Originally posted on 8/23/08…
It’s good to be back. A couple weeks ago, we suffered through our third hard drive crash this year. This time it was fatal and we had to break down and buy a new one. Thankfully, experience with this issue has taught us to back up our data regularly to help minimize the impact of the event. We highly recommend Tiger Direct for any of your computer needs. We’ve not found better deals anywhere else on the net or otherwise…
While we were down, the two older kids began school (last Wednesday). Abby is thrilled to have Mrs. Worthington again. She moved up along with Abby to the third grade this year. She was again accepted in to the GES High Ability Program. We attended Open House this past Thursday. Abby is dancing again this year. She has begun both tap (Monday nights) and a hip-hop/jazz (Thursday nights) classes (Grandma Owens asked her if ‘hip-hop’ meant she hopped up and down a lot!). Both of her dance troupes are competition classes and Bu is thrilled to be competing with her BFF Baili in her hip-hop class. Abby also began her 6th year of soccer, but would only play if “Daddy helps coach??? the team – so…we are on the soccer fields every Tuesday & Thursday with games each Saturday for the next couple months. Her team is the Blasters.
Matt began 7th grade and his second year at the Jr. High. He is enrolled in the enriched classes and is playing football. He practices nearly 3 hours each night and plays a game each week either on Tuesday or Thursday. He is enjoying playing on both sides of the ball as both the nose guard / tackle on D and guard / center / kicker on offense. He has played several positions in his first two games (at home for the Blue & White scrimmage game and at Milan last weekend for an exhibition game). He begins the regular season this Tuesday and is slated to be their starting center. Matt has recently taken a keen interest in getting fit and selecting more healthy choices in his meals. He has given up most fried foods and has not had a soda in over two months!
The main thing Matt wanted this year for his birthday (back in March) was to go see Wrestlemania (called WWE Summerslam this year). It was held in Indy this year as a Pay-Per-View event. Matt & Tom had great seats to see the WWE boys at Conseco this past Sunday night. Matt’s favorite fight of the night was an epic battle between his favorite wrestler John Cena and Bautista – but Tom thought the Edge / Undertaker match stole the show. These guys wrestled in a cage match (dubbed the “Cell from Hell???) that saw a nearly 30 minute performance, including breaking the fence, tearing up the area where the announcers sat, utilizing props like ladders, chairs and tables and for the finale, ‘Taker threw Edge through the bottom of the ring and “into Hell,??? – complete with Edge being thrown from the top of a ladder through the ring (creating a 6’x6’ hole) and flames shooting up from the bottom! It was a trip.
Luke will begin classes next week at the Y. He will attend three times a week and again get to take swimming lessons. Luke is very interested in Matt’s football equipment and wants to play next year. He is such a funny kid. He is really curious and isn’t afraid to ask any question that might be on his mind. Last weekend, he was out talking with his buddy Mr. Dodds (Ed is one of our senior citizen, next-door neighbors) and watched him pick green beans from his garden. Well, Lukey likes green beans also and one of Ed’s bean vines happened to be growing on the fence that separates our backyards. One night, Lukey decided to pick a couple dozen of Mr. Dodds’ beans for his supper that night. We tried so hard to keep straight faces, but it was so cute. He reminds us so much of the old Dennis the Menace show. We can just hear him saying, “Oh, Mr. Daaaww-aawwdssss!!??? J After we regained our composure, we made him go and tell Ed what he had done. Unfortunately, Ed can’t hear too well and Lucas doesn’t always talk the clearest, so we’re not sure if Ed understood him or not, but Lukey did the right thing and promised to not do it again. He is such a sweet kid…perhaps he’ll stay little for us, unlike the other two.
One of the little Father / Son things that Matt and Tom have done over the years is the replacing of the license plates. Matt got his picture in the paper when he was about 2 when a newspaper photographer from the Daily News saw the two performing the chore ten years ago when we lived on Main St. The picture was published and ever since then, it’s been a cool thing to do together – especially since we don’t get new plates but every four years. This year, Luke also got in to the game and it turned out to be a fun night outside this past Saturday night with a little work at twilight and then a game of night time tag out in the front yard. I’m sure the neighbors appreciated it as well!
Speaking of ten years ago, one of the new features we will be adding to the blog this year is the inclusion of the Way Back Machine. You may remember the term from the old Bullwinkle cartoon fame, but we will be using it to bring you pictures of the family from years gone by. We thought it would be fun to spice things up a little, so continue to check back as we’ve already got about 75 old photographs scanned in to the PC and ready for your enjoyment. We hope you have as much fun with them as we have had in rediscovering our past…
First up, we have Tom and his Hot Wheels at Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown’s house in ‘72…. Nice hat! …and notice the Hot Wheels city case in the background as well!
Next we have Ann and her BFF Amy (Baili’s mom)…circa March ’86… What? No popped collars???
OMG! What is on Grandmaw Bryan’s head??…Circa 1960-ish? We love you! J
Here’s Giggi with Lukey about 4 years ago…. Notice that binky under his bottom lip…2 pease in a pod here…
And finally, we are transported to a sweeter time for these two…circa December, 2001…why can’t they act like that now?? (Looks like this one needs to be re-scanned)
If you have any old pictures of us with you and you’ d like to share them, please feel free to email us the pictures. If you need the address, please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you. For those of you who are technologically challened, you can also mail us pictures through the USPS and we can scan them and send them back… Thanks as always for reading and we’ll see you next time.