Blake finishes fall basketball

Blake finished his fall session of basketball this weekend.  He showed lots of improvement and because Marty and I don't like to have our weekends empty we signed him up for another session.  So starting in January our weekends are filled with sports again...as Brett and Blake will both be playing.

Blake bringing the ball down the court.

He shoots...and I can't remember if this one went in or not.  I'm sure if you asked him he'd say YES!

Concentration..

Going after the ball...no matter what.

Final game means another medal received to hang on the medal board.

Blake had a great coach this session and we hope we get just as lucky with the next session.

Just a few gifts ordered, done and sent.

Wordless post.

Blake's basketball and last KSU FB.

Blake and I started Saturday off with his basketball game. (Marty and Brett had gone home on Thursday to deer hunt...that ended with Brett shooting "at" a doe but never finding it. Brett claims he got it and it ran off to die...Marty thinks he missed..none the less Brett's ready to go again.).  Blake had a good game...even though the score was a little lopsided and not in our favor.

He shoots...he scores!!

Bringing the ball down the court.  He's getting much better at driving to the basketball and once he stops dribbling he either passes or shoots.

Throwing the ball in...

After his game we headed to the lakehouse where we met Marty and Brett before going to the KSU football game.  While at the lake I took some pics of just how low the water is due to two really hot and dry summers. It will be interesting to see if it will recover before next spring/summer.  Needless to say we need lots of snow/rain.  

This is a shot of our stationary dock...normally this ladder is under water upto the 3rd or 4th rung from the bottom.  The last step is out of water by 1- 1 1/2 feet.

Here is our floating dock...the float at the bottom of the walk-way is mostly out of water and its a fairly steep walk down the ramp.

This is the ramp that goes into the boathouse and you can see what is normally under water...the grey part.

About the only upside to the water being this low is anyone that wanted to do some lake front or dock work this is the time to do it, but that's about the only upside.  Hoping for a wet winter and spring to recoup some of the loss of water.

To close out our weekend we finally got to attend our 2nd KSU football game of the year.  Lucky for us the weather was pretty awesome for December 1st.  This was a big game...last home game, Senior Day (always a bitter sweet day), and this game was the deciding factor as to who would be Big 12 champs.  Lucky for us the Cats brought home the Big 12 Champ trophy and are going bowling in AZ!!

Coach accepting the Big 12 Trophy, thanking the fans for their love and support and hoping to see us all in AZ!!  We have decided not to follow the Cats to AZ again....Marty has been twice, I once and we went to Dallas last year.  I have pledged not to attend another bowl game as the 4 I have attended we have lost them all and I just can't bring myself to go as the jinx anymore.  We will however be cheering loud from home.  Go Cats!!

Blake's bday and the 1st Annual Turkey Bowl

Better late than never...We celebrated Blake's bday on the 21st as the 22nd was Thanksgiving and we were headed to Grandma Donna's the next day for dinner.  So after basketball practice we stopped and got a dairy queen cake and came home to open presants.  It was 6 yrs on the 22nd when we didn't even get to go home for Thanksgiving as we were bringing Blake home from the hospital that day.  A very memorable day for us and our extended family as we surprised them all with a phone call saying we were parents to a new baby boy.

Blake got a new purple baseball bag, a glow in the dark basketball and a superhero lego set.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Marty's family on Black Friday.  Uncle/BIL Trent planned the first Turkey Bowl.  It was quite fun and I think we ended up in a tie...thankfully the weather was nice and all were willing to play.  I have a feeling that if next year is cold there will be less players...I being one probably.  

Trent even made a MVP turkey trophy and Blake was awarded it with his numerous "quarterback sacs" and always being "open" for the throw.

Can't wait for next years Turkey Bowl.

Boys Birthday Bash

Last Saturday was the big birthday bash for the boys at my mom and dad's. We've held their family birthday party there since Brett was a baby (with the exception of his 3rd which we held at our house in Wichita and I think we held one at the lakehouse). Anywho...my dad has a nice shed that holds all of us. This years theme was KSU and Green Bay, the boys favorite teams.

The birthday boys, Brett, 10 on Nov. 4 and Blake, 6 on Nov. 22.  I learned I could cut sugar sheets on my cricut so that's how I made the cakes this year.

The boys and all their cousins, less oldest, Erica.

And we always include Uncle Trent as his birthday is November 12th.

The boys and their gifts.

Blake takes home a pretty good loot.  One of Blake's fav gifts is the camo stocking hat from Aunt Kay and Uncle Trent.  He's worn it to school everyday this week even though the temps have been 68'.  Silly kid.

Brett and his loot.  Brett loved loved the came hoodie he got from Aunt Kay and Uncle Trent...can't hardly get him to take it off.

The boys had a great time.  Grandma Donna had fun games planned as always.  The only downer of the whole evening was the KSU vs. Baylor game.  I'm not even going to get into it as we all have moved on and are looking forward to the last home game against Texas that we will get to go to.  Thanks to all our family who attended the party and showered the boys with gifts.  They say THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Cyclone Banquet and a little basketball

Friday night we hosted Brett's football team, Andover Cyclones, end of the season football banquet. This was the first (of many I'm guessing) parties since moving into the new house in August. Was I little nervous about having 24 9 year old boys and their siblings in my house and all their parents....I'll be honest a little bit. But it went very well....the boys are good kids and the parents were great help. I had all the kids eat in the garage, thank heavens for nice weather and they could all run around outside too.

We started off the evening with presenting the coaches signed footballs by the team in display cases and the assistant coach got a framed team pic that the kids also signed.

Coach Kemp and Coach Kabler thanking the parents and kids for a fun and undefeated season!!

The parents.

The gifts to all the players this year was a 24x36  poster of themselves, because what 9 year old doesn't want a poster of themselves on their wall.  It was interesting to see all the poses the boys had, some where really good and some not so much.

SHOES!!!

This morning we started off with Blake's baseketball game....it's only his second game but it's all coming back to him and he did much better this game about knowing where to be and what to do.

Tough defence.

Going after a loose ball.

One of the last plays of the game, Blake brought the ball down the court stopped here, shot and made it!!  Not only was he surprised but so were mom and dad.  (I only wish I was better with the camera and could've gotten the whole scene.)

Well it's 4th quarter of the KSU game so I better cheer them on hopefully to another victory.  Go Cats!!

My room and the fun things that are created there.

So with the move and finally getting everything unpacked and organized, plus all the weddings are over with, I have finally got my new room organized and cleaned up enough to take a picture of it.  But first just a couple more things that are created from there.

Roommate Jill always keeps me in business with her gift requests.  This one went to a new little girl who arrived in September.

A wedding gift.

These were an emergency creation (and a pretty good job if I do say so myself).  My SIL Jenn, thought she was going to need these to give to her nephews as their gifts for helping in the wedding but turns out the original gifts showed up last minute.  However these boys will be getting these for Christmas.

This little coupe went to a March of Dimes auction to help my friend Melanie who was helping with the auction.  It raised about $100 that night.

I even made a tile for myself.

And now my room... my safe haven... my heaven on earth.... my place of sanity.

Places for supplies, supplies and more supplies.

My favorite spot in the room....the white door (goes to the storage room) is from my Great Grandmother's house (which has now been torn down) and the wooden shelf with black knobs is also from her house...it was part of the interior doors frame.

The paint definately shows its age but that's all part of its charm...it also has the crystal door knob and the original key that still works.

I obviously added the words on the shelf to fit the room and added the knobs.  (FYI..the frame on top says: "Every girl needs a pair for flip flops, a little fancy and a few good friends.)....fits me perfectly just as my room does.