Friday, February 20th, 2009.
Before it snowed and before it turned so very cold, we had the kind of weekend
that can give you Spring fever. On Valentine's Day, we took the dogs for a
hike, exploring a recently cut trail to the river behind our house. Ben
pulled a pair of binoculars out of his backpack and climbed down the river bank
to get a better look. After checking things out, he stepped
into the river and started walking across it. He made it about ten
feet before the current became too strong and he decided that he should turn
back. The air was warm, the water was not. On our way back, the boys discovered a giant hole and the
accompanying mound of dirt. They loved it. They played king of the
hill, jumped in it, rolled in it and got as dirty as two boys possibly can.
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009. We actually saw a little snow this week.
Sure it only lasted for a few short hours, but we aren't ones to let it slip
away without first making the most of it. Ben LOVED sledding in the front
yard, while Jackson took a ride down the biggest hill in town. Ruby Sue
continues to crack us up with her antics. Because her track record
has been perfect with the litter box, we've given her free reign at night.
Ben goes to bed first, so she often starts off with him, but typically splits
time between the three beds, almost always sleeping under the covers with
just her head sticking out.
Sunday, February 15th, 2009. Ruby has now explored almost every corner of
the house and pounced on every shadow. Our other pets were already grown
when the kids came along, so they are enjoying having a kitten around.
While playing with Ruby using a cat toy attached to a string, Ben laughed and
said "This is even better than when Canaan burped during snack!"
Saturday, February 14th, 2009. Happy Valentine's Day! With a
morning of chocolates, roses, cards and gifts, followed by an afternoon of hiking on the river,
it's been a great family day so far. We are heading out now to Opie's Candy
Store, but wanted to post an update on the new kitten so that you would know
that her official name
is Ruby Sue.
Friday, February 13th, 2009. Ben really needed
the trash can,
Jackson was just preparing for the worst. After two miserable days, Ben
finally recovered enough to get out of the house some this afternoon. While running
errands, he and his mother ran across something that caught their interest. They returned
later with Jackson and saw
this. After
getting a closer
look and calling me to discuss the matter, they happily decided to do
this. She was named Lucy, but Jackson and Amy
preferred Suzie. For Ben though, the kitten is named Sue and there is no
discussing it. Currently, Amy, Ben and Sue are all sleeping cuddled up
together.
Sunday,
February 8th, 2009. We wrapped up our basketball season on
Saturday with a hard fought loss to a really good team (photos by
Deana). The kids once
again played fantastic and the score stayed close. It was just one of
those games where the ball seemed to bounce the wrong way. I'm really proud of how
hard they worked and how much they improved. I'm also proud that we had at
least two games, maybe more, where five of our players scored. All but one
player scored during the course of the season and they all got a chance to bring
the ball down the court. Jackson was pretty frustrated with the loss, but
cheered up when his aunt Deana took him to get a movie and pizza. Since this was Jackson's last game with
an eight foot goal, we came home and raised the one in our driveway to ten feet.
Our soon-to-retire mailman and longtime friend, Tom S, stopped by with the day's delivery while
I was working on the goal. Jackson told him that he was witnessing a
historic moment in his life. We've had an eight foot goal for so long that
it now seems sooooo high. We went right into a one-on-one game and Jackson
adjusted much faster than I did. I'm kind of sad that I don't get to dunk
anymore.
Later in the evening, Jackson and I enjoyed watching Mall Cop at the cinema.
This morning, I met a paddling friend at our local play-spot to surf, flip,
ender and squirt under a warm February sun. (photos
here) Let me tell you though, it
wasn't that warm under water. I came home just in time for Amy to go to a
Junior Woman's Club social. When she came home, I took Jackson to a
birthday party at the skate rink. We shot a little basketball using the
headlights from the van, then all ended our weekend together by watching Space
Chimps.
Thursday, February
5th, 2009. When I play guitar, Baby Brett crawls over and starts
singing. He was sick earlier this week with a stomach bug, but was back at
the house today. Ben stayed home from school with a congested cough, but
also because it's so darn cold today. Brrrr. Jackson ignored the
cold and spent forty-five minutes dribbling a basketball in the driveway after he got off
the bus.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009. Jackson received his second report card
and again received straight As. We are very proud of him.
Amy did a great job today of organizing a blood drive for the Junior Women's
Club. They were packed all day and unfortunately had to turn people away
when it was time for the nurses to go home. My dad helped by taking Ben
with him this afternoon, while Deana picked up Jackson, took him shopping and to
his Spanish class.
Sunday, February 1st, 2009. The first thing Ben
does after getting out of the b*th is to make sure his hair is flat. After
pressing it down, he asks "Is it flat?" Just a few minutes ago,
while Amy was brushing his hair following today's b*th, he yelled "MOM! I like
it FLAT!!! but on Wacky Wednesday, he wore a mohawk, different color socks and backwards clothes. He thought it was
terribly wacky and extremely funny. That evening, Amy met friends for a fun girls night dinner at
the country club. On Tuesday she had a Junior Women's club meeting, while
Jackson and I had basketball practice. Thursday night I went to
Martinsville to practice rolling my kayak with friends from my paddling club.
Following the roll session, I enjoyed a draft and paddling conversation at the bar
around the corner that was once the Hong Kong. That was a major blast from
the past, since my friend Mike and I used to go there when he lived in
Collinsville about fourteen or fifteen years ago.
Click here for a video of
the roll session. Friday night was family night, with dinner at Chili Rojo
and Madagascar 2 at the Downtown Cinema. Our last regular season
basketball game was on Saturday and everything finally fell in to place for the
team. Every one played great and was involved with both the offense and
defense. Their shots fell and they made great, quick decisions. We
still lost, but it was against the best team in the league and the score stayed
waaaay closer than I anticipated. We were actually ahead for parts of the
game. I was super proud of the boys. Afterwards, the other team's
coach said that our team played a more complete game against them than any of
the other teams they had played, which was nice of him to say.
And while I made the realization this year, that coaching is much harder than I
thought it would be and that I'm probably not very good at it, the referee came
over to tell me that I and one other coach were the two that did things the
right way. And again, that was nice to hear. Later that evening we
had the Eads over for a pre-Super Bowl party with lots of great Super Bowl
dishes and games. Being a life-long Steelers fan, I'm super excited about
tonight's game.
Amy and Ben are visiting my grandmother, so it will just be the J-Man and myself
in front of the tube. Go Steelers!!!