45 Years

Happy, happy, happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! Wish you were here so we could celebrate with you, but understand that a CRUISE is just a little more exciting! We can't wait to see and hear about all your adventures at sea!

Trivia Night

Tonight was the Spartan Trivia Night fundraiser. Everyone had a great time AND we raised a lot of money for the team, but my friend Peggy and I are DONE fundraising for the year!

Head Coach and his wife:



My friends Sarah and Tom:

Coach Rocky and his wife. (He has been a huge help to Luke! We just love this guy!)

Coach Johnson - heavyweight coach:

More coaches:

By the end of the evening, things got just a little crazy!

Thanks to everyone that came out to play and for all the support! Here's hoping for an awesome 2009-2010 wrestling season!

Let the Games Begin!

Taylor's team was in a pre-season tournament this weekend. They went 2-1. Not too shabby for their first weekend out on the court together!

This picture cracks me up - the look she's giving the ref is one I get on a daily basis!



The last game they played another FH team - the uniforms were so similar it got a little confusing.



My child, hanging on every word the coach says... (HA!)



She's officially the tallest girl on the team.

Halloween

Some Halloween pictures to share:

Morgan as the cutest witch ever, and Logan was a rock star.

Mom & Dad as Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire (with a little help from Cinderella and a Rock Star!)

Luke sat very still until (older) children came to get candy and then scared them. (Grandpa was sitting close by to be sure no small children were scarred for life!)

The birthday girl as a picture from a photo booth.

Alexis was Snow White.

Austin was a scary guy, but we didn't get a picture of him because he took off his mask for Morgan's sake.

Meredith and Katie dressed up as Cindy and Andy. Silly girls!

And all the sisters. Andy was an 80's chick, and me, well.... (I found the red pants at Goodwill for $3, and my friend Megan picked up the blond wig and crazy eyelashes at Walmart for me. The rest was history!)

Our Girl is 14!

Happy 14th Birthday Tadey Bug!





We started celebrating last night with a trip to Mr. Bill's Thrills ~ a haunted "farm". Katie, Andy, Alexis, Austin, Taylor and I stood in line for over two hours waiting to go through. Along with frostbite we were treated to many wondrous smells during our wait. They line was formed between two Johnny on the Spot's and a dog kennel. Seriously?

This morning, the birthday girl's day started with a trip to the sporting goods store with her dad for her big surprise... a new basketball hoop! (And somehow the hoop they went after turned into a hoop, a basketball and a North Face coat.)



Uncle Chad and Dale spent most of the day getting the new pole installed for her, then it was off to celebrate with the rest of the family.

Katie and Alexis put together a collage to honor the birthday girl.



"The Aunts" and Grandma got her the make-up she's been wanting, and she got lots o' money from Grandma & Grandpa and several of her Aunts & Uncles.



To top the celebration off, we sent her a text message that said "You now have unlimited texting. Happy Birthday! Mom & Dad." That did it - the tears (of joy) started flowing!



"This is the best birthday EVER"! ~ Taylor Knoche

Clash in the County

Luke wrestled in another pre-season tournament today. Things looked a little bit different this time around.

We saw a lot more of this.

And this.

And there was even time for some father-son bonding.

He finished the day 3:1 - much better than last weekend! Wrestling practice officially starts for FHC on November 2.

Are You Kidding Me...?!

So last night around midnight Taylor comes into our room to tell us the carpet is wet...again. Only this time it's wet at the bottom of the steps. And down the hall. And in Luke's room. And in Taylor's room. And the unfinished portion of the basement has standing water. Are you kidding me? We've lived in this house since 1996 and this has never happened! Why, why, why did the dam find it necessary to break AFTER we put in new carpet? Dale was down in the basement, sweeping water towards the drain at 1 am and I felt terrible for him. And I knew what was running through his mind. He worked so darn hard all summer to pay for the carpet, pad and installation. For what? Stupid record breaking rains!

We got up this morning and moved all the furniture out of the kid's rooms, tore up the wet pad, and pulled back the carpet. Luckily Dale knows someone that used to do water extraction so we were able to borrow two of his industrial fans and have had those running most of the day.

A neighbor of ours who has some expertise in these problems just came down, and he and Dale are in the process of surveying the basement and the perimeter of the house. I'm hoping he can give us some solid advice on what to do next. Dale would like to pay this man and the digger man that was here a few weeks ago to help him resolve the issue. It has to be more reasonable than hiring an outside company. (And faster - he called a couple of places today and they can't come out for several weeks!)

Gotta run - our computer has a virus and that falls under my "other duties as assigned"!

Stupid rain. Stupid virus.