Kyran and the Giants - what we've been doing all summer:

Kyran's #9
Daylan's #7
Courtney's #36

My First Haircut

BEFORE
AFTER

Anybody recognize these Bald Beauties?

Sharing corn on the cob.

Yummy Yummy!!

Goofy Girl

Addition to the Family

Thought I'd share a picture of the latest members of our family............adorable little flea bags!

Their Mama abandoned them at our house a few days ago.

Anybody want a kitten??

Call me!

~PLEASE~

Welcome to the Country

Thought I'd share a story. Last night the little woman with a fierce bark was here giving me an earful until well after dark. As she's leaving, my husband goes out to his truck that's parked in the garage. As he opens the door and begins to take the first step down into the garage he yells and slams the door. The MAN that he is, of course, calls for his wife and so I come check out the commotion. There is the most adorable, innocent, baby skunk in our garage sniffing around. It seems there is a bag of garbage that is tantalizing her little nostrils - discarded chicken bones from my world famous wings. (they really are world famous - I've made them, with rave reviews, for scads of basketball players all over Europe. Okay, not scads and not all over but you get my drift). Papa to the rescue - even after 11pm. He tells me over the phone to try scaring it with a cup of water - no, the little thing just started drinking it. Must be that buffalo sauce. Finally, a brightly colored, waving, beach towel gets her attention and I'm able to shoo her from the garage. After that's over Dad says "Now for the hard part...." He wants me to kill it. He's the same one that sent me to butcher a chicken with a dull knife because he thought it would be funny. My husband doesn't think I have it in me. He certainly doesn't have it. I take my baseball bat outside but the little bugger was on to me. Or, maybe I let it run away. It was on the porch when I woke this morning and it was sniffing my sliding glass doors while I was watching the 11 o'clock news tonight.

Gotta get up the nerve before the adorable little thing learns how to use it's stinker.

Wassup, Yo?

That's Miss Cutie to you!!

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That's Miss Cutie to you!!

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Crack Babies

Crack Babies

Looks can be deceiving....

...she's Bridezilla on the inside!

My Girls

The Thorn-Dunker

Meet the Team:

(left to right) Kyran, Courtney, Daylan

(front center) Collin - team mascot

Game time and last minute instructions from Coach.
First game drew a big crowd - we were playing against the defending Champs 3 years in a row and the Sheridan High School Varsity Coach, Assistant Coach and Women's Head Coach's sons.
Talk about being N-E-R-V-O-U-S! (me, that is - the kids were just excited)
This was their first tournament. Up to this moment they'd only ever observed a Three-on-Three competition.
I didn't even know they could dribble, much less shoot the ball or play defense. (joking of course - Kelley had them running plays!)
They won their first game - just in time for a torrential downpour. Luckily we'd set up camp beneath the pharmacy awning. We crammed under there like a bunch of sardines.
We stayed mostly dry - only the smart ones thought to bring rain gear.


Finally the rain blew over and the boys started warming up again.

.....now back to ballin'.


They went undefeated the whole tournament.


Your Champs: Team Reeborn and the Rockettes!!

Our Lil' Mascot, although excited for the win was extremely upset to not get a trophy too.


But the good people running ThornDunker realized the error of their ways and quickly produced a trophy to make one happy little boy!

Finally, it's over so Stinka-Man can go put up some shots!

We all had a great time. The torch has officially been passed to the next generation of ballers. Of course that doesn't mean that the torch has been extinquished in the older generation............and NO, I'm not calling anyone OLD!!

Pool Pics

Too bad she's not having any fun.

......Kruz either.

Giddy up, Daddy!!

Cheese!

Pool Rule Number 1:

No peeing in the water!!

Trip to the Zoo

Our annual trip to the zoo...

We missed you Trish - but left your typical space for you!

This year we were 4 Mama's and 7 kids.Next year all 5 Mama's and 10 kids! Pep, even tho you're not a 'Mama' yet - you are considered one on zoo day if you push a stroller!

Cutting the Grass

Now that we're home there's LOTS to do to keep me busy and from posting to this blog. We've decided that it'll just be a blog for when we're on the road. Having said that I can not resist posting this picture. We mow, roughly, 5 acres and of course, as luck would have it Kelley is what I'd call severely allergic to the grass and weeds and it doesn't help that the farmers around us are all bailing hay. He's devised this 'get up' to mow in and Kori had to take part in the outfitting too.

They look like they're about to go knock off a 7-11.

My only request was that he not mow too close to the road. He may scare away the neighbors.

Introducing Baby Jasmine

Congrats to Ron and Tanya

She's Beautiful!!!
Proud Uncle Kelley

"There's No Place Like Home..

...there's no place like home, there's no place like home!"

It's official. The basketball season is over. Now it's time to be magically transported back home. I can't wait.

Isn't it funny...

Isn't it funny that hair this big.........

Can squish down into braids this small?

(getting caught sneaking gummy bears at the game...)

Fellow Americans

Last night was the final game of the regular season for the Giants and they played at home. (and won, I might add!) At half-time they introduced none other than The Harlem Globetrotters! The Globetrotters will be performing in the arena on Saturday and they were there to promote their show. Kyran got to meet Aundre Branch and talk to him for a few minutes. He played college ball at Baylor in Texas. He tried to bait Kyran into playing a football game with him right there in the arena since Ky was wearing his football All-Star jersey from last season. Pretty funny and definitely qualified as a 'Belgian Highlight' for KJ.

Saying Good-Bye to the 4th Grade

It's official. It's over. Finished. Done. Final. Complete. Moving on. Kyran took his last 2 final exams this morning and he is now looking forward to 5th grade! Well, summer first, then 5th grade! He finished with flying colors. Kelley made him a promise that if he finished with all A's his Mommy would stay home in the fall so he could play football. I don't think he did too bad:

Spelling - 97%
Science/Health - 92%
Math - 97%
History - 95%
Language - 90%
Reading - Pass/Satisfactory
Penmanship - Pass/Satisfactory

Great job Kyran! You worked hard (well semi-hard - I only caught you daydreaming 4 or 5 times a day!!)

Antwerp Giants Win the Cup!

Congrats to Kelley and the Giants! Tonight they won the Belgian Cup! Next stop Play Offs! The game was broadcast on television so I tried taking a few pics. Ha! Here's my attempt at catching Kelley on Belgian National T.V.

Busted Mouth

Here is the link for another Antwerp Giants highlight reel. Kelley and team were playing against the number one team in the League - Charleroi. One of their players literally lost his mind. Watch closely, the Giants are in red and Kelley is number 13. He starts the tape with a steal and a layup. The Giants of course win this game. God don't like UGLY.

Happy Number 3!!

Kelley took KJ and Kori to see Spiderman 3 while Kruz and I made Kori's birthday cake and blew up balloons. Grandma Searls sent this ribbon in Kori's birthday card.

I tied balloons on the door so she'd be excited for her party when they got back from the movie.

Following in Mama's footsteps - loving the jewelry.

I have to distract her from going down and stealing the cheerleaders Pom-Pom's during Kelley's games. Now she has her own to take to the next home game.

Happy Birthday Dear Kori!!