Red House Ramblings

Time Needs to SLOW DOWN!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:44:00 +0000

I swear I put it on my to-do-list to write blog posts and for some reason or other I end up getting busy and putting it off, and before I know it, almost a month has passed.

What's been happening in the last month .....

Marching Band season has ended along with Cross Country season. David had a very good cross country season, medaling at every race that gave medals. He ended up placing 18th at Regionals -- just 3 spots shy of making it to States. He PR'd in that race though, so he went out in style and was happy with the way his season ended.

Jonathan has started (and is in the middle of) driver's training class ... watch out world, this boy wants to be behind the wheel!! He seems to be doing pretty good so far, and should have his permit before Christmas.

David was nominated for 12th grade student of the month for the month of November. Here's what Mr. Bennett had to say about him:

David Gormley: nominated by Mr. Bennett: “David is diligent about making sure all his work is done and done correctly. He combines a strong work ethic with a pleasant sense of humor to make for a student that is a joy to have in class.”

If you visit www.montabella.com and look on the right side, you can also see his picture and the write up on the school's webpage.

I got to go to Louisville, KY for the annual TLCU Conference the first week of November. (TLC = The Library Corporation and is the company that sells our library automation software, the "U" stands for Users) . It was a nice trip ... a pretty easy drive down and back. We had a nice time and learned a lot. We went "incognito" ... our rental car was from Illinois. I don't know why it surprised me that the car could be from a different state, but it did. The other picture is of the view out our hotel room. It was kind of pretty at night.

We've hit the busy time at work ... all the selectors (the people who buy the materials we have available here at the library) have a deadline of 5:00p.m. next Wednesday (night before Thanksgiving) to get all their budgets spent, so everyone is busy buying, buying, buying and so the three of us who catalog and process books are busy, busy, busy!!!!

Both boys have started basketball practice and this momma can't wait for the season to start. I have 2 new, really cool, shirts to wear while cheering on my favorite players!!

Well, that's all for now .... I hope everyone is keeping warm, it seems winter has descended upon is fast!
~Kati

Hail to King David!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 01:58:00 +0000

David's senior year is off to a great start!

He's been running well and enjoying cross country, and he and his friend Taylor were voted as this year's Homecoming King and Queen. He looked pretty spiffy in that white tuxedo!

The football season will be coming to an end today (Friday, October 20). The marching band has looked great and I'm excited to see their entire show at tonight's game.

I signed Jonathan up for Driver's Education classes yesterday .... it's hard to believe he's old enough to be driving. They are growing up too fast.

David is filling out college applications (made this momma's heart happy that he applied to SVSU ♥) and he got his very first college acceptance letter in the mail yesterday as well. He has been accepted to Montcalm Community College, which at this point is where he thinks he will start out, but we will see ...

Well, that's just a quick update, as I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted.

~Kati

5 for 5!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 12:32:00 +0000

Saturday was HOT!!

But this kid still ran a great race and so did the rest of the team. David came in 9th place, and the team took first place overall! Way to go Mustangs!!

We were supposed to go camping in Central Lake (where the meet was), but decided at the last minute to not go, which was disappointing ... but since we didn't go camping I was able to get a little more crafting in this weekend than I probably would have. I finished the last of the squares I needed to sew together for my Cubbyhole Quilt. Hopefully next weekend I'll be able to start laying it out and sewing it all together!

It's Homecoming week in Mustang Territory ... the boys have a 1/2 day of school today (Tuesday) and another 1/2 day tomorrow ... seems weird, but that's the way the schedule rolls. Friday will be a busy day with the parade, and ball game, etc. David was voted onto the Homecoming Court and has his tux all ordered ... I will be sure to share pictures of him all dressed up later this week.

Hope everyone has a great week.

More later,
~Kati

Senior Year off to a GREAT Start!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 16:30:00 +0000

Well, as always, I have been slacking and haven't done a good job of keeping everyone up-to-date on what is happening with those of us here at the Red House.

Summer went by too fast ... it felt like it lasted a whole of 15 minutes. We did get some camping in. We were able to visit Outdoor Adventures Mt. Pleasant, Hartwick Pines State Park, Interlochen State Park (picture to the right was taken at Sleeping Bear Dunes), we went with the Cross Country team (team camp picture below .... great group of kids to hang around with!) again this year to the Dutch Treat Campground in Zeeland, we camped in Benzie for David's first cross country meet and will be camping again this coming weekend in Central Lake for another of David's cross country meets. This weekend coming up will probably be our last trip for this year.

David had his senior pictures taken ... here's one I snapped on my phone. We're still waiting to see the final product and pick out what we want to buy ...

We've closed the pool and are slowly getting the yard ready for winter. I'm NOT ready for winter yet ... and David has been working on his senior project ... he's redoing the porch on the front of the house. He made it a little bigger than it was previously. The plan is that someday we will have a professional come in and finish it off into a 3 season room so we can sit and enjoy the summer breezes without getting eaten alive by bugs. I've picked out this railing for it -- we wanted something that didn't require stain and wouldn't be too expensive, since we anticipate it will be temporary.

The boys' school year has started off well. David has medaled at each of his races so far this year -- hopefully he can keep up this streak. The team as a whole is doing very well and they are hoping they can continue with the way they are running. Their goal -- States!!

David was nominated to the Homecoming Court last week, so we've been busy making "Vote for David" posters and getting ready for Homecoming.


All the seniors medaled at the Central Montcalm meet!

Jonathan seems to have transitioned into high school quite seamlessly ... he and his classmates will be using our barn tonight to decorate their Homecoming banner (they don't do floats anymore, each class decorates a banner for the competition).

Busy, busy, busy as always, but we try to have some fun along the way. Hope this finds everyone well and enjoying this bit of Indian Summer we seem to be having.

~Kati

What a Great Game

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 00:41:00 +0000

Monday night's game was very exciting. The boys came out strong, scored first and never let Sacred Heart get ahead. A win everyone was pumped about, as SHA is one of our leading rivals, and we have rarely beat them! Here is the write up that was in the announcement the next day.

The varsity boys basketball team was back in action Monday night against rival Sacred Heart. The Mustangs used a total team effort to get their first win of the season. The teams were even at 16 at the end of one quarter of play. The Mustangs shot out of the gate in the 2nd quarter and outscored the Irish 25-6. The Irish fought back in the second half but the Mustangs would not allow them to narrow the gap any closer than 6 points, with a final score the Mustangs 64, Irish 58. The Stampede was led by Connor Riley scoring 24 points, pulling in 7 rebounds, and finding his teammates for 7 assists as well. Jordan Balhorn scored 12 points, going 4 for 4 from the free throw line in crunch time. David Gormley added 13 points and 6 rebounds, along with 3 blocks. Cody Christensen added 10 points and 6 boards along with some great plays on defense, including a charge in the 4th quarter to stifle an Irish run. The motor of the mustangs, Wyatt Sackett added 12 rebounds and tough defensive play as well. The Mustangs showed great energy as a team for all 4 quarters.

Go Mustangs!!

Mustang of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 11:55:00 +0000

Every month the coaches at Montabella nominate2 kids who are doing great things to be recognized as the "Mustang of the Month". So proud to say David was nominated in December, his picture will be posted on the office window with the following write-up for the month of January.

Congratulations to our December Mustangs of the Month: David Gormley and Carson Dalrymple! David Gormley is in the 11th grade. He was nominated by Coach Simon for Varsity Basketball. David averages 14 points-per-game and 3 rebounds-per-game. His coach said "David started the season off with two games scoring nearly 20 points, while averaging 14 through the month of December. He also earned the honor of being the 3rd captain during week one of the season, which is earned on a week-to-week basis, based on work ethic, teamwork, and performance in practice and games." Carson Dalrymple is also in the 11th grade. He was nominated by Coach Balhorn for wrestling. Carson has a record of 14&2 in December and leads the team with 17 take-downs. His coach said "Carson has been a great leader and done a great job encouraging others to perform at a higher level." Congratulations again David and Carson!

Way to go David .... so proud of you kiddo! Keep up the hard work on and off the court!

I Need More Hours in My Day!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 14:46:00 +0000

So, seriously, I need more hours in my day. I have so many things that need to be done and then add to that the things I WANT to do .... well, you know how it goes. Since there aren't unlimited hours I end up planning on doing things or thinking I'll do them, then they don't happen. :-( One of those things .... keeping my blog posts up-to-date. So, here goes, let's see if I can catch you all up on what's been happening at the Red House since I last posted (OK, now I'm truly embarrassed ... July 19th was my last post. *sigh*).

So, since mid-July was my last post ...
Chris and David ran the Warrior Dash, along with Craig, Marybeth, Jenna, Chad, Cory and Chase. They had fun ... and got really dirty.

Chris and I helped with Cross Country Camp again this year. It was a fun time and although we had quite the rain storm the first night and a lot of the kids' stuff got wet, we managed to get things dried out and the rest of the weekend went well.
David's had a pretty good Cross Country season so far ...
He was injured in early September which affected his times and actually kept him out of at least one race, but he seems to be bouncing back and had a season record at last week's meet at Portage. His PR was from last year at the Mustang Invite which is this Friday .... hopefully he will PR again!!

We enjoyed camping this past weekend in Kalamazoo ... the weather was FABULOUS! It's nice when we can camp the weekend of that Portage meet. It's much nicer to get up at 5 or 5:30 rather than 3:30 or 4, LOL.

Lastly, a little shout out to Chris .... he got the "results" back from his teacher evaluation for last year and he ranked as "Highly Effective". Way to go Chris!!
Well, that's all for now .... more from the Red House soon!!
~Kati

Lions and tigers and .... Penguins!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 20:17:00 +0000

Hello all!

David & Jonathan 2016

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. The last month or so has been rather calm around the Red House (something I for one am extremely thankful for!). We've been doing some swimming and lots of running, walking and bike riding. We've been using the Fred Meijer Heartland trail quite a bit this summer -- sure wish it was closer to our house so we didn't have to drive to get to it, but at least it's not a long drive. I've biked over 70 miles since June 17 -- my friend Julie and I did 17 miles one day riding from Edmore to Stanton and back!!

David & Jonathan -- 2006

Today we took a little trip to the Detroit Zoo. It's been quite a while since we've been there .... as best as I can figure, the last time we were there was 2006. The boys have changed just a little bit, LOL

The zoo is still much the same, though of course the new Penguin exhibit was open. It's a pretty neat building ... I kind of wish you could go in whenever you wanted and not just right off the bat.

It's been nice to have more down time, I've been able to sew quite a few blocks for my current quilt project, I have 120 blocks done ... I need 165, so I'm almost there. Another week or two and I should be able to start putting the blocks together!

I've also been working on my cross stitch ... still quite a ways to go, but I'm definitely making progress. This is the first "full coverage" piece I've ever done (meaning there are no spaces where there aren't stitches) ... that's a lot of fabric to cover!!

Well, we hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather we've been having -- the weather man says it's going to get really hot over the next few days .... stay cool! Talk to you soon!

~Kati

Got your License?? Next Lesson, Basic Car Repair!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 11:00:00 +0000

David is enjoying having his "own" set of wheels, but is also learning that having a car, means you have to maintain a car. So far he's had to help (more watching than helping I think) dad replace the windshield wipers, and here, he's looking on as dad replaces the battery. Yes ... the battery is in the floor in the back seat -- STRANGE!!

I was super thankful it decided to quit when the car was at home, and guess I can't really complain. I'd never replaced the battery in that car, so I think I got my money's worth out of the original battery!

There are two more imminent repairs ... he has a headlight (hi-beam) that needs to be replaced ... hopefully they will tackle that this coming weekend, and then a new set of tires. Hopefully he's taking all this to heart and realizing that having a vehicle is truly a perk -- and not a cheap perk!!

HMMMMM .... seems I started writing this post (like over a month ago), but never posted it. He still doesn't have that headlight changed nor does he have new tires yet, but hopefully this week or next we'll get to the tire store.

~Kati

School's Out for Summer!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:59:00 +0000

The boys are officially done with school. Hard to believe we have a high school junior and an 8th grader! The last month has been busy with track meets .... but that doesn't mean the schedule is slowing down.

Last Monday was the Track Banquet/Picnic. David added some hardware to his collection. He made all-conference for two different events, got another bar for his varsity jacket, and was awarded the MVP award along with his fellow runner Kelton, (I can't remember what the other, smaller round medal is for).

David & Kelton -- 2016 MVPs


2016 Boys Track Team

David also started basketball practice for summer basketball last week ... this is a short season. He starts with games tonight and will be done next week. He's also started training for Cross Country .... his Cross Country coach has given him a pretty rigorous training schedule for this summer. He thinks David has strong chances of making it to states next season if he puts in the miles over the summer.

Thursday evening we hosted the Band Seniors for our annual Band Senior BBQ ....the kids all thought it was too cold to go swimming, which was really unfortunate as the water could have used a little stirring up. :-)

Friday after school was out we all went and got hair cuts, Chris and Jonathan went first, then headed home and left for camping. David drove out after ball practice and once he was done, he and I headed home, got the dog, switched cars and then headed north. We thought we were going to want to make a trip to Houghton Lake to Camping World on Saturday so with ball practice and haircuts thrown in there making the schedule crazy, and that possible trip we decided to take two vehicles. We didn't end up making the trip to Houghton Lake, (we thought we had a tail light out on the camper, but it seems we don't after all ....)

David drove ALL the way to Hartwick Pines (WOW .... I think that's the longest he's ever driven in one stretch!). Later that evening, after relaxing and having hotdogs over the fire and watching the lightening from the coming storm come closer later, we went inside. It started to rain not long after we went in, and not long after it started raining someone started banging on our door. Chris opened it to find one of the young boys from the site across the road crying and asking for help .... his mom's hand was stuck between the camper wall and the awning bar. Chris and I ran over and after what I'm sure felt like an eternity to her, we were able to get the awning opened back up so she could get her hand out. Thankfully it didn't seem to be broken. She stopped over the next morning to thank us again ... said it was a little swollen and sore, but otherwise ok.

After we got home yesterday we went to an open house and tried to get various things done around the house. Chris still has to work this morning, but will probably spend most of the day at school cleaning, etc. David's first ball games are this afternoon/evening at Morey Courts here in Mt. Pleasant, so I will go over there after work. Busy, Busy! I have a list a mile long of things I'd like to get done and really think if I could get through them then I could more or less relax the rest of the summer, but of course I never seem to get through that list. *Sigh*

Well .... I guess I'd better sign off for now. I'm sure there are a million other things I should share since I haven't posted since Mother's Day weekend, but right now I'm drawing a blank. Enjoy the summer weather. Hope to see you all soon!

~Love, Kati

Happy Mother's Day??

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 10 May 2016 11:19:00 +0000

It was a busy and somewhat strange weekend at the Red House ....

Friday was the MS play ... the kids did a very nice job and since there was only one cast this year we had things partially torn down and were home by about 9:00 on Friday night. Saturday was full of errands and jobs -- grocery shopping, taking the junk to town for "dump day", tearing down the play set, hauling it home and putting it away, running to the pool store for chemicals -- fun stuff!

Saturday night we started noticing something strange going on with the electricity in the house. The stove (clock) kept going off and on, and our bedroom would intermittently not have power, but the rest of the house would be fine. We're so thankful we have an electrician dad .... Bruce drove up Sunday morning to try to fix it, but in the end it turned out it was a Consumer's Power issue ...

Thanks so much to this guy who wasn't able to spend the afternoon with his mom, but came out and chopped up our tree (sad to see part of another tree go, but he said probably the entire tree should come down at some point or we may find it on our garage ...) Seems there was a wire that had been rubbing against that tree for quite some time and it broke, so every time the wind blew on Saturday it was bumping the broken wire causing parts of the house to lose power.

Glad that's been fixed, but it did throw a wrench in how I got things like laundry done. :-/

The second load of pool water still hadn't shown up by the end of Sunday, so Monday morning I called to be sure they hadn't forgotten .... nope, they hadn't, but I guess the milk hauling business has issues right now, so they didn't have any spare trucks and they didn't even think they would be able to get out with the second load until May 20th .... YIKES. They were able to give me the name and phone number of someone else that might be able to get me some water, and not only were they able to, they even managed to bring it out on Monday night! Only about 6-7 more inches of water needed and the pool will be ready to swim in. We'll put those last few inches in with the hose bit-by-bit. So happy "The Water Boys" from Hemlock were able to help us out (even if the water did cost more, LOL) The boys are ready to go swimming so I really hope the sun starts shining and the temps go up so they can get in and splash around!

Hope you all have a great week. It's a busy one here ... MS Band Concert on Tuesday, track meet on Wednesday, a funeral (my Uncle Steve) and the HS Band Concert on Thursday, and I have to work BOTH Saturday and Sunday (I am not looking forward to this, but am trying to look on the bright side .... one weekend is completely shot, not two!!). We are planning to go camping the following weekend, so we are just plugging away knowing a bit of fun and relaxation is around the corner!

Love,
~Kati

Almost there ....

David was really impressed this guy backed all the way in the driveway ... the other water people just backed in the trail and ran hoses from out there ...

Come on mother nature ... bring on the heat!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Mon, 02 May 2016 01:39:00 +0000

Exciting things happening here at the red house ... another item on our spring maintenance list was taken care of today. We woke up to rain this morning and cold, so I was a little surprised the pool people showed up, but they did.

Sometimes you have to make things look worse before they look better (although if I'd have included a picture of the pool before they took the old liner out, you'd say this was an improvement ... it was gross!!)

New liner and 1st load of water went in today. The water guy will be back with another load sometime this week. I think I'm going to LOVE the new patterned liner, it's very pretty and makes the water look REALLY blue!!

And, so far, the project has come in under budget, so we may look at replacing the deck boards on that top section of decking. We'd like to put composite decking up there ... that area of the deck gets a lot of exposure to water, so it really takes a beating. I used that new "Deck Over" stain on it last year, and I'm not impressed ... I also don't like how it looks. It was worth a try, but I think the boards are still in need of replacement with something that can withstand the water better.

Now, we just need some sunshine and warmer temperatures so we can start swimming. We've never opened our pool this early in the season, so come on sunshine .... I want to use the pool vs. look at it.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Talk to you soon!

~Kati

Spring Cleaning and Projects have Begun!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 19:29:00 +0000

This spring at the Red House is all about finishing up projects and doing maintenance. The first of those projects has been finished, and although it meant a lot of furniture moving, I think it was worth it. (The pictures with the wrinkles are of course the before ...)!! Much improvement. It was actually kind of nice to move all that furniture and clean the layer of dust that normally can't be reached, and get rid of the extra cables that had accumulated behind the entertainment center over the past 8-10 years. We have everything back in place and this weekend we'll be on to some of the next projects on the list. Enjoy this nice weather folks .... it seemed like winter really wanted to hang on, but I think spring is truly finally here.

~Kati

It's Officially Official ...

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 20:50:00 +0000

His "real" license came in the mail. I made him pose for the obligatory picture. :-) He was happy though, he didn't like carrying around the paper version.

~Kati

My Kind of Town Chicago Is ....

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 19:50:00 +0000

... well, that's what Frank Sinatra always said. Personally, I think it's a great place to visit, but I don't know as I could ever live there. So many people, so many cars (and they drive like maniacs) and so many buildings practically on top of each other.

We had a great time and I think all the kids really enjoyed themselves. It wiped me out! Mrs. Sutton was our tour guide -- she's still going strong. We got back about 11pm on Saturday evening, she was turning around and leaving with another group on Sunday for Florida for a week. She told us she's turning 80 this year -- WOW. I hope I have half her energy when I'm 80!

Here is a photo gallery of a few of the pictures I took ....

Hope everyone had a great Easter. I rather feel like I missed it -- I wasn't kidding when I said the trip wiped me out, I slept all day on Sunday. :-(

<3 p="">~Kati

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:58:00 +0000

I realized I have missed a couple of things over the past month or so ...

David attended the Snowball dance back in February ... he and several of his friends got together beforehand to have pictures taken and then went out to dinner.

The bands attended District Band Festival on March 3. The HS band got II, II, I, II for an overall II. The MS band got straight II's.

David and his friend Eryn!

David is in the back in the middle!

The High School band on stage for the concert portion of their performance. David there in the front, his friend Zoe behind and to the left of him.

Chris leading the kids through the sight reading music.

The Middle School band on stage for the concert portion of their performance.

Jonathan and the other trombones in sight reading.

Happy Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 00:23:00 +0000

So today was kinda a big day here at the Red House ... David (he's 4 months old in the picture to the left) turned 16. He and I started out the day going to Mt. Pleasant to get his driver's license. It's official now folks, he can drive all by himself. I've been pleased with the way his time driving on his permit has gone, so I'm confident that if he keeps his eyes and mind on the road all will be well. He was excited to take his first solo drive.

After returning to school, he spent the day practicing with other students from our league for the MSAC League Honors Band. They had their concert for the public this evening. It was a very nice concert and it's a great event where kids from all the schools can come together and work together vs. compete against each other.

No rest around here though .... Chris has the 5th/6th grade concert tomorrow evening, David starts track practice tomorrow as well.

We hope you are all enjoying the spring-like weather we've had and you are adjusting to the time change. More to come later!

Love,
~Kati

14-5 .... What a season!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 00:09:00 +0000

Hard to believe basketball is over .... the team went 14-5. What a GREAT season they had. Looking forward to watching them play again next year!!

Congratulations Chris!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:25:00 +0000

I forgot to put this in my last post, but I guess that's okay, Chris deserves his own post.

He took two college classes last semester and did so well, he got a letter from the college congratulating him on being named to the Part Time Student Honors List! Way to go honey!!

OK, I've been slacking ....

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 17:47:00 +0000

I knew it had been a while since I've posted, but yikes, I guess it's been almost 2 months (hanging my head in shame) ...

My excuse? I don't really have one. Yes, we've been busy, but realistically, not so busy I couldn't write a few lines.

What have we been busy doing? Watching A LOT of basketball (and daddy's been busy working a lot in the concession stand). David's team has been playing really well. They actually had something like a 7 game winning streak until Tuesday night when they lost a very close game to St. Louis (whom we don't normally play). I truly think they probably would have won that game if they hadn't played a make-up game the night before in Belding.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the school announcements where David was listed:

Friday night the JV Basketball team also picked up a win at home against rival Sacred Heart. Connor Riley led the team in scoring with 16 points and also had 5 rebounds. Jordan Balhorn added 8 points and 3 steals. David Gormley scored 7 points while Wyatt Sackett scored 8 points and snagged 12 rebounds. Great job JV mustangs.

JV Boys Basketball lost a close game to St. Louis last night 42-39. Top Performers were: Connor Riley with 12pts, 5 assists, & 5 steals; Cody Christensen with 12pts; David Gormley with 6pts, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, & 4 assists; and Wyatt Sackett with 6pts & 11 rebounds.

I'm pretty sure that's the most rebounds David has ever had!!

Jonathan got to take a limo ride on Wednesday after school .... His friend Parker's parents surprised Parker (and a few of his friends) with a limo ride to Mt. Pleasant to go to dinner at Pizza Hut for Parker's birthday.

Other than that ... Work and school ... Not much else exciting going on. Oh, I guess one big thing -- we now have TWO teenagers in the house. It's hard to believe Jonathan is 13 years old. I'm not sure where the last 13 years have gone, he sure has grown up fast, and he's almost as tall as me. I keep asking him to stop growing, but he's not listening to me. :-)

Well, that's all for now.

~Kati

If only I could work one day a week all the time ...

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 01:21:00 +0000

The last couple of days have been really nice ... with a combination of holiday days, vacation days and personal time, I was able to make it so I only have to work Wednesday this week and Wednesday next week. It sure is nice, I could get used to this :-) The house is clean, the laundry is under control, I've done some baking, Christmas preparations are basically done, I've had time to read, Chris and I have run a couple of times and I'm even finding time to craft. Today I started a new quilting project. I think I'm going to really like this quilt when it's finished. It's called "Cubbyholes" and is made up of bunches of blocks like these. All of the blocks won't be made up of the same fabrics, but will be made up of various combinations of blues and creams. I was able to get 10 squares cut and sewed today and I'm looking forward to getting several more done over the course of the next week and a half!

~Kati

Ahhhh ... Christmas Break Has Arrived!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:27:00 +0000

We've had a busy couple of weeks here ... since I last wrote, we've attended or participated in 4 more basketball games.

David played at Sacred Heart Academy on the 10th ... they lost that game, but only by 6 or 7 -- which considering who they were playing I didn't think was bad. Neither Chris nor I were able to attend that game, but since SHA is right across the street from the library, I was able to go over after work and get David so he could ride home with me and he talked non-stop about how bad the officiating was. Sometimes you have to take these rants with a grain of salt, but I did ask another parent at the next game if the officiating had indeed been bad, and he said that there were some questionable calls ... so who knows. Still a decent score in my book.
Jonathan was supposed to play at Ashley on Monday the 14th, but we all got there and Ashley lost power. They ended up rescheduling that game for Friday the 19th ... they won!!
David played two games this past week ... one at Central Montcalm (Stanton) which they won and one at home against Chippewa Hills (Remus) which they lost, although it looked like they might win it up until the last part of the last quarter.

Both boys also had band concerts ... I wasn't able to see Jonathan's, but was able to attend David's. I think my favorite song was the jazzy version of "We Three Kings" they did. I didn't start recording right from the beginning and this is from my phone, but here's part of the song!

Many thanks to both sets of grandparents who were able to come up and see David's band concert (and attempted to see Jonathan's game ...) I was able to snag a picture of Chris and Bruce -- you all know this is not an easy thing to do!

So, the biggest news around here right now is that David passed his driving test this morning!!!! He of course thinks this means mom should get a new car for Christmas (not happening) .... or at least by his birthday (we'll see, but probably not) .... I'm glad he passed it on his first try though (I think I was more nervous than he was) and has it out of the way so come March he can just go get his license!

I know it's not a popular sentiment, but I sure would like some snow ... it's hard to get in the Christmas spirit with all this rain, but it's looking like we're going to have a greenish/brown Christmas. :-( I am pleased with myself though ... I have everything purchased, and everything that is in my possession is wrapped! I'm truly hoping I can sit back and relax for most of the next two weeks ... I hope you all can do the same!

Well, I'll sign off for now ... we wish you all a very Merry Christmas if we don't "talk" to you before then!!

~Kati

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 11:56:00 +0000

So it's been almost a month since I last posted ... oh how time flies.

Inhabitants of the Red House have been busy, busy, busy .... a LOT of basketball (and still a lot more to come), plus general activities to get ready for the holidays.

Jonathan's basketball season has been a pretty good one. I think they've only lost 3 games so far. Two were lost to our arch rivals, the Irish from Sacred Heart Academy. History has shown they are pretty hard to beat, but they really whomped on us both times. Other than those games, the boys are playing pretty well and Jonathan has even made the announcements a few times for his scoring (see next paragraph). Jonathan plays again tonight (Wednesday) and then has his last game next Monday.

The 7th grade basketball team evened their record at 2 and 2 yesterday with a 32 to 12 win over Coleman. Scoring for the Mustangs were Jonathan Gormley, Kyle Russell, Camron Renne, Eder Lopez, George Shaw, and Parker Burggren.The 8th grade team lost a close game to Coleman 55 to 38. Scoring for the 8th grade team were Tyler Powell, Chance Wagoner, and Austin Pawlowski. Both teams will take on Ashley next Monday.

Thanksgiving was nice ... always good to spend time with family and eat good food. I made a couple of these cute turkey snack platters (with some help from my SIL Christie)!

David's basketball season is off to a good start. They played their first game on Monday against Evart and won by ONE point (43-42) ... I told him if they play like that every game I'm going to have high blood pressure by the end of the season ... it was touch and go at the end. Pretty proud of David though ... he scored 25 points in that game (yes more than 1/2 of the entire points!!) It is really fun to watch him play.

Well, I'd best be off ... more later, hopefully with pictures of David playing ball.
Wishing we'd get at least a little bit of snow to cover the yucky brown outside ... but I know some prefer this nicer weather ... either way, hope you're enjoying it!
~Kati

Ending a Season/Beginning a Season, Crafting and Christmas!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 01:57:00 +0000

Well, we've ended Cross Country season -- both boys did well and now we've moved on to Basketball season. Jonathan had his first game yesterday (Monday) against Sacred Heart. Jonathan scored a few points (including the first point of the game), but Sacred Heart is a hard team to beat ....

I spent some time Monday working on some cards -- it felt good. I haven't done any paper crafting in a while, and I've missed it. Here some of my creations!

Lastly ... Christmas. I spent some time updating our Amazon wish lists this evening. Here are the links that should allow you to get to them. They are all set to "Don't Spoil My Surprise" so if you buy something you can mark it as purchased ... I believe that will alert others that the item has already been purchased, but we won't be able to see that on our end. (Sorry, Chris' is kind of sparse. I'll try to think of some more things to put on there ...)

Kati: http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/15YJGXVLIA513
Chris: http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/I2YAIWNG6092
David: http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/37UXM9DA12GLP
Jonathan: http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/14SKH4AEOTT51

Enjoy these last few nice minutes of fall ... sounds like yucky weather is headed our way later in the day Wednesday.

~Kati

Winter Sports Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Katrina) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 12:07:00 +0000

Here's the winter sports schedule -- David will be on the JV team.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B95XL12tV6ukT0JCWW9jWXQxRTA

~Kati