Greg's swimming

Allen bought us a new camera the other day. He has been wanting one that will take rapid shots so that he can take pictures at Nathan's soccer games and such. Well, he had to try it out, so he took it to Greg's swim meet on Monday night. Here are just a couple of pictures from the meet.

Not sure how good this is for them, but Greg and his friends were chowing down on french fries right before the meet! That's Greg on the left, don't ya just love what the chlorine has done to his hair?! It's like straw!

Greg (on the board) getting ready for his turn in the 200 freestyle relay

Greg, on the board, getting ready to dive into the water

Allen took a lot more pictures, but I didn't want to bore you all with them. A lot of them look the same and then there were a lot of him in the water swimming and you really can't tell that it's him.

Ok, this blog is dedicated to my mother....

I know she has been checking now for some time and I have been slow to post anything new. She's even talking of getting on fb so that she knows what is happening in my life!!! Sorry mom! But I think it would be neat if you did go ahead and get on fb too!

Anyway, here is what's been going on around here. I think the last time that I was on here was back close to New Year's so it has been a while. I have been busy with teaching (which is getting easier) and keeping up around the house. The real excitement happened last week.

Last Thursday I had just dropped Nathan and Sarah off at school and was on my way to work when I saw a car stopped in the oncoming lane ahead of me. I slowed down to see what was going on and noticed that a lady was getting out of the car. It was then that I noticed a body in the road. I immediately stopped the van and got out to help. It was hard to tell how bad the person was hurt, it was still fairly dark out. She was awake so we kept talking to her and telling her that help was on the way. We could tell that it was a student but I did not recognize her and it was hard to tell just how old she was. I stayed with her and the driver until a police officer got to the scene. He then asked that I take the driver back to her car. I then stayed with the driver ( who was very upset) until the ambulance arrived. I then went on to work. I found out later that the girl is in Greg's class and that she ended up with two broken legs. She was very lucky. You could see where she had hit the front of the car and also the windshield. I felt so sorry for the driver too. I really think she was on the verge of going into shock. I was fine until I got to school and then I had a little nervous breakdown. The nurse said that it was normal, but I still felt rather silly since I had been so calm at the scene. Especially when she came in to take my blood pressure and pulse! My heart rate was 120, don't remember my blood pressure. Anyway, that was a long day and by evening I was exhausted!

Friday was much better and Allen took me out for a nice, relaxing dinner down in Culver.

Allen has been looking for a new van. Keeps going back and forth on whether he wants to buy one or not. Ours is a 1999 with 110,000 miles on it, but it's paid for and still runs decent. Anyway, he found one yesterday that he really liked and ended up buying it. It is just like the one we have only newer (2004) with a lot less miles (29,000), and blue. I like it, he likes it, and the kids seem to like it! Here is a picture of it. It's not the best picture in the world, but at least you will know who it is pulling up into your drive mom!

Sarah made some chocolate chip cookies this past Sunday. It's so nice now that she can just go into the kitchen and do it all by herself with no help from me! Bet Dad wishes he had been here! Tell him Sarah will make him some the next time you two come over. By the time she was done baking them, we only had 8 left! I guess she will have to start baking two batches at a time if we want any left over for the next day!

Brrrr, was it cold!

We ended up having no school on Thursday and Friday this past week because of the cold. Allen decided to cover the rabbit's cages outside with blankets to try and keep them warm. We didn't have any hay. In the past, when we have put hay in their cages, they would just push it all out anyway. When we woke up Friday morning, the temperature was a -19 degrees!

Looking out the kitchen window at the rabbit's cages all covered up.

We actually had ice on the INSIDE of the window!

A close up picture of the ice.

I decided to bake some bread to help warm up the kitchen. I kinda liked having these extra days off!

Here are a couple of videos of Hammie. She has gotten quite "chubby" this winter. Wonder why? =)

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

We all got together at our house for New Year's Eve. Played games and ate a lot of food, what could be better? I tried finding the ball dropping on the Internet, but by the time I found it, it was done. I did manage to find a video clip from when it dropped in 2006! Ha! It looks about the same each year anyway...Here is Sarah watching all the action in Time's Square after the ball dropped.

My mother, looking a little tired.

My father, looking like he could stay up another hour or two!

Allen and I

I loved this picture of Katy, Barb and Sarah but it turned out blurry. I turned it into a cartoon image and it looks a little better.

Greg in a serious discussion with his dad about the football playoffs.

Sarah and Coal

The Hampton's

(Katy, Barb, and Steve)

Sarah fitting in quite well with the Hampton's!

Nate looking a little tired along with Coal!

Steve looking pretty relaxed

Mother and Daughter

You can tell by the expression on Steve's face what he thinks about dogs being in the house!!! We love him anyway!!!

Katy and Coal


This was a hoot! By 12:01am Bill had his hat and coat on and was ready to go home!!!


New Year's Day...everyone met back here at our house for dinner. The blue plastic plates were a little tacky maybe, but the food was wonderful. Bev brought over prime rib!!!

Nice day again with family!

Our time with Taylor

Everyone enjoyed having Taylor around this week! Hope he enjoyed his time with us!!!

Greg and Taylor

Greg and Taylor

Taylor feeding Hammie. He was a little confused with our way of "hunting" animals! Ha

Greg, Taylor and Nate playing guitar hero.