It's Tricky...

It's been a pretty tough few days over here. Lindsay has had this little cough-thing all during the weekend, which means that mommy and daddy didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Thankfully, I could let Jeanise sleep in a little on Saturday since she was up off and on with Lindsay.

Joel is really liking his new school... his teachers... and his classmates. He's coming home everyday with something new that he learned! We are just so thankful and blessed that God has been watching over him and his situation and know that Joel is just about to turn the corner with his communication. In the last week or so (maybe longer, but I'm not home during the day) Joel has become more of an older brother... a BOSSY older brother. For the most part, he's looking out for Lindsay, but the other side of him is .... well... bossy. Sometimes it's good... sometimes it's not so good. The other night, Jeanise was out with her mom and I had just finished cooking the kids their dinner. While I was thinking about what I was going to have, Joel says to Lindsay, "Lindsay, let's pray for our food." Lindsay then drops her fork on to her tray, and they both put their hands together while Joel said his little prayer from church. It was really cute and it was a candid moment.

Lindsay, is just a little character. Joel likes to quiz her about animal sounds... I was quizing her on colors the other night. "Lindsay, what color is your shirt (orange shirt)?" "Orange!"... "Lindsay, what color are the flowers (yellow)?" "Orange!"... "No Lindsay, they're Yellow" REPEAT QUESTION... "Orange!" By this time, I'm laughing and she knows that she's funny. A friend of the family heard what was going on and said, " Sounds like you have an OSU fan." THERE YA' GO SHANE! :-) She's also into the buckles on her high chair at grandma Wynn's house. She'll buckle them (but can't undo them) and says, "Ba-gain?" It's really funny at first, but after about the 20th time (she can go on for hours) we have to rotate to another person. Last night, I tried to convince Joel to show Lindsay how to do it. That a-way dad! Pass that on to your son! :-)

Gotta get to school early today. Have a great week!

A Green ThumB?

I don't know where it happened... my Grandma Stout won all sorts of gardening awards and was in some garden club. My Mom is Mrs. Horticulturist and always has the best looking flower beds (I've even participated in those a bit). Then there's me... I've been lucky if I can/could keep anything alive much less, looking beautiful. Mom used to have Bob and I pull weeds during the summer vacation. It was work, let me tell you, and we would have rather had our appendix out or a root canal than pull weeds. But, when she knew how much we loved it... she knew that she was going to have to bribe us BIGTIME! SHe paid us pretty good... $5 back then was great... but I never got over the weed pulling thing. So... now, we have these really pretty flowers in our flower bed at the house. But they've been all over run by that stupid clover. I knew it was there... just didn't want to have to pull any weeds! I'm not a big gardener like grandma, mom, or even my father-in-law (who by the way comes from a long line of gardeners--I'm surrounded!)... but I really didn't want to deal with. Let's just till it in a couple of months and let the snow kill it all!?!?! Nope. So anyway, I told Jeanise that I'd go to home depot and get a tool to help me control the bermuda grass and pull these weeds. I walked out of there with some really pretty mums. I was outside for about 2 hours working that flower bed. Not too shabby, but it still just isn't my thing...

Here's a picture of the kids at Joel's 4 year old b-day party. I love how Joel and Lindsay love eating together. They're so cute.

Not enough grace here... but it's AMAZING!

You've GOT to see this for yourself! Fortunately, I saw this after I led service this last Sunday. Although, I did start a song a step or 2 too high. But I made it. Enjoy!

I miss you like crazy!

Well... after 3 days of solitude, the family is on their way back. Jeanise, the kids, Steve & Lisa all traveled down to Alberqueque, NM this weekend to visit John (Jeanise's brother), Mary, and their kids. It also happens to be Balloon Fiesta weekend. Although, they didn't get to see much because it was very windy and they had to cancel a lot of the events due to wind (ya know... balloons and wind don't mix very well).

Anyway, they're on their way back and I'm ready for them to be home. It's too quiet around here and it really makes me value my family and that time a lot more.

Ok... so now it's time to go cook dinner (aka microwave something).

Du... du... du... dat... du... dah! CHARGE!

THIS IS MY 100th POST!

WE HAVE A ROBERT SIGHTNG!... ATTENTION... WE HAVE A ROBERT SIGHTING!!!!

This is Robert W. (W for Jason)... he was my substitute teacher on NERD DAY for our homecoming spirit week. He did a pretty good job, but the kids really thought he was weird. He had all of these really weird quirks... humming while he was thinking... walking funny, short tie... matted down hair... the WORKS. Needless to say... a nerd.

Just had to share what kind of spirit I have for my school!

Hit me with your best shot

We are off and running! Yesterday was the first Official day of practice. Basketball has begun! Last night, I had a later in the evening practice and had the freshman come out and have an opportunity to practice with the varsity girls... to see what it's like. They stepped right in and held their own. Granted... they have some way to go... but I was proud of them for not looking so scared. We did a lot in 2 hours and then had a small party afterwords. It was nice... until...

... I get out to the parking lot... I'm the last one on CAMPUS!... and my battery is dead on my truck. AH! This was almost as bad as when it was summer... 10:00 pm... and I locked my keys in the middle school building... with my cell phone in my locked truck! I was having flash-backs. But lucky for me, my cell phone was with me and I called my assistant coach, who lives close, to come and help. I got 'er jumped and then I was on my way.

We're off to a great start this season... but as much as I enjoyed being there... I really missed my family. I didn't get to see Lindsay at all yesterday... Joel was only up for about 10 minutes so that we can celebrate our little event (I'll let Jeanise tell you about that one). And then Jeanise and I got to watch a little bit of TV before I fell asleep on the couch. Last night was a unique time... and hopefully, we'll get back on schedule today.

Have a great week!

Remember me...

OK... so when I log into this site and it has the "remember me" box... you would think that the next time that I do access this page/site, that my computer would already have me logged in and ready to go...

... BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It doesn't work! So this is another thing that I get to talk to my web design class about that are annoying things that web designers do! or what NOT to do with your web sites. Does anyone else share that frustration? Also... the time that I'm saving this entry is NOT the actual one. WHAT GIVES?

OK... now that venting is over. Yesterday, a very good friend of mine (with season tickets to all OSU home football games) invited me to Stillwater to watch the Pokes play the Red Raiders from Texas Tech. Both Shane and I have been battling a bit of sinus crud, so we didn't think that we'd be staying very long... mainly because we thought that OSU might get run off the field and blown out. But what we came to discover, was that OSU made a game out of it and eventially WON the game! It was a great game and I'm glad that Shane drugged himself up enough to make the drive. Eventhough we were both kinda sick, I enjoyed myself very much and enjoy the times that I get to spend with my friend. It was tough when he moved to Tulsa, but I knew that God wanted him there for a reason. And he's done so much for the community and for that church, that it's hard to be sad that he's not 2 minutes from my house anymore.

School has been going well... and basketball off-season is about to come to a halt. We officially start on October 1st (practice) and we have 24 days until our first scrimmage! AH! The first couple of months have just FLOWN! We are going to be in great shape and will be thrilled to get into the gym (I hope). The girls have been working very hard to get in shape and prepared for the season... and so it'll be nice to get down to the nitty-gritty on the 1st. We had a good showing at the ORU team camp in June and did pretty well with our summer league. Especially since we didn't really have any kind of offense or defense system in place back then. But we're going to really get after it in Oct. and I'm excited!

Yesterday (Saturday), before I left for the game, Joel and Lindsay were sitting with me watching ESPN... when I got up to make pancakes, I changed the station... went into the kitchen... came back and they were still in the chair! They were too cute not to take a picture. Enjoy!

Jeanise doesn't get into very many pictures, because she's usually taking them... but this is one of my favorite picture moments of her and Lindsay. Aren't they sweet?!?!?

And I just found this one that Jeanise took when we all went to the zoo on Labor Day. This was really a good one!

Oooo... la la

Well... again, it's been a really, really, REALLY long time since I've written anything on here. Since mid-August, it's been school, basketball, and family stuff.

Tonight, Jeanise was at a ladies event at the church building... so I called Steve (father-in-law) if he wanted to go with me and the kids to Rib Cribb. First, a bit of background. We used to go (the family) to RC on the occassional Tuesday evening for all you can eat, St. Louis style ribs. It was great! and Steve and I always got our fill. Then... the unheardof happened... RIB CRIBB IN EDMOND CLOSED! AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now back to our story... So, Steve and I loaded up the kids and drove to south-OKC to the store off of I-40. We walked in and was greeted by 2 of my former students from the high school where I used to teach (they remembered me... and I them). We sat down, ordered... and 10 minutes later I began my sonet... uh hum...

How do I eat thee...
Let me count the bites...
Carefully I must not inhale, though
One, two, and three if I mights.
I eat thee while on my plate...
I eat thee and down you go...
To the depths of my stomach... even down to my toe

It was just wonderful to eat there again and enjoy a place where we haven't eaten in so long. Anyway... now that you've died and cracked up laughing... I'll go now.

Hangin' Tough

It has been a few weeks since I've blogged... I've been meaning to, but just didn't have the energy really (nor did I have anything really worth writing about). We got back from vacation ok (see Jeanise's blog for details) and it was back to reality. Florida was so nice and the trip was just so wonderful, I hated to leave.

I started back to school this week... reported back Monday, had teacher's meetings thru Wed. and Thursday was the first day back for the kiddos. I teach 3 Web Design classes and 1 newspaper class... then I have lunch, my planning time, and then 9th grade basketball, and then varsity basketball. I'm done with my 'teaching' duties at 11:30... it's pretty nice. My classes are good and I think that they'll do well.

Basketball looks good for this year. The girls are really ready to get going and be successfull this season. I'm looking forward to that as well. We start our off-season program/workouts this Monday. Hope the heat can stay away long enough for us to get some work done.

Played in Memorial Rd.'s golf tournament today with Dad, Uncle Mike and Lee from church. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that I got to play. I had some good shots and some really bad ones. The only real funny thing was that I sliced a 5 Iron toward the group ahead of us and heard a loud BANG! I yelled FORE and just prayed that someone didn't get hurt. When I got up to the green, one of the guys in that group told me that I just HAD to take a look. WHAT?!?!?! The bang was actually a 3-point shot into their basket in their golf cart! It had rattled around and was wedged in between the basket spokes! I felt bad. But you know... I AM A BASKETBALL COACH/PLAYER!

Well... I am leading worship tomorrow and have finished going over my songs. Going to have to get up early, so I'd better head off to bed.
Nite!

Picture of Lindsay and me at Floyd's Seafood Restaraunt. It was REALLY GOOD SHRIMP!

We had a 3 hour layover in Houston... Jeanise and I thought it would be a good time-killer to ride the tram back and forth to all the different concourses. We made quite a few trips, but the kids loved it!

Jeanise and I on our date! We were waiting for the movie to start (Bourne Ultimatum)--didn't see the movie 'cause the cinematography was so jumpy that it made us nautious and we had to leave 30 minutes in. But we enjoyed the date, though.

BIG 3 NEWS!

The biggest news since BIRD, McCale, and Dennis Johnson... THE CELTICS ARE BACK IN ACTION! Just had to share this news because it's HUGE! For the die-hard celtics fan, this is going to bring back the GREEN MONSTER and the FEAR in all NBA teams! Those stupid Lakers are a thing of the past... Watch out world... HERE THEY COME!

FORE!

I went and played golf today at Kelly Plantation... which was created by Fred Couple off the PGA tour. It was a VERY nice place to play and I enjoyed it A LOT! Shot an 84 and that was without cheating and only 1 mulligan used. I felt pretty good about that. I didn't take any pictures, though, and am regretting not taking any.

FUNNY STORY: So before we started to play, the course Marshall (guy who tells you when you can start) was telling me and the 2 other guys I played with about the course.... yardages, rules for the carts, etc. Then... the last instruction that he gave us was, "watch out for the snakes and the alligators. You can go." I was like, "well I was with you until the snakes and alligators thing was said." Needless to say, I didn't see any of either (YEA!) but it didn't mean that they weren't stalking me. :-) Today I had some really good shots and some lucky ones that for SOME reason were still playable. I wasn't going to argue though. I'll try and have pictures of the next place I will be playing.

I write the songs...

I'm starting to lose some of the creativity of choosing song titles for titles for my blogging. Too bad that I can't just write a song, so that I have a blog title, huh? THERE! Now this all fits... and now (as they say)... the REST of the story...


Summer has been very mild for OK... mid 80's and low 90's, which is great! It's probably due to all the rain that we've had (to make up for the last several years, I suppose). But nonetheless, I'm not complaining.

The kids are doing well. Here's a picture of Joel who has this fascination with rolley-polleys. He just loves watching them walk around and talks to them. It's kinda cute. Last Sunday night, our church reserved about 2 hours at a water park here in Edmond, for a post-VBS party. It was a lot of fun and the kids did great in the water! They had a lot of fun. Here's a picture of us in the shallow end (pay NO attention to the beached whale between the two kids!) ha ha.

Did you happen to take notice of the NO DIVING SIGN right behind us? We're in about 1 foot of water, maybe less. Sad that they HAVE to put that on there, huh?

I start back to school on the 13th! Can't believe that it's coming up so quickly! Well... need to get the morning started!

Summer time!

It has been a couple of weeks since I've posted... so let's catch up.

On the 6th and 7th... we took the van (and the family) over to Missouri and met my parents at the Starvy Creek Bluegrass festival. Mom and dad took their 5th-wheel and we got to stay with them. It was good to see my grandma, uncle Mike and aunt Sharon, and my cousin Elizabeth. The kids seemed to have a good time... but didn't stay to listen to the music, like we thought they would. I think that it was just too loud for Joel... interesting. We had a rough night in the camper, though. The new place just HAD to be explored by 2 little, curious minds and they tested their mommy and daddy until about 2:30 am! It was a fun trip though and Joel especially enjoyed the site tractor that dragged a buggy behind and gave everyone rides around the park.

Haven't been doing much basketball-wise since the team camp. The girls have the month off and I dabble in a few things here and there... trying to get ready for the season. But I'm trying to take some time off as well.

Steve and Lisa bought them a RV last weekend... it's really nice. I believe that it's about 24 feet and it's nice for taking trips. Kids can sleep in the back if they wanted/needed to, I suppose... or more to the point if mommy or daddy wanted/needed to sleep they could. We left Sunday after church and drove it to Roman Nose State Park for a quick-trip. It was a nice ride and the kids did pretty well (until the N0-Nap thing kicked in with 20 minutes left of the trip).

What's going on this week? Well, we're hoping to go to the zoo... play some golf (mostly for me)... and do some other outside 'stuff' before we take off for a vacation.

Hope everyone is doing well!

This is after our final game (8 in 3 days) at our ORU team camp. The 11 girls that I took (plus my assistant coach) wanted to eat somewhere before we made the trek home. This is our table at Red Robin... great food... but check them out! They all have their cell phones out and are non-stop texting! It was so funny that it was picture worthy. We had a good team camp... played some very competitive teams... and finished our summer on a good note. Ready for next season though... sorry Jeanise.

Jeanise had her lasik eye surgury touch-up today and while she slept, I took the kids to McD's... where else would I take 'em? Anyway, I thought that these pictures were funny. Joel was mazmerized by the video games. Not sure if he's REALLY playing, but I believe that he is. Whatever the case... he's in deep concentration.

This kid was just enthralled about Lindsay! From the moment he stepped into the play-place he went right over to Lindsay and wanted to kiss her. It was funny. And my daughter (I'm proud to say) walked away! THAT'S RIGHT>>> SHE'S NEVER KISSING ANY BOYS! :-) Anyway, this kid kept following her and trying to play with her and of course, Lindsay had her own agenda. Plus... it wasn't too long after this picture that daddy discovered that Lindsay was packing something in her trunk. And daddy told the kids that he wasn't taking a diaper bag because he didn't think that he'd need it. You would think that after the last 2 times that I did do that, that I had learned my lesson.

Sweet Child O' Mine

10 days since my last post... let's see here...

Well, Summer Leauge is O-V-E-R... OVER! It went very well, I thought. There were a couple of snafuu's but nothing major to cry about. The weather cooperated very well and it was not as hot as it has been in the past. Last Monday, was probably the worst day... it was VERY muggy and humid, making it really tough on the kids to play. Several teams had double-headers that day and it was pretty tough on them. I really enjoyed hosting it and hope to make next summer's even better!

It's been fun having the time to play with the kids and being home for the summer. It's funny to start seeing more and more personality changes with Joel and Lindsay. We're still potty-training Joel and he just doesn't want to do it. He'd rather not take the time to go in there and just do it. We've upped the anty for him, but we can only go so high. We're sticking with it, though, and Jeanise is doing a great job of being patient with him on that. But you know it's frustrating. We also are seeing more and more about Joel's manipuative ways. It's funny that he's figured out that if Lindsay has found a toy that he really wants to play with... he'll bring her another one that is REALLY COOL (sure, Joel) and make a trade with her. You see sweat-heart... I see future business tycoon! :-)

Lindsay's pretty cute... there's not much more to say about that. She's starting to talk a lot more around the house and her high-pitched "HI" is just about the cutest thing in the world. She's starting to get a little bit of her brother's stubborn-ness though. She KNOWS that she wants something and she wants it RIGHT THEN! And she's going to hound you until you know what she wants... NOW GO GET IT! It's pretty funny.

Well... off to mow. More later...

Another one bites the dust...

Well... this week marked the end of basketball camps. I just have 1 more week of Summer League and then a few days off... then off to ORU to take 11 young ladies to team camp. Then hopefully July will go a lot slower and we (the family) can go on a well-deserved vacation. It's been a fun couple of weeks, but VERY busy. I've been working my fanny off to make things go smoothly and make it so that the teams coming to the Summer League want to come back. [guess that's the business major in me coming back out] This last week brought several 'issues' (had 4 teams not show for whatever reason) but they're over and done with and I just want this last week to go over with no glitches and end smoothly.

I'm really looking forward to this week though... don't have to go to the gym at 7:30 am or 11:00 am for camp session. I get to spend most of the day at home and go up around 3. That's going to be a very-welcomed change!

Jeanise's birthday is on Sunday and we're going to all go do the Father's day/Jeanise... oops... Jeanise's Birthday/Father's day celebration and enjoy the day. Not very often that people can have a whole bunch of things to celebrate in one day. :-)

It's 1:00 am (the time on this thing LIES!) ... going to bed. Nite!

Up All Night...

Aren't they just cute?

Well... the first official week of Deer Creek Summer League is done... 1 down... 2 to go. It was a nice week. We had a few issues on Monday (as to be expected) but as the week progressed, there were fewer problems... which was nice. We don't have AC in any of our gyms (not that it wasn't turned on... WE JUST DON'T HAVE AC!), so it's been a bit warm and sticky. I just don't think that it would be DC Summer Leauge if it wasn't just too unbearably hot.

We also had the little kids basketball camp this week. It was a lot of fun and I think that the kids enjoyed it. We had aboutt 75-80... maybe more. Tomorrow's it, though... THANK GOODNESS!

It's really good to be home or see the kids & Jeanise when they come out to the gym. It's a nice surprise and it's always needed.

This is it (Hewey Lewis and the News)

Today was the last 'official' day of school. Doesn't really seem possible that this year is over. Summer break will start tomorrow and the days of camps, summer league, team camp, vacations, play dates with kids will commence. I'm pretty excited about it, but kinda' miss school. But not THAT much...

Getting final plans made for summer league and summer camps. It'll be my first as a head coach and I'm really excited about it. I'm looking forward to the fun.

Gotta go get the kids ready for bed.
Nite

I just can't think of a title...

Today was a very relaxing Saturday. On many accounts. I only have 2 more days of school... and then summer basketball stuff starts up. I'm alittle anxious and nervous, because this is the first time that I've had to direct the summer league and be a 'leader' in our basketball camp. I'm really looking forward to it.

This morning was the first morning in a while that I got to spend with the kids. Joel is talking SOOOOO much more now... and Lindsay is talking and discovering her personality. I guess that I'm discovering her personality, but that's just funny. Jeanise warned me weeks ago that Lindsay likes to take her diaper off and run around naked. Well... I guess I had dozed off on the couch and awoke to a giggling 18 month old streaking around the living room! After choraling her... I put her diaper back on. About 45 minutes later, I went to check on her and Joel in their bedroom. Only to find Lindsay, diaperless, assuming the 'poopy' position. AH! Now my lesson is learned. Well... after getting it all cleaned up, I went to help my brother with his computer. While I was gone Joel came in to Jeanise saying, "mommy help please? Brown yuck." While she thought that a going to the potty break thru was in progress... evidentally Joel found one of Lindsay's "presents" from earlier that got missed. "Lindsay's brown yuck?" That was pretty funny.

Night all and have a wonderful Memorial Day!

On the road again... (Willie Nelson)

Just got back (Sunday really) from the Nike Championship Basketball Coaches clinic in Robinsonville, MS (~30 miles south of Memphis). It was INCREDIBLE! 3 days of listening to college coaches teach drills, talk about basketball 'stuff', and the list goes on. It was SOOOOOO what I needed for this summer and next year. I'm really pumped! I got to listen to Roy Williams from UNC, Coach Romero (sp?) from Univ. of Washington, the Alabama Head Coach, Coach Maretti from St. Joe's... and more! There even was a trainer who specifically deals with off-season drills and workouts... it was perfect! I'm really glad that I went. Didn't take any pictures, though...

Anyway... it's been quiet around the house with Jeanise and the kids in NM visiting her brother, his wife, and Jeanise's new niece! Joel and Lindsay have gotten to play with Trinity for a few days and they're enjoying their time there.

Well... time to get to school. It's the last full week... and we begin finals on Friday. CYA L8R!