We are at the end of yet another very busy week, which was highlighted by one more visit from Grandma & Grandpa Bryan. Monday started off just gorgeous – sunny and in the mid-sixties. What an awesome autumn day it was. We left the impaired Pacifica at home and had Ann drive the stinky van and I took the old truck. Acra’s said all the tires are dry-rotted and will need replaced. Ann did some research on the tires and found over a hundred complaints of those tires having the same issue – losing integrity with the inside wall of the tire. Ann and I decided not to pursue a warranty claim with Walter’s and just let it go since we had nearly 50K miles on the tires and have had nothing but trouble with them. We will obviously not do further business with them at this point. Abby had her last volleyball practice that evening, followed by tap dance practice at Dixon Dance Studio and finally back to the junior high school for her Beauty & the Beast musical practice. All the while, we were out at Matt’s JV football game vs. the East Central Trojans. It was a tough, defensive struggle that was nip and tuck the whole way. Neither team could move the ball much as we were very evenly matched. The close game would later be described by Matt as one of the most fun games he’s ever been involved in. He really enjoyed the challenge this team presented him. That joy shown through as evidenced by his three tackles, two pancakes and just an overall more aggressive feel with his play and hits – he looked very comfortable on the field. However, the Pirates could only must 1 TD and they lost 12-8. Sandy was there with Maryann and she got some great pictures of Matt…but first off, as promised last week; we start off with Abby’s choir performance from last Sunday afternoon…
Bu was in early for Academic team practice on Tuesday morning. We left work early to attend her one and only volleyball tourney after school (her team ended up losing both matches). She looked pretty good out there, it being her first year and all. She had a few points and was obviously one of the best players on her team as the girls really looked to her as a leader. Matt had football practice and I received a call from the YMCA, wanting us to sign Luke for basketball…but we’re not sure if we want him to play out there, at school or both. It was another lovely day, reaching up in to the upper 70’s. Our phone is acting up still with a loud hum. Verizon said they finally fixed it today, but it seems worse than ever now. I’ll have to call them back again to get this straightened out. Ann and I decided we needed greasy cheeseburgers on the grill for dinner that night…yum! ;0) Mom O got a new car today, finally getting rid of that Ford Windstar and getting a very nice Lincoln Town Car! Sandy let me borrow her memory card to get Matt’s pictures off and I also found a bunch that Ann had taken from last week’s special event at the radio station
We dropped off the Pacifica at Acra’s again for the 2nd time in a week; this time to get 4 new tires put on her. I drove in the old Chevy truck again and finally hit 3K miles on the oil change after about 4 years now…so I guess I’ll need to get that changed pretty soon. I ended up leaving early and heading to Batesville at noon for Abby’s Academic Team competition at the middle school. Abby was on one of five teams – Social Studies (pretty cool, considering I’m a Soc major). They placed 3rd in their heat and then 4th overall at her first meet. Way to go, Bu! I mowed at Mom & Gigi’s house and finally broke out the trimmers for the first time in a month. I then took Abby and Lukey for ice cream at Dairy Point to celebrate her success, earning a white ribbon. We came home and Luke went to bed after dinner due to being grounded by his mother this morning. Bu and I watched one of our favorite new shows – Paranormal Witness – that scared the crap out of us. Ann went to her friend Karen’s going-away party as she and a few of her scrapbooking friends went out for dinner and beverages.
Ann and I ended up taking Thursday off, in preparation of Mom and Dad’s return to Greensburg. Due to our State Licensing survey taking place that day (the first of 4 days’ worth), I ended up going in, off the clock, to help make sure everything was kosher…I got back home just moments before Mom and Dad got there. We caught up with them for a couple hours. They had a great tour of central Indiana, visiting Uncle Kenny and Tammy/Brett in Rossville, Uncle Timmie, Aunt Dorothy and Debbie, Karen, Brenda and Cathy as well as others from the Brown side of the family at Arni’s in Lafayette. They also went to Kokomo to meet up with Sharon and Dan, Nathan and Steph, Katie & Jake and Vird, Belinda and Deena Marie (who has really grown up!). They brought us some outstanding pictures of all of those visits, as well as Mom meeting up with the two Vicky’s and of course their visit in TN with Rob & Sharon. We spent the afternoon setting up their new laptop, picked up the kids and Ann made a big dinner of spiral ham and cheesy potatoes, etc as we had Maryann & Sandy over as well to visit. With everyone in attendance, we had a photo shoot after Matt got home from his team dinner at the high school following football practice. We got some really special pictures that night…It was so nice to see them both. I knew we missed them, but then having them leave after being here for a couple weeks has got us all real sad. We are glad for them to be living the dream down in sunny FLA…but sincerely wish for them to be near us.
Ann and I took off Friday as well. Mom and dad caught a flight out of Indy, back home to Florida. Ann went shopping with her buddy Shawna all day. I worked from home, completing my monthly and quarterly reports. I met up with Ann at Matt’s varsity football game out at Shriver Field. It was a bit chilly and we broke out the blankets again. The Pirates faced off against their cross-town rivals, North Decatur. Last year, the Chargers shellacked the Pirates by 50 points so we were seeking revenge for that embarrassing ass-spanking. Sure enough, from the first kick off the boys were going full-tilt. There were lots of big hits and big plays by the home team. By the third quarter, the Pirates had built a 4-TD lead. Unfortunately (fortunately for Matt?), one of our starting linemen got hurt pretty badly, injuring his knee during a scoring play. His loss was Matt’s gain as he was the next man up. His first “real??? varsity experience came on the ensuing PAT. He ended up coming back out to play defensive line with the varsity as well as guard on the offense. He continued to stay in the game as others replacements gradually got in the game as well. He finally came out with about 3 minutes left in the game to allow the 2nd and 3rd team kids a chance to play. The Pirates won big over the Chargers, 52-28. Matt turned in a respectable game with a sweet pancake and a couple of assisted tackles. His teammate’s health is questionable for this week as we enter sectionals against Batesville here next week. We all went out to Buffalo Wings and Rings to celebrate Matt’s big night. Fittingly, he dominated the Trivia Time game as well.
Matt was up early for football practice on Saturday morning. Ann ran him out and then went shopping and scrapbooking with Shawna. She ran Abby up to Greenwood to stay the night with her good friend, Megan. Luke and I worked out in the yard, mowing for the first time in a couple weeks. We played a little basketball and grabbed fast food for dinner. Ann came back and watched the NASCAR race with me as both Jimmie and then Jeff wrecked and were out of it early. Even Stewart struggled. The Rangers beat the Tigers to earn a birth in to the Fall Classic. Let’s go, Brewers (they have a tough game against the Cards coming up tonight as I write this on Sunday evening). On Sunday, the Colts looked sloppy against the Bengals although Painter is getting better and better. Between games, I flipped the TV over to see the only motorsports race today – that being the Indy Car final in Vegas – only to find it had been red-flagged due to a horrendous crash on lap13. They took about two hours to clean up and repair the track before announcing that they were stopping the race. We were so very sad to learn that this year’s Indy 500 winner, Dan Wheldon passed away from injuries sustained when his car became airborne and crashed cockpit (top) –first in to the catch fence. The car exploded and disintegrated. It was a terrible sight to see. Our hearts go out to his young wife and two small boys who will never know their father…he was 32 years old. We went back to football to catch my Cowboys take on the tough Patriots, featuring Tom Brady. Instead of seeing an offensive, high-scoring game; I was ecstatic to see a defensive game with lots of great plays on D. However, Brady came from behind and with 22 seconds, threw a TD to win the game. Luke played with his friends in the neighborhood on a day that started chilly, then became breezy and ended warm (in the 80s). Luke and I did our weekly chores around the house and took him out for ice cream at Dairy Point. He played with his buddies Josh in the afternoon and Oakley in the evening. Abby came home from Megan’s house just before sundown. Matt played online with his buddies on the Xbox 360. Here are some miscellaneous pictures from around the net and around our home, including: Barney Scheu accepting an award at work, my little cousin grown up – Bethany and then another of her with her momma, Wendy and her mom, Brenda; then a few of Haley & Ryan’s engagement pictures (those are done very tastefully); Luke’s artwork and pictures from his classroom; Luke’s school pictures; Luke’s soccer pictures; Matt’s soccer pictures; and it was a lovely morning as the sunrise interspersed with the clouds over the town as I took the kids to work.
Next up, we have 6 new videos from this week and then a bunch from around the internet that were worthy of sharing back to everyone (Remember that if you are reading this feed on Facebook, you are only going to see a series of letters and numbers in this section. To see the videos as well as the blog in it’s native format, please visit our homepage at www.scheumann.us and click on the blog link):
Next, let’s take a look at our weekly Waybac feature…leading off, we have a couple pictures of my senior year trophy from football in the fall of 1986 that I had forgotten about and then found this week when looking for car wax out in the garage for Dad, who had to buff out a boo-boo. I wonder if anything was said about this at the airport. This was stuffed in the back of a cabinet with car supplies. Of all my trophies, I think this is the only one I have kept all these years… Also, we have several pictures from Christmas in 1991 – first, the Brown family Christmas at Aunt Dorothy & Uncle Timmie’s house in Lafayette; then a few from Christmas morning at our Rockwood St home in LP with Rob and I in front of the tree (nice beard, dude) and opening presents and then Mom & Dad in front of the tree. What a cute couple.
Next up is Matt’s first real Easter in 1997, at Grandma & Gigi’s house; then with Uncle Chad and Aunt Dee later in 1997 in the same home and then a couple of Matt at our townhouse in Columbus – 1 inside with toys and 1 outside going for an exploratory walk in our backyard. Next is one more shot of Matt & I in the Gulf of Mexico in May of ’99; then Matt with Grandma and Grandpa at the new house on the hill in Rossville a couple weeks later; and then all of the family in CRH for the arrival of our little Bu in September of ’99.
We end at Christmastime – first in 2000 with Matt & Abby at our Main St home in Greensburg on Christmas morning and then the Bryan family Christmas in Kokomo at Dan & Sharon’s house in 2006 and finally Luke on Christmas morning at our current home, awfully proud of his new workbench.
And that wraps up another episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu
I watched the videos on my new computer and they were wonderful!!! What a difference on the download of the blog!! Great pictures and great wayback and just great videos!! Loved seeing Matt in the varsity game. He should be proud. I could tell you sure were!! No, nothing was said about the car so guess it wasn’t bad. They did try to charge us too much but we finally got that straightened out. Loved everything about the report and great going also to Abby. I loved volleyball when I was young. She is just learning this year and will continue to improve as she goes along. Good going on the water bottle also Luke!! Love you all and I will wait till you get time to call me and help me with the new computer. XXXOOO’s