Political future?

Eric's political aspirations are off to a successful start.  He was elected to both Lewis and Clark Student Council and President of his 4H club.  Imagine his devastation to learn this:

http://senate.la.gov/lafleur/

bandwagon

Yeah....I kind of fell of the 365 photo challenge bandwagon.....oh well.
But, 95% of my Christmas shopping is done, my kitchen is mostly spotless, the laundry is nearly done, so I still feel like a winner.

Clean up

The clean up begin's at Saundi's home :-(

Washington, IL

My dear friend and college roommate Saundi lives in Washington, IL, which was leveled today by tornadoes.  These are pictures she put on facebook

This was her minivan.  It was found 2 houses down and one house over.  The tile flooring underneath it makes me think it dropped on what used to be a bathroom or entryway. 

The other side of these trees is what 'used to be' their neighborhood.

Her family is safe.  To make things even more fun, she just had major knee reconstruction 2 weeks ago, and is non-weightbearing.  

Mavericks vs Bombers

The Mavericks faced the Bismarck Bombers this afternoon for 3rd place.  We faced them twice last year, and won both times.  In both meetings, the Mavericks had solid leads at halftime, and then barely won the game.

Jonathan got to start this game, which he was very excited for!

He is wearing #23 this year.  Our team ordered new uniforms, so he was able to pick his number.

 That's Jonathan going up for a shot.  He scored one basket this game, giving him a tournament total of 12 points.

 Fighting for the rebound

 Fighting for the rebound

 Really fighting for the rebound

As always, the Bombers came back to tie the game, and the last few minutes were very tense.  They took the lead once or twice.  They tied it up with just seconds left.  Our new star point guard drove down the court, and was fouled, giving him bonus.  He sunk the first one, and missed the second.  The Bombers got the rebound, and their coach called timeout.  J was on the bench the last few minutes of the game, but was put back in for the last 1.2 seconds to defend the inbound.  The ball was caught by a Maverick.  Whew!  (Trivia....the tall man in the doorway wearing the white hat is my boss.  His son's team played the next game.)

Very good game by both teams.  The Bombers' coach is a friend of Don's.  I give him kudos for calling a timeout for our team's benefit earlier in the game.  One of our players tripped and landed hard on his hip.  The Bombers got the ball and ran their offense.  Tyler was still on the floor crying on our end of the court, and the refs wouldn't let our coach call timeout to help him, since we were now on defense.  The Bomber's coach called a time out to stop the play.

Mandan Mavericks' season opener

The Mandan Mavericks' opened the 2013-14 season this afternoon.  This tournament is hosted by the Mandan Girls' basketball club.  They played the Fire first, a team they have yet to beat in 3 match ups.  Today had the same fate as the other games.  The Mavs were competitive the first half, but struggled with rebounding in the 2nd half, and lost by 15 points.  Overall, they played very well for just having 3 practices this season.  Jonathan had 6 points and 8 rebounds (I think....)
In the 2nd game, they played the Capital City Heat.  They use the Miami Heat logo on their uniforms.  They have really cool long sleeve warm ups.  The Mavs won by 25 points or so.  Jonathan had 4 points in this game.

R and R

There is no better way to relax than watching football...unless your team loses.

The little things

I love watching the kids sleep.... Once I can find them under the covers and pillows that is....

Contentment

Kacy is quite content in the entertainment center.  Jonathan took this picture.

photography

A recap of the annual school pics of the kids

Progress

Eric and Ethan completing High 5 push ups. After each push up, they have to give 5 while maintaining push up form.  When Brett leads Krav Maga class, it is brutal.  At least 100 push ups during class!

Homemade

Bacon cheeseburger soup.  Yum. E.

Simple pleasures

Eric had a companion on his lap while taking an AR test tonight.  The cats prefer him over the other 2 kids.....

Birthday

This boy has a birthday on November 28th.  We will miss his bowling party this year.  Happy 5th bday!

Boundless Spirit

Huxley is staying with us this weekend.  Yesterday, he and Megan had fun playing in the leaves.  Ahh....to be young again.

Megan's own photography challenge

Megan took my camera for a bit while I was cooking supper.  These are straight out of the camera

Colorful

Today's assignment is 'colorful'.  These are my new running shoes.  Ordered Saturday via zappos.com.  Delivered Monday.  Women's size 12 Mizuno Wave Riders.  Today on my run I was 20 seconds faster per mile than my PR 5K pace.  Coincidence?

Quiet moments

Jack the chihauhau is still a boy's best buddy.  Eric and Jack has some quiet time on the couch today while watching Marvel/Shield

Simple Pleasures

I needed to take 2 pics to complete the 'simple pleasures' assignement.
On the 3rd day of odd numbered months, the mailman delivers the newest edition of Lego Club Magazine for Eric.  Since the 3rd of the month was on a non-mail delivery day, he was expecting his issue in today's mail.

The shutter speed/aperture settings for each pictures are the same.  Can you tell how fast he is running in to the house to look at his Lego Club???

Challenges

Today's photo assignment is "Challenges"

Jonathan, Megan, and I went to Dreams in Motion's basketball game this afternoon.  (Eric stayed home to chill out away from his siblings.)  All participants use a wheelchair.  They played in the 'recreation' game.  The other half of the gym had a competitive game.  Competitors were made up of members of the Mandan Boys' b-ball team and young men who use wheelchairs.
Dreams is such a great organization to help kids and young adults with physical disabilities participate in sports.  One of its members in now playing competitive wheelchair basketball at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Master Chef Kids

One of Jonathan's 4H projects for the year is cooking.  Last night, he made one of his favorite dishes:  Touchdown Meatloaf.  It's meatloaf formed into the shape of a football, covered with a BBQ sauce and decorated with slices of provolone cheese.  The recipe is from the Betty Crocker Kids' cookbook he received as a last day of school present.  He also made some individual peach pies.  Well, I really made most of those, as we had a spontaneous guy time hangout session with Ryan.

 He has a notebook to journal all of his cooking adventures, highlighting what he learned, how he liked the dish, and if there is anything he would do different next time.  One thing he can add for yesterday's cook off is "T=Tablespoon, t=teaspoon"  Let's just say our meatloaf had a slightly stronger Italian Seasoning taste to it.

 The finished product.   Maybe next time he can place the meatloaf on a bed of lettuce to look like a football field!

Do you think they liked it?  1.5 pounds of beef were used in the recipe, and Megan and I don't really eat meatloaf.