Turkey hunting

He finally got one to be proud of. 

9" Beard

Bragging!

I get the right to do this every once in a while.

Right?

Forensics - have you heard of it?

Maybe if I add Speech and Debate. Now does it sound familiar?

The definition of Forensics - the art or study of argumentation and formal debate.

The argumentation fits Cassidy to a "T" but getting up in front of people and talking is way out of her comfort zone.

Tim and I are so proud of her for hanging with it and "pulling the bandaid off", as her coach likes to say. Cassidy was persuaded by a friend to participate in Forensics. She wasn't too sure about it at first but now she has really grown to love it. At her first meet she did a duet with the friend. They had to memorize a story and tell it as though it was their story. I am told you want to make the judges feel the emotions. In fact, if you get them to cry or laugh you were very successful.  For me just going over this with Cassidy made me cry.  I guess that's why I would not make a good judge.  Anyway, she has gone on to participate in many other meets either by herself or with a friend.  She has earned her way to State with the duet and is a runner up for Nationals doing a formal debate by herself.  For this, she had to pull a card from a box.  Then she had 30 minutes to write a speech and memorize it before presenting it in from of judges.  Normally these are on current events, mostly politics.  In fact, the night before she and Tim sat down so he could update her on politics.  He must have done a good job.  Needless to say we are very excited for her and still waiting for that one phone call saying someone had to drop out and she's in. 

Keep you fingers crossed.  State is May 5th.

Good Luck Cassidy!

Eighteen!

It's hard to believe my first born is 18.
Where does time go?

He had to wait 18 years to get one of these. We have heard over and over again, "I know what you can get me." Well, it finally happened. He was so excited that he and Autumn made a trip to Topeka the next day to buy everything he needed to hook up a 220 line in the garage. It has paid off already. He is consistently building and fixing things. He even rigged a handle on the welder so he didn't have to bend over to pick it up whenever he wanted to move it. Way cool!!!

He spent "his" day in Harveyville helping clean up after the tornado. That of course is where he spent all his time until all the work was done. That evening we had Autumn's family and some of Dylan's friends over for dinner and games. We all had a wonderful time.

Brooke playing Basketball

Brooke played basketball last season and decided she wanted to give it a whirl again.
We struggled with our 5 games and only 6 players.
It won't be this way next year, if I can help it.

Practice.

With Brooke being the most talented and tall she had to be the center.
There were times she was being double teamed, boy did she hate that.

I think the girls really enjoyed playing.
I loved seeing them progress with each game.