2016 Febuary_Basketball and kids

Basketball is over and now we are onto soccer. I calculated the other day that I have coached or assisted in over 47 different teams for hadden and spencer to date. I enjoy it but am glad to have a little break while coaching Hadden's soccer team and spencer is playing academy soccer. Nash continues to enjoy his new preschool which is the same school that spencer went too. He knows all his letters and almost all his sounds in just over 1 month at the school - plus he love it - it has been a good move. Hadden rec team lost in the championship by 4 points (the other team had 2 6 footers - just saying) and had a great season. Spencer's team lost in the final 4 but it was not really and upset - both had great season and enjoy basketball. Last night Hadden's school team had their banquet. But instead of a dress up / stuffy occasion this was pizza and then a 3 point contest, skills contest, shooting contest, and then parents vs kids game. Hadden and Spencer Won the skills contest over all the parents and the 6th -8th grade team. It was a good night for the Meyer kids. Let me describe the skills contest. 1. Dribble through cones to the opposite side 2. Throw the basketball 25 feet or so to the wall and hit the middle of a hoopla hoop. 3. Dribble back down and hit a 3 pointer (you had 6 shots - this is where I was eliminated) 4. Run to the baseline to get a ball - dribble to half court and then come back and make a layup. Hadden and spencer had no mistakes and both hit their first 3 pointers - hadden completed this in 24 seconds - Spencer in 26 seconds as he beat me at the same time - their were 2 participants going at once. Carrie and I continue to exercise in our spare time (not much), teach 2nd grade at church, and try to go on lunch on Friday's with each other while the kids are at school.

2016 January - Basketball

The month of January flew by: Hadden and Spencer are in the heart of the season for basketball. Hadden is playing on the 6th grade team and are struggling to stay in games. He is a defensive specialist on the school team while at the rec team level he is scoring about 14 points a game. Trying to tell him to be more aggressive at school ball but the switch has not flipped yet - it is up to him. He is playing with a lot of his buddies and I am coaching with Karl Reker ( his son is preston, john, luke, mason, maddox are all on his team) Spencer is playing with his good friend Sam and they are the younger kids in the division right now. They have had some up's and down high lighted by an 18 point game by spencer - down 21 to 8 at half time he lead the team back to a 34 - 26 victory. I was a proud dad - wish I had videoed. Nash is starting a new school this week - where spencer went to preschool. He is a little nervous / excited as a 4.5 year old that only knows his old school would be. We will see how it goes. He loves playing outside with the neighbors and jumping on the trampoline and the playing basketball riding his 3 wheel scooter. Carrie started her new job last week - so far it looks like it will be good - lots to remember with the new computer system and the people seem nice and good to work with so far. Both Hadden and Spencer received straight A's on their report cards and didn't even mention it to Carrie and I that grades were out - we found out from some other parents - reports cards don't come home anymore. Hadden was nominated and selected by several teachers to be the 6th grade boy who was picked to go back to talk to the 3 elementary school 5th graders on what to expect in 6th grade. Carrie and I were really proud as the assistant principal told us about it while at the basketball game --- My dad came up to watch the kids play basketball as he was also in town for work - Mars petcare --- he also had surgery this month to review a tumor near his kidney and is recovering well. Carrie's parents came to a few games this month as well - both school game for hadden and rec games for both the kids. Playoff basketball - haddens school team is done. He picked up his game and played more aggressive the last part of the season looking to score more and played good defense. Hadden and spencers team are both in the final 4 of the tournament. Spencer played on 2/19 and had a heck of a game. The team we were playing was the number 3 seed we were 6.. Spencer went for 20 points including a 3 pointer an the team won 30-20 to advance to today.. There are possible 4 games today--- if both hadden and spencer win their games.

2016 - January - Random

Jan 4 Nash - When he got to school he read in the "cozy center" there are several areas of his school room that have different themes. Nash told me today when I picked him up from school it was a great day. His job today was circle time leader which means he got to lead the kids by pointing at the days of the week and going through them while they said them. Some of his sayings - Nash did you put your shoes away "of course I did" focus on the "of course" Hadden and spencer played with John / Sam as they were out of school. Now hadden is at basketball for 6th grade and spencer is spending the night. Neither of them think it is funny when they ask "what is for dinner" and I state Tuna sandwiches -- I am not getting the response of "dad that really isn't funny anymore" Tuesday they are both going to carrie's moms for the day while carrie and I work - today was back to work for both of us and trying to work out - I ran at lunch and carrie went to Taboe.

2015 - Summer / Fall Updates

What a fun fall this has been. Here are some highlights Spencer played traffic soccer for the first time this fall - we had a 3 way car pool going with Will / Landon - he had a great season and fun time playing soccer . He played a tournament in Decatur Alabama and Clarksville - my first time to spend anytime in both of those cities. He also had friendly in Portland TN. Hadden entered 6th grade not knowing what to expect. Most of his friends from Bethesda ended up going to another school because of zoning. The good news is from sports he knew a lot of the kids and has made a lot of new friends this first fall in middle school. Spencer - outdoor soccer / practice 2 times a week / indoor soccer and now basketball - I was coaching the indoor soccer and basketball Hadden - school tennis - played number 1 doubles and peaked at the right time / outdoor soccer (coaching) won the championship and had 4 goals in the final game / Indoor soccer/ school soccer and now school basketball. The first game of the sixth grade season hadden started the game. Nash - really like's playing outside and dribbling the basketball, playing football, dribbling the soccer ball. He has some friends that live right next door carter , Berkley Clare that he loves going outside, running around and jumping on the trampoline. Inside he runs around chasing his brothers…Nash really likes his preschool… he has lots of friends and he tells me every week how much he like's his school. all 3 of the boys like to wrestle around. Nash still like's to try and "take" me down and also do sit ups together. Carrie and I still enjoy working out - she does Taboe and boot camp type classes with time or 2 on the elliptical when classes don't fit her schedule. I run and lunch with the same group of guys I have been running with for 10 years - Hugh, jimmy, and Todd --- it is a 5-6 mile run in the rain, snow, or heat normally 3 days a week. This summer / fall my friend Mark and his wife Kristen came to visit with several of their friends from Boston - it was fun catching up and hanging out with Mark. We also had Colin and his wife Anna with their 2 boys Luke and Andrew visit from Austin - all the boys had fun together - especially Nash since Andrew was his age…. Both visits were fun for me to visit and hang out with 2 my closer friends that don't live in Nashville --- we don't get to see each other often but I stay in touch with both of them on calls while driving home from work. Trips: The annual trip to the beach with the family - this year we went to Santa Rosa are for spring break - we stayed a place that had a lake "red fish Lake" that then would feed into the ocean - the kids liked kayaking and paddle boarding and it made a great skim boarding area. The trip in the summer was to Fort Walton to stay in my friend Hugh's place right on the beach. Both trips were spent on the beach and at the pool. We also had a fall break trip with the kids to Chattanooga - to visit the aquarium and run around with the kids .. We went with our friend John / Kristy / John / Katy / Jeremy / Jennifer.. It was a nice fall break. We went on the 3rd year Thanksgiving break down to gulf shores with carrie's parents and 2 sisters along with Roberts Parents Linda / Melvin who hosted everyone… it was a great time to have all the cousins play and it was a in the 70's so volleyball (nuke them) on the beach and football… Nash had a blast digging with Judd right at the waters edge. We visited Birmingham to see Nini and papa in July and November and had good times frying the turkey and making fires in the fire pit to roast marshmallow.. There also was a lot of football on the thanksgiving weekend... Greg to Houston to visit Brent and then to Dallas for a work training. Orlando for a work training and a side trip to Tampa to visit Buzz for long weekend. The school year is going really well for both hadden and spencer.. They both have straight A's and enjoy school. Spencer's favorite subjects are Social studies, Science, and Math. Hadden's favorite subjects are girls, sports, girls. Math, Social Studies, language arts, Science -- Hadden was nominated by his 6th grade English teacher "holiday Student Successor": Mr Norman. Hadden leads an active, busy life and now is on the SSMS basketball team. Despite his busyness he always has his work done, always has a smile on his face and is always willing to help others. Hadden is a wonderful mode of student athlete excellence and I am proud to be his teacher. And we are almost to Christmas now!!! It is hard to believe that another year has flown by.

6 month update - WOW - I am a slacker

so i guess we have had quite a bit of things happen since the last update---Christmas and Thanksgiving were good as always.. December / Jan / - lots of basketball for hadden and spencer - i coached both teams. hadden had a good season and did not lose until the end of the season. They won the heritage tournment and lost in the semifinals to a team that was huge - Spencer played on a team where he learned a lot and was able to handle the ball r quite a bit - he was on the younger side of the group - a few wins a good season and looking forward to next year. Nash continues to follow what his big brothers do and seems to get away with a lot more than his brother did at this age. My mom brother Craig had a heart attack at 54 and died in February so an unexpected trip back to kansas with jena and my parents... it was good to see my grandma but a sad reason to go visit. I was able to see marco and his family and clint as well - so that part was a positve..my mom has had a hard time with his passing as to be expected. Nash has enjoyed riding his green john deere tractor - this is probably is favorite thing to do - laps around the house until the battery dies. We took a trip to Sand Destin for Spring break in march. This was our first time visiting desin as a family .. this was a good trip - we visited jeff and his family and the kids had fun playing on the beach / pool - the pool was 90 plus degrees. Lots of movies at night, march madness, and eating out.. as well as a few trips to shop.. the kids must have were some slides / flip flops -- hadden got addidas / spencer reebock... i am coaching haddens soccer team and helping with spencers. both the kids really enjoy and excel at soccer right now. Also they have started to show an interest in Tennis so we will try to go to the courts some this spring and summer...April took me to Mt Leconte where we hiked 5 miles to the top and stayed in the lodge at the top.. there is no electricity or running water.. the hike was beautiful and the ran held off. i hope to do the hike sometime with the kids in the future....Carrie and i continue to enjoy working out, running, and doing stuff with the kids... the culdasac and playing over there occupies some of the nice days during the weekend. Nash has started potty training and through some ups / downs seems to be getting the hang of it. Spencer has had a birthday and we went to see captain america 2 and then to buffalo wild wings to eat dinner...school is finishing up in a few weeks wtih hadden getting ready to take the t-cap test this week... until next time.

September / Oct

Here are a few things going on over the last couple months with the family: The summer has ended with the kids starting a school a few months ago - hadden is in 4th (Mrs. Looper) grade and has turned 10 while spencer is 7 and in 2nd grade (Mrs. Peck). school is going well for both kids and the first 9 weeks has ended with hadden as an all A student. Spencer has not received his report card but I am sure he will not disappoint. Both kids are playing flag football and both team are undefeated at this point with a few games to go in the season.... both are actually the TN titans too. Hadden and spencer like to play outside - football, riding bikes, playing airsoft guns and just running around in the neighborhood...both pull for Alabama in football and are sitting here right now reading in the bama PJ's (awesome). Nash is in Bama PJ's too but is already in bed otherwise I would add a picture today. Spencer is playing center / defense on his football team and his best game was where he saved 3 TD's with flag pulls and caught 5 passes with a TD, a 2 pt conversion and a 40 yard run. Hadden plays defense and QB and has had some nice throws and a couple interceptions - 1 for a 30 yard return for a TD. I took them to the haunted woods this past weekend - Millers / Thrillers -- it was our 2nd year to go and it was a great time... Nash has started really talking and is a funny 2 year old who looks up to his brothers and wants to do everything they do. today he put on his football helmet and got in his little red car ( you know the kind you push with your feet) and told carrie he was driving to football practice. from there he grabbed a basketball with the football helmet on and started dribbling... then switched gears to the baseball helmet and bat.... he likes to say mine a lot and has recently really become interested in everything to do with blocks and building things / stacking / domino's etc...he likes for us to help him. some cute sayings from Nash - "Carry you" or "I carry You" means pick him up.... likes to ride the horsey, hop to the barbershop to get a piece of candy.. and really likes to ride his green tractor outside which he says he is mowing... also "miss you all day" We went to visit Birmingham last weekend for fall break and carrie went to visit her mom and dad with the kids yesterday while I went to basketball assessments for both spencer and hadden-- I am coaching both their teams this year -- it should be fun.... Carrie is doing great we both continue to enjoy working out in our spare time...

8 months - time flies

Let's see here are some things that have happend: carrie and i took a trip with 3 other couples to Punta Cana / Domican republic, Hadden and Spencer both went undfeated in basketball. Hadden played with Steve wade and his twins,(i helped coach) won the regular season and the beat everyone in a 68 team county tournament, Spencer team won the regular season ( i coached with jerry walling) and the only game that was close was the championship - a come from behind victory. My grandma Meyer passed away as she battled memory loss and lived in Lincoln for the last several years - while a tough time on the family it was good to come together and see everyone - all my dads brothers and sisters were there and it was good to visit. All my cousins were there too. As a family we have gone to the beach a couple times - gulf shores - Birmingham several times, hadden and spencer took tennis lessons this summer and played soccer this spring. Both there teams did well and both enjoyed tennis. Summer was a lot of swimming and playing outside. times in the tisdale culdsac playing with the kids friends. Nash has changed a lot since i last wrote on here. He still looks up to his brothers and wants to do everything they do. Spencer has turned 7 and Nash turned 2. SPencer birthday we went to a movie and out for pizza in franklin, nash we had a pool party and carrie's sisters and parents came up to celebrate while we passed through b'ham we celebrated with my mom dad. Some of Nsah's sayings -- a song -"light it up up up", "i am on fire", "I don't care, i love it", What happpened? Mine, Thats, mine not yours,... sometimes he is sitting in the car and blurts out..."ROOLLL TIDE""""i have trained him well. Summer of work on our house - carpet steps turned into hardwood, house painted, deck redone and painted, then our hot water heater, washing machine and dishwasher all went out within 30 days - dishwasher flooded our hardwoods so eating out for a few weeks without a kitchen this summer got old real quick. at the end we will have new hardwoods. Favorite things - Hadden/spencer - playing outside, kindle, mindcraft, ipod touch, airsoft battle, playing in the creek, -- Nash - anything with a truck / ball remote control/ writing on things... nash nickname - the destoryer -- has leaked a ink pen all over our hardwood - note - do not use a wet rag to try and clean, that same ink marked on our nice chair in the living room, used crayons all over our carpet (sneaky little kid), used a bobby pin he must have found under the couch to scrach the new dishwasher mentioned above which is stainless ( carrie was not happy) carrie and still work at the same places - Maxor and Deloitte and enjoy it at both places. We both work out - i most run - she enjoys boot camp classes, taboe, etc. until next time

Things Kids Say

Spencer came home from school and said that he like having the bus seat to himself. Carrie asked him where was Sam? Spencer said he was home with the "sharts". a couple days later he said Sam was back but he didn't sit too close to him because he had had the sharts and didn't want them again. Nash's favorite words are "mine", NO, Stop, get it, and go. He loves it when his brothers get off the bus. Candy is another favorite word. At dinner he loves to mimic what his brothers do. spencer will fake chew, Nash will follow, hadden will laugh, Nash will follow. hands in the air - Nash follows. this make dinner time entertaining for sure. Hadden and spencer have basketball games today. both their teams are undefeated and both are playing well and enjoy it. Carrie and I are going out for some friends birthday’s tonight. it has been cold in Nashville and rainy for weeks. Maybe we will get a break from that tonight.

January 14 - Geno's 61st Birthday

61 years old - my dad is today. happy birthday. he is spending it in Ohio which is probably colder there than it is in Nashville. Today it was 30 degrees with a nice 10 - 15 mph wind. it made running at lunch frigid. When I was coming in from running with guys (jimmy, Hugh, Steve) someone commented that my hat had ice cycles forming from sweating with it freezing outside. it is funny. we see people coming in from smoking outside that say - you guys are crazy for running when it is (hot, cold, raining, snowing) and yet they walk to their car to drive around the corner to smoke. mmmm..... on days like today I have a blue long windbreaker (rain jacket) that I wear and have been for years. folks have called this the blue tent, smurf, the parka, - but you know what - i would rather be hot than cold. who is ready for spring.... hadden and spencers basketball teams continue to excel. i think the scores were hadden 38-13 and spencer 44 - 4. They both are playing with a good group of kids and having fun. Nash is talking a little more each day. he knows where is belly, toes, knees, head, eyes, ears, nose etc are. He sometimes says No No No. when carrie and i try to sing him a song when we are putting him to bed. He loves it when his brothers get home from school - he runs around and chases them.

Report Card Day

hadden is in 3rd grade and made all A's for this semester. Spencer is in first grade recieved all 3's and 4's and his teacher commented he is a good leader. 3rd grade is the first grade where our kids get grades. nash has stepped it up a level. the other day wehn i was going to change his diaper i thought he was doing his typical run away move but he was going to grab a kroger sack for his stinky diaper. then he laid back down and we made it happen. count down is on for Carrie and our trip to punta canta with some friends in Feb. School started back yesterday. They have been out of school since December 21. It was a great break with lots of good memories....The tide has won their 2nd National title in a year with QB chesty at the helm.....and they beat the team i have never liked growing up or now - ND.

Happy 2013

Well it has been since march since i have posted. It is my goal to post at least weekly with a few funny stories or things that have happend over the week. Christmas was a whirlwind. Time in birmhgam with the family and time in Centerville and Bon Aqua. what a great tine to hang out with our parents and the kids to play with their cousins / grandparents. Hadden and spencer borh got Kindles and airsoft guns. Nash big gifts were a playhouse, roller coaster. I just got back from the sugar bowl with my dad and brother in law paul. Florida got whipped by Lousiville. it was my first time to the commanders palace... the bread pudding is the best in the world. this makes 5 out of the last 6 years i have attened the sugar bowl. Spencer tonight - Seven kids in my class got kindle. But i am not really sure because some of the kids are liars. probably more like 5 kids. one kid said he was on the titantic - he is probably lying about the kindle too

March is almost Over - Spring Time is here

Spring time is here. It is filled with soccer games, baseball games, and practices.

Spencer has had 3 soccer games and has scored 5 goals, 1 goal and 3 goals in each of the first 3 games. Hadden has played his first baseball game and went 3 for 3 with a triple and 2 singles. Hadden has practiced a lot of baseball this year as the season begins and is enjoying playing and haning out with his buddies. Spencer likes soccer and still does not express an interest in baseball.

Nash is getting big. He has started saying mama, dada and his new trick this week is starting to wave bye when he is leaving or hi when coming into a room. he is a lot of fun and both hadden and spencer like him much as older brother can young babies. they are both helpful and will pitch and and watch and help us when needed.

Carrie and I continue to enjoy watching the kids excel in school and the random things kids say and do. some are just not appropirate for this blog. but i do need to keep a list somewhere. Hadden's easter bunny story this year seemed a fit exactly like carrie's trip to Maui - pretty funny.

We are going to b'ham this week and then on to the beach for a week. Spencer is turning 6 on Friday march 30 - hard to belive. I took 6 boys for pizza and skating for his birthday this week and everyone had a great time. That is definatly the first time i had skates on that i can recall. The boys both skate in school some in gym so they are both pretty good on skates.

Almost Spring

Hadden mowed for the first time this season. the only thing i did was get it started for him. Spencer is next to start mowing after he turns 6 which is coming up at the end of this month. It is nice to not have to mow - i worked in the natural area's while hadden mowed. He beat me but it sure beats doing both. Spencer helped me with the weeds.

Hadden and Spencer went to a skating party yesterday for the cousins Liza and Cooper's birthday and had a great time. I hung here with Nash and he has learned a couple new tricks

Nash now weighs 21 lbs, spencer 52 and hadden 66. Nash has 4 teeth and has started trying to bite us on everyone. He is all around the house now pulling up and crawing everywhere. He has not figured out the stairs yet and does not like the stairs. His latest trick is to stand up in his bed. Now this would not be a problem except he has not figured out how to bend his knees and sit back down. so the crying at nap time / bed time because he gets stuck standing up is currently in process.

Basketball is over and now we are on to spencer playing soccer which i am coaching and hadden playing baseball. we will go see my parents at the end of march both before and after our trip to the beach for spring break. i know the older kids can't wait to go so we will see what traveling with a 9 month old baby goes that week. Easter will be in b'ham this near.

Maui and basketball

carrie had a chance to go to Maui with some girlfriends for 5 days last week. She had a great time. the highlight was the sunrise 10,000 feet above on the top of the volcano, followed by a bike ride down the volcano and then lunch in a small local town. heather, kim , jenny and carrie had a great time. laid on the beach, by the pool, went lu ah(no idea on spelling)

Nash started crawling last week as well. it is kind of an army crawl at first but now has turned into a good crawl. he had been rocking on his knees for a while and scooting backwards... it will be hard to keep all the little pieces of toys from the older brothers from him.

Spencers team. there were 15 teams in the league - he ended up having a good year. they play the #2 team today to see who gets 2nd place. Spencer was on Walling team.

Place Team Win Loss Tie Pts Ref S Pts Games Points For Avg Points Against Avg Point Diff
1 Mora SHS 6U Boys Rec 9 0 0 18 9 150 16.67 70 7.78 80
2 Durrough SHS 6U Boys Rec 8 1 0 16 9 192 21.33 75 8.33 117
3 Walling IHS 6U Boys Rec 7 1 0 14 8 164 20.50 66 8.25 98
4 Oliver IHS 6U Boys Rec 7 1 0 14 8 162 20.25 89 11.13 73

Haddens team (Kincaid team) - they are in the semi finals today. the league tried to make it so the 2 high school gyms played against each other in the finals. bottom line is that you had the top 3 teams on one side of the bracket. We play Wade who is the best team by far. The other 2 teams on the other side of the bracket in the semis we blew them both out. Only the top 2 teams go to the county tournment. the other team that will make the finals was 10 and 13 out of 18 total total teams in the tournament. Oh well. today is really the finals.

record pts for avg pts agaist
1 Walker IHS 8U Boys Rec 9 0 0 18 9 199 22.11 91 10.11 108
2 Wade SHS 8U Boys Rec 8 0 0 16 8 268 33.50 36 4.50 232
3 Kincaid SHS 8U Boys Rec 8 1 0 16 163 18.11 69 7.67 94

Past weekend

The weekend was a busy one. Haddens had Brady's birthday party on friday night. it was at showtime sports were kids get to go play sports, dodge ball, football, baseball etc. Spencer went with Katie and Sam to donkey basketball. that is just what is sounds like. adults trying to ride donkeys and play basketball. needless to say it is funny and a great PTO fundraisers since it means the kids do not have to sell anything.

Nash - he is rocking on hit knees and thinks he can stand up on his own. He loved trying to stand and hold onto things and he is smiling and laughing. He really thinks he can stand on his own. he can now move from his butt to his knees but can't quite stand on his own. he can make it back from his knees to his butt. he is very proud of himself. he has teeth coming in and is drooling a ton and loves to be held right now. still making the clicking sound with his tongue but not so much roaring like a lion like he was a few weeks ago.

both hadden and spencer seem to be getting more and more homework these days. both are doing well in school and continue to excel.

Hadden's basketball team is 7-1 while spencers team is 7-0.. i like to thing coaching has something to do with it.. HA HA... i am helping coach both teams. both are in a battle to see who can score the most points in a season. they are both averaging about a bucket game. Both play good defense.

Carrie is enjoying a women's bible study right now. Monday nigths with our sunday school class. We both continue to enjoy our sunday school class.

I continue to run for exercise going around 15-20 miles a week. enough to keep me in decent shape. Carrie works out and mainly does the elliptical machine or boot camp classes with spin class thrown in occasionally.

Nash's New trick

Nash's new trick is to roar like a lion. he is figuring out that he has a voice. he is on his knees up and rocking. He is wheeling around in his walker like a champ. now spencer and hadden have figured out that they can push him around like a toy and fly around the down stairs. so far no casulities. Carrie's mom continues to come up on Tuesday/Thursday's to help us keep Nash. What a great thing that has been for us since carrie has gone back to work...not a short drive for her but a great thing she has been doing since October.

Spencer and Hadden are back in school and continue to do well and enjoy it everyday. No girlfiends to date but lots of funny stories...Specner checked up today which in English means he didn't get in trouble and he was able to move is stick up and get a ticket. so many tickets and you get to buy a prize. this is the reward system - the bigger the thing - the more tickets they cost. just like the real world.

Alabama In New Orleans - Jan 9 2012

My dad has been able to get Sugar bowl or national championship tickets in new orleans for 4 of the last 5 years. This has been a great trip to be on each year with my dad and watching football. Any easy flight followed by some great food and times in the big easy.
2008 - LSU 41 vs Ohio state 24 -- National Championship Game
2010 Florida 51 Cincinitti 24
2011 Ohio State 31 Arkansas 24o
2012 Alabama 21 LSU 0 - National Championship Game.

lucky we skipped 2009 because Alabama got whipped by Utah in that game. This year was extra speacial because Alabama was in the game. I was able to meet with Dwayne and meet both his daughers - i had met one of them before. He helped recruit me out of school to international paper and we had many fun times going on recruiting trips to alabama to hire finance and IT staff for IP. He has since retired and we had not had a chance to get together for 5 years or so. it was good to hang out and catch up on Bourbon. It was good to also be able to catch up with my buddy from college brent who is in houston and we are not able to connect up as often as we would like. it was good times. Every year we have gone the first days starts at Pat Obrien's and goes from there...A Hurricane or 2 and a dinner that night - the last 2 years has been the Palace Cafe which has been great. The 4 of us went up / down bourbon both nights, ate good food, and enjoyed each others conversations and discusions. (Hey i wonder how that girl got those beads)....Morton Salt hosted my dad for the 4th year and jason and Chris were fun as always and great hosts. The seats were great - about 8 row right at the pylon where the alabama team ran out from the locker room.

It was a great time to be able to spend hanging with Geno who is also turning the big 60 this weekend. Can't wait until next year....

Christmas and New Years

It was a fun Christmas this year with all the activities and how much fun the kids had. We had Carrie's work party this year which had good food a little dancing. I took Hadden and Spencer to open gifts with my parents and jena paul a few days before christmas. It was a quick trip but we enjoyed it and the both hadden and spencer enjoyed opening gifts and seeing nini and papa and the twins. Christmas Eve morning breakfast a Crackerbarrel kicked off at 7:00 and has been a Hulan family tradtion for close to 30 years. Christmas eve was spent with the cousins playing at Carrie's parents place - a farm with a lost of room to play and roam. they spent a lot of the time jumping on hay bails in the barn..that night we go to the Bon Aqua hoe down to eat dinner. This owend by Flo (carrie's mom) older brother and it is a gathering spot for Carrie's moms side of the family for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Christmas morning back here was a blast. The kids let it slip that they got up at 3:01 AM and came out and peaked at their presents but that didn't ruin a few surprises.
hadden - electric air soft gun, basketball shoes, baseball bat, Wii game, smelly markers, shocker pen, Alabama sweatshirt, spy car, electric blanket
Spencer - electic scooter, bayblades, basketball shoes, castle, smelly makers, wii game, remote control bayblade, electric mattress pads, waki talkis, wall tracks for mtach box cars.
Nash - a bunch of blocks and things he can push open with his hands

Christmas morning we go to Carrie's parents to open gifts with Carries sisters and parents and then went to Carrie's Aunt Becky's for lunch with kenny's side of the family.

Right after Christmas Hadden had his tonsils out. That was a bit harder recovery than anticipated with him up every 3-4 hours for the first 7-10 days. He is doing better now.

New Years eve we went to some neighbors for party. Everyone brought appetizers and there was a karoke machine - Carrie was not impressed with my performances - she has video of me singing but hopefully that will never surface.....

I am helping coach Hadden and spencers basketball teams.
Hadden is playing point guard and his team is off to a 4-0 start.
Spencer is playing as well and they are 4-0 too. A funny story about Spencer- his first game he took the ball to start the 3rd quarter and went the wrong way and scored for the other team. the final score as 15-3. Yes spencer in his first game was the hi point man for the other team. The game this past Saturday he scored 8 points for his team and they won 28-5. I am proud of how both kids are donig. they both seem to really enjoy it and carrie and I enjoy watching and being involved.

Nash turns 6 months today and he is first tooth is in. he is really vocal and sitting up on his own for the past month or so. he is really intereted in whatever his brothers are doing and can spend a lot of time just watching them play.

I am off to New Orleans today to go watch Bama play LSU in the National Championship game. i can't wait. ROLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL.

Christmas Season

We decorated the christmas tree and house last weekend. When the kids are this 8 and 5 it is great time as the excitment is building each day until santa comes. basketball started this week and i am helping coach both teams. Nash is really grabbing at things now and talking all the time. He is still pretty bald but starting to get some hair here and there.

Spencer scored his first points during the first game - however they were for the other team and he was the high point man for the other team as the score was 11-3.
Hadden played a game right after and drove to the bucket with nice 4 foot shot in the middle of the lane. they won 19-4.

The elf has appeared on the scene this year: so far he has woke up on Nash's crib, under the christmas tree looking up at the lights, he drew on a picture of hadden and spencer, and this morning he was wrapped up in toliet paper sitting on the back of the toliet... lots of laughs out of the kids for sure...

Thanksgiving 2011

The family loaded up for our 2nd road trip with Nash since he has been born. He had a great trip down to b'ham. He is really starting to grab at things. When you feed him you have to hold his hand back or he will try and swat at the spoon. it is making us remember that the time is coming soon when he will start throwing his cup down time and time again because he thinks it is funny. both hadden and spencer already think it is funny to see him grab our food if he is sitting with us when we are trying to eat dinner.

Birmingham was a great Thanksgiving. My mom had been in the hospital with pneumonia since November 13th - she was able to come home November 21 right in time for thanksgiving. i know she was not as active as she would like but both hadden and spencer enjoyed playing cards with her and she got to roll around with Nash some and he gave her lots of smiles. Spencers favorite part of the trip was playing board games with Nini and haddens favorite thing was frying turkeys with papa me and paul. we had all the normal things - pretzel salad, mash potato's, sweet potato's - everyone's favorites.. i was in charge of the gravy this year since mom was not feeling great... uhhh.. needed a little work.. so dad tried the next night and added about 2lbs of salt too.. needless to say it didn't make it through the night....Spencer and hadden got to show papa their dribbling skills with one of the balls going off the cliff near the side of the driveway... that was an adventure to find but they did.....carrie and i got to catch up with jena and paul and the twins...they are both getting big and love to hang out with their cousins....lots of questions....each got to sleep a night at their cousins house with spencer sleeping in the same room as cason and hadden sleeping in the same room as kiley.

Carrie's family went to the beach this year for thanksgiving - this is the first year the kids were off for the whole week of thanksgiving from school... with Nash being so young we decided to wait until next year to attempt a few days at the beach before Thanksgiving...