wow....

I am coming to think that this place is neglected....

I post once every other blue moon, then don't post for 3 months.

New Year's has come and gone. Heck, we're in February now!

Nothing too exciting has been going on.

Had a snowstorm at the end of January that we were able to go out and have some fun in. We went sledding as a family. Found that we have some GREAT hills in our neighborhood to sled down...if we ever get snow again.

Been busy planning the soccer season for the Spring. It will be starting at the beginning of March. I am torn both ways about it. I love watching the kids play and intereact with their friends and being able to see all our friends, but the scheduling nightmare that it brings with it....ugh! Hopefuly this season will run smoothly and the rain amounts that we've been having lately will decrease! we don't need a whole bunch of rainouts like we had last season.

Derek's birthday was 2 days ago. He went out to lunch with the guys from work....didn't invite me to go either! :( We did go out to Dinner at Sasaki, the Japanese Steakhouse here in Lake Wylie. It was pretty good. The kids really enjoyed the show that the chef put on and Derek and I enjoyed watching it thru their eyes. Derek also go to have some sushi, which is why he picked there.

Mom Lang is coming to visit this weekend. She wants to go to Mary Jo's to spend the gift certificate that she got for Christmas from us. We also want to make a trip to IKEA while she is here too!

Hope to get on here again in the near future, but I wouldn't hold your breath. ;)

Changes...

WOW...talk about changes.

Things are a changing around here for us.

Soccer is over for the season. Madison's team won 2nd place in their division. Dehlia team won 1st place in their division. Aric's team did keep score, but they all had a great time this season!!!

We have had a complete shocker come to us in the last 2 weeks though. My dad passed away on November 12th. I had travelled up to VA to see him in the hospital at the beginning of November after he collapsed at home during the week before. They diagnosed him as needing valve replacement surgery and more bypass surgery, but the doctors could never get him well enough to do the surgery. We (Derek and I) were at least able to have 2 weeks to come to terms with the possibility of something happening, but tell the kids was probably one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do. My mom seems to be dong well with it. We will see how thing go in the future. We have a lot of work ahead of us in cleaning out the house of all of the things that he felt he needed. We are all getting a good laugh at some of the things that we have found and are sure to get plenty more as we have just scratched the surface.

This weekend we will be adding to our family. We have decided to add another dog to the pack. He is about a year old. He is a husky. He is a rescue out of NC. He is red and white and has one blue and one amber colored eyes. I will add pictures after we get him on Saturday! His name will be Dakota.

We will also be bringing Derek's Land Cruiser back to SC with us this weekend. We are trying to clean out Grandma Hoover's house so that it can be sold in the near future, so that it one big piece of the puzzle that needs to be gotten out.

Until the next time...

busyness...

Well, we've been busy lately. Soccer game scheduling took over this past weekend. We had 2 girls over Saturday afternoon (after having 2 soccer practices - 1 for Madison and 1 for Aric) so that their parenst could work on the game schedule. They finally called us after 3 hours working on it and said "HELP"! We went over there about 4 and I didn't come home til 10 and Derek by 11. And it still wasn't done!! Spent some time on it Sunday trying to work out some conflicts with fields and coaches, and got it figured out. Now today the schedule has been all moved around. I sure hope we/they get it worked out soon.

Derek is in Wisconsin this week. he comes back on Friday. Then we have soccer practice for Aric then decide if we are going to leave for Raleigh then or on Saturday morning. We are going up there to help build Matt a bigger deck than the one on the back of his house.

busyness, busyness, busyness....

updating again....

Maybe with this new school year, I can keep this blog thing going better.

Yeah right....


Well, the girls have started school for the year. They started last Wednesday. Dehlia is in 2nd grade and Madison is in 5th grade!!! OMG!!! They are getting too big! I think I am going to have to think about utilizing those cinderblocks that are sitting around outside of the house to hold these children down from growing!

Aric starts preschool after Labor Day. His last year of preschool before Kindergarten. I am sure that there will be many tears shed when graduation time comes around in May.

Soccer season is upon us also. Derek is coaching 2 1/2 teams this season. Head coaching Aric's U6 team, Assistant Coach for Dehlia's U8 team and Head Coach for Madison's U10 team. The calendar is filling up fast as practices are being arranged and games will be put on there soon!!

I am looking forward to having a little bit of downtime while Aric and the girls are all in school after Labor Day. Maybe I can get a little bit more done on my quilt top that I have been working on since before we moved. I have the blocks all assembled, but have to put on the border still. Hope to get to that in the VERY near future.

Derek is getting ready to travel some. Ofcourse he couldn't travel during the summer when the kids were out of school....has to be while they are in. Oh well. Thought about asking mom and dad to come visit for a couple days, but I don't know if it would work. We'll see.

Well, I hope to be back sooner rather than later. Only time will tell.....

updates....

Well,I feel like everytime I update this blog, I am saying how long it had been since I updated it. You would think that would entice me to update more. Maybe I'll try that ..... we'll see.

Now for the updates.....

All 3 kids are still playing soccer. They are doing great. Aric started off not wanting to be on the field at all, and now right after he takes a break to get some water, he is ready to get back out there. Dehlia is still impressing everyone with her footwork. Madison is helping the other girls on her team learn the game.

We've gotten rid of all the boxes that were hanging out in the house waiting for pickup. We had enough and just decided to take them up to recycling on our own....keep in mind we still haven't heard from the pick up people to come and get the boxes.

Easter brought Grandma and Grandad Rakowski to visit. They came in from the long drive from VA on Thursday afternooon. They stayed with us til Tuesday. We showed them around town (some of the not so pleasant ones too unfortunatley). They enjoyed seeing the grandkids and visiting.

The kids were on Spring break 2 weeks ago. Had a good time. Spring Break was right after Easter, so Grandma and Grandad were still visitiing at the beginning of the week, but at the end of the week we went out of town ourselves. We went to Atlanta. We visited the Zoo, Aquarium, and the World of Coca Cola. Stopped by the Lego Store too. Was a great weekend of weather and sightseeing.

My mom had surgery on last Thursday and she is home now. I went up there on Wednesday afternoon and came back on Friday. She came home from the hospital on Sunday. She has been doing really well. Just trying to keep her from overdoing it is all Dad is having trouble with.

Saturdays areound here are full of soccer, and last Saturday was no different. We had one game in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Inbetween the games, we visited the Spring Carnival that they were having at the girls' school. IT was a beautiful day, but hot. We all got a little bit sunburnt afer being outside all day, but we had fun and that's all that matters.

Wel, this week is full of soccer as usual. Practice or games every night.

Til later....but hopefully sooner.....

Let the season begin.....

Well, we've settled in enough to bite the bullet and enroll the kids in soccer for the Spring.

Practices started this week.


Aric began on Monday. What a trip that was. He is too cute out there. From stopping and waving to us, to trying to learn to not touch the ball with his hands, to singing High School Musical while trying to get the ball passed to him, to crying when one of the other kids took the ball from him. It was a hoot.



Dehlia began on Tuesday. Derek isn't her coach this season. She wasn't too happy about that, but she did ok during practice. Of the 7 kids that were there, she seemed to be the star player. There We'll have to see how things go when we can get the rest of the team there. She was supposed to have practice yesterday, but rained out.

Madison began on Wednesday.....well, it was scheduled for Wednesday. It was raining and Derek wasn't feeling well, and neither was I for that matter. So, was are shooting for today (Friday) but it is supposed to be rainy today too. Maybe we can squeeze one in this weekend if we can't today. Derek is her coach this season. He volunteered to help, but turned out to be the person with the most experience. We'll see how it goes.

The kids have been enjoying the back yard. Some more than others....








butt...









They all do get to have fun out here. Appropriately clothed too!!!




















We're getting things a little bit more organized. Going to put up some shelves in the garage to store the christmas stuff, and put up a garage door opener too. Hopefully the boxes that are mounding over inbetween the living and dining roomare going to be picked up soon!! They are encroaching on my getting anything done in there.

Til next time.....