So much to update, so little time

Okay, so I haven't edited my blog since August and that was just covering through June. I will try to give a very short update for each month through the end of the year.

July - We visited my parents in Sweetwater to celebrate July 4th and went to their friend's house to watch fireworks. Courtney was able to watch them, but had to use some ear muffs since she doesn't like the loud noises. We celebrated Jennifer's birthday and I started working on our house renovations (painting 2 bedrooms, bathroom, & office, new bed and furniture for Kelsey's bedroom, new bed and redecorate Courtney's room, new carpet upstairs, and tile floors in the bathrooms).

August - Courtney and I went back to Sweetwater to celebrate birthdays (mine, my sister's, and my nephew's) and also attended my sister's wedding. I continued working on our house renovations (finished painting, had carpet & tile installed, and built a entertainment center for our bedroom). Courtney started 5th grade at her new middle school and Kelsey started her Sophomore year at DCA.

September - Jennifer and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary at a local bed & breakfast and then went to the Titans opening home game. Kelsey and Courtney walked with me in the Nashville Heart Walk - this is my 11th year walking (Kelsey has walked with me for 7 years & Courtney has walked for the last 4 or 5) and our team raised $20,000 last year.

October - Kelsey turned 16 in October and we went camping while it was still warm for her birthday. On her birthday, we went to the Titans - Colts Monday Night Football game. She also got her driver's license that day and started driving to school the next day. She played goalie on the high school soccer team and was selected to the All-District team. They had a very young team that didn't win a lot of games, but got much better as the year went along. We will be playing in a new division next year and hope to do better.

November - Kelsey was selected as a member of the Mid-State High School Choir and performed at David Lipscomb University. Jennifer, Christy, Judy, & Peggy went to Gatlinburg for Peggy's birthday and to do Christmas shopping.

December - Kelsey is in the Concert Choir and the Show Choir at DCA and we went to their Christmas concert (they did a great job). We went to Sweetwater for our Christmas weekend with my family. Courtney, Madison, & Brandon played at an indoor jumping place. We went to McMinnville for Christmas and had our usual parties with family and friends, our famly day (including bowling and flashlight tag at the old Carrier building), and opening gifts from each other and Santa for the kids.

Well that catches me up for 2008. I will work on 2009 in future blogs.

Family Vacation at Tim's Ford State Park

I know, I know, it has been way too long since I last posted. My honey-do list has grown tremendously this last month. We decided to put down new carpet throughout our entire upstairs (long over due), but in order to do that, we have to paint 4 rooms first. OUCH!!!! I will update more on that in a later post.

Back to the vacation. We took our annual trip to Tim's Ford State Park in June and had a great time. It is not only our immediate family who goes, but Jennifer's extended family also. Jennifer's sister (Christy) & her family, her Mom & Dad (Peggy & Glen), Uncle Jimmy & his kids (with their families), and Aunt Judy & Uncle Bill (with Eric & Brandy). Her family has been doing this for 20+ years. They started with one cabin and now we are up to 4.

We also have special guests throughout the week. Both of Jenn's grandmothers (Memo & Edna) live in nearby Winchester and they come over for supper with us several nights. Uncle David (Glen's brother), who also lives in Winchester, comes out with Memo a couple of times during the week. Goose (family friend who let's us borrow his pontoon boat and fishes with us each year) stays and eats lunch with us several days after fishing, and Chico & Lynn came over for our fish fry.

Kelsey brought a friend (Catherine) with her this year who stayed with us until Thursday night.

We have a crew who go out each morning (Tuesday through Friday) to fish while another crew takes the kids to the swimming pool. Then we meet back at the cabin for lunch and we have another crew who takes the boats out to play in the afternoon. Then we meet back at the cabin for supper and either watch movies, play games, or play on the playground the rest of the night.

Several of the guys play golf at least one day and sometimes two. This year we played 2 days at a little 12 hole course in Winchester. That is usually the only time during the year that I get to play, so it is mostly hacking. :-) I did however, chip-in a shot for an eagle while playing with Eric on Saturday and played all 3 of my shots for a birdie on another hole. Just enough to make me want to go play again. The rest of my shots usually leave me wondering why I am playing. :-)

Wednesday night we went to the Drive-In theater in Estill Springs and watched Kung-Fu Panda and the new Indiana Jones movie. That was great fun, but it got quite cold that night.

On Saturday night, we have a fish fry and fix all the fish that was caught during the week (and some backup fish in case we didn't have good luck during the week) and make homemade ice cream.

This year was quite a mix of emotions and blessings. The first day we were there, our nephew Tanner rode his bicycle down the hill toward the cabin and couldn't stop before jumping a barrier in front of it and slamming into the cabin face first. Luckily, he turned his face as he went into the wall and only received a few cuts and a bruise on his face.

We had boat trouble early in the week and once it was fixed, we had wheel trouble with the trailer that was bringing it back. We were able to get the wheel fixed and get the boat back out on the lake later in the week.

On the positive side, this was Tori's (Christy's daughter) first lake vacation and it was Courtney's first time to get in the lake by herself (climbing in and out of the pontoon) and going under in the swimming pool.

Kelsey passed her test and received a license to allow her to drive a jet ski this year. She loved that and it helped us since she could take the kids riding while we were driving the other boats pulling "Big Bertha", the knee board, or skiing.

We had great weather all week and really enjoyed our time just relaxing with family. The staff at the Marina know us all and work great with us during the week (as they should with as much food, ice cream, and gas we buy there). We are already looking forward to our time there next year.

Well, that's it for now. I will post more later.

Courtney's 1st swimming lessons

Since this is the first summer that Courtney has neither had a trach nor had the trach hole open, we setup swimming lessons for her at a local swimming pool. The daughter of one of our friends from church has worked with special needs children before and worked very well with Courtney. Her first lesson was on Monday, June 9th. They lasted for about 45 minutes to an hour for 5 days.

Since we were leaving for the lake on the 16th, we wanted to make sure we got her used to the swimming pool and using a life jacket so that she could get into the lake by herself and know what to expect. Her last lesson was cancelled twice due to rain and she didn't actually take it until the morning of the 16th before we left for the lake.

Molly did a great job preparing Courtney for the waves in the lake and how to get water out of her mouth if she got any in it. She also worked with her on going under water in the pool, treading water, and the beginnings of how to use her arms to cup and pull water. We still have a long way to go, but WOW what a long way she has come thus far.

Here are a few pictures from her swim lessons:

HUMC Basketball Camp

Both girls participated in the HUMC basketball camp the week of June 2nd. Courtney participated as a camper and Kelsey was a student coach helping Coach Jim instruct about 90 campers. The camp lasted from 8:30 until 3:30 each day and they performed for all of the parents and special guests on Friday to show what they had learned.

During the week, they learned basic ball handling skills, shooting technique, played team games, played dribble tag, and had special drills for dribbling and shooting. Courtney had a really good time and has improved tremendously over the last several years. She has been going to the camp for the last 3 or 4 years (about the same time Kelsey started helping with the coaching).

Here are a couple of pictures from the camp (Courtney with Coach Jim and Courtney during one of her ball-handling drills):

Courtney is already looking forward to playing Upward basketball next January. She missed it last year due to recovering from her heart surgery.

Courtney's 1st Camping Trip

I apologize for not updating in awhile, but I will try to catch up on how things are going with our family. Over Memorial Day weekend, we went camping at Cedars of Lebanon State Park.

This was Courtney's 1st camping trip and the first time we have been able to tent camp as a family in quite a few years. The campground was full by Wednesday afternoon, but Jennifer had gone down early and reserved 2 sites (1 for us & 1 for Christy's family). We spent 4 nights there and had really nice weather.

Christy, Phillip, & their children came down Friday afternoon. Their school (Trinity Christian Academy - TCA) was playing in the softball state tournament in Murfreesboro, so we watched them Friday night and Saturday morning.

The kids had a great time riding bikes, playing on the playground, roasting hot dogs, making smores, swimming in the pool, and playing some games on the softball field and tennis courts. While Phillip kept Tori, the rest of us went on a guided horse trail ride. Courtney was not real excited about leading the way on her own horse at first, but once the guide was able to help lead her horse, she really enjoyed it.

Courtney was able to get into the pool by herself although she was still concerned about water getting up to her neck. I had to convince her that she did not have to worry about that anymore since the trach hole is now closed, but she was still hesitant. She eventually relaxed and enjoyed her time in the water.

It was a very relaxing time and we enjoyed getting to spend time with Phillip, Christy, Tanner, Trace, & Tori. We were able to get packed up and almost home before we ran into any rain (we always get rained on when we camp). We are looking forward to more camping trips, hopefully another one later this year.

Courtney Turns 11

I apologize to those of you who still look for updates on this site, but we have been extremely busy lately and I just have not found the time to logon and update. So here goes. :-)

We had a great time visiting with Jennifer's extended family on Sunday, May 4th. Everyone thought Courtney looked great and I gave an update on her progress and all the things going on in Kelsey's life these days. We are very proud of both of our girls. Kelsey was asked if she would provide some musical entertainment next year so that everyone can hear her beautiful voice.

We spent a lot of time the next week planning Courtney's 11th birthday party. It is hard to believe that she is now 11. We had her party at Hermitage Lanes and everyone had a great time. We got her a bowling ball so that we can start practicing more to get her ready for her Special Olympics events. She used bumpers this time, but didn't need them very much, and bowled her best game ever. She bowled a 99 with an 8 lb ball. We are going to help her work on strengthening her arm so that she can bowl more traditionally and without bumpers.

A couple of Courtney's teachers and Suzanne from school and a former teacher from church came with their kids, as well as, the Dodd family, our parents, my aunt Charlotte and niece Madison, Jenn's sister and her family, and Taylor. After bowling, the kids played in the arcade for awhile. Since it was Mother's Day and there were several mothers taking time away from their family to celebrate Courtney's birthday, we gave each Mother a single red rose to thank them and let them know how special they are also.

Courtney Goes on School Field Trip to LBL

Courtney took her first overnight field trip with the 4th grade class at her school. They left for Land Between the Lakes (Lake Barkley - Kentucky) on Wednesday morning by bus and returned Friday afternoon.

She did not have any family with her or a private nurse. Ms. Suzanne, her EA at school and Jessica's mom, went as her chaperone/aide. She had a great time fishing, roasting marshmallows, holding crawfish, seeing snakes, and playing with all her friends. Ms. Suzanne took pictures for us and I will post them once I get some of them.

We are headed to a family dinner tomorrow afternoon and then finish planning Courtney's 11th birthday party next weekend. She will celebrate her birthday again this year on Mother's Day (this year it actually is the same day again). We are having a High School Musical theme party at a local bowling alley. Courtney loves to bowl, in fact she has competed the last 2 years in a Special Olympics event for bowling. She got invited to the state competition last year, but her score didn't qualify because her lane had bumpers. We are going to work on bowling without the bumpers this year to see if we can get her qualified.

Continue to keep us in your prayers, as well as my friend Daniel and his family. I mentioned him in one of my previous blogs concerning his 4th child having complications at Vanderbilt. Well, Georgie passed away Wednesday morning and they had a memorial service for him today. They don't have a lot of family close by, so I am sure they would appreciate your prayers. Thank you.