Homecoming Week

It is Homecoming week here. For those of you who do not live in a small town let me set the stage for you. First we have the parade. Nothing fancy, just the football players and other fall sports teams walking down our main street. In the football players case, they will load the back of trucks up as full as possible and drive. I am amazed each year that someone doesn't get seriously hurt. The band will be there, cheerleaders and other clubs from the high school. Followed by the big bon fire in the parking lot of the school and then of course the game on Friday night.

Our high school has a dance right after the game but it's not the traditional Homecoming dance that most schools have. They have a big formal dance in November instead. So tonight we will bundle up as warm as possible and go cheer for the high school. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will have a win on Friday night.

Here are some pictures from last nights game. They lost but it was a great game. Typical fall weather for Eastern Oregon. Snowing and very very cold.

Rocket Launch

Jason got to launch rockets with his cub scout pack today. So very cool.

Here they are getting the rocket ready. The pack has spent the last couple of meetings building a painting their rockets.




The first launch


Getting it ready for the next launch

Jason was able to launch 4 times. Here he is getting ready for the last launch.

This is the last time we saw this rocket.

edited to add: the rocket was found about half a mile away.

Letters From The Teenagers Sick Bed

"Hey Mom...... I'm Hungry"


Yes, Anthony is home sick, need I say more.

Letters From The Sick Bed

Yes that's right, you can add mine and Jason's name to the flu infected. Our little town has both the regular flu and swine flu making it's way around town. In fact, so many people are sick they are running out of Tylenol at the stores. There is really no way to tell for sure if this is swine flu or not, unless you are hospitalized. Knock on wood, Jason and I are not that bad. Steve has tried his best to quarantine me but it didn't work. From the sounds of my oldest, he may be coming down with it too. There is a little town not to far from here that has literally shut down in the hopes that people will stay home and get better. My only real complaint is that there is not something better to watch on tv.

Have a healthily and flu free fall season.

Emotional Week

My Mom went home on Thursday. Everyone here is really missing her, even the dog. She was a huge help and I couldn't have done it without her.

Yesterday, I did something I have been thinking about for a while. I quit my job. I really thought I could homeschool Jason and work at the same time. The reality is, that I can't do both and I am really going to miss working with the kids.

Homeschooling Jason has taken a real turn. It was very difficult to make him understand that even though he is home he still has to learn. He thought he could just hang out and watch tv all day. Last Friday, I made him sit down with his spelling words and would not let him get up until he was finished. It should have taken him 15 minutes but it took over an hour. Since he has decided to give focusing a try, he has really improved his work. His last two spelling test, in fact, where a 100%. He also said something yesterday that I thought I would never hear. He said "this is fun". He was talking about his spelling notebook. I am looking forward to being done with work because I have a lot of things planned to do with him.

We took Steve to see his doctor today and he was told he is healing nicely. We spent the day there just shopping and hanging out at a couple of different parks. There are stores in this town we don't have here. We hit Staples, JoAnns and the bread store. We now have enough bread to last us until Christmas.

Here is a picture from today. I have lots more but I only have enough time to upload one. Have a great weekend.

Fall Sports

Here is a fall sport update. We will start with Anthony. This is his first game I could watch since he started playing with his cast. By the way...he gets that off tomorrow. Check him, out he is #28, the one with the cast.





he is playing center in this picture.

They are playing themselves, because the team who was suppose to play didn't bother to show up. This is not the first time they have pulled this. Same town didn't bother to show up for a soccer game. Megan's team is playing our own U12 team because they didn't show. We manage to make the hour trip to play in their town. Lovely sportsmanship.

Here are some pictures from Megan's game. It was cold, cold and cold (see post below). They won and Megan scored a goal.


she is cold

the ball is in play when she stops to pose for this picture

Thanks Mom

The last time Steve had this surgery done, I did it alone. When we moved away for California I knew there would be some serious downsides. Not being there to share in birthdays, Sunday dinners, 49ner games and helping our close family when they need it. Right now we really wish we where closer so we can help support Steve's family. This is a difficult time for them and we wish we could do something to help. The only thing we can do is pray and we do that a lot.

Moving away also means not much support for me when I need it. When Steve had his surgery last year, we survived it but I realized I didn't want to do that alone again. When Steve found out that he had to have this surgery again my Mom decided to fly up here and give me a hand. It has been wonderful having her here. I was able to take Steve to the hospital and spend the night there without worry about the kids. She has made sure we have a wonderful meals and clean cloths. I haven't had to worry about getting the kids to school or anything else. We might just not let her go home this week.


She has been a great sport about keeping up with our schedules. Tonight for instance, Anthony is going to his girlfriends homecoming (in a different town) and we won't be eating dinner until after 7:30pm. She is just going with the flow. When she arrived it was warm and sunny here. Look at this picture taken today. We are at Megan's soccer game. It's 37 degrees and we are supposed to have snow tonight. We went to Walmart yesterday so she could get warmer cloths and Anthony let her borrow a warmer sweat shirt.

Thanks for being here Mom, I don't know what I would have done without you.