It was a gorgeous week that sped by us in a blur. It started after last week’s entry. Instead of laying low the rest of the evening, Ann ended up going out with Shawna to do more After Prom preparations and Abby ended up over at her friend Ashley’s house. This week was ISTEP week and the state again had several problems with their electronic presentation, causing several delays. I still don’t think they’ve got all the bugs worked out of it quite yet. On Monday, Ann and I left work early and headed to Rushville for a track meet. Abby completed again in the long jump and high jump. Although she still didn’t place, she did reach her personal best of the year in both competitions. Matt had football practice/lifting and Luke had baseball practice. Coach Messer picked him up from Gma & Gigi’s house and Gigi picked him up and kept him at WTRE for us. Abby had to miss her softball practice due to running really late from track where they had several delays in the high jump event. Although it was one of the first to start, it was dead last in finishing. In fact, all of Rushville had left and most of Greensburg’s team and spectators had also left. It was kind of sad, actually. We left and I dropped Ann at the station and picked up Bu at school before heading out to the Messers’ to get Luke’s back pack he left (again). We stayed for a little while to talk baseball and football…
On Tuesday, we headed in early for Abby’s Student Council meeting. She was late and boy did she let us know all about it. We keep telling her to take the bus, but she won’t. Matt had football again that evening and Abby of course had track. Luke & I did our grounds keeping duties at Mom & Sandy’s house as well as our own – at least the front – before it got too late/dark and I was tired. We also fertilized both lawns which badly needed it due to those damn dandelions. In fact, they are bad all over this year.
Matt headed in to school early on Wednesday for football/Leadership Academy. He went to physical therapy after school and picked up his tux in Batesville. Luke & I had baseball practice. Abby had dance pictures and then met us at the ball diamonds (thanks to Amy & Baili!) where she had a scrimmage game. She played first and shortstop and was 0-0 with two walks in two at-bats. Luke locked the keys in the van when he went to get equipment out to play with during Bu’s game. Thankfully, Matt was back and opened up the van for us. Ann was at After Prom and we were under strict orders not to disrupt her. To thank him and because it was nearly 9 when we got done, I got takeout from Taco Bell for dinner, much to the kids’ delight. We have lots of new odds and ends, including Abby in the newspaper twice this week – once for dance and once for track and lots of new Facebook pictures: Matt at Prom; Allen at a new weight-loss event; Abby and her friends; Ann, Ally’s daughter with Gigi’s puppy; Luke’s new shirt; the parade for the State Champion basketball team; the G’burg skyline; last year’s After Prom event; more Matt / Megan; and finally Abby & Emma’s afternoon.
Abby had her final home track meet (and only the 2nd of the year since they will not be making up any of the ones we missed due to all the rain this spring) that evening, hosting Jennings County. Abby again competed in the long jump, high jump and again achieved personal bests in both! And just for fun, the high jump girls ran the 4×100 m relay. Much to everyone’s surprise, they got 3rd place – beating the visiting team’s varsity squad and getting 3rd place!! Way to go, Bu! Abby ran the opening leg and had a seized the lead going in to the 2nd leg. Abby again had dance pictures, which she and Ann ran to after the long jump competition ended. Matt attended the Chautauqua and Luke & I joined him afterwards where they had drawn a decent crowd with an impressive lineup of presenters from all over the entertainment field, including professionals from the industry of film, TV and music (including actors from The Andy Griffith Show, The Gilmore Girls, Pirates of the Caribbean, ER, The Walking Dead, Grover – the short bully – from A Christmas Story, and my favorite – ZuZu from It’s a Wonderful Life). It was another late night and so we grabbed Wendy’s on our way home.
Matt skipped physical therapy after school on Monday to eat a formal dinner/attend a pre-prom date with his buddies and prom date, Megan, in Louisville. They ate at Benihana Japanese restaurant. Abby watched Luke while Ann & I prepped at Fieldhouse for After Prom. Ann is a very good organizer and did very well to prepare for the event. I helped out with the construction of a large wall that gave the appearance of a cruise ship. It looked pretty cool – like you were boarding a ship with lots of cool events inside, which was Ann’s theme this year. Afterwards I headed out to Messer’s Bar for a baseball coaches meeting where we made final preparations for our opening game. We figured out our lineup, our defense and how we would sit out the kids (all the kids will have to sit at least one inning, which is going to suck!). We worked out every detail and eventually left at some point early on Saturday morning.
Ann was up early and back at it on Saturday morning, as was Matthew. It was opening day for Luke’s baseball team, the Marlins. We played the Reds and did fairly well. In fact, outside of the 3rd inning where we lost our concentration and gave up 7 runs via wild pitches, over throws and other errors, we would’ve lost the game 4-2. Luke played first base and batted leadoff. He hit the ball in both at-bats, but had nothing to show for it. He grounded to the left side and was thrown out by a step in his first at-bat. In his 2nd at-bat, he rocked the ball but shot it right at the first baseman. Luke only had a couple balls thrown his way and he caught them both for two putouts and made a nice play on a ball hit down the line for an unassisted out. He had one other ball hit to the right side, but it got past him before he could get over in to the hole for it. We got Luke’s school pictures back this week (we think they are the best school pictures he’s ever taken)!
Afterwards we did the whole Prom thing for the rest of the day. Emma came home with us for a couple hours as Ann helped Matt get dressed. First, Gigi & Gma followed us out to Megan’s house (Matt’s date) for pictures. Low and behold, Gigi’s niece (Ally)’s kids and hubby were fishing in their lake. I guess Becky and Megan’s mom are good friends. We got some nice pictures out on the dock of their lake. Matt & Megan then went over to a pre-Prom party, over by the Junior High school, at the Domingo’s house. It was crazy over there – with about 80 couples and many of their parents. More photo opportunities and eats were there. Next, it was off to the Elementary school where I was shocked to find about 200 people out in front, awaiting the arrival of the Prom attendees. I swear it felt like a Hollywood gala or something! They had mandatory valet parking. The kids would get out of their car, walk up the sidewalk (red carpet-style), pausing for lots of pictures from the crowd (paparazzi) and would be announced by the MC, who had a sound system all set up outdoors. It was all pretty cool and completely different than I remember my prom! Matt and Megan went on in, Ann headed over to the High School’s Fieldhouse to get After Prom’s finishing touches done and I took Luke & Bu out to El Reparo for dinner. While there, we saw one of the opposing coaches from today’s game and he commented on Luke’s second at-bat, saying how good of a play that was at first base in the 4th inning where Luke smashed that ball down the right field line. He said that if his 1st baseman doesn’t come up with that hit, it would’ve been a homerun…and I agree totally. It would’ve burned their right fielder and Luke would’ve outrun any ball coming back in to the infield. We enjoyed our meal and headed home to mow. However, it was far too dark to start mowing. So I took the camera out to Ann and came back and fell asleep on the couch. Matt said he enjoyed the After Prom party but that the After Prom post party was lame and so he ended up coming home to crash early on Sunday morning. We had previously told him that because he had worked so hard to build up trust with Ann & I through the last 17 years, that we weren’t even giving him a curfew because of that trust. Ann crawled in sometime Sunday morning as well, but I was sleeping on the couch when each one came home. They both slept on and off all day on Sunday. Abby helped me to take Matt’s suit back to Batesville and went grocery shopping with me. We stopped in at Paul & Dayla’s house and visited with them for a few minutes. Luke went to Alex’s house for the afternoon and Abby worked on her school project all day. Annie eventually got up and made us dinner before returning to the couch. Her hip continues to give her fits and we are starting to talk about alternative treatments to get her some relief from the pain. Sunday afternoon, we did our weekly chores around the house. We mostly flopped on the couch and watched movies, NASCAR, the Pacers (who won), and the Simpsons – in between fading in and out of cat naps and wound down the week on a rainy note…and boy did it rain. I think it physically rained all 24 hours today…which was a good reason for us to stay in and take it easy. 😉
Next up is our video section which features a couple of new vids and several from around the ‘net this week.
Next up is our favorite section, the Waybac segment. We have another great batch this week. Leading off we have a piece of artwork from the previous turn of the century, back in 1882; Great-Grandpa Brown’s police death blotter in ’52; Grandpaw Brown in the newspaper in ’57 several times; Spring & Summer Vacations in May & July of ’59 (with lots of good one of Mom, Grandmaw & Grandpaw, Aunt Midge and Aunt Marilou); official letterhead with Grandpaw’s new promotion in 1960; Grandpaw back in the paper in ’70; a picture of me (probably my fave of this era) in ’70; Grandpaw back in the paper in ’71; St. Boniface church directory in ’72; a Purdue National Bank newsletter in ’73; Nathan, Sharon and Dad B in ’77; a fish fry at Aunt Marilou & Uncle Kenny’s house in July of ’82 (lots of classic photos here of Mom, Dad, Rob, me, Uncles Kenny & Timmie, Grandpaw, Peg and others); Mom, Dad & Rob at Schaeffer Lake in August of ’82; Aunt Lou in September of ’82; Grandpaw (after heart surgery?) in September of ’82; my school picture in ’82 at 15 years of age; pictures of decorations at Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s 40th anniversary in August of ’86; Christmas in LP in ’86; Rob (as a mouse?) at Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s house in January of ’87; Rob w/ Grandpaw in April of ’88; the house on Elmwood Ave in April of ’88; Uncle Ralph and the Page’s in May of ’88; Austin & Matt in approx 2000; Abby at the Bryan Christmas in Rossville in 2003; Ann at Xmas in 2004; Dorothy & Timmie in September of 2006; The Barker kids at 2006 Halloween; the Hausers at Mom & Dad’s house during Christmas of 2006; and finally the Week 19 crew in 2007 at the Sand Pebble.
And that wraps up yet 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. We love and miss you dearly, Mom…
Later, Scheu