Another one bites the dust...

Not exactly the best title to use, but it fits (sadly). Last Wednesday, I resigned from my coaching position at school... still have my teaching spot, but won't be coaching girls basketball anymore. This was really tough for me to swallow, but it was a decision that came highly "advised" by my administrators. They felt that the kids just weren't going to follow my lead and buy into what I was doing. I don't doubt, though, that there was more to it. I had some very supportive parents and some very good kids... but there are some parents who just don't get it and think that they know everything. It's sad and I just hope that I'm not one of those crazy parents who's going to cause a stink that my son or daughter isn't playing or getting the playing time they deserve. It just chaps me to think about it and to have to deal with it.
But that said... I'm 'looking' and 'keeping my eyes open' for that next door that God is going to open for me. He's always been watching over me and always has been faithful.

Morton Look-alike Meter

Ok... So the answer to the question is... BOTH OF US! I personally think that she looks more like daddy... but you know.

Morton Look-alike Meter

So my cousin Cheryl did this on her blog and I just HAD to check it out. This one is a lot more convincing than the one of Lindsay. Looks like Mommy... but acts like Daddy. I always said, as long as he has Jeanise's brain and looks (does) and my height (so far so good)... We're good to go.

On the Road Again

Well... we're getting ready to go camping on Friday. I decided to pull the tent out of the attic... and as a SURPRISE for Joel and Lindsay, we set it up in the living room. Hasn't been out of the bag since probably Bob and I's last set up in Virginia Beach (unless dad set it up for some reason that I don't know about. Anyway, It looks like it's old (actually bought it when I was in Weblos in 6th grade! So it's about 25 years old! It's a little stained from age but still is in in great shape. Should be... only used about 10 times, if that.

Here are some pictures of the kids. There is a picture in mom & dad's house of my brother and I camping out in the tent. I decided to take one just like it of my 2 kids. Cool huh?

It's so hard to say goodbye... (Boys 2 Men)

One more day until Spring Break... ah! It's been a busy last few weeks. I got to watch basketball regionals and finals the last 2 weeks and now March Madness is about to start! :-) We had our end of season banquet tonight... it went very well and I think that the girls enjoyed it. I was able to talk (might have been brief for some) with all of the parents and it was a good atmosphere. Different from last... different good. Which was... well... good.
Jeanise started a new full-time job this week as a controller (what else would she be?)... for a home builder. Controller as in an administrative accountant-type person. (what did you think I meant?) :-) Anyway, she seems to really enjoy this position and it'll help us out financially. It didn't help, though, that Joel started coughing too much and had a slight fever, that I had to stay home yesterday. Today, I had to go get Lindsay because she got sick at school. Ah the fun of being a parent. I think that it's that wonder Oklahoma Allergy index that has us all really messed up. Welcome to OK.
Well... it's 11 and time to get to bed. Going to be a little earlier these days... having to get Joel and Lindsay up early to take them to their day-care and then school. They've adjusted (other than getting sick) extreemly well and we've been blessed.
How about that Celebrity Apprentice! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I HAVE TO WAIT 1 MORE WEEK!

It's all over... for now...

Well... last night we ended our season with a 36-39 OT loss to Altus. We were CLEARLY the better team offensively and defensively... but they were the better team on the free-throw line. We had to make up a 5 point deficit with about 1:15 left in the 4th quarter, but tied it with about 45 seconds left. We had the opportunity to take the last shot, but I didn't call a timeout to set something up... they got a steal... we blocked it with 15 seconds left... and then we kept their inbounds play from working to go into OT. We made 3-16 from the free-throw line and you just can't go into a playoff game without one of your guns. I was sad for the girls, because they worked so hard this year and they have come so far this season. It was a good year, but I'm sad it's over. Glad in that I get to see my wife and kids more!
Joel made a funny tonight. He had taken off his seatbelt while we were parked and I got out of the van to put it back on. After opening the door, Joel asked me where the spare tire was. Jeanise was a little shocked about the question... and answered, "we don't have one Joel. We have runflat tires." I didn't really think much about that (it was a good point, while I was finishing thinking about where it was...), but soon after said, "around daddy's belly." That was pretty funny.

TIme to put the munchkins in bed and go watch a movie. Night!

Just when you thought you knew everyone...

This is going to be pretty general and short (hopefully) because I still have to take out the trash and head over to the school (7:15) to get started on the preparations on our tournament (we lost by 12 last night but played great defense).

Anyway, one of the things that I really enjoy on the first day of the tournament is handing out coaches packets and meeting them. I met 2 coaches who are about 6'10" but are very soft-spoken, yet respected coaches in the boys game. But the best story came from someone that just made my entire LIFE!

Coach Kenny Blair... a football coach at Northeast Highschool is filling in for their girls' coach who had an unexpected death in the family and is attending to the family. I had the opportunity to speak to coach Bailey for about 30 minutes. From 1980-84 he played in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles... was a rookie the year they played the Raiders in the Super Bowl (Back when the roman numerals were still rather low). I was telling him that during those years, I was the BIGGEST Eagles fan. WHen I played outside football, I was either Ron Jaworski (now a commentator) or Warren (?) Carmichael. He was smiling ear to ear and just listened to me tell him how big those 2 were to me when I was little. "Just spoke to Carmichael 2 weeks ago." HOW BIG IS THAT?!?!!? Still keeps in contact with those guys. He went on to play for the Cardinals (when they were still in St. Louis) and has been a trainer for celebrities in Florida before coming here. His story is amazing! He spoke at the NFL Hall of Fame the last few years... He's trained players like : Shaq (but admits that he did NOT work with him on Free-throws), Allen Iverson, Tiger Woods, and others that I didn't make past those 3.

Most of all, what really caught my eye, was his passion for kids and his mission for them. He is such an encourager. Northeast isn't your Edmond-type school at all. There's a lot that goes on there... but here is a guy who teaches life-lessons in sports and has the experience the celebrity resume to go with it.

That was just so cool to talk about sports with a man who was on the field when I was experiencing them. I told him that I was so bummed when the Raiders won... and I gave them one more year before moving down the conference ladder to become what I am today... a Redskins fan! He got a chuckle out of that. :-)

Ok... gotta take out the trash and get to school!

Just gotta love it

Ok... so I made probably the BIGGEST mistake this morning. I was putting away (ok I'm admitting to everyone that I didn't do this last night) Joel and Lindsay's leftover dinner away... put it down the sink... and saw a lime rine in the sink. HM... I'll run it all down the garbage disposal and make the sink smell better. OK... fine... but it's VERY LOUD! Needlesss to say, Lindsay (our light sleeper) woke up. Our little girl was up and I needed to leave to come to school. Well... I tried to get her to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't going to happen.
So what turned out to be kinda bad, got better. You know, that there's nothing like you little girl (or boy) who just let's you hold them, puts their head on your shoulder, and just hangs there. They feel comforted and it just gives me the warm-fuzzies all over. What was really funny, though, was that I guess she didn't like putting her head on my sweater, so she fought and fought flipping her diaper cloth until it landed on my shoulder where she could lay on it. It was quite humorous. I really hated to leave her and go to school. So I put her in my chair (she really likes my big chair) and she watched cartoons. Hope that she let her mom sleep in.
Big game tonight... down the street-rival Guthrie coming here. We have been playing well and I hope that we can keep this up!

Love in an elevator... (Aerosmith)

Not really... but it caught your attention didn't it? :-)

Last weekend was a really tough one for me. Since our boys took their tournament trip to Hawaii in December... it was our turn to travel to our tournament... so we went to Ada, OK. Not exactly Hawaii, but it was fun to go somewhere outside of OKC and stay the night. The girls liked it and had a good time. And then we did have to play 3 games too. We won the first one big... 45-25. We then played Choctaw... who starts 3 girls over 6'. We hung with them and did things right and only trailed by 2 points at half. THen we quit making shots and stopped doing the things right we did in the first half... lost by 26. The final day, we were playing for 3rd place. We played a tough Ada team who shot 51% from the field and lost by 24 points. The only real good part of that Saturday... I took the girls bowling as a team and I bowled a 215. Only reason that I didn't bowl better was that in the 2nd and 3rd frames, I was trick bowling and showing off. I had strikes in 7 of 10 frames and in the 10th I bowled 2 strikes and an 8. It was cool.

So then this week was going to be the challenge. Long story short... we won Tuesday 63-49... that was really cool. And then on Friday, we knocked off the #6 team in our class (5A) 47-34 at their place... during Homecoming. It was an end to great week. We're starting to play better and gain some momentum. We play Guthrie on Tuesday and then we host our own tournament THursday thru Saturday. Hoping to get at least 2 wins (if not 3)!

Wish us luck!

Oh yea... the family is doing well too. :-) I really appreciate their support during basketball season. It's nice to come home and have the kids just hug the snot out of you... and especially nice when Jeanise is thrilled when we win... and comforting when we lose. You guys are great and I love you!

Monkey's off my back...

Not sure if that's a song title or not... but it should be. FINALLY GOT OUR WIN! We won Friday night... away at Chickasha... 50-45. We didn't exactly start off real steady, but we started really doing things right offensively in the 2nd quarter and on. It was a real battle and the girls really played together well. Some of the things that we've been working on during Christmas break really paid off.

Saturday night, however, didn't go as well. We lost to El Reno by 12. It was one of those nights where you just KNOW that someone put a plexiglass top over the rim and nothing was going in. We did a solid job defensively, but just couldn't get over the hump. We threw several different things at them, and they had to burn several time outs to make adjustments. Good to see that we can do that to teams.

Gotta run. Have 1 game tomorrow... RIVAL PIEDMONT! and then it's off to the Ada Tournament!

Back in the Saddle Again

Well... WInter break is over and I started back to school today. Where most districts were SMART and waited until Monday to start back, we started back today. I shouldn't complain, though... we have MLK Jr. day as a Professional Day (others do not)... and we get 2 days to get back in the swing of practices before we play tomorrow night and Saturday night (others do not). Guess I should be happy about that.

Got back late from a freshman game tonight. I'm kinda worn out and tired from having to drive 1 hour to Harrah, OK. That's a job of a coach sometimes. I got to see my Freshman team in action and they're really improving. My freshman coach has really done a great job with these girls and I just hope that I can keep her on for next year! (she just finished at UCO getting her student teaching done and graduated in DEC.)

Well... I'm about to fall asleep. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm alive and that we'll HOPEFULLY get our first win tomorrow night. Wish us luck!

Ya' just gotta go slow, I guess...

Last week was definitly a tough one weather-wise. We were out of "activities" for about 3 days... and there are still some in OK without power and haven't had it since LAST SUNDAY! It's pretty tough.

FUNNY QUOTE:

Joel: "Daddy, what's that white stuff?"
Daddy: "Joel, that's snow and ice."
Joel: "Daddy! Green grass makes the snow grow!"

Just gotta laugh at that one...

Well... It's been about 3 weeks since we started off our season. We're 0-4, but have been in every game that we've played. We've lost 2 that we shouldn't have lost, and 2 that we let get away from us. We're all pretty disappointed with our start and have to do some things differently. I'm hopeful that we can make those adjustments in the next several weeks and start seeing some success when we come back from Christmas.

Jeanise is relieved that the choir concert is now over. It was yesterday evening and it was very nice. Mom and Dad, and I went and sat together. I saw a man who is a legend at OC... he was a professor of music there... Dr. Harold Fletcher. I don't know how old he really is, but he's just going strong... probably in his 70's or 80's. Anyway, when I showed up to the lobby, I found my parents talking with him and saying hello. Then when I showed up, he was, "Mike, it's good to see you. How have you been?" Here is someone who I don't see very often... but ALWAYS remembers my name. I wish that I had that gift to remember everyone's name that I have come in contact with over my lifetime. He's a wonderful man and very brilliant. It was great to get to see and talk with him. But I was just amazed that he remembered my name... I guess with a wife with a strange name like JEANISE (ha ha j/k)... you'd have to remember an easy name like Mike, huh? :-)

Last week of school before break! Better get there. Merry Christmas!

It's been too long

Sorry that it's been almost a month since I posted last. Basketball season is in full swing now, and I've been gone quite a bit.

We started out 0-2... not the start I wanted, but it's been good. We lost by 2 points in our first game. We were a little nervous and didn't shoot the ball well. Then last Tuesday, we played the number 4 team in class 5A and lost by 11. We were down 3 with 4:00 left, but just could close the deal. But to play them as well as we did, says something about our girls. We have a game tomorrow night, but we've got this nasty ice-storm that's hit us, and it may cancel our game. The other team just came off a 3 game tournament, so they've got to be a little tired. We've been rested, so we should have a bit of an advantage. However, this ice may blow that theory. We have our DC Festival this weekend... Friday, Saturday... should be interesting.

Kids are doing well. Lindsay is really talking quite a bit more than she did. She's pretty funny. Joel got a good report from his teacher last week. She wants to move him to the afternoon program (which means that he's doing better and ready to advance on). She said that he was pretty much telling the other kids what/how to do things and that he was ready to move into an environment where he wasn't so (I guess) bossy. :-) I'm glad that he's making progress, but not so glad that he's being bossy. But then... that's a 4 year old for ya'.

Jeanise took a part-time job at Kohl's. She's working some nights as a person who changes the ads in the store. It's her favorite place to shop, so she get's a great discount and it even has benefits! So that's pretty cool and will save us some money. It's taken her some time to get used to it (as is me), but she seems to enjoy it.

Gotta see what the kiddos are doing. I'm home from school (due to the ice) and it'll be nice to have a day off (actually, I need to do some school work).

Since you're gone... (The Cars)

"Life has been strange, since you're gone."

It has been a strange few weeks and I'm sorry to those who check this regularly. Jeanise has summed it up rather well... severall times... this week. "It's basketball season." Sad, but true.

We've played all 6 of our scrimmages and now it's just polish time until we tip-off on Nov. 30th. We're actually playing a school who's coach was offered my job before it was offered to me. Aught to be interesting... We've been playing very well, defensively... but offense has been our heel. But, I think that we're going to start putting things together to make the things happen that need to happen. Was that coded or what?

Well... guess I'll go watch the rest of the OU massacre. Poor Sam...

BTW... can you say 8 & 0!!!!?!?!?!?!

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!