Leave it to me to be a week late on saying goodbye to 2008. It was a good year for our family and lots of wonderful memories were made! So since I decided to lessen my holiday stress by not sending Christmas cards this year, I thought I would at least post a peek into what we've been up to in our corner of the world throughout the last year.
MARCH - Jake celebrated his 15th birthday on the 9th and got his restricted KS driver's license.
His first season of high school baseball began and Jake earned the starting centerfielder position. He was thrilled and baseball once again became #1 on his favorite sports list!
JULY - July was by far our busiest month of the year!! I still get tired when I think about all the traveling we did. From July 1st thru the 5th, we traveled to Hagerstown, IN to celebrate my mother-in-law's 83rd 
birthday. While we were there, we celebrated John's birthday on the 2nd and my birthday on the 3rd. We got home on the 5th so that we could rest for a day at home before John, Caleb and I packed up and went to Church Camp for a week (July 7-12). John and I were counselors and Caleb was a camper for the first time ever. Although John has been a camp counselor several times, I had never been to camp ever before as a camper or counselor so it was a completely new experience for me but definitely one I hope to repeat. It was awesome!!! Caleb had the best time and is looking forward to camp in summer 2009! We got home on the 12th and had plans for the whole family and my dad to fly out the next day for Washington, D.C. This was Anna's special trip!!
Anna was selected by Little League International to represent Kansas in the first (and probably only) All-Star Tee Ball game on the White House Lawn. Since George W. Bush was elected President in 2000, he has had tee ball games on the White House lawn every summer. This, being his last summer in office, instead of choosing teams to come play, they selected one tee ball 
player from every state to make up 4 tee ball teams to play on the south lawn. We got the royal treatment as we toured the White House, got to take pictures of the President and his wife AND Kenny Chesney sitting only 4 seats aways from us, had the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Bush and the President 
AND get their autograph on Anna's specially made Little League baseball card. It was an amazing experience being in the presence of the President as well as all the other 'celebrities' - pro baseball players Ryne Sandberg, Jon Smoltz, Frank Robinson, Kevin Millar, Mike & Mike from ESPN, and like I said Kenny Chesney was there and stood right beside Anna as he sang the National Anthem. We were simple starstruck most of the day and Anna had a great time playing ball!! We were in Washington 
from July 13 through July 19. We saw as much of DC as we could and all of us had a wonderful time!!! We got home from DC on the 19th and John and Josh left for church camp on the 20th. Like I said, July was crazy!! They were gone to church camp for a week, coming home on the 26th. But our traveling wasn't over yet! Our 11-12 yr old Little League team made it to the regional tournament in Indianapolis which began on July 31. Even though we didn't have a son playing on that team this year (Josh was on it last year), John was Little League president and Anna was suddenly a little celebrity, so they were both asked to take part in some of the opening ceremonies when our team was playing there. So back on the road we went - back to Indiana just like we started the month!! We were there from July 31 through August 4. What a month - so many wonderful memories!!
SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER - September saw the beginning of Josh's 8th grade football season. His team was made up of kids who have played tackle football together since 3rd grade. They were expecting great things and they succeeded completely!! His team went undefeated during their season, earning the League Championship for the first time since 1978!! Josh ran the ball for 12 touchdowns during the season! The boys in Josh's class play so well together and they just click...it was truly fun to watch them play ball! If you want to, you can check out my earlier post from October about Josh and football...... For Halloween this year, Caleb did a perfect impersonation of Kip Dynamite from the movie Napoleon Dynamite and Anna was my cute little blonde bombshell as Hannah Montana or "Anna Montana" as my friend Mary always calls her. (Check out my Halloween post on October 31 for pics!)
This was the special message from Grandpa (my Dad) to each of his grandkids with their Christmas gifts this year....words to live by:
As 2009 starts, we have no idea what God may have in store for us (surely NOT camping!!), but we will be trying our best to hear His voice to guide our hearts and hands through the new year!
JANUARY -
The boys were very involved in basketball this month. We attended Jake's high school JV games and Josh's 7th grade basketball games 4 nights a week, and Caleb played intramural basketball games on Saturdays! We were also recovering from an ice storm that left a lot of people out of power for a long time. Luckily, ours was only out for a few hours!
FEBRUARY - Josh celebrated his 13th birthday on February 12! (Yikes, now his 14th is right around the corner!) And Anna lost her first tooth and her second tooth a week later (and even let Jake pull it for her - BRAVE GIRL!!)
The boys were very involved in basketball this month. We attended Jake's high school JV games and Josh's 7th grade basketball games 4 nights a week, and Caleb played intramural basketball games on Saturdays! We were also recovering from an ice storm that left a lot of people out of power for a long time. Luckily, ours was only out for a few hours!
FEBRUARY - Josh celebrated his 13th birthday on February 12! (Yikes, now his 14th is right around the corner!) And Anna lost her first tooth and her second tooth a week later (and even let Jake pull it for her - BRAVE GIRL!!)
MARCH - Jake celebrated his 15th birthday on the 9th and got his restricted KS driver's license.
His first season of high school baseball began and Jake earned the starting centerfielder position. He was thrilled and baseball once again became #1 on his favorite sports list!
APRIL - Caleb celebrated his 10th birthday on the 20th and began his Little League baseball season with John as his coach.
MAY -
Anna celebrated her 6th birthday on the 13th and she signed up to play tee ball for the first time. She was so excited to finally be the player and not the spectator for a change!
On the 31st of May, we traveled to Roaring River State Park in Cassville, MO for a fun camping and dirt bike riding weekend with our friends, the Reeds but Mother Nature had other plans. . . Thunderstorms and heavy rain when you're sleeping in a tent are not fun or good or dry. John and I both woke up after a very loud thunder crash at about 3 am and tried to pretend that we were on 'Survivor' (we are BIG Survivor fans). Wouldn't you be glad you were in a tent if you were on Survivor and had no other shelter?? The attempt was futile after a few short minutes - we were NOT glad we were in a tent! Jake, Josh and Anna all woke up and expressed their opinions about the fact that our tent could fall down in the storm (yep it could!) then went back to sleep. The amazing part was that Caleb stayed asleep. Caleb is TERRIFIED of storms - not just a little, a LOT! The lightning was flashing, the thunder was CRASHING, the rain was pouring, but Caleb slept. Completely, in itself, a gift from God. We did make it through the night with our tent, dripping, but in tact - no wind, thank goodness. By morning, the rain stopped long enough for us to eat breakfast and then it stormed and rained again. We cut our trip short by a day...we'd had enough of our drippy tent and our muddy campsite and headed home. But oh, the memories!
MAY -
Anna celebrated her 6th birthday on the 13th and she signed up to play tee ball for the first time. She was so excited to finally be the player and not the spectator for a change!
On the 31st of May, we traveled to Roaring River State Park in Cassville, MO for a fun camping and dirt bike riding weekend with our friends, the Reeds but Mother Nature had other plans. . . Thunderstorms and heavy rain when you're sleeping in a tent are not fun or good or dry. John and I both woke up after a very loud thunder crash at about 3 am and tried to pretend that we were on 'Survivor' (we are BIG Survivor fans). Wouldn't you be glad you were in a tent if you were on Survivor and had no other shelter?? The attempt was futile after a few short minutes - we were NOT glad we were in a tent! Jake, Josh and Anna all woke up and expressed their opinions about the fact that our tent could fall down in the storm (yep it could!) then went back to sleep. The amazing part was that Caleb stayed asleep. Caleb is TERRIFIED of storms - not just a little, a LOT! The lightning was flashing, the thunder was CRASHING, the rain was pouring, but Caleb slept. Completely, in itself, a gift from God. We did make it through the night with our tent, dripping, but in tact - no wind, thank goodness. By morning, the rain stopped long enough for us to eat breakfast and then it stormed and rained again. We cut our trip short by a day...we'd had enough of our drippy tent and our muddy campsite and headed home. But oh, the memories!
Before the rain & storms!
JUNE -
Jake and Josh started their summer baseball season, and for once got to play on the same team (Josh played up on the 14-15 yr old team), which was exciting and much more convenient!
On the 20th and 21st of June, we went on a canoe/camping trip to Tahlequah, OK with my dad, brother and his family. I didn't get any pictures of that trip. We had a great time canoeing, but of course the storm clouds found us once again and this time HAIL too. Thankfully, it was a fast moving system so it ended quickly but the drips in the tent started quickly too, in ours as well as my brother's. It was early evening though so they were able to take a couple of their sleeping bags to a laundromat to dry and I spent some time sopping some water up in our tent before we had to think about bedtime. Bedtime turned into a whole 'nother issue with a lot of very loud 'neighbors' who wanted to party til daylight....ahhh, good times. Camping may not be in our future for 2009. We need some time to recoop. :)
It was in June that we learned about a very exciting thing that Anna was chosen to do in July!!
On the 20th and 21st of June, we went on a canoe/camping trip to Tahlequah, OK with my dad, brother and his family. I didn't get any pictures of that trip. We had a great time canoeing, but of course the storm clouds found us once again and this time HAIL too. Thankfully, it was a fast moving system so it ended quickly but the drips in the tent started quickly too, in ours as well as my brother's. It was early evening though so they were able to take a couple of their sleeping bags to a laundromat to dry and I spent some time sopping some water up in our tent before we had to think about bedtime. Bedtime turned into a whole 'nother issue with a lot of very loud 'neighbors' who wanted to party til daylight....ahhh, good times. Camping may not be in our future for 2009. We need some time to recoop. :)
It was in June that we learned about a very exciting thing that Anna was chosen to do in July!!
JULY - July was by far our busiest month of the year!! I still get tired when I think about all the traveling we did. From July 1st thru the 5th, we traveled to Hagerstown, IN to celebrate my mother-in-law's 83rd 
birthday. While we were there, we celebrated John's birthday on the 2nd and my birthday on the 3rd. We got home on the 5th so that we could rest for a day at home before John, Caleb and I packed up and went to Church Camp for a week (July 7-12). John and I were counselors and Caleb was a camper for the first time ever. Although John has been a camp counselor several times, I had never been to camp ever before as a camper or counselor so it was a completely new experience for me but definitely one I hope to repeat. It was awesome!!! Caleb had the best time and is looking forward to camp in summer 2009! We got home on the 12th and had plans for the whole family and my dad to fly out the next day for Washington, D.C. This was Anna's special trip!!Anna was selected by Little League International to represent Kansas in the first (and probably only) All-Star Tee Ball game on the White House Lawn. Since George W. Bush was elected President in 2000, he has had tee ball games on the White House lawn every summer. This, being his last summer in office, instead of choosing teams to come play, they selected one tee ball 
player from every state to make up 4 tee ball teams to play on the south lawn. We got the royal treatment as we toured the White House, got to take pictures of the President and his wife AND Kenny Chesney sitting only 4 seats aways from us, had the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Bush and the President 
AND get their autograph on Anna's specially made Little League baseball card. It was an amazing experience being in the presence of the President as well as all the other 'celebrities' - pro baseball players Ryne Sandberg, Jon Smoltz, Frank Robinson, Kevin Millar, Mike & Mike from ESPN, and like I said Kenny Chesney was there and stood right beside Anna as he sang the National Anthem. We were simple starstruck most of the day and Anna had a great time playing ball!! We were in Washington 
from July 13 through July 19. We saw as much of DC as we could and all of us had a wonderful time!!! We got home from DC on the 19th and John and Josh left for church camp on the 20th. Like I said, July was crazy!! They were gone to church camp for a week, coming home on the 26th. But our traveling wasn't over yet! Our 11-12 yr old Little League team made it to the regional tournament in Indianapolis which began on July 31. Even though we didn't have a son playing on that team this year (Josh was on it last year), John was Little League president and Anna was suddenly a little celebrity, so they were both asked to take part in some of the opening ceremonies when our team was playing there. So back on the road we went - back to Indiana just like we started the month!! We were there from July 31 through August 4. What a month - so many wonderful memories!!AUGUST - After our busy July, we had no doubt that August would be just as busy with school fast approaching and it was time for school to start before we knew it! Jake began his sophomore year in high school, Josh 8th grade, Caleb 5th grade, and Anna 1st grade. It's amazing how fast kids grow up! Sometimes it just takes my breath away.
SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER - September saw the beginning of Josh's 8th grade football season. His team was made up of kids who have played tackle football together since 3rd grade. They were expecting great things and they succeeded completely!! His team went undefeated during their season, earning the League Championship for the first time since 1978!! Josh ran the ball for 12 touchdowns during the season! The boys in Josh's class play so well together and they just click...it was truly fun to watch them play ball! If you want to, you can check out my earlier post from October about Josh and football...... For Halloween this year, Caleb did a perfect impersonation of Kip Dynamite from the movie Napoleon Dynamite and Anna was my cute little blonde bombshell as Hannah Montana or "Anna Montana" as my friend Mary always calls her. (Check out my Halloween post on October 31 for pics!)NOVEMBER was somewhat of a restful month for all of us as we were between sports for a few weeks before high school basketball started for Jake in the middle of the month. We had Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandma (my mom's mom) and had a nice visit with her and the rest of my relatives (several aunts and uncles) who gathered there.
DECEMBER was busy as high school basketball got underway and Christmas came closer. Jake had the opportunity to play on the varsity basketball team and we have enjoyed watching him play. Caleb and Anna began basketball - focus on the fundamentals sessions - on Saturday mornings. On Christmas Eve, we went to church and had my dad spend the night (the kids begged him!) so that he could watch the kids open their gifts Christmas morning. Christmas morning is always so fun!! It's the only day of the year I don't have to poke and prod my kids to get out of bed!! We had beautiful weather and we felt very blessed.
DECEMBER was busy as high school basketball got underway and Christmas came closer. Jake had the opportunity to play on the varsity basketball team and we have enjoyed watching him play. Caleb and Anna began basketball - focus on the fundamentals sessions - on Saturday mornings. On Christmas Eve, we went to church and had my dad spend the night (the kids begged him!) so that he could watch the kids open their gifts Christmas morning. Christmas morning is always so fun!! It's the only day of the year I don't have to poke and prod my kids to get out of bed!! We had beautiful weather and we felt very blessed.
This was the special message from Grandpa (my Dad) to each of his grandkids with their Christmas gifts this year....words to live by:
As 2009 starts, we have no idea what God may have in store for us (surely NOT camping!!), but we will be trying our best to hear His voice to guide our hearts and hands through the new year!
1 comment:
That's a great review of your year. Busy, busy, busy, but sounds like so much fun. Wishing you and your family all the best in 2009...and no rainy camping trips :)
Phyllis & Kristen
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