Christmas 2009

This year was a little different for us. Adam and Laura stayed in Boone where they suffered an ice storm Christmas day but luckily we got to talk to them on Skype the night before when everyone was at our house. The Smiths and Cupps come over after church and then we eat together the next day too. We kind of live together for about a week - a packed house with lots going on...video and card games, food and more food, movies, etc. We also had our faith family over and went caroling as a group to Mary's house who we met last fall when we helped with some things around her house. This year we met the rest of Jay's family a couple of days after Christmas which was nice cause most made it except for some with stomach flu. We repeated our measurement of all family members which we do every few years. Blake is now one of the tallest growing 15 inches in seven years. The sheet with the previous years needed to be lowered though cause I know I haven't shrunk 4 inches yet! Almost everyone got socks this year - Keen's and Smart Wool - nice. Blake got a lot of fly fishing equipment including his grandfather's things which is extra special so if you own a stream stocked with trout, let us know...Jacob wore this hat four days straight, guess he liked it! We were glad Austin was here because he will be deployed with the army next month for 6-8 months. Alex brought his friend Kate home to visit too.

Science Project

Time for the sixth grade science fair! Jacob's project was the color wheel. He showed that when you mix all the colors together you get white. He used my good hand mixer to do this of course and I'm glad it still works afterwards! Anything for the cause....

O Christmas Tree

Ok, so our tree's been up for a couple of weeks now but here's the pictures! We went out to our usual place at Nichols Iowa but they were flooded out this year so we picked up a nice tree from the Optimist Club. If anyone cuts their own somewhere close that has nice trees, let us know for next year. Now I need to get those presents wrapped.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone was home this year except for Austin, we missed you! It was a full week.Monday, Laura, Blake, Adam and I went up to Cedar Rapids to take the rest of the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to the collection center from our relay center in town so they could go on the semi to Minneapolis. That was fun to see how that part of it works. The van had every inch full of boxes!

We visited Gma and Gpa Struve in Van Horne to say hi after Gpa's surgery. He's doing fine now. Thank you Jesus!

We spent some time outdoors doing the traditional every time we see each other wiffleball game over in the park. Alex's girlfriend Kate came so everyone has now met her finally, she fit right in and survived all of us and the humiliation of our torment of her (really we were pretty nice!). We played cards, 88, pictionary, speed scrabble (I think Blake was going hunting later...?)

We had Thanksgiving at The Smiths. Beautiful table set by Penny. Great food and everyone enjoyed it except Jacob who was green and not feeling well that day (fine the next). My mom and Penny's mom were there too.The boys didn't eat as much pie or drink as much eggnog as they usually do, hmmm....don't think it's our cooking, Laura and I made some good pies.

We got to spend some time with the Cupp family. The kids have all changed just a little since last summer!

It was a full week and went quickly and we got way too little sleep, but glad the kids could come home!

A Little Early

I know it's a bit early to change to winter scenes, but hey I had the time and thought I'd get ahead!

Flag Football Fun

Jacob chose to play flag football again this year and wait for next year for tackle. We got in with this group of guys and I think it's the most fun he's had playing football yet! They worked together really well and just had fun, like they were playing in the backyard or somethin, it was kind of like The Sandlot, the football version. Sometimes they would just stay after the game and throw the ball around awhile. Jacob made some more friends. The cute little guy with the afro was wicked fast. Check out the football pants, I'm sure they helped.The coach was a great guy too. Plus it was really nice to just walk across the street for most of our games.

Happy Birthday Jacob

Today is Jacob's 12th birthday. And it snowed! Earliest we ever remember, how about you? We had to take a picture of the snow of course to prove it to his children? some day. He had some friends over to play flag football - every year actually! Then we have to find the bags Dad hides in the park with their names on them, all their friends know this is a family tradition with all the kids. Jacob got an Iowa Jersey and he's going to wear it tonight when he and dad go to the game. Go Iowa - beat Michigan!

Collage of Summer and Fall

The end of summer and fall have been full of fun activities. We had a family reunion with Jay's family. We spent some time at the county fair to watch one of Jacob's friends present his pigs. Blake was in the annual Hooverball tournament in West Branch. We tried to see the Cubs and even had a chance to sit really close, but it got rained out. We got to go see our kids in North Carolina which was so much fun. Austin and Grandma even came and we did a lot in a few days, lots of good memories. Jacob started flag football this fall and he plays quarterback most of the time.

Serious Fun

Blake had a few friends over for a night game of wiffleball and a homerun derby. The yard was lighted from various angles (thanks to Tim Burden!) Pop, brownies, and homeruns (mostly by Blake), fun all around.

Off to the Races

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We went to see Jay's brother Tom race his late model car last night. There were lots of races with spin-outs and crashes, but no injuries. Tom's car is the white 44s. He won pole position in his qualifying heat which means he got to start in first for the final race. He was doing great until there was a caution flag because someone else got hit. He finished sixth but it was really exciting. We learned what all the different flag colors mean. Tom should have heard us all yelling and screaming. We each picked a car in each race to win. It's a good thing we don't bet $$$ cause we didn't guess very well. We got to go see the car after he was done and take pictures. Our nephew Tony and his wife Shauna and their kids and sister's kids were there so that was fun too. You can see Tom's wife Nancy in front of Jay in the stands picture. Also note the earplugs on Jacob, it's really loud! We really know we're from Iowa after this summer...we've had lots of fun just staying close to home and doing some things we don't usually get to do.

Day Trip

We went to a rodeo in Wapello and on the way we stopped at the lock and dam in Muscatine. Just happened to get there in time to see a tug come through to push some barges south. The rodeo was fun too. Jake rode the bull. They had all the events; calf roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, bareback and saddle bronc riding, bull riding and mutton busting which too bad Jacob was too old to do. That's where you just hang on to the sheep for as long as you can. It was a great opportunity to wear the hats. They even had fireworks afterwards...

State Champs

Jacob's 12 and under baberuth team won state again this year. They did it the same way they did last year. The finals are 2 out of 3 games. Lost the first one, come back and win 2 in a row. Congratulations!

State Baseball

Our Cal Ripken State Babe Ruth 12 and under Baseball tournament started today in Mt. Pleasant. Some of these guys Jacob played with last year when we went to Colorado and some are new. Jacob's one of the youngest this year. He's in the front on the team picture and third from the left of the lunch bunch. We have a pitcher with a nice shiner too from a bounce off the mound. We won the first game 12-1 in 3 1/2 innings. I hope they do as well tomorrow, they sure have fun playing together.

Crawdad fishing

Jacob and his friend Abe went down the creek behind Hy-Vee to fish for crawdads. They tried using chicken on a string with a hook, but weren't having much luck. Then a couple of Abe's other friends showed up with nets and rubber boots (I guess we aren't original, these guys do this all the time, they reminded me of a couple of old men they way they talked). The nets worked better and we caught a few. Next time we go fishing at MacBride we'll come here the day before to catch bait. Oh yeah, we did go buy a net to use(the old guys said a seine works great too!)

Struve Reunion

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The 5th of July we went to Monticello to a reunion for the Struve side of our family. There are five boys and one girl on Jay's dad's side. Many of them and their children and their grandchildren were there. We had a fun time reconnecting. We don't see many of them very often. We ate, played kick ball and other lawn games. One girl got caught in the baby swing because she was too big so she had to have the swing cut off to get out! We hope they do this next summer.

Fourth of July

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Our annual fourth of July activities go on rain or shine. This year it was rain, but we had fun anyway. It started off with a fire in the firepit the night before. Breakfast at Morrison Park was very good and then we watched the parade after. Lots of soggy candy, but some was dry enough to eat! A nap at home in the afternoon and then back to the park for wiffleball, smores, sparklers and fireworks. A very nice time. We hope you enjoyed the day wherever you were and that you carry on the tradition if you ever were with us...

Our Typical Night

Most nights you can find us at the ballfield. Jacob plays rec league where he pitches on Mondays and Fridays which will be over next week. He's also on the all start team which will go through July. If you have a free night come hang out with us!
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Camp

Jacob spent last week at Pine Lake Camp. He took his friend Ben and they had a great time. They played lots of games, went swimming and canoeing, ate a ton of great food, learned more about God and their relationships with Him grew during the week and lots of other stuff.Before we left them there we swung on the tire swing and had a picnic. The Burdens were there too dropping off Shelby. I think he'll still be catching up on his sleep for a few more days. I here they were up pretty late the last night.

Oh Boys...

Ok, there must be something about testosterone that makes boys want to hunt and conquer, even in their own front yard. We do have a bow and arrows, Blake ultimately got him. I'll spare you the cleaning part, but the legs are in the freezer waiting for someday when we run out of food and there's nothing left to eat. Not like the crab we caught on spring break...

Babies

There are bushes that run in front of our front steps. On the very top there's a nest of new baby grackels right on top barely covered by a thin layer of leaves. Everytime we open the door the momma flies to the top of the basketball hoop and squawks at us. We've gotten to see them develop, so much fun! Most of the time their mouths are open looking for food. Hopefully they won't imprint on us and follow us around...I think their eyes are still closed, they can't see us. We'll miss them when they fly away in a few days.

Hershey Update

Jacob went to Marshalltown to compete in the State level Hershey meet to throw the softball. He placed about 12th over all in a great of 30 some. Next year he'll be one of the older kids so he's hoping to move up, his goal was to get on the award stand of 8 place winners. We also ran into a friend of Jay's that he lived with when he started teaching in Vinton. Steve's the baseball coach at Marshalltown and we hadn't seen him for awhile so it was fun catching up with him while the team was practicing. We used to have some fun parties in the dark ages. Now Jay's planning a trip to watch Marshalltown play Jefferson and invite the past Iowa coach to go with. All those guys lived in the same apartment complex 30 years ago along with Jay when they were starting out.

Lazy Summer?

We thought things would slow down this summer and Jacob was afraid he would get bored. Now I kind of think that's a good thing, stimulates the imagination and all that...but his social calender has been full. Ok, we've been included some too. Jay is supervising the blongo game at a going away party for some of our friends. Soph and Erin and their Timothy are moving to Australia so they had a party on a beautiful place out in the country with lots of land. Jay fell down the hill racing Jacob and Jacob got stuck in a tree, but otherwise a great time. We'll miss them, hopefully they will come back and visit.
Jacob also went to a summer party thrown by his friend Shelby. Lots of laughing on the trampoline and an invented game of Hooverball with a volleyball also. It was a great time and we got to tag along.