Update!!

Well, I don't have any pictures to post but I do have some news! If you read my last entry you read that Wyatt was going to participate in the State Competition at Greensburg for basketball..... Well he won 1st place!! We were all soooo excited! I did take pictures so dont think I'm a bad mother I just don't have them with me to post! If you get the Loogootee Tribune his picture will be in there along with the others that won. AAU basketball gets underway this weekend at Mitchell. Here goes another busy couple months!

Madisyn has been sick the last couple of days so I stayed home with her Monday and Tuesday. she had the normal fever, sorethroat, headache, belly ache! She is much better now! We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our nephew/cousin, Collin James, any day now! My sister is soooo ready to have him and so are we! Pray that her delivery will go smoothly!! :)

Wyatt- 1st place

Wyatt had participated in the Tri-Star Basketball Competition first that was held at Loogootee Elementary East on Jan. 31st. This competition is for kids ages 8-13 and is based on individual skills. You have 3 stations to complete- one is passing skills where you have to make different passes and hit a designated target, second is shooting skills where you have to shoot free-throws and outside shots, and third is dribbling around cones while being timed for speed. The judges calculate your scores at the end and award you 1st or 2nd from your age group. Wyatt won second place at Loogootee's and then he went to Regionals at Huntingburg this past weekend on Sunday to participate. We were all so proud of him and I was sooooo nervous! I didn't even watch him shoot! How silly, right? As you can tell by the picture below he wasn't a bit nervous! He drives me crazy! HaHa- Anyways, our kids from Loogootee served us well! Out of the 6 age groups, Loogootee brought home 1st place 4 of them! Wyatt's first station was the dribbling one which wasn't too hard for me to watch, the second was his shooting which I couldn't watch, and the third was the passing drill! He scored 100%!! Man, again, we were so excited!!! He talked non-stop all the way home! He is now advancing the State competition held Greensburg, In on Feb. 22nd along with the other winners! So, we are anxiously waiting for the 22nd!

Wyatt waiting to begin the competition! He is too calm and collected for me to handle! HaHa


Part of his fan club- my cousin Shalane, my great-aunt Nena, my cousin Deb, and of course, my princess Madisyn and the superstar Wyatt!! HaHa


Below are the winners from Loogootee- Macey Baxter for girl's, Wyatt for 11 yr. olds, Bailey Dearwester for 8 yr. olds, Matt Mathies for 13 yr. olds, Jayden Waggoner for 9 yr. olds, and Emily Bateman for girl's. Congratulations to all of these Loogootee kids!!



Madisyn, Wyatt, and his proud Mom!!

Winter Wonderland!

I know I am posting a little late after the big snow.....but oh well! Had some pics to share and as you can tell my kids and our dogs love snow! ( I love it more I think though!!)

Here, Winston, Molly, and Raegan are wanting us to come out and play!

Just a pic of Doug digging me out so I can at least get out of my driveway! He also so kindly built a big pile for the kids ( and dogs) to play with!



A view from the tractor as Doug and I were going down the road...so pretty and white! Did I tell you that I love snow?!

Wyatt and Molly on top of the pile of snow! Those dogs just followed the kids right up on top! They had a blast!

Who's King of the Mountain? Well, looks like Madisyn and Molly at this time! Sorry, Wyatt! They would have played outside all day if I would have let them! I kept thinking that they would come in where it was warm and fall fast asleep because they had played so long and hard outside.....yeh, right!! They wanted hot chocolate and then were ready to go some more!! I wish I had their energy!

Trip to Nashville!

The kids and I got to spend the week after Christmas in Nashville thanks to my dad and Patsy! We had a really nice condo right across from the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Opry Mills! The Christmas lights were awesome! My mom and stepdad decided to go along with us which made the trip even more fun! Opry Mills is the big shopping mall right there and I have to say that was Madisyn's most favorite place! The first night we ate at the Rainforest Cafe' which is a favorite of the kids. The wait was 2 hrs. so we spent that time in Bass Pro Shops easily! On New Year's Eve we went back to Rainforest Cafe' for a "volcano" which is a whoppin dessert! (Courtesy of my mom!) At the Gaylord we took the boat ride around inside the hotel which was really neat! We were gone from Monday to Thursday which was nice because it still gave us a long weekend before going back to school!

Christmas...a little late!

I know, I know.....Im slow at getting things put on here! We all had a great Christmas and I hope everyone else did! I love reading everyones blogs and getting updated! We are always busy like everyone else. Christmas Eve we went to my baby sisters for Christmas with my dad which is always nice! Christmas morning the kids and I got up about 4:30, whew! Then we went to my moms for Christmas breakfast which is a ritual! Then the kids went with their dad for the rest of the day to celebrate Christmas with him! I just had a couple pictures that I just had to post from Christmas! First is of my dad (due date unkown!) and my baby sister who is due March 3rd with Collin James!!

and of course the jokester (following in his grandpas footsteps!) Wyatt showing his belly compared to Natalie! Of course, just so you all know, both my dad and Wyatt were kind of sticking those bellies out! Well, Wyatt was! HaHA

We all ended up having a great Christmas! I love getting together and eating and all the conversations that go around the table during the day! I'm also glad when it is over because it gets to be so hectic sometimes! Wyatt and Madisyn both were happy I believe with their large load of items from everyone! I tell everybody every year not to get them sooo much stuff but for some reason it never really works that way! Oh well! We are all very thankful for what we have! Here is a picture of my two happy little "elves" Christmas morning!

Makin up for lost time- sorry!!

Well, thought I better take a minute to update a little since I haven't updated since Oct.! Boy I'm bad! No pictures right now though! Wyatt is busy with basketball being in full swing now. He had his first game at Worthington on Monday and I was soooo proud of them! They won and boy have they really improved! A lot of the boys on his team have a lot of talent so it is fun to watch them and gets better every year! He is what he calls the "shooting" guard on the team. He scored 12 pts and had quite a few assists! He tells me to video so I won't yell too much ( can't help it I just get excited)! We got home and he had to watch the video to critique himself! Oh my! His next game is Saturday at Holland! Madisyn is excited because she has a cheer clinic Saturday that she does every year. The girls go to the school for a few hrs. and the cheerleaders teach them cheers and they have pizza, etc... That night at the Varsity/JV game the girls get to "perform" their cheer! They think they are so big! It is really neat. Later they will do a Lionette dance clinic the same way.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I've been trying to read everyones blog to keep up and sounds like everyone did! I had to work at the Quick Care in Washington so I dropped my two off at their grandparents/dads house in Washington for a few hrs. so they could eat their fill on turkey/noodles and the goodies. They were sooo sweet and even brought mommy a plate full over to work! We weren't very busy at work so the day went slow. I had to work the weekend at Quick Care too so they kids stayed at their dads on Friday. Wyatt went quail hunting with his dad, grandpa, uncle, and cousin and shot a couple! He was sooo proud! He practiced on Thanksgiving day shooting clay pigeons. Saturday they went to my sisters house to help her pick out her Christmas tree and decorate it which is always a treat for them. Next year will be even better because my little nephew Collin will be around!!!! Sunday they had Thanksgiving at my moms with my family! From what I hear everyone had a good time sitting around eating and socializing like normal! I hate that I missed it! They did save me a plate again though!

Oh, by the way- I did do the crazy Black Friday shopping thing for a few hrs at Bloomington! I conned Doug in to going with me to the mall, Kohls, and Sams. I took him to Texas Roadhouse though so he didn't complain much! HaHa
He had never been in a Sams, Target, the mall, etc. Oh My!!! Well better go for now! Update later!

Las Vegas Adventure!!!

Well I recently arrived home from a 5 day trip to Vegas which was pretty interesting for a country girl like me!! We left Thursday morning and got back home late Monday night- I absolutely couldn't believe the amount of people gambling away their money!! I don't even want to know how much money is wasted out there! ( I will admit I gambled $4 on the 1cent slots just to say I did it!) We went out for a wedding that was on Saturday which was definately interesting! The wedding chapel was next to an adult porn store, the woman at the counter didn't speak English well, the minister was a big black "Jamaican-man", and there weren't even 15 pictures good enough to order!!! I'm glad it wasn't my wedding but the kids didn't care just as long as they got married! It was comical but still sweet! We did get a 1 hr. limo ride which was spent in traffic on the strip! (Saturday night) I'm glad I went and would probably go back but not for 5 days! There were some really neat things out there that I will always remember--the fountains at the Bellagio were gorgeous, going up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, the 911 tribute at the New York-New York, the Grand Canyon from the plane window headed home......

The newlyweds: Ryan and Tiffany (Taylor) Swartzentruber


Well.....we were on the strip somewhere......

A few pics from the Bellagio fountains which do not do it justice!!! At night time it is lit up and plays to music!! It is awesome!!