Long overdue!!

Once again, I am long overdue to update this blog. I seem to be further behind than ever and can't get caught up. I am finally caving to the peer pressure from a few close friends to update. So....here it goes.

Summer vacation is off to a fine start! I think that I am finally into our summer schedule. It took me a little while. Gone are the days of actual "quiet time". Several don't nap so the over stimulation lasts all darn day! All report cards were great and remnants of school supplies have been dealt with.

Jordan is really enjoying his job with the Parks and Rec Department. He goes swimming, to ICubs games, bowling, Big Creek, Sleepy Hollow, and occasionally has some office time answering phones and greeting people as they come to the Community Center. A great job for an active teenage boy. He spends most of his evenings playing baseball. After state track was over he was suiting for both JV and Varsity baseball to catch up since he had missed about a month of baseball practices. Now he is just suiting Varsity and starting in right field. 2 weeks ago he had his first home run ever in the JV game against Perry and then later that week followed it up with a home run in the Varsity game against Jefferson-Scranton. Not doing much pitching. Occasionally they will ask him to suit for JV and have him pitch an inning or two. The rest of his nights are spent with Kelli. They are enjoying as much time as they can together before she leaves for Central in mid-August.

Abbey has time on her hands right now. Softball finished last Friday for her. The "B" team, which she was on, was undefeated. She spent most of her time at second base. She has already read countless numbers of books and makes many trips each week to the library for more material. The Youth Leadership Group she is a part of is starting to meet and prepare for the upcoming school year. Abbey and a few of her girlfriends find time to hang out in the afternoons. And she has really been a big help here with daycare. She helps in getting them outside and playing fun games with them. She helped me take a few to the pool one day. She is indispensable and I love spending time with her. She is excited for the new Harry Potter movie to come out. It has been a tradition that Dana and I take her out for dinner (which for Abbey includes lobster!!) and then we go see the movie. Just the 3 of us!

Carson is spending his summer playing video games, catching up on Ben 10, reading, and playing outside when it's not "too hot"!! (Gets it from me. I hate the heat!) Emma spends her day doing girly things and coordinating the play of her friends (daycare kids) each day. They both have been to their share of baseball games so far and we have another 3 weeks for sure yet. They are both looking forward to swimming lessons and this weekends 4th of July party hosted by our close friends.

Dana has been playing a lot more golf this summer than in the previous ones! I guess when you aren't working yourself to death that you have time to do some of those things you really enjoy. He also finished up coaching the t-ball season and has umpired a few Little League games. He calls that his boat gas money! He got tickets to the Indy race at Iowa Speedway last weekend and all six of us went and spent Father's Day at the track with Dana. We all had a great time.

Other than being behind in almost all my tasks (except laundry! I'm afraid there would be mutiny here if I was behind on that) I am doing the usual mom stuff. I have the same 4 families that I watch during the school year. The house really needs a deep clean and I have countless projects that I am trying to do. I finally got our new computer up and running and am still figuring our Vista and my new Photosmart program. It really is never ending.

Dana and I celebrated 19 years of marriage last Tuesday. We did nothing exciting. The rain ruined our meal plans on the grill so instead we had Casey's pizza and were in bed at about 9:30. It was one of our first nights home in a while and we were all exhausted. We saved the celebration for Saturday night. We had tickets to Taylor Swift and Keith Urban here in town. We went with our great friends Mark and Kelly and it was awesome! We were in row 16 and had free liberty to go up to the stage to take pictures! I was up there taking pics of Keith and the next thing I know he walks down a ramp right in front of me. A nice security guard stepped in between us but I was close enough and crazy enough to slip my finger in the back of Keith's jeans to keep up with him as he walked to the back of the arena to a small stage there. I only had my finger in his pocket a short time as he walked quicker than the security guard did and my arm didn't stretch that far. I got some great pictures and even some bootleg video!! We had a great time.

Well...as far as we know the boat is fixed. Dana and I did the work on the impeller ourselves. We had it running in the drive and thought we had all the issues worked out. When we put it in the lake it wouldn't shift out of neutral. After talking with our boat guy we had probably melted the shifter cable in our first outing and the lower unit had to be removed to replace it. We thought that was a bigger task then we could handle and had someone else do it. Plan on testing it out Friday as we are all off for the holiday weekend.

Ok....so that is the 411 on us right now. Enjoy the following pictures. And keep our fingers crossed that I get my poop in a group enough to get to this each week.


Father's Day at Iowa Speedway


Jordan on a typical weeknight!


Abbey enjoying a nice day with a good book!


Little man!


Sweet Emma!


Keith Urban! And to think I was even closer!!!


19 sweet years of marriage!

Silver Medals!!

This post and this week was all about the State Track Meet. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent at Drake Stadium watching boys and girls from all over the state of Iowa run for the thrill of the victory and the agony of defeat. Jordan got to experience both.

Thursday was the 4x800 final for Drew, Brandon, Nick, and Jordan. Just a reminder....they were averaging an 8:37-8:39 race until the district meet in which they ran an 8:10 to qualify for state. Never before had they run like that. Well.....they didn't at state either. They ran an 8:42.83. Oops. Jordan was "frustrated and embarrassed" as he got to cross the finish line last in his heat.

Friday was the 4x400 preliminaries for Craig, Jordan, Nick, and Trevor. This race turned out much better. The boys crossed the finish line in first with a time of 3:24.62 and qualified for the finals with the second fastest time. They also broke the school record. The record they had set at the district meet.

Saturday was the finals of the 4x400. Very exciting! The boys ran very well against a very tough Sioux City Bishop Heelan. They ran a 3:24.01 breaking the school record again and walked away with Silver Medals!

Dana and I were so proud! We went out and bought a digital camcorder. We didn't want to trust such a special memory to my little digital camera with video option. I was at many times close to tears and after watching the replay of the Prelim race I knew that for the final I would really need to be silent! Much better for every one's viewing pleasure.

This was such a crazy week! Abbey had her Middle School Musical performance of "Beauty and the Beast". Thanks to my Aunt Karen who attended both performances and took the little two with her the second time. We weren't able to get there as Jordan ran at the same time as she performed. Showing just how mature she is becoming she said "I will be in more musicals, but Jordan may not have this opportunity again." Karen took pictures the second day and I can't wait to share them when I get them. They said it was a very good production and the little two were very excited to share their synopsis with us.

It was also graduation weekend for DC-G so Dana and I went and check out how things are run in preparation for next year. It was very neat to see many of the kids we have watched grow up get their diplomas. Kelli was one of those special people and we are very excited for her. Her graduation party is next weekend so I will have pictures from that next week. Jordan and her spent this weekend enjoying the state experience (her last) and attending graduation parties together.

Saturday, Dana brought the boat home and put the carpet back in and loaded it with all the "boat crap" that we take out each winter. We decided to go gas it up as fuel prices have been rising. It was about 7:00pm and as we were waiting for the tank to fill we commented on what nice calm night it was. A perfect night for the 2009 maiden voyage of "Big Red". Yeah...right! Without the kids in tow, we back the boat down the ramp and it starts right up without much effort! So I back it off the trailer and Dana pulls away to go park. I slowly go out of the cove and then open it up to make a short loop before going back for Dana at the dock. I turn the boat to head back and a loud squealing alarm begins to signal to me something is wrong! UGH! I'm just a girl...but everything looks ok. I slow down and take it back to the dock. I tell Dana something isn't right and notice a small amount of smoke coming from the back. Dana hops in and we take it back out of the cove (with the loud squealing alarm ringing....so romantic). As we bring it back up to speed more smoke and I notice that the temp gauge is climbing. I suggest that maybe we head back to the dock in my calmest voice (NOT) and hope that we don't blow up before we get there. We tie off on the dock, Dana backs down the trailer and we hand load our 25ft tub with ropes as neither of us were excited about starting it back up. So much for a sunset lap around the lake. We drove in silence back to storage. Dana believes that it might need a new impeller (?) after talking to his brother. He thinks it is something he can do and we should be back in business. Hoping it's as easy as it sounds.

Enjoy the montage and video of our trip to State and the final of the 4x400 race!!

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We're goin' to state!!!!

On a very rainy but calm Friday night our son with the help of many others qualified for the state track meet in the 4x800 and the 4x400 relays! In the process they broke the school record! I cannot begin to tell you how exciting it was to watch those kids!

Our 4x800 team had a best time of 8:37 and Jordan really wasn't "feeling" that they had a chance to get qualified in that event. To our surprise, Drew, Brandon, Nick, and Jordan ran the race in 8:10.41! Jordan's personal record was an 8:06. He ran an 8:01 on Friday. I normally get nervous when Jordan runs but never more than I was for him on Friday. The next thing I know Carson, Emma and I are jumping up and down in the rain hugging and high-fiving other parents on the relay team. You would have thought that they just qualified for the Olympics!!

With the state mandated break of 45 minutes and an additional 30 minute delay for lightening he had plenty of time for recovery before he had to run the 4x400 which is the last event of the meet. This was the race he knew they had a good chance at qualifying in. He had been working very hard this season and vying with 6 guys for a spot on the team. He did solidify that at the Conference meet last week (which we won!) by maintaining a low 00:52. So with everyone in there place, Craig, Jordan, Nick and Trevor put on a show for the crowd that had us all on our feet!! They came across with a 3:26.91! More hugging and high-fiving!! Then we find out that they have qualified with the fastest time in the state for 3A schools!

So this week we will spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium watching many DC-G men and women (16 events combined, I think) try to conquer the blue oval!! Dana and I couldn't be more proud of those kids. Kelli, Jordan's best friend/girlfriend, also qualified in the same events as Jordan did so we are excited to cheer her on at her final state meet of high school.

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately, so I have no photos to share this time. I will get better. We have been attending graduation parties this weekend and I am starting to realize how much work I have to do to get ready for next year. I need to get these memories on film!

I think the rest of us are looking forward to May being over. The calendar is too full and I have a hard time holding it together! (ask Dana.....the recipient of my many meltdowns!) Spring baseball is officially over today but they have already started high school practices, which Jordan hasn't been able to attend due to track.

Track is over for Abbey. She got one day off and started softball practice. They are busy getting ready for the Musical which is also this coming weekend. (Can you imagine how torn I am about that!?!?! She performs the same time as Jordan runs on Friday and on Saturday depending on whether or not the boys make it into the finals!) I also think that she is looking forward to school being out soon.

Carson and Emma continue to follow the leaders! They go and cheer just as loud as they can for the other kids!! Carson is playing t-ball...however the weather wasn't very cooperative for his games this week. Both of them are winding down the school year also. This is Emma's last week of preschool.

Dana and I are tired of deli sandwiches on the run and late night housework to catch up from rushing out the door every afternoon. We are enjoying the ride, though! Seeing Abbey's excitement for the upcoming musical is contagious! Watching our varsity tracks members hug each other through victories and defeats and then ultimately doing a victory lap with the district title banner and drape it over the coach is so worth developing an aversion to deli turkey!

Stay tuned!!

We live!!

How many of you have been wondering if something bad has happened in the Sump house? We are all fine. I just have been extremely bad about sitting down to do updates. Things are getting busy again so I need to try to keep this up so I have a record of what goes on in our house. So to catch you all up here is a brief run down of the goings on here.

Dana continues to love Casey's General Stores. Getting a little busier but still manageable. He brings no work home with him and we all like it that way! He is coaching Carson's t-ball team. Thinks he might be getting to old to be doing it! Ha! Says they wear his patience thin. Plus....they practice and have games on Tuesday and Friday's.....Abbey and Jordan have track meets on those days so he is missing alot of that. Says that maybe next year he will have to bow out so we can rotate who goes where. He is also coaching the Varsity Spring League team to help prepare our boys for Baseball season. Dana and I both pulled an all nighter for After Prom last weekend! It was fun watching the kids have a blast. Recovery was very difficult for us older folks!!

I am trying to keep the bus moving forward. Lots of people going lots of different directions. Try to plan meals or at least sack lunches so we don't spend all of our time eating concession stand meals. I had Dana and Jordan move my treadmill from the basement to our bedroom. Now it actually gets used. I figured I needed something to counter the effects of the poor diet and the constant state of bleacher butt I seem to have. The daycare kids keep me busy during the day and we are all thankful for the nicer weather. Working on stuff for a garage sale next weekend. I do my best work under pressure.

Jordan has been very busy! Between school, track, and spring ball we don't see much of him. Track is going really well and he has high hopes of going to state with the 4x400 team and maybe the 4x800 team. Have had a few meets canceled due to weather. He is working hard on his pitching. He has really worked on his curve ball and it has come a long way from last year! He and Kelli still do everything together. I am not sure anything has really changed except the fact that they don't label what their relationship is. They went to prom last week and looked so cute together. Jordan is also preparing for his job with Parks and Rec this summer. He loved it during Spring Break. "I get paid to play, Mom!"

Abbey is out for track and does well in the distance runs. She mostly does the 1500 and the 800. Occasionally they will throw her a 100 to keep her on her toes! She sang in a trio for contests and played a clarinet solo as well. Both receiving a 1 rating! She is in the Middle School musical. They are doing Beauty and the Beast and she has 3 different roles. The Enchantress, a napkin, and a villager. The 8th graders get most of the lead roles. She is patiently waiting for next year! She has also been preparing for Softball which will start after school is out. They have been having some early morning skills sessions that she has been attending. For fun she reads a ton!

Carson just got finished hatching chicks in kindergarten. He would come home everyday with a new story about candling or how many eggs have holes in them, and finally how many chicks hatched that day. I think he is having fun playing t-ball. Dana says he talks alot! Wonder where he gets that? : ) He is really into Ben 10 right now and loves to have Cole come over so they can play his Ben 10 Wii game together.

Emma continues to be along for the ride. She goes wherever she is told and as long as she has food and something girly to do will not complain. No activities for her yet. I need to find something like gymnastics or tumbling for her but am not sure we can even squeeze it in right now.

Looking forward to boating season! Dana brought the batteries home yesterday to charge them up. Hope to be racing up and down Saylorville as soon as we can! Will do better at posting. Thanks for checking up on us!

Enjoy some pictures and a Prom montage!


Ready for some Dodgeball!!


So beautiful!


Hunting some Easter Eggs.


The sweetest smile ever!

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Broken Hearts......

No pictures with this post. I have been too busy helping to mend a broken heart. Thursday night Jordan came down the stairs a bit emotional. He confided in us that he and Kelli have decided to be friends. I think that she is feeling a lot of pressure to make some decisions about her life. Remember......she is a senior. She is tyring to decide between two schools and fill out tons of scholarship forms. Trying to decide what you want to do with your life is a very big deal with lots of stress involved. She told Jordan she was really confused right now and just wanted to take a break. He also said that she didn't want to make it really hard when she left for college.

He was very sad. And maybe a bit confused himself. He did lots of running and played a few video games. It was the first Saturday night we have had him home all night in awhile. I just gave lots of hugs and a good ear when he needed it. I also thought a bit of comfort food might help so planned a few of Jordan's favorites for him.

As this week has started I have discovered that they still talk everyday and that the plan is they will still go to prom together. He really wants her to be happy and if that means having her as a great friend then that is good.

Track practice started for him this week and also has practice for Spring baseball so he has plenty to keep him busy. This has been a growing experience and listening to him talk has made me realize that he isn't 6 anymore. Some of the things he has said this last few days has really demonstrated his blooming maturity.

So life will go on and we will see how the next few weeks goes.

Onto the next big thing!

Well, basketball is officially over at DC-G. Our boys lost in first round district play on Monday night in a close game (3 points) with Carlisle. Jordan actually got to suit for that game. He received the OK to return to hand contact sports last Friday from our Dr as long as he buddy tapes it. Our girls lost their sub-state final last night against Harlan. You just feel so terrible for those seniors who were working so hard for 1 more game. The emotion on their faces always makes my heart hurt for them. So...now it's onto the next big thing. Track starts next week for both Jordan and Abbey. The boys actually started practicing this week but Jordan has to take a week off between sports so he will join them next week. He has been coming home and running after school. He isn't in as great a shape as when he left Cross Country. The basketball coach doesn't work them very hard so he needs to keep running or he will really be behind when he starts next week. Abbey is just excited to have something to do after school again.

Last week found Abbey with a case of strep throat. She woke feeling very badly on Friday morning (a no school day here!) and ended up passing out at the breakfast table. She isn't my little girl anymore! I had a hard time getting her back up off the floor. She was so worried about not feeling well because she had the last show choir contest on Saturday and since they missed their first one due to the weather she was not going to miss this one. So I made an appointment and Dana took her in. Strep, just as I thought! We squeezed 24 hours worth of antibiotics in over about 14 hours and she got up very early Saturday got herself ready and performed with a big smile on her face!! She went right to bed when they got home. Our choir got 3rd place, received the award for best band, and one of our girls received a star performer award.

The performance!

The sweet treat after!


Emma went to Sayler's birthday party on Sunday at Build A Bear. Emma had never been there and loved it. She asked me to buy her a new dress for the party and was so excited to wear it.


Emma stuffing her bear.


She looked so beautiful and she picked a pink bear and a dress that almost matched the one she had on. They all had lots of fun.


Sayler and Emma



Dana has a terrible head cold and is feeling a bit rough to start this week out. He continues to really like his new job and I can tell the difference it has made in our quality of life! He is home at a nice time each night and I never hear much about what is going on. So far, Casey's has not taken over our lives as KG did. He and another dad are coaching the varsity spring baseball team and he is getting very excited about that. He has been going over to the indoor batting cage every Sunday night and throwing buckets of balls to the guys. He and Steve take turns because "we aren't as young as we once were." I haven't had to help him put deodorant on so that's a great sign!

I am ready for spring and yesterday and today are feeling a lot like it! But they are talking ice for tomorrow....so I will just live in today!! Keeping busy with daycare and updating the calendar with new schedules. Track and Spring baseball will be starting soon. Also working on tax stuff. Never a fun time as I am a terrible procrastinator! (I guess Jordan comes by it honestly!) Am looking forward to planting flowers and working on the yard. Even more than that is getting the boat back out!! Should probably find some time to do some spring cleaning too! UGH! But for now, I will enjoy the calm before the storm of new activities.

From ABC's to ACT's!

Last week started with me attending a Kindergarten meeting for Emma. She will be attending the Kindergarten Round Up scheduled for the end of March. We have no intention of sending her to Kindergarten next year but rather the Optional Kindergarten program. She has to go thru the evaluation at the round up so they can tell me if they agree with our assessment of Optional Kindergarten for her. She is a July birthday and, just as Abbey did, will benefit from that extra year of physical and emotional growth. However, I have to say, she is probably more ready than any of them to go. That means she will graduate with the Class of 2024. Good God!! That will make me.....oh, never mind!

The week ended with me dragging our 17 year old to the computer to register for the ACT's. He will take them on April 4th. He is also filling out a Student Activity Information Form for consideration into the National Honor Society. We were so excited for him to get the invitation to complete the form for the selection process. We know that there are probably many that receive the invite and they only choose a select number. He doesn't think he has enough service hours to even be considered. The whole process of getting him to fill out the form was painful. He hates to brag about himself and REALLY hates essay type questions. I found myself having to walk away and let Dana take care of some of it. I already have visions of filling out college applications, scholarship forms, and financial aid forms with Jordan kicking and screaming the whole time.

So it was a weird week for me as a parent. Making kindergarten decisions for one and college prep stuff for the other. I honestly have to say that sometimes it's more than I can wrap my brain around. Every stage has it's challenges. I would just appreciate it if the kids would have a meeting and send us only one challenge at a time! Would that be too much to ask? The emotions of preparing your first for college and your last for Kindergarten are so much the same. It's just that I get to multiply those emotions times 2 since it is happening at the same time.

On Wednesday, late afternoon, I was sitting down after all the daycare kids were gone to watch the early news and catch my breath when our phone rang. It was Jordan's coach....."You may want to come out here to North Ridge. Jordan has dislocated his finger and will need to be seen." Yikes! That sounds painful. So, off Dana and I go to find Jordan in the staff lounge with his head on the table and his hand in the air. "Are you ok?"....."Yeah, I just don't want to look at it!" Sure enough, his right pinky had a 90 degree angle in it. We put him in the car and off to the ER we went. I snapped a photo of the finger while en route. Not a great picture as the swelling was taking over that knuckle making that 90 degree angle not as impressive.

2 hours and 2 x-rays later they had it reduced and we were on our way home. Not a very fun way for Jordan to spend a Wednesday evening. A little codeine helped the night go a bit better. Basketball is done for our man! Two weeks with no hand contact sports. He didn't seem too stressed out about that. Very thankful that Track is next as he should get plenty of time to heal before baseball.

Abbey had been spending the week anticipating their first Show Choir competition scheduled for Friday night. Unfortunately, the weather took care of that. It was a bit frustrating as the Superintendent waited until half of the choir was already here in Grimes to pick up the other half before he denied the buses to leave. The competition went on without us. They even canceled the Varsity basketball games 15 minutes before they were suppose to start. The other team was already here and I am sure our girls were already warming up. I have to say.....we have had some really poor decision making with regards to the weather this year. Getting out early when the sun is still shining with anticipation that ice (that never showed up) is on the way.......sending the basketball teams to Carroll in the middle of a snow storm that pulled the plows off the roads. (That was way scary!) So she had a very quiet Friday night and is now hoping to compete in Pella next weekend.

Dana and I attended the "Have a Heart" Breakfast with Carson on Friday. The kindergarten classes do it each year. The parents come and have breakfast with their child and then we open their Valentine cards with them.


This year we got a bonus and were able to watch the Fairy Tale plays after. Carson performed in "Little Red Riding Hood" as the Big Bad Wolf. His play was last and boy he loves to perform! He had us all laughing. Both Dana and I took the morning off and were so glad we did! I took a video of it but none of the kids spoke loud enough to be picked up. All you see is their actions, you hear the teacher reading the story and the audience laughing! Carson is definitely going to be a friend of the fine arts. He loves to make people laugh!


Saturday, Dana and I snuck away and had a nice meal out at my favorite place....Sam & Gabe's. It never disappoints. We didn't stay out long. The little two have been a bit under the weather and we wanted to be with them too. It was great to have some alone time, though. Neither of us had to ask anyone to "use their quiet voice" or "stop using your sleeve as a napkin" nor did we have to tell each other to "sit still!" There was no chicken strips or mac n cheese on the menu! It's the small things!

A little Valentine love!