Carter had his first T-Ball practice last night. He did pretty good for it being his first practice and for not knowing much about the sport, maybe because he could throw and hit the ball. :-) He did seem to enjoy it more than he did soccer. I hope he continues to enjoy it. This was the first practice so it's hard to tell. We'll see, I guess. Here are some pictures I took at his practice (more can be viewed in the Family Photos/November 2008 album. By the time he got to hit the ball off the t-ball stand, it was getting dark and the camera batteries died. I will be taking the camera again to the next practice.   

Carter played his last soccer game of the season this morning. They lost this one though.  :-( We are proud of all the kiddos. They all played hard and they all had a good time. That is the important part, right? They actually only lost one game the whole season. I think that was really good. Carter had fun playing soccer and probably will play when it starts up again in the Spring. In the meantime, he will be playing T-Ball. He is excited about it. I hope that between it all, he will find something that he will really interest him. This picture was taken after his (last) game.

 GO FIREBALLS!!!

We took the kids trick or treating for the first time tonight (in the past we went to festivals at churches for Halloween). We just went around our block and the kids had almost a whole bucket of candy when they got home. They had a good time. Gail was funny. After several houses, I think she was getting the hang of the T or T routine and we got to a house where no one was home. Gail started to walk up to the door and we told her to come on that no one is home and she just kept standing there and standing there waiting to go to the door. She couldn't get why we weren't going to the door. There was another house where they had the candy sitting out on the porch and Gail took some and she stood there at the door like she was waiting for someone to open it. That child! Carter wanted to keep going when we started home, but we hadn't eaten dinner yet and their buckets were almost full. Here are a couple pictures I took of the kids when we went T or T.

Carter had his soccer award ceremony and pizza party after his game tonight. The game was tied at 2-2. The team did really good this season. They have won all their games. The team got trophies tonight and medals to wear around their neck. Carter was quite fond of his. He wanted to hold them all night. Here are a few pictures that I took when we got home. You can view them larger in the Family Photos/October 2008 album.

We took the kids to the Harvest Festival at our church this afternoon. Frank took Carter when it was time for it to start because Gail was still napping. When Gail got up from her nap, we met up with them at church. By the time we got to the festival, Frank and Carter had already been through all the games and activities that were going on there. We hung out for a little while and got something to eat. The kids had a good time. Carter went as Batman and Gail was a princess. Here are a few pictures from the festival (more can be found in Family Photos/October 2008 album.

I got to accompany Carter on a fieldtrip today to the Oil Ranch just outside of Houston. We were supposed to go last Thursday but it was postponed because it rained that day. But it made for a fun birthday for me to be able to spend some time with Carter by himself. The weather was nice and clear but it was a little bit chilly. Here are a few pictures from the fieldtrip (more pictures can be found in the Family Photos.October 2008 album).

Carter got his first Cubbies patch in AWANAS today. He memorized all his verses from the first 3 weeks. Here is a picture of his patch/vest.

Carter got his Cubbies vest and handbook today at AWANAS. To get the vest, he had to memorize two bible verses and he was able to recite them both to his Cubbies leader. We are so proud of him! Here is a picture of him in his vest. Sorry I had to take one...it was a proud moment! :-)

   (you can view this picture larger in the Family Photos/Oct 2008 album)

Georgia/Florida Football Update:

This has already been a crazy season. Many high ranked teams are getting knocked out of the top 10 by unranked or lower ranked teams. Hey, look at Vandy! Wouldn't it be something if they rose to the top this season? Of course, we don't want them to, but they are doing pretty well right now. You can never tell!

GA  45  vs  GA Southern  21                    FL  56  vs  Hawaii  10

GA  56  vs  C. Michigan  17                     FL  26  vs  Miami (FL)  3

GA  14  vs  S. Carolina  7                         FL 30  vs Tennessee  6

GA  27  vs  Arizona St  10                        FL  30  vs Mississippi  31

GA  30  vs  Alabama  41                          FL  38  vs Arkansas  7

Both Georgia and Florida both have a 4-1 record at this point. Georgia is #10 and Florida is #11 on the AP Top 25 poll this week. Hopefully we will rise to the top again before long. We just have to pray that other teams will fall out of the top 10.

Carter had another game early this morning. The weather was really nice. It wasn't hot or humid and a nice breeze blew through every once in a while. Carter's team wore red jerseys in this game. If we were keeping track of score, his team would have been the winners again making their record 3-0. Way to go Fireballs!!! Here are some pictures from his game. There are a few others in the Family Photos/October 2008 album. Wow....I can't believe it is October already!

Carter played his first soccer game today. They did really well considering they only got to practice once. Some of the kids have played in past seasons so that helped. Carter played during the 2nd and 4th quarters. He did really good. We are so proud of him! His team wore white jerseys and their team name is the "Fireballs". No one was really keeping score but Carter's team did score more goals than the other team. So, if they did have a winner, it would have been his team. Here are some pictures from the game. I took some video but I am unable to post it on here (still trying to figure out how to do that).

You can view these pictures and others in the Family Photos/September 2008 album.

Houston is still recovering from the hurricane. Businesses are slowly opening again. Frank went back to work yesterday. His office was fine. They were without power for a few days but back in business again.

The power at the church where the kids go to preschool has been down most of the week so the kids couldn't go to school this week. They are climbing the walls, and so am I, for that matter. With all the cleanup and power outtages around here, there really aren't that many places to go. Places where kids play aren't really a priority, so they have been put on the back burner.

The damage to our ceiling is getting worse and worse. Some more insulation and drywall fell overnight following the day of the storm, so we had to clean up a mess again the next morning. We see alot of water stains on other parts of the ceiling and down the walls now. We got the roof fixed the day before yesterday, so we are good there. We have called on someone to do the drywall and to replace the carpet that got damaged. We are waiting for them to come out to look at the damage/repairs to be done. I have added some more pictures (what the ceiling looks like now) to the Misc Photos/Hurricane Ike album. Whew! What a mess!

We were in the middle of Hurricane Ike as it hit Houston in the am last night. The kids slept in the room with us and we covered the windows as best as we could. We lost power pretty early on. During the night we got up and discovered that our light fixture over the landing of the staircase was dripping water and the ac vent in the middle of the ceiling not far from the light fixture was leaking water also. Frank went up into the attic and saw a long line of water dripping from the peak of our roof. When he went out this morning, he saw a strip of shingles torn off the front of the roof. Sometime after that, our ceiling over the staircase fell in, drywall and insulation. It was EVERYWHERE! You can say that it was snowing insulation in our house. It took several large plastic bags to get it and the drywall up off the stairs. We thank our sweet neighbors for coming over to help us with all of it. They were lifesavers! We are all doing okay though. We are thankful no one was hurt or anything throughout the whole ordeal. Here are some pictures of the damage we suffered (more can be seen in the Misc Photos/Hurricane Ike 2008 album)

Carter had his first soccer practice yesterday. He did pretty good for his first practice and for being 4 years old.   I think he really enjoyed it. He went right out and did what he was told to do. We did run into some rain though. It rained about 15-20 minutes into practice and it rained until the kids were almost drenched. The kids played right on through though. Gail on the other hand started getting really fussy about half way through practice. She fussed and fussed because she wanted to go out and play with the other kids. When she gets like that, it is hard to get her to calm down. I've got to find something for her to do while we are there to keep her distracted. Anyways, here are some pictures from practice. (There are more in the Family Photos/September 2008 album.)

The four of us went to the Space Center today to get out the house for a little while. Carter probably got alot more out of it than Gail (which one would expect) but even Carter didn't seem very interested at times. The problem is is that there's not really alot of things that a 4 year old and a 2 year old can do. They did have this gigantic playscape thing in the very front. All the kids wanted to do was play on that thing. They (the people at the S.C.) made the mistake of putting it right inside the front door so that is really the first thing that pops out at you. Well, we made the kids wait until we had seen most of everything there. After all, that is not why we spent the money to go there.

Here are some pictures from our visit. More can be viewed in the Family Photos/September 2008 album.

Football Update:

Both Georgia and Florida won their games today. Here are the scores.

Georgia  56    Central Michigan  17

Florida  26    Miami  3

                                        Georgia                 vs                Florida

I (Deborah) am really excited this year because Georgia was ranked #1 in the pre-season poll this year. It is the first time in history they have ever been ranked #1 in a pre-season poll. Georgia does have a tough schedule this year but I'm hoping they are going to pull through with flying colors. Gooooooo Dawgs!!!

Florida is doing well this year also. Frank is excited to see them ranked near the top this season. They were ranked #5 in the pre-season poll this year. Frank says "Goooooo Gators!!!

You can probably imagine how game day is at our house when our teams play each other!

Today's Scores:

Georgia  45   vs     Georgia Southern  21

Florida  56     vs     Hawaii  10

Today was the last day for swimming lessons for Carter (for now anyways). I think Carter made some progress but it would have been nice if they had lasted a little longer. It seemed that he was just getting the hang of things. Oh well. I took some video on the camera as well but I can't figure out how to get it on here (or if I can). Here are some pictures from his lesson.

I had to take these the other day of Gail. She was being a silly girl!

(You can view these pictures and others in the Family Photos/August 2008 album)

Carter is taking swim lessons this week and next week. Here are a few pictures of him doing his lesson today.

(There are a few others in the Family Photos/August 2008 album)

Yep, it was time to convert Gail's crib into a bed. She climbed out of the crib 2 or 3 times, so we just went ahead and decided it was time to do it. I don't think I am ready to go through this again, but it is here, and I don't have a choice. She has done pretty good so far. I have seen her get out of it a couple of times looking at the monitor but she is good about laying in it. Here are a couple of pictures of her (& Carter) in her newly converted bed.

We (the 4 of us) went swimming today up at our community pool. Each time we have gone swimming, we tried to get Carter to go down the slide (they just installed it this summer). Today, he went down it for the first time. We were so happy as it is hard for us to get him to do anything like that. He said it was fun going on the slide but we couldn't get him to go on it a second time. Maybe he will next time. He has swimming lessons this week and next week. We hope that he will get more used to being in the water and feel comfortable about going under the water.

I have finished painting Gail's room. I have started drawing the princess but need to paint her. If I took a picture of it right now, the pencil would be too light to see. I am hoping to get her painted soon. For now, here are pictures of her freshly painted walls. It is hard to get the true color from the pictures though.

I have all the information on my newest great niece.

Her name: Tori Peyton Vosburgh

Born: August 1

Weight: 9 lbs 10 oz 

Length: 23 in long 

Here are a couple of pictures my sister, Vicki (Tori's grandmother), sent me.

Gail climbed out of the crib last night for the first time. We put her to bed and she cried for a little while. She kept on and on for a bit, so I looked at the monitor in our room to make sure she was okay. Lo and behold, she was standing outside of the crib looking into it. Frank and I couldn't believe it. We knew that the day was coming but we didn't expect it to be so soon. We are certainly going to have to keep an eye on her now.

Frank was off today, so we packed a lunch and all headed over to the Arboretum to walk some trails, or should I say "walk ONE trail". We started off doing pretty good and the kids were excited to be out where they can run a little. Half way down the trail, Carter seemed to get a bit uninterested and Gail started screaming for juice (which we had none on us...it was in the car). We tried to continue our walk but ended up just heading back toward the car. What can you do when you have a child that is bored and one that only wants juice and nothing else? We were near a big park so we figured we would find a playground for the kids and have our lunch there. We found a nice playground and had our lunch and then we let the kids play some. It was so hot. It wasn't long before Carter decided he was ready to go. It was a little harder to get Gail to go but it wasn't too bad. We headed home so the kids could rest. Here are some pictures from the arboretum:

(More pictures can be found in the Family Photos/August 2008 album)

Baby News!

We (Frank and I) are a great aunt and uncle for the 4th time as of today. My (Deborah's) nephew and his fiance had their little girl, Tory Peyton (have to get back to you on the spelling), this evening. The baby was 9 lbs 10 oz. Mom, Dad, and the baby are all doing well. Congratulations to them! When I get some pictures, I will post them.

The Peanuts have left the building! I have been working on Gail's room (formerly the Peanuts room), trying to get it painted for her. This will be mural #5 for me (one of them I did for a friend-no pictures posted for it). I am going for a princess/frog theme for her. I wanted to do frogs in her room, but since she is a girl, I thought I would somehow incorporate girly stuff in it, like including a princess or something. I just realized that I never posted pictures of the first Peanuts room I painted (in Houston) on here. Okay, they are on here now. They are in the Misc Photos/Peanuts Room in Houston 2004 album.

Now you see them..... 

Now you don't....

These are actually some older pictures (after I painted with primer). I have started painting the walls yellow. I am almost done, I just need to apply another coat, then I will get started with the mural. Hopefully, I can get it done soon. The organization of the house is pending on the completion of Gail's room.

We all went to a park today where you can ride on a train. The train operates one weekend a month and it is free. It is small but big enough that grownups can ride on it too. Here are some pictures.

My oldest sister, Vicki and her fiance, Joji, were married this past Saturday in Florida. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding. The ceremony was really nice and the reception was a lot of fun. I got to Florida a week early so that I could help with the wedding preparations. Whew...that was a lot of work. I just got back home today. It is hard traveling alone with a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old. I don't think I am going to do that again at least for a good while! It was worth it though. I am happy for my sister and her new hubby and would do it all over again. I don't have many pictures, sorry. I will post more when I get them from Vicki and Joji. I have a few others in the Misc/Vicki & Joji's Wedding album.

Here are some other pictures I took while I was with my parents: