Real Angels

I had a unique experience today. I flew with my friend and her twins to Dallas. Kathy's twins that were born with a weird form of cancer that requires them, even after a bone marrow transplant, to receive treatments every month. She usually schedules the appointments on separate days, but every three months they fall together. And today was the day. I go with her on these days and sit in one office with one child and she goes with the other. She usually makes several appointments on the same day since Dallas is a three hour drive. Today, we had the opportunity to fly an Angel Flight. What a wonderful organization!! We had two different pilots and two different "ground angels", the ones who took us from the airport to the hospital and back. They donate their time and planes and cars for this worthy cause. Those two pilots were so sweet as were the drivers who took care of us. I knew about Angel Flight, but never had the experience of flying with them. The planes were very nice and roomy and the flights were smooth and quick. We made it to Dallas in one hour and back in 45 minutes. You can't beat that! With two sleepy children after treatment, those pilots really are angels. If you are looking for an organization to donate to this year, check out Angel Flight. They are the greatest!
I am leaving this week to go to Georgia and bring my baby home!! Marin will be home for Thanksgiving. And we will celebrate our last Thanksgiving in Texas together as a family. Nothing else to report from here...how are you??

Celebrating Lasts

This has been a week of "lasts" for us in Texas. Thursday was Jacob's last freshman football game and last night was Jacob's last varsity game to march in the band. The game itself was pretty sad. Our boys made lots of mistakes and then penalties did not go our way. Whitehouse really wanted that win, and we just were not on our game. Anyway, for the seniors; football players, cheerleaders and band, it was sad. As we were leaving to go back to the buses, one of the parents stopped me to remind me that this was our last game, too. The tears just started falling. I have loved living here, and it will be sad to leave. We have made some wonderful friends and enough memories to last a lifetime for sure!
This morning we were up and out early for Jacob to march in the Veterans' Day Parade. It was hot, surprisingly hot for a November day, and I was overdressed. It seemed to last forever. The band started the parade and did a great job, as always.
Now we are spending the rest of weekend resting. It has been a busy fall. We have been running every week since September. I have been to two football games every week since school started. Now we are going to start getting ready for the holidays. We still have the Rose Parade to look toward, but other than that life is slowing down.
Jonathan is in Georgia now. Marin is getting ready for the Nutcracker. I am excited to travel back there after Thanksgiving to spend some time with her.
That's about all in my neck of the woods, how are you all doing? Let me hear from you!

District Champions!!!

Jacob's football team won the district championship tonight. The score was 20-6. Jacob had several good plays on offense. He ran a kick-off back for about 40 yards and then got a critical first down on a 3rd and 12. There was alot of celebrating in the stands. It has been a long season, and now I am going to have to find something new to do on Thursday nights. The team is undefeated and since there is not a play-off system with Freshman, we are the district champs!! This was Jacob's last game in a Dragon uniform. It was a little sad, but I know that next year he will be back in Panther black and red. Tomorrow night is the last regular season game for Varsity. If they win, we will go on to the play-offs and if not then the season is over. We may be facing another "last" tomorrow night with marching band. We still have local parades, contests, and of course the Rose Parade in California with the band, but the last game will be a little sad. If we go on to play-offs, then Thanksgiving is going to be a mess. I guess it is the good with the bad. I know that the boys want to be practicing football on Thanksgiving and the band would love to be there, too. Tomorrow night will tell.
I am sorry about the Pumpkin Soup recipe. I am going to get it posted this weekend. I worked today and will work tomorrow and then straight to the school to ride the band bus. This may also be my last band bus ride. All these lasts are getting a little sad for me. But for tonight, we celebrate the win!! Congratulations Freshman Dragons!! You are the beginning of a new winning tradition that we will follow even in Georgia!

Flying Solo

November 7, 2007
Today, Jonathan is headed back to Georgia to do some Lee Container work and visit with Marin. She is so excited to get to see her daddy. We did the cutest thing at dinner last night. She called right as we were sitting down to eat so we put her on speaker phone and sat the phone in the middle of the table. It was just like she was there with us having dinner. Lord, I miss that child! Later, she called back while Jacob was lying on my bed catching me up on his day. This time we put the phone on the bed and once again she was right in the middle of the discussion. It was funny watching Waggles look at the telephone whenever she was talking. That poor dog is so confused!
For the rest of the week, I am the single parent. Jacob and I had chili for dinner in the living room . It is in the 50's here so it felt like a chili kind of night. After my Pumpkin Soup fiasco last night, I decided to head back to an old stand by. These men in my house are just not into new foods...they call it chick food. They do not know what is good. It is a delicious soup for a cool fall night. Grab a pen and some paper and I will post it tomorrow. No pictures of the cooking process. I am no Ree from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, but you should check out her blog (http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/) it is the greatest! Tomorrow is Jacob's last freshman football game. If they win tomorrow, they will have an undefeated season! Since Jonathan is in Georgia, we will not have a video if he scores another touchdown (see October 30th update), but rest assured you will get a play-by-play here. Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings

Running is a Sport

We spent the weekend in Arlington, Texas this weekend with Jacob's cross country team at the regional meet. I was surprised at the number of participants and spectators. Who knew running was such a big sport in high school? Running is actually new to Jacob, but he likes it and is pretty good at it. Their team came in tenth, which is respectable. They have a few freshman (Jacob included) running this year so it is a young team. Our team's shirts said, "Why are you chasing us?" on the back. It made me laugh. Another one said, "Our sport is your sport's punishment!" Cross country coaches has a sense of humor as well.
For those wondering, we will not be home for Thanksgiving. Well actually we will be home...in Texas. I am a little excited about having the whole responsibility of dinner by myself. I feel so gorwn-up this year. I am getting lots of good recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. After Thanksgiving, I will be heading back to Georgia to stay with Marin and be there for all of her Nutcracker activites. She is so excited about getting to be a "cousin" this year. She is also dancing as an Angel. Of course, she is always an angel, you know!
I am all caught up. This blogging thing is hard to get started, but getting better. I don't know how all these blogs that I read keep it up so faithfully. I am a little too ADD for that, I think.
Have a happy!