Where Did The Week Go?

That is often the question I ask myself on any given Saturday. This week has just seemed to slip out from under us. I guess it doesn't help when you spend 2 and a half hours waiting at the doctor's office for them to see you for 12 minutes. We had to go down to the Texas' Women's Hospital to have a Level 2 ultrasound. At the first one, the tech couldn't see everything she needed. So our appointment was at 2:15. Chad left school at 1pm, because it was down by Reliant Stadium. It took us about 55 minutes to get there. We filled out all our paper work and sat down. We sat for about an hour and 15 minutes, when they called us back, not to see the doctor, but to another waiting room where we sat for another hour and a half. The doctor finally saw us. I am hoping that she was just tired from all the patients, because her bedside manners were horrible. She wasn't very nice and then she asked me snottily, "how old are you?". I thinkher, like many people are shocked when I say 25. She then asked me why I was there, and I simply told her that I was told by my other doctor that I should go. Well after the 12 minutes, everything was fine and the baby is healthy and is growing at the rate is should. She was also very shocked when she asked if we knew what we were having and when saying no, we told her we didn't want to know. I chalk it up to the fact that most people now want to know. So we left the hospital at 5:10 in the midst of Houston traffic and I had to be at a scrimmage at 6:15. I did't make it on time, I got there about 6:45. That was how our Thursday was spent.

The rest of the week just sort of slipped by with basketball, Chad being out on the baseball field each day trying to get it ready for practice on Monday, two soccer games on Tuesday, and Chad trying to get his grades done for progress reports. This weekend is a quiet one, I think we might actually attempt to go to a movie tonight. We will see how much work Chad gets done this afternoon. Next week is a short week for me, only having to work Monday and Wednesday, a game on Tuesday, and then leaving Wednesday for Wisconsin. Chad's baseball practice starts on Monday. The nice thing with baseball is that you don't have to share your field, so he always has practice right after school. Until basketball is over, there might be a few conflicts with our schedule, but after basketball is over, it will just be him having practice after school. We have just 4 games left. Two home and two away. The same two teams, twice more. It has been a long season, but a good one overall.

Well I should go see how much more work Chad has to do and maybe find a movie that we want to see.

A Day Off Or Is It??

Well, we actually have teh day off from having to go to work, but I think both Chad and I have been doing more than in any work day. Chad had to be up early this morning to do some work on the field to get it ready for the dirt that was being spread this afternoon. So he was up and out of the house at about 7am, got back at noon, and has to go back for the spring sports meeting this evening. I on the other hand, have not been out of the house, but have been trying to clean it from top to bottom and I mean really clean. I have been so occupied with basketball, that it is lucky that the laundry gets done each week.

Speaking of basketball; it has been going. We have until Feb. 8th and this week we have no games. Tuesday is an off night because the team that we are playing does not have a JV team and the team we were suppose to play on Friday cancelled the game. We did play on Friday, but I wouldn't call it an official game. We lost by 9, but we had no official refs. Of course the two guys from school who could ref (Chad and Phil) were gone in Waco for their baseball coaches' clinic. So we had a dad from north and Kim (a teacher from school) ref. As basketball is starting to wind down, Chad is just starting the baseball season. Practice starts next Monday and I think their first game is on Feb. 11th. It seems odd that the season is starting in January, but with the weather we have here, it makes sense.

We have been keeping busy with all the activities going on and we know that they just get more as the weather gets even nicer and as the school year keeps going. We are looking forward to our visitors coming in the spring and then more in the summer. I am looking forward to my trip home next week and the chance to relax and spend some time at home, in the cold.

and now he has lost them all with cousin Alex 

Ben's losing his clothes 

Ben still going strong on Christmas night 

Kate and her new sweater 

Ben and grandpa 

Another shopping adventure with mom and aunt erin 

Kate after all the presents were done 

It Has Been Awhile

Well, things here have been buzzing by us and so one thing that gets left behind is my blog. This past week seemed to go on forever and now it may actually start to slow down. We have been through new year's, which was a night of card playing and hanging out. I think I made it to about 12:15, before I went to sleep. New Year's Day was a day of football and trying to make sure that everything was in order for the next week. Chad had an in-service on Monday morning. I had the whole day off, besides basketball practice. We played one game this week and I think it may have been the most pitiful game I have ever watched. We just were not all there. Meaning our heads and we were missing a few girls. Work came and went on Wednesday with no real big problems. More basketball and work for the week. We ended the week with three games last night at school. I didn't play, but the JV boys, Varisty girls, and Varisty boys all played last night. Chad was lucky enough to not only be on supervision duty, but when no refs showed up for the JV boys game, him and another teacher reffed the game. He was a little winded after the game. This morning I went to a scrapbooking party, where I bought a few things and got some good ideas. I have now finished taking the Christmas decorations down and Chad is out playing a round of golf. It is back to 75 today after a couple of days of 50's. He is taking advantage of the nice weather. It looks like this week brings on a couple of basketball games, and Chad going to a baseball conference in Waco. We also get to have an ultrasound this week, so that is exciting. January will go by quick, and with no week being a full week of work for me, I can ease back into the swing of things. I am looking forward to my short trip home at the end of the month. As many of us have gotten back into the work routine, I hope that everyone is surviving.

Back To Warm Weather

After surviving the cold for the last 9 days, we were able to return to the warm weather of Texas. It seems that it was cold here while we were gone, but not now. Today it is just about 65 and the rest of the week looks like mid-70's. And so Chad and I have asked ourselves many times, why didn't we have Christmas here. Actually it is nice to go home and have the cold, because then the 40's and 50's here seem like a heat wave. Christmas was great, it was so good to be able to see everyone, well everyone we could. We have a feeling that next Christmas will be a little bit more hectic, but we have a whole year for that. It was a week of somewhat relaxing, or just trying to get ready for Christmas. We were lucky enough to get home for Kate's first birthday and I think she might be one of the only kids I know, who didn't basically dive into her cake. She wanted someone else to feed it to her. The rest of the week was spent visiting with family and a few friends who are still in the area.

It is nice to be home and have some time to relax. Tonight starts the Gulf Coast Tournament for basketball, both the boys and the girls, so we will be heading there for the next three evenings. We got a chance to see Pete yesterday after picking him up at the airport we went to eat dinner. It looks like it will be a quiet evening of football and cards on New Year's with Pete and who ever else is around. None of us even want to attempt to go out somewhere that night. And why would we when we can watch football for three days straight?

I am looking forward to January coming, Chad will be attending a baseball conference in Waco for three days, it is the last full month of basketball (we end on Feb. 4th), and I will be making another trip home by myself at the end of the month and will be able to catch a couple games of CIT while I am there.

I hope that all your Christmas' were great. We were thinking of still writing a Christmas letter, but I think that we are going to make ours always be an Easter letter. Have a happy new year.

Just Three Days

Just three more days and we will be home for Christmas. It seems like it has gone by so quick. This week is the week of getting everything ready. That started today with doing the laundry. I know that Chad won't be packing until Friday night, but at least then everything will be clean for him to pack. I just have to get through work tomorrow and the rest of the week will be a breeze. I had work and practice yesterday. I was nice and gave the girls today and tomorrow off. It is finals week and I have some pretty intense kids when it comes to school. So I figured we don't play until Friday, so give them some time to study and really finish everything before break. It was also nice to have a Tuesday off for real, I usually have to go to Concordia for Athletic Period, but with finals, I had a true day off. Chad was even able to come home at about 1pm. We went and did some Christmas shopping and he has just two more presents to buy. I am very impressed that he is almost done. I am waiting to finish mine until I get home, because I don't trust the airline that it will all come back in one piece. It is getting to feel a little like Christmas, but I am sure not as much as at home. It is in the lower 50's, so everyone is out in their hats, coats, and gloves, while we just walk around with a sweater on. We saw that in St. Paul on Monday it was the big 18 degrees. It was kind of nice to know that it won't be that cold. It is suppose to frost tonight, so everyone is outside covering their plants and pipes. The news makes a big deal out of having a frost, so it is kind of funny to watch all these people try to make sure their plants don't die.

This past weekend was not a lot going on. Friday was a boys game and Chad was nice enough to do the clock for them. Saturday morning I had a game. It was against St. Agnes (the DSHA of Houston) really. The coach was really obnoxious. All he did was yell at the refs and then he would tell the crowd to yell at them more. At half time some of my girls were complaining that they were swearing a lot, so I told one of my captains to tell teh ref what was going on. They didn't stop, so when I shook the coaches' hand I said, "there sure was a lot of swearing out there" he was this petty, that he came back with " yeah, I know I heard your girls". So needless to say I was pretty upset, it was just a joke to him. After the game I talked with the girls about how no matter what we do out there, we show more about who we are when we play and we do it with a lot more class then that team. Chad was a little frustrated also, so he was going to send a nice little email over to the A.D. I felt sorry for the girls on the team, to have to listen to their parents, who are adults, sink to the level they were at. So I told my girls to go tell their parents, that they are thankful they support them and do not act like those parents did. So now I am following that same advice, and thank you mom and dad, for not being those annoying fans in the stands, but instead to cheer us on no matter what.

Last but not least, what were the Brewers thinking trading Podsednik. I told Chad that this will give everyone something to talk about on Saturday. I bet that it wouldn't take even an hour before Joel brought the subject up. We will see most of you this coming weekend or in the week ahead.

Defroster or Air Conditioning, I don't know which one to use

This state is confusing. One day I need to have the defroster on to make sure that I can see out the car windows and the next day I need the air conditioning on, so I don't fry in the car. I wish it would just stay at a normal temperature. All this weather stuff makes it hard to get into the season of Christmas. There is just something about listening to Christmas carols when it is 75 degrees outside. Today it cooled down a little bit, but that is because it rained last night. It is in the 60's. We seem to have this pattern. It is cool, a warm front comes through, it rains, it cools down and then we start all over. I am not complaining though, considering it is like 30 up north.

The weekend was pretty uneventful. Varisty had a game on Friday night, so we went to that. Chad had detention duty on Saturday morning. He made the kid pick weeds for 2 hours on the baseball field. Then we didn't really do anything that night. Sunday brought church and football. It was nice to not have too much to do. This weekend I have a game on Saturday morning, it the the early childhood christmas program on Sunday afternoon and also the CLHS Christmas Concert on Sunday as well. I am suppose to be able to go back to work on Friday, since we go to the doctor on Thursday. It has been nice not being at work, but at least I just will have Friday and then 2 and a half days next week. Then it is already Christmas break. It is kind of hard to believe, that we will be home in less than two weeks. It will be nice to have a longer break, not so much for me, but for Chad. It will also be nice to have days off at the same time.

Basketball is going, we are now 3-2. We won on Thursday night. We play two more away games this week. We have the big ONE home game all month long and it is a Saturday game, so there really won't be anyone there. I was lucky enough to have Paul (the A.D.) let me get digital scout for doing stats, so I ordered that last week, so it should be here by the week's end. I am excited, since I have to do the varsity stats, this will make it a whole lot easier for me.

The duty of laundry is calling my name and so I must get to that. I hope that everyone had a good weekend, even after that devastating Green Bay loss on Sunday.

Ice On The Car In Texas??

I wasn't sure I was in the right state when I went outside yesterday morning. We woke to a cool 40 degrees and even some ice on our windshield. Not enough to have to use a scraper, but enough that we had to let the defroster do it's work. It was a little weird to be that cool and to not have snow on the ground or even have a winter jacket on. Most of Texas were wearing their parkas and hats, while Chad and I were still in just pants and long sleeves. As the day went on, it did warm up to about 65. As I ventured out to basketball practice I was back to wearing shorts and a sweatshirt.

Some of you might be wondering, it was Wednesday yesterday, didn't you have to work. Well I had the day off, and it looks like I will have the next week off. There is fifth disease going around the kids in the early childhood center and it can be harmful to me, so I was at the doctor yesterday getting my blood drawn from the nazi blood lady. I have had her each time I have gotten blood drawn and she moves very quick, doesn't say much and isn't going to let you whine about it hurting. So I have to wait for the blood to come back to make sure that I am immuned to fifth disease and given the okay to go back to work. Allison who works in the room next to me, also had to get some blood drawn to see if she is immuned and she is not able to return to work until after the new year. So there is lots going on at the early childhood center down here.

Basketball is going. We had a game on Tuesday and won by 21, game tonight, that isn't going to be that easy. Yesterday for practice I had 6 girls, because the other ones just had too much homework. What happened to the times, when you learned to manage your time and be able to play sports and get your homework done. So let's just say that I wasn't in a very good mood for practice and it wasn't an easy one for only being an hour and 15 minutes.

Things here are not beginning to look like Christmas, so it is a little hard to get into the season, but we are hoping that once back in Wisconsin there will be some snow on the ground and cold weather to make it feel a little more like Christmas.

me, Jill and Elsa 

Jon, Jay and Chad 

Jay after the green chile pepper 

My First Turkey(a little dark on top, but NOT frozen in the middle) 

Our Thanksgiving Picture 

The First Texas Thanksgiving

Well it has come and passed, the first Texas Thanksgiving, and it was good. It all started out with no school on Wednesday and just enjoying a day off from everything. Chad took the car to get an oil change and to get it inspected for new license plates and found out we needed some brakes, so we took car of that and it is running great. We went to church on Wednesday night, sorry no Lyle Lovett. Then we just relaxed the rest of the evening. Thursday morning came quickly and we were getting ready to start preparing and the Minnesotans arrived. They left Eagan at 1:15pm on Wednesday and got here at 9:30am on Thursday. They had an extra person with them and had to take her to Sugarland which is on the complete opposite side of Houston from us, so they actually arrived at our apartment at about 10:45. We started the day with going on a tour of Concordia, which Chad so wonderfully made the alarm go off, but don't worry we had it under control. Then we went back to finish cooking. Everything was done at about 3:30 and we ate. I was told that the turkey was good, but of course I didn't eat anything. I was proud of myself for cooking the whole meal and nothing went wrong. We had the four northerners, Pete, and Becky (a teacher from CLHS) over for dinner. It was amazing that everyone had a place to sit and eat. Dave (another teacher from CLHS) came over later and we played some dominos and the boys were playing video games (Jay brought his X-Box). We turned early, because everyone was tired. I had basketball in the morning and it was okay, only 6 girls were there. The rest of the day we just hung out at the house, watching tv, playing video games and napping. We ventured out to have some BBQ for dinner and Harris County Smokehouse. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Jay when dared to eat a green chile and he did. We went bowling after for 2 games and then home to play Phase 10 until 2am. Today was much more relaxed, but soon it was time for the northerners to head back home. They left here about 2pm and were on their way back north, hoping to be inbetween both storms coming through. We had nice weather all week. It finally has stopped raining and it is about 70. Tonight Chad and I are looking to just relax and clean up a little bit and then it will be back to work on Monday. Only 3 weeks and we will be home fro Christmas. Chad has two weeks of classes and then finals and so that means that I actually only have 8 and a half days of work. Basketball will keep me busy for three weeks. We finally get to play on Tuesday this week after having two weeks of no games. We are looking forward to the break coming up again and hoping to see most of you while in Wisconsin.