P/V Anniversary

Paul and Vicki celebrated 54 years of marriage with us this year.  We were excited about this milestone in their lives and decided we would go out to eat with them to celebrate! 

Anna sent them flowers and she picked out the same color they had at their wedding.  They were very pretty and we put them in a vase and set them on the mantle.  

We made reservations at Farm Table and requested to sit at Elaine's table (Noah's mom).  Farm Table is only open for dinner and it's a little on the pricey side so we didn't take the kids with us on this dinner trip.  Vicki and I both ordered mac and cheese except I got bacon mixed in and she did not.  B and Paul shared their meals which one was a steak and one was stuffed chicken.  All the food was delicious and I think we had 3 go boxes with leftovers.  P/V shared a key lime dessert which is one of their favorites.  

It was a really good day and evening for the two of them.  Happy 54th anniversary! 

CCMS Wrestling 22-23

Since both A and W are in middle school, we wanted them to use this chance to try new things.  We encouraged them to try out for the sports teams available at school.  For winter, they both signed up to do wrestling and it was a new experience for us all.  

The team was small so whoever was committed and showed up to practices was on the team.  They wrestle by weight class so both boys were in different classes.  They would wrestle each other at practice sometimes though.  A wrestled mostly in the 90 lb class and W wrestled in the 83 lb class. The head coach was an assistant from the football team so both boys already knew Coach Murray going into wrestling.  The other coaches were Coach Aiden (Coach Murray's son) and Ms. Senter who was another PE teacher from the school. 

They practiced every day after school until 5 pm.  Every.Single.Day.   Practices were tough and there was a lot of conditioning at the beginning.  The boys were very tired BUT we can confidently say they were in great shape.  There's so much technique involved in wrestling that while it's about strength, it's also about finesse too.    

Matches were very intense.  It's just the two wrestlers out there and no one else to help.  Very different than team sports which is what we've always done so this was new.  I was very tense watching from the bleachers every single time one of my boys wrestled.  I never felt relaxed.  I wasn't worried they would get hurt at all.  I just know how competitive they are and wanted them to do their best and be satisfied with their performance.  I wish I had more pictures or videos of the season but it was too hard for me to record and watch at the same time.  Here's what I do have from their first season of wrestling. 

Waiting for the match to start

The team before regionals

W

Victory

Annual Saints Game 2017

Uncle Charles is so kind to give me and B his tickets to one Saints home game every year.  We normally take two kids but this year we changed it up and invited another couple with us.  Since the game was on Christmas Eve, we were in Hattiesburg for the holidays and it was easy to invite J& L Cook with us since they would also be in Hattiesburg for the holidays. We decided to make a fun night of it and the four of us drove down to New Orleans December 23rd.  We had hotel reservations at Le Meridian and walked around together before grabbing dinner.  It was very cold that night but really fun to hang with J&L. 

The game was at noon on the 24th so we ate breakfast together and chatted before walking to the game.  Our hotel wasn't too far so that was nice not to have to worry about traffic and parking.  We just checked out of the hotel and put our luggage in the car.  The game was fun (as always) and since I'm writing this 6 years later, I cannot even remember if the Saints won the game (LOL).  I just know we had such a good time with J&L.  

After the game we drove back to Hattiesburg and joined the family at Bonnie's house for her annual Christmas Eve party.  Gram and Granddad kept the kids while we were in NoLa. 

Upward Basketball Season 2018

While in TX our kids played basketball with the Upward Program at Sugar Land Baptist Church.  We enjoyed the program and watching our kids learn a new sport.  They had good coaches each year and improved in their basketball skills. Rin even played basketball at Reading Junior High and made the A team.  We recommended Upward at Sugar Land Baptist to our friends.  Here are a few videos from 5 years ago, our first season which would have been 2018.  E was too young to play but she eventually joined in. 

Oklahoma Thanksgiving 2017

Our Thanksgiving this year would be spent in OK because it might be the last holiday in Edmond for P/V.  They recently retired and sold their business.  Their goal is to move to Texas to be closer to their kids and grand kids. 

B had to work Wednesday so we left Wednesday afternoon (11/22) and drove to OK.  We arrived around 11 pm and our kids were so tired.  We put them straight to bed and then stayed up and talked a bit.  Christopher was there to surprise everyone and it really was a nice surprise. 
Thursday morning came quickly and preparations began for an early afternoon meal.  The Vikings had a game and I knew it was important to watch that game along with other football games of the day.  I had already made a few things and froze them in TX but they thawed during our drive.  My crockpot corn was going to be easy to throw together.  It's hard for me to remember all the details because I'm trying to write this 6 months later!  We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal and the kids played outside a lot.  The older cousins took the younger ones to the park down the street and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.  Aunt Mo took some time to take pictures of kids and couples in the backyard and that was nice.  We ended our evening watching football and eating dessert (mostly pie). 

Friday morning started early with the guys renting a U-Haul and throwing a lot of trash away from P/V's house.  I think it totaled to 2 tons to the dump.  It was a lot of work.  Anna, Mandy and I just hung with the kids and after feeding them lunch, we took them to see the movie Wonder.  It was a sweet/sad movie and for Christmas, I wanted to get the book so I could read it aloud to the kids.  Instead of leftovers (again), we ate dinner at Ted's.  I think we had 2 tables full at Ted's: one kid table with 10 kids and one adult table with 9 adults. 

Our last day together was Saturday and it was spent just being chill at the house.  I woke up early and walked around the neighborhood, trying to burn off some of the food I had consumed over the last 2 days.   There were some important college football games on Saturday, the biggest of which was OU's game against West Virginia.  LSU was playing also, but my game would be on the back burner because I was in Sooner country.  I enjoyed cooking football food and snacks for the game, though, and cheering when I could.  Marcus put the LSU game on after the OU game was over so I got to watch a little of my Tigers.  We ended the night with a fire outside on the back porch and s'mores with the grandkids.  Making s'mores and sitting around a fire is always a nice way to end a family weekend. 

Of course we drove home Sunday with all the other millions of people.  I don't remember how long it took us, but it took a lot longer than any other day of the year.  At least we were together.  Our time in Edmond was fun and it could very well be the last time we make a trip up there since Gran and Papaw will hopefully be moving down soon. 

COVID - 19

I started this post in 2020.  It's almost 3 years later and a lot has changed.  We don't have to wear masks anymore (except to doctors offices) and we can do normal things like eat out, movies, and go to sporting events.  I'm pretty sure everyone in our family has had covid at least once even if we didn't test for it.  P/V have both had it and bounced back after a couple weeks.  We didn't get the vaccine but respect anyone who does.  It's a personal choice. 

What a few months it has been.  This world wide pandemic has taken the world by storm and totally changed how we do life. It started in March, in China I believe, but spread to the US and flights were cancelled, people worked from home, and then school was basically cancelled after Spring Break.  Teachers did their best to have "online" school, but it's not the same.  Even my school didn't return after Spring Break and I had to host zoom classes for the remainder of the semester.  It's been a wild ride. 

First we had to quarantine to our homes and neighborhoods.  We could walk outside but had to socially distance ourselves from others at least 6 feet apart.  Restaurants, the mall, businesses and the movies all closed.  Bryce started working from home and I had to facilitate my classes and help the kids maneuver their online school with limited devices.  We requested another device from the school and were approved so we had 2 laptops instead of 1 plus R used her Kindle.  The older 3 kids were pretty independent, so I just had to work with E everyday.  We finished the school year out online on June 4.   Since everything had "shut down" and become remote, we decided to take our family vacation early and we flew to NC for 10 days.  J/K Gillam sold their house in Raleigh and bought a house in Oak Island, NC.  We stayed with them and basically went to the beach everyday after school was done.  We were in NC from May 22-June 2.  It was the best (and cheapest) vacation. 



So fast forward and it's summer now (2020).  B is still working from home and the only summer activity is E's gymnastic class. There's no VBS, no pine cove, no Civitan Camp, and no swim team.  i9 Sports cancelled their spring/summer seasons too.  CG just went back outside after doing virtual only for 8-10 weeks but they still have a virtual program.  I've been doing outside camps 90% of the time but occasionally I'll hop on a virtual workout.  It's just crazy to me how things have changed.  We don't see P/V as much anymore trying to keep them safe/healthy since they are high risk.  I've been doing V's grocery shopping for her and dropping them off.  They don't come over for dinner anymore either. 

It's just a weird time and we are so over it, but we have to comply with the rules.  We have to wear masks when we go in a store or business and we have to stay 6 feet apart from others too.  I don't know if things will ever go back to the way they were, but we still only get our food to go from restaurants. 

group picture before looking for crabs

Bree's favorite donut place

Our flight to NC

Cheapest tickets EVER! 

Our daily set up

One afternoon we went kayaking

tie-dye t-shirts

Ice Cream

Vacation!

Rin's 10th birthday

It was Rin's year for a birthday party and she went back and forth with lots of different ideas.  She finally decided on a Movie & Make-over party theme.  She invited her 2 closest friends, Penny & Faith.  The girls came over on a Saturday afternoon and Jess, a make up artist, came over to give make-overs to the girls.  The plan was for the four girls (R, E, P & F) to get make overs and then we would eat dinner before going to watch a movie.  The girls were very excited and their make overs were done really well.  Being all made up made them want to get dressed up for the movie, they borrowed Rin's dress up clothes and got all fancy for the movie.  We saw Christopher Robin at 8 pm (I maybe slept a little haha) and stopped at the Dollar Tree for snacks before the movie started.

R and F

Jess had a lot of make up!

R's turn

R's actually birthday

birthday girl