Who Knew!

That this was right down the road a ways from my Dad's house.  One day I was driving over and something caught my eye.  I kept looking and figured out I was seeing windmills all over the place!  How did I miss this?   Finally this afternoon, on our way home, Jayke and I drove up to Elwood to take a closer look.  Pretty cool! 

Relay For Life...There are no Words...

....for this!!!  That is the president of our company in his "Mister Relay" getup.  They have a competition to see who can get the most donations after performing on stage and taking a parade lap.  I must say, our representative SHOULD have won for many, many, reasons as I'm sure you can deduct from this picture!!

Jayke had a blast meeting new friends, watching the luminary lighting which is always emotional, and taking in the spectacle of the "Mister Relay" contest.  Midwest has a booth where we sell barbecue sandwiches, sodas, and chips.  Most of our employees from the main office donate their time and efforts slinging barbecue and taking turns walking for a cure.  Jayke was able to take his soccer ball and play in the center of the midway with his new friend, Perrin.  He is looking forward to going back next year!

Soccer Camp

One of the soccer dad's took these pictures for me at soccer camp this week.  It was a hot camp but they had a lot of fun.  

Soccer, soccer, SOCCER, SoCcEr!!!

This was a great season for Jayke in soccer.  He was one of the leading scorers on his team, being moved from defense to striker.  He got to play with Mason and Chase on his team and they became great friends both on and off the field.  They dubbed themselves the "Muska-crazies"!  It was agreed upon by most of the parents on the side line that when they put these three up front as their offense it was a thing of beauty to watch!  Jaykeb even scored a couple of hat tricks this season (three goals in the same game...for those who don't know)!

The team president is retiring at the end of this season and the kids all decided to wish him well by having their photos taken wearing mustaches in honor of the president's own infamous mustache.

Zoey even got in on the action!!!

A shot of the end of season picnic

Natalie and I serving the kiddos pizza at the picnic.  

Hot tub crew at the hotel for one of our tournaments

Tradition at the "Classic at the Rock Tournament" is to have your picture taken at the ROCK!

Above is Jayke's team and below is the combined two U9 teams

Jayke's celebratory run and little dance move after scoring...

After the tournament there wasn't much talking on the ride home...just sleeping with his medal in his hand...

New Kicks

I've created a monster!!  This child is obsessed with shoes!!  He LOVES shoes and not any ol cheap shoes, he has to have Jordan's or Lebron's or whichever is the hotest, newest shoe out.  Took him to get shoes for camp today and he got two new pair.  You would think I bought him a new car!  These are the current faves, his kds.  We even got stopped on the way out of the mall so someone could compliment his new footwear.  That made his day, and only added to his obsession.  He will be needing to get a job soon to support his new found love.

Bug Eyes

Jayke got sports goggles today for soccer and basketball...he loves them, I don't so much.

Awwww....Shade!

Got my pergola put up today.  This should help keep the sun from beating in the back of the house all day and keep it from heating up so much in the living room.  I hate that the majority of glass on my house faces west so for Christmas this past year my dad bought me this to try to help and today Jima and Mom came over to put it up for me.  Please ignore the broken deck rail that my mom managed some how.  I think she did it on purpose so I'd have to take the entire railing off. 

And here is why I don't want to take the railing off...My doves.  They come back every spring to make their nest in the planter.  Last year I had two babies in there and I worried over them all the time until they left.  Gave them a little roof to protect them from the rain and give them some shade.  Momma must like it since she has returned this year and looks like she is preparing to build too!

"Z"

Zoey looks so cute with all this long hair but we are going to have to get her groomed soon.  She gets so greasy looking if I don't bathe her often plus I'm sure this will be hot for the summer.  I wanted to get some cute pics of her before she gets cut...my little ewok!

The Life and Death of Carl...

....the carrot.  My coworker made this for me because I didn't want to partake in her healthy snack.  I'm sure she thought I would throw little Carl the Carrot away but I had other things in mind.  I documented his demise daily and posted the pictures on the wall of my cube.  

As you can see it didn't take Carl long to wither away.  Our big boss, the president of Mid-West Homes for pets was intrigued by my little carrot dude, (or maybe disgusted by his employees' blatant lack of productivity) so we made him one too!!

Carrie the Carrot who was equally as beautiful as Carl in the beginning, even more so with her long flowing pink hair and nice green skirt, soon met the same demise.  I decided to let Carrie die with her dignity and didn't photograph her in her advanced state of decay.  God rest their little carrot souls!! 

O.o

Smothering D!!

Jayke's second time playing for the Royerton League went a little better but with the same end results.  He did very well playing point guard and was a smothering defensive player.  His offensive game needs some work but that will come as he continues to get more experience.  

He had an exceptional game defensively to keep us going in the playoffs.  He played the first, second, and fourth quarters.  I was wondering why he wasn't playing during the third quarter but then saw the coaches' plan at the beginning of the fourth.  He put Jayke, our best defensive player, on the opposing team's best offensive player, Landon, to shut him down and hope that the rest of our team could get us the lead offensively.  It worked.  

It was amazing watching that kid play defense the way he did!  I had no idea he had that in him.   He had Landon so covered up he couldn't even move when he had the ball. You could see and feel the frustration building in him as Jayke was there with every touch of the ball.  The momentum began to swing our way. The coach was on the side line yelling, "This is your time, Jayke!!" and I felt like I was watching some movie about an underdog player in his shining moment!  

We won the game and by the end of the fourth quarter poor Landon was laying on the floor exhausted, face beet red. My boy did that!  He and Landon are friends so it was just an case of great defense facing great offense and this time,  the defense prevailed.  I have never been more proud of him than I was in that moment!  I was ecstatic that all four of his grandparents were there to see it, especially my dad who loves watching him play basketball from all of his years going to high school basketball games as a teacher. I think Jayke was pretty proud of himself as well...and maybe a little surprised at what he just did.  I only hope he can have many more games like this and feel that feeling of success the way he did tonight.  Even though we went on to lose in the next round at least for one game, in one quarter, they did no wrong and excelled together as a team and my boy got to shine!

Sky Zone B-day Extravaganza!!!

We celebrated the birth of The Boy this year by taking him to Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park!  Jayke invited friends from school and his soccer team.  We caravanned with Bob and Ryan to Indy and I think the ride down was enjoyed as much as the party.  Bob brought along his walkie talkies so the boys in each vehicle could communicate with each other.  As usual the adults ended up enjoying it almost as much when we took over the walkies to critique each other's lack of pace and other driving skills.  Those were two very loud vehicles!!

We had two renditions of Happy Birthday sung, one in English and the other in Portugese by Gabi, who is part Brazillian.  Jayke was super embarrassed when she serenaded him solo!

His cake was awesome...as always and made by Cheryl at Pat-a-Cakes and Cookies Too, who has made his birthday cakes since he was born!  

He had a great day sharing his birthday with Mason, Chase, Aidan, Cooper, Gabi, Ian, Parker, Carly, Matt, and Alec! The Pierce's, Bob, Tiffany, Ryan, Meemaw, and P'pa were all there too.  Jayke is lucky to have so many friends and family to share his 9th birthday with him!

Dog Shaming