Belated Seasons Greetings.
"Didn't I get a tie this year? Dadgummit!"
It has been a struggle for me to write the Christmas letter. So here goes....Better late than never (or maybe not).
A Christmas Story without the Bumpus hounds from us to you.
January
Confirmation Class - Jamey and Mikey started their year long class to join the church, (First Presbyterian). Sue attended many Sunday School classes while Jamey and Mikey attended their confirmation classes. During one of the classes everyone in the class took a Myers Briggs Type Indicator Test. According to the test, Sue is an INFP with an NF temperament. An INFP are classified as a group "performing noble service to aid society." INFPs enjoy reading, discussing and reflecting on the possibilities for positive change in the future.
A Christmas Story without the Bumpus hounds from us to you.
January
Confirmation Class - Jamey and Mikey started their year long class to join the church, (First Presbyterian). Sue attended many Sunday School classes while Jamey and Mikey attended their confirmation classes. During one of the classes everyone in the class took a Myers Briggs Type Indicator Test. According to the test, Sue is an INFP with an NF temperament. An INFP are classified as a group "performing noble service to aid society." INFPs enjoy reading, discussing and reflecting on the possibilities for positive change in the future.
Joe took the Myers Briggs at home. Joe was classified as an ENTP with an NT temperment but was very close to a ENTJ. His test results were divided.
YMCA Rec League Basketball - Tommy and Davey were on the same team again this year. Tommy gave me a hard time about signing him up to do it. Fortunately Tommy did play the games and do practices with less strife. He would not admit it but he did enjoy it. Jamey and Mikey (Mikey played for the fifth grade school team) had no problem being signed up to play but both tried mightily at times to get out of playing their games or going to their practices. It wore us out. No one is playing basketball this winter.
Indoor Soccer - Jamey and Mikey both played in-door soccer. They won a lot of games and had fun. Jamey missed several games because of ski club.
February
Ski Club - Winter finally arrives. No more mild winter. It snows and is icy cold. Jamey does not have to worry anymore if he will get to ski or not.
Birthday - Joe turns 49. So you know how old he will be next year.
PASA Farming For The Future- I went to a workshop on how to make sauerkraut and another workshop on how to make non-alcoholic fermented beverages. Learned how easy it is to compost with worms. I hung out with Sue and Ellen. Altogether our little trio consisted of Sue, Ellen and me, Sue Ellen. Several people at the conference said that I looked too young to have a senior in high school. One younger single guy did not believe me either nor did he believe that I had 4 kids. He said "If you have 4 kids show me their pictures." I did not have any to show. My fanny pack was in the car. So he said "See you don't have 4 kids." Sue and Ellen made me look bad because they had pictures of their kids with them... It was probably hard for the guy who just met us at the table to believe anything I said after Sue and then Ellen introducted themselves and then I followed introducing myself as Sue Ellen.
"Be Sure to Drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A Crummy Commercial?" - I also had my antioxidant level tested at one of the PASA vendor's booths. It fell into the highest level of the range. The consultant said that so far I had the second highest antioxidant level at the PASA conference. The patented heart healthy grape-seed extract supplement that I take helps to keep you looking younger. (The french paradox. Certain components of red wine keep more than just your heart healthy.) My family and I would also stay younger and healthier if I had actually made and consumed some of our own sauerkraut and ginger ale that the PASA workshops taught me how to make.
From the INFP: If you have not seen The Future of Food 1.5 hour documentary available on Google Video or YouTube, you should watch it!! It was shown at PASA.
Penn State Engineering Day - Tommy and Joe attend. Both are impressed with PSU's nuclear reactor.
American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart - Sue (a.k.a. INFP) co-coordinated the Jump for Heart event at Mikey's elementary school with the gym teacher. It was the first time that the North Dickinson Elementary School held an American Heart Association fund raiser. Thank you to everyone who contributed to it!! The Jump Rope for Heart event raised $3,769.93 in donations from our elementary school. Mikey collected over $400 and was the top fund raiser at the school. Mikey, our neighbors, Allison, Hugh and Anna and I made a tribute wall on the entire school cafeteria wall so each student who raised money could dedicate their efforts to honor someone or in memory of someone.
March
Track - Davey is running track with the high school team. He did ok in the distance events. He likes running cross-country better than track.
La Luz Cafe - Davey juggles working at the cafe with running track. It is a challenge to do both. Davey is getting tutored in math. Joe and Ken, the leader of the band, played a gig at La Luz.
Pitt Honors Day and Engineering Day - Tommy and Sue attended two cold windy snowy days at Pitt. Tommy really liked Pitt except for the weather.
Alarm Will Sound - Joe and Sue attend the last concert. Joe hung out with the musicians after the show at our old farm house on Alexander Spring Rd. Alarm Will Sound moved in as tenants after we had to move out.
April
Travel Team Soccer - Jamey and Mikey both play travel team soccer. We car pool with the Greinisen's and the Wallace's. They have fun.
"What is the Name of the Lone Ranger's Nephew's Horse? Ah... Victor! His Name is Victor." - Sue volunteers at the North Dickinson Elementary School Knowledge-A-Thon. Mikey completes the Knowledge-a-Thon school fund raiser with a perfect score and later swims with his friends at the Knowledge-A-Thon pool party. My hero.
Gig - Joe plays at the California Cafe. He gets paid.
Gigs - Sue attends elementary school room-mother's planning meetings. Sue attends middle school planning meetings for Diversity Day. She chaparones three field trips. Joe points out to her that she is not getting paid for her volunteer time and efforts.
"The Line ENDS Here. It Begins THERE. We have A LOT of people waiting here, so GET GOING!" - Sue goes on two field trips with Mikey. One to Gettysburg and another one to LeTort's environmental center. She leads a groups of five boys including Jamey on a class field trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. When the group assignment were passed out, I wondered why I only had 5 students and my friend next to me was assigned 8 students. I figured it out why later when we compared notes on the ride home. She had several "gifted program" students in her group. Two of my students had never been to anything like an aquarium before. They were so enthusiastic and made the other boys in my group take more time looking at the exhibits and also increased everyone's appreciation and enjoyment. (In seventh grade boys don't usually get excited over educational stuff. It is just not cool. Their innocent enthusiasm made it special.) My friend's 8 students were kinda bored at the aquarium. It was not anything new to them. One of the boys in my group who had never been to Baltimore before made us stop in every gift shop so he could buy a souveiner shot glass. Another boy purchased a Dale Ernhart baseball hat from an out door hat vendor.
"What Would It Be? The Guillotine? Hanging? The Chair? The Rack? The Chinese Water Torture? Hmmph. Mere Child's Play Compared To What Surely Awaited"- At the end, the "shot glass" boy persuaded me to let the group go back to an outdoor vendor to buy a necklace. It was getting late. The necklace vendor was in the opposite direction from the buses. All the other groups were headed to the buses. As we passed them they'd say "You are headed in the wrong direction." He took his time looking around the necklace stand and finally made his purchase. Time to hurry back to the buses. Wait!! There are only three boys. Where are the two that are missing? They told the other boys that they were going to get a frappachino from Star Bucks. Those two boys gave me the slip and Jamey and the two others covered for them. Star Bucks is even farther away from the buses. None of the other middle school groups are in sight. The four of us head for Star Bucks. I was worried. What if I have lost them? What if we don't make it back to the bus on time? We found them at Star Bucks. They had just gotten the all important frappachino. We rush back to the buses. Everyone is getting on the buses. We made it just in time. Now I know why I only had five boys and not eight.
Birthday - Mikey turns 11. We had a party for him at the community center. He and 20 of his closest friends played basketball and indoor soccer and/or ultimate frizbee. It is the last birthday party with friends for our boys. They each got a kids party in addition to a family birthday party at ages 4, 7 and 11.
May
"Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian." - (Diversity Day/Countries of the World Fair at Lamberton Middle School) - When I heard that our group had been assigned to do an African Country, I thought to myself "Why do we have to be the group that gets stuck with the token African Country?"
After much planning, our group of mothers, did Ghana. It was wonderful. We all learned so much and really developed an appreciation for Ghana and its people. I will never again feel like I am getting the short stick if I am tasked with another African country for "Diversity Day".
I was in charge of teaching all 600+ middle school students a game called Oware that is played in Ghana which is similar to Mancula. All 600+ middle school students saw a PowerPoint presentation on Ghana by one of the mothers from our group who had recently done volunteer work as a teacher in Ghana for a month. All 600 plus middle students sampled food, felt what it was like to walk carring various items on their head, learned about the meanings of certain symbols in Ghana art and made a stamp craft with three of the symbols of their own choosing. We had a display with a house/hut, art and manakins in native dress. It was a none stop day with one class of students after another. It was a lot of work but it extremely rewarding!!! If you'd like to see the Ghana PowerPoint, please ask me. I'd gladly show it to you. It was really interesting.
"I'll Thrown In Some Rope And Tie It To Your Car For You." - The Line family player piano was moved from my parents house to our house. We had some trouble with the movers who tried to over charge us twice. After my second call the owner of the moving company actually called back and apologied.
"Four minutes. Time me." (The YMCA Downtown Mile Race)- Davey was signed up to run but could not because he had to save himself for a Carlisle track team meet. Mikey was signed up but did not want to run. Jamey wanted to run but was grounded by his mother and was not allowed to run. Jamey was not signed up to run. Joe thought Jamey should be allowed to run anyway so even though it had already started to thunder, Joe paid the admission fee that afternoon before the start of the race for Jamey. The weatherman had been calling for severe thunder storms. By race time, the thunder and lightning storm was so bad the race had to be cancelled. No one ran.
12th - Belated Birthday Party for Mikey - We rented the Community Center Gym to celebrate Mikey's 11th birthday with 20 of his friends. It was a good one. They played basketball, indoor soccer and/or ultimate frisbee. (It is the last big birthday party with kids that we have to plan. We did kid birthday parties for our sons at ages 4, 7 and 11 except we missed Jamey's 11th and had it for him when he turned 12.)
22nd - Elementary School Track Meet - Mikey ran in the elementary school track meet. North Dickinson won it this year. North Dickinson had not won it since Davey's 5th grade class won it.
Soccer - Joe is playing in an over 40 men's league on the red team. Jamey and Mikey are still playing with their teams.
Birthday - Every May Davey does two things. He gets one year older and he does the Relay for Life. He did them both again this year. Davey is 17.
June
2nd - Tommy had met all the requirements of the National Honor Society except for one little half hour of volunteer service that he still owed. Tommy did not want to do it. A half hour short and he quits. Senioritis. This is where working at the high school comes in handy. I was able to sign him up to work the volunteer catering job with other honor students at Dickinson College for the Friends of Bosler Library party. Joe and I strongly encouraged Tommy to do it. He gave us a hard time about it but he did go and volunteer for the complete party, 2.5 hours. It was a good thing that he did it because they were a little low on catering volunteers.
7th - Graduation - Tommy graduated with honors from high school, class of 2007, license to chill. His friends came over to chill out at our house after the ceremony.
11th - Full-time Summer Job - Tommy started working as a mow it, weed wack it, move it, shovel it, set it up, tear it down, put it together kind of guy for the Army Heritage Museum. He really enjoyed it! When you are driving down Interstate 81, look for the helicopter next to the highway. Tommy helped put that together and set it up on the poles to make it look like it is flying. Davey is still working part-time at La Luz Cafe.
Drum Lessons - Jamey and Mikey are taking summer drum lessons.
Newt - Mikey found a newt and tad poles with Mason at the Mountain Creek Camp Ground. Mikey brought them home.
16th to 22nd - Jamey earns a little money watering a neighbor's garden and outdoor plants. The summer was starting to be dry.
OCNJ Vacation - We went to the beach on our favorite week to go, the last week of June. OCNJ was the vacation desination most requested by our sons. One of the high lights was walking out to the sand bar at low tide at the far end of the island. We found a shark's head and a dead horse shoe crab. Mikey found a live hermit crab. Jamey and Mikey found several live starfish. We found shells and a live mole crab. It was amazing how far out you could walk.
Davey and I also went water skiing in the bay. I wanted to take Tommy and Davey because my parents took me water skiing when I was 17. Tommy did not want to go. Davey was a natural. I was worried that I would not be able to do it. (The last time I water skiied, I was 17.) Davey made me go first and I did! It is exhausting and really fun. Both Davey and I felt the burn in our legs. I just felt the burn a lot sooner than Davey. If you'd like to see a funny skit about feeling the burn... click on Tim on Products at http://www.timhawkins.net/video-audio.htm
Newt - When we got home from vacation we found that newt had eaten all the tad poles.
July
YMCA Rec League Basketball - Tommy and Davey were on the same team again this year. Tommy gave me a hard time about signing him up to do it. Fortunately Tommy did play the games and do practices with less strife. He would not admit it but he did enjoy it. Jamey and Mikey (Mikey played for the fifth grade school team) had no problem being signed up to play but both tried mightily at times to get out of playing their games or going to their practices. It wore us out. No one is playing basketball this winter.
Indoor Soccer - Jamey and Mikey both played in-door soccer. They won a lot of games and had fun. Jamey missed several games because of ski club.
February
Ski Club - Winter finally arrives. No more mild winter. It snows and is icy cold. Jamey does not have to worry anymore if he will get to ski or not.
Birthday - Joe turns 49. So you know how old he will be next year.
PASA Farming For The Future- I went to a workshop on how to make sauerkraut and another workshop on how to make non-alcoholic fermented beverages. Learned how easy it is to compost with worms. I hung out with Sue and Ellen. Altogether our little trio consisted of Sue, Ellen and me, Sue Ellen. Several people at the conference said that I looked too young to have a senior in high school. One younger single guy did not believe me either nor did he believe that I had 4 kids. He said "If you have 4 kids show me their pictures." I did not have any to show. My fanny pack was in the car. So he said "See you don't have 4 kids." Sue and Ellen made me look bad because they had pictures of their kids with them... It was probably hard for the guy who just met us at the table to believe anything I said after Sue and then Ellen introducted themselves and then I followed introducing myself as Sue Ellen.
"Be Sure to Drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A Crummy Commercial?" - I also had my antioxidant level tested at one of the PASA vendor's booths. It fell into the highest level of the range. The consultant said that so far I had the second highest antioxidant level at the PASA conference. The patented heart healthy grape-seed extract supplement that I take helps to keep you looking younger. (The french paradox. Certain components of red wine keep more than just your heart healthy.) My family and I would also stay younger and healthier if I had actually made and consumed some of our own sauerkraut and ginger ale that the PASA workshops taught me how to make.
From the INFP: If you have not seen The Future of Food 1.5 hour documentary available on Google Video or YouTube, you should watch it!! It was shown at PASA.
Penn State Engineering Day - Tommy and Joe attend. Both are impressed with PSU's nuclear reactor.
American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart - Sue (a.k.a. INFP) co-coordinated the Jump for Heart event at Mikey's elementary school with the gym teacher. It was the first time that the North Dickinson Elementary School held an American Heart Association fund raiser. Thank you to everyone who contributed to it!! The Jump Rope for Heart event raised $3,769.93 in donations from our elementary school. Mikey collected over $400 and was the top fund raiser at the school. Mikey, our neighbors, Allison, Hugh and Anna and I made a tribute wall on the entire school cafeteria wall so each student who raised money could dedicate their efforts to honor someone or in memory of someone.
March
Track - Davey is running track with the high school team. He did ok in the distance events. He likes running cross-country better than track.
La Luz Cafe - Davey juggles working at the cafe with running track. It is a challenge to do both. Davey is getting tutored in math. Joe and Ken, the leader of the band, played a gig at La Luz.
Pitt Honors Day and Engineering Day - Tommy and Sue attended two cold windy snowy days at Pitt. Tommy really liked Pitt except for the weather.
Alarm Will Sound - Joe and Sue attend the last concert. Joe hung out with the musicians after the show at our old farm house on Alexander Spring Rd. Alarm Will Sound moved in as tenants after we had to move out.
April
Travel Team Soccer - Jamey and Mikey both play travel team soccer. We car pool with the Greinisen's and the Wallace's. They have fun.
"What is the Name of the Lone Ranger's Nephew's Horse? Ah... Victor! His Name is Victor." - Sue volunteers at the North Dickinson Elementary School Knowledge-A-Thon. Mikey completes the Knowledge-a-Thon school fund raiser with a perfect score and later swims with his friends at the Knowledge-A-Thon pool party. My hero.
Gig - Joe plays at the California Cafe. He gets paid.
Gigs - Sue attends elementary school room-mother's planning meetings. Sue attends middle school planning meetings for Diversity Day. She chaparones three field trips. Joe points out to her that she is not getting paid for her volunteer time and efforts.
"The Line ENDS Here. It Begins THERE. We have A LOT of people waiting here, so GET GOING!" - Sue goes on two field trips with Mikey. One to Gettysburg and another one to LeTort's environmental center. She leads a groups of five boys including Jamey on a class field trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. When the group assignment were passed out, I wondered why I only had 5 students and my friend next to me was assigned 8 students. I figured it out why later when we compared notes on the ride home. She had several "gifted program" students in her group. Two of my students had never been to anything like an aquarium before. They were so enthusiastic and made the other boys in my group take more time looking at the exhibits and also increased everyone's appreciation and enjoyment. (In seventh grade boys don't usually get excited over educational stuff. It is just not cool. Their innocent enthusiasm made it special.) My friend's 8 students were kinda bored at the aquarium. It was not anything new to them. One of the boys in my group who had never been to Baltimore before made us stop in every gift shop so he could buy a souveiner shot glass. Another boy purchased a Dale Ernhart baseball hat from an out door hat vendor.
"What Would It Be? The Guillotine? Hanging? The Chair? The Rack? The Chinese Water Torture? Hmmph. Mere Child's Play Compared To What Surely Awaited"- At the end, the "shot glass" boy persuaded me to let the group go back to an outdoor vendor to buy a necklace. It was getting late. The necklace vendor was in the opposite direction from the buses. All the other groups were headed to the buses. As we passed them they'd say "You are headed in the wrong direction." He took his time looking around the necklace stand and finally made his purchase. Time to hurry back to the buses. Wait!! There are only three boys. Where are the two that are missing? They told the other boys that they were going to get a frappachino from Star Bucks. Those two boys gave me the slip and Jamey and the two others covered for them. Star Bucks is even farther away from the buses. None of the other middle school groups are in sight. The four of us head for Star Bucks. I was worried. What if I have lost them? What if we don't make it back to the bus on time? We found them at Star Bucks. They had just gotten the all important frappachino. We rush back to the buses. Everyone is getting on the buses. We made it just in time. Now I know why I only had five boys and not eight.
Birthday - Mikey turns 11. We had a party for him at the community center. He and 20 of his closest friends played basketball and indoor soccer and/or ultimate frizbee. It is the last birthday party with friends for our boys. They each got a kids party in addition to a family birthday party at ages 4, 7 and 11.
May
"Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian." - (Diversity Day/Countries of the World Fair at Lamberton Middle School) - When I heard that our group had been assigned to do an African Country, I thought to myself "Why do we have to be the group that gets stuck with the token African Country?"
After much planning, our group of mothers, did Ghana. It was wonderful. We all learned so much and really developed an appreciation for Ghana and its people. I will never again feel like I am getting the short stick if I am tasked with another African country for "Diversity Day".
I was in charge of teaching all 600+ middle school students a game called Oware that is played in Ghana which is similar to Mancula. All 600+ middle school students saw a PowerPoint presentation on Ghana by one of the mothers from our group who had recently done volunteer work as a teacher in Ghana for a month. All 600 plus middle students sampled food, felt what it was like to walk carring various items on their head, learned about the meanings of certain symbols in Ghana art and made a stamp craft with three of the symbols of their own choosing. We had a display with a house/hut, art and manakins in native dress. It was a none stop day with one class of students after another. It was a lot of work but it extremely rewarding!!! If you'd like to see the Ghana PowerPoint, please ask me. I'd gladly show it to you. It was really interesting.
"I'll Thrown In Some Rope And Tie It To Your Car For You." - The Line family player piano was moved from my parents house to our house. We had some trouble with the movers who tried to over charge us twice. After my second call the owner of the moving company actually called back and apologied.
"Four minutes. Time me." (The YMCA Downtown Mile Race)- Davey was signed up to run but could not because he had to save himself for a Carlisle track team meet. Mikey was signed up but did not want to run. Jamey wanted to run but was grounded by his mother and was not allowed to run. Jamey was not signed up to run. Joe thought Jamey should be allowed to run anyway so even though it had already started to thunder, Joe paid the admission fee that afternoon before the start of the race for Jamey. The weatherman had been calling for severe thunder storms. By race time, the thunder and lightning storm was so bad the race had to be cancelled. No one ran.
12th - Belated Birthday Party for Mikey - We rented the Community Center Gym to celebrate Mikey's 11th birthday with 20 of his friends. It was a good one. They played basketball, indoor soccer and/or ultimate frisbee. (It is the last big birthday party with kids that we have to plan. We did kid birthday parties for our sons at ages 4, 7 and 11 except we missed Jamey's 11th and had it for him when he turned 12.)
22nd - Elementary School Track Meet - Mikey ran in the elementary school track meet. North Dickinson won it this year. North Dickinson had not won it since Davey's 5th grade class won it.
Soccer - Joe is playing in an over 40 men's league on the red team. Jamey and Mikey are still playing with their teams.
Birthday - Every May Davey does two things. He gets one year older and he does the Relay for Life. He did them both again this year. Davey is 17.
June
2nd - Tommy had met all the requirements of the National Honor Society except for one little half hour of volunteer service that he still owed. Tommy did not want to do it. A half hour short and he quits. Senioritis. This is where working at the high school comes in handy. I was able to sign him up to work the volunteer catering job with other honor students at Dickinson College for the Friends of Bosler Library party. Joe and I strongly encouraged Tommy to do it. He gave us a hard time about it but he did go and volunteer for the complete party, 2.5 hours. It was a good thing that he did it because they were a little low on catering volunteers.
7th - Graduation - Tommy graduated with honors from high school, class of 2007, license to chill. His friends came over to chill out at our house after the ceremony.
11th - Full-time Summer Job - Tommy started working as a mow it, weed wack it, move it, shovel it, set it up, tear it down, put it together kind of guy for the Army Heritage Museum. He really enjoyed it! When you are driving down Interstate 81, look for the helicopter next to the highway. Tommy helped put that together and set it up on the poles to make it look like it is flying. Davey is still working part-time at La Luz Cafe.
Drum Lessons - Jamey and Mikey are taking summer drum lessons.
Newt - Mikey found a newt and tad poles with Mason at the Mountain Creek Camp Ground. Mikey brought them home.
16th to 22nd - Jamey earns a little money watering a neighbor's garden and outdoor plants. The summer was starting to be dry.
OCNJ Vacation - We went to the beach on our favorite week to go, the last week of June. OCNJ was the vacation desination most requested by our sons. One of the high lights was walking out to the sand bar at low tide at the far end of the island. We found a shark's head and a dead horse shoe crab. Mikey found a live hermit crab. Jamey and Mikey found several live starfish. We found shells and a live mole crab. It was amazing how far out you could walk.
Davey and I also went water skiing in the bay. I wanted to take Tommy and Davey because my parents took me water skiing when I was 17. Tommy did not want to go. Davey was a natural. I was worried that I would not be able to do it. (The last time I water skiied, I was 17.) Davey made me go first and I did! It is exhausting and really fun. Both Davey and I felt the burn in our legs. I just felt the burn a lot sooner than Davey. If you'd like to see a funny skit about feeling the burn... click on Tim on Products at http://www.timhawkins.net/video-audio.htm
Newt - When we got home from vacation we found that newt had eaten all the tad poles.
July
“It reminds me of the Fourth of July!”
2nd to 8th - Jamey earns a little money taking care of a neighbor's cats, fish and plants.
YMCA Soccer Camp and YMCA Strength Training - Mikey played in a local 3v3 soccer tournament. Jamey and Mikey do another soccer camp. In strength training class, Jamey and Mikey learned how to properly lift free weights . Tommy and his friend, Craig, lift weights at the Y this summer as they have done together since 10th grade. Tommy was looking strong and muscular.
Presbyterian Youth Triennium - Davey said that if Jake, a friend from church, went to it he would go. Then later Davey said that he did not say that. Davey did not want to go. Jake was going to go. Jake's mom and Davey's mom worked hard together to get their sons to go to Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University in Indiana. Going through all that effort and grief, paid off. The boys had a blast. They really enjoyed it and were very glad that they had gone to it. The Presbyterian Youth Triennium only happens once every three years for kids ages 15 to 18. Tommy was working full time so he did not get hassled by mom about going to it.
Cross-Country Camp - Davey missed the first full day of camp and part of the second day because he was at the Youth Triennium. When the bus got back from Triennium, it dropped everyone off in Mechanicsburg at the church's regional main office. Joe, who works in Mechanicsburg picked Davey up and took him to the Carlisle cross country coach's day job which is also in Mechanicsburg. Davey's coach left work and took Davey directly to the Cross-Country camp in Shippensburg.
Beach - Jamey went to a beach for a week with Ryan, a friend from school, and his family. Davey also went to a beach with a friend, Seth and his family for a week. Seth and his family were waiting in our driveway for Davey to get back from the Shippensburg Cross Country camp. Davey came home, got out of our car, directly into Seth's family's car and was on his way to the beach. We did not see much of Davey in July.
La Luz Cafe and Gallery Closed - It was a surprise to us. We went to check the work schedule and found the cafe closed. Davey was away for most of July and did not realize that it was closing. Davey enjoyed working at La Luz for over a year and was sorry that La Luz was not able to survive in downtown Carlisle.
Sweet Corn - The sweet corn came in while Davey and Jamey were away. The traditional picking and freezing of the sweet corn had to be done by Sue with only the help of her youngest son, Mikey. Tommy could not help because he was working full-time. Mikey did a good job of helping mom to pick sweet corn in the morning. Mikey worked hard husking from the late morning and all afternoon while mom blanched, cut and bagged the corn. When Joe and Tommy came home after work they helped a little with husking the corn. The next day Mikey had a friend over to help him husk. The friend and Mikey only lasted for 2 hours of husking. Then Mikey and he went off to play in the creek. It was a really hot day.
Guitar - Joe, Ken and Pete play jazz at Bedford Street Antiques. Earlier in the month, Joe went to a big Guitar Show and visits with an old high school friend, Scott Wert at the show.
August
Cousins - We realized that the summer had flown by quickly and that we had better make plans while there is still a little free time left. Aunt Nanci, my sister, and I worked out what was left our busy summer schedules so that Jamey and Mikey could come to the Landes house and visit their cousins for a long four day weekend. Aunt Nanci took them to the Philadelphia Zoo. The boys enjoyed it. They like to play together were ever they go.
Blended Soccer/Cross-Country Team Car Pool - The school sports officially begin. Davey has been running as much as he could during the summer with the team. Jamey is on the 9th grade soccer team and Davey is running varsity xc. The driving duties are shared with the Pope's and the Greinisen's.
"Young Man. Hey, Kid! Just Where Do You Think You're Going?" - Tommy, our oldest, is off to college. He decided to attend the University of Miami in Florida and major in engineering. (It is like sending him to Las Vegas to study Religion.) He has a nice partial scholarship so it is not too expensive. Joe flew down with him. Tommy and his roommate decided that Tommy would supply the TV for the room and the roommate would supply the refridgerator and microwave. Joe and Tommy looked at buying 19" and 20" TVs but decided to wait to see if a TV was really necessary because they thought it would be better to be busy with studies and other college activies instead of watching TV. The roommate who is from Florida went home the first weekend and brought back a 37" flat screen TV and told Tommy to get the fridge and microwave. They have the biggest TV on their floor. His roommate, Sam, also has a car on campus. Sam did not work over the summer. He paid to play drums and travel with a drum line during his summer vacation. We will not see Tommy again until December.
Wilson College - Joe and Ken play a gig at the President's house.
Driver's Test - Tommy is gone. Time for Davey to start driving. Davey passed. He has his license. We did not want him driving with anyone in the car with him at first. We continue to car pool. When soccer season was over so was the car pool. Davey now drives himself in the pickup truck to school and home from practice. Sometimes he brings his xc teammate home too. The cross country team is running voluntary practices over the winter until track season starts.
Raw Milk Rally - Sue is out of the closet. Sue "INFP" Dennison attended the milk freedom rally with her homemade sign: FREEDOM OF CHOICE. RAW YOGURT. RAW CHEESE. http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/news581.txt Her name, address and phone number were one of many names in the customer notebook that was taken and kept from Mark Nolt, a horse and buggy Mennonite farmer during the raid by the government. They also took $10,000 of other stuff. Why not just take the cows too? This is not suppose to happen in a free country. Mark was also suppose to go to jail if he did not sign his permit in 20 days. Of course stubborn idealistic Mark did not sign it but they did not put him in jail like they said they would. We thought he was going to go to jail. We wanted Mark to sign it and stay out of jail but he had his principles. What would his wife and nine children do if he went to jail? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101902757.html
If you think raw milk from grass fed cows is bad for you, it would be to your benefit to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHcyAH0rOPE
From the INFP:
DR.
RON PAUL, MD is the most supportive presidential candidate of your freedom to choose raw milk. U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas) has introduced legislation (HR 4077) that would allow the transportation and sale of raw milk and raw milk products. His bill would remove an unconstitutional restraint on farmers who wish to sell these products, and people who wish to consume them. “I urge my colleagues to join me in promoting consumers’ rights, the original intent of the Constitution, and federalism by cosponsoring my legislation to allow the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk and milk products,” he continued.
Dr. Ron Paul, MD is very supportive of homeschooling. He is also pro-life. See video clip... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQP5KVM5tB8
See an interview with Dr. Ron Paul MD at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCM_wQy4YVg
Dr. Ron Paul, MD is a constitutionalist. Our freedom is protected by the constitution. In the hope of protecting my freedom, I support Ron Paul. He believes in the ideals that our country was founded upon and so do I. He has my vote. I also like his position on health care. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=287IQ_7Qj_0
"Getting Ready To Go To School Was Like Getting Ready for Extended Deep-Sea Diving." - Summer vacation is over. Sue starts her second year at the Carlisle high school as a part time health aide for the head nurse of the school district. The hours are very flexible and she likes being more in touch with her son's world of school. (Sue continues to work one evening a week at the YMCA.) Davey starts 11th grade. Jamey starts 8th grade and Mikey starts 6th grade.
September
A Blurr - September is a blurr of soccer games, cross country meets and xc pasta parties (for Davey) Joe, Ken and Pete played at Chapel Pointe. Mikey and Jamey went on an archery shoot with 3D targets sponsored by the Christian Bow Hunters Association.
Birthday - (I almost forgot.) Jamey and Sue share the same birthday which always seems to fall on the middle school's back to school night.
"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" - Jamey went paintballing for the first time at a friend's birthday party. They enjoyed it so much they went back again with a larger group of boys in October. Davey let Jamey borrow one of his paintball guns.
October
"Mom, This is Just The Same Dumb Old Parade as Last Year." Soccer season ends. Parade season immediately starts. Jamey has to march in the middle school band in the Halloween parades. Next year Mikey will be marching.
"It's A Major Award" - Davey comes in 30th in the District III xc race and wins a medal. Top 30 runners get medals at Districts. The runner in 31st place was one second behind him. See race at 2007 PIAA District 3 AAA Boys (By Aaron Rich) See Davey at 1:54 and at the end from 5:17 to 5:24 in white shirt with green above shoulders and green short shorts with white on the side. See Davey running earlier in the season 9/29/07 Carlisle Invitational - Boys Reebok Challenge Davey is more easily seen in this race from 3:20 to 3:27. Look for the white t-shirt with green above the shoulders and green short shorts with white on the side.
Carlisle Cross Country team came in 4th at Districts and went onto States. Carlisle xc placed 14th at states. Next year their goal is to win Districts and be in the top 3 at States.
"
I Triple Dog Dare Ya" to go Trick-or-Treating as a girl. Someone got the idea to dress up as a girl. Jamey and several others could not think of anything else to be so they dressed up as a girls too. Four out of the six eighth grade boys dressed up as girls. Jamey is the Hollywood Starlet in the pink. (Jamey won't be happy again this year with my Christmas letter. He was not happy that I included his poems last year in the CheeryChristmas blog.)
November
Good Life Cafe - Joe, Ken and Bob Jones play jazz at the cafe. It is a new cafe in Carlisle for foodies who like organic and local food. It also has a stage and a recording studio in the restaurant.
VolleyBall - Jamey played open gym volleyball. It was a struggle to force him to do it. (They needed players and a friend of ours was promoting it.) Once Jamey tried it he found that he enjoyed it and so from then on he was ok about doing it. Several of his friends did it with him also. Everyone seemed to have fun. Life would be so much easier if they'd listen to mom and dad the first time.
"Its a Major Award"- Davey continues to practice everyday after school and own his own on the weekends for cross-country. Everyone except Tommy, who did not get home for Thanksgiving, ran the YMCA Turkey Trot. Mikey, the returning 11 and under 5K champion, won his age group again. Sue's sister, Nanci and her two oldest sons ran also. Davey ran the 10k Turkey Trot.
"Its a Major Award" - Nanci and Sue also ran another 5k, the Chambersburg/Carlisle XC Alumni Race, two days after the Turkey Trot. When Nanci saw the organizer for the Carlisle XC Alumni team, at the Turkey Trot Nanci told him that if she could walk, she would be there to run. Fortunately for both of us we had taken Access to prevent lactic acid build up in our muscles before the Turkey Trot. The Access worked. We did not have sore tired muscles for the Alumni Race just mild to moderate shin splints. Chambersburg's xc course is very hilly and demanding. I was worried that it might be too much for my knee which had just past its test wonderfully on the flat Turkey Trot course two days earlier. Sue had not run a 5K race since 2003 because of her knee pain. Sue restored her knee by taking supplements and yoga. Since Nanci and Davey were gung-ho about running at Chambersburg, I ran too. The hills of the Chambersburg course must have deterred a lot of Carlisle runners because I ended up winning the trophy for the top female Carlisle runner. Best of all, my knee did not hurt after the race. Plus the next day I was not stiff and sore either because I had used Access before the Alumni Race.
December
Jazz - Joe is in the Good Life.
"Don't Play With Your Food. Eat it! Starving People Would Be Happy to Have That."- Tommy flew home from college on the day of a bad ice storm. The schools were closed due to the storm so Davey came with me to pick up Tommy. It is great to have Tommy home again. He came home noticeably skinnier than when he left. He lost the muscles that he had built weight lifting and then some. The freshman 15 in reverse.
"Oh Fudge!*#@/!" - We lost our electricity on Sunday around 4 AM and did not get it back until Monday at about 8:30 PM. The gas fireplace kept our house warm. We carried buckets of water from the pond to flush the toilets.
"It's a Clinker! That Blasted Stupid Furnace Dadgummit!" We had been without heat or water since the Sunday before because our well pump died. We had had electricity though. Since our house is heated with a geothermal heat pump that extracts the heat from our well water, we had no water and no heat. It took a several days for the muddy water to clear after the pump was replaced. If we ran the furnace before the water was clear, we'd have to pay another large bill to have the furnace cleaned.
Birthday - Tommy is 19.
"The Red Rider BB Gun" - In our house it had another name, The Guitar Hero Game. Jamey wanted that game badly this year for Christmas but he knew he was not going to get it. His Daddy told him to learn to play a real guitar. The Guitar Hero Game was dertermined to be a waste of time. Yet that game seemed to be the one thing that Jamey wanted the most for Christmas.
"Ho, ho, but no matter. Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved." Grandma and Grandpa bought a Wii for each set of grandchildren for Christmas this year. The Wii was the must have gift this year and was sold out in all the stores. They got lucky and were able to purchase Wii that had just arrived at the toy store in NY City where my nephew, Scott, Nanci's oldest son, received a major award for winning a K'Nex competition. (Thank you everybody who helped him win by voting online for his rollercoaster.)
A few days after Christmas, the Landes arrive with a gift our sons. It was another hard to find, must have it this Christmas, gift. It was the Red Rider BB Gun a.k.a. the Guitar Hero game. Jamey was wide eyed thrilled when it was unwrapped.
Just one more thing. You know it has to be about running. It has been the focus around here lately. Davey ran a 4:48 indoor mile at an indoor track meet in Hagerstown, MD. It is his new personal record for the mile. You always go faster on an outdoor track so we will be looking to see how fast he can go this track season. He is dedicated, running long and hard at practice everyday. The coach wrote this in the end of the season Cross-Country team yearbook...
"Davey truly came into his own as a runner this year. From the end of cross-country 2006 to the end of cross-country 2007 Davey probably logged as many miles as any runner on the Carlisle XC team. His training paid off, Davey made an amazing jump and was one of the three Carlisle runners to earn a district medal on the boy's side. If Davey manages to outwork the rest of the team a second year in a row he is poised to have a spectacular senior season."
2008 has begun but that is another story for another time. Let's hope it is injury free.
We hope 2008 will be a good one for you!! Keep in touch. Be brave. Take chances. Keep us in your prayers. Vote for Ron Paul. Eat local food from the farmers market. Smile. And be well. That should keep you busy until next year.
Love,
Sue Ellen (for Joe, Tommy, Davey, Jamey and Mikey too)
2nd to 8th - Jamey earns a little money taking care of a neighbor's cats, fish and plants.
YMCA Soccer Camp and YMCA Strength Training - Mikey played in a local 3v3 soccer tournament. Jamey and Mikey do another soccer camp. In strength training class, Jamey and Mikey learned how to properly lift free weights . Tommy and his friend, Craig, lift weights at the Y this summer as they have done together since 10th grade. Tommy was looking strong and muscular.
Presbyterian Youth Triennium - Davey said that if Jake, a friend from church, went to it he would go. Then later Davey said that he did not say that. Davey did not want to go. Jake was going to go. Jake's mom and Davey's mom worked hard together to get their sons to go to Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University in Indiana. Going through all that effort and grief, paid off. The boys had a blast. They really enjoyed it and were very glad that they had gone to it. The Presbyterian Youth Triennium only happens once every three years for kids ages 15 to 18. Tommy was working full time so he did not get hassled by mom about going to it.
Cross-Country Camp - Davey missed the first full day of camp and part of the second day because he was at the Youth Triennium. When the bus got back from Triennium, it dropped everyone off in Mechanicsburg at the church's regional main office. Joe, who works in Mechanicsburg picked Davey up and took him to the Carlisle cross country coach's day job which is also in Mechanicsburg. Davey's coach left work and took Davey directly to the Cross-Country camp in Shippensburg. Beach - Jamey went to a beach for a week with Ryan, a friend from school, and his family. Davey also went to a beach with a friend, Seth and his family for a week. Seth and his family were waiting in our driveway for Davey to get back from the Shippensburg Cross Country camp. Davey came home, got out of our car, directly into Seth's family's car and was on his way to the beach. We did not see much of Davey in July.
La Luz Cafe and Gallery Closed - It was a surprise to us. We went to check the work schedule and found the cafe closed. Davey was away for most of July and did not realize that it was closing. Davey enjoyed working at La Luz for over a year and was sorry that La Luz was not able to survive in downtown Carlisle.
Sweet Corn - The sweet corn came in while Davey and Jamey were away. The traditional picking and freezing of the sweet corn had to be done by Sue with only the help of her youngest son, Mikey. Tommy could not help because he was working full-time. Mikey did a good job of helping mom to pick sweet corn in the morning. Mikey worked hard husking from the late morning and all afternoon while mom blanched, cut and bagged the corn. When Joe and Tommy came home after work they helped a little with husking the corn. The next day Mikey had a friend over to help him husk. The friend and Mikey only lasted for 2 hours of husking. Then Mikey and he went off to play in the creek. It was a really hot day.
Guitar - Joe, Ken and Pete play jazz at Bedford Street Antiques. Earlier in the month, Joe went to a big Guitar Show and visits with an old high school friend, Scott Wert at the show.
August
Cousins - We realized that the summer had flown by quickly and that we had better make plans while there is still a little free time left. Aunt Nanci, my sister, and I worked out what was left our busy summer schedules so that Jamey and Mikey could come to the Landes house and visit their cousins for a long four day weekend. Aunt Nanci took them to the Philadelphia Zoo. The boys enjoyed it. They like to play together were ever they go.
Blended Soccer/Cross-Country Team Car Pool - The school sports officially begin. Davey has been running as much as he could during the summer with the team. Jamey is on the 9th grade soccer team and Davey is running varsity xc. The driving duties are shared with the Pope's and the Greinisen's.
"Young Man. Hey, Kid! Just Where Do You Think You're Going?" - Tommy, our oldest, is off to college. He decided to attend the University of Miami in Florida and major in engineering. (It is like sending him to Las Vegas to study Religion.) He has a nice partial scholarship so it is not too expensive. Joe flew down with him. Tommy and his roommate decided that Tommy would supply the TV for the room and the roommate would supply the refridgerator and microwave. Joe and Tommy looked at buying 19" and 20" TVs but decided to wait to see if a TV was really necessary because they thought it would be better to be busy with studies and other college activies instead of watching TV. The roommate who is from Florida went home the first weekend and brought back a 37" flat screen TV and told Tommy to get the fridge and microwave. They have the biggest TV on their floor. His roommate, Sam, also has a car on campus. Sam did not work over the summer. He paid to play drums and travel with a drum line during his summer vacation. We will not see Tommy again until December.
Wilson College - Joe and Ken play a gig at the President's house.
Driver's Test - Tommy is gone. Time for Davey to start driving. Davey passed. He has his license. We did not want him driving with anyone in the car with him at first. We continue to car pool. When soccer season was over so was the car pool. Davey now drives himself in the pickup truck to school and home from practice. Sometimes he brings his xc teammate home too. The cross country team is running voluntary practices over the winter until track season starts.
Raw Milk Rally - Sue is out of the closet. Sue "INFP" Dennison attended the milk freedom rally with her homemade sign: FREEDOM OF CHOICE. RAW YOGURT. RAW CHEESE. http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/news581.txt Her name, address and phone number were one of many names in the customer notebook that was taken and kept from Mark Nolt, a horse and buggy Mennonite farmer during the raid by the government. They also took $10,000 of other stuff. Why not just take the cows too? This is not suppose to happen in a free country. Mark was also suppose to go to jail if he did not sign his permit in 20 days. Of course stubborn idealistic Mark did not sign it but they did not put him in jail like they said they would. We thought he was going to go to jail. We wanted Mark to sign it and stay out of jail but he had his principles. What would his wife and nine children do if he went to jail? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101902757.html
If you think raw milk from grass fed cows is bad for you, it would be to your benefit to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHcyAH0rOPE
From the INFP:
DR.
RON PAUL, MD is the most supportive presidential candidate of your freedom to choose raw milk. U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas) has introduced legislation (HR 4077) that would allow the transportation and sale of raw milk and raw milk products. His bill would remove an unconstitutional restraint on farmers who wish to sell these products, and people who wish to consume them. “I urge my colleagues to join me in promoting consumers’ rights, the original intent of the Constitution, and federalism by cosponsoring my legislation to allow the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk and milk products,” he continued.Dr. Ron Paul, MD is very supportive of homeschooling. He is also pro-life. See video clip... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQP5KVM5tB8
See an interview with Dr. Ron Paul MD at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCM_wQy4YVg
Dr. Ron Paul, MD is a constitutionalist. Our freedom is protected by the constitution. In the hope of protecting my freedom, I support Ron Paul. He believes in the ideals that our country was founded upon and so do I. He has my vote. I also like his position on health care. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=287IQ_7Qj_0
"Getting Ready To Go To School Was Like Getting Ready for Extended Deep-Sea Diving." - Summer vacation is over. Sue starts her second year at the Carlisle high school as a part time health aide for the head nurse of the school district. The hours are very flexible and she likes being more in touch with her son's world of school. (Sue continues to work one evening a week at the YMCA.) Davey starts 11th grade. Jamey starts 8th grade and Mikey starts 6th grade.
September
A Blurr - September is a blurr of soccer games, cross country meets and xc pasta parties (for Davey) Joe, Ken and Pete played at Chapel Pointe. Mikey and Jamey went on an archery shoot with 3D targets sponsored by the Christian Bow Hunters Association.Birthday - (I almost forgot.) Jamey and Sue share the same birthday which always seems to fall on the middle school's back to school night.
"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" - Jamey went paintballing for the first time at a friend's birthday party. They enjoyed it so much they went back again with a larger group of boys in October. Davey let Jamey borrow one of his paintball guns.
October
"Mom, This is Just The Same Dumb Old Parade as Last Year." Soccer season ends. Parade season immediately starts. Jamey has to march in the middle school band in the Halloween parades. Next year Mikey will be marching.
"It's A Major Award" - Davey comes in 30th in the District III xc race and wins a medal. Top 30 runners get medals at Districts. The runner in 31st place was one second behind him. See race at 2007 PIAA District 3 AAA Boys (By Aaron Rich) See Davey at 1:54 and at the end from 5:17 to 5:24 in white shirt with green above shoulders and green short shorts with white on the side. See Davey running earlier in the season 9/29/07 Carlisle Invitational - Boys Reebok Challenge Davey is more easily seen in this race from 3:20 to 3:27. Look for the white t-shirt with green above the shoulders and green short shorts with white on the side.Carlisle Cross Country team came in 4th at Districts and went onto States. Carlisle xc placed 14th at states. Next year their goal is to win Districts and be in the top 3 at States.
"
I Triple Dog Dare Ya" to go Trick-or-Treating as a girl. Someone got the idea to dress up as a girl. Jamey and several others could not think of anything else to be so they dressed up as a girls too. Four out of the six eighth grade boys dressed up as girls. Jamey is the Hollywood Starlet in the pink. (Jamey won't be happy again this year with my Christmas letter. He was not happy that I included his poems last year in the CheeryChristmas blog.)November
Good Life Cafe - Joe, Ken and Bob Jones play jazz at the cafe. It is a new cafe in Carlisle for foodies who like organic and local food. It also has a stage and a recording studio in the restaurant.
VolleyBall - Jamey played open gym volleyball. It was a struggle to force him to do it. (They needed players and a friend of ours was promoting it.) Once Jamey tried it he found that he enjoyed it and so from then on he was ok about doing it. Several of his friends did it with him also. Everyone seemed to have fun. Life would be so much easier if they'd listen to mom and dad the first time.
"Its a Major Award"- Davey continues to practice everyday after school and own his own on the weekends for cross-country. Everyone except Tommy, who did not get home for Thanksgiving, ran the YMCA Turkey Trot. Mikey, the returning 11 and under 5K champion, won his age group again. Sue's sister, Nanci and her two oldest sons ran also. Davey ran the 10k Turkey Trot.
"Its a Major Award" - Nanci and Sue also ran another 5k, the Chambersburg/Carlisle XC Alumni Race, two days after the Turkey Trot. When Nanci saw the organizer for the Carlisle XC Alumni team, at the Turkey Trot Nanci told him that if she could walk, she would be there to run. Fortunately for both of us we had taken Access to prevent lactic acid build up in our muscles before the Turkey Trot. The Access worked. We did not have sore tired muscles for the Alumni Race just mild to moderate shin splints. Chambersburg's xc course is very hilly and demanding. I was worried that it might be too much for my knee which had just past its test wonderfully on the flat Turkey Trot course two days earlier. Sue had not run a 5K race since 2003 because of her knee pain. Sue restored her knee by taking supplements and yoga. Since Nanci and Davey were gung-ho about running at Chambersburg, I ran too. The hills of the Chambersburg course must have deterred a lot of Carlisle runners because I ended up winning the trophy for the top female Carlisle runner. Best of all, my knee did not hurt after the race. Plus the next day I was not stiff and sore either because I had used Access before the Alumni Race.
December
Jazz - Joe is in the Good Life.
"Don't Play With Your Food. Eat it! Starving People Would Be Happy to Have That."- Tommy flew home from college on the day of a bad ice storm. The schools were closed due to the storm so Davey came with me to pick up Tommy. It is great to have Tommy home again. He came home noticeably skinnier than when he left. He lost the muscles that he had built weight lifting and then some. The freshman 15 in reverse.
"Oh Fudge!*#@/!" - We lost our electricity on Sunday around 4 AM and did not get it back until Monday at about 8:30 PM. The gas fireplace kept our house warm. We carried buckets of water from the pond to flush the toilets.
"It's a Clinker! That Blasted Stupid Furnace Dadgummit!" We had been without heat or water since the Sunday before because our well pump died. We had had electricity though. Since our house is heated with a geothermal heat pump that extracts the heat from our well water, we had no water and no heat. It took a several days for the muddy water to clear after the pump was replaced. If we ran the furnace before the water was clear, we'd have to pay another large bill to have the furnace cleaned.
Birthday - Tommy is 19.
"The Red Rider BB Gun" - In our house it had another name, The Guitar Hero Game. Jamey wanted that game badly this year for Christmas but he knew he was not going to get it. His Daddy told him to learn to play a real guitar. The Guitar Hero Game was dertermined to be a waste of time. Yet that game seemed to be the one thing that Jamey wanted the most for Christmas.
"Ho, ho, but no matter. Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved." Grandma and Grandpa bought a Wii for each set of grandchildren for Christmas this year. The Wii was the must have gift this year and was sold out in all the stores. They got lucky and were able to purchase Wii that had just arrived at the toy store in NY City where my nephew, Scott, Nanci's oldest son, received a major award for winning a K'Nex competition. (Thank you everybody who helped him win by voting online for his rollercoaster.)
A few days after Christmas, the Landes arrive with a gift our sons. It was another hard to find, must have it this Christmas, gift. It was the Red Rider BB Gun a.k.a. the Guitar Hero game. Jamey was wide eyed thrilled when it was unwrapped.
Just one more thing. You know it has to be about running. It has been the focus around here lately. Davey ran a 4:48 indoor mile at an indoor track meet in Hagerstown, MD. It is his new personal record for the mile. You always go faster on an outdoor track so we will be looking to see how fast he can go this track season. He is dedicated, running long and hard at practice everyday. The coach wrote this in the end of the season Cross-Country team yearbook...
"Davey truly came into his own as a runner this year. From the end of cross-country 2006 to the end of cross-country 2007 Davey probably logged as many miles as any runner on the Carlisle XC team. His training paid off, Davey made an amazing jump and was one of the three Carlisle runners to earn a district medal on the boy's side. If Davey manages to outwork the rest of the team a second year in a row he is poised to have a spectacular senior season."
2008 has begun but that is another story for another time. Let's hope it is injury free.
We hope 2008 will be a good one for you!! Keep in touch. Be brave. Take chances. Keep us in your prayers. Vote for Ron Paul. Eat local food from the farmers market. Smile. And be well. That should keep you busy until next year.
Love,
Sue Ellen (for Joe, Tommy, Davey, Jamey and Mikey too)
