What the little kids do...

during the big kids' football games.

Naomi digs in the dirt.


Katie dances to her own music.


Colton and Naomi search for treasure.



They play with other children.


They might climb a fence or two.



Hudson follows along with whatever the other kids are doing.


But generally, they don't watch the game.

"How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver." Proverbs 16:16

Hudson's Ring Pop

Several weeks ago at Chase's football game we let Colton take the little kids to the snack shack. He chose to get Hudson a ring pop. This is something I would never do. This is why.



















Throw in a little (or a lot of) dirt, and it makes for a pretty fun time for a little guy.

These pictures are straight out of the camera, taken in the late evening sun. I've not spent much time editing photos lately. Gotta concentrate on school. So, someday I may choose to work on them a bit.

"The wise in heart will be called prudent, and sweetness of the lips increases learning." Proverbs 16:21

Jackson's Hand

Several weeks ago Jackson hurt his hand during the Dike-New Hartford JV football game on a Tuesday night. He got stepped on during the first half, but went on to play the rest of the game. He made several catches during the second half, had some great tackles, and some big runs as well.

After the game he told us his hand hurt, and it had started to swell. We took him to the office and shot some x-rays, but couldn't conclusively find any fractures. We decided to ice it and take some more pictures the next day. Same story the next day. The navicular bone looked suspicious, so we decided to have him see an orthopaedic doctor to get a second opinion. We needed to see his primary doc to get the referral to the ortho, but couldn't get in until late Wednesday afternoon. He gave us the referral, but we couldn't get in to the ortho until Friday morning. He shot some more x-rays, but still couldn't see if there was a fracture, so ordered a cat scan. We were able to go straight to the hospital and have the scan. His hand continued to be quite swollen.




Shannon got the results from the scan late Friday afternoon, with the diagnosis of a fractured 2nd metacarpal, which was a blessing because it is much less serious than a navicular fracture. Monday morning we went back to the ortho doc, and he casted Jack's hand. We went back a week later for another x-ray, which the doctor said "looked good", but I'm doubtful he could even see the fracture, since it didn't show up originally on an x-ray, and this time they were shooting through his cast, too. He's said Jack needed to keep the cast on another three weeks.

Jackson played his first game with the cast last week. He was wrapped up like a mummy, but it was better than standing on the sidelines passing out water bottles.



He only played defense, and did an okay job. He had one pass come directly at him, got both hands up to catch it, and --THUNK-- it bounced right off. At least he was able to break up the play, but it was frustrating to watch.

He's been begging us all week to take the cast off. It stinks like sweaty socks. It's itchy. The list of complaints goes on and on. We're still holding off on removing it.

I think there are still three weeks of JV football left. He's anxious to get back into the game.

"The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy." Proverbs 15:30

Thankful Thursday

I really can't believe another week has flown by. I say this all the time, but time is just flying away from us. Will I remember all of the sweet things my kids say, or will I focus on the stressfulness of our busy life? I'm striving to focus on the positives, and BE more positive.

~ I'm thankful for my bible. I've been making a concerted effort lately to read it EVERY DAY. I KNOW it is important to do so to continue to grow spiritually, but unfortunately, when things get hectic, bible time seems to be one of the first things to go. Shameful. So. I'm continuing on. I've been reading mostly in the New Testament the past week or so. Lots of good stuff there. Very convicting. Isn't it funny how one is led right to the passage of scripture that one most needs to hear (read-or get smacked over the head with???)?

~ I'm thankful that Jackson's hand is healing well. We were back to the orthopaedic doctor this week. He says three more weeks with the cast. We'll see.

~ I'm thankful that Alex has remained injury free throughout the football season, except for the expected bumps and bruises.

~ I'm thankful for Chase's football team. They're always fun to watch play, and more times than not, they win. Tonight Chase scored 4 touchdowns and had 14 tackles. But who's counting?

~ I'm thankful for boxed cake mixes. Tomorrow is my week to make cake for the Varsity football team, and I just don't feel like baking from scratch.

~ I'm thankful for the progress we have made in school this week. We got off to a good start in early August, then hit several bumps in the road. We're back on track, and everyone knows what is expected of himself/herself until January 10, 2010.

~ I'm thankful for Shannon. He bears the weight of our world on his shoulders, but rarely complains, and gives all of himself for our family. He's my hero.

~ I'm thankful for the rain we've been getting this week. There's much less dust from our gravel road. And I'll be very thankful if it stops raining during the football game tomorrow night, and during soccer games on Saturday.

~ I'm thankful we're having guests for dinner on Saturday. It motivates me to clean things I might not normally clean on a weekly basis.

~ I'm thankful for the new DVR. It's awesome being able to watch a show and fast forward through commercials.

~ I'm thankful for Target's Strawberry, Orange, and Banana juice mix. It's yummy.

~ I'm thankful it's bedtime. I'm tired.

"So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have instructed you today, even you." Proverbs 22:19

Hardwood Floors

Back in August I posted about tearing out our living and dining room carpet here. We finished the project over Labor Day weekend.

Saturday morning we finished making the repairs to the floor by replacing the damaged planks. I regret now that I didn't take any pictures of the process, as demo is always fun. It involved a series of plunge cuts with the circular saw into the damaged plank, removing a center section of the board, then prying out the outside tongue and groove sections. Shannon bought me a dremmel to help with the cutting. We also used a rip saw, and anything else to get those old 99 year old boards out of there! It was a tedious process, but turned out well in the long run.

After the repairs were done, we headed into town to buy our supplies. We rented an orbital sander to smooth out the imperfections. Shannon manned the big sander as Jackson and I used hand sanders around the hard-to-reach edges.


A little ways into the project we learned that the sander was more effective if we added some weight onto it. Needless to say, we had a lot of volunteers for this assignment.



This is the point where I stopped taking pictures. It got pretty dusty and messy, so I packed up the camera and put it away.

After sanding with three different grits of sandpaper, we cleaned and prepped the floor for staining. We got the first coat on Saturday night, and after all of the clean-up, finally got to bed about 2 A.M.

Sunday morning Shannon loaded up all of the kids and took them to church while I stayed home and put a second coat of stain on the floors. We took the family out for lunch, visited Papa Joe in his skilled nursing home, returned the sander to the rental store, and anything else we could think of the keep the kids out of the house!

Bryce, Colton, and Chase had gone to my sister's house with my parents for the weekend, so we only had the bigs and the littles at home. Alex, Jackson and Abbie spent a lot of time entertaining the littles so we could continue to work without adding footprints to the floor.

By late Sunday night we had two coats of stain and the stain sealer applied to the floor. Monday morning we got up and began applying the polyurethane. After seven coats, we called it quits.

We're very pleased with the results. The floors are by no means perfect, and we ended up with some weird stain phenomenon when we applied the sealer, but it is SO MUCH better than carpet.





We're thinking that they would look inconsistent with the rest of the house if they WERE perfect, so to us, imperfect is just perfect.


This is my favorite part of the whole project. We realize that it was optimistic to think that we could keep all of the children out of the hallway, living room, and dining room for three whole days. Sunday evening while the stain was still a little sticky, Hudson attempted to make the jump from the kitchen to the stairs leading up to his room.



He didn't quite make it, and left a sweet little footprint on the floor. I just couldn't bring myself to stain over it, so it will stay with our house until someone more ambitious than I, decides to do away with it.

We still need to stain and install the quarter-round trim in both rooms. It's been too humid to stain this week, so the trim is still waiting in the garage. It's not going anywhere.

This is one more project we can cross off the "to-do" list.

"Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble." Proverbs 3:23

Thankful Thursday

It's been a couple weeks again since I've blogged. There just seem to be so many things to do, and computer time got bumped to the bottom of the list.

I have lots of things to be thankful for today.

* Jackson's hand is healing nicely.

* Chase is feeling better after getting banged up in his football game Monday.

* There are lots of groceries in the house.

* The basement got cleaned last weekend.

* The hardwood floors have been refinished (more pictures to come soon).

* We've been to the fitness center every night this week (well, except tonight).

* Laundry is caught up.

* FOOTBALL tomorrow night.

We've got a really busy weekend on tap. I'll try to post more early next week. I've got football pictures, little kid pictures, broken hand pictures, and more.


"The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish, but He casts away the desire of the wicked." Proverbs 10:3