Christmas Concerts

Another year of singing and blowing into a horn.

It was a short and sweet program for each of them.

They DID actually incorporate a few Christmas songs
to remember that this really isn't just a "winter" concert.

Unfortunately, Brooke didn't get to sing one of those Christmas songs.

There are always actions with the songs which make it more fun for the kids.
Beats just standing still and singing.

What a beautiful little lady this one is turning into.
Her flute playing has taken off
to the point that she actually did a duet with another flutist.

J-U-M-P

Jump, Cassidy Jump!

Basketball has grown on Cassidy and she dearly loves it.
Her most favorite part is pushing people around on the court.
This is so unlike her but she does an awesome job at it.

At the beginning of the season, Cassidy was afraid to handle the ball.
By the end of the season she loved hearing the other teams coach yell,
"You got to figure out how to stop #15!"

This game is very special to Cassidy.
She had 9 of the 11 points scored.

Going in for a lay-up.

Cassidy got a big boost of confidence the other day at practice.
The coaches husband was filling in for her.
He took Cassidy aside and told her how good she was,
and that now he understood what his wife was talking about
when she would go home and praise Cassidy's basketball abilities.
He told her he would make sure she went out for basketball in high school
because she will be awesome!


"Leader of the pack"
Brooke and friends cheering for big sis!

Rambling......

I do apologize for not posting something sooner.

Life is so busy for the Wines'. Yea, yea, yea, I know it's that way for everyone.

But for me, this year was going to be different.

I had it all planned out and even got a head start.

I make homemade gifts for the Montana nieces and all was going great until...

Well, lets just say, I broke my new sewing machine.

It has been in the shop for over a week.

Called Monday and he still hasn't received the part. I am really bummed out!

I guess our gifts for the Montana nieces will, like always, be late.

Sorry girls!

As for the Wines', it's hunting season for the men of the house which means they are not included in anything the girls do.

The Brooke and I are trying to keep up with Cassidy playing basketball two nights a week

and squeezing Christmas shopping in on the weekends.

Shopping is not going so well.

Last weekend, the girls wanted to watch their cousin wrestle in an all day tournament at Mission Valley and this weekend Cassidy has a basketball tournament on Saturday.

That leaves Sunday for hitting it hard. Look out Topeka!

I am struggling this year with Christmas shopping.

The older they get the fewer items they want which is GREAT but those few items are more expensive. Decisions, decisions!

Our computer is in the shop but as soon as we get it back we will have several posts.

Got wood?

Dad and his four daughters getting ready to load his truck with fire wood for the winter season.

Cassidy working hard at getting out of work.
"But she just showered"
Why-we don't know.
We said get ready to go, she thought that meant go shower.

The big man giving orders and calling the shots for
dragging the logs out of the timber with the truck.

High atop a Kansas mountain.

The first of our four loads today.

Nephew Justin and friend Chris helped out.
Do you see Cassidy working, neither do we.
Hmmmmm!
Oh well, she did make a huge pan of brownies when we got home.

Little Viking Cheerleader

Every year the cheerleaders at Mission Valley do a fundraiser in which they have a clinic to teach the younger girls from Kindergarten through 5th grade to
learn and perform cheers for a home football game.
With Cassidy being a cheerleader, Brooke has really gotten into this sport.
She drives us insane doing her toe touch kick, cartwheel and ending with splits.
Yes, this cool and admirable, but
please Brooke not in the kitchen while we are making supper!

Showing off her toe touch kick for the camera between cheers.

She had somewhat of an advantage because she already knew all of the cheers by heart.
Practice was a boring waste of time for her.

This tattoo lasted days and earned her several complements everywhere she went.
There is no doubt in our minds that she will be a Viking cheerleader.
She has enough spirit for the whole squad.

We're dynamite, we're dynamite we're

tick...tick...tick...tick

BOOM!

Dynamite!

"Say what"

BOOM!

DYNAMITE!

Trick-or-Treat

One year ago today we adopted this beautiful little brown eyed girl.
She's not so little anymore, but boy what a difference she has made in our lives.
Having a dog that lives in the house with us and is truly one of the family,
is such a rewarding experience.
Heidi is such a well behaved and brilliant dog.
She is a great joy to have around.
She wasn't too sure about this whole Halloween thing.
We actually let strangers walk right up onto her porch.
They were even dressed up in hideous clothing and wearing makeup on
their faces and she was not even allowed to sniff them.
What a confusing night for her.

Miss Brooke went as the corpse bride.
She really got in to character.

Gutting and carving her very own Jack-O-Lantern.
Dad drew the pattern but she wanted to do everything else all by herself and she did.

Playing with pumpkin intestines was her favorite part.
No squeamish girly stuff here.

You just have to figure this one out on your own.
Cassidy is her own thing.

An awesome friend, Katie Mulkey, assisting Cassidy with her long eyelashes.
Notice the nails.

We all had a wonderful and safe Halloween.
Small towns make nights like this great because you don't have to worry about things like homemade treats. Our kids brought home things like carmel apples and popcorn balls, each made with love. Much like the carmel corn and puppy chow Leslie made to give out. All the kids in town know where to come for the puppy chow.

Vikings

Our Fall sports are coming to an end.

We are so proud of Dylan and Cassidy.
They have each improved their own game tremendously.

Dylan had his last home game on Friday.

Cassidy's volleyball season came to an end a couple weekends ago.

They finished 5th in the tournament.

Michael "Mad Dog" Mayo

This ones for you Mickey!

Cassidy's 14th Birthday!

Our big 8th grader is almost in high school.
She picked out a pair of cowgirl boots when we were on vacation in
Branson and has been very excited to finally get to open and wear them.

Since she already knew what she was getting, we told her that she had to
at least act surprised when she opened the present for pictures sake.

How'd she do?

Her band of misfits.
This was her "street gang" that terrorized the town with toilet paper.
First stop, cops house.

As much as she loved and anticipated the boots,
her ever-so-loving brother stole the show by one upping us.

He bought her that stinkin iPOD Touch that she begged her parents for.

Pure gratitude in its most sincere form.
(Out of the way Brooke.)

The Boys (and Girls) of Fall

GO VIKINGS!

We are learning more about cheer than we ever thought we would.
The effort it takes to learn these cheers and perform them correctly is surprising immense.

Showing their stuff at the Harveyville Fair.

Cassidy's aggression is really showing on the volleyball court.
She is not afraid to exert the extra effort to continue the volley.
Just like Momma use to do.

"Ace... Ace... in your face!"

When her serves are on, they can be
quite troublesome for the opponent.

That's right QB, 75 is ALL over you,
despite the obvious block in the back from 50.

Dylan has known this quarterback since 2nd grade.
Tackling him was quite the pleasure.

Dylan's football skill level and knowledge has increased so much over the past year.
He is three times the player that he was last year.
It doesn't hurt that he is one of the biggest kids on the field
and it takes quite an effort to make him move backwards.
Even the upperclassmen are finding this out.

This one is going to be quite a story all on her own.
Not sure that we are anxious for that.
Whew!

Annual Labor Day Camping

The kids look so forward to this camping trip every year.

Tim and I do until it's time to start packing and then we start to second think it.

After making it through all the grumbling of packing we made it to Melvern Lake and settle down and enjoyed camping.

If Kansas wasn't so damn hot, we could camp more often.

Until we decide we have had enough of this Kansas weather, I guess one camping trip a year will have to do.

Believe it or not, we all have our own tents.

Brooke even had a tent on her Christmas list last year.

Santa came through, the little red one on the left side of the big tent is hers. I think it was just for show, when it came time for bed she was always sleeping with someone else. That poor little tent was lonely.

Tim preparing food for one of the meals.

Come and get it!

We were blessed with a beautiful sunset one of the evenings.

Not only does this lake have a sand beach, but our camping site had a sand volleyball pit as well as a playground with swings and a slide. Cassidy still communicating with her friends back at home.
This is going to be one funny looking tan.

We had beautiful weather this year, upper 80's, lower 90's. Evenings cooled down enough we needed several blankets to sleep. In fact the first night Cassidy said she froze so she had someone sleep with her the second night.

We have camped in temperatures from 100 to 105, and not cooling down at bed time. I remember it being so hot we pulled our bedding out of the tents and slept on them on the ground. Even then we really never slept.

I also remember it raining so hard we have to move into the vehicle because the rain runoff was flowing through our tent. Oh, the memories.

Yearly ritual, S'mores! At least this year it was cool enough that the bonfire was more than just for S'mores, we needed warmth.
Even Heidi got to go on her first camping trip. She did wonderful.

Dylan, poor Dylan was feeling a bit under the weather, except for the last day, but I did manage to get a smile out of him. This is pretty much where he roosted the whole time.

Until next year.