Our crazy La Niña weather pattern continued this week. We started out really cold on Monday with a deep frost on the windows before work with temps in the 20s. It eventually warmed up in to the 60s but we also got even more rain. Matt had wrestling, Abby had tap class and Luke had his final basketball practice out at the Y. Ann made spaghetti and I fell asleep early on the couch – and missed the MNF game…lame. Abby had jazz class on Tuesday night. Matt and the Pirates hosted the East Central Trojans at the GCHS Fieldhouse. The coach decided to start the meet at 220 lbs…meaning Matt was leading off that night! He later acknowledged he was pretty nervous. He didn’t have a chance to go through his normal routine and it showed as he came out flat. In fact, he got his butt kicked around the mat through the first two periods and entered the 3rd down 11-2. To his credit, though, he never gave up and by the 30 second mark of the final period; he was getting up off the mat – the victor from a pin! I am still not sure what he did but there was a scramble and he ended up on top and got the older opponent (senior) on his back somehow and as in most of his matches – once he has you on your back, you rarely get off it. That really fired up his teammates and the crowd. There was a big cheer in the Fieldhouse – much to the elder Trojan’s chagrin who didn’t even want to shake hands afterwards. We are very proud of Matt’s tenacity and fighter spirit. The team on the other hand didn’t do so well. That victory would prove to be the only win the whole night until the final match when one of our seniors finally won again. Winning the 1st and last matches don’t do well for a victory and the young Pirates fell to yet another loss. Matt however is now 11-9 in varsity matches and 16-9 overall for the season. There was a very nice write up on Matt in the paper a couple days later and the coach had some very kind words for Matthew…
It was a great day on Wednesday, reaching up to about 60 again. Ann went shopping so the kids and I got take out and came home to catch up on our DVR’ed shows. Molly and Lola are doing better now after Ann took them to the vet last Friday. They got their flea & tick meds, their wellness shots and Molly received a shot for her allergies. She has rubbed some nasty little sores on her body and has licked a lot of fur off her paws. As I write this, she has stopped that behavior as well as digging in her ears. The steroid shot she received has made Molly use the bathroom more frequently and we have seen a couple accidents in the house this week. It rained all Wednesday night until noon on Thursday with temps soaring again to 60. Matt was again in the newspaper Thursday morning for his wrestling successes on Tuesday evening. Matt hurt his hand in practice, going up against some heavier teammates. Ann and I both had Christmas parties at work and that evening it was downright frigid, dropping all the way down in to the twenties. We’ve gotten lots of great Christmas cards from friends and family, including Paul & Dayla, Kimmy & Chuck, Katie & Jake and Keith & Rosie; a few gifts and Luke wrote and received a cute letter to/from Santa! Ann and I have not had time to do Christmas cards again this year – yes I know; we’re lame. So if you didn’t receive one from us, please know that no one did! I met up with my good buddies Dennis and Allen (Smith, of ‘Biggest Loser’ fame) and had lunch at Applebee’s. Mat went from wrestling practice to the basketball game where he and the other varsity wrestlers volunteered in the concession stand. He wasn’t alone, however, as Abby and her friends attended the game while Ann (and Luke…sort of…) volunteered in the Booster Club booth to help raise funds. The Pirate cagers won by 50 points to extend their record to 10-0! Meanwhile, my co-workers and I went out for a management party at Smith’s Row. I had a delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu and a Bloody Mary. My friends Michelle, Stephanie, Scott and I went across the street afterwards to 4th St Bar and had a Christmas drink. Unfortunately, a couple hours later Scott was t-boned in a car accident and suffered a broken leg and ankle. Thankfully he wasn’t seriously injured but he’ll be out of work for a while (the 2nd time he has been injured this year) and he’s gonna need a new car…
Saturday was busy as usual. First up, Luke had his final basketball game at the Y this year. He and his Celtics had fun playing against his buddy Luke (Phyllis & Dick’s grandson) and the Fifth Third Bank team. Ann said he did a great job on his defense vs. Luke, getting lots of rebounds, blocks and a few steals. She also said he scored a couple baskets and did a great job of passing to his teammates. Abby took some video, but not nearly enough…
Matt & I were up early to head back over to Columbus for the Columbus East Wrestling Invitational. It was an individual tournament, which is different than a typical dual meet. Matt started off quickly, progressing right through the brackets with victories by pin in his first two matches. First up was a young man from Columbus East, who he disposed of within 30 seconds in to the match! Next, he defeated an upper classman from Edgewood during the 2nd period and suddenly found himself in the finals! He matched up against a very tough upper classman from Connersville. Matt hung tough with him and had a chance to end it when he did some kind of throw and ended up on top of him and tried to turn him on his back, but he couldn’t make it stick and ended up trying a risky move and got pinned with 4 seconds left in the 2nd period. Even in defeat, Matt proved himself a classy grappler with budding skills. Even one of the referees felt compelled to talk with Ann about Matt and the development of his skill set as a young wrestler. We were so proud of him! He was upset that he got runner-up, but Ann and I thought it was pretty damn cool!
Afterwards, I went visit Scott at CRH. I was his good luck charm, as he was released the moment I arrived! He is in good spirits and looks no worse for the wear. He said the girl that hit him stated she never saw him and plastered him to the point where his car ended up in the ditch and he had to be cut out of the car. Unfortunately I won’t see him again until next year as the earliest he can come back will be the day after I leave for Christmas vacation. I came home and we all did our weekly Sunday chores late in to the night. We were up early again on Sunday morning after only a couple hours of sleep to head up to Lafayette for the annual Scheu Family Christmas. We stopped at Dad & Barb’s Buck Creek cabin first. Barb made her traditional egg casserole, fruit and cinnamon rolls. We talked and looked at some more old pictures that Dad got from Aunt Judy’s brother. Man, there are some great old pictures in there. We laughed so hard at these all day long… We had a small gift exchange and the kids raided Dad’s pockets for coin goodies. The kids played outdoors with Tater, out in the woods for a while and of course Luke got muddy and ripped his jacket. Ann was so mad at him… Before we knew it, it was time to head over to John & June’s gorgeous home on the west side for lunch. The kids got to ride with Grandpa in the conversion van, which made for a nice quiet ride…for Ann & I at least. 😉 To our surprise, we were the first to arrive this year. The “Vickie??? award went to Sally, I believe, who was the last to arrive! LOL The kids loved playing with their cousins downstairs, except Matt who graduated to the upstairs living room where Uncle John had the Red Zone Channel on, which cuts to every game as important things happen – how cool is that?! Juney was the hostess with the mostest again this year – we had ham, popcorn chicken, potatoes, tons of sides and lots of nibbles and of course lots of drinks. I was a good boy, but I had to have a Scheu Family recipe Bloody Mary. We had a great time catching up with everybody, laughing at the old pictures and watching and talking about football. In attendance this year were Vickie, Seth & Daniel with his girlfriend; Chuck & Cindy; Cathy & Tom (so glad to have them back!); Dad, Barb and us; Sally & Scottie; Chris & Tricia with Conner, Karsen, Jack & Joey; of course John & June, Kimmy and her youngest, Gavin (her husband Chuck and their other child, Brayden, made a late appearance after the Colts game, along with Barney & Steph and Haley’s fiancé, Ryan); Haley and her son Parker (YES! Uncle John is now a great-grandfather!!); and Nick & Ryan. MIA included Sue & Jackie and her kids in TX; Billy & Blancha in Indy; Mary, Bob & Steven in FL; David and his family in NC; Jason & Erica and their 4 kiddos at Erica’s mother’s birthday; Uncle Ed & Aunt Judy and Charlie Geesie & his family. We were having such a good time that time absolutely flew by and we couldn’t believe how quickly it got late. We headed home in the dark. We were so tired, but thankfully the trip was uneventful and we made really great time. What a whirlwind weekend. It was so good to be back home and see family…good for the soul, if you know what I mean.
Next, let’s check out this week’s video section. It includes two new family videos. I did not get the Sunday videos in this week, so look for those in the next entry…as always, if you are reading this blog as a feed, you will not see this section correctly, if at all. To see this section, please go to our website at www.scheumann.us and click on the blog link.
Next up, let’s flip on the Waybac machine. First up is a very old picture that I’m hoping Mom can identify; followed by a baby picture of Grandpaw Brown when he was two months old in September of 1923 plus the inscription on the back by Great Grandma Brown; after that is an old police wanted poster of John Dillinger from ’34; Grandmaw Brown’s high school graduation diploma from ’48 from Richland Township.
The next section has more of the pictures Dad gave us at Harrison a few weeks back of Mom & Dad’s wedding in April of ’68 – lots of GREAT pictures this time out, including Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown, Granny and Grandpa Scheu; Mom & Dad Scheu; Aunt Sue, Aunt Mary, Uncle Chuck; Dad B; Uncle John; Kathy Scheu; Cathy Spoor; and maybe Vicky; then a bunch of great pictures of me in our living room on Shortridge in Lafayette – love the beer and the wig in July of ’69; and finally my 1st birthday party still at our home in October of ’69. I see my Raggedy Andy and my Snoopy was actually bigger than me! I see Aunt Karen and Uncle Ralph. I have been looking for these pictures for 30 years. I was still in school when I last saw these. They bring back so many memories of my childhood, when the world was different. I thought they had been lost through the years since I hadn’t seen them in so long…but here they are and just as great as I remember them – a snapshot of a time long when life was much simpler…
Here is the best picture of the batch from Vird & Belinda’s wedding – love the hat, Nathan! That was in August of ’77; then we have several more wonderful pictures of Mom & Dad B’s honeymoon in ’78. I can’t get over how happy they look in these classic pictures!!
Next up, we have several pictures of Rob at our Kenwood St home in LaPorte. These are from the summer of 1980, during July & August. I see he is starting to walk in the backyard and playing cards with Dad in the kitchen. I see there are a few of Rob shortly after I sent him on his ride in the stroller and crashed going down the front walk step. There is another on of Mom, Nathan and Rob at Pine Lake in LP; Rob & Katie in Kokomo at Aunt Sharon’s house; Rob in April of ’81 at eighteen months; and we wrap up with several year book photos. I found my sophomore yearbook online at Classmates.com. These would be from ’84-’84 school year, including pictures of me in Spanish Club (I don’t think I ever went to any meetings and don’t even remember taking this picture; there are some football pictures, wrestling and my school picture – I only remember about half of these folks.
And that wraps up another episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks as always for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one…and Merry Christmas!!
Later, Scheu
First let me start by saying what a wonderful comment for you to have made about finding these old pictures! These are part of your past and I for one enjoy revisiting these times too Tom. Yes, in lots of ways they were “simpler” times weren’t they? The old picture that you are not sure who they are…your Great Grandpa Brown and Great Grandma Brown are on the right side. Don’t know who the couple on the left is but it was taken in Grandma and Grandpa Brown’s back yard by their garage. I love the look on Grandma’s face!!! The pic of dad and I on our honeymoon was taken going to the airport in Indy and Dan and Sharon took us there. Your dad had drank a bottle almost by himself of champagne!! The result is at the hotel when he fell asleep in the chair!! We were having a great time and still do as a matter of fact!!! GO GET EM MATT! You are doing fantastic my dear grandson and we are so very proud of you!!! Proud of all of our grandkids as a matter of fact and also proud of you and Ann and we are so very glad that you got to see your family of Scheumann’s and spend some good time with them. Love you and will see you in Christmas via the computer!!! XXXOOO’s Now to watch the videos…..
Also wanted to let you know that the one old picture (the man in the oval gold frame) hung in your Granny Scheumann’s bedroom for as long as I can remember along with another picture of her mother in the same gold oval frame. That man is your Great Grandpa Deere. Your Granny always thought that your dad looked so much like her dad
especially as a young man.
Great videos Tom and Abby!! Congrats again Matt…thought you did great just don’t beat up on yourself too much kiddo…this is a learning year. By the way Tom….the wig you had on was mine and the beer of course was your dads. LOL Love ya