Two Peas in A Pod

Dayne HATES sleeping alone so Oz joined her ... he seemed quite content, too!

The Last Lecture

About a year ago Donna (my mother in law) told me about an inspirational man by the name of Randy Pausch. He had been diagnosed with Pancratic cancer and was expected to live just a few months. He was featured on the cover of Parade magazine a short while after she told me about him and I read the article. It was quite inspiring! Long story short .... Randy passed away on July 25th of this year, but not before delivering what has been called "The Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University. Not only that, he wrote a book (titled the same) as sort of a memoir to his three small children he was leaving behind.

I had the pleasure of reading the book and highly recommend it. He is an excellent writer - very colorful, very detailed, very down to earth and quite funny! And, it's a very quick read - easily done over the course of one weekend.

The Last Lecture (the actual lecture) is about an hour and a half, but worth the time to watch it. If you need something to do on a quiet afternoon, consider watching it. Here is the link: The Last Lecture.

If you do decided to read the book (which is not the same as the lecture) I recommend checking amazon.com since you can buy used books for dirt cheap! (Graden says I am addicted to books and I blame Amazon.com!)

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”—Randy Pausch

Go Hawkeyes!

Gotta give props to the newest and cutest Hawkeye Cheerleader!

Lexi Jo Benham!!

I think she brought them some luck today! They actually won!!

Happy 35th Birthday, Graden!

We were lucky enough to get to have Donna / Nana come for Graden's birthday and stay a few weeks! Although we didn't do many (okay any!) exciting things, it's always great spending time with her.

Donna arrived on the afternoon of Tuesday September 30th and plans to stay a couple weeks with us. We know Gretchen, TJ and Kylie will miss her, but we sure enjoy having her here!

We went to dinner Sunday evening for Graden's birthday dinner, since he will be in VA for his actual birthday on Tuesday. We went to the O.P. (the same chain as in Waterloo/Evansdale/Cedar Falls also has a restaurant in Overland Park, KS - small world considering those are the ONLY cities the Other Place has restaurants!). Donna also made her famous Banana Cake .... mmmmm! I think it is evil cake, really ... because it makes me want to eat it all in one sitting!

Football Season '09

Hunter is playing football this year, as part of the High School. He plays offensive line and is pretty decent. Note: I make that assessment with NO understanding of what that position does or if he really is good. I base it on the fact that I don't hear Graden saying, "What is he doing out there?!!?" while we watch Hunter play. Just needed to clarify that!

More importantly, Hunter enjoys playing football and has worked really hard at beefing up and getting strong and putting on weight. He and Graden lift weights several nights per week, he makes special shakes and eats, EATS!, EATS!!

Here, he makes the Touchdown call at one of his recent games (he is #78):

The season goes through the month of October.

Honey, I Don't Think We're in East Wateloo Anymore ...

School has started!!! Yeah! No more "I'm bored .... " whining from the kids (mainly Dayne). I think they are excited to be back in school too, but they'd never admit it!

Dayne is in 4th grade and Hunter is in 9th grade. Hard to believe they are that old already! I had a moment of weakness when I went to register Hunter for 9th grade classes. It hit me that every decision he makes and action he takes from this moment on plays a factor in what the rest of his life will be like. If he gets in a fight at school he could be kicked out ... if he gets in a car with someone "cool" and they drive erratic and crazy ... if he gets drunk at lunch (completely random "if" there ... no way I did that!) ... if he smokes pot and gets busted by the police ... it all determines what his options will be and if he gets to go to certain schools or do certain things or play certain sports. He's quickly heading towards man hood. Wow. Surreal.

The High School hosted an evening for the parents to check out the school and see what their child's schedule will be like. Graden and I both attended and as we were walking through the halls of the school I realized this school is nothing like East Waterloo. (For the record, there is "diversity" here in Lee's Summit, but the school itself is quite impressive). I turned to Graden and told him, "Honey, I don't think we're in East Waterloo anymore." Below is a picture of the back of the school. It is quite pretty as the sun sets on it.

This is the back of the school. I think I'd get lost ...