Winter Wonderland

The snow finally came. We ended up with about 5 inches - the most since we have been here. We took advantage of the snow and went on a family sledding expedition at Briarwood. Going down the hill proved to be much easier than going back up. The roads weren't too bad around town. A&H's basketball games were canceled but Annee made it out for a birthday party, Hayden and I went to watch WKU take care of New Orleans in MBB, and Heather snuck in a trip to Target. Quite a few churches have scaled back their Sunday activities but we believe that the hearty Methodists are operating on their normal schedule. The big question for next week is when will the county schools reopen.

The Snow Princess

Heather and Hayden getting ready to head down the hill.

The have made more progress framing the second floor of the house. The temps will be in the 40s next week so they should be able to get back at it before too long.

Snow Day

Below is what a snow day in Kentucky looks like. Just about every school has shut down for the day - even Bowling Green City Schools. In Kentucky, just the anticipation of snow is enough to shut things down for a day or two. Thursday was a rough one for Hayden James (and those sitting in front of him at morning meeting). He threw up and managed to hit a fair number of students in Heather's class in the process. That was just the beginning for him as he proceeded to throw up several more times at home. Annee had to step up and go to the WKU MBB game with me. WKU continues to struggle with an overtime loss to North Texas. Hopefully A&H will still have their basketall games tomorrow morning.

Work Resumes

Work resumed this week on our new abode. As you can see from the series of photos below, they have begun work on the second floor. A&H had a very good weekend of basketball. The Commodores continue to dominate their opponents, while the Lady Longhorns are coming along nicely as well. Their games are quite a bit more competitive. Annee had her best game of the season with 8 points and was more aggressive. Hopefully the games this week won't be impacted by weather. The forecast for the weekend is not good. Predictions suggest about 5 or so inches of snow could be coming our way. We went to about 12 minutes of the WKU-North Texas WBB game last night but left at half when we were up 49-15. The final was 101-53. The men play the Mean Green tonight - Hayden and I are planning on making our way to the game. New Orleans makes their final trip to Diddle Arena this weekend. They are moving down to Division III after this season.

Rain Delay - Stairs and Garage

Rain is delaying work on our abode but they did get the stairs in and the garage framed first. Hilltoppers are home on Saturday and Sunday against Middle Tennessee. The men are on ESPN2 Saturday at Noon. Annee and Hayden play early Saturday so we should have our activities wrapped up early. Annee has a birthday party Sunday so it might just be Hayden and I for the women's game. We are starting to make our spring break plans - heading to DC to show A&H where they were born.

Garage

Stairs

Weekend Update

We are done with 2/3 of our three day weekend. Annee and Hayden had friends over on Friday night. Made the rental rather cozy but nothing was broken so it has to be considered a success. Basketball went well on Saturday - for A&H and the Hilltoppers. It was picture day so we had to get to the games a bit early. Hayden's team (Commodores) was not fully tested (understatement). They don't keep score in 1st and 2nd grade but it would have been somewhere around 30 to 4. Hayden looked good and has made incredible gains from where he was last year. Annee's team (Lady Longhorns) had a sluggish start but had a fairly decent last 3/4 of the game. She played better and harder than last week so that was a positive. We are hoping that next week she chooses to use the backboard more often. The Hilltoppers beat Florida International Saturday night. Isiah Thomas coaches FIU but missed the game to be at his mother's funeral. After Sunday school this morning, we all served as greeters for the 10:00 service. Annee and Hayden do a good job and do most of the greeting. I also read the lessons - the Old Testament lesson was 17 verses - some eyes seemed to close after verse 14. After church we snuck in lunch at El Mazatlan before the Lady Toppers game. They were also victorious. Hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up on some work tomorrow. Work has continued on the house. Some pictures are inclulded below.

Someone was not very happy with the results of the Cowboys-Vikings game. Fortunately - we were at the Lady Toppers game for the 2nd half.

This picture is from the front left. The room on the left will be used as our office. The dining room is on the right of the entry way.

Another picture from the front of the house.

An essential item for all construction sites.

Progress Being Made on House

Heather, Annee, and Hayden returned to school on Wednesday after four days off. In Kentucky, you get at least one day off for every half inch of snow that falls. At least we got a trip in to Chuck E. Cheese's. Went up to watch WKU beat Florida Atlantic in MBB and WBB the last two nights. Florida International is here this weekend. Annee and Hayden also play on Saturday. With the weather warming up a bit, progess is being made on the house. Below are some pictures. We'll have more soon.

White Christmas in January

We had our closest thing to a white Christmas in January this weekend. Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jimmy made their way to Bowling Green yesterday so we celebrated Christmas with them - or at least we opened presents. As is the case with most the country, it is cold here. Annee, Hayden, and Heather did not have school Thursday or Friday. Unfortunately, I was not here with them since I was in Atlanta for a conference. A&H got some sledding in which is quite a novelty for them. They had their first basketball games today and both did well. Below are pictures of the blizzard, presents, etc.

Happy New Year!

Looks like we made it through 2009. We had a reasonably busy New Years Eve. After lunch at Shogun we went to the WKU MBB and WBB double header and then went over to the Kirkwoods to ring in the New Year. Today we are celebrating my 41st birthday. As you can see below, I did very well with presents!! We are having birthday burritos later this afternoon. Need to get a paper written for a conference in Atlanta next week - should really get it started soon!