orange jumpsuits all chained together. Too cute. Very neat ideas to say the least. Gabi went as Dorothy and Emma went as a gypsy. They both got soooo much candy...even more than she gets in our neighborhood and that's alot. After trick or treating was the costume contest along with donuts and cider. FUN FUN FUN. Each age group took their turn parading by the judges. Sunday was sad...Emma had to get home for a soccer game so we didn't have alot of time to do much. We were just glad she was able to come along this weekend. Gabi had a wonderful time and we hope Emma did too! Enjoy lots of pics here. FYI: Tyler is on his way back from IU game as I write...disappointing game as well, but I am sure he had a good time with Marissa and her family.

Adams

Unfortunately, Tyler's team suffered another loss to Adams 22-42. I just really think the team was "off" and made very costly errors. Inevitably, they should have won the game. Tyler played cornerback and rotated in as wide receiver throughout the game and was able to play quarterback for the last couple plays of the game. He was in on a couple of tackles but couldn't complete a pass last night. Oh well, I guess he's entitled to a "bad" game. Got some good photos though, as always and we were excited to see more family come to watch...aunt Annie got to come for this game...as well as my parents, Dave and Ben's dad. Marissa and her mom came again too. We are still proud of our Tyler! He is off to the IU game with his girlfriend, Marissa, and family this weekend. We will be visiting the campground (Gabi gets to bring her friend, Emma)...more to come on that, so stay tuned...

"Reading, wRiting, aRithmatic"

Just had to share that Gabi is absolutely loving school. She is especially enjoying "Reader's Workshop" where they get to read books alone in a special corner of the classroom, along with "Writer's Workshop" where she gets to write about any topic for 20-30 minutes. Gabi has even incorporated Writer's Workshop at home. She has a journal she has entitled, "Fiction Stories" and is having the best fun dragging that thing to just about every function we have...writing stories. She also has another notebook that she has written about people in her life and places she has gone. It will DEFINITELY be a keepsake. If you see Gabi out and about, ask her about her notebooks...she LOVES to share! I'm so glad she is liking reading and writing. I have to credit myself for that...I would read to Gabi every night before bed. Now she reads herself. As for arithmatic...she is just naturally good at math as well. I hope this continues throughout her school years. She is a smarty!

Pumpkin Patch Weekend

Sorry this post is a little late, but I just returned from Indy for a conference. My work, actually, the Child and Adult Care Food Program had lots of workshops for food program sponsors from all over the United States. 37 states were represented - including Puerto Rico! That was cool. Lots of info for me to soak in. I left Sunday right after arriving home from the campground and returned this evening. Friday night we stayed at home for the football game and cornhole tournament the Wrestling team was sponsoring. We enjoyed some tailgating and great competition in cornhole. The game was a blow out win but we stayed so the boys could "hang out" with their friends. Saturday morning Trenton left for Vega camp (wrestling). Ben's dad and brother graciously offered Trenton their home to stay over while we were gone. They also took care of him getting to and from the camp, which is an hour and a half away. Good practice and competition there for Trenton though. He was glad he got to go. While Trenton left at 6:45 am on Saturday morning, Tyler, Gabi, Ben and I got up and headed for the campground. Boy, was it chilly...lower 50's or so at the time. Chad and his family had already arrived on Friday and planned to stay the weekend. It was nice because the campground was not crowded at all and was quiet. Good relaxation....Here are some of the activities we enjoyed this weekend...

* Picture time with Yogi and Boo Boo
* Boo Boo's Train Ride

* A few walks around the campground

* Arts and Crafts

* Football game (depressing)

* Fire all day on Saturday - that means lots of s'mores and pudgy pies!

* Wagon ride

* Ice cream at the Ranger station

* Playtime at the playground

* Oatmeal Scotchies!

It was definitely chilly on Saturday...high in the 50's, but seemed nicer on Sunday. We had to take off around noon so I could get around for my trip to Indy. All in all, a nice weekend to get us in the mood for fall. Too bad we are going to get back into the 80's this week. Oh well, it was a nice sneak peek! Enjoy pictures of the weekend here.

Touchdown!

Yes, last night we played Riley and won 32-0. Tyler was in on a couple of tackles and it was cool because there was an announcer and we got to hear his name over the loud speaker. He also played wide receiver and caught a pass for about 5-6 yards. The highlight of our evening though, was when Tyler got to run a quarterback sneak. Yep, because of the high score the 2nd teams got to go in about 3/4 of the way into the 3rd period. That meant Tyler got to play quarterback. It was 2 and goal when Tyler ran the quarterback sneak for a touchdown! It was kind of funny...we got the low battery signal on our video recorder and it shut down just 2 plays before Tyler got his touchdown. There was only a couple of minutes left in the game and Shannon says jokingly, "oh great, now Tyler will probably score a touchdown." Lo and behold...that's what happened. I did catch it on my digital camera - though it's not the best and I am not sure if you can see Tyler all that well. But here it is. It was great to have all our family there for Tyler's "big" night - my parents, Ben's dad, David, Jeff, Pam & Bren, Shannon, Briella, Uncle Jim & Aunt Marge (my dad's sister and coach's parents), and Kristi & Marissa (Tyler's gf and mom) were all there to watch. Since it was such an exciting game I put all my pictures here to be looked at...couldn't decide on just a few! Enjoy. Have I mentioned how much I love my family and the support they bring! Great job Tyler - Thanks for a great game!!!

First Accident

Yes, that is a word you hate to hear..."accident." I got a call this morning from Tyler saying he and Trenton had been hit from behind. Luckily, no one was hurt, Trenton had the van, and it wasn't Trenton's fault. I guess while waiting at a stoplight, another kid wasn't paying attention to the traffic STOPPED and slammed into the back of Trenton. Trenton did not hit anything else so it was confined to the other kid and Trenton. I quickly asked if anyone was hurt and proceeded to make my way to the accident where a police officer had already taken a report and the other kid's dad was waiting. We exchanged insurance info, I made sure the boys were okay to drive the rest of the way to school and prayed the rest of the day would go better. So far, so good...

Time for a laugh

This product's commercials are hilarious! I even added a link in my FUN FUN FUN section (Hilarious Commercials link) on the side of my blog if you want to watch them all! My favorite one, though, has to be this one!

Birthday Bash

We celebrated Tyler's birthday with family last night. It was good to see everyone...Tyler opted for an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen decorated with Irish - (I know, I know...they aren't doing too well so far) and a homemade yellow cake with chocolate frosting straight from our own kitchen. Tyler even sported a Notre Dame Jersey to finish his ensemble. He sported # 7 - now for Clausen. Tyler made the comment, "I have faith in Jimmy Clausen." We'll see, bud. I think he needs some more time and experience but I am sure we'll see great things from that player. Tyler's party was simple, yet fun to get together with everyone. Tyler got mostly cash - which is his present of choice right now (probably the age). Not sure what he'll be purchasing, in fact, Tyler is one that hangs on to his money until he figures out what he wants exactly. A good characteristic. He does not spend foolishly (most of the time). Anyways, yummy dessert and enjoyed celebrating Tyler's 15th birthday!

Sidenote: We decided to stay home this weekend to enjoy Tyler's birthday and just relax...try to get everyone well and over strep throat.

"That's Quality H20!"

Tyler got to play "waterboy" for the St. Joe game last night. Yes, he came down with a fever on Monday (of 102 degrees even after two doses of aleve)! He made it to the practice in the morning but came home and slept most of the day, into Tuesday. After calling the doctor Monday evening and finding out that Gabi's strep test on Friday (tested negative in the office) sent to the lab came up positive, Dr. Jagger called in Amoxicillin for both the kids. Gabi was feeling much better on Saturday. Dr. Jagger was a little upset with the lab because they never called him (he was on call). Not sure what happened there, but we finally got everything squared away. When I asked Dr. Jagger why Gabi acted fine (the physician she saw on Friday said it could just be a virus so we went with that) now, he said, sometimes people just eventually get over the strep, while others get other complications on top of it. Luckily, she cleared up but he wanted to treat her anyways. So, Tyler ended up staying home Tuesday and Wednesday (his birthday) from school, thus missing practice. That was okay...the coaches wanted him to get healthy before starting back into football. He helped the coaches out where needed during the game and the team unfortunately took another loss (15-25). I hate to say it but the other team was really taking advantage of the height difference between their player and Tyler's replacement. They were passing all day long over this 5'2" kid playing Tyler's position. Oh well, Tyler is just excited to get back in the game...and healthy.