Wrestling

so last year, i don’t think i even blogged about wrestling. i know i didn’t post any photos, but to be honest, if you think photographing an offensive lineman is tough, you should try a wrestler! no easy task for this amateur photographer let me tell you.

our first meet was last night. and it was kaneland. yeah…the ones we just barely beat for the championship in football 2 weeks ago. and they are always tough but both of our teams lost a lot of our ‘varsity’ wrestlers (the middle school has 2 teams….varsity/jv and you compete each week for a varsity spot unless there’s no one else in your weight class) and we weren’t sure how it would go.

zo and i dropped off tori at a friend’s house for annie rehearsal (she managed a 1/2 day of school yesterday and rehearsal before bottoming out again….so she’s back on the couch today) and then hightailed it out to the middle of nowhere for the meet. only there’s a new middle school for kaneland. in a totally different town (rural school) and so we actually went to TWO schools. but luckily, connor is in the higher weigh classes so we were not late to see him.

on the visitor side…the ref was always in the way.

if you aren’t familiar with wrestling (like me) this is good.

his arms were so sore after this match. it was sloppy (his words) and took way longer than it should have (his words) but i told him that now he had material to work with. he could go back over the match in his head and figure out what he did right/wrong.

ok, this looks painful.

no wait…scratch that…THIS looks painful.

PINNED!

connor was leading 11-5 when he finally pinned this guy in the 3rd period. our varsity team won by 30 points (we lost to them last year by 2) and our jv just barely lost. a pretty good way to start the year.

Sick

it totally puts a crimp in your style doesn’t it? tori was tired yesterday and i figured that the lay around recovery day would be perfect and she’d be good to go today. but no such luck. she started to tank again late yesterday afternoon and was up several times during the night because she was hot, she was cold, she thought she was going to be sick (she wasn’t), she wanted cough medicine, she needed to be propped up, she had a scary dream, etc. so needless to say, we are back on the couch again today.

so instead of going to zo’s classroom to read baggie books or working the book fair at their school over lunch, i’m home with tori doing more laundry in the hopes of ridding her bedroom of germs and catching up on my loose ends.

of course i’ve thought of a few more since i posted:

buy the library book that we lost – we lose one every summer thanks to zoe

plan the october picture lady presentation that i’m finally doing this thursday.

work on a belated anniversary gift for my parents (had a great idea, no follow thru)

track down my sister’s rockin’ anniversary gift that i ordered 3 weeks early and it still got lost in the mail. need to get in touch with amazon.

off to work on my knots and all things healthy. i see chicken noodle soup in tori’s future….

Tying up the Loose Ends

i don’t think it is actually possible to start a new year completely fresh. there are always loose ends that need to be tied up. but for me, there are lots of loose ends. because by barely existing the last few months, i left a lot of things undone or partially done. and what i found was that the thing i was worst at was finishing. so my focus is on finishing things. checking them off the list and then throwing out the finished list.

so this week is a week of loose ends and project wrap ups. such as:

putting together the yoga calendar (this is not exactly a loose end….this project has just finally gotten to the point where i can do my part of it but it needs immediate attention)

getting chris’s expense credit card account cleaned up. forgot to transfer money from his first expense report 6 months ago (probably spent it on groceries or socks) and so we owe the account. finally figured out how much.

get 2 new toilets. this is just a project that we’ve been waiting to have the money to do. we’ve got a guy coming over this week to take care of this for us. just as soon as i pick out my bowls….

putting the laundry away. can’t remember the last time i did ALL the laundry all at once. now i need to get the rest of it sorted and put away. of course, tori just cleaned her room and found an entire bin of dirty laundry for me…..so maybe i’m not so caught up.

need to make a check list of little home projects. nothing big (like toilets) but things like WD-40 the master bedroom closet door, the pantry doors, new lightbulb for the deck light, re-hang the quilt over the couch in the family room, put our smoke detectors back up…they’ve been off the ceilings for a couple years now due to a short that kept making them go off all the time. should probably fix that.

so here’s to tight knots.

and just so this post isn’t all words…here’s my latest page…

supplies can be found here.

Happy New Year!

that’s right. i’m starting a new year on november 1st.

see here’s the thing…this year has been difficult. (job loss, weight gain, death of my grandmother, turning 40, poor health for me, almost losing my FIL to pneumonia last weekend, dropped balls, forgotten appointments, etc) so i decided that it needed to end. and just like that i’m making it happen. i have never been very patient so why not? i feel like i’m not dragging towards the end of the year now but that i’m on the upswing. and i want to be on the upswing for christmas this year. remember last year? yeah, i’m not going to do that again.

today is the recovery day before i hit the ground running tomorrow. i had planned to hit it running today but a sick kid (tori) and after a very long week of sleepless nights i’m only at about half mast myself….so it’s a laundry, blog post, take a nap kind of day. oh that and making lists. see, that’s part of my new year plan. lists. so that’ll start on monday along with regular blog posts, catch up blog posts so this blog can still continue to be a family history document, more info on topics that i’ve been researching or learning about and lots more scrapping as i can now share my sb pages again (everything i’ve scrapped in the last few months have gone to projects)

so i’m excited for it all to begin. i haven’t felt this good about a restart in a long time.

and while i work on getting all my ducks in a row, here’s pictures (and a page) from last night’s halloween festivities.

supplies can be seen here.

a zebra, a 50 girl and a um, masked/caped/scary dude.

i don’t think the girls even knew connor did this…

zoe the zebra and sarah the cowgirl. a perfect set! zo lost her tail along the way. which is a bummer because a backside pic would’ve been really cute…..

this is blurry but the story is great. this guy was HUGE. scared the beejeezus out of milo. he came to the door alone and said nothing. all he did was pull his skeleton hand out of his cloak and GIVE ME a pack of peanut m&ms (my faves!) and then he left. i don’t think i’ve ever been “treated” on halloween before. oh, and i believe i know who you are (your daughter told my son) but your identity is safe with me reaper.

ok, back tomorrow with the new game plan.

i hope your new year is fabulous beyond your expectations.

peace.

Undefeated! Sold! Little Orphan Tori!

Whew.

It’s been a very emotionally exhausting (but good) weekend.

I think i need a weekend to recover from the weekend.

So, up first was connor’s championship football game v. kaneland on saturday morning. it was a glorious day for football. crisp fall day with sunshine and a light breeze. oh, and mud. because the sunshine was new and the fields had not had time to dry out. boy howdy was there mud. i took over 180 photos at this game. figured it was my last shot to do so and who knows if they will ever be undefeated again ya know? so here’s a quick run down sans editing…there’s no time to get those all edited right now.

i thought it was a bit chilly for “kick butt” short shorts but they were loud cheerleaders!

the first half was NOT bulldog football. we couldn’t get anything going on the offense and if it weren’t for TWO goal line stands…kaneland would have won this battle. connor’s easy to spot at this game…he wore red socks.

i call this “cleats in mud…a still life”

i think this was a reverse play of some sort. and yes, i messed with camera settings and accidentally bumped camera settings due to the stress of the game so not all of these are clear shots. but it’s a nice block by connor…

at halftime it was 6-0 kaneland. but the bulldogs were back in the 3rd marching down the field and tying the score. i moved into the end zone for a few shots. he really wasn’t the only one on the field, but he’s on the left side (weak) and there wasn’t always someone lined up directly in front of him. typically they were to his left.

a better overall shot as we were driving for yet another score.

we almost didn’t pull this victory out. they were driving with less than 2 minutes to go and had a TD pass called back because the QB was over the line of scrimmage and the last play of the game was a pass that was batted down on the goal line.

bad pieced together team photo because i don’t have a wide angle lens and there were 50 people taking pictures of this crew. connor is right above the word “crew” in 2nd row (and he’s crouching down so the other guys can be seen…he’s not that short)

whew…totally blew out this photo but that is the school plaque.

57 & 58

steve & connor

offensive left guard & offensive left tackle

they are also in scouts & wrestling together (and he’s going on philmont with chris and connor too)

holy cow does he need a haircut!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ok, at the game, we got a phone call from a prospective buyer of our truck who had been out to see it the day before. he called as soon as i got home (and chris walked out the door to pick up connor from the bus…WITHOUT his phone) and i made the call that we’d make the deal. it was a bit less than what i wanted and a bit more than chris’ bottom line so i guess that’s ok. but then i was filled with anxiety about the cashier’s check. by the time they got here, all banks were closed but we copied everything, took down his driver’s license and they were such a nice family i think it’ll be ok. oh, and we got half the money in cash! crazy. never seen that much cash before.

so we had to say goodbye to our most favorite vehicle ever….

chris is actually in mourning. he’s been bummed since it was driven out of our garage.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

today was a very early morning for tori and i as she had to play handbells at the 8am service at church.  it was her debut in the bell choir and she did a great job. she said she missed notes at the 8 o’clock but by the 9 o’clock she was hitting a lot more notes.

at church we learned that tori’s friend lauren (7th grade) had gotten a part in the play. so tori rushed home to the answering machine to see if she had gotten a call. alas, no.

meanwhile, helen came over and she and tori got ready to attend the CropWalk which is an annual walk around the river to help raise money to feed hungry people. we were just about to walk out the door when the phone rang…..it was the director of annie jr! she asked tori if she would like to be an orphan and tori quickly accepted. so i’m not sure how much walking tori did at the CropWalk. I think she was floating most of the way. we will have a mandatory meeting a week from monday where we should learn more about what is going to happen and then eventually tori will be assigned a particular orphan (at this point she just is “one of them”) and we’ll then know if she will have any speaking lines/solos or if she will be an ensemble orphan. heh. is that an oxymoron? ensemble orphan? a group of onlies? yeah, i’m tired.

like i said….emotionally exhausting weekend….but all good.

Tonight

The bulldogs are officially headed to the championship game on saturday as they beat wredling 29-6. connor had a really good game. it’s hard to stand out when you are on the offensive line but he made some great blocks for a quarterback keeper for a touchdown as well as for a 2 point conversion and a nice running play.

it was nice to be up in bleachers for a change but that put me farther from the field as well. it was freezing at the game. i seemed to have gotten a lot of blurry pics. i’ll have one more chance to get some decent shots on saturday when they play for the championship. although it won’t be any warmer. better figure out my settings by then…..

tori has officially survived her first audition for community theater. there are no photos as parents are not even allowed in the theater (we are stuck waiting outside in the hallway). i think i was more nervous than she was. they started by taking the first 10 kids in to learn a quick dance routine and then they performed it as a group. i’m glad they did that first. i think that helped tori’s nerves. then they took them upstairs where they sang for the director and 3 others. she was supposed to sing the 2nd verse and refrain (you only get 16 measures) but started with the first verse. so she stopped and started again and then made it through.

they plan to cast 50-60 kids for this show. hopefully she gets a part as i think this would be a great experience but the time commitment is huge. she had a really good attitude about it. i don’t think she will be devastated if she doesn’t make it but i also think she feels pretty good about making it.

zo had soccer practice and managed to not freeze. and that we will consider a success as well.

Today

Tori will win the position of student council secretary (she is the only one running)

Tori will attend her first “real” audition at Rising Star Theatre. She hopes to be in this play:

Tori performed annie jr. with her school last spring. she was one of the orphans (july) and loved it. so she thought it would be a good play to audition for in community theater. but she can’t audition a musical piece from it so we had to find another one. she will be singing “colors of the wind” from Pocahontas. wish her luck!!!

Connor will play in his first playoff game this season. as the first seed, they had a bye week last week. we are playing wredling who we beat 44-6 or something like that…..but i get bleachers which means i can take photos from a different angle…in the rain.

Zoe is attending an outdoor field trip to fermilab to learn more about insects….in the rain.

Zoe is supposed to have soccer practice but i’m secretly hoping it gets canceled (due to rain) as it is at the same time as the audition and the football game.

Madison Photowalk

a couple weekends back, the boys were camping at the boy scout illinois jamboree with 1500 other scouts so the girls and i decided to take a road trip to madison, wi. my girlfriend katrina had flown in from california to watch her little brother compete in the ironman. the race was on sunday so we went up on saturday to go out to lunch with them and then do a photo walk with katrina (complete with ice cream of course!) prior to the big event.

katrina is an amazing photographer and she even teaches classes at Get It Scrapped where photographic neophytes like me can learn new tricks. i must admit, i was hoping she’d photograph the girls and then send me the pics…but she did one better. she made this photo collage page for me instead. and i love it.

Tori ran into her 5th grade teacher up there as well. Her husband was competing in his 4th ironman. so amazing!

Justin did a great job and finished 400th out of over 2100. it was very fun to hang out with him before the race and then see some of katrina’s photos. what an amazing accomplishment.

all in all, a great road trip.

She’s Going to Be an Actor

she already likes being on stage. she can sing  and it seems to come naturally to her. and of course, she keeps faking me out when she’s not actually sick…..oy.

supplies can be found at designerdigitals.

Tis the Season

yep….football season. well, it’s also soccer season and back to school season and eat tomatoes season but that’s not what is on my mind today.

nope. it’s time for football.

connor is on the 8th grade team this year. first time he’s played football for the school (or our city for that matter) ever. and it’s his 6th year of tackle football. so it has been cool to get on the team with his buddies from school.

they have 2 teams. red and gold (A and B basically) and connor is on the red (A) team as the starting left offensive tackle. he’s also the captain of the lineman on the kickoff return team and plays defense any chance he can get (loves defense).

so the first game of the year was the tuesday after labor day. no practice on monday and they get “the toughest team they are going to face all season”. there’s even a rumor (8th grade boy rumors are usually choked full of hyperbole…this one is no different) that this team of boys has never lost a game since 4 th grade.  riiiiiiiiight.

anyway. connor’s team was at home and of course i’m there with my camera. trouble was, when you have a son who is a lineman, you miss a lot of the action. and i tend to get a lot of pics of his butt.

at least he’s on the end (no. 58)…….

hold that line!

we ended up beating kaneland 20-14 on a last minute touchdown. i missed the exciting part of the game as i was taking the girls to another activity but i did see connor stop a 2 pt. conversion after a touchdown. that was cool.

the other trouble with lineman shots is that if you try and get something that is a bit more “artsy” or has a cool crop….you have no clue which arm belongs to your son…..

it would be easier if he were the center in this case because i’d know that he was the one with the ball….but i think he’s the second arm in from the left of the photo. and this pic was taken at the 2nd game vs. thompson. we won that one too but i’m going to have to come back later with the score. i can’t remember what it was.

this past tuesday, we traveled to yorkville (hopefully that is our longest trip…ugh. no easy way to get to the middle of nowhere) and unfortunately, connor was getting sick and ended up not playing. poor guy felt awful.

you aren’t allowed to sit the bench during the game normally. but he was just miserable. at least this shot is kind of cool (even if it says “orkville”). we won this game easily 30-6.

tonight’s game is up in st. charles vs. another of their middle schools (i think they have 3) and i’m not sure connor’s going to play. he went to school today after missing yesterday but still wasn’t very peppy. so he’ll either go and support the team and not suit up, or he’ll tough it out and play a bit. he can’t start since he missed practice yesterday but if he’s up to it, i’m sure they will let him play.

here’s hoping for another bulldog victory…WOOF!