White-Siri Family Blog

Football season is HERE! And Western Branch is rockin!

2008-09-15T08:10:00.001-04:00

Football season is here and I am jazzed! Ricky is starting on the Western Branch JV team and is doing great! Their first game was against Nansemond River and it was a complete domination. Western Branch scored and never looked back. The score was 39 to 0 with one of those touchdowns belonging to Ricky. He scooped the ball on a fumble and ran it into the end zone. Ricky said "one of the only touchdowns I may get in my career as a defensive lineman..."

Last week the Bruins played Kings Fork. That was a little tougher game. The offensive line was being rather offensive and pretty much shut Ricky down. Between chop blocks and holding, Ricky was barely able to get through the line into the offensive backfield. They were keying on him, double teaming and moving some of their biggest linemen in front of him.

Nice shot of King's Fork throwing a chop block at Ricky's knees. He's in the right 1/3 of the photo.

The next photo shows that same lineman clearly holding Ricky and keeping him from getting into the backfield. I sure wish the officials would have been doing their job. This continued throughout the game.

Over all Western Branch did a good job against a tough opponent. They came out on top 15 to 14 in a hard fought battle against the officials and the King's Fork players.

This week is another home game and should be equally as tough, hopefully only against the football team.

Moved...

2008-06-02T15:51:00.002-04:00

Have you noticed how many people volunteer to help you move but come moving day are no where to be found? Just observations from an exhausted "mover".

Just Another Day in Purgatory!!

2008-05-28T22:47:00.005-04:00

Well tonight we are exhausted again, Scott more than anyone. He's been at the house ALL day laying the floor by himself in the dining room. He did a spectacular job!!

Billy came over earlier in the afternoon to finish the skim coat on the beam and wall frame. I didn't take the camera but it doesn't look much different than the pictures below, just more white than gray and white. In two days we can paint it. He has done such a great job and we are soo pleased. He's such a sweet guy and we are really enjoying getting to know him.

Editor's Note: If you need ANY construction or reconstruction work done, fencing, decks, interior work, Billy is the man to do it. He takes a great deal of personal pride in his work and goes the extra mile to make sure it's done right and to YOUR liking. We can't recommend him high enough.

Call him at 757-295-1360.

Matt came over to help finish the flooring in the hallway and hall closet and coat closet in the living room. :) The hallway didn't take as long as I thought, but I was next door with the neighbor looking around her house and talking so it may have been longer.

We have very nice neighbors. :) We've met quite a few already and one even brought us brownies. We each got one before ants came in and started carrying them away. BAH!!! Next on the list is to spray spray spray... ants are a huge problem anywhere in Hampton Roads because we sit on the water.

And glory-be the electricity is back in place!!! All the lights work the way they are supposed to. We have an electrician in our church, Mark, and he came and rerouted everything for us. He and Scott work closely on stage for filming and getting all the wires junk run for when the praise team sings. Mark said it was a really complicated set up even for him and he's been doing this stuff for 20 years.

Tomorrow we put the quarter-round all the way around the baseboards, closets, etc... basically anywhere that wall meets floor. This way we don't see the edges of the flooring. There is a 1/4 inch space between the end of the flooring and the wall to allow for expansion as the weather changes...otherwise it would swell in the heat and crack the walls. I sure don't want that happening. The thresholds will also be nailed into place.

So really that's about it on the house front.

We have another sick wee one in daycare. He went to ER today with 106.0 temperature. Very scary. The gave him antibiotic via IV and some saline and he's feeling much better. Little brother was well and spent the day with us. With only two of our other kiddos here today we took a trip to Chuck E Cheese to burn off some rainy day energy. Had a great time. :)

Paige was really feeling sick at school... no fever thank goodness but an extremely upset stomach. She stuck it out at school, but I wasn't sure what was wrong with her. I figured she was trying to come down with the virus that's been going around, but we realized shortly after she got home the problem is.... you'll probably laugh.... she's teething. haha. Her wisdom tooth is popping through in the bottom right of her gums. She feels better now after some prescription NSAIDS and should be able to manage the rest of the week. She'll unfortunately have to wait until school is out for the summer to have them removed. Their high school has extremely rigid attendance rules. That and exams are coming up the next two weeks before school is out for the year. Our little Paigey-baby is going to be a senior. I still can't believe it sometimes.

We'll post some pics tomorrow after we get some of the wreckage cleaned up from today's work.

2 days and a wake up until moving day!!!

love to all and God bless.

Gone Baby Gone

2008-05-26T21:51:00.012-04:00

Well the wall is GONE!!! It really opens up the house a lot... the photos just don't do it justice. Construction guy and friend, Billy, came over this morning and he and Scott just started whaling away on everything. I played Girl Friday and got food, drinks, carried this and that to here and there. All in all a good time once we got going. We've got on hiccup and that's the electrical work. We're having a hard time getting it re-routed where it needs to go. Scott has been just amazing and I know he's soooo frustrated. He'll lose some sleep tonight I'm sure running the configs through his head trying to figure out what went wrong. It's in the wall the right way but something is twisted with the wires. He is going back over in the morning with Billy to finish the mudding on the support beams and see what can be done with the electricity. In the evening the rest of the flooring is going in so there should be some more great pics tomorrow night.

Much kudos to my awesome husband for his patience while I forced him to take down a wall. :) love you baby!!!

Before pic

Just the bones

Ceiling Support

Dang Wires

Pounding the new beam into place.

Ceiling Support?? We don't need no stinkin ceiling support!!!

Moment of truth. (we actually heard the ceiling settle when this support came down...scary)

Billy mudding the seams.

Looking into the dining room.

Looking into the living room

Please continue in your prayers for this endeavour as well pull it all together. love to you all!!!!

General Info (not house related) :)

2008-05-25T23:01:00.002-04:00

I just thought I would give a quickie update on everyone here on the non-house front.

Paige is doing great. She's spent the weekend with her best bud Victorya and family. She is looking for a new job at the mall which is within walking distance of the new house, almost a mile. Great because gas just went over $4 a gallon.... aaarrrgghhhhh!!!!! No boyfriend on the horizon which is fine with me and fine with her which is great. School is her main focus at this point which makes us VERY happy. She is playing softball again and loving it. They extended the cut off age to 18 so she can play this year and next year.

Kourtney is in NagsHead with her best bud Heather and family. She is learning to crutch through sand and swimming a lot in the ocean. Good thing she has the removable boot now. She's called a couple of times to let me know that she is having a great time. She and Heather slept on the screened in porch last night on the beach which she was really excited about. I'm sure they will have tons of pics to share when they get home.

Ricky has been helping on the house while the girls have been gone. He's spending a lot of his time with his best bud, Tyler. Tyler just got off a 2-month groundation so they are happy to be able to hang out together outside of football practice. Football practice is going well. He comes home every afternoon with updates on how much weight he lifted that day or how far they ran etc etc. Technically at this point it's conditioning.... practice with pads and contact will happen in the summer when they go to tryouts. I pray he makes the team again. He never misses a conditioning practice and his heart and love for the game is HUGE!!!

Scott and I are doing great. Our 6 year anniversary is tomorrow!! And our gift to each other is.... (drum roll please) yes you guessed it... A NEW HOUSE!!! haha. We crawl into bed each night with a kiss an I love you and we're off to sandman land. We're running ourselves ragged and thank the Lord I haven't picked up the virus that's been running rampant around here. One of our daycare tykes has it awful bad... high fever and throwing up for a couple of days now... mom is pregnant (our second pregnant mom due in july) and really worried about him. Two other wee ones came down with the fever but not as high and they, at this point, are faring better.

Our newest addition to the daycare arrived Friday afternoon at 12:42 pm. Brady Rhinehold. Weighing in at 7lbs 6oz. I can't wait to meet him. I planned to go to the hospital Friday evening but am waiting until tomorrow so I don't bring any lingering viral germies with me. Brady's Daddy, Kourtney's ankle doc, called to tell me that I had another addition to my family. That brought tears to my eyes. I love my families so much. Mom and little guy are doing great and big sister Berkley, all of 2 years old, was there at the birth and I hear she enjoyed it tremendously.

So that's about it for now. I am sorry I don't have pics of the kids up yet, with the exception of Ricky's back and legs in the post below. We've just been at different places at different times recently.

Take care and check back often for more pics and such. Love to all.

Taping, Painting and Lighting...Oh My!!

2008-05-25T21:44:00.017-04:00

Today was another day of loads of little work. We need to buy stock at Lowe's. We got new blinds for the living room window. The old ones were two panels of vinyl mini blinds of which one panel had been cut away by the previous occupants and the other panel chewed by their dog. Not pleasant to look at from the curb. We put in the 2" white faux wood blinds which were custom cut to go across the entire window in one full length. MUCH better. We will do those throughout eventually, but right now just the front windows. There is a peek in this pic of the new blinds.

(Ricky and Tyler taping baseboards)

We replaced the chandelier in the dining room with another light fixture type of chandelier and finished painting the walls. I wish the color showed on the pics it's wonderful. We primed all the baseboards throughout and will do the final coat tomorrow.

This morning our construction guy was supposed to come out at 7:30am to tear down the wall between the living room and dining room and he didn't show!!! Miscommunication or something...hmmmm. He promised he would be there tomorrow morning bright and early at 7:30am. I sure hope so we really need this done tomorrow. Tuesday evening the rest of the flooring is going in. If this wall doesn't come down now it's not coming down at all and that will be really disappointing. We'll post an update tomorrow evening. Please pray this goes well because at this point there is a HUGE amount of stress regarding this wall.

There are just a few pics tonight. This is a lot of fun but soooo much work. Our to-do list is getting so long and I am impatient and have to remember a little at a time. The bedrooms and bathrooms are staying as is at this point and the garage to daycare conversion with have to wait just a while too. Next big project will be fencing in the backyard and finding a ride-on mower...pushing a lawn mower across an acre of land is not anyone's idea of fun.

Old lighting fixture (yuck a duck)

New lighting fixture (much better!!!)

Scott taping the ceiling (Ladder rodeo!!!)

Status Update

2008-05-23T17:32:00.002-04:00

We took yesterday off. Just lazed around the house a little. Tonight I am going over to measure for trim for the wood floors and baseboards. I heard Katie mention the "P" word (painting).

Other than that, not much progress.

Floors will hopefully be completed on Tuesday and the painting will be done by then.

More updates later on.

Quick Tour

2008-05-22T18:19:00.002-04:00

Ok for whatever reason, Blogger, which is owned by Google, which owns YouTube, will not let me post a YouTube video. Go figure. More left hand not talking to the right hand I suspect.

So here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB08BUr0bBw

Go watch it.

Can ya tell I'm a little flustered?

Flooring Installation

2008-05-21T21:46:00.009-04:00

Before Picture

After Pictures:

Pictures...

2008-05-21T14:55:00.003-04:00

Here are some photos after the carpet has been ripped up and the paint put up on the walls...

The paint has finally turned the color it was supposed to...barefoot beach.

The ceiling fan is soon to go... nice fan but not a good color or shape.... no globes please.

Kourtney worked hard last night on the door trims but she still has a few to go.

The dining room color we picked is bamboo.... slight green but still very neutral and very hard to see via photos... I haven't been back since the kids and I painted last night but Scott says it looks great. Ricky says it looks like boogies on the wall. 14 yo boy comments...gotta love em.

Can't wait for all this flooring to go in tonight!!!

Painting Day - Sick Day

2008-05-21T13:25:00.002-04:00

Well I was sick yesterday. Katie and the kids went over and painted out the dining room and finished the living room and hallway. I slept.

Did I mention I slept? Had a fever and just crawled under the covers and slept.

Dining room looks SUPER!!!

I'm finishing up pulling staples. Do carpet installers get paid by the staple? Eeeeesh!

A friend of mine is coming over this afternoon/tonight to start laying the laminate flooring. It's what he does. Good thing. Because I only have barely a clue how to do it.

I did take a few pictures so there should be some available tonight when I get home.

More later.

Carpet Pulling Day

2008-05-19T21:23:00.001-04:00

First off. SAY NO TO CARPET.

You can tell a lot about someone when you yank their carpet out of the house. Two syllables, one word. NASTY!

I pulled the carpet out of the living room and hallway today. And DIRTY is not even close.

I will NEVER EVER have carpet in a house again. GAH!

Too tired to write much. No photos yet.

Paint, paint, paint...

2008-05-18T21:00:00.001-04:00

When I was in the Navy, we had a saying. "If it moves salute it, if it doesn't move, paint it." I hate painting. From my years in the Navy, steel ships in salt water = rust. You never stopped painting the ships. When you got done, you just went back to where you began and started all over again. Have I said I hate painting?

Today was a decent workday at the new house. After church, I mowed the yard at the old house and Katie and Paige went to the new house to start painting the living room, hallway and dining room.

Once I got done I headed over. I ripped up the carpet and padding in the dining room while they trimmed out the living room with paint. If folks really knew how dirty carpeting was they would NEVER put it in their homes. I don't care if you have the worlds greatest vacuum cleaner and are the cleanest person in the world. Carpet is NASTY.

I got the carpet out and pulled all the staples from the sub flooring getting ready to smooth it out for the laminate flooring to be put down.

Then I grabbed a roller and started (YUCK) painting.

We got the living room done and 90% of the hallway. It's a gorgeous tan/gray color (like beach sand) and we are trimming it all out with white paint. It's going to look AWESOME!!! The black slate around the fireplace really stands out against the new paint too!

We're all a bit sore from going up and down ladders and walking around on our ands and knees but it felt GREAT to get started on the house.

Tomorrow? We do it all again. I'll try to get some photos up.

The work on the house has begun!

2008-05-17T21:47:00.004-04:00

An hour after closing Katie and I made the first trip to our new home.

We literally drove from our current home to the new one as soon as closing was done just to say we walked into the house...

We stopped off on the way home from there at Lowe's to pick up new lock sets and take a look at some appliances.

We need to replace the range and the dishwasher. They function but are very dated.

Katie wants a smooth top stove and is pretty flexible on the dishwasher.

While we were at Lowe's we priced laminate flooring. We found some Pergo for about $3.97 a square foot. We need about 550 sq. ft for the area we are doing. We felt it was a little pricey at over $2300.00!!! Plus the underlayment. There was another brand, Armstrong that was about $1.97 a sq. ft plus underlayment.

A friend of ours told us about a place called Home Emporium in another section of Chesapeake, so we took a trip over there. They had flooring but I wasn't getting a warm and fuzzy. The brands were unknown and the few pieces that were available for me to inspect just didn't feel good going together.

While we were there, a flooring installer told us about Ollie's. We took the drive to Norfolk.

WHAT A GREAT DECISION THAT WAS!!!

We were able to get about 560 sq. ft of Mohawk Laminate flooring and underlayment for $899.48!!! What a deal! 20 year guaranteed, name brand flooring for a third of the price!!! We were so blessed!

Anyway, we had it loaded in our truck and brought it to the new house and had our slave labor, I mean our son and his friend unload it and put it in the living room.

Then the fun starts. I started taking down the previous owner's hardware and stuff from the walls, removing the switch plate and outlet covers, patching nail holes and getting ready to paint.

The folks that lived here before sure liked to pound holes in the walls. I spent a couple hours taking down drapery hardware and filling holes from screws, nails and such. No real "damage" to the walls, just a lot of holes.

We plan on painting the walls a light tan color (like beach sand sort of), with the trim a brilliant white. It should really compliment the wood laminate flooring and the white will add a really neat contrast.

A good friend of mine is coming over on Monday and taking a look at some alterations we would like but not that we need. We want to shorten one wall and open up the living and dining room a little bit.

He's also going to double check my measurements on the laminate and help/teach me to install it.

This is going to be challenging!!!

Just so you know, this is Katie's first home (owned). While I have owned a couple in the past, this is the first time I have bought one and actually had time to work on it prior to moving in. It's really neat! A bit stressful, but NEAT! Hopefully, we'll be able to get the hard stuff out of the way prior to moving in.

Here are some photographs from today:

From kitchen into dining room

Dining room out back door

From dining room into kitchen (the flooring in the kitchen has GOT to go! YUCK!)

Hall bathroom

Kourtney's Room

Ricky's Room

Master bedroom

Living room / Fireplace

Backyard from deck

Back of the house

Front right

Front left

Front front

Piles of wood laminate flooring

Upstairs to Paige's room

Paige's Room

Paige's room again,

Blogging the move...

2008-05-17T11:38:00.001-04:00

Ok. Hopefully, we will be blogging the move in pieces and parts.

Today is the "start" of the moving. We've got two weeks (ish) to be out of here and in there. Seems like plenty of time.

Katie is a ROCK when it comes to this. I am a bit of a basket case. On most things I am so organized Katie thinks I'm completely OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but when it comes to moving? I am a basket case. She's rockin' and rollin' this morning.

More later. Will try to post at least a couple times a day but may only be once.

Update for everyone!!! We CLOSED!!!

2008-05-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

Our lender was on the phone all night and this morning with FHA and government peeps and they granted us an exception and we closed on the house at 11:30 this morning!

We ended up with such a great lender and an amazing realtor (many props and kudos to Nate with GSH and Calley at TowneBank).

Sooo, Scott and I have been over there this morning measuring windows screens floors etc etc. We are so excited!

The kids haven't seen it yet so we'll pick them up from school today and take them over to check it out. We tried taking them along when we first started looking for a house but we had so many opposing views that we decided to start leaving them at home. After all Scott and I are going to be making the next 360 payments.

We took a few pics and will send them along or create an online blog so everyone can follow along as we make improvements and such. Scott is a much better blogger than i am obviously.

So long story short is we own our first home together! And my first home ever. So excited!

We'll send out the address under email vice publishing it here. Phone numbers all stay the same.

God is awesome and really pulled this out of the hat for us. According to our lender this is the first time they have ever heard of FHA/HUD granting an exception on this type of situation, i.e. transmission tower in close proximity to house.

Which from this point forward will be referred to as Big Beulah.

Love to you all and thank you for prayers through all of this.

All our love....

Back to square one...

2008-05-14T20:08:00.000-04:00

Hey all....

We have an update and unfortunately a disappointing one.

We found out this afternoon (less than 24 hrs before closing) that FHA does not allow loans for homes with power lines behind the home and unfortunately that's what this home has.

Wwe are still holding out hope that there will be a loophole or some such but it's not looking promising at all. Chances are at this point slim to nil.

We are disappointed obviously but not crushed. God has another house in mind and I guess this wasn't it. Maybe this was just a holding pattern for the right house to come open more recently??? But again nothing to be done but pick up and keep looking...

We closed the daycare for tomorrow and Scott took the day off and as this email is being typed we and our realtor are diligently looking for more homes to check out tomorrow.

Please any prayers would be awesome and we'll keep you updated....

****waving goodnight from BACK TO SQUARE ONE LAND****

much love to all

Today is CAST OFF Day!!!

2008-05-02T11:01:00.001-04:00

Just an update - 04/12/08

2008-04-12T20:32:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone....

UPDATE: They countered our offer on the house with an acceptable amount and we've accepted it. We'll ratify the contract on Monday and we're golden!!! We're scheduled to close on May 15th!!!

Just thought I would send out an update on everyone here on this side of the world.

We are in the process of trying to buy a new home. We found one a couple of weeks ago that we absolutely fell in love with, but unfortunately the owners were still in love with it too and decided to pull it off the market...ugh!! But today we put in an offer on another one and hopefully this one will pan out. It's a 4 bedroom 2 full bath in a nice established neighborhood. We got to see some of the neighbors today out mowing lawns, playing with their kids etc etc. It needs a little work, i.e. pulling up carpet and laying down laminate wood flooring, some interior paint (thank God for brick and vinyl siding) and a fence in the backyard, but not too bad. We're planning on converting the finished garage into a daycare space so we can move the tots into their own space and not so much into the family space... and that will be nice for when our kids have friends over...they can hang out there in the evening and not make so much noise that no one can sleep haha.

The kids are in their last 9 weeks of school. I can't believe Paige is going to be a Senior, Kourtney a Junior and then Ricky finally into high school. Amazing how fast it goes by. I can't believe that we are all parents of high school students. I still remember my first year of HS. Being 19 when you have your first helps out a lot though. :)

Kourtney's ankle is healing well. She's on her third cast and will be in a boot for another 12 weeks after the cast comes off in 3 weeks. Not fun for her but I know she'll be anxious to have a bath without plastic bags over her leg. She's handling it great and can fly through the house on her crutches really well.

Paige is loving her job at the tanning salon and she's so brown I hardly recognize our pale little one... if it wasn't for her multitude of freckles I'd think we've had a stranger in our midst.

Ricky has started weight lifting with the JV team from the high school to get ready for football training this summer. He'll be happy to get that going... he says he hates conditioning but loves playing but I figure that's the way it is with most everyone.

The daycare is going strong.... we just hosted a surprise baby shower for two of our moms who are due this summer, both with boys. It was a lot of fun and we managed to keep them off the secret trail. Neither of them had a clue.

Two of our tots will head off to preschool. They are 2.5 years now and I have managed to teach them both the alphabet letters by sight and one is learning to sight read. That's a lot of fun and I have to admit I am so proud of these two and how fast they have learned everything we've been teaching them.

We've become very involved in our new church, a year there now, and loving it. Our serving focuses mainly within the Arts Ministry. I get to sing with the vocal team and have done a drama as well (talk about scary) and also run the video cameras with Scott when I'm not on stage. I am also learning how to do the lighting for the services. Amazing how fun it can be. Artist personalities tend to clash a bit, but God always works things out for His benefit come Sunday. Scott has rigged the entire church/multi-media with a wireless system that runs like a dream and is always on hand to trouble shoot along with stage cameras and everything else. It's great to see him so happy to serve. In our old church it was not fun at all... it was more of a requirement if they "let" you serve somewhere and never a joy to use the talents and abilities that God provides to each of us all as individuals.

Scott will be heading down to Florida to visit his dad, sister and family. He's doing great at work and so ready to retire. Just another couple of years and he'll be done. I can't wait. The amount of stress just gets overwhelming for him and it's hard to see him unhappy and frustrated where he is. I hope he'll be able to relax while he's gone. I know that his sister will be sure and take great care of him like she always has. Love you Sis!!!

I really wish I could go along to FL too, but the week we move I'll be taking that time off to reduce the stress and get our house we're in now into tip-top shape for the next tenants and prayerfully get our security deposit back in full. We've done so much work on this house that it will be hard to leave after 7 years, but this is a good thing.

So that's about it really. Hope you are all doing well and please pray that this contract will stick if this is the house God has in mind for us.

Love to you all!!!

Maine to Florida - Four Million Steps - 2300 Miles

2008-03-30T09:15:00.000-04:00

Sounds whacky doesn’t it? Well our friend Tommy Neeson is going to make the run. For Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Once in awhile a really wild idea gets into your head, ferments, grows and if
powerful enough has the power to transform your thoughts into actions.
Tommy Neeson, husband to Elaine, father to Shelby and parent of a child
lost to cancer (Randi) has a passion for running and a passion for helping
others in need.

In 2007, Tommy raised thousands of dollars for the Ronald McDonald House
Charities of Norfolk, VA with a world record setting 50k treadmill run (see
video). And now, Tommy’s energy and enthusiasm for running will merge
with his leadership and passion for helping others into a very unique event
that will culminate with a single step. -=SOURCE=-

Some of you probably remember me blogging about Tommy when he set a new world record for the 50K Treadmill run last year.

Please consider a donation to this incredibly worthwhile cause!!! Donations can be mailed to:

Four Million Steps
c/o Donna O’Banion/Towne Bank
297 Constitution Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23462

The webpage, Four Million Steps, has many features and information on the run including a tracking chart and map documenting Tommy’s location during the run.

PRESS INFORMATION:

On August 28th, 2008, 39 year-old Virginia Beach resident, Tommy Neeson, will depart from the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor, ME and run over 2300 miles to the Ronald McDonald House in Miami, FA. He will make stops at various Ronald McDonald Houses along the way (see The Route).

Four Million Steps, the number of steps taken on this journey, is aimed at raising not only money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, but awareness as well. Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home or families with children facing medical challenges and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children, as well as providing grants to nonprofit organizations for programs that enable children to live happier, healthier lives.

The first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia in 1974 as the result of the perseverance and dedication of Fred Hill, then a Philadelphia Eagles football player. After his daughter Kim, was treated for leukemia at the local children’s hospital, Hill became determined to help other families faced with the same situation. Very few institutions at the time provided sufficient accommodations for such families. Dr. Audrey Evans, a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital, suggested that a "home away from home" was needed. Hill enlisted the help of his teammates and the local McDonald’s restaurant franchises to raise funds to purchase and renovate the first House.

There are now over 269 Ronald McDonald Houses in 30 countries. All told, more than 3,000 bedrooms are available for families every night.

The journey will end 75 days later at an average of over 30 miles of running per day. To make the things just a little harder, the event will be done without the assistance of a support vehicle. Tommy will cart all of his supplies in a baby jogger. Want to read more about how an idea like this comes about, start from the beginning.

Technorati Tags: Four Million Steps, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Tommy Neeson

Say OWIE!!! Daughter Two with Broke Ankle

2008-03-22T10:26:00.001-04:00

Last night Courtney broke her ankle in gymnastics class. She was coming off a high mat from a round off that should have moved right into a back handspring... instead she lost her balance and her ankle twisted beneath her. She crashed down on top of it and it broke. Her coach said he heard it snap.

She'll be off her feet and in a cast for about 4-6 weeks. She is really really disappointed. Tryouts for the varsity cheer squad are this summer so we're praying she'll be back on her feet and able to catch up before then. If not there is always next year and she needs to worry more about healing properly than gymnastics class and cheering. It's hard for her to understand though because her heart is so much into cheerleading and tumbling. She finally fell into a good sleep, praise the Lord for Vicodin, about 2:30 am this morning.

Technorati Tags: gymnastics, cheerleading, tumbling, broken ankle, ouchie

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T11:10:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

It's a balmy 32 degrees in Northern California!

The Carnival of Christmas is up!

2007-12-24T10:45:00.001-05:00

Kat at CatHouse Chat has the Carnival of Christmas up!!!

Welcome to the December 24, 2007 edition of Carnival of Christmas! I want to thank everyone who participated this year - there are a lot of excellent posts covering a wonderfully large range of topics.
Even more importantly, I hope and pray that you have been blessed by all the wonderful entries at the Christmas Alliance, and that you take the entries in this edition of the Carnival to make your Christmas season more enjoyable for you and your family and friends.

CatHouse Chat: Welcome to the Carnival of Christmas, 2007 Edition

This will be cross posted to all of my blogs...

Technorati Tags: Carnival of Christmas, Blog Carnival

All the grandkids....

2007-12-23T20:58:00.001-05:00

(L-R) - Ricky, Paige, Lauren, Nana, Blake and Courtney...

Scott’s Micro Blog

2007-12-21T01:07:00.001-05:00

I will be microblogging my family's trip to California. Click the link below if you have a mind to follow.

Scott’s Micro Blog » Scott’s Morning Brew

Technorati Tags: blogging, Twitter, microblogging, California, Family

Teaching ME Cultural Diversity?

2007-12-20T17:47:00.000-05:00

You're kidding right?

Look at the picture to your right.

The blood there is:

Irish, American Indian(Blackfoot), Italian, Scottish, Iranian. Maybe even more!!!

This crazy whacked out family with 4 parents and three kids living in 2 states it the epitome and "the melting pot".

Just a silly thought...

The HORRIBLE life of a 2.5 year old!

2007-12-20T17:38:00.001-05:00

Find out what has scared this little one!!!

bluh, Bluh, BLUH!: O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Katie and Courtney are on the way home!!!

2007-12-08T09:54:00.001-05:00

I just got a text message from Katie, they are ON THE WAY HOME from Orlando!!!

Time for me to get dressed and go to the airport. The drive from our house to the airport is just about as long as the flight from Orlando to Norfolk!!! How crazy is that?

Anyway, its going to be GREAT to have them home again!!!

Technorati Tags: Family, home, Cheerleading Competition

They are off and running...

2007-12-05T06:28:00.001-05:00

Well, I just dropped Courtney and Katie off at the church. They are taking a bus from there to the airport on the first leg of their adventure to Orlando for the National Cheerleading and Dance Finals.

I love that Courtney is getting the opportunity to compete in this. It's been HUGE for her self-esteem and general "feel good". We are so very proud of her for sticking through this and getting to this level. NATIONAL competition!!! That is so awesome!!!

But...

It's been hectic, sometimes lonely, and very expensive!!!

I really miss them when they are gone like this, last month it was Charlotte, this month Orlando. But it's all good... Ricky, Paige and I will just hang around and try to figure out everything that Katie does all week. And try to get it done.

I'll post info as I get it from Katie...

FOP Gosport Lodge 20 Donates $500

2007-12-01T12:01:00.001-05:00

I just got off the phone with Skip Blanchard from the Portsmouth FOP, Gosport Lodge 20. The lodge has donated $500.00 towards getting the Olive Branch Bulldogs Competition Cheerleading Squad to Orlando for the NATIONAL FINALS!!!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH Portsmouth FOP!!!

Portsmouth, Virginia FOP Gosport Lodge 20

Technorati Tags: FOP, Fraternal Order of Police, Gosport Lodge #20, Skip Blanchard, Portsmouth Police Department, Olive Branch Bulldogs, Pop Warner

No, we haven't forgotten...

2007-12-01T08:17:00.001-05:00

A family blog is kind of a fickle thing. It will gain some traction then loose it the re-gain as the mood strikes.

We've been super busy lately. Paige has started work at Fazoli's, Ricky has finished out his football season. Next year will be High School ball. And Courtney is in the final stages of her competition cheer leading squad. Which is what this blog entry is going to be about...

The "Three Qs" (Three Cuties) are Courtney, Heather and Crystal. They are best friends and have been doing this cheer competition since early summer.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend they were in Charlotte NC for the mid south regional finals and they won. This was a great time as Courtney, Paige and Ricky went down and were able to see their dad and step mom, Rick and Cayre Siri. Their dad doesn't get to participate much in their extra-curricular activities because of distance so it was great to get them involved in this outing.

The competition was held at UNC Field House. The ladies all stayed at the Westin, a wonderful 4 star hotel and conference center.

Now they are off to the National Finals in Orlando Florida next week. Just Katie and Courtney are going but it should be a ball. This is a once in a lifetime experience for these young girls and we are so proud of them!!!

During the stay at Charlotte, the girls were of course acting the fool... of course... there are more pictures below:

Been a while...

2007-11-04T13:17:00.001-05:00

Since we have posted. So I thought I would post these really cool videos...

Help Courtney!

2007-10-21T14:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know I have been cheering with a local competition cheerleading squad. We have been participating in many fundraisers to enable us to compete on a local, regional and national level.

We have participated in candle sales, cup sales, and candy sales. I have managed to raise over $700 through the squad fundraisers and help from my parents.

We will compete on a local level on October 27, 2007 and will then go to compete at the Regional level in Charlotte, NC over the Thanksgiving holiday, November 22nd-23rd. Most of our money raised so far will go toward travel, hotel and food expenses while in Charlotte.

Nationals will be held the second weekend in December. (Dec 6-8). We will be flying to Orlando as a squad on December 4th. Each girl must raise another $1500 due within the first week after we finish Regionals; because of the competitions being so close together.

I am sending letters to all of my family and friends, asking for help to raise this money.

I know this request is coming very close to the holidays and I would very much appreciate ANY help that you could give.

The National Competition will be shown on ESPN so you will be able to watch us compete that weekend in December.

Thank you so much for your consideration and your generosity.

All my love,

Courtney

Our house... only x3

2007-10-09T18:50:00.001-04:00

Scott’s Morning Brew

Waiting for a bus...

2007-09-15T22:57:00.001-04:00

Katie and I have been married since May of 2002. Living in a house with three teenagers, two cats and one rather large chocolate dog can be a bit... challenging... yeah that's the word. But in the 5 years and a piece we have been married and living here... we have managed to avoid awkward situations involving various stages of dress.

Add to this, one wife in the backyard, one teenager going to cheerleading, one teenager going to football practice and one teenager going to the bathroom in a bathroom they don't normally go to the bathroom in.

I come home from picking up the teenager at cheerleading, can not find wife in the backyard and notice the bathroom light on in the bathroom in the master bedroom. I enter the bathroom in the master bedroom and find the teenager that doesn't normally use that bathroom... waiting on a bus...

A rather embarrassing situation for both me and the teen.

Rather than making a big scene, the teen, she, looks up and just says... "Sup?" So I respond in kind, and pull the door closed as I leave.

So... what happened in YOUR day today?

Four Parents, Three Teens, One Blog...

2007-09-14T17:49:00.001-04:00

When I first read the tag line I had to stop and think about it. But yeah. I'm thinking that for the teens, it's gotta suck having parents and step parents that all get along. You can't get over on anyone!!!

But in the long run I love our relationship. Its a great thing when folks decide that just because they can't be married, doesn't mean they can't be friends. My hat is off to Rick and Katie for this. I am pretty sure Cayre feels the same way. It makes life so much simpler and less stressful when everyone gets along and there is no petty bickering.

But the kids... they can't do that.. "Well I'm calling my Dad..." thing. Because Dad... (Rick) and I talk. We get along splendidly and while we don't talk often, if it's a big decision regarding the kids... we DO talk.

So... Rick and Katie? Thanks for making it easy for Scott and Carye. And the kids. Whether they realize it or not. (Pssst... I think they do...)

We have a winner....already

2007-09-11T14:01:00.000-04:00

Last night after Kourtney's cheerleading practice, Paige decided that she will be dating Glen.

We dropped Glen off at his house after practice; his car is apparently also in the middle of repairs so he needed a ride home.

They both hopped out of the truck/land behemoth/whatever you call the big vehicle we have on loan right now, and he gave her a quick kiss goodnight behind his mom's car.

Paige got in the car and told me that Glen wasn't comfortable kissing her in front of me... good thing because I'm not ready for that either. Ugh!!

We''ll post a pic of them soon so everyone can see her beau of choice.

Ciao for now!

Old Cars, New Romance, Rain and Shiners

2007-09-10T14:37:00.001-04:00

I thought I would take a few minutes and type while I have all babies and tots down for a nap.

We had a great weekend working on Paige's car. It's a 98 Ford Escort and is falling apart piece by piece. On Saturday Scott replaced the O2 sensor and the spark plugs. We thought that would fix it but unfortunately there is more to be done. Her radiator is now leaking and she may need a new alternator. Not too much on the money side. About $100 for each, but after $500 deductible for our lightning strike victim Uplander we are groaning. A new car is not in the near future so we'll have to do what we can with her car.

The biggest news on the Paige front is her romantic life. She has two boys interested in her right now. She's allowed to date now after reaching the ripe old age of 16.

First contestant, Zac, has had a crush on our darling freckle sprinkled girl since the 5th grade.

Second contestant, Glen, more affectionately nick-named Tater, met her last Halloween when they worked together at the haunted house.

We, Scott and I, have only met Glen (I'm not calling him Tater) over the weekend. He took Paige 4-wheeling and helped with repairing her car a bit. He is 18 and graduated from HS last year and is working toward becoming a fire fighter. He's a volunteer right now. He is handy with cars... says yes Ma'am and no Ma'am to me and Sir to Scott. Great manners, which you don't find very often anymore... let's hope he's not Eddie Haskell incarnate.

We had to go out to his house last night to rescue Paige and her car (this is when we realized the radiator was leaking) I got to meet his mother and see their gorgeous home. When we got ready to leave Glen asked Paige to call when she got home so he was sure she made it OK.
Melted this mom's heart. :)

Next weekend Zac will be stopping by with his parents to meet us. He would like to take Paige on a day trip to the beach with his family. He is just now able to date as well since he just turned 16 and his parents are active in their church and wanted to make sure, like we did, that our kids had some maturity and wisdom under their belts before heading out into the big bad dating world.

We'll keep everyone updated. We did make sure to remind her to be honest and forthright with both boys that she was spending some time with each of them.

Kourtney is doing great. Full into cheerleading right now... I will post pics as soon as we get some and Ricky into football.

On the weather front...only a sprinkle of rain from the great Tropical Storm.

Such a bummer.

Crazy thing happened last night. I was taking a shower and apparently after Paige washed off after 4-wheeling there was still some soap left on the shower floor. I turned in the shower then slipped and fell pretty hard. My hands went scrambling for the shower curtain and of course didn't catch hold. I crashed out and cracked my left eye on the toilet seat. Yeah I know laugh it up... I sure did... I know I must have looked ridiculous. I racked my shin pretty hard too, but all in all, I've only got a shiner and a bruised shin.

Scott lost his mind. He was so scared that I hurt myself more than I did, but really I am fine, and I love that he was so worried about me. Now I am just getting joked a lot and having to explain that I am just clumsy and not a victim of domestic abuse.

Hope you are all having a great day!!
Love to All

We are waiting...

2007-09-09T17:55:00.000-04:00

Well here we are. Waiting on Tropical Storm Gabrielle.

Both Katie and I love storms of all shapes and sizes but of late we've been hugely disappointed. Well, except for the lightning storm that took our our cars last week.

We are all set for a big blow... generator, cooking equipment... but so far nothing.

I guess we should be careful what we ask for.

A Sweet Ride

2007-09-07T09:48:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday we had a HUGE storm; thunder, lightning, the works. Both our cars were struck by the lightning and fried. The police department repaired Scott's take home police car and our 2006 Uplander headed off to the dealership for repairs.

The insurance agent called to let us know that the van would be ready next week Tuesday. I asked for a rental car to get us through until then. With football practice, cheering practice, etc we needed something.

They gave us a 2008 Nissan Armada (see photo) with a mere 50 miles on the odometer.

Big...Black...and oh so Beautiful.

We called the dealership and told them to keep our van we want the Armada.
(I think they're still laughing)

Our new blog

2007-09-06T23:29:00.000-04:00

OK so all of our friends are doing this and I figure with all of our families out of state we should start a blog too. This way everyone can keep tabs on us and find out what's going on in our world on the East Coast.

We hope you enjoy and comment often. Let us know how we're doing.

It's late and I have to get up early with babies and teens so I will post again tomorrow with more info and news.

Love to all.

Katie and da crew