Snydergirls

Camping the 4th of July

2011-07-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, Tara actually posed for the picture and smiled:)
The holiday went really fast. Gene took the camper down to the lake on Thursday. He was dripping sweat. It was high 90's and 100% humidity. Friday was better, I had to work. Tia called Rachel and Raegan to join her. Raegan was able to go and we picked her up on our way to lake Rathbun. It was 8:30 I think when we finally made it. Dumped everything from he car in the camper and went socializing. Saturday seemed to go slow. We were meeting Jeff in Knoxville to get Kaylan to babysit for the night. Murt rode with me, Kaylan (age 1) chatted with us most of the way back to the lake. The weather Sat was perfect, we woke up Sunday to overcast and mist most of the day. Gene worked most of Saturday on the farm. He made it down in time to run the girls to the shower house. Kaylan went down for bed at 10:15, she fought as long as she could. She slept clear through until 7am. Tara was happy, she loves to play games and Denise got a game of train domino's going. Kaylan's entertainment was a Gatorade bottle/lid and rocks. Tia and Raegan was on every boat load for tubing. I hope Raegan wasn't overwhelmed with my big family. The weather was nice to pack up. Cassie and Kaylan headed for Michigan and Jeff rode home with us. Tia wanted to drive. She did a good job, but Jeff drove from Leon. We stopped for our ice cream break. We dropped Raegan off, Tia thought she should drive from Truro. I couldn't see changing drivers, which didn't make her very happy.

Wow Time Flies

2011-04-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

I see it has been a year since I last posted. I am surprised I remember my password. We have had some moments to remember and so this post.

Tara was baptized and confirmed at church Sunday. She has been taking confirmation classes since September. I thought confirmation classes were a six week coarse. Well this was 6 months. I kept telling Tara it shouldn't be too much longer. She was having to split basketball and confirmation classes in half to work it all in. On the next to the last class the minister told the kids it was completely their decision and no one should pressure them into it. Does anyone want to stand in front of people for anything. Well sure, but not shy people and he didn't have a clue of the out he was giving her. She had immediately told him she was not doing it. Gene and I strongly suggested this was the finish to what she had been doing for the last 6 months. Her friend had taken the classes with her and she finally decided if Sadie would do it, she would too. I knew that there would be a ceremony at some point and was trying to decide how to dress her for the occasion. With it being close to Easter, I was trying for whites or pastels. Tara is very picky with the design of her clothes and the only thing she could find was a simple white t-shirt. I suggested white jeans. She told me it would be the only time she wore them. I ended up on a shopping spree without kids and picked up a pair of white capri's and a sweater(navy, white and peach) to go with her t-shirt. She also had found a pair of white flats for the occasion. The pants were a little small, but she looked nice. Getting a picture of the occasion as usual was a challenge. Heavy Sigh!

Easter

2010-04-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't been meant to clean my house for weeks and the Saturday before Easter wasn't any different. Tara had Hailey spend the night Friday night. I had to wake everyone up Saturday morning. We had just enough time to jump in the car and head to Tia's hair appt. Darci cut off quite a bit. I wasn't sure if I liked it at first, but it is cute :)
We dropped Hailey at her house and came home to clean. I ended up making a raspberry cobbler and a pumpkin pie, before cutting Bob and Marj's hair. The washing machine is needing babysat, so it took twice as long to get laundry done.
Gene went to Lucas to get alfalfa for the sheep and was gone all afternoon. Uncle Gail showed up mid afternoon and Ryan was doing a lot of fishing.
I had this crazy idea I needed broccoli and after supper headed to Osceola. It was bed time when I got home, but sat up until midnight talking with Gene, Ryan and Gail. We had a good visit.

Brag Day for Tara

2010-03-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

Tara and I had a heart to heart about competing in tumbling. Tia never liked competition, so even though mom would like to see them, I understand it's not for everyone. Tara decided she didn't want to compete either. We make the exception for our home meet. Tia only made it to a couple of practices this season, so she is done...heavy sigh :( Even so I made her and Tara help clean the tumbling gym the day before our home meet. It was a bribe for a new swim suit :) It was a tuff job and we spent a good 3 hours with Sherrie and Haylie Chew digging dust bunnies from everywhere. I know we missed some, but wow what a job! My back will be talking to me later. I have a bruise on my face, I think I hit myself with the broom.

Sunday morning I woke the girls at 7:30 to be at the school at 8am. Tia told me no. Tara wanted to know why so early, but rolled out. Gene was going to church, so he brought Tia in at 9:30. After we got to the school we fixed Tara's hair. She wanted nothing fancy, no little rubberbands. It took alot of mousse and hairspray and it still wasn't stiff. I do the job of recording the judges scores at the spring floor, Tia joined me and was a runner to the tabulation room. Tara waited patiently behind us for her turn to preform beginner 12 yr old tumbling and double mini. I was deep in the middle of a flight of sub advanced 10yr olds and totally missed Tara on the dead mat, but she was quick to show me her first place trophy. Grandma showed up in time to cheer her on there. My table finished in time to watch all Tara's double mini competition. She said the part she didn't like was it being totally quiet and that was the only time during the day that it was quiet. Yea we have another first place. I get to watch and work with the kids in the gym and see alot (good, bad and otherwise). Tara isn't real strong, so she nicely surprised her Momma. Nice Job, You did awesome!!

The food wasn't plentiful today, so I made a quick tuna noodle casserole. The girls took their showers and ate. Tara was asleep by 7pm, I wore her out.

Aunt Tia

2010-03-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

We have had an exciting week. We have waited 9 months and she is finally here. Kaylan Jaylea Snyder, 8 lbs 1.4 oz, 20 3/4 inches long. Momma had to have a c-section after being in labor for several hours. Dad is very happy :)

Kaylan shares her birthday with her cousin Nykki Snyder Wendelin.

Tia turns 13

2010-01-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

We are very indecisive people. Tia wanted to have friends over, this was the only thing for sure. She wanted to see a movie, but nothing was showing that she wanted to see. The only close pool is at a hotel, they let kids swim for 2 hour slots. No one could find their suits. Bowling...guess what, they did that yesterday for a behavior party at school.

Tara had a basketball game against Panora. They had an awesome game 27-5. Everything just clicked and it was so much fun to watch. Tara asked Carlyn to spend the night with her. She paced the floor until she finally showed up.

Tia looked pale and I wasn't sure she should have company. We warned all the moms, but the party when on as scheduled. It was rainy and a high of 43 degrees. The roads are a muddy mess.

Cupcake Foodfight

2010-01-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

Grandma and her girls

2010-01-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

Luke is New to the Wendelyns

2010-01-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Nykki was saying Luke was the best passenger(giving the kids a hard time) She also said if Mom Kathy doesn't behave she has to ride in the kennel on the way home..hehe!

Money is Always an Excepted Gift

2010-01-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

The girls are always happy with money for a gift. I like to shop, so I like to not give money. This way they get both.
Tara was wheeling and dealing trying to talk Gail out of his money :)

Christmas on New Years with the Snyders

2010-01-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas was Friday Jan 1 at our house. I called Mom Thursday to let her know Gail checked in and would come Friday morning. I asked where and she said she still didn't have her window finished and the furniture and flowers were everywhere, could I have it. My house was a mess as well, but knew the kids would like playing with the girls Wii. I rolled out at 6am to start cleaning and put the ham roast in the oven. The house wasn't as I would have like it, but I was the only one that cared. Nykki had said they would like to be here at 9. Kathy called at 9 and said it would be close to noon. I have to say I was relieved to have more time to prepare. I still had gifts to wrap and food to prepare in between the cleaning.
Not sure why mom picked the girls little school desk for her chair, it couldn't have been comfortable. She is our Bingo caller, she asked to retire this year. Not everyone would put up with the way we play. Mom and Dad both have to put up with the girls opening their presents for them...hope they don't mind :)

Iowa State to a Bowl Game

2009-12-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

I had to work until 12:30, then finish Christmas shopping for the Snyder side, last but not least off to Mike & Murts to watch Iowa State play the Minnesota Gophers for a 5pm kick off. Both teams record 6 wins, 6 losses...woo hoo. They played the Insight.com in Tempe Arizona (wished we could have been there) temps are steadily getting colder. Suppose to be negative when we go home. We had a good crowd with lots of good food. While the guys watched the game on TV, we played some games. I learned how to play Dutch Blitz.

Iowa State played a nail biter with a winning score of 14-13. Now we have a winning record. Way to go ISU!!

Baby Snyders Baby Shower

2009-12-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

Cassie with her Grandma's.

The fun of going to a baby shower is meeting & holding the baby. Since this one was for my Grandbaby it was alittle different. Baby Snyder isn't due until late February early March and Grandma Yates won't be back until she arrives. Cassie's family held the shower at her Grandma's conference room at the care center. I had never been there before...we had many inches of new snow and I think I was driving on the sidewalk (oops)to try and find the parking lot.

We played 2 games, the first being given a roll of toilet paper and guessing how big Cassie and baby are. Ten pieces was the right guess, I took nine. The second game was 7 candy bars melted in 7 diapers.(hey, at least it wasn't baby food)Since I love chocolate I did fairly well with this one.

Kind of funny, I didn't know until the last minute what I was getting my first grandbaby for her gift...well I chose the same thing Cassie's mom got (a pak'n play). Mine went back for the car seat, still very necessary! Great minds think alike. It was a nice shower and baby Snyder got alot of nice gifts. Thanks to all you attended and sent gifts :)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T06:17:00.000-08:00

It was a short night. Tia was excited and couldn't go to bed...it was 1am. Tara woke up scared of Santa at 2:30, good dad that he is laid down with her until she fell back asleep. He had just crawled back into bed when Tia asked if it was time to get up...4:30am. NO...go back to bed! She didn't, but left us alone until 6 when we all rolled out. The gifts this year were expensive ones, so there weren't very many under the tree. The girls were happy they got what they wanted. Tara opted for a DS and a camera instead of the DSI.(oh and of coarse a padded bra, yes they do make them small enough) They are not easy to find and my guess is everyone has one when they have to change clothes for phys ed. Tia was a little poop and couldn't stand knowing I went Black Friday shopping, she peeked in the car and found her present. The month of December was trying to decide whether to take it back, not give it to her until her birthday...or Christmas. She got it for Christmas, but has been disappointed we can't figure out how to download onto it. Have I ever mentioned I hate electronics, they are always such a pain to figure out. I swear I'm going back to college to learn how to run them all.

Gene and I went back to bed. The girls also got a Wii. Tia had it set up and played by the time I got up.

I made lunch thinking we would get together with Gene's folks. When I finally checked in with them, they thought they would stay home. We had tons of food and only made a dent in it. Guess what was for supper.

Tara learned how to play the Wii and thinks it is awesome, she played 2 hours straight. At around 2pm Tia started on her lack of sleep ugliness. I couldn't say anything and she would interpret it as a negative. Totally not what came out of my mouth. I kept trying to get her to sleep, but she wanted to drag it out. She booby trapped the Wii so Tara couldn't play when she was ready for her second round. Hymmm the batteries were missing and the disc was in backwards. It was a reallly long day for her, she finally went to bed at 10.

The temps are around 14F burrr cold. The girls also got new sleds, but due to rain all day the day before Christmas they are froze in Gene's car trunk.

Tara with ??

2009-12-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

Okay he still needs a name. You can see already they are best friends :)

The present that eats presents

2009-12-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

We really hadn't planned on having a puppy in the winter. Puppies, although adorable, are awful. They eat everything! Bark and tease cats as well as try to eat them. They are a full time job. I told Jeff if my granddaughter acts like Jake they better send her back :)

We lost our long time friend in 2009, Pete. He was a golden retriever that was dumped at our house. Very loving pet for the boys to grow up with. We had watched for another golden retriever needing a home for the past year and Gene ran across an add in the local shopper for puppies. I called and they had 5 male. We just so happened to be able to see them the following day and brought one home.

I'm Back

2009-12-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

Wow with getting the girls back to school, finding out I'm going to be grandma and the computer getting struck by lightning blogging was put on the back burner. I really should have found time, because alot has been happening and my memory isn't what I'd like it to be.

I'm going to try to go back and do some catching up :)

Merry Early Christmas 09

2009-12-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Gene talked me into this one! Tia with an early present.

October Babies

2009-11-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

These little ones were the only two to survive of Five. With them being born so late in the year it was hard for momma to keep them warm. We brought them in the house and starting nursing them back to health.

Welcome to the Family

2009-11-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

Exciting news Jeff and Cassie got married. It seemed kind of spur of the moment. Maybe just because I wasn't invited. They are planning on renewing their vows in a year, so hopefully they will remember their good ole mom.

Curt was also home, so we got a new family picture. We are still missing Tim, need to photo shop him in :(

Congratulations kids!!

Mom & Dad Snyder's 60th Anniversary

2009-10-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Nykki and Ryan

2009-10-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Tory Hovick got married and it was a great time for Kathy's family to visit.

The Family Picture

2009-09-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

We needed a family picture for Tara's final homestudy. This was the best we could do. We really enjoyed camping this year and made the Iowa State football games a good excuse to go camping. We went up to Ames on Friday night, enjoyed the game on Saturday and went home Sunday morning.

The Raccoon

2009-09-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

Not sure exactly why this big guy decided to hang around our back door. The boys were putting our new roof on. They thought the raccoon was scared of Tara's dog Barkley. It hung around for a full 24 hours. I hoped it didn't have rabies.

Iowa vs Iowa State

2009-09-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Okay this was a sucky hot day...and it got worse...we lost. We did enjoy camping in Ames. We went down to the stadium Friday night and watched the 10pm news. We were a very brief part of the sports.
Tia was a little gaga over seeing Shawn Johnson at the game.

The First Iowa State Game of 09

2009-09-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

For the last several years the first game of the season is on Thursday before Labor Day. I lose a day of packing and camping. We had to decide if the girls were staying home or going (it was a school night). We did take the girls and they did very well with it. They both can get very ugly when they are tired(as can't we all??) Iowa State won, but it wasn't the game I had expected. Gene still has so much hope for them, me I'm hanging on the fence (and it feels like by a thread). We met Mike and Murt to ride up in their truck. It was late when we got back to their house and when I went to start my car I realized I had ran my battery down. So that took extra time to jump start it.

The size of our tomatoes

2009-08-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a picture of my tomatoes to remember how big they were this year and Tia volunteered her head. Too funny!

We were also able to celebrate Dad's birthday with his first cousin's the Lents brothers.

Tara Still Wonders Why We Preserve

2009-08-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

I pulled weeds in the tomatoes and then decided to check our sweet corn. Tara went with me as I pulled the wagon. It is ready. We loaded it until it wouldn't hold any more and Tara pulled as I kept it in the wagon. I put her and Tia busy shucking and I started washing and cutting. Up until this last year it has been Tia's favorite vegetable(now I think it may be green beans). Gene planted the corn in an odd spot and he didn't think it would produce anything. We would have had alot more if the dogs and coons would have stayed out of it. We were able to get maybe 20 pts which will taste very good this winter. Tara thinks we should just buy fresh all year. She tried to cut the corn from the cob and decided it isn't an easy chore. I was getting kind of grouchy by the end of cutting. I thought I would get salsa made Friday night, I finally got it done Sunday. I was given several peppers, different kinds and I was too chicken to see whether they were hot or not. I was told I had hot and mild banana peppers. The only ones I knew what were, were the jalapeno. I was going to take a picture of how large my tomatoes are this year and Tia decided she would use her head for a guage. Too funny!

Tia had a sleepover Saturday evening. She is being moody and couldn't decide whether she should go. There wasn't anything but work at home. I told her she might as well. it started at 3 and she took off with her dad to haul hay home. She also was trying to get out of hanging laundry up. We are having beautiful weather again and we like to hang our laundry out to dry. I took two phone calls wondering where she was. Meanwhile Cassie called to see if she could stop. When Tia heard, she was going to stay home to visit...10 minutes later after I had called to give regrets she's ready to go. Ugh!! When I dropped her off they were in the middle of a scavenger hunt, her partner had high hopes of winning.

Cassie was here when we got home and visited for a couple of hours before heading to her grandparents. I drove her to the highway, it was getting dark and her drive is long enough without getting lost. Cassie and Jeff enjoyed the day at the State Fair. Jeff headed back to Cedar Falls to be ready to work Sunday.

Marj called and Bob's cousin's will meet in Murray Sunday for dinner. The boys were small the last time I saw Tom and Polly. They had met Tia one day while I was working. They live in Illinois. They all have August birthdays, so there was ice cream and cake to celebrate.

Friday August 21st the First Day of School

2009-08-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Tia was up at 6:15...way too early. Then her alarm went off at 6:25 waking Tara up. So unusual for her to be up and perky at this time of day. I was off to work. Gene saw that they got on the bus. So far we are off to a good start. With the exception that Tia had home work already and yeah it was something I was suppose to do. Excuse me...I did my time. Not sure who this teacher is, but not on the first day of school!

Open House for School

2009-08-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

The girls are way excited! The back packs are ready and they are waiting for me to get home from work. I thought it was from 6-8, we were early. It was 7-8 and we had the best parking space(front and center). We have some new rooms this year and I forgot to take time to check them out. I got Tara an activity ticket to watch Tia's sport events. I forgot to give them lunch money though. We delivered Tara's stuff first and visited Mr. Van. Then onto Tia's locker. That was easy. Figuring out how her schedule goes wasn't easy for me, glad she's the one doing it. Tara has a friend from last year that moved to Florida and she is back. They were glued to each other. I forgot to get a phone number. They will have to have a sleepover.

I had went expecting them to drag me out after unloading the book bags. It was the opposite. They would have stayed all night, I was the one dragging them out. None of us had had supper and I was starving. I'm glad they are excited :)

Cassie Comes to Visit

2009-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Cassie is a nanny in Norwalk and staying with her grandparents in Grandriver until she and Jeff get an apartment in Des Moines. Jeff found out he got on full time in the Pleasanthill Hy-Vee. They are pretty excited. I'm finding out she is a picky eater and this maybe a challenge to have things around she likes. Cassie has such a long drive and we are storing her bed until she needs it. She ended up spending the night. Wonder what she thought waking up and having four cats staring at her. Since the weather decided to give us some heavy rains I am glad she decided to stay.

The Final Leg of a Journey

2009-08-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to have a picture of a guy who helped make this journey possible. I totally forgot and didn't get a snapshot. We had our last post placement visit with Bill. It was painless and enjoyable. We got to reminisce about our past year... I don't think Tara quite knew what to think. Now to pick out 4 pictures of Tara to send to China.
I had a half day off, so we celebrated with Chinese buffet and school shopping. We still haven't found Tara a new book bag. But they both have a couple of cute shirts.
Thanks Bill for being part of the delivery team to bring me a beautiful baby girl :) even though I wasn't there when she was a baby, she will always be my baby.

Table Rock Lake

2009-08-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

The best time of the year...VACATION. Best yet is vacation at Tablerock. The most relaxing time. Friends and family we go with enjoy shopping and shows, we love the lake. Amazingly this year I am not still floating as I have in the past. Since Gene's folks are getting older he didn't want to leave them for the whole week, so he came down Monday. I drove Jeff and the girls down bright and early on Saturday. I got alot of moaning from them, but it was a great drive. We got there first and was able to unwind before everyone else arrived. Weather was beautiful, we had a couple of overcast days, a couple of humid days and a couple of perfect days! Our good friends had a new boat and we got to break it in. The old one has a special place in our hearts, but wow. The new ones ride is amazing. There were a few bumps, but most rough water was smooth. We visited most of the marina's and ate lunch on a floating restaurant. We all skied on 2 and some of us on one. The wake board was used and the tubes abused. It was all good...well almost. While the jet ski ran it was good, right up until Tuesday. The 3rd cylinder went bad again.(time for another overhaul, Gene is learning to do it himself this time). We had minnow races Thursday evening, what fun. white rain gutters, ice water and minnows. Contestants were given a cup, the cup was given a minnow with a name. The winner was Kristi with her minnow Jaws. Second runner up was Mike with Holy Crap. Tara got to name her minnow first (she wasn't sure) so hers was "I don't know". Thank you Sue and Carl for a fun evening!

Green Beans, Green Beans and More Green Beans

2009-08-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

The girls may be changing their opinions of green beans. When we got home from vacation we picked green beans, stemmed them, then cut them and canned them. We have 27 qts and 18 pints. I am excited! We should be eating good this winter. I hope to have more, but this is a good start. Thanks girls for the great team work!!
Oh I forgot to mention this was the most humid day of the year :-(

Happy Birthday Mom!!

2009-07-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today is my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!!
Love You!

A Day at Adventureland

2009-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Genes company picnic this year was tickets to Adventureland amusement park. I'm not much for amusement parks and neither is Gene. I worked a half day and came home to get the girls. They each invited a friend and off we went. It was probably close to 2pm when we got there. We grabbed a map and started walking. Tara's friend had her heart set on riding the Dragon roller coaster first. This was at the back of the park and off we went. To her disappointment it was closed, so Josie, Hailey and Tia rode the Outlaw. Tara didn't want anything to do with it. I suspected this might be the case and she really was a trooper watching the other girls ride the ride. She had me buy a blooming onion. I wanted it as much as she did. It was huge and it was good. After Hailey and Tia had rode several rides they took a break and finished the onion. Josie is a little gambler, she liked to spend her time at the arcade. It would have made me sick, but the girls rode the silly silo over and over. It was a beautiful day. The girls were able to ride the log ride 3 or 4 times straight at the end. The park closed at 9 and we were there to the end. We ran thru Burger King and were home by 10:30 after dropping the friends at their homes. Today is Tim's birthday, we had ice cream for your day Tim. We talked to him on the phone, he took the afternoon off and floated down a river in Oregon.

I-35 Baseball On To State

2009-07-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Every year I say I am going to watch more of the high school softball and baseball games. Every year time gets away and the season is over. The girls and I went to the last home game before the 4th of July. They were fun to watch. Girls lost boys won. The boys were having a great season and made it to state to play against the Dyersville team Gene watched them play after a wedding in Dyersville. The game was at the old Sectaylor stadium in Des Moines. It was a great night for a game. Gene even took the night off to watch the game. Our boys lost, but it was an honor to go to state. Good Job boys!

It Did Happen

2009-07-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

It was a surprise. Gene's mom went to the dr and he said everything was setup for her to have a pacemaker. She went from his office to the hospital, bing, bang and it was done.
She gave me a call at work to let Gene know. I went to the hospital after work and she was just coming out of recovery and into her room. She was a little loopy. I talked Dad into a ride home. We stopped at the Hy-Vee deli and had supper. I probably scared the crap out of him with my driving, but he was waiting Tuesday morning for his ride back to the hospital. Mom looked good and was released around lunch time. The stress of the wait is now over.
It was major confusion, but all worked for the best.

Dad was in a Hurry

2009-07-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay Gene's mom doesn't get her pacemaker just yet. Dad was confused. He wears hearing aids and sometimes hears what he wants to hear. Mom goes for another echo test on Monday, then we will go from there. She doesn't have any energy, so I hope it will give that back to her.

I took the girls school shopping this morning. I had a sinus headache, Ugh! We checked our list before we left home and knew what we were after. The basic shopping went smoothly. It was the incidentals that tested the patience. Tia needed underwear, okay what size, color and style. Naturally those 3 things don't come in the same package. Every time we got shopping Tia looks for face washes. She has issues with teenage acne. I had to say no do to the other 10 bottles that we have on the bathroom counter. Okay I was exaggerating, but she still didn't need one more.

Gene's mom gave us her green bean's that she didn't want, it wasn't alot. We added them with ours and had enough to cann 5 quarts. Compared to past years, it's not as many as I usually start with. But we will take all we can get. I picked most of them. While I was getting the canner and starting the washing machine the girls were stemming and snapping the beans. They seem to think I'm not doing my fair share of the chore....Hymmmm, say what???

This week is Mom's b-day, so she enjoys going to the local gambling boat for entertainment. We met for Saturday supper first. Gene was still bailing hay and Tia wasn't up to eating out. The choice of food is great, but the quality leaves a bit to be desired for the price you pay. Happy Birthday MOM!! Tara told me to hurry home, she was hoping to get some ball playing in before dark. I don't think she did, but she took everybody on with several games of connect 4. She won almost every game. I think she took pity on each of us at least once.

Keeping Busy-To Busy to Blog

2009-07-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

The month of July is no sports, can you believe that?? But we have still been very busy. We have had our first green beans and I have yet to can any. The girls go out daily and pick them and cook them right up. And to think we only started sauteing green beans a year ago. Before that we just canned them and ate them in the winter. We had our first zucchini last night. The girls weren't crazy over it, but I really enjoyed it (especially since I never get any green beans).

Tara is keeping me happy with M&M's right now, the way to Mom's heart!! She received an invite to a basketball camp next week. I wish we could make it work, but I don't see any way. Monday Tia gets her mold for her braces. Tuesday the girls both get shots and Wednesday Gene's Mom gets a pacemaker. Maybe next year. I have been getting a daily phone call. Tara likes to know what we are doing every day. I went thru everything that was planned and then ask her what she would like to do with free time. She always replies with play ball. Tonight was my night, we played catch. I wore Tara's batting helmet, just so I wouldn't get another black eye. Tia was playing with us too!

Tia is sucking up to me right now, not sure why, but I'm getting a back rub. Not every day is as good as today. But today is Good!

Have I said I hate digital TV, we lived for 40 plus years with changes to TV and this has to be the worst. Every time we turn the TV on you never know whether you will get the station you would like to watch. Tara loves our IPTV station with cartoons. She hasn't had it on her TV in the living room all week. I got a panic phone call at work letting me know. Not that there was anything I could do about it at work. You can get that station in the kitchen, along with channel 5, but you have to watch 23 in the living room. I repeat...@?#$$!

I finally got the windshield in the escape changed, is had a pretty nasty crack in it. The guy did it that we bought a trampoline off of. He still had part of the trampoline, so I stopped and picked up the rest of it. The side netting. I told them probably the only reason we would put it up would be to play with a ball on the tramp. Today has been a big day for Tia, as she is making the cross into adulthood :)

When I got home from work on Wed to get Tara and take her to tumbling, Tia was talking to a boy on the phone. I'm not sure I am ready for this. I made a chicken crock pot dish to have before tumbling and no one was crazy over it. Guess I can pitch that recipe. It had pineapple and the pineapple was terrible. Jeff stopped and got the pickup, he is moving this week, I think from Cedarfalls to Waterloo. I don't have the new address yet. He should be able to do it in one load, he hasn't needed much.

Ragbrai (bike ride across Iowa) was this past week. It was a strange week of weather. They went from Greenfield, Truro, St Charles, St Marys, Martensdale and onto Indianola (they call it the century loop). It was raining first thing in the morning and I think that slowed the riders down. They did make the comment Truro was the first place they found coffee. Gene worked at the church selling coffee, cinnamon rolls and Gatorade. He couldn't believe all the people. Tia also helped, Tara slept thru it all.

Tia had her second appt with the orthodontist. I guess I haven't blogged on the first one. He let us know that her adult eye tooth on the right is missing. He isn't sure if she lost it or never had it. I am going with the bad children's dentist that she had. He gave us 3 options of adjusting her teeth, 2 involve lots of money and pain. We aren't rich and went with the cheap one with the least amount of pain. Her teeth probably wouldn't need braces if she still had her eye tooth. She also has a lisp when she talks sometimes. Not sure if this will help that or we need to have some speech therapy??

At long last I got my monthly haircut, it must have grown super fast this time. I couldn't wait. And....Tia got her first beauty shop do. She had a month to look for a picture of what she wanted, she had one and got it. We are lucky Darcy knows how to use a razor. Wow was there a lot of hair on the floor. It is cute and it has to be a lot cooler. I haven't seen her in a ponytail since, not sure if she can. Unbelievable I haven't seen a dozen pics of her taken by...yes her. Tia loves to take pics of herself.

Photo Op for Tumbling

2009-07-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

It doesn't look like the kids were in the mood for a photo op. I did think this was a good one of Tara :)
This was trophy time for the paper of the state tournament. Tara actually should be wearing 3 medals, but didn't want to and I didn't make her.

4th of July Camping

2009-07-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

It is one of my favorite holidays. Since I was 9 years old I have camped at Rathbun. I had the 3rd off, so we headed to the lake Thursday night. Tia had her friend Cheyenne go with us, so I took Tara to work with me. I wanted company on the ride. It was fun and she got to meet everyone I work with. They had fun asking her questions. We talked to Gene on our ride to the lake and they hadn't even left home yet. Tara and I killed an hour at Dollar General in Albia and still had to wait. Luckily Marcia and Mom were down there to wait with. Mom had fried a chicken and we ate with them.

Friday I took inventory of the pantry and we ran to town for groceries. It was suppose to be my 30 year class reunion, but I couldn't make myself go. Not sure why. It started raining around supper time and rained clear thru Saturday lunch. We hopped from one camper awning to the next. It didn't rain in the afternoon, but was cloudy and started again in the evening. They still did fire works.

Tara picked, cleaned, cooked and ate

2009-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

It's Been a Great Year :)

2009-06-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had a busy evening last night. Tia had Amber stay Sunday evening. When Gene got up he took all the girls to Ambers to swim. I stopped on the way home to pick them up. They were tired from swimming and I could tell Tia was a little grouchy, moody whatever. Gene had picked most of a gallon of raspberries, so Tara and I rinsed them and got them bagged for the freezer. It was fun watching her eat them as she cleaned them. I jumped on the mower and then Tara and I weeded the garden. Tara picked the first meal of green beans. She disappeared to the stove to prepare them. I was trying to find her softball pics and we started reminiscing over pics of our meeting one year ago. I still haven't got that "I love you" or the heart warming hug, but I know the bond is there. Would I do it all over again...you bet!!

Sunday she asked me to put her hair in a ponytail...I did. She went and looked in the mirror and came back to me pointed to her head and said "what the heck", I thought I was going to crack up. I never said it would be perfect and I couldn't see whatever she was seeing.

Tonight was another first. I took the girls raspberry picking. Tara doesn't pick very fast, but she stuck with me. While Tia was being ate alive by mosquito's and took off back to the car. Tia had more gooseberries and mulberries than raspberries:)

4th Place in the Loosers Bracket

2009-06-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

It wasn't the way most of Tia's team had expected the season to end, but the last team we played that had a really lousy season came to play...and play they did. We had a variety of weather. We started with sun burning hot to cloudy, misting and chilly. Grandma Chandler got to see the first game and Tia's team won. We had close to 2 hours between games and ran home to cut Grandma's hair. Tia had me throw her a few balls to practice hitting. We got a kick out of watching her try to do this feat on her own. Since it had been so hot Grandma decided she better not attend the next game (we may have lost our good luck charm), we lost it (we had a few quiet tears, Tia hates being the last out at the end of the game)and had to play again in which we won. Aunt Kathy appeared to watch and I forgot it was my turn for concession stand duty. We had to play at 10AM Sunday and made it a quiet evening. Sunday morning was our last game, they gave MstM's the 5 run rule to start off the game lousy. The 4th inning was our turn for the 5 run rule, but they had given up some other points. They rallied, but it was too late. I had concession duty again at 3, so we stuck around and watched the rest of the games. Tia and her team that stuck around kept the score board. They were excited to be paid with a free pop, chocolate and jolly ranchers from the team playing. On Saturday Tia was introduced to a coach from a travel team. They will be loosing some of their girls and was looking to recruit Tia. Sunday she was invited to practice with them. I'm not sure she wants to play fallball??? I'm glad she had the chance to try the team on for size. Tara is a trooper thru all of this. She loves watching the game and is an excellent fan. She knows the score and can tell you what the girls did. She also likes to tease the coaches. We had the opportunity while Tia was practicing Sunday to play catch with 3rd to first. We've decided she needs weight lifting, her little arms just can't quite make the needed throw. Pitcher is next on Tara's list and she can get a few where they need to go, but needs to be able to keep going.

Tia Softball Tournament 2009

2009-06-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Going to 5th Grade

2009-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Doing things alittle different this year. Really neat idea :) We had an appointment with the principal and teacher Tara will have for 5th grade starting Aug 2009. We were originally suppose to meet at our house and Tia ended up having a makeup game. It was then rescheduled for this week and Tia was again in Truro for practice, so we met them at the school. It worked out well, Tara couldn't be distracted and we got a tour. There is no set plan for her to catch up on her English/reading, but they sound like they will do whatever is necessary to keep her moving forward in positive motions. Tara's biggest concern was recess of coarse. She took everything pretty much in stride and seemed to feel comfortable with her new environment. Phys ed in middle school the kids change clothes and take showers, she wasn't crazy over this idea. We'll see :)

Possibly the Last Wk of 2009 Softball

2009-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Jeff helped Gene mow hay Monday. I think Jeff has been missing the farm. He sure would like Grandpa Chandler's air conditioned tractor. That was the only complaint I heard. It is very hot and humidity was tipping the needle to ridiculous. Jeff had to work Tuesday, so took off for CF at noon. Gene worked on the hay and was almost late for work finishing baling. Plus he finished just in time for more...you guessed it rain. Ugh! I wanted to weed the garden and Tia's game (last regular season) was rained out. Now to make it up?? We have to watch driving the pavement the roads are starting to buckle. As I was coming home from work there was a thunder storm running parallel with me. It was weird! The temps dropped 20 degrees in minutes...what a relief, but now the storm. Tara has had a note on the frig since the end of April first of May. An invite to a bday part on June 23. We had a name and address, but no phone number. So I stopped on my way home from work and ask if they were doing something today. I think it was already over, but they said Tara could come play for a couple of hours. I think she had a good time, but was ready to come home. Happy Bday Kyleigh!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

And Father's Day it was. I had to have the sleepover girls home early Sunday to spend with their fathers. I made lunch and invited Gene's folks. After lunch the girls let Gene take a short nap and then it was softball, swimming and games. What a good and busy dad. I loved it! Jeff came home for a couple of days and my yard looks great! Curt called, he is remodeling still and leaves Monday for Germany. Hopefully a short stay and then home to Iowa for a visit. I am not holding my breath. But maybe crossing my fingers.

A Busy Week

2009-06-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

The week of June 15-19 was busy. Monday we finished mowing and laundry from the weekend. Tuesday Tia played ball against MstM Blue, I had concession duty so didn't see much of the game. Tia's team won. Tuesday was against the other I-35 team. Tia's team won. Thursday we traveled to Norwalk for an early game at 5:15. Coach Jim gave Tia and Tara a ride to Norwalk. It was the hottest day of the summer and the girls looked wiped. Tia's team won again, but it didn't come easy. We hung around after the game and watched the other Norwalk team play the SEW team. At this point we (Tia's team) had first place, SEW had second and Norwalk had third. Tia is suppose to play one more game in Truro next week, one practice and then tournaments (with home field advantage). Didn't work two years ago, let's cross our fingers we can do better. I had an early out at work Friday and went home to get Gene. The car was being worked on in Indianola and we needed to pick it up. It rained like a son of a gun...I mean torrential. I had thought I would catch some garage sales, but didn't want to fight the rain. So I got up Saturday and met my mom and Doris. We didn't find alot, but enough to make it fun. Tia had Hailey spend the night Friday and I picked up Brooklyn Saturday to stay with Tara. We went to Tara and Brook's first Cubs game. I think they had fun :)

Twin River Softball Champs

2009-06-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

What a fun way to end the season. We were suppose to start the tourney Friday night. Gene had the girls almost to Milo before the game was called due to rain. We got the message later in the evening that we would play 11 Sat morning. The girls and I ended up highlighting our hair Friday night. After Tara and I made cupcakes to share with her team. She did a great job of going to bed on time and set an alarm clock to get herself up.
By 11 I thought the fields would be alot dryer, but it misted on the way to the game. Tara's first game was with MstM's Gold, we won 14-3. It was 3pm when they played their next game against MstM's Blue. It was a tough game, but we did it 4-1. We came home and tried to mow some yard, but it was still plenty wet.
It was a long day today. We started the morning playing I-35 White. There wasn't a lot of action, but I-35 Red won. Riley had a good hit. She probably wouldn't have got past first, but they over threw and she made it home. Just to be called out at home. The Ump said she needed to slide. The odd thing was there was no one else close to the plate. He just said it was a rule. One father stated his feeling (nothing obnoxious) and was told to leave the park. (he only said what we were all thinking) We forgot to share our cupcakes Saturday, so pulled them out now. They really hit the spot (glad it wasn't hot yesterday).
The next game I-35 White had to play MstM's Blue and we would play the winner of that game. If it was MstM's and we lost we would have to play them again. We cheered on the other I-35 White team, but they lost again and were done taking 3rd place. MstM's is an equal team to us and it could have went either way, we parents were glad we didn't have to play that last game. I-35 Red won 5-1. The team received a big trophy and each player received a smaller trophy. The girls enjoyed dumping the cooler of ice on Coach Brian and he was a good sport with the girls. He told the girls he had been dreaming of this day since his daughter Riley was in the 2nd grade. Glad they were able to make it a reality. Great Season Girls!! (Tara's first ever) A thank you to big sis Tia for going along and being part of the cheer team. Tara is so much like all her sibs. None of them like listening to their mom to give them advice on how to play the game. heavy sigh.

The Week Of Softball

2009-06-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tia's night for pics at St Mary's
Tia on 3rd base and was first point of the evening;

Tia plays 3rd base

Tuesday night we were in Churchville. I had the afternoon off and thought I would be able to mow yard. Gene had a leak in the truck fuel tank, so I picked him up at the repair garage. It rained on us the way home. Ugh!! The girls game did not get cancelled. It was a cool afternoon and evening. Tara's team won 8-0 and Tia's team won 11-0. Wednesday was a makeup game for Tia in Lacona. She didn't think they would win, MY WORDS...STAY POSITIVE!! I emailed Grma and she met us there. Gene had to take Tia to Lacona, I couldn't leave work early enough. Tara was dressed for tumbling and didn't change, duh Dad?? I emailed Sue earlier in the day to let her know we couldn't make it. (I like these practices, it is fun listening to the kids tell about their experience at competition) By the way Tia's team beat Lacona White 6-5 in the last inning. Thursday we were in St Mary's. I did leave work early, told the girls to be ready and waiting. I would pull in and won't get out of the car. There is road construction and it takes extra time. We took gravel roads and made it just right. Tara's team lost their first game, what a struggle 1-2. The St Mary's coach had a problem with our pitcher (who takes pitching lessons and is very good for her age) He was trying to find fault with her and it threw her game in the beginning, which got us off to a bad start. Tia's team got off to a good start and ended with a win of 16-8. They had a good hitting game and pushed everything to the limit...and sometimes passed. Friday starts Tara's tournament in Milo. Gene has to have Tara and Bailey Haggard there at 4:30. I will be flying low to make this one on time.

AAU State Meet inWaterloo

2009-06-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

A good Trip!! Since competition was in Waterloo (originally Cedar Falls) I signed Tara up for state competition. If you participate at State you are eligible for The Iowa Games in August. The bad news about that is we take a family vacation out of state that week. We have a new camper (new to us) so we took it and stayed at George Wythe State Park. Tara's first competition was on the trampoline at 2:45. We watched other teammates preform, things were running a little behind. Watching Tara practice for many weeks, she had a good competition pass. She just needs to get some height. She placed 9th. We didn't have to wait too long for Double Mini. Tara doesn't have alot of strength in her legs yet, so this won't be the best she will do. She placed 5th. We need to build her muscles :-) We met Jeff after work at Hy-Vee and went to his place for an hour. Back at the camper I played Tara a quick game of Triomino's. Gene checked out the TV. On the way to Waterloo it was rough and the tv bounced out of it's spot. (it still works, whewww)
Sunday during breakfast again I sat off the fire alarm making bacon. The battery in now in the drawer. We took our time getting around and headed to Waterloo East High for tumbling at 11. Tara was to be there at 11:30, things were running pretty much on time. She watched the other girls and seen what she needed to do. She got 3rd place with Courtney Titus from our team getting first. Way too go girls, good job!! We again headed to Jeff's for an hour before heading home.
Tia stayed with Mattie, Mattie was having a b-day party. Mattie got her a little longer than planned, but it is a very long drive to Cedar Falls/Waterloo.

Goodbye May

2009-05-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful weekend!! Grandma and Grandpa went to Britt for the weekend and Tia is doing the chores. She has taken it seriously and done such a great job. She fed the bottle calf (I had to help with the nipple on the bottle), feed chickens=gather eggs, feed the cats and dog. By getting up early to get the chores done our day started early and we got alot of everything done. The garden didn't grow on an earlier planting, so now we have 4 new rows of green beans, one row of broccoli, one row of cabbage, 12 tomato plants and cucumbers. We still have a little more to do, but I am praying it grows this time. Gene also planted sweet corn and squash by the barn.
Tara stayed alnight with one of her classmates, she acts like she had a great time. I had no phone calls in the middle of the night, so it must have been fine. I have to admit I am a little sad at her independence. We had a screaming match Saturday morning. The morning had been going well right up to her telling me what she was and wasn't doing to help around the house. I ask her to load a few dishes in the dishwasher and after she said NO...she started throwing them in the dishwasher. Momma not happy and when mamma's not happy...nobodies happy! I heard the comment I do nothing, what is Tia doing (she doesn't have to help), Dad doesn't do anything. These are Tia's favorite words. I have tried to explain the mechanics of a family, but I guess it is still a work in progress. Hopefully we came to an understanding, time will tell. It may be a long summer. I did get her into the kitchen after lunch and helped her mixup a batch of chocolate chip cookies. She didn't want to read the directions, but I will keep working on her. She says she can't, but she would have to try first. :-)

The Last Day of School

2009-05-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't put in a regular full day of work for a couple of months, it has been great. Today was it for me...a regular 8 hrs. I did punch out 15 minutes early to get Tara to tumbling on time.

Tia called me at 7:30 and was asking for breakfast ideas when I heard "oh crap". The bus was early today. Tara got to have the wonderful menses film today. Hopefully she understands what she was told. I tried to get the conversation going, but she wasn't in the mood to talk. We will try again another day. We had a good tumbling practice.

Tuesday

2009-05-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Memorial weekend is over and time to get back to business. We are still shortening our days by 4 hrs a week at work. I chose today for my half day this week. Fourth grade was suppose to have a track and field day, but we awoke again today to rain. Gene has an appt to get his truck tires aligned in Indianola. He leaves it overnite, so needs a ride home. We met on my way home. I needed to pick the girls up from school, but it was too early. I didn't have enough time at home to get a chore started. I filled out paperwork for early registration for Tia to go to 7th grade. Oh that makes me feel old...Ugh! Tara has an appt in Osceola at the Public Health Nurse to update her shots. She had Measles Mumps & Rubella, Hepatitis B, Chickenpox and Polio. What a trooper, she didn't cry until after the very last one. I was cringing thru it. I told Tara she could have the treat of ice cream or Chinese. She chose Chinese, it was an early supper. But we got the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. I heard on the way home that America is stupid and she wanted to go back to China. Can't blame her on this one, but she did say at school they would have to line up and get shots... Only she said she didn't have to, hum. The girls like to recycle pop cans because they get the money, we tried but the machine was out of order. We got the message after shots that tonights game was cancelled (it was still pouring rain). It was a quiet evening before the last day of school.

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't do what is the norm for the weekend, so I owe a day of memory. I met my mom and cousin Doris to garage sale in Indianola Sat morning. I asked the girls Friday night if they wanted to go. I had a suspicion that Tara wouldn't make it out of bed and wondered about Tia. They both declined. I Tia would have found alot, but maybe next time. I found an Iowa State shirt for Tia and the Toy Story movie for Tara. I stopped and picked up groceries for camping. Gene needed to spend an hour and a half planting corn, but we could go to thunderhead when he was done. He got just the hour and a half and it started pouring rain. It made it easier for him to quit, it had been a gorgeous day. We drove in and out of rain the whole way. Thunderhead never got any of the rain. Yeah! We took the new Cobalt for an evening cruise, it's been quite a day. It was a bit cool Sunday morning, but led into a beautiful day. We had a great breakfast and was on the water by 11. The sun screens on, Tara didn't even throw a fit. She didn't want to start on the tube, but watched Kasey, Kelsey and Allie. After about 45 min the girls took a break. When they went back out Tia and Tara were ready. Tara wanted to ride with Allie, but she didn't want to double up. So Tara climbed on with Kasey. They all had a lot of fun and got quite a bit of sun. If only it didn't have to end. We stopped at Leon for Dairy Queen and arrived home around 7.

I got a lot done Monday. If I could only have one more day of cleaning.

Tuesday in Lacona

2009-05-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Tara played ball in Lacona, this is her first away softball game. Gene was trying to get the field work done and Tia had practice, so it was just her and I. She thought it was a long way from home. It was a beautiful afternoon. Tara struck out once and they caught her ball on a pop fly. I shouldn't say it, but Tara's team hasn't lost a game yet. Way to go girls!! We washed Tara's new game bag and had it filled. It is just the right size. Thanks John, Melissa and Hallie!

We got back to Tia's practice before it was over and hung out. By the time practice was over it was getting pretty cool.

Is it Summer Yet??

2009-05-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday...Thanks Melissa and John for picking Tia up this morning. The sun was out when Tia left and it looked like it was going to be a great day. Well it was a great day, but where did the sun go. I went in to take my shower and when I came out it was gone. The wind has been blowing pretty hard and I think I have a wind burn, because there wasn't much sun. During the second game it would come out and be warm enough to take off the jacket and just when you would get ready it would go back under a cloud. The last game at 1:30 was pretty cool, we were wrapped in blankets. I couldn't get Tara out of bed to watch the first game, so she came to Osceola with Gene for the second game. Tia played with Hallie's fastpitch travel team, the girl she filled in for has a broken finger (with a casted hand). This girl I think was the starting pitcher, so with a backup pitcher they won all three games. Hopefully Tia made some new friends. She was intimidated with the travel team, but she held her own and proved herself a worthy player. They did have a couple of girls a year older than Tia that could almost hit the fence. How awesome!! I started the wood stove when we got home to thaw out, it feels really good! Then went outside to work on trimming the trees in the front yard. Tara helped a bit...I say just a bit. She wanted me to pitch to her. Denise gave her some lipgloss yesterday, the container had glitter on it. She scraped the glitter off and put it in her hair and then had me fix her hair like I did Tia's for exibition tumbling. I told her we would have to save it next time for tumbling. Hope the kids don't give her crap at school tomorrow.

Saturday morning Tia called me to see if she could spend the night again with Amber (okay the day just started) Well of coarse not you can have all day today and come home and get a good nights sleep. They are working on a school project together(Tia's part is Benito Mussolini)Both girls are playing several softball games tomorrow. I had thought we would get an earlier start to my mom's, but Tara didn't roll out of bed until after 10. She is her father's child, but he even got up before she did. Tara thought Tia needed to go to grandma's with us, but I told her we get her on the way home. Tara was pacified with taking pop cans to Walmart and getting the money on the way to Grandma's. The money of which she spent on beef jerky. She and Tia both love the stuff. There was none left by the time we got home from Grandma's. My cousin and sister planned a mother-daughter tea at my mom's house, for my mom's side of the family. It was fun listening to the younger girls asking if they had to drink tea :-) Not as many showed up as hoped, but we had a good visit and hope to do it a little more often. My grandma has been gone for a few years now and it would have celebrated her 101 birthday.

No Games This Week

2009-05-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

It has been nice to be able to do some catch up chores this week, but I have to admit I am having ballgame withdrawls. The girls have had someone to pitch and catch with them almost every night.

The girls had dentist appts Tuesday. All went well, although we have notes to visit with the orthodontists. How do you pick an orthodontist?? I explained to Tara about maybe getting braces, she wants it done tomorrow....whoa! She wants bris now. she said it a few times before I figured out what she was saying. After the dentist we ran to Wally World and exchanged the regular mattress pad for the camper for a super duper soft one. When we came out it was pouring. I had the girls pack the car the night before to go straight to the ball field from Osceola. The call came on the way home, games cancelled.

Okay in all my years of commuting I have never driven in so much rain. It poured all the way to work and most of the way home. If I remember correctly, it was nice in between going and coming. Wednesday was Tara's tumbling practice. I know she enjoys tumbling, but I worry that Tia not tumbling will deter Tara. As much as Tara doesn't want Tia to influence her, she very much does. It is all unsaid stuff, but very heavy in the air. Sue wanted Tara to practice a few minutes extra to get everything she needed and Tara flat out refused. I am putting it down to PMS. She isn't ragging yet, but all the signs point to PMS.

Eric is in Arizona, so Thursday and Friday will be normal work hours. It's been awhile. The electric company trimmed the tree in our front yard, so I worked on clearing limbs out of the ditch. The tree looks retarded and still needs more trimming. Tia is staying with a friend Friday and Tara is wanting someone to ask her. As all kids, Tara wants me to call a mom and ask if she can stay all night at their house. It is hard for kids to understand this isn't the way things are done.

First Camper Outing

2009-05-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had Tom B's 50th bday in Altoona and Jason's graduation in Ankeny, so we decided to use the camper and stay at Adventureland campground. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a little nicer than it was, but it gets no stars from me. We didn't have time to make supper at the camper, so it was hamburgers from Bbops. Murt and Casey stopped and visited before the party, we missed the surprise at what was a nice party. It was good to see everyone in between the regular camping season. It was a good thing the camper has a heater, because we used it. It wasn't freezing, but it was cold. We all slept in. It was Mothers Day and we had until 2 for Jason's party. I was starting breakfast (I set the smoke alarm off with bacon) when someone knocked on the door. It was Necey, she sent the family to church and came to visit. We had a nice visit until they came around at 11 and told us we needed to check out. Pleez...I can't believe you are asked to leave a campground before lunch, after all it isn't like they need to clean the room??? We took our time with dishes and packing and left at 12:30. We had time so ran to Northern tool and got the spare tire for the camper. We then headed to Jason's party. We parked in the strip mall down the street from Joy's and the girl's thought we were nuts. We had a nice visit and heard an interesting story from one of Jason's teachers. I remember Jeff mentioning him and was glad to have the opportunity to meet him.

The girls games this week went well. We had hits, runs and lots of scoring.

Beautiful Weekend

2009-05-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

The last week was rainy and cold. This weekend made up for the whole week. I didn't get to mushroom hunt as much as I would have liked to, but I got a lot done this weekend. I offered to take the girls to the Shriners Circus. Tara didn't know what it was, but I couldn't get her out of bed. Tia wanted to take a friend. Gene wanted us home to go to my mom's to work on her fix it list. The first show was at 9:30 which meant leaving home around 8. We didn't discuss this until after 9 Friday night. For me that is too late to start calling to invite friends, so Tia didn't want to go. (I would have enjoyed it, but I wanted them too) if they weren't excited about it, it's not worth it. I got laundry started and hung on the clothes line. Yeah! We visited Grandma and got her new door on the machine shed. Tara found her first mushroom in Grandma's peony bush...how exciting. Tara also peeled the paint off grandma's birdbath (it looked better) and Tia pulled fins off a piece of copper so we can make these cool things to burn in our campfires. When we got home Tara and Gene went mushroom hunting, they found a few.

Sunday...Oh so beautiful! I went to the camper as soon as I got up and started cleaning and moving the old camper stuff in. What a chore and I loved every minute of it. Still so much to do for my home away from home :)

2009-05-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

My girls are so photo genic...NOT :(
The camera comes out and the all I see is backs. Ugh! I told Tia I was blogging this and did she want everyone to see pictures of her back. She finally let me get one good one.

New Trampoline

2009-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

I had wanted to get Tia a trampoline for some time, but was nervous about the responsibility and liability. Tara has almost had tumbling for one year and Tia for 5. The tramps are alot different, I could tell that from seeing Tia's first jump. I'm hoping this will give the girls good exercise this summer. AND I might even be able to find myself up there once in a while if I can control the darn bladder.

Tara's First Point

2009-04-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

So much fun! Tara got a hit and made it to 3 base, how exciting. She actually would have had a home run, but made it 3/4 and turned around and went back to 3rd. She did make this point and another her next time up to bat. Roadrunner Red beat Roadrunner White, these games are tuff. You want to cheer for all the kids (they are classmates). Tia had a bye, but had a long practice instead.

Tara's First School Music Program

2009-04-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

The Spring concert was held in the High School gym. They had it setup so you couldn't be sure if you could see your child. I lucked out and picked the right place to set. The concert started at 6:30 and had kindergarten thru 4th. All the kids were able to sing and we were out of there in one hour. Wow! I do want to mention how rude the people were that sat around me. They were grandparents and talked all the way thru the concert. Guess what you can hear on the camcorder of Tara's class singing...yeah them talking. Again how rude!! Kids you did a Great Job!

Rainy Weekend

2009-04-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

It started raining sometime in the night, when I woke up everything was misty. I finally got Tara's money to the bank. I ask her if she wanted to go and she said no. She really had no idea what I was doing. I stopped by the grocery store, I asked Tara if there was anything she needed me to get her reply was and usually is "ice cream".

I have many boxes of clothes in the garage. Tara asked if she could look in them. I brought a few in at a time and she picked out her shorts and tank tops. She didn't need many to be very happy. I just hope I don't have to fight with her on a cold day to put more clothes on. Murt gave her a night gown when she arrived home and she for the first time put it on this weekend. Funny tho she is stuffing it into a pair of shorts. Another something new to get used to.

Tia started Friday night finding worms and saving them in a can. Saturday she was ecstatic when it was raining hard. She was finding them on top the ground. She took them fishing this afternoon. Not sure how many bites she got, but she brought her biggest one to the house. At that it was probably only a 10" Bass. Still too small to clean. Tara wanted to know where the fish were. She said not in the house.(we have a tank in the basement with 2 - 8" sharks in it. I told her no down in the pond. She said pond what's that? And she said swim, I said yes we swim in the pond. Not sure if she is happy about fish being in her swimming hole. It seems as if every day we have a realization of some sorts.

Friday night she drew me a picture of Porky Pig. I asked her if she knew who he was, she said no. So today I dug out our movie that is probably close to 20 yrs old and she is watching it now.

2009-04-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

Friday the temps made it to the 80's. Wow! It was very windy, but I spose that made it bearable outside. I picked the girls up at school and Gene, Tara and I headed to get our camper. The neighbor saw us driving it home and called to say how happy we looked. Gene's not sure how to put the slide out yet. He can't wait to get it parked and loaded.

We got the large pieces of wood loaded in a wagon and out of the yard. Tara picked up the walnuts from where we will be parking the camper. We stayed outside until close to bedtime.

Mike and Jamie went fishing Saturday. They caught quite a few and had them cleaned when we stopped. Tia helped wash them. They cooked some of them and Tia couldn't wait to eat. We had just had supper, but does that surprise you...teehee.

The Williams got their new boat home and we spent Saturday night setting in it - in their garage. Boy is it pretty...can't wait to get it in the water!! :)

First Game

2009-04-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

I left work in time to make supper, but when I got home and read the phone bill I had to call customer service. There was an extra $30 on the bill. Seems someone was using the phone number on the computer to answer questions on the internet and it was sucking money. Not just a one time claim, they wanted it monthly for nothing. Technology, Ugh :(

Tia had a bye, so her team practiced. Tara's team played Martensdale St Mary's. Tara got new socks tonight, Riley's mom wanted to know if she could get wild ones. Wild they are, they are tye dyed. Tara wore her game clothes to school, so she was dressed ready to go. She put her shoes in her bag. It is getting nice outside, but it is still cold, I had her grab her sweatshirt and sweat pants. She took them off during the game, but by the end of the game the sweatshirt was back on. Tara played left field, the first ball hit came to her and she did a nice job fielding it. Coach Brian was patient with her, but she let two good pitches go by. By then she did swing, but no connection. I think she got up to bat 4 times and struck out 4 times, but she made connection a few times that went foul. I can't wait to see her at the end of the season. I-35 Red won this one 4-2. Yeah!

Preparing for the First Softball Game

2009-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing for quite some time that Tara needs shoes like the other girls. I probably have Tia's old ones around here somewhere, but haven't been able to find them. There is only 9 months between the girls ages, but 6 sizes in clothes.

Kasey got to go to the prom this weekend and we went to watch the hoopla of getting ready. We missed the hair appt and she was getting her nails done when we arrived. Her hair looked great, wish I knew how to do it?? Dress was cute with a lot of style, she loved her shoes(good luck not falling off them). Her date was pretty darn handsome as well, I think we may have embarrassed him. Oh to be young again!!

Tia wasn't sure she wanted to watch the festivities of prom, but I told her if she needed a new ball glove this would be her chance. We stopped at the sporting good store and I left Tia with the ball gloves and took Tara to the shoes. She had her heart set on RED. I am not sure about the fit, but we got them, only time will tell. Meanwhile Tia is very happy with her old glove and sees nothing she wants to buy. BUT wait, they make an insert for gloves. It has a finger hold and padding for the palm. The padding is what she lacks in her old glove. For $7 we will give it a try. They both are looking the bats over, but I have forgot all the bat buying hints I have been given, so that will have to wait. Tia had some jeans that needed returned. We drove thru the mall parking lot and kept right on going...everyone was there at that moment. After Kasey left with her date, we headed to Walmart to see if they had red socks. Well of course not since we needed them :( Tara did find a batting helmet. Tia looked for slider shorts and there were none in her size.

The girls have kept Gene very busy this weekend playing catch, Tia is practicing pitching. Tara does not like the thought of her ball hitting a dog pile of poo. Way too funny!!

I am not happy at all about the digital TV thing. I have a tv that we bought before Jeff was born. Still has a great picture. We bought the converter for this tv. Tara loves to watch channel 11. Well guess what, no channel 11 comes in with the converter box. What a joke digital tv is.

Yep They Ate the Eggs

2009-04-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Tia got a little creative with her eggs. By the last one she wasn't sure she could eat it.

Signigicant Haircut

2009-04-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

Tara has been wanting her haircut, she has asked several times. It has been getting really long. is healthy and pretty. I was having trouble wanting to cut it. She has been with us for 10 months. I was cutting Murts hair and cut 1" off Tara's last week. Yesterday I was cutting my mom's and cut 2 more inches. Today I was cutting Jeff's and she wanted more cut off. I told her when she took her bath...I like to cut it wet. We cut 3 more inches off. I kept telling her once it's gone I can't put it back. She is looking in the oven door saying too short, but she wasn't upset. I measured the hair on the top of her head and it is still 12"s long. She pulled it up in a pony tail and it still works well.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Okay the girls are trying to duck the camera, sorry.

This is Tara's first Easter. I tried to explain the holiday, but I'm not sure I did a good job. She wasn't excited with Nestle's chocolate eggs wrapped in aluminum foil, she loves chocolate. Tia and Tara hunted the plastic eggs after dinner. There are approx 4 dz. Tia wasn't happy that Tara found more that she did, but it was very close. They colored boiled eggs after that, now to see if they will eat them.

I May Have a Princess

2009-04-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Tia's softball coach called Friday night. They will be cleaning the softball fields Saturday morning 9-Noon. We arrived shortly after 9 and Tara wasn't going to get out of the car cause her team wasn't there. Once out she wasn't going to help with anything. The dugouts needed swept and she finally agreed to help Hailey Travis do this chore. Tia had our rake and helped her team rake the infield. After Tara finished with sweeping she sat on the fence asking when we could go home. Uhg! We did work right up to noon.

We also looked at a camper today. We are excited, we need more beds. I think we can be very happy with this one and we should be able to bring it home on the 17th.

Packing it in. My mom came home from snowbirding it in Texas and we headed over to have a visit. We packed a few months into a few hours. On the way home Jeff called and said he would be home in an hour. It was 6:30 and we were hungry. I threw a pizza together, put it in the oven and headed to the garden. It is perfect to burn off the weeds from last year. By 8:30 I finally got supper, it tasted sooo good.

Okay the day isn't over. I played Tara a quick game of Trouble and bed was calling my name, right up until Gene did. Get your shoes on, grab the flashlight and come on. He had a cow he couldn't get in and it was having trouble having it's calf. He really needs to talk to his cows more. After a little easy coaxing she went in and the little bull was pulled into this world. Gene had to do a little coaxing to get him to suck, but he is doing well. We didn't tell the girls where we were going and Tia came searching. She wasn't happy she missed the delivery, but she helped dad bottle feed some colostrum...what a day!

The First Friday in April

2009-04-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day! I had the work done on my desk and punched out early. I picked up groceries, got gas and hit Truro at 3. The girls would just be getting out of school and would love not to have to ride the bus home. Gene was up at the farm, he was beaming. He had his first live calf of the season and was able to use a new setup for calving. He took Tia out to show her, Tara still isn't into all the animals. She said she would wait. I made supper, thru it in the oven and headed outside to burn our ditch. The wind and ground were right for it. The fire didn't get as much as I wanted, I will have to do some raking and try again for the rest of it.

The girls had softball practice inside on Thursday. The air was cool, but sunny. I took little Liam's quilt and got it finished, so now I need to pick up some baby laundry soap and wash it. Our 3 black cats left evidence of being close to it.(If you know what I mean)

Iowa State Girls Basketball

2009-03-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Iowa State Girls Basketball team. They played their hearts out tonight in the Elite 8, trying for the final 4. They had to play Stanford, who I think they said has been there 8 yrs in a row. ISU had to play them earlier this year and knew they were a tough team. The final 4 would have been awesome, but we are still proud of you for the great year you have had!! It was fun watching you and we will miss all of the seniors next year. It has been March Madness!!

Time to Blog is Tough

2009-03-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

I like to journal because my memory isn't what it used to be. We will be able to look back at this when time has passed with a sigh of where has the time gone :(

I really didn't think we would be this busy. The schedule with Tia was just right. Enough busy time vs enough down time. Now everything has doubled. I wouldn't change anything, but maybe money for a maid would be good :)

Softball practice started. Tara is on the minor team. Tia is on the major's team. I was hoping for practice at the same time. We have plenty of fields, but oh no that would be too easy. I warned Tara's coach that she hasn't had a bat in hand. He smiled and said not a problem. He showed her how to hold it and pitched her some slow ones. She was hitting alot of them, now for a faster pitch?? Her throw needs work, she has that definite little girl throw. Coach wasn't worried about that either, he sees alot of potential. Tia was hoping for 3rd base, but for the first couple of practice has fell into shortstop.

The Science Fair. Uhg! Tia is driving me nuts :) She will ask my opinion and then go ape with my answer. I finally got so I wouldn't answer. She is growing geraniums with orange juice. I thought it would be too much acid, but they are growing. Now to keep them alive for a month to set them outside. I will be late to work tomorrow to take the finish product to school and the fair is tomorrow after school. I think I can safely say I am not a science geek.

Another Busy One

2009-03-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Basketball ended on Saturday, so no Monday practice Yeah! But noooo not yet, softball practice started Tuesday. Tara got to hold a bat and hit the ball for the first time. She was excited and I have a sore throat. As nice as it was the wind was cold.

Wednesday the girls instead of practicing softball, got the basketballs out and played until dark. It was another Ahh moment.

Jeff Young Basketball Classic

2009-03-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

We lost the originator to little kids basketball at Interstate 35 schools. This year was the beginning of a tournament in his honor. Tia played the opening game at 7:30 against the other I-35 6th grade girls team. The girls practice together and know all the plays, it could have easily went either way. Tia's team was able to make their shots and won. Her second game was with MstM. They are a good team and we just couldn't make our shots. We watched the next two games and then came home until Tara played at 1:30. They lost to Van Meter, but made a come back against WCV and won. While we waited for this game to start I was looking at a lady that looked familiar. She came up to me and yes it was Bette Snuggs, I went to school with her son. She was there watching her great granddaughter Sidney play for WCV. The funny part is Tara and Sidney were up against each other for position on the bb court. Tara had her best game of the season! They then played the other I-35 4th grade girls and was able to win that one. One very long day :-)

High School Dance Team Teaches Elementary Kids

2009-03-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Tara stayed after school on Wednesday to learn a dance routine from the high school girls. We went a little early on Friday evening to practice and then the kids performed a dance for the audience. She had no problem joining right in with all the other children and doing her thing. They were treated to a light stick, which she slept with, a juice box and those wonderful Little Debbie Cakes. Tia said no this year, she has done it in the past.

End of Season for Tara

2009-03-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

Tara had her Monday basketball practice as usual, Tia's was cancelled until Tuesday. I was hoping to work on my taxes Tuesday, nothing like waiting for the last minute. Which I have a bad habit of doing. Thursday was the regular tumbling practice. Friday Tia stayed all night with Maddie. Tara didn't think it was fair, she wanted to stay with someone also. If I wouldn't have had taxes to get done she could have had a friend over. It was funny Tara came to me and said Levi the neighbor boy was going to bring a skunk over and put at the front door. She worried all evening. I told her if he did we would take it back to his house.

Saturday when we got to Tara's basketball game, I realized I goofed. They had switched the lineup and her team played the first game. Not sure why. Since she was there they let her play the second game as usual. It was fun to see her play with the other girls. She did get the ball once and did okay with it. She has a week off and will play in a tournament game in honor of her coach who passed away-way too young. Tia came with Maddie, they played the first game against Earlham and lost. Tia went home with Gene. The girls were early to bed for an early start on Sunday.

Tia is shooting a free throw here, I don't think she made it:( Sunday we were off to Earlham for Tia's tournament. Her first game was at 9, which meant she needed to be there at 8:30. It was everything Tara could do to roll out. I told her she could stay home and go to Sunday school with dad. She loves watching basketball. The first game was with WCV the girls came out like they were still in bed, it was a tough game and we lost 25-19. Which is still better than the first time we played this team this year. Game 2 at 10am was with Winterset in the practice gym. No bleachers, just enough chairs for parents. Tara plopped herself on Connie's lap. Good thing the games go fast. We won 31-8...nice change. Game 3 was with Panorama (a girl on this team sets in front of us at the Iowa State football games) I remember when her mom was pregnant with her. I pointed her out to Tia. We led the game most of the way and lost with a score of 21-22. I told the coach it was harder on me than the girls, my stomach was in knots. Tara was a trooper and did whatever the other girls did. We our fortunate they all get along great.

Game 4 was with Southeast Polk, this game also we should have won. We started in the lead and ended up loosing 11-12. I was exhausted...not sure about Tia. We had Casey's pizza between games for lunch. We took the back roads home and made pretty good time, home after 4. Tara and I rode with Gene to get Jeff's car in Chariton. I told her she could stay home and watch TV, but she kept me company. I made it to the golf coarse before the hot light came on. I took it back to the Hy-Vee warehouse where Gene and some co-workers bled some air from the radiator. Home again at 7:30, I'm now worthless.

Yeah! I Found

2009-02-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

I had faith that my horescope was right and it was. I looked in the spot where I keep Tia's paperwork and it wasn't there. I carried a book with all of Tara's important info with me for the first six months of her adoption birth (it became my birth weight it got very heavy) I was getting ready to look through it for the umteenth time. Why I'm not sure, but I grabbed my bag I carry to work and was looking through it. You will guess by now what I found.

Tia's important citizenship paper is in a #10 envelope, she has a really cool card similar to a drivers license. Well I was looking for something like that for Tara...surprise her's is in a 9x12 gold envelope and her paper is 8 1/2 x 11 certificate style. When I received it, I thought I would need it to enroll her in school. I don't recall that I did, but I had that bag when I signed her up. Now we can get her SS applied for. Also in the envelope was another envelope, on it says "a message from the President of the United States", I would like to share it.

Dear Fellow American

I am pleased to congratulate you on becoming a United States citizen. You are now a part of a great and blessed Nation. I know your family and friends are proud of you on this special day.

Americans are united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born. Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold thses principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

As you begin to participate fully in our democracy, remember that what you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to serve your new Nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens building communities of service and a Nation of character. Americans are generous and strong and decent not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

Welcome to the joy, responsibility, and freedom of American citizenship. God bless you and God bless America.

Sincerely
George W. Bush

I know President Bush's poll ratings were terrible at the end of his term, but I believe in my heart this guy knew what was going on. He tried to protect our country and build it up for our children and our future. Was he perfect, no...are you?? This letter meant alot to me, I hope it can mean as much to Tara.

I'm Looking

2009-02-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

Have you been losing things lately? You'll find what you need by the end of today.

This was my horescope for today. I need to find Tara's passport and US citizen card to apply for her Social Security card. I will leave you now to go look :)

ISU Gymnastics/West Central Valley/Think Floyd

2009-02-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

Last week when we attended the girls basketball game I won a t-shirt. In the t-shirt was 2 free tickets to attend the Beauty and the Beast event Friday 2/20 in Ames. It was Iowa State gymnasts and wrestlers preforming at the same time vs Minnesota. I left work early and met the girls off the bus. Tara wasn't sure she wanted to go. Tia was excited. We stopped in Ankeny and grabbed BK. We got to Ames about an hour before (game time, tip-off...not sure the word for gymnastics or wrestling) We had general admission tickets. There weren't many seats that were reserved, we sat down and realized we were in reserved and so found different seats. After setting down we noticed we couldn't see the bars very good, but decided to stay where we were. I heard someone say my name and it was the Chew family, they had left work early also and had gotten there in time to see Shawn Johnson. Tia was disappointed we didn't make it in time. It was a fun night. When we were leaving Ames it had just started snowing. By the time we got home the ground was white.

Saturday started with a couple loads of laundry as we got ready to go to Stuart for Tara's noon basketball game. It is tuff getting the chores done between all the running. Tara's team won 12-10. Tia's team played at 2, she stayed at the school while Tara and I ran to BK again for lunch. Tia's team gave the good fight but again lost. We stopped and got her BK on the way out of town. We ran home, fed the cats and headed to Altoona to meet Mike and Murt. Bailey kept the girls company, he had his guitar and they had karaoke. They were laughing pretty good when we returned home and had to play Mississippi Queen. Gene had taken our extra car to Cedar Falls and traded Jeff for his car, which is having problems again. He met us at Mike's. We went to Valley Junction and had a sandwich at The Longest Yard (Eric had suggested it) it was a good choice. Then onto the Valair Ballroom for Gene's show of "Think Floyd". (Pink Floyd has always been one of Gene's favorite groups) it was okay. I wouldn't mind seeing Bob Seger there:)

The girls missed their game last week due to weather, so they made the games up Sunday afternoon. They played at the same time in two different gyms. I tried my best to run back and forth between. Tia's team won, they played hard. Tia didn't make her free throws, but made a layup and had some good steals. Tara made it thru this weekend keeping the ball on the right end of the court. Yeah girls!

Iowa State vs Texas Girls Basketball

2009-02-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

Tia's form looked a little rough at the beginning of the season. These pics definitely show improvement :)

What a nail biter!! We lost by 3 pts. The teams record was the same and they were very well matched. I thought we should have easily won, but what can I say :(

Tia is a Lil Clone and I got an email that invited her to watch the team shoot-around, a meet-and-greet with squad members, an autograph session, a short clinic, pizza for lunch and a brief talk by Coach Bill Fennelly - are scheduled to run from 9:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Tipoff between the Cyclones and Longhorns is at 2:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum. Club members may attend the event free of charge as long as they RSVP in advance and bring their membership card. I had heard about this last year and it didn't work that we could go, so we rsvp'd for this year. Since Tia had her sleepover lastnight, I'm guessing she was going on little sleep. We had invited a friend, but that didn't work out. The 4 of us left home at 8am. We had to have an attitude adjustment right off the bat and after that the girls had a good time. Tara never joined in the clinics, but I bet she does next year. When I picked Tia up from the sleepover the girls told me the Linharts were also going to the game. I tried to wake Hallie up to see if she wanted to go with us...she was out. We could see the Linharts across the gym, it was funny the way Tara was hunting for them.

This day was Breast Cancer awareness day. Everywhere you looked you saw PINK. The girls uniforms looked good :) I did have to laugh at coach Fennelly's white and pink Nike's with his suit.

It looked like it had been a nice day, sun was bright and shiny. It was 29 on the way home, the roads were all good.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T14:27:00.001-08:00

It is a quiet day of house cleaning, well needed house cleaning. My China girls don't believe a house needs to be cleaned. My boys weren't great house cleaners, but were still better than the girls.

Tia has a sleepover with a friend tonight. Tara rode along to drop her off, when we were on the way home she told me English food no good. I love these conversations. I'm sure I only get part of them. I told her she sure eats enough. She said it hurts her teeth. I told her she needs to drink milk to make her teeth strong, she told me milk not good. I personally do not like milk, but try to drink some once in awhile. It may take a while before she will drink it once in awhile. I ask what she wanted for supper and she told me ice cream. We may talk dad into Chinese and then buy some ice cream.

Tia is excited she got to be on TV tonight. She is at the Variety Club telethon and they sat quietly while they talked on air behind them. Our girls needed to smile more, they looked tired.

A Typical Snowy Day in Iowa

2009-02-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

We had just got rid of most of the old snow before the new arrived. And arrived it did. Early in the week we were expected to get 8 - 10", today they had cut it back to 2 - 4". Well I think we got the 8-10. The first hour melted and froze before it started to accummulate.

Oh did I mention it is Friday the 13th :)

The girls had their Valentine parties at school. Tara finally started her cards late Wednesday evening. She knew what she wanted to do and did a nice job. She wanted to know Thursday and I told her she could take candy next year. We would use this year as a learning experience.

Tara also had Laura Ingles Wilder day today. They have been reading about her in school. I shortened Tia's dress and sent it to school with Tara. She was very hesitant about wearing it. Tia had Two so Tara took them both and McKenzie Thomas-Clark wore the other one, which helped coax Tara into hers. Thanks Kenzie! I sent the camera to school in Tara's bookbag and emailed Mrs Benedict and ask her to take pictures. If I can't be there, they are the next best thing. Thanks Mrs B :)

First Sleepover

2009-02-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

Tia had possibly her last exhibition Friday night at Osceola. It wasn't their best performance, but if you don't get to see those awesome jobs you probably wouldn't have noticed. Last year when we did it Osceola was playing my almamater-->sp. This year they were playing a team I didn't know, so we took off after our performance. Sue thanked the girls for their dedication with a pair of socks each. The socks were cute and the girls liked them...thanks Sue! We headed for something to eat, Tia had ate before we left home, so she didn't want much. We ended up at McDonald's (I was thinking fast). Then we have sleepovers, so needed gifts for b-days and went to Walmart. I'm the worlds worst gift giver and the girls couldn't really think of anything to give their friends (this is all new for Tara).

Tara had basketball on Saturday at Panora. I had a brain fart and we left a half hour earlier than we needed to, (this was hurrying Tia around getting ready) but that gave us time to stop at the car wash(so we could see out the back window). The weather has been gorgeous and snow piles everywhere are melting, creating wet streets. We watched the first 4th grade team play and they won. Then Tara's team turned around and played the same team the first team played. The girls were starving, but I talked them into stopping at Ben Franklins first. I was looking for material or a pattern for a baby quilt, didn't really have luck with either. We stopped and had Subway on the way home (Tara got a personal pizza at Subway). She's a hard one to feed eating fast food...french fries are her favorite, she also likes ice cream (but can't usually eat much of a small shake). Gene is always invited to a truckers supper at Hy-Vee, he went to the first one and it has been 15 yrs, he decided to go again. Tara was invited to Gracey's b-day party....now trying to figure out how to be in two places at the same time. Tara asked me to stay home and take her to Gracey's (it was hard not too). I checked with Brook's mom, Kenzie's mom, grandma, Gracey's mom and finally got a hold of Carlyn's mom whew we were out of time and needed to be on the road to the truckers supper. Carlyn was going and Tara could ride with them to the party. I was a little nervous with this being her first outing. Gracey is a champ and showed the girls a good time. Tara was all smiles when I picked her up. She also wanted to know if she could go back to Carlyn's house to play?? I told her she would have to wait until she was invited. The food was excellent at Gene's supper and we even brought Tia home a piece of cake (triple chocolate) she did alot of moaning(it really was good).

Sunday Tia played basketball in Melcher. The first game was with Knoxville and they kept the score very close the first half and Knoxville ran away with the game in the second half. The girls killed time for an hour and played Melcher. I felt bad for Melcher, we won 2-39. We've been in that place way too many times. Tara took a 10 min nap on the way home. I look for her to be in bed around 7. She stayed up late last night.

Six Month Review

2009-02-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

They were conserving energy in this gym, they had the lights dimmed. I don't know what happened to my header picture it just disappeared and I have no clue when I will get it redone. Sorry :(

Okay it has been 7 months now and we finally made time for our 6 month adoption review. I started back in November trying to get it into our schedule. It is a really tough time of year to get this done. I finally ask Bill our Social Worker if he would like to attend one of Tia's basketball games. He was happy because he knew where the school was. We answered the necessary questions and then watched Tia play basketball.

Saturday Tara got up early and took a bath, washed her hair and I had breakfast waiting for her. She ate while I french braided her hair. I had done a dry run on it Friday night and all went well, but Sat morning she complained alot that I was hurting her...oh no, not another tender head. Ugh! Tara played bb in Van Meter at 11 so we needed to be on the road at 9:30. When we walked out the door we wouldn't be home until bedtime. I went a different direction to Van Meter and where the road splits, I wasn't sure whether to take the high road or the low road. I started high and turned around and made the right choice, it's the low road. We watched the end of the first 4th grade team, they lost and I think we turned around and played the same VM team. We also lost. Our girls got a new appreciation for elbows and rough play. Before Gracey left she gave me an invitation for Tara to a sleep over next weekend. Tara had one for Raven's this weekend, but Tara wasn't ready yet. We stopped at Casey's and grabbed chicken strips to eat on the way to Adel where Tia played an 11am game vs MAC (??) and lost and would play a second game at 3pm. When we got there the girls were at Godfathers eating pizza. The Ankeny Stars were the girls second game, wow this was a fast paced game. We lost again, but the girls I think are learning alot about the game. We then headed to Murts, making a pit stop at Menards for a new hall light. The girls don't like going to bed without a hall light. I fed the girls at BK before meeting Murt & Kristi to head to A Dong's for supper. Denise drove (thankyou Neyce) We parked at Hoyt Sherman's and walked to the restaruant. We had a beautiful day of 50's, yeah!! We had melting and then black ice.(not tough for driving, but walking) Denise had gotten us tickets to see Menopause the Musical. There was a group of 12 of us and we all have experienced a few of the symtoms, we were a little surprised to see men there. Jeff called and said he was having car problems again. We will have to keep in touch with him. Curt called and wanted the recipe for stew, I said a little of this and a little of that. It was a late night and we really should have been home earlier.

Sunday we needed to be back on the road at 7:30 for Adel. The girls rolled out surprisingly easy. They ate oranges for breakfast. Again we just grabbed jackets, it made it to high 30's today. Tia's team played Roosevelt first, it was a good game. I was hoping it would end at 18-17, but they made 2 more baskets. After the game Gene pointed out a girl standing in the next section(isn't that a Block girl). I replied not any more she is married. She was there cheering on her husbands daughter that played against Tia. Now we have until 12:30. Tia went with Callie J and Sam P to Subway. Tara, Kaylyn, Bailey and Sarah played UNO and ate Doritos while waiting on Godfather's pizza to be delivered. Gene left his car in Altoona Sat night, so Mike brought it to Tia's game. They got to watch Tia in action. Bag practice was scheduled the same time as Tia's second game. We can't do everything :(

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

It was a crazy day. The girls have basketball practice starting at 6. I don't have time to cook supper, since it is CNY I stopped to get Chinese take out. Grama & Grapa always have cake and ice cream with us for b-days. Gene called and said his folks would come down tonight to help celebrate Tia's b-day. I told him to start without me. I knew there was no way I would be home in time. I had a quick bowl of ice cream before turning around and heading into the school. The girls were excited to see the Chinese take out. Tara tells me she never had egg rolls before.

Once again it wasn't the first American Chinese New Year I had planned for Tara, but everyone was happy and that is what counts :)

Tia Turns 12

2009-01-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Baby! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. You never get the peaceful day or weekend as far as that goes. It was a whirl wind week and even more so for the weekend. I always think I will buy extra at Christmas and save for your b-day, it never happens. I went shopping for your gift and couldn't find anything that was right for you. I thought about giving you those earrings from China, but I would love to hold out a little longer...maybe your 13th.

Our Saturday started with getting the hair done. Those darn short bangs, I put more little rubberbands in to hold them and used more gel than ever. I made stew for lunch which was really brunch. We needed to be on the road at 11. Gene didn't want to stay in Lamoni for the swim & pizza, so we drove separate. We stopped by Walmart in Osceola and grabbed skittles & starburst for Tia to pass out for a treat. It is hard to believe all the girls that have issues with their legs. Makenzie came with a bum ankle and wasn't able to participate, she sat with a bag of ice. The first pass during the girls game went okay. The girls bb team started out way behind with the score and ended up loosing by a few. They had a great second half! Our kids did a great half time of the boys game (the first one was practice). The kids were able to head to the pool after a few photo opts. We missed the end to the boys game. It started alot like the girls game...we got an update that it was in overtime and they ended up losing by 2. We had swim suits of which Tara thought we were nuts. The pools shallow end was 4ft which is what Tara is, so she had to hang onto the side. Kate saved her(from boredom) by walking around in the pool with her, thanks Kate! Pool time goes fast and we move onto pizza. The kids love the day! We stopped in Osceola and grabbed Pizza Hut for Gene, a movie and potatoes (not sure why, we aren't home long enough to cook). Time for bed to start over again.

Sunday started with a present waiting. Tia wanted to know when she got to open it. I gave her the choice since the day was going to be so busy and she chose immediately. We hit the road at 7:30 for Indianola to play basketball against Waukee. We swung thru BK for breakfast, a b-day treat. Gene stayed home with Tara, cause we weren't sure how many games Tia would be playing. Didn't end up being many, they lost the first one for Sunday and Tia's team lost 2 games on Saturday. We headed for home...I scooped the sidewalk of the several new fluffy inches of white stuff. Made Tia's triple choc b-day cake and headed to Truro for Tara's bb game vs. MstM. There was only one game, which was team 1 (Tara is team 2, but 5 girls didn't show, so Tara played a little bit). It was more obvious she doesn't understand what she is needing to do. It will just take time and practice. It was 4:30 before we got home and Gene was getting ready for work. Tia blew out candles as he was walking out the door.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-01-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday was basketball with Tia in the high school gym. The middle school gym had open gym, so Tara went down there and played. Worked more on taxes.

Monday was basketball with Tara and Tia. While Tara was practicing, Tia was getting into trouble. She and a friend were playing ball in the library, not sure what the library was doing open, but she was wrong.

Tuesday was basketball with Tia in the high school gym. It was also sign up for softball, so got the girls signed up.

Wednesday was tumbling for Tara and Tia, it wasn't quite as cold this week. Yeah!

Thursday was tumbling for Tia...Tara does such a good job watching. She gets a little restless sometimes, but is never unbearable. I tried to go b-day shopping for Tia. Not sure what to get?? I can't believe she turns 12 on Sunday. Dropped off supper for the Young family. I was hoping my girls would help me cook, but we haven't been home long enough.

Friday...what no activities, I can't believe it :) Oh I forgot the house needs lots of TLC...

Saturday is tumbling exhibition in Lamoni at Graceland college, pool party and pizza. Usually a fun day!

Sunday Again...is a basketball tournament in Indianola for Tia and Truro with Martensdale for Tara. Can we do them both?? When's Ice Cream and Cake??

Report Cards

2009-01-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

Tara brought home her report card for second quarter. They can't truly grade her by state law, but they did a good job at letting us know how she is doing.

We had to wait on Tia's report card. Hers came in the mail Tuesday.

We are really fortunate they are good kids and doing really well.

A Long Week in The Deep Freeze

2009-01-18T11:05:00.000-08:00

It has been 12 yrs since it has been this cold in Iowa. The kids had an early out this week on Tuesday due to a scare of blowing snow. Well we didn't get the blowing snow, but temperatures dipped into the negative numbers. On Thursday we had a low of -18 with -30 windchill. The schools started cancelling classes as early as 3pm on Wednesday for Thursday. I hesitated on going into work on time, thought about being late. But there is a tumbling exhibition on Friday night and the kids have had little prep time, so there will be practice Wed and 3 hrs Thurs. I kept warm by doing some much needed dusting under the bleachers.

All in Ones Interpretation

2009-01-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

It was a sleepover weekend. Tia had a friend Friday night, they got out of school early for end of qtr. Each of the girls called to check in and it sounded like they were having a good time.

Tara had her first basketball game. She didn't get to play much, but it looks like she has a good idea of what she needs to do. We had to be in Earlham at 9:30, Tara played at 10 and Tia not until 1. I like watching the games, but the bleachers get mighty hard after a few hours. Tara's team lost 12-7. I wish I could say Tia's was that close. Earlham had a couple of girls that couldn't miss. They would trip flop the ball in the air and it was 2 pts. I'm being sarcastic...kind of. Her score was more like 30-10.

We brought Brooklyn home with us to stay alnight with Tara, Tia went home with Hailey. It was fun to watch Tara introduce Brook to her home. She showed her the washroom how cute is that. They played outside in fresh snow, played Blokus and Sorry. I had Brook show Tara how their family plays Sorry, it was quite a bit different than we play. Here's where ones interpretation comes in.

After dropping off Brooklyn, Tara wanted to know when Tia was coming home. I quizzed to see if she wanted us to go get her and she replied with she didn't need an American sister--she wanted a Chinese sister...Ouch! I ask her to please be patient with Tia, she really can be a good big sister, she just needs more time. Tara keep telling me she was tired, but she didn't get up till 10. You'd think 11 hours sleep would be enough, well I guess not because after lunch she took a two hour nap. We did have a couple of late nights last week with tumbling and basketball.

Tia is at basketball practice now and needs to be at tumbling in a half hour. This schedule is way too tight for comfort. Both have the same season (same short season) :)
Tia got one hour of basketball and it looked like good stuff to learn. She was late getting to tumbling and the other girls were hitting right on. I sometimes wonder if we aren't being fair to the two events. BUT they both give pleasure. The bag routine is coming along great, Tia is hot pink this year. They are going to try an exhibition on Friday at the high school basketball game.

Tia wasn't very endearing when we were traveling between events. She was not happy that Tara and Brook played her Sorry game. Ugly was a good word. She was only making what Tara said...very real. :(

Games

2009-01-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

My New Years resolution was to play more games with the girls. I'm off to a good start. I gave the girls the game Blokus and Tia got Sorry from Uncle Greg and Aunt Teri. We have played each every day. Tia tells me often I'm terrible at games, that must be why I don't play her much. I do win sometimes, I just seem to take a long time to get there. Tara usually initiates the game and Tia joins in when she sees us playing. We were all playing Sorry Saturday night, even Gene, Tia got upset when she got send back to home and stormed off. Gene kept her pegs playing and she ended up not loosing.

We put the tree away today, vacumed the carpet and Tara wanted her tent put up. It wasn't quite what I thought I had bought, but Tara liked it. Each of my kids had a tent in the house and this was Tara's. It was suppose to be put over her bed, but since she has a bunk bed. Not really feasible. She was going to sleep in it right up until it was bedtime, she ended up in bed with me...not sure how that happened.

It has been a bonding holiday...She has let me hold her (carry from her bed to the living room), she has sat on my lap and snuggled with me in bed. Still no hugs, but it can't be too far away :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well New Years Eve wasn't what I had wanted for Tara's first. I went to work and told the girls I would be home early. I hadn't expected to be home as early as I was. Tia came home from school a week ago with the flu and guess what I waited a week to get. I spent the day in bed and the tummy is still rumbling. I got up long enough last night to turn the TV onto Dick Clarks Rocking New Year's Eve. Tia enjoyed it, it had all her favorite artists. Tara had went to bed at 7:30, but got up at 9 and watched TV with Tia. (just a little more bonding time). Tia called me yesterday before I got home and wanted me to know Tara was doing laundry. Yikes. I didn't feel well enough to care. She washed my new navy work pants with white towels. Yeah just a little lint all over them. I should give her the lint brush. She likes to wash, but as typical, not crazy over the folding part. I got that done this morning after trying to do some wrinkle release again in the dryer. I think she needs a few more lessons.

We got a phone call this morning from Deb in New York. She is the mom to one of Tara's foster sisters. I had emailed her asking how to call China. It seems they call about every Friday evening. We won't do it that often, but Tara would like to talk to her foster Mother. I tried to give the phone to Tara to talk to Alyssa and she wouldn't take it.

I thought today would be a good day and the 24 hour flu would be gone...wrong. It was in full force again. I'm laying in the recliner miserable and Tara wants to go shopping. She really is just bored and would be very happy to go back to school. Gene took the girls to town for lunch they had Chinese without me. Not that I could even try :( The girls are both very happy now and that makes me happy!

At 8:30 I was ready for bed when I heard the phone...I then heard Tara open the cell...close the cell...open the cell...close the cell. Okay I'll get up. It was Sue the tumbling coach, Tia's weekend schedule will need to be changed do to a tradegy in the community. This also effects Tara, her basketball coach had an accident over the holidays that took his life. So much to try to understand, hard for everyone, let alone someone new to our life. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jeff Young family.

Wow Chistmas Day!

2008-12-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Before we went to bed we all agreed on 6:30 for a wake up call. (haha) Tia woke up at 4:30 to go to the bathroom and checked out her stocking. Well then she was so excited she couldn't go back to sleep. She then had a bowl of cereal and killed time. I think she was able to contain herself until 5:30, I'm still in bed, but aware that she is not sleeping. I finally told her she could see if the others could wake up. It didn't take asking Tara twice (my little late riser). I put the battery on the camcorder and we started passing out presents. It took awhile, we watched each other as a present was opened. We needed a new answering machine and cordless home phone. I hooked them up after the kids went to bed. I did mention wake up call, Tia had to try them out. Tara called Grama Snyder a couple of times early in the AM. We asked Grama & Grapa down for dinner. After dinner the girls put their clothes on and played outside. We have melting snow and ice, so it was slick.

It's Finally Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

She's not sure what Christmas is, but it is getting closer. I got off work early and actually brought presents home with me to put under the tree. When I was carrying them in (Tara's favorite words) too many! We hadn't got the Christmas socks out yet, so I found those. Tia had a sign on hers, so it was easily spotted. I had picked up a few new ones just incase the boys brought home girls (didn't happen), so Tara got to pick out the one she wanted. Was kind of funny that it was like Tia's. Tara tried it on to see if it fit. She didn't quite understand what the stocking was for. I also had picked up new outfits for Christmas Eve service. Tara loved hers, Tia's was too small and she said "Mom you know I don't like sweaters". Well I do now. They weren't quite the cute outfits I had planned, they must not make them anymore. You have to search hi and low to find something that doesn't have Hannah Montana on it. (I'm being sarcastic here) Gene ran the girls in early for the service so they could practice there lines, they were a little nervous. All went well, Tia helped Tara read her script, she was a great big sister (another heart melting moment)
Jeff was home when we got home and let Tara open a present early. It was a basketball hoop to hang over the door and they had alot of fun with it.
It was 10 when the girls were off to bed, Tara was so excited.