MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Well, Santa found his way to Florida, although Bradley was worried as he woke up the first time at 12:30 and Santa hadn't come yet; but since he had forgotten to put out the milk & cookies I understood why. Needless to say, after the milk and cookies were put out, Santa found his way and dropped his bag along the way. Along with the bike, Bradley's excitement over his PSP is shown below.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas!

The Case of the Missing Geese

First things first, the Orange Bobcats posted win #2 tonight with a 14-13 win over Purple. This was not a great game for Orange even though we came away with the win. We turned the ball over way too many times and gave up too many rebounds to the opposing team. Bradley played a good game, although he had picked up 3 fouls before halftime so he had to sit most of the third quarter. He hung in and finished strong, scoring 6 points and playing good defense, completing the game with 4 fouls. We had plenty of opportunities at the free throw line and shot about 50% - not bad for 9 & 10 year olds. We have three weeks before our next game so we'll be working hard to correct our mistakes. BTW - it is still a balmy 71 in St Cloud and it's 9:25 pm.

We have had requests to see our decorating so here are a few pics




Now, the missing geese. The story begins with our Scroogely neighbors next door who FINALLY got their outdoor decorations up on Sunday - better late than never. In the meantime, a "Warning" notice was put on their door about their negligence in this area. Soon after, we received a "Warning" to keep our geese in our yard, lest someone call animal control and have us arrested. So, Sunday morning as we are getting ready, TR informed me that our geese had been stolen. A little "canvassing" found the geese hiding behind various bushes and trees in the neighbors yard. Upon our return home Sunday afternoon this is where we found the geese...




Somehow, they ended up on the neighbors roof as part of their Christmas decorations. Unbeknownst to us, the joke was really on us and the neighbors as our other neighbors across the street were the ones who "stole" the geese and "hid" them in the neighbors yard.

Orange Bobcats - Win #1

So our basketball season is off to a good start with our first win 31-6. The boys played a great game - only had one person in foul trouble and it wasn't Bradley! Bradley played a very good game - scored 5 points and was a defensive force in the forward position. He also came through when a Technical Foul was assessed on the other team and went 1-1 on his foul shots. Since I'm coaching I definitely won't be taking any pictures so we'll have to rely on TR for those as the season progresses. Historically, we're not good with basketball pictures as the action tends to move fast and you get caught up in the game - not taking pictures. Thanks to Shay for coming out and supporting us last night. Stay tuned for next week's game update.

Parades, Christmas Decorating & Everything Else

So we had a good visit in Virginia for Thanksgiving - although it was cold. We were more than ready to get home to warmer weather. Naturally, after being away for a few days, things just seem to snowball and we had something to do every night (not that that's real different from any other week!)

We began our weekend decorating the flag football float for this year. TR worked hard all week preparing our scoreboard and cleaning his red truck in preparation for pulling the float. Our float contained our goal posts, with the ball sailing through, a "field' complete with snow around the field and, of course, our scoreboard. Not sure how they can top the float next year.

Now, of course, the parade went well but after, we had quite a good laugh. Bradley & Coach Chuck's daughter decided to play some football while we were undecorating the float. Not sure exactly who to blame, but the football ended up in the retention pond and Chuck made Katie go swimming after it - good thing it was really warm here! Now to make things even better, the big football game between Florida & Alabama was Saturday. About half of Bradley's team (including him) are Gator fans - but his two main coaches are big Alabama fans. Needless to say, the text that we sent to Bradley's coach after the game has not yet been returned.....GO GATORS.

On to decorating - TR has been also working on getting the outside of the house done. Perfectionist that he is, I have a feeling he'll be back on the roof this week as all of our lights are not pointing in the same direction. I'll post pictures of the house AFTER he has finished. Today I finally managed to finish the inside of the house. Also, a very nice surprise this afternoon - my car actually fits in our garage! I could not believe it when the garage was finally clean enough to park in!

Our first basketball game is this week. Unfortunately, I haven't been successful in arranging a scrimmage for our boys so we'll have a real test ahead of us. We'll post an update after the game.

Way Behind!

Okay - so my title can stand for multiple things. First, way behind on blog - second, way behind at work - third, way behind on everything else!!!!!

Sorry, but as some of you know, we are fast approaching the week of our National Convention for work. The good thing about this year is that it is here in Orlando so no traveling involved. The bad thing - it is next week!

First - football results (pictures to follow later). We were unable to unseat the Purple Champions. Unfortunately, two quick TDs put us too far behind to catch up with a final score of 21-0. However, Red still had an AMAZING season at 10-2 with both losses to Purple. We had the team over last weekend for a season ending party. All the boys had a great time and enjoyed the pool, tetherball, basketball and football. Bradley was awarded a special game ball signed by the coaches, complete with the season record since he will be moving up to tackle next year. Still not sure if I am ready for that....Red will be getting together in December to put a float in the Christmas parade - our coach has already made bets that our float will be way better than Purple's!

Second - basketball season is starting and I am coaching again. We look to have a very competitive team. I have been impressed with our boys so far - they have been working hard in our practices. Stay tuned for updates on this as our games should start the week of December 8.

Bradley's class has a big field trip to St. Augustine this Friday. He's been peppering me with historical questions about St. Augustine over the past few days. I'm pretty good with VA history, but definitely not so good on FL history. He's enjoying showing off his knowledge.

Purple Here We Come...

Bradley & Weston Connect

Garrett's TD

Dustin's TD Run

One down, one to go. Red routs Blue 21-0 this evening. The boys played great! Bradley connected with Weston on several passes, then hooked up with Garrett to set up our first TD play and then converted the 2 points. Later, Dustin broke free for an amazing run to set up our second TD. This was followed up in the second half by Garrett's interception and return for a TD. All the boys played a good game and had lots of fun - no doubt assisted by their "red" hair. We'll play Purple on Tuesday in the Championship Game. GO RED!!!

One Down...Two to Go

Red scores their first playoff win 20-6 over green. Bradley had a 40 yard run to set up the first touchdown and then ran in the extra point. His passing was on the money tonight! Later in the game he added a second extra point run. Our win was not as easy as the score might indicate. Red was heavily penalized during this game - especially the first half - something that we really haven't had problems with this year. I'm sure we'll correct that during practice tomorrow. Stay tuned as we play our second game on Thursday - not sure who we are playing since we play the winner of the second game for tonight.

We're also preparing for our first blast of cool weather - it will only be 70 for the next couple of days with lows in the upper 40s and low 50s. We might have to drag out the long johns!

Stay tuned for our next update.

Playoff Update

For those of you who wait with baited breath every week for the update....there will be no playoff games this week. We can only assume it is due to the short school week (kids are off Thursday & Friday). We will play the Green team on Monday, October 27 at 5:15 pm.

On another note, I will be coaching basketball again this "winter". We had showcase on Saturday and will draft this week. If things go like the showcase, we'll have a lot of work ahead of us. I'm hoping to pick up a couple of my players from last year since they are already familiar with our basics. Look for basketball updates to begin in December.

Lastly, TR is currently in Seattle for work and freezing. The funny thing is that there is a chance of snow showers in the morning before he leaves tomorrow afternoon. That made me laugh since he packed shorts to wear home!

Stay tuned for next week.....GO RAYS!!!!!

Let the Playoffs Begin!

Red entrenched themselves firmly in second place with a win over the Blue team last night. It was a very good game with strong defense on both sides. It took a while for our offense to get going, but they finally put together a good drive after being down 6-0 to score a TD on a run by Bradley from about 10 yards out, complete with a slide into the end zone, followed by a completed pass for the 2 pt conversion. That was all we would need to come away with an 8-6 victory! They actually passed so much and it was such a tight game that I'm not sure what the passing stats were! Thanks so much to the Enix family, Shannon, Katie & Daniel for joining me in the stands for this one since TR was on the field helping with the boys. Melissa was there in spirit and met us for a celebratory dinner afterwards!

Bradley also attended his first dance this past weekend. The SCYF Homecoming dance was on Saturday from 5-7 for his age group. Needless to say, the boys just ran around having fun and occasionally "dancing" - completely ignoring the girls for the entirety of the evening.

On another note, TR has been very busy over the past week working on a few home improvement projects. Things are looking good! I definitely think he is anxious to be done and enjoy a little fishing.

Stay tuned for our playoff schedule and updates.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!!

Okay - so we "weathered" Tuesday's game. At least when it's 75 and rainy it is bearable. Red notched another win 26-6 even though it rained the entire game. Thankfully, the rain is over with and today is sunny. Our last regular season game is next Tuesday and playoffs begin the following week. A big shout out to our friend Shannon who braved the rain and hung in for the entire game - she definitely deserves an award!

As for the weekend - it was a much better football weekend around our house with the Gators, Tennessee and Dallas all recording wins. We went to dinner with friends on Saturday at a little Italian restaurant where the owner is a Florida State fan. Well, Bradley was wearing his Gator jersey & hat and Darla is a Gator alumni. They were having fun exchanging digs during the FSU-Miami game. I think we may be headed back there in November for the Gator-FSU game as a challenge was definitely issued!

And They Keep on Rolling!

Red records another win - this time over Gold in a 14-6 battle. This was a very good game by both teams. Bradley was 1-3 passing, completing the all important 2 pt conversion. Our defense really stepped it up as we were missing a key defensive player during this game. Most importantly, we were able to hold Gold in the red zone nearing the end of the first half! Next week's game will be on Tuesday, so look for the update on Wednesday.

Red is Back on Track!

Okay, so I was in Minnesota for the big game this week at a tax conference. While I was depending on someone (to remain nameless) to keep me posted, he nearly gave me a heart attack by letting me believe that Red was behind the entire game. That was not, thankfully, true and Red came through with a win in a 28-6 blowout. Although Bradley was not feeling his best, he still managed to go 2-3 passing, both completions were for TDs! The team played good defense and looks forward to their game next week. On an extremely bad note - it was definitely not a good football weekend around the house with the Gators loss yesterday and the Cowboys loss today. We're hoping for much better next weekend. Stay tuned....

Red Hits the Purple Wall!

So, not a great week for football. Monday's practice was the worst of the season - a definite precursor for Tuesday. Needless to say, the first 10 minutes of the game was all purple needed. They were able to score 2 quick TD's. After that our defense woke up a little and was able to hold them the rest of the game. Unfortunately, our offense never got started. We'll see them in playoffs. In the meantime, since the next game is not until next Thursday, they do have a couple of days off from practice to rest & recoup. I have no doubt things will be much better next week.

We're up for a busy weekend. We have the Men's Major, Men's D and Women's A, B, C and D world tournaments at Disney this weekend - over 400 teams total. We were out at the fields last night and will be there all weekend. TR is also playing in a golf tourney this weekend.

I'm trying to figure out a way for TR to broadcast next week's football game to me as I'll be at a tax conference in Minnesota - still can't believe that I couldn't find one in any place fun like Vegas!

2nd Football Win!

What a great game - Bradley's football team wins game #2 of their season 28-0. He completed 2 of 3 passes and converted two two-point plays. Much to his dismay, he had to be relieved of his QB duties early in the second half as they were ahead by more than 20 points. At that point the "skill players" cannot touch the ball on offense. He was relegated to playing the line! We played great defense and only allowed one first down by the other team the whole game. Our die hard parents cheered our team on in the rain - unlike baseball, football is played in the rain - the harder the better. Stay tuned for next week's game update as we play the defending champions from 2007 - the dreaded purple team. This one will either be a very high scoring game by both teams or will be a very low scoring game - hard to tell.