Christmas

Well another Christmas has come and gone already! WHAT A WEEK! Stan was put on everything opposite this past week and with the weather and everything that was crazy, he was frustrated by the end of the week! I kept telling him as we would talk on the phone while he was gone that we needed to be thankful he has a job right now and to try and think of the positive!

We had a nice Christmas, Stan's parents came down Christmas Eve afternoon and spent the night. Stan left for work as they arrived and the poor guy had to wait on his trailer for over 2 hours and didn't make it back home till around 9:00 Christmas morning. The kids were not allowed to open any gifts till he got home. By the time he got home we unwrapped gifts, had breakfast it was almost time to head for my parents house. I felt bad rushing Stan's parents out the door, but it all worked out. We spent Christmas Day with my parents, just hanging out. We played a few games, then came home and just laid around the rest of the night. Poor Stan was so exhausted after being up for over 24 hours.

We sure did miss Holger this year. After those boys (Trev and Holger) staying up almost all night last year and waking us up around 5 am to open gifts! That was one I'll never forget!



Taylor opening her ipod shuffle, she wanted the better one of course, but says this one is great anyways..







Grandpa Shipman watching the boys play air hockey




Stan opened one of his gifts Christmas Eve before he left, so he could use it. It was a bluetooth for his cell phone, but then he couldn't get it to work right that night



Easton


Malorie


Aunt Melanie got Taylor the "COOL" boots she wanted! BOY was she HAPPY!



This jacket was a gift from Dia our exchange student we had from Japan. Trev just LOVED this jacket! It is really nice and warm




OH GOOD GRIEF! This is a pillow that Tyler got and he put the dumb thing on his head! WHAT A DORK!

Decorating the Tree

We spent today doing some baking, decorating, and then lastly we put the tree up. The kids pretty much do all the decorating of the tree, Stan and I just sit and watch. Obviously I am not picky about how my tree looks. I figure that I will have many years to do it my way when they are out of the house.

I mixed up some cut out cookie dough and then Taylor cut them out and baked them. We are going to frost them another day. We made hot chocolate to drink while we did the tree. It was nice, a little crazy at times though!!!



Tyler and Taylor




Trevor


Yes they really do love each other!




YUMO! HOT CHOCOLATE with Hershey chocolate mint candy canes




Taylor had more flour on herself than under the cookies



Stan and Trevor putting a few lights on the evergreen tree. That tree was given to us when my Grandpa Bobby passed away by my Aunt and it's gotten big enough to finally put a few lights on. Grandpa always spent Christmas Eve with us, and we dearly miss him.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent our Thanksgiving Day a little different than we have in past years. Stan, a friend Tyson, Tyler, and Trevor spent it in Detroit at the Lions game. It was a surprise for the boys. Tyler was so mad that morning because we had told him that Stan wanted to take Tyson (who attends Bluffton college) out for breakfast at Denny's. Well, Tyler thinking there is only one Denny's that he knows of and that is in Dundee, MI. He was having a FIT! "Why are we driving all that way for breakfast?" I told him that is what Dad wanted, so just do it, so he did. They got to Dundee and the Denny's was no longer there. You can imagine what Tyler was doing by this point! He had gotten up before 7:00 am to drive over an hour to eat breakfast and now the place was closed! They ended up at a McDonalds and a VERY GRUMBLING teenager! So as Tyler was grouching about driving so far when they could have eaten in Montpelier, Stan put the Lions tickets in front of him. When he turned around to see them and realized he'd been set up, he freaked out! Even though the Lions stink (as usual), Stan has always been a loyal fan and has dreamed of going on Thanksgiving Day to the game.


Ford Field... Stan did say it was nice to yell at the actual people rather than the TV!! LIKE THEY HEAR HIM EITHER WAY!!! LOL

Taylor and I spent the day with the Youngs and we had a GREAT time. Sabine and I played the Wii, which I had never played before and it was SO MUCH FUN!!


We were racing cows! IT WAS HILARIOUS!


Grandpa Dave (Tom's Dad) waiting on the meal


Taylor and Shawna showing off the silver from France!


Then later that weekend we had the Shipman Thanksgiving and on Sunday I took the kids to Kalahari water park for the night.



This is Taylor going down the big bowl (we called it the toilet bowl!)


In our room later that night, Stan stayed home, so it was just the four of us



Our parents.... our Dad's share the same birthday, however there is a 30 year difference



Stan's siblings

Arsenic and Old Lace

Tyler joined the Drama Club this year (which really cracked me up when he told me), and this weekend was their first production. Tyler played the part of Teddy in this play and it was HILARIOUS! The cast did such a great job and had us laughing both nights. When the first scene opens Tyler is standing with his back to the us and when he turned around I seen him with the mustache I thought I was going to die laughing! His character thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and he buries died bodies in their basement. Tyler really enjoyed himself and is looking forward to next year already.









Each time he would climb the steps he would yell CHARGE! In this picture though he was telling something about the war.



Here he is talking to his "sisters" about digging the Panama Canal (in the basement), he had on his digging clothes.



He is transporting his body that supposedly died of yellow fever to the Panama Canal to be buried.




This is some of the cast at the end of the performance.

Family Night-Pumpkin Carving

Every fourth Sunday evening we have family night at Grandpa & Grandma Heer's house and this time the kids carved pumpkins. It was so much fun watching the kids try and figure out how they were going to carve it and then cleaning out the "guts". Tyler & Kelly did one together and then Taylor and Fred did one. Now that was REALLY funny! They all did a really great job! Trev had a terrible heachache so I ended up doing his for him.




Easton loved getting his hands in there and scooping that stuff out. He'll make a GREAT deer gutter this season. If they ever get one!! LOL


Notice the men are doing the work first! They get to do the gross part, all though these girls are NOT afraid to get their hands dirty!


Jess helping get Malorie's started, while Trev waits.



The finished products!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Leah Thompson, Taylor and Taylor Collins before the North Central game


Taylor warming up serving


Coach VanArsdalen getting them ready for the Pettisville game



Time out during the second Edon match....



Getting their medals



Taylor had her BBC volleyball tournaments on Saturday and it was one of the best days we've had in a while! They have struggled at times during this season and on Thursday they were beaten by North Central, and we had to play N.C. to start the morning off. They were ready to win! We beat them in 2, had a break played Pettisville, beat them in 2. Then it was Fayette against Edon and who ever won that we played for the championship or BBC title. Edon of course won, they were undefeated and obviously had beaten us twice through the season. The girls were so unified on Saturday and won the first game and WE WERE ALL PUMPED! So they start the second game TOTALLY nervous, b/c NO ONE had even beaten Edon this year! WE WON!!! WE BEAT EDON IN TWO GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!! Edon came in thinking they were going home with the title and left defeated! I usually don't get to worked up and during the other two games I was not to worked up, but during that Edon game I was shaking SO BAD!

Rhonda, Taylor's coach and I are best friends and Taylor has not always been the easiest player for her and there have been times both Rhonda and I didn't know what to do with her. It was so special for us to have gotten to celebrate the victory together! I am so proud of Taylor and her entire team! They really came together and stayed FOCUSED (we said that so much Saturday!). Some of the parents banned together and kept them encouraged even when they made mistakes we tried to keep them looking up and not get down. IT WORKED!!!

Then following Taylor's teams win, we went into the 7th grade game to find out the 7th grade girls were about to win their championship game! THEY WON TOO!!! It was SO COOL to have both teams come home with medals! They all worked very hard and deserved it!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!









7th & 8th Grade Hilltop Cadets Volleyball BBC CHAMPIONS!

We are still here!

It has been forever since I've updated my blog. We have been so busy and I forget to do it. Tyler has been released to play football and he started back last Friday night. I was on edge the entire time he was in! He did very well and also played Saturday and did fine. Stan happen to take Friday off, so he got to watch the game with me.

We made a VERY quick trip to PA. for our nephew's wedding this past weekend. It's hard to believe that we have nieces and nephews getting married and starting families. I think we are up to 13 Great nieces and nephews. WOW! We spent a little time with my Grandpa Throne who is in a nursing home near Lancaster, PA. It wasn't very long, but he seemed VERY happy to see us when we came in and I was SO glad that we took the time to stop and visit!! Taylor took her friend Taylor along with us and she had never been to Pa., so we stopped at Hershey where they make the Hershey chocolate candy. She thought that was pretty cool, plus we got to be in chocolate heaven!! LOL Then on the way home Sunday evening we met Stan's cousin and his aunt and uncle for supper. It had been a while since we had seen them and it was nice to visit with them. All in all it was a very eventful trip and we did it all within 48 hours! Yes, we left Saturday morning around 5 am and arrived back home Sunday night around midnight and put over 1,000 miles on our van! WOW I'm tired again just thinking about it!

I have posted some pictures of our newly remodeled kitchen. It is SO exciting to finally have the most of it done! We still need to put the tile around the back of the counter, but the major stuff is done! I am LOVING it! There is SO much room and counter space!

I guess that is all for now! Everything else is going well.



Before

After


Before


After

BUSY!

I have not blogged much lately. It seems like I have not been taking many pictures either. I've meant to take my camera to Taylor's volleyball games and I am in such a hurry to get there that I forget to grab it on the way out, so my goal this week is to take some and post them. I have some of Tyler's first and only varsity game he's played this year, but didn't want to post them till I got some of the other two playing. Trevor played his second football game this past Saturday and lost again. I was not to that game, but Stan said he did really well. Taylor's team is 3-1 I think, she will have two games this week. She is doing an excellent job, just wish she had a little more hustle in her!

With Stan being gone more and with all the kids being involved in a sport it's very hectic. It seems like there is never any down time, until today! I spent the afternoon lounging around doing NOTHING! Thank you God for a day of rest! It never fails though something ends up coming up and we don't get to rest very long, but not today! We took FULL advantage of the rainy day! It was GREAT!




Trevor's first day of school



Taylor's first day of school, she is holding Jordan and little baby I watch



This is the night of Tyler's injury when we came home from the ER. His good friend Michael came over and they are watching the game on the video camera, you know analyzing the plays.

Labor Day Weekend

We didn't go much this past weekend, Stan and Rick put in new carpet in their parents dining room on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon/evening we hung out with our good friends the YOUNGS and Sabine's family. It was such a good time! We had a corn hole tournament,Trevor and Tom won! Tyler was suppose to be Tom's partner, but he didn't feel up to throwing beanbags so Trev took his place. Tyler was still in a little pain from his injury. Later that night we sat around the "TOM" campfire, when I say a "TOM" campfire I mean it's a fire you have to sit 10 feet from because he has it so HOT! LOL Sabine's sister and I were sitting there visiting and across the way was Tom and Sabine, well all of a sudden Sandy gets hit RIGHT BETWEEN the eyes with a marshmallow! We looked over and there is "BIG" Tom laughing hysterically! WHAT A GOOF!

It was such a relaxing weekend! I actually got to float in my pool one last time probably for the summer. I always hate to see the pool close, even though fall is my favorite season.

Tyler is doing better and is off his crutches. He plans to start doing some conditioning in the next week. Nothing to hard, just starting out slow. We are so thankful that his fracture was not as serious as they had first told us. Trevor had a couple bad hits in football practice and I was ready for them both to quit and stick with the marching band!!








Stan taking Trev a ride in Bean's Razr Trevor just LOVED that thing!


I don't even know what type of caption to put on this one! LOL



The spectators