Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year. We had a quiet day together - the best kind. We definately miss our family during this time of year. We did get to talk to everyone, which was nice. I've attached a copy of our family picture. The guys are halfway through their Christmas break. Counting down and enjoying their time off.

Howdy everyone

Hi there. It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I thought I would take a minute to catch everyone up.

We are all doing good. School is back in full swing. Alex and Renan are both doing good in school. They are both gearing up for basketball. Practice starts November 10th. We should have both a JV and Varsity team with full schedules. Alex hurt is ankle in gym yesterday and it is pretty swollen so of course he'll "have" to take it easy for chores this weekend!

Ski is keeping busy with budget and stuff at T-Mobile. He is doing great there and continues to enjoy his job.

I'm still at 911, and also substitute teaching. I can't believe its my fourth year now! I really enjoy both.

That's it for now. Take care everyone. More to come....

A Day On The Links

Yesterday we decided, since Ski had a day off, to go play golf. We asked Renan if he played golf - he said yes. However, on the way to the course, while discussing what we were going to do, we discovered that when we asked Renan if he played golf, he thought we were talking about miniature golf! Well, needless to say we found out this was Renan's first attempt at "real" golf. He was a good sport and tried his hardest to knock that little ball up and down the course for nine holes. We had lots of fun and he took the teasing gracefully. Ski and Alex battled as usual for bragging rights. We hope we can get Renan back on the course again sometime - maybe we'll even throw some miniature golf his way! P.S. On photo above, Alex was not miserable, he just hates getting his picture taken!

Renan is here!

Well, Renan (pronounced Henan, soft e) arrived this past Saturday. We met him in Springfield when one of the AFS volunteers brought him down. He has immediately fit into our family. The dogs have really taken to him, which is a definate plus! As you can see from the picture, Alex had him out playing catch the next day after he got here. Yesterday (August 18th) Renan started school here as a senior. Everyone has been great helping him out, talking with him and making sure he gets where he needs to go. The senior class has been very helpful with him, which I really appreciate. I substituted at school yesterday and he seemed pretty comfortable there. I'll post more pictures as we get them. Welcome Renan!!

The countdown is almost over!

Well, our two countdowns are almost over. Summer is coming to an end - school starts this Thursday the 20th. Boy has time flown. As usual we didn't do most of the things we wanted to. We are down to one vehicle - the truck finally gave up the ghost. That makes it really hard to do anything extra. Alex starts high school this year. I took him for his sports physical yesterday - 5'7"! He says he isn't playing basketball this year, but I figured we would get the bases covered just in case. I hope he changes his mind. He really enjoys playing and is pretty good at it.

Our exchange student Renan arrives this Saturday the 16th. We are really excited he is coming to stay with us. He is making his final preparations in Brazil while we make ours here. Check back frequently. I will try to do a weekly update once he gets here.

22 More Days

We wanted to share some more pictures of our exchange student, Renan. He sent us some pictures with his mom and sister, and another with his sister and his dog. Renan will be arriving around August 15th, and we will pick him up in St. Louis. He will be a senior.

In Memory of Shawn Marie Bradbury

This blog is dedicated to my sister Shawn, who passed away on January 15, 2007. She is missed everyday by all of us. Shawn, you were and are so important in our lives. There are alot of good memories that we have to keep you in our hearts until we see each other again. Love you baby sis.

There's a new dog in town!

Alex decided during the week that we needed to add to our menagerie, so we went to PetsMart on Adoption Day today and adopted Damon, a Labrador Retriever mix. Believe it or not he is only six months old! As I type this Damon and Blossom are chasing each other around the house having a good time. He is quite the character. The only downside was not being able to bring them all home - all the animals there touched my heart.

Our Exchange Student

Our family is trying something new this year. We are hosting a foreign exchange student through AFS. His name is Renan and he is from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He will be staying with us for the upcoming school year. He is sixteen and will be a junior. We are really excited for him to join our family and hang out for the year. It will be a great experience for us and the school, and hopefully for Renan. Renan is the one at the bottom of the picture, along with a friend of his.

Class of 2012

Alex and his 8th grade class had their promotion ceremony on May 20th, promoting them from 8th grade to start their high school years in August. What a good group.

Baseball is back!!

Well, my favorite time of year is back - baseball!! To my great delight Alex has decided to play again. The past two springs have seemed so empty without baseball practice, games and all that goes with it. I'm so excited that he has decided to play at least one more year. Some of our best memories are during Alex's baseball seasons; evenings spent at the field watching the games, working the snackbar, practicing or being there to cheer other teams on. This years team is co-ed 7th-8th grade. It is good as neither group had enough players to field a team, so by combining they will make it work. A lot of the kids have played on past teams together, so that is a plus. I'll post results as games begin. We don't have a game until somewhere around May 12th. Spring is in the air!!

Alex takes 3rd in discus

Alex competed in his second track meet in Ash Grove and placed 3rd in discus. He threw 97' 1". Their meet before that was rained out with the massive amounts of rain we had. Throw in a few tornado warnings during school and it has been crazy. We have more rain again tonight, with more chances of tornado's tomorrow. It has been a crazy year for sports and everything else with weather messing up just about everything. What can we say - it's Missouri! It gets even better - chance of snow flurries tomorrow night!

Alex takes 2nd at Track Meet

Alex competed in his first track meet for this season yesterday. He competed in the 100 yard dash, shotput and discus. He placed 2nd in discus, with a throw of 99' 10 1/2 ". Pretty awesome!

Only in Missouri

Well, once again crazy Missouri weather abounds. Yesterday was in the mid-60's, today in the mid-30's. What will tomorrow bring? We are so ready for warmer weather. Itching to get that garden going, smell freshly mowed grass and all the other fun stuff of spring. The daffodils are starting to pop their heads up. Alex has his first track meet on Thursday. He is going to run the 100 meter, and throw in the discus and shot put. We'll see that happens!

Daylight Savings Time

I'm so happy it's daylight savings time. It is so good to have the sun a little longer each day. Spring is around the corner - none too soon. It has been a cold and wet winter, and we are more than ready for some warmth. Of course, check back in the middle of August and you will hear a different story!

Science Fair

We are so proud of Alex. Today he took first place in the science fair for 8th grade at school. He worked really hard on his project "Video Games - Mans Savior or Mans Destroyer." It was about the effect of video games on pressure. He had fun doing the experiments, even getting teachers, custodians and friends involved. Now it's off to district competition!

Crazy Weather

The saying for Missouri is true - if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes! We went from 2" of ice last week with a dusting of snow and three ice days missed at school to 45+ degrees today after snow last night! What a crazy corner of the world. They are talking ice and sleet again by the end of the week. As long as we don't get anything like last winters ice storm I will be happy!