Soccer Season
Dude's team is off to a great start! They won their first two games this season. Colton is a starter and so is his friend Forrest. It was very cool tonight -- notice that I didn't say "cold" out of respect for our friends and family that still live in the North -- so I had to bundle up! I wore two sweaters, my winter coat and still had to wrap up in a blanket...what a weanie!


Colton and Forrest

Is he a great looking young man, or what?

This isn't actually a pic of the girl's game ... dude is number 11! Ha!

Illinois
We had a wonderful trip home (minus the below freezing temps) this past weekend! It was great to see everyone again and Colton and I truly appreciated those that made time to see us. Christian, Mindy, Annette, Terry, Bobbi, Heather, Brian, Jessica and Jodi...thank you! We are very fortunate to have such great family and friends and, even though we don't get to see you everyday, just knowing you makes our lives richer and happier. No offense to anyone, but my favorite part of the trip was seeing J.T. Christian and Mindy are FANTASTIC parents and are raising an incredible little guy. He is happy, healthy and incredibly funny. I LOVED every single second I was able to spend with him. He's pretty fast on his feet and tired me out with his "moma...ready, set, go" which meant I had to chase him around the house. He is truly an awesome little man!!!


















Jodi and Jayde






















Jessica & Me









Annette & Terry














Jessica, Maryann & Anthony


















Christian, Mindy and J.T.

High School?
Ok, so I'm sitting at Borders and should be studying but I'm very distracted today. Colton will be registering for high school classes within the next month and it is definitely top-of-mind. The time with him has gone so quickly and I swear I don't know how that happened. I can vividly picture a day when he was a little guy and I had packed in 18 credit hours my second-to-last semester of undergrad so I could take a light load my final semester to look for a job. I had four term papers and two tests in the same week and had been up late several nights in a row trying to get it all done. He was two at the time and this particular morning I had gotten him ready for "school" and was trying to print out my papers because they were due that day. My computer locked up and wouldn't print the papers. I lost it! I picked up the phone and called my parents house expecting to get my mom, when my dad answered. I was crying so hard I couldn't speak and it took him a minute to figure out it was me. His first question was 'is Colton alright?' followed by 'are you alright' which only made me cry harder. Poor Colton was just standing there with his jacket on looking at me like I was crazy...he was right! My dad came right over and took Colton for the day and, while I couldn't get my computer to print, I did manage to save the files to a disk and print them at school. Crisis averted.
Now, I'm near the end of grad school (finally!) and Colton will be starting high school. He still looks at me like I'm crazy (he also has added the 'mom you're so stupid' look to his repertoire) but he is the one that helps me when the computer freaks out...or I freak out for that matter.
For those of you that know me well, you realize I'm totally anal when it comes to him and his education. You won't be surprised to learn that I've made an appointment with his middle school counselor to discuss his high school enrollment and classes or that I already have his high school orientation on my calendar. He's set his sights on attending MIT (wants to be an architect and they have a great program. Plus he's been receiving materials from them since he took the ACT as part of Duke University's Talent Identification Program). I've printed out MIT's freshman requirements so I can get him started working toward achieving his goal. Again I ask, where did the time go? This will certainly be an interesting chapter in our lives and one I'm excited to watch unfold. He is an incredibly intelligent, funny, kind and loving young man. As excited as I am to see what he does with his life, I wish I could go back just for a day to when he was small enough to wear feety jammies.

More Holiday Pics

Here are some additional pics from this past Christmas...Annette and I took Sydney and Cade to Stone Mountain.

Regionals
Today Colton's team competed in the dual (or team) regional competition. They fought a good fight but just couldn't pull enough out to continue on for the championship. Dude won his first match and lost the last two...ironically, his team did the same! They have one more meet Tuesday and then it's individual regionals next Saturday. We spent about eight hours at Woodland Middle School today and by the end...when most of these
pics were taken...we were all a little slappy.







The team huddles before their first match.








Shea and Cole after their first match. The back of their shirts read "Pain is just weakness being squeezed from the body." Seriously macho stuff!



From l to r: Forrest, Shea and the dude. I couldn't get them to look at me and just take a "nice" pic!



























Shea and Austin waiting for the next meet.




















Notice the cross eyes. He's as bad as me about having his pic taken!





Attempting the self portrait with a less-than-cooperative dude.

Bartow County Champions!















Friday night Colton's team wrestled for the championships and they were awesome! They wrestled three teams and won each match. Colton went 1-2 finally pinning the third guy -- what a relief! He's come a long way this season and I'm looking forward to Duals this Saturday and Regionals on the 27th.

Almost There!

I met with the associate dean of my grad school tonight and found out I'm actually ahead of my own schedule for graduating. I anticipated completing my degree in December when in reality I will graduate with my MBA in marketing in September and have only two classes left towards my second major of international business. So, I will have my degree and both majors completed by the end of October!!! I am so relieved to finally see an end to this chapter of my education!

First Wrestling Match of 2007
Cole's team faced a strong team last night and did really well. The lighter weight guys (like Cole) fought hard but had a difficult time holding off the other team. The heavier guys on Cole's team were pinning their opponents left and right which was a much needed lift to the mood! Colton did a great job wrestling against a guy that was stronger and much larger (how this kid weighed in at 92 pounds is a mystery). Cole almost had him pinned in the first period but ended up getting pinned in the second. He'll have the opportunity to even the score Friday night during the Bartow County Champs meet where his team will wrestle four others, including Adairseville, their competition from last night. I believe I'll be upgrading my camera before then, so you can actually see him in the pics! (Sorry about all the shots of his coach's behind. We had really weird seating last night and he kept getting in my way -- the nerve!)

















Almost!!!

Merry Christmas!

Colton and I had a wonderful holiday season and we hope that you did as well. Erika flew in for Christmas and Annette and her children, Sydney and Cade, joined us on Christmas night. It was wonderful having them here! Colton just returned from a 10 visit with his dad, Shawn, Hugh and Josie and the rest of the family.


Cade, Colton and Sydney













Cade getting ready to open presents.


















Santa Cole!














Me and Dude













Cole and Sis watching movies.















Christian gave Colton 100 hairbands to keep the hair out of his eyes! Funny guy, my brother!!!

Dude Fought the Good Fight

Colton's team faced fierce competition tonight. All of them did really well, including Colton. He fought all three periods and lost by just a few points. He's come a long way in a short amount of time!

Another Chapter Ends
Tonight was Colton's school's fall sports banquet. Colton received a certificate for cross country and was presented with the "All League" Award for his achievements this year and for being the only member to have run all three years for South Central. Fortunately Coach Kornegay is coaching soccer again so Colton will get to have him as a coach one last time. The pics didn't turn out well and I've decided that I need to invest in a digital camera that takes good action shots. It's not very often that I find dude motionless, you know? I can't believe the next time he runs he'll be in high school!

New Respect for Santa
Today was a busy day for Cole and I. We spent the day cleaning the house and (finally!) putting up our outdoor holiday decorations. I noticed that one of the gutters was coming loose and decided (what was I thinking?) to climb on the roof and fix it. My house is very tall and the gutter was loose on the side above the driveway...splat! Colton held the ladder and I climbed from the back of the house over to the driveway side. Climbed may be overstating it...I actually crawled on my hands and knees, at one point Colton started singning the theme to Spiderman, over to the other side of the roof. I had to get really close to the edge...again, splat!...in order to reach the nail. All I had with me was a screwdriver, so I took the handle and pounded the nail in with that! Amazingly it worked! I carefully climbed back over to the other side and down the ladder. I think I had butterflies in my tummy for another two hours! Never again!!!

Dude Pinned Him!!!
Colton's team won the wrestling match tonight and Colton pinned his opponent in under 40 seconds. Seriously it was so exciting!!! I was jumping up and down so much that the lid for my camera battery came open and the battery flew out!!! Colton was so AWESOME! This pics didn't come out very well as I couldn't hold still long enough to take them but here are a couple that turned out alright. He's so cool!



Sizing up the competition.


Getting ready for the take down.

National Young Leaders State Conference
Colton spent the past four days attending the NYLSC with more than 100 8th and 9th graders from all over Georgia. He had an amazing time. He participated in workshops dealing with leadership, conflict resolution, diversity and much more, plus they had a talent show and an evening social for the participants. The commencement ceremony was yesterday and it was very emotional, not just for the participants but for the parents as well. I am very proud of the young man he has become and thrilled that he was able to participate in such an incredible conference. Thank you so much to all that contributed funds to get him there (the reg fee was $1,400!). It was an event that will have a positive effect for years to come. (This pic is with Cole and his faculty advisors)



Cole and his buddy Drew. They hit it off and became fast friends over the weekend.









Colton and Megan. (Notice the red eyes.) They had a difficult time leaving each other. Ah, to be young and in love again. :0)















Cole and another buddy at the end of the conference.

JT!!!
Christian and Mindy sent a CD full of pics of the big man. My favorite are included in this post. Is he the cutest, or what?
Who knew a backend could be SO CUTE!!! Seriously!















JT and daddy after a morning of hunting.














JT and Mindy showing off their cookies...that's after he polished off a cup of pudding!

JT's super cute backend again. He's wearing Scooby Doo underpants like his daddy use to!

'Big man in a little bed!'

National Young Leaders State Conference
Colton is attending the NYLSC this weekend in Atlanta. It's four days of leadership, team building and diversity exercises -- the program looks great! I spoke with him this morning and he is loving it. Everyone in his group gets along well and his roomate is cool. There are plenty of cute girls and they all LOVE running their fingers through his hair...which of course he hates...NOT! Anyway, here's a link to yesterday's slide show. You can see Colton in two of the pics...he's in a brown polo shirt. www.cylc.org/nylsc/pictures (select the Atlanta location)