Papa Jim's Last Ride

Here is some video and pictures from the memorial service we held for Jim's dad.  It still saddens my heart to know he is gone, but this day of remembrance was very sweet and wonderful to have.

Aunt June (Papa Jim's sister) talking about & remembering Papa Jim.

Fall Sports - John

John had a very busy start to his Jr. High years. He had already been playing football for the last 2 years.  Starting this year he was able to go out for cross country.  Ah, yes, this mommy's running heart was jumping for joy when he wanted to be on the team.  This is the only year he is able to enjoy both sports at the same time.  JFL is not school sanctioned so he was able to take it all on.  Next year, John will have the grueling decision of which sport to continue in.  He will no longer be JFL, he will be playing for the Jr. High.  For now we are not pushing him one direction or the other.  Yes, this mommy runner wants him to continue with cross country, but it's not about me.  I only want him there if he wants to be there. Time will tell, there is no rush to decide right now.

John did  a great job of balancing all the demands.  Most days of the week he went straight from school to cross country practice then was picked up and taken straight to football, often eating supper in the car.  Academically he had no problem with the load.  I rarely heard complaints from him about it.  He was really enjoying it all.

JFL turned out to be a rather frustrating year.  Not that winning or losing is all that matters, but the last two years his team was top of the league.  This year they didn't win any of their games.  Such a bummer year for his final season on that team.  John still enjoys playing football and had many great plays himself.  He may be little, but boy can he ever take down some of those big....BIG boys.

It was bitter sweet to have this season end. We were ready to be done with all the practices and wanted our Sunday afternoons back.  It was all worth the 3 years when they announced that John won the Darrel Stranger Sportsmanship Award.  This honor is given to one player from each team that is picked by the coaches.  It's given based on the player's attitude, contribution to the team and how he acts toward his fellow teammates.   I guess we thought the award would be given to the kid who was more of a mvp, was on the field all the time, the quarterback, making all the plays.  John is a good player, but I'm not sure we'd say he's the above mentioned.  Somehow it's so much more of an honor to have him picked for this award than to be that anyway.  John has a lot of heart and character that goes way beyond being some big jock.  Actually many players on the team could have also qualified for this award.  We live in a great community with a lot of great people.  This award was just a cherry on top of his 3 years with JFL.

Cross Country seemed to be much more in his favor.  He had a few races where he really struggled, but for the most part he was at the top of the team.  He posted the fastest time for the entire season with a 13:31 (for 2 miles).  If he can run this time his first year of competition at the age of 11, it's crazy to imagine what he will be capable of as he progresses and matures.  He didn't start out running his best time, but built up over the season.  It was great to see him get faster and faster and push harder and harder.  Of course, this was right up my alley going to all those meets and cheering him on along with the other teams mates.  Yes, I was the screaming mom who was yelling things like "GO....GO....GO and FASTER!"  I can't help it, I get all excited when it comes to running.  It doesn't matter if it's my son or Ryan Hall.  I really get into the competition.  Overall, for John he ran in his own way and ran his best for him.  Believe it or not his time was not even close to qualifying him for state.  That didn't matter though, he ran his best and that is all we asked for and want from him.

Below is a slide show of some football (he is number 1) and cross country pictures.

Houston, we have a problem

The post below about Homecoming I started weeks ago.  I came upon a little problem when I wanted to finish the post with pictures.  I knew this problem was going to happen, but it's timing is not good for me at all.  With this blog, I am allowed 1GB of picture storage space.  I've had this blog for 5 years now and it's fair to say I have a lot of pictures on here.  So my 1GB of picture space is up.  Eeek!

I can go back and delete certain pictures, but when I do that the picture no longer shows up in the post.  I can also go back through all my posts and delete some of them, but I would need to decide if each post is worth keeping or not.  Either way, I'm not really in a position to get that done.  I have 5 years and over 500 posts on this blog.  I just don't have time to deal with that right now.  There are alternate ways to show pictures on my blog and I will have to switch to that format.  But it will be different and perhaps a bit more work to do it that way.  Hmmmph!

Just giving you all a heads up!  Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to not update as often....hahaha!  I'm kidding....kind of : )  I'll keep working at it!

Homecoming

Homecoming was last weekend.  For the first time Angel did not go to the dance.  She was offered a babysitting job that was paying quite nicely.  While she could have gone with friends, like she has the past two years, there is no other motivation to even go to the dance.  There is no boy within the greater Galesburg area that interests Angel or warrants her time in pursuing.  She is quite content to hold off on dating and boys and all the yada yada yada that comes with that.  So she happily made some money instead of dealing the the usual affairs of the dance.

Mandy did decide to go to the dance.  At her age, we don't allow her to date so going with a boy was not an option.  However we are fully aware that there are plenty of boys at this dance and we know she looked forward to connecting up with one in particular once she got there.  Boy or not, she still had a lot of fun getting all dolled up for the night.  The pictures speak for themselves....she looks beautiful!

Football Season

I have SO MUCH that I could post in regards to football season. John is playing in his last year of the JFL league. That will get a post of it's own.

For today (since I really am trying to get back on track with updating more) I thought I would post some video from the high school football games.  The video has nothing to do with football itself.  While we do go to support the high school team we are more motivated and there for the Gadets, which Angel performs with, and the band, which Mandy performs with.  Enjoy these videos:



I know it's a little hard to hear the music. They performed this at the first football game of the year.


This is not the school song, but Hi Ho Silver Streaks, that they play to bring the players onto the field.


This is a rough draft of the marching band show for this year, which is doing a tribute to John William's music. It was their first time performing this in front of a crowd. Which, in case you can't hear, the crowd was quite rowdy that night :/

New set of wheels

With the passing of Jim's dad, there has been one item that was a no brainer that we keep for ourselves.  That would be Papa Jim's motorcycle.  He has always been a Harley man.  Back in 1997, he sold his '69 Harley so he could have money to travel to Jim's college graduation.

We had to pay a little extra money to have it properly shipped from California, but it arrived a few weeks ago.

Then it sat in the garage for a few weeks un-touched.

 Jim was able to get into the Motorcycle Safety class a few weeks.  It took up the better part of his whole weekend.  Once he took & passed the class he was then able to get his motorcycle license.  Since then he's been out practicing.  First it was just up and down the drive way.

He's been faithfully practicing almost every single day.  Once he was comfortable with the driveway then he moved to up and down our street.  Then around the block.  Finally he felt ready to take on a passenger.  I am very honored that I was the first person to ride the bike with my man.  Once I had a ride he took all the kids on a short ride as well.  They are beyond thrilled.  Now Jim is taking bigger rides, like 1-2 miles at a time.  Still practicing and getting used to the bike.  We will wear helmets on a regular basis.  He has one on order.

Jim has always wanted a motorcycle.  More from a practical stand point since he commutes to work 30 minutes each way many days a week.  We actually looked at and bought a motorcycle many years ago.  Once we got home though, we realized what we thought was a good bike for a good price wasn't and we called and cancelled the agreement.  So it's been on Jim's radar for many years to get a bike, but we couldn't ever find the right one for the right price.  Although this bike came to us at the price of losing Jim's dad, I can't think of the most perfect bike for Jim. I KNOW Papa Jim is smiling down on us and is very happy that his bike is now his son's.

1st day of school

I know I've said this before, but I am (again) making a vow to be better at updating this blog.  I started this blog to keep family members up to date on our lives since none of our family lives in the same town as us.  Most of my family is within an hour or so from where we live, that helps a lot.  We see them a lot more frequently.  Jim's family though is further away.  His closest relative is 3 hours away, many of them much more than that.

When I started this blog it was at the same time that I joined facebook.  Back then I only had a few friends.  Facebook was still relatively new to the public.  I was actually very leery of it, refused to join it the first few times I had requests.  Anyway, one reason I'm guilty of not updating this blog as much is because of facebook.  I don't post everything on there, but I do post a lot.  I forget that not everyone has facebook or is as addicted dedicated to checking it.  Even if you frequent fb, it's easy to miss things that others post.  I miss stuff all the time.  Anyway.....enough excuses.  Back to updating the blog with the happenings of the zoo.

I know I mentioned that I didn't post A LOT of stuff that went on earlier in the year.  I had every intention of catching you all up.  But I think I'll just start with a reasonable goal.  Making too big of a goal will just discourage me & I'll feel like I can't possibly ever catch up.  So we'll start with the 1st day of school.

Angel, 11th grade & Mandy, 9th grade.  Yes, TWO in high school.

Note:  There is no good picture of Mandy.  I think this one was just bad timing of the shutter, but it's still the best one of the bunch.  Besides the "enough pictures mom!" attitude, she was not too happy about going out into the pour rain storm we had that morning.  It was pitch black and POURING when we walked out the door.  Do you know how much time she spent straightening her hair?!?!?!?!?

Brianna, 7th grade & John, 6th grade.  Yes, TWO in Jr. High.

Andrew, 1st grade.  I haven't had only 1 kid in elementary school for 9 years.  It won't last long. Carmen will join him next year.

He is standing out on the porch about 30 minutes after I took the girls to school.  You can kind of get the idea how icky it was that morning.

Carmen, preschool.  She returns to Bright Futures which runs a 2 year program.

She gets picked up right in front of our house each day.  She started a week after the other kids, hence the bright sunny day.

Our school year is off and going again.  It's full of activities and happenings.  I'm looking forward to another great year!

Papa Jim

I apologize for the delay in posting. I don't mean about the normal everyday stuff (although I should apologize for that too), but about the big news that has been happening in our lives. When I started my other blog She Runs Everywhere this blog took on a new meaning. I don't want to put importance on one vs. the other, but I admit that I post on my other blog a lot more frequently than this one. Anyway, I should have posted sooner about this, but I was wanting to wait until I got the pictures/slideshow ready. Anyway, enough excuses.....

In most recent news for our family, Jim's dad has passed away. We were completely shocked and unprepared. Ha! As if you ever are prepared. In many aspects we are used to not seeing Papa Jim (as he's always been affectionately called by our kids & us). This has helped in a practical sense. Especially for the children. Heck, Andrew doesn't even remember him & unfortunately Carmen never got to meet him in person. This breaks my heart as I grew up never knowing my grandpa either.

It's been quite a heart wrenching time. For a week or so my heart & spirit was very heavy with this news. Even as life moved on I just had this heaviness about me. I suppose that is the grief though. Slowly though that has lifted. I haven't cried in days, although at least once a day I feel like I am going to. I'm an emotional sap anyway so this squeeze on my heart makes me that more susceptible. Jim has handled this differently. We are such complete opposites, you know....I guess that's part of what makes us so great....we balance each other out.

Due to some circumstances Papa Jim was cremated and we will hold a memorial service for him at a later date. Right now, Jim is out in California taking care of all the other business that surrounds this all. As the oldest child he is next of kin and everything defaults to him. I hate when he has to be gone for an extended time (which does not happen often). I miss him a lot.

Here is a slideshow of pictures of Papa Jim. It starts when he is a young boy, then shows him as a young adult then moves to when Jim was a baby and then into some of the visits from when he was a grandpa. I know there is more. I'm having a hard time recovering some of the digital ones that were taken in more recent times. For now, this is good.

If you want to read more of my thoughts/insights on him & this situation you can read about it on my other blog.

Arrrrrrg........Pirates!

A few years ago we became aware of & involved with an organization called Prairie Players.  It's a free volunteer led community theater.  I really have no clue how I went so many years & didn't know about this group.  Once we got involved we....ok, maybe more I, became hooked.  The first summer the kids were involved in the production of The Music Man.  Then the last two summers I was involved in The Sound of Music & All Shook Up.  They put on many other smaller productions through out the year, but my schedule does not allow me to be involved.  Summer works best for me to be able to go to evening rehearsals, so for now it's the only time I will even audition to be in a production.

This year I almost didn't try out for the musical.  I knew that it was going to be The Pirates of Penzance and I had watched a movie version of it month previous and was not impressed at all.  I was just put off by it.  As auditions drew near I talked myself into at least trying out.  Never hurts to try, right!?!?!?  I was cast as a governess.  That role doesn't even exist within the script, but the director created it for a select few of us because unless you were late teens/early 20's there was no roles available except for the lone Ruth role.  As the director pointed out, back in the 1800's, no woman of proper upbringing and with a prominent father would ever be out in public without her nanny/governess.  Since he cast 9 daughters he allowed 3 of us old more mature in years women to fill the governess roles.

I was pre-warned about this director.  I knew nothing of him until this musical and what I was warned of didn't bother me at all.  I felt up to the challenge.  It's not that he's all big, bad & scary.  He is just extremely strict & has a very high standard of what he expects from us personally, musically & theatrically.  He was taking on a very challenging musical score and would settle for nothing less than the best this community had to offer.  Challenging is right on when it comes to the music.  My younger years of music training served me well and I, along with the cast, rose to the occasion and we had a fantastic performance of this show.  We have all heard rave reviews about our performances last weekend.  Hailed as one of the best this community has ever seen.  In essence...we were awesome : )

Here is a slideshow of pictures to help capture the show.  Several hundred pictures were taken, but I tried to narrow it down.

Also for those who don't live locally I was able to get some video clips during one of our dress rehearsals.  If you are really interested in seeing the whole show I can loan you a DVD copy of the show that was taped professionally.  However to keep from copyright infringement I was not able to video record the whole show.  Not to mention my camera is not of professional quality so it's not the best video footage, but it gives a good view and an idea of what we put on.  If you want to see those video clips you can go this Youtube account and see what I have posted.  Just remember some songs and dialogue are missing, but what I did get I listed them in order of the show from end to beginning.

I am so glad that I tried out for & was able to be a part on this musical (technically it's an operetta, but we still refer to it as a musical).  The director, cast and crew were phenomenal to work with.  So far, my best experience by far with musical theater.  Next summer they are putting on the King and I....I can't wait!!!!

Birthday Buddies

My birthday was over a week ago.  It was a very busy, crazy weekend for it to fall on.  Then again, my life is always busy, crazy so this is nothing new.  In a nutshell I spent Saturday & the beginning part of  Sunday in Muscatine, my home town.  Saturday was spent visiting with family & friends & was very relaxing.  Sunday I woke up at 4 a.m. so I could meet up with a running friend and we ran 17 miles from Muscatine to West Liberty.  Then (just for the fun of it) we raced a 5k.  Yes, that is my idea of a good time!!!!

Once I got home to Galesburg we went to church and then had to go in many different directions.  Angel had to ready & left for a week of counseling at church camp.  Mandy had a youth group skiing/tubing trip.  Brianna had to babysit.  I had musical rehearsal for the rest of the day.  We barely had time for lunch and even at that we weren't all together for it.  Also had just enough time for Jim to give me my birthday present.  I had no clue he was even getting me something.  He got me a very nice, new camera.  It's not quite the $500 one that I want, but it is certain a step up from the point and shoot the I currently have.  It is VERY nice!  (Score point for the husband!!!!)

In the mean time a good friend of mine went into labor and  her baby was born that evening....on MY birthday.  Having a birthday buddy is no new concept for me.  I've had once since the day I was born.  Elaine Stewart was a lady in my church who also has a birthday on July 15.  For as long as I can remember I was always her birthday buddy.  We've always remembered and celebrated this great day that we share.  I remember as a kid it being such a big deal that I was lucky enough to have the same birthday as this fine lady.  Once I was married there was a family in my church who had their daughter born on July 15.  Fast forward several years later & my cousin gave birth to her daughter on July 15.  I'm telling ya, I know I'm a little biased, but July 15 is a GREAT day to be born.  I was beyond excited to have baby Liam born on this great day as well.

Here is a picture of Elaine & I, my original birthday buddy.  This is actually a very recent picture.  I had been back home the week before our birthday to visit my home church and made sure we had our picture taken together.  It's actually the only picture I have of us together.

Here is a picture of Liam & I.  He's less than 24 hours old in this picture.  I couldn't be there when we was born, but I got up there as soon as possible.  The fact that I am actually good, close friends with his parents makes it more exciting.  I get to see & be a part of this little guys life!  I want to have that same special bond with him that I had with my birthday buddy!

Camp pictures

Here are just a "few" of the pictures we have. I had to split it into 2 shows because it only allows 100 pictures per show. Most are self explanatory. Enjoy!

Home sweet home

Vacation was WONDERFUL!!!!  I have much to tell you and much more to be done here at home, not on a computer.  For now I'm working on a slideshow as I type to post for you all to see.  I have so many pictures to show everyone that I can't possibly post them all.  So be patient, I will get it posted soon!  In the mean time, one very special event that happened is that Andrew went off the zipline for the first time in his life.  It has been the talk of the YEAR about him finally being able to ride down this rite of passage for camp.  You'll see some pictures, but here is the video of him going off.

Vacation

We head out this morning for our annual Peterson vacation.  For the 11th year in a row we are heading to the shores of Clear Lake, IA where we'll spend the week at IRBC.  This is our favorite place to go as a family.  We used to take other vacations through out the year, but when life got busy and the money tighter to spend this was our one staple that we refused to let go.

Since I really need to finish packing and get us out the door I will leave you with this cute video of Carmen & Andrew.  I love that we've created this tradition that our kids are excited about.  For Carmen & Andrew this is the only vacation they have ever know.  We started going there as a family in 2002 (I grew up there spending many previous summers there as well) so for all of our kids this has been a huge part of their life.

Enjoy the video & have a great week!

VBS

This week our church is having vacation bible school.  They are using the Go Fish theme, which means it is without a doubt awesome!  My big kids are all helpers, while the little ones attend.  Here is some video of Angel helping with the music:

Here is Mandy, Nina & John in one of the skits (they don't come in until after a minute or so):

Friday's Food

I wanted to post some food related items that we enjoyed this week.  I was going to post this on my personal blog, but I thought the post was going to be too long so I nixed it.  Heaven forbid I go too long or talk too much on a blog post ; )

 I've wanted to post my cookie recipe for sometime.  I had talked about it on facebook one day.  It drew a lot of attention.  I even had a mini giveaway & the person who correctly guessed my secret ingredient received a package of said cookies.  I always get great comments when I make these cookies.  They are so soft & moist.  They just fall apart in your mouth.  I'm a fan of oatmeal raisin anyway, but this special ingredient makes it all that more yummy!  Want to know what it is?  Tomato soup!  Here is the recipe.
 
OATMEAL RAISIN TOMATO SOUP COOKIES

~1 egg
~2 sticks of butter
~1 ½ C. sugar
~2 tsp. vanilla
~½  tsp. baking soda
~1 tsp. baking powder
~2 tsp. cinnamon
~1 small can tomato soup
~1 ½ C. flour
~2 C. oatmeal
~1 C. raisins

~Combine ingredients, spoon onto cookie sheet.

~Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

Also this week we made mini personal pizzas.  My kids love to make them because it's easy for them to do themselves and they can personalize their own to their taste.  I don't have an exact recipe for them, but the idea is very simple.  Take an english muffin & slice it in half.  Add pizza or spaghetti sauce & your toppings.  Top it off with cheese & bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted.  I meant to take pictures of each step, but forgot a few along the way.  Here are the ones I did get.

John thinks its so funny when he photo bombs my pictures.

What are some fun & yummy things you are making this summer?  Let me know : )

Flash Mob

Angel & the GHS Gadets performed in a flash mob.  It was a First Friday down on Seminary St.  They closed off the street to vehicles and several downtown business set up with things to showcase & sell.  The block was full of people from the community.  All of a sudden a group of girls breaks out in a synchronized danced to the Michael Jackson song Beat It.  To the unknowing person this may seem odd, especially when more and more people start breaking out into the same dance.  It was all planned this way though and the girls had fun.  I was on the wrong side of the street from Angel so you don't see her real well.  People other than the Gadets participated.  I was wanting to learn the routine myself and join the fun, but every time there was a practice I had something going on.  Maybe next time : )

Welcome summer....

It's unofficially summer.  I say it that way because I know and am aware that technically summer solstice isn't until June 20th.  However since school is done for the academic year, it's after Memorial Day, we are into the month of June and more often that not we are all wearing shorts & t-shirts.  Sounds like summer to me!

I am extremely aware of many, MANY things that have happened at the Zoo that I have not blogged about.  I have lots of pictures and video that I took specifically with you all in mind.  I have gotten really good about blogging most weekdays on my personal blog, but it's easier to let things slide here.

I'm hoping that with my more carefree summer schedule I can go back and catch up on some of these things.  Some of them were big, exciting things (at least in my book they were) that I really, really want to tell you about.  So they may not be in order date wise, which really bugs my ocd-ness, but I'll get them posted.

For today I will leave you with a concert clip from Brianna's end of the year choir concert.  I especially love the piece since it contains a few songs from the opera Carmen, naturally my favorite opera.  Enjoy the video : )

8th grade recoginition

Tonight Mandy & her classmates had a special program to recognize their accomplishment of finishing jr. high and getting ready to pass onto to high school.  Yes, this makes me all emotional and teary eyed to think of my second child to reach this moment in her life.  It's going all to quickly!

Here are a few pictures from our night:

Ready or not GHS....here comes Mandy Peterson!!!!

Recruiting for Friends & Payphones

It's so hard to believe that 18 years ago TODAY, Jim & I had our first date.  Mind you, it was just a "friend date", because I had a boyfriend (whom I promptly broke up with first thing the next morning).  I never get tired of telling the story that Jim approached me & said "I'm recruiting for friends.  Can I list you as a possibility?"  How's that for a pick up line?  Betcha you don't hear that too often, ok, maybe never.  But, hey...it worked!

Our date consisted of going out for pizza, attending a church service and then hanging out at the river front for several and I mean SEVERAL hours!  This all took place in Burlington, so that town has always had a special meaning to us.  

We visited Burlington just a few months ago when Merle was here visiting.  We walked the same area that Jim & I had done so 18 years earlier.  Something caught my eye.  A pay phone.  First off, you don't see many of those anymore.  Call me crazy, but that's like antiquish  Out of style.  A thing of the past.  My kids probably don't even know that they exist.

However back in my day (a sure sign that I've been around the block quite a few times)  payphones are all that we used.  There was one on every corner.  So on this particular night 18 years ago this exact payphone is what I had used to call home.  

Jim & I had arrived at the hanging out at the river front part of our date later in the evening. 8:30 p.m. or so.  I made sure I called my mom right away to let her know what I was up to.  Yes....yes....I was the ever obedient, innocent daughter.  *batting my eye lashes in true sincerity*  OK....so maybe that's stretching it a lot tad, but I did have good communication with my parents about such things.  Back then, my parents actually had a toll free 800 number that we could call when needed.  With my constant school activities and normal teen outings they wanted to make it easy to call when we came across any phone, pay or not.

Anyway, I called my mom, told her I was on a date.  I remember telling her it wasn't going to be long and that I would head home soon.  I was still a minor (17) and also still in school (just weeks away from graduation) so I knew a late night was not going to be acceptable.  Before I knew it though, magic was happening with Jim & I.  We talked and talked and talked and talked.  I knew on that very night that I would marry this man and spend the rest of my life with him.  About every hour or so we would stop so I could call my mom and let her know I was ok and that I was still in Burlington.  I don't remember the exact time, but I know it was something insane like 1 a.m. before we finally wrapped things up for the night and I headed home.  I still had a hour drive home and amazingly I didn't get in any trouble for being out so late.

Earlier in the evening the night air had gotten cool and Jim had given me his sweatshirt to wear since I was only wearing a white tshirt, green pleated skirt and sandals that night (yes, I remember EXACTLY what I was wearing)!   I meant to give him back his sweatshirt (honestly), but after I drove away I realized I still had it on.  Of course, back in that day there was no calling or texting him real quick to let him know I still had his sweatshirt. I drove home with it on, slept in it and wore it to school the next day.  I still have that exact sweatshirt hanging in my closet.

The rest, you could say, is history.  Nothing was ever the same.

It was a nice surprise to see that payphone in Burlington.  A nice piece of history that means so much to Jim & I.  A beginning of a new path that we were about to embark on, having no idea where it would take us except for one heck of a ride.

(Re enacting those phone calls to my mom since they didn't have cameras back in 1994...hahahahaha)

spring soccer

The last two years John & Andrew have played spring soccer. They really enjoy doing it! John is a little disappointed that this will be his last year. Into Jr. High soccer is only played in the fall & John already has plans to run cross country and/or play football.

This year has been a little different. I was asked to coach Andrew's k-1 team. I wasn't planning to do this, but since there was a need and I was given an assistant coach then I agreed to take this on. Both Jim & I have coached in the past, back when John and Brianna played in the k-1 league.

I have a full roaster of 15 kids. 15, 5 & 6 years olds. Yeah, it's interesting. Even for this mom of "lots" of kids and a high tolerance and great ability to handle it all with apparent ease....it's a lot! The kids are great though. I've had a great time so far.

Since I am busy coaching I haven't been able to be there at John's games as much. We often are playing within close proximity of each other, but at the same time. Or his game is right before mine, so I get to see a little bit then take off to meet up with my team, etc. Finally today, our schedules allowed me to actually sit and watch John's whole game. I made up for my lack of absence the first few games by snapping 40 some pictures. I won't post them all, just a few good ones. John is a great, natural players and shines on the field. John is wearing blue, take a look:

Andrew's game was much later in the morning so I headed home & told Brianna I wanted her to come and take pictures during Andrew's game.  One of the downfalls of being coach is that I don't get the luxury of sitting down & watching at all.  In the mean time a nice line of rain & storms rolled into our area.  We still dressed and got ready to go.  The lightening & thunder had stopped, but it was pouring rain.    I didn't mind being out there, I'm not made of sugar & I won't melt.  Most of our team was there, but the other team only had 4 players and the coach hastily replied "I do not want to be out there!"  I had to work hard to not judge the woman, I'm sure she's nice & a good coach.  But she was dressed in jeans & a shirt, hair & make up done to the max.  Even on a nice sunny day she wasn't dressed for the situation.   At least not in my opinion, which, that is all this is....just my opinion.  My team was very disappointed that we didn't have anyone to play.  Just for fun we did a lap around the field in the pouring down rain with a bunch of whoops & hollers.

Once back home I had Nina take a picture of us.  You can't tell, other than the wet ground, but it was still raining, although it had let up quite a bit.  I had chosen to wear my Joy Bondi Band mostly because the color matched best with what I was wearing.  As we were standing in the rain, waiting for the official call of the game a parent turned to me, read my band and said "that is a nice sentiment considering the situation".  It made me realize that even amidst the pouring rain and less than ideal conditions one can really have a sense of joy about the situation.

I promise to get pictures of Andrew's game next week.  Andrew is quite the natural player himself.

Dr. Paralikar

Carmen and Andrew had to go to the doctor last weekend. It wasn't anything too serious. They woke up feeling icky and I knew it was enough to warrant an office visit. One thing I love about the office we visit is that we don't have a hard time seeing the doctor.  Of course, it helps that we are very established patients and we have given them A LOT of business over the years.

16, almost 17 years ago, when we were expecting Angel we had no idea who to go to for a doctor.  We didn't even know if we should go with a family doctor or a pediatrician.  Neither one of us grew up in this area, so we relied on word of mouth of who to go to.  We never regretting going to the Children's Clinic and choosing Dr. Paralikar for our children's care.

I feel so blessed that we have been able to stick with the same doctor for all of our children.  He has welcomed each one into this world and has seen us through just about everything imaginable.  Lately he was having a lot of medical issues himself.  He was gone out of the office for several months and then came back on a limited basis.  It really made me appreciate how much we love and value his services.  He is by far, one of, if not the most experienced pediatricians in our town.  He can be a little old school from time to time, but his knowledge is priceless.

I know it's completely selfish, but I really hope he stays in practice for a really long time.  Never mind that he's already been practicing for 30+ years.  I actually have a friend who had him as a doctor when she was born and he's still practicing now and she takes her children to him.  I know it's inevitable, but I just want to hang onto him for a few more years.

I've never done this before (shocking, I know), but I took some pictures while we were waiting in the office.  What prompted this was I realized how big Carmen looked while sitting on the exam table.  *sniff....sniff*  It just blew my mind how big she looked and has lost so much of her baby-ness.  First we got the cheesy smile out of the way:

Then we got the silly face done:

That is all the time I had then Dr. Paralikar walked in.  One of the many great thing about him, there is often little to no wait time.  Since I still had my camera in hand I continued to take pictures with his permission.  I'm glad I got some shots of him in action.

I plan to hang onto Dr. Paralikar as long as possible.  Yes, we have other great doctors in our town, but Dr. Paralikar is absolutely the best!!!!

Illinois Marathon

Last year Jim & I ran our first marathon.  We survived and crossed the finish line together, which was the main goal of the day.  Jim swore he was NEVER going to run a marathon again.  Of course, I was hooked.  I knew I was going to love it.  I did things backwards and had already run an ultra that was farther than a marathon so, of course, I loved the 26.2 distance and knew it would do it again and again.  I was proud of Jim for doing what he wanted to accomplish.  If he was no fan of the distance that is ok with me.

Months passed and Jim decided he was going to do another marathon.  Not only that, but he was going to improve on his time and whole marathon experience as well.  We raced the same marathon that we had completed last year.  I love this race.  It's nice and flat.  They have a great organization, shirts, swag, people out cheering on the course, etc. etc.  I highly recommend this race and hope to make it an annual tradition.

Last Saturday was the marathon.  The weather started out pretty freaky.  Howling wind and pouring down rain before we even left the hotel was not what we were looking forward to.  Luckily the weather passed through rather quickly.  While it was still cool and overcast it turned out to be fairly ideal running weather.  This year our plan of attack was different.  Yes, we both wanted to improve our time.  If we stayed together, great.  If not then we were each on our own.  We had no doubt that one would do just fine without the other.

Carmen finished in 3:54, which was a 1:25 improvement over last year.  Jim finished in 4:30, which was a 45 minute improvement over last year.  Even more so Jim handled the running and after effects so much better.  He's becoming a pro!  Although he is back to stating that he will not run another marathon.  We'll see....

Here is a picture of us after the race:

If you want a much deeper detailed race report from my aspect, you can check out my personal blog. 

I already booked a hotel for next years race.  I plan to race.  The big question is: will Jim?