Even though winter doesn’t officially start until next week, it definitely felt like the season had turned this week. It has been a week of cold, wet and windy conditions. We finally got our first snow fall of the season; in fact we got three days of snow. Monday started off with about a ½ inch of snow and ice. It took us nearly three times as long to get in to work that morning; finally making it an hour and fifteen minutes later. We saw four incidents on the way: 1 accident and 3 slide-offs. My crew and I worked on the outside of the facility for about 2 hours and we were frozen to the bone! …made me wish I was in Florida; Mom, now I know why you made the move…it was for morning just like this one! You would’ve been in to work the night before and been working a double shift – no doubt. The girls did their Monday routine by going to the dance classes at Dixon Dance Studios while the boys enjoyed the quiet peace and vegged on the couch. Abby brought home a cool picture from her twin friends’ (Bailey & Ashlynn) 10th birthday party a few weeks back. Lukey brought home a cool artwork piece of our house in the winter. He was so proud of it! 🙂 Here is our 4th version of Elfing Ourselves!:
On Tuesday, Matt again had pep band and wrestling practices. It again snowed, but wasn’t nearly as bad. However, the temperatures plummeted down in to the low teens. It was frigid. That night, Ann made a huge bowl of popcorn and we snuggled up on the couch to keep warm and watch the live grand finale of The Biggest Loser. Allen was going for the $100K bonus award if he had lost the most body percentage of the ones that didn’t make it to the finale. Even though he lost an incredible 116 pounds (weighing in at 209), he only managed to finish third (I think); but we are so proud of him just the same. He looks phenomenal. We saw his mom and dad (Elaine and big Allen) in the crowd, as well as his brother Shawn. He even inspired his fellow co-workers at CBC to begin our own version of Biggest Loser with a pot due at the end of the year. 😛 Allen has been giving weekly radio interviews on one of the Columbus radio stations, so it will be weird to NOT hear him on the radio each week. As you might expect, a whole slew of new videos popped up after the season finale aired. There were plenty to choose from, but some of the better ones are below:
On Wednesday, the winds came. We had sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts up to 70 mph! We had snow again for the third straight day, but no accumulation. The temps really took a nose dive during the day. That night, we attended a Christmas party for all the employees at my work. CBC held a nice party at the Elks across the street. We had turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, green beans and cookies. We had fun and enjoyed a few beverages with my buddies at work. The newest member of my maintenance team (JT) won the Employee of the Month award for December. My dietary manager, Lenny (Dennis’ wife), won the annual Customer Service Award. I was very proud of both of them.
On Thursday, Ann attended a Christmas party with her fellow practice and office managers in her organization. Meanwhile, Matt played at the Jr. High basketball game. Luke & Abby were both pretty well behaved for me. Matt and the band again seemed to improve this week. The games were blowouts, but at least the music was entertaining! 🙂
Friday couldn’t come fast enough for Ann & I. We had family night, although we missed Matt – who already had plans to go out with his buddies to the varsity basketball game. We ordered Domino’s (CinnaStix rock!) and played Sorry again. This time, Lukey was the big winner!! Afterward, we watched Frosty the Snowman and then everybody fell asleep on the couch… 🙂 We received a couple nice Christmas cards this week. I love the ones that features the family or at least the kids in the photos. Kimmy & Chuck had a great one (look at all those boys!!). We also got a nice one from Katie & Jake. …And here is the cool design that Ann did on ours this year (she actually got them done this week!).
We were up early again on Saturday, as Ann’s company held their annual “Cookies with Santa??? party. It is a PR event that allows anyone who’s delivered with either Dan or George to come in for pictures with Santa and enjoy cookies and milk (the cookies were again courtesy of Amy’s mom…and they did not disappoint!). This year, instead of Polaroids (it is nearly impossible to find the film anymore!), Ann decided to use our camera to take the pictures. She then gave me the memory cards where I copied them on to her laptop. I then uploaded the pictures from her laptop online to Snapfish, right there at the hotel. The hotel was new this year as well. This time, they held the event at the new Hotel Indigo in downtown Columbus. It was really, really nice. The kids loved their mascot – Miles – a bichon frise. He was very sweet, gentle and friendly. He played with the kids for a couple hours. You can view all the photos at Snapfish, HERE.
After the event, I took the kids home. Matt actually stayed home (that old Grinch!), but I dropped off Luke with him where they hung out until we got home. Abby went to dance class with Baili and Amy. I went back over to Columbus, where Ann’s work held their first Christmas party. We went down the block from the hotel to the one of Ann’s favorite haunts; the Garage Pub & Grill. It is actually located within the new downtown parking garage, thus the name. 😛 We had a great time there as well!! We had a bunch of appetizers, huge greasy burgers (I had the spicy one), plenty of pitchers of beverages and ended the day with Dippin’ Dots and a Dippin’ Shot. It had Malibu rum and Dippin’ Dots. It was scary good – didn’t even taste of rum…very dangerous. Here’s this week video as well:
On Sunday, we cleaned up around the house with our weekly chores. About the time the Colts game was getting good, we had to head over to the high school for Matt’s Christmas band concert. Matt, of course, was the percussionist He did a great job and even kept his cool through an equipment malfunction. We did science fair stuff the rest of the night, so I didn’t have time to process all the video and stills. So, that’ll all be included next week. Thanks to Gigi for her audio and stills as well. She purchased a new SLR camera this week and has been testing out all the bells and whistles. It is a very nice camera, so I’m anxious to see if she got any good pictures!! I’ll also have Science Fair pictures next week as well…
So then; let’s get to this week’s Waybac photos instead. Leading off this week, we have three from the fabulous decade of the sixties. The first one is Grandmaw & Grandpaw at some fancy event in March of ’64. The 2nd one is Mom getting ready to go on a date in November of 1965. It looks like she is out in the front yard of her home in Lafayette. Who had the wagon, Mom? 😛 The last one is from our living room on Shortridge Street in ‘69. Mom is helping me to stay on my first bike, a Schwinn tricycle!
Next we have 4 from 1980. The first is in January and features a rare picture of Great Grandma Brown. She is standing in her kitchen with Marilou in her old home. They had that old farm house torn down many years ago after she passed away. It was good to find this picture. The next one is a month later, in February. It has Mark Crum & I revving up his family’s snowmobiles and filling the room with CO! The next one is our first visit back from California with Robby on April 4th. This was taken out in front of Lou Atha’s home. The final picture is at Grandpa Morgan’s house (I think) in December, 1980. It has Ralph, Norma, Great Grandpa Morgan, Uncle Keith, Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown.
Next up are a couple from December of 1981. The first is Grandmaw in her living room during Christmas. The second is Rob & I playing on Christmas morning on Kenwood St. in LaPorte.
Here are three from a few years later. The first one is Robby riding the Billy Bob ride at Showbiz Pizza (would become Chucky Cheese) while the second is back at the table in party gear (Nathan looks a little less thrilled than Katie in this one!). This was our birthdays celebration in 1983. The third one is from Christmas of ’84. It has the four of us cousins who, at this point in time, were starting to get pretty close, as we went to each other’s house a lot at that point in our lives.
Here we have two from Christmas in 1989. The first one is Rob & I on Christmas morning. Rob is showing off his new Gameboy. The second one is from the same timeframe; Rob looks like he’s dressed up for something or another…
We wrap up this edition with three from the nineties. The first one is a nice one of us at Mom & Dad’s first house in Rossville and the last Christmas w/o children in ’95. The second is Matt with Grandpaw Grandmaw at a fish fry at Kenny & Marilou’s in Sept. ’96. The final one is Grandmaw & Matt at our apartment in Columbus. This is a great, classic photo of Matt’s first Christmas in 1996! I will try to put up a better quality picture at some point, as now I have that new scanner. But this will have to suffice for now.
Well, that’s it for now. We thank you for reading this edition of the Scheu Family Blog. We’ll catch up with you next week. Until then, have a good one!
Later, Scheu
The “elves” were great again this week. I have no idea where that picture of me was taken or whose station wagon that was. Too many years ago huh??? I believe that the picture of Mom and Dad was at a K of C event as dad has on his “uniform” of the 4th Degree. Also, the one of Aunt Norma and all may have even been taken at their home in Lafayette or it could have been at Grandpa and Grandma’s in Attica. That was a good one of Grandma Brown and Aunt Marilou….I miss them all!! Well, take care and good video too. Love you all…..Mom
Tom, thankyou also for the clips on Allen. We both were sooo proud of him that night and all thru the contest. He should be commended. His character never changed. Love and have a great weekend.