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Wednesday, February 5th, 2012

Time for another quick update before another week gets underway. I'm going to make this quick... I have one update to add to the site this week, and that is the most recent victory for Samantha's basketball team. You can see the pictures by going to the Current Events page and clicking on Samantha's Basketball.

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2012

Just a quick addition to yesterday's update - I have added Game 2 to Tyler's Basketball page.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Today is my one day during the week without a million activities scheduled, so I am doing my best to get the site updated before I fall way behind! I don't have a lot of information to provide this time around, so I will get right to the updates...

Samantha played in her third basketball game of the season on Saturday, January 28th. Her team was 2-0 heading into the game, and this game was a close battle throughout the entire contest. I won't give away the result here - you can see for yourself by clicking on Samantha's Basketball on the Current Events page.

Tyler's basketball team played their first game of the season on Monday, January 30th. Tara & I weren't too sure what to expect, starting a new school sport without any real prior experience, but things went pretty well. Of course, it is just one game, but we are hoping that they all end up with similar results! To see how this game went, click on Tyler's basketball on the Current Events page.

The final addition to the site this time around is the addition of the Ambassador Program page. This is the program through my work that lets me borrow a new GM vehicle to test drive for a weekend/week and to let others drive it as well, all with the hopes of selling more cars. We were able to borrow a 2012 GMC Acadia Denali for the weekend, and Tara & I loved it! You can see my review and some pictures by going to the Current Events page and clicking on Ambassador Program.

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I would do a better job of keeping the website up to date, but already I find myself falling behind. I don't suppose the 10 hour workdays (starting with with a 3:30am alarm) along with cooking dinner, running to dance, hockey, basketball, and soccer practices seemingly every evening plus the attempts to catch up on homework all before I get a chance to climb in bed has anything to do with that, though! With Tara in school now, the vast majority of this running falls squarely on my shoulders. It has only been two weeks so far, and it really isn't too bad... assuming the kids actually make the effort to be ready to go on time each night! Fat chance of that happening!

Let's see... I have two updates this time around, with more to follow after this coming weekend. The first event from this past weekend was Samantha's second basketball game of the year. Her team pulled out their second victory, so the season is off to a great start. You can read more about this game (and her previous game) by clicking on Samantha's Basketball on the Current Events page. The second update is a biggie! Drew celebrated his seventh birthday on Sunday with a bunch of his family and friends at Holly Lanes. This was his first big birthday party, so he was very excited about the entire experience.

Monday, January 16th, 2012

What a crazy weekend that was! Friday was a relatively calm night... Samantha had a hair appointment at 5:30pm, and Tyler went to spend some time at his friend Ryan's house for a while. Aside from the running around to get them to their appropriate places, it was a relaxing evening. Tyler brought Ryan home with him so that they could partake in our Saturday activities together.

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning to take a drive for our annual visit to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. We spent a few hours wandering around the various displays from automakers all over the world - including one from right here in Holly! - before we decided to head out for a bite to eat. A quick People Mover ride to Greektown allowed us the opportunity to eat at one of our favorite pizza places, Pizzapapalis! After our ride back to Cobo on the People Mover, we headed out of Detroit with the destination being IKEA this time. Finally, after doing some shopping and some bedroom planning for the kids, we were on our way home.

Sunday wasn't busy from a standpoint of running all over the place, but we got a lot of chores done around the house. Tara turned into Ms. Suzy Homemaker, sewing curtains for the living room and our bedroom, as well as making new covers for a lot of throw pillows for our bed. Sam headed off to play at one of her friends house, while Tyler and & I went on a 2.9 mile run in the freezing cold. We also were busy making lasagna for dinner, doing laundry and dishes, and taking care of other miscellaneous chores. And I can't leave out having fun with the kids - whether it was playing video games with Tyler (and boy, do I suck at this Modern Warfare thing!), watching a movie with the kids at dinner, and just playing tickling and teasing all of them! Oh, and trying to get this update completed, of course!

I have two new additions to the website this time around. Up first is the pictures from our trip to the auto show. As I explained above, we packed in quite a bit of activity during our day long trip, which you can read further about by going to the NAIAS - Auto Show link on the Current Events page. The second addition doesn't include any pictures yet, but it will in early February. I have added the schedule for Tyler's latest basketball activity, as he officially has made his schools seventh grade basketball team! I must admit that Tara & I were both way more nervous for Tyler than we had ever been for anything that ever took place to ourselves during our lifetime! Regardless of how terrible our nerves were, we are both incredibly proud of him. He has worked hard for this, and being a good kid he really deserves this. For now you can check out his team's schedule by clicking on the Tyler's Basketball link on the Current Events page.

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

It is still hard for me to grasp the fact that another whole year has already passed us by. I am proud to say that I have yet to date anything 2011, however (although I probably just jinxed myself on that one). With a new year comes new goals... exercise more, eat less, lose weight, keep the website updated. OK, most people probably don't have that last one on their list of New Years Resolutions. I do, as there were times last year when I found myself falling a few weeks behind with the updates, and then forgetting important details when I finally did find the time to get them done. So, I am going to try to make the time to complete the updates closer to the completion of the event. Try being the key word here.

I have two new additions for this early year update. Up first is the addition of Samantha's Basketball page. It will contain all of her basketball exploits for the 2012 year. For now it has the schedule, game recaps, and pictures of her Broncho Basketball season. If she chooses to play something else later in the year, it will be posted here as well.

The second update is the addition of Drew's Hockey. Like Sam's basketball page, this page will contain all of the information relating to Drew's hockey exploits for 2012. He started off with a game style scrimmage on January 9th, and those pictures are already posted to this page.

For both Sam and Drew's new pages (and all future additions to the site as well), you can either click on the Current Events page or the Update List page to see what is new since your last visit.

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

Welcome, 2012!

What an amazing year 2011 turned out to be for our family. There have been so many changes and exciting things happening that I cannot even begin to recount them all here. There have been so many sporting events and school activities and great outings with family & friends that I wouldn't even know where to start if I had the time to review them all. Let me start off with a recap of where things stand with each of us at the beginning of 2012...

For me, I am just getting into the groove of really getting to know my wife and kids once again. I had a rough few months in 2011, but I am headed in the right direction now. I don't have much going on personally right now, other than being a sports chauffer for the kids. Oh, and there is always that nagging thing called work that I have to attend far too often. I guess you have to pay the bills somehow. If anyone knows of a better job, don't hesitate to let me know about it. I am in need of a professional change!

Tara has an exciting 2012 ahead of her. She is still working for the school district, but on top of that duty she has decided that now is the time for her to head back to college herself. While I don't quite understand her chosen field of study - anthropology... really? - I do know that I will do whatever I can to help her achieve this lifelong goal of hers. For her first semester she will be gone to school three nights a week while I stay home to make sure the kids get to all of their practices in addition to getting their schoolwork done in a timely manner. I know that she is really looking forward to this pursuit, and the entire family is proud of her for finally taking this step. We all know that this is something that she has been wanting to do for a long, long time.

Tyler is a typical preteen boy. Sports consume him, as do video games, girls, and the acceptance of his peers. Tyler has a big tryout coming up in a little over a week, as he attempts to make the 7th grade basketball team. This is the first time that he has had to try out for a sport, and I think we are all a little nervous about his prospects. He is still debating whether or not he wants to give baseball another try this spring, but is leaning towards playing for now. He has some work to do in school - his grades overall aren't too bad, but math definitely isn't his strong suit. Both Tara & I can admit that he comes by that trait honestly, however.

Samantha is keeping busy this winter, playing basketball once again while still keeping up with her soccer training. She also is involved at school, both by being on the Safety Patrol and by serving as a member of SCAPE, which is like a student council. She will be busy in the spring as well, as she will get back into soccer full time once again and baseball season will start anew. She has a decision to make this year once again... softball with the girls or baseball once again? I think she goes back and forth on an almost daily basis!

Drew keeps busy with school, which he loves, and hockey, which he also loves. Hockey takes up two days a week for him, and every time he gets out onto the ice he gets a grin that spreads from ear to ear on his face. Unfortunately for him, one of the hockey days is on Saturday morning, and this has prevented him from trying basketball this year. He wouldn't have been able to play at the same place that Sam will be playing, so this works out for Tara & I. He wasn't happy about it, however. He too will be playing baseball come May, which is his second favorite sport to play.

Jayden finally got involved in a sport this past fall - she is now a dancer. She is taking her first ballet class, and will have a recital later this year. The rest of her time is spent at home with the sitter while Dad & Mom work and shuffling between all of the practices for her brothers and sisters. This isn't the ideal way she would choose to spend her free time, but she is a real trooper about it.

Well, there you have it. You now know what is going on with our family at the beginning of this new year. I have added a bunch of updates to the site to keep you informed with our 2011 exploits, but I am not going to list them all here. You can go to the Updates List page to see them listed out, or you can click on the Current Events page and look for the Updated! or New links. I know that these items no longer belong on the Current Events page, but since I don't have any pictures to add yet from 2012, I have decided to leave them there for now. The next update will have all of these links on the 2011 version of the Past Events page. For now, enjoy!

To see what is new since your last visit, click on the Update List page - it lists all of the updates in chronological order so that you can easily find anything you may have missed since your last visit. As always, please enjoy the site and come back often. Thanks for visiting!

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