Well - it's Saturday and a birthday party is in site. All the work, the $$ for 6 hrs of crazy.

Joel played last night and the lost in a ugly turnover filled game 32-37. JT had 3 on 1-3 shooting.

Not much else news right now.

Tuesday came and went. Joel had a game against Port Washington. They lost by 2 57-55 in OT. Joel went 0-3 no points. He did get a double foul and a warning from the ref because of the 'jostling' for position in the low post. Nice to see him be aggressive now and then. Other times he looks like he's half awake. Or is that asleep??

Went to the chiropractor today to have my shoulder looked at. It's a nerve/disk thing in my neck/shoulder. Did some electric stimulus, some manipulation etc. Going back on Friday. Felt better when I left but it's still pretty painful right now.

Kiki 's Chicago Pictures

Will be in this album right here.

click here

Weekend Update

Friday nite, no girls in the house. Went to watch Joel play Plymouth. They won 56-53 Joel was 1-4 with 2 pts. Again they make the games closer than they have to.

Off to hopefully finish the basement I am working on.

Happy Birthday to Mackenzie

My favorite Daughter turns 9 today! Her and Mom headed to Chicago on the train for American Girl lunch and shopping.

Not much going on here. Been a busy week and its only Wednesday. Did more basement remodel last night to just try to get some more done. Kiki's birthday is Friday. She's going to be 9. Where did my baby go? Tracy and her are going to Chicago on the train because Mackenzie has no school Friday. Joel and I are all alone. So we may hit the slopes for a few hours and then he has an away game at Plymouth that night.

Liquid Gold

Well I am back in stock! After a good friend, Robb, came back from our MN office he was kind enough to mule home 48 -16oz cans of delicious Surly brewing Co - Furious Ale. Let me tell you it is not cheap. with tax 3.33 a can or .21 an ounce. Your aveage BudMillerCoors is like .05 an ounce.

Rationalize all you want -(I know I am) it's special and we don't get it here too often. This will not be served willy-nilly at the next birthday party either! Ya gotta know the secret handshake ;)

Crazy old dog. Here is Bailey - Thursday 1/14 around 4:50 PM Temp -1. Windchill around -10. This is his kind of weather. He stayed out for a good long time. Came back in with full ice beard!

Yea! its Friday

And the kids have missed yet another day of school. That's 5 for the year due to weather issues. Oy!

Back in the basement again this weekend. That is a love/hate thing for me.

Oh I did get my Thumb ring last Saturday. I think it looks pretty cool and it fits so well I don't even notice it. (Honey, thanks for the nice Christmas Present!).

Thats all I got for now. Stay warm!

Been busy the last few weeks.

Started a basement remodel. That is taking 20 hrs of my weekend for the last 2 weeks and probably for the next 2 weeks.

Joel had the Tuesday night hoops. A 52-50 loss to Winnebago Lutheran Academy. I guess this team is unbeaten. K-Town put a little scare into them tonight. Too bad the JV and Varsity also lost. Too Bad? or more like again...

Joel went 0-2. Playing a lot of quality minutes the last few games. More than half the game at least.

I started hyper-blogging with a service called Twitter. It's kinda silly actually. Maybe as I use it more I will link to it. Jim was even goofing around with it when he was in Vegas.

Oh well time to get to bed soon, keep warm!

Friday Nite Hoops

K-Town went O-fer the night against Two Rivers.

The Freshman lost 60-48. It was closer than the score would indicate. Sat in front of some obnoxious Two Rivers mom and pop. Every time up and down the court someone was fouling and someone was doing something that the ref missed. EVERY TIME. Ask Glen, he sat right next to us. I know Glen was getting annoyed. I sure hope I don't sound like that.

Anyway Joel went 4-7 with 12 points - a new season high.

Friday

Ahh - after a few weeks of less than full work weeks, this is good.

It's Girl Scout Cookie time.

Mackenzie had her first snowboard lesson last night. We went from whiny face to happy face to this is stupid face to this is fun face and finally tired lets go face. I was so proud of her. She did great. She said her but and leg hurt a bit when we were done. As usual the damn tow rope claims another victim. That has got to be one of the hardest thing to do for a beginner. Just ask Joel.

Speaking of Joel, He has a home game tonight. 6:00 PM at the elementary School (right in front of the high school, not behind it, that's the middle school).

Back to the basement tomorrow to work on that.

Enjoy the snow everyone!

Old Man and the Mountain

Ice Ice Baby!

Freezing rain on Saturday night and cold temps all day Sun-Tuesday is not melting my ice-rink of a driveway. Salt is not even helping. Bailey fell on it. Looked like Scooby Doo, all sprawled out.

Goodbye 2008

Ya know, I thought 2007 was kind of a bad year and when 2008 rolled around I said “this is going to be an up year” I could not have been more mistaken. Below is loose time line of the events for the year. The more I read this the more it reads like a Christmas letter you stick in your card. Oh well.

It started off well enough, the winter was snowy and Joel and I got it a lot more boarding that we had ever done.

Tracy celebrated her 10^th year of successful liver transplant. It is hard to believe that much time has passed.

Joel played basketball for his final grade school year. Kiki played another year of softball. She’s pretty good when she wants to be. For the first time in 8 years I was not a coach of a baseball team. I was able to help with Kiki’s team and only had to sit and watch Joel’s last year of Pony ball. Ok, I did have to be a base coach or do the books for a game or two. However, no lineups, calling for rain dates, practices etc. It was nice to just spectate.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary.

Also during the spring Dad was ill and eventually diagnosed with cancer. He started his treatments soon after. At this point everyone was very optimistic.

Joel graduated from 8^th grade with highest honors, a 3.98 GPA. We are very proud of him.

July came and we did the annual lakefront fireworks and Summerfest.

To celebrate the awesomeness, we hit the road for our little vacation. Just the boys, the open road, mountain bikes and concert tickets. If you have not read all the details just click here. We had a great time. Making memories that won’t soon be forgotten. Well except the fact that we did not see the concert as we had anticipated. At least not in July anyway.

Dad did not respond well to the chemotherapy treatments and his condition deteriorated.

Jenny celebrated her 30^th Birthday. We took Mom to a brewer game for her 60^th Birthday. Nice to see her name on the big screen!

The summer was over just like that. Dad never got better.

Joel started High School and Kiki started 3^rd grade. High school, man do I feel old. Two days into the school year I pulled him out for two days to complete our summer trip (concert). Fly to Denver, see a concert and fly home. Talk about rock star. Seems like years ago already.

October rolled in a Dad went into the hospice. Mom did her damndest to care for him at home. He was only there for a week (if not less). That was quite possible the hardest thing to watch. See him go like that. On October 6^th, Joel’s 15^th birthday no less, Dad passed away. I always tell Joel there is something special there, being Papa’s first grandchild.

We did the funeral thing and that was it, as fast as it started, it was over.

Life goes on and Tracy and I went to Arizona for our little 4 day get away, anniversary, birthday trip. Went to the Grand Canyon, I can check that off the bucket list. Came back and I had my 40^th Birthday. I am officially “over the hill”. Had a small surprise birthday party, even though I specifically told Tracy not to. Good to see nothing has changed. We entered 16 years of wedded bliss on Halloween. Tracy also pointed out to me we celebrated our 20 year anniversary of our first date. Wow I have now spent half my life with her. Here’s where I insert the joke…But I won’t. It’s been a fun and interesting 20, let’s see what the next 20 bring. Tra, I love you.

As I write this, I noticed 2008 seemed to be the year of the major milestone.

On with fall, another proud parent moment. Joel made the high school freshman basketball team. I groan a lot with all the running around with my kids, but it’s worth it. Giving them the opportunities to experience and grow is worth it. Kiki plays piano pretty darn good. It’s the neatest feeling in the world to see her play in front of school and just nail the piece. Again, we could not be prouder.

I am not sure where the kids get their talents from. Athletically, musically and just about anything else they touch. It sure is not from this klutz.

Well, the holidays came and went. Thanksgiving and Christmas. No Dad. Yea it was strange, it was hard on all of us, Mom especially. One thing I realize, life goes on.

New Years Eve was fun. Glen’s last show as a member of Road Trip. I can’t tell you the last time we actually did anything but stay home on New Year’s Eve. However, staying up to 4:00 A.M. is not something I will make a habit of.

Well, that’s it for this year. I will keep the blog rolling. Apparently people like it or at least it’s a nice tool for me to say what’s going on, with the family, with my mind and of course a picture or two is worth a thousand words.

Cheers!

-Jeff