Fall Festivals and Candy

tonight we were invited to our good friend's beau and melissa's church for their annual fall festival. after grabbing some candy and playing a few games we went back to their place for some pizza and orange and black cupcakes (i don't even wanna KNOW what they have to do to make black icing or what it is doing to my children's insides right now!)

the kids were a good fairy, a bad fairy (or to be PC, one that makes poor life choices), anakin skywalker, a ladybug, and a really really cute little tiny lion who was almost perfect from 6-9 (which after last weekend, she owed me)

anyway, hope everyone else had an excellent weekend. oh yeah BTW, jere and i were dressed as the parents of 5 children :)

blessings,

cole

"you're a good band anson high!"

well this weekend we went to north richland hills for the area marching band competition and long story (and long day) short, we came in 5th out of 22 bands and you need to be in the top 4 to continue on to state. we were devastated :(but jere did say the good news is that means we're alternates, "so if everyone on any of the other 4 bands dies or fails we get to go to state!!!"

everyone cried and like jere said i would have rather come in dead last than to know we missed it by 2 points. the good news is that they were awesome and incredible! and i know they say size doesn't matter but the top 4 bands were 100 plus students, we only have 50 so i think we held our own quite well. the kids were great, crushed but great. the biggest bummer is that this is kelsey's last year to compete. blythe however has 2 more chances (which she mentioned to kelsey about 5 bajillion times, don't you just love siblings?)

mom rode down with me for company and staci b showed up for support and we had a really great time. well great time once grandma showed up and REMOVED ella-sophie from the premises. she nor i were at our best saturday, she didn't want to be there, and i didn't want to be the mother of a bratty 16 month old. (yes i said bratty and if you had been there you'd have agreed with me!)

izzy and elle went home with grandma and papa for the afternoon after harry and vanessa had seen the kids march the first time. this was majorly HELPFUL AND APPRECIATED since the entire competition didn't end until midnight. we left at 9:15 to go and get the little ones from saginaw, but jere and the band didn't leave until midnight or even make it back to anson until 3:45 which meant my family didn't get home until 4:30 a.m. :( all and all it was a pretty long weekend.

but i can say this from this whole experience. i understand my husband's job a bit better and appreciate just how hard he works for not only his family but his school and those kids as well.

The cutest band director EVER!!!!



this was a t-shirt the his brass section got him to wear on saturday.




i love you jeremiah, kelsey, and blythe. you guys are awesome and i couldn't be prouder!!!

monday!!!!

okay on monday and tuesdays daddy and the girls stay in anson and don't usually get home before 10 because they have marching practice from 7-9 and since blythe has cheer practice until 5:30 there is really no reason for them to drive the 22 miles in and then back again. they usually eat something off the 99 cent menu at Sonic or with rob (the other band director) and his family.



wednesday night they meet us at church at 6 and of course we have church and come home around 8:30 everyone goes to a seperate class and since i teach jere and i don't even get to hang out. so we really don't spend much time this night either.

thursday night is game night for blythe. jere usually comes home and drops kelsey off to watch the other kids and he and i go to blythe's games til around 9 when they are over.



friday night is football and they don't bother coming home, depending on whether or not it is away or home determines if we will see them that night.

saturday are band or choir competition days and sunday is church.

so today i decided to suprise jere and the girls and have him "meet" me in hawley. hawley is a small town half way between abilene and anson. the suprise was i had made brisket and home-made potato salad and sweet tea and instead of meeting to grab food from me, we actually had a picnic at the elementary school playground.



it was awesome, the only downer was blythe had to stay and finish cheer practice, but the good news was the weather, food, and kids were perfect. we had a great time.



hope your monday's went just as well,

Blessings,

cole

hey brother

spending most of the morning listening to one of my favorite mixes of counting crows, the soundtrack from "so i married an axe murderer", (still one of my all time FAV soundtracks) and blues traveler and it made me think of you.

i just wanted you to know i'm really proud of you and i love you and i miss you brother.

peace, love, light, prayers, and blessings for you,

cole

I'M ALIVE!!!

well i have bravely stood in the trenches bathing hot heads, medicating yucky coughs, and serving up soup and saltines like nobody's business since last wednesday night after church.

my fear and motivation? my drive? THE FLU!!! we didn't want it and i was going to make sure we didn't get it and we DIDN'T!! all of my children (except for kelsey, i guess at 16 you really DO know how to cover a cough and wash your hands and not drink after others) has been sick but with nothing over 72 hours. they've all coughed or ran temp but no flu!!! dr. shah said izzy probably had pneumonia again and for me to medicate as usual (thank God we have a nebulizer at home!)

that was great until saturday night when my fever spiked and I was the one really sick :( but just like the kids i was back up and running by tuesday!

now here's the weird part. ella-sophie has run a fever off and on, never two days consecutively, since last wednesday and yesterday we ran her in to the peds (she is the only one of the kids who has not had the flu shot) to see when we could get one and she has been really, really, really, fussy for the past two nights and just really only wanted to be held. our ped looked at her and said, "well she seems fine to me, but let's just do the swab for flu and strep."

Ella-Sophie has the flu!!! he said she has probably had it since last week and is almost done, but that she is doing really well handling it. she is amazing!!!! today she has napped as usual and snuggled but she is doing pretty good, just wants to be held and i can totally handle that.

through this whole week though JACK has been amazing. jere and the big girls have been gone for games, school, and competitions but he has helped me every inch of the way and been such a BIG BOY!

HOORAY FOR JACKSON!!!! MOMMY LOVES YOU MISTER MAN!!!

hope your weeks are going alright,

cole

Fun on the Tramp!

WHY!!! CAN'T I BE ON THE TRAMPOLINE!!!

well some of you may or may not know this but my mom was just recently diagnosed with diabetes. bam!!! no warning, not change your diet, just take a pill this is serious.

it's actually been an incredible blessing. mom was dragging her feet about getting back into shape and now she has absolutely no reason not too, in fact her life depends upon it. given everything wrong with my dad, he ALWAYS did what his doctor said and we still lost him 12 years ago (in 8 days actually) while this disease IS manageable and my mom will die one day, but not from diabetes. and like my mom said, she has 11 good reasons to comply with her doctors orders (i counted 14, but apparently her grand kids out rate her kids :)

anyway mom has been GREAT about watching what she eats and has started exercising again (she and frank hit the pavement every weeknight, that poor pug huffs and puffs the whole way, but he's dragging mom :) and with that new found spirit of energy we have also seen a wild and crazy marmee out and about with the grand kids giving them a real "what for."

here's some pics from this past weekend, we ran up for the day to hang out, watch satellite (jere and the oldest two are addicts), and have a good ol fashion shrimp boil, which was INCREDIBLE! (thanks mom and pawpaw)

hope your week is going great and everyone is enjoying the rain!!

blessings,

cole

caution, there are actually more than 2 pics in this blog!

between staci, andrea, and danell i think you guys are rubbing off, i've never had this many pics in a post before :) it's just crazy!!!!

>
isabel wanted everyone to see her duck egg she found at the pond with uncle beau sunday. i just liked the shot :) what can i say, i'm partial.

i also wanted to thank you everyone for taking time out of your busy days to send me and my family good thoughts and prayers. i honestly can say that i felt each kind thought from everyone.

this weekend we are going to take it easy. saturday we are doing nothing except for sleeping and the park, sunday is our pastor's 10th anniversary at our church so we have a picnic, then i'm sure we'll have afternoon napping and finally, the girls have monday off so we are going to spend some "quality" time bonding over their closet :) i know they are looking forward to this just as much as me.

please continue to think of us daily as this battle is not over.

on a lighter note here is another cheesy family pic, this time you can actually see our faces :)


blessings and a great weekend,

cole

ps, this last pic was a disaster, but in a good way, that blury bit of camo is our good friend melissa (the kids faux auntie) who came with us to the pond to try to "help" with the baby. she did a great job! how much weight to you suppose jere is supporting :D



AND FINALLY! I THOUGHT I WOULD ALSO SEND A SHOUT OUT TO MY BEAUTIFUL 14 YEAR OLD BABY GIRL BLYTHE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEPS! you arrived 4 weeks early and have not slowed down since. i admire your sense of style, determination, and your continual quest for justice and fairness for the little guy. you are an inspiration and a blessing to your mommy. i love you and am so proud of you baby girl.