Happy Birthday, Paul!!!

Happy Birthday to our brother (-in-law) and Uncle, Paul!!!

We hope you have a great birthday and that you are staying warm! :-)

~~~

A picture of Grandpa Paul and Baby Allie...

Singing at Heather and Zac's wedding...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAUL!!!

Snow Day (A.K.A. "Freezing Cold Outside!")

Today was a "snow day" for the kids, and they had no school--although it wasn't because of an over-abundance of snow! School was cancelled at almost all schools throughout Western Wisconsin and Minnesota due to the freezing temperatures and windchills of -35 to -45 below zero! Now, that is COLD!!! I was glad to have today as one of my regularly scheduled days off so I could spend the day at home, too. I just wish Jamie didn't have to drive to Eau Claire for work today...

Yesterday was a yucky day for weather, too. The kids went to school two hours late (they were disgusted that it wasn't cancelled altogether!), and all of the after-school activities in the area were cancelled due to the snow, freezing temps, blowing snow, and dangerous wind chill. So, Austin's game was cancelled last night, along with Parent's Night. We aren't sure if and when they will be rescheduling that yet.

Church was cancelled tonight, but the Youth Pastor was going to be at the Soul Garage if any kids wanted to go there anyway, just to hang out, so Austin and some of his friends headed off to Rice Lake to church. I think they are also planning a Wal-Mart run, so I sent him with some money for dog food! :-)

Andrew usually attends Wednesday night church at the Baptist church here in town with his friend, Zack, but that was cancelled tonight due to the weather, so he is here at home with me and the dogs. Abby is playing babies at her friend, Bailey's, house. She went over after piano lessons tonight.

We are just waiting for Jamie to get home--I have a steaming pot of chili on the stove. What else do you eat on a night like tonight!?!?!

~~~

Stay Warm!

A Cheering Squirrel!

Monday night was the big night for the Cheer Camp Performance. Abby was home sick from school on Monday, but was feeling better by late afternoon, so I let her go to the game for her big cheering debut. I probably shouldn't have let her go, but, oh well, you are only a 9-year-old cheerleader once!

The little girls, ranging in age from kindergarten thru fourth grade, were able to perform the school song, stand on the court for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner, do a few half-time cheers and routines, and cheer from the sidelines for the first half of the Varsity girls game.

Abby did a great job remembering the words to the cheers along with the hand motions--she should know most of them--we go to enough games! :-)

~~~

I have included a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment...

Abby is the one with the yellow ribbon in her hair!

"The team is in the huddle..."

My friend, Kelli's, favorite cheer!

The girls even learned some stunts/mounts at their Cheer Camp and were able to demonstrate them at the game!
Abz did a great job with her cheering, and it was fun to see all the little girls--especially the little kindergartners! Abby and I just keep talking about how, even though cheerleading is a lot of fun, our family really likes to play basketball even more! (hint, hint!!!)
~~~
Here's to hoping the big orange ball beats out the pom-pons!

Our Tar-Paper Shack~~Home Sweet Home!

Work is progressing on the exterior of our home, as you can see below. All of the stucco has now been removed, and the remainder of the cedar shake shingles have been taken off the top of the house, as well. We have also lost our front porch, as it was found to be rotten wood under the stucco when they removed it today. :-(

We now offically qualify for the "Remodled Welfare Home Award", A.K.A., "Best Tar-Paper Shack of 2008" here in Barron! We are so proud! Add to this the old dryer sitting in front of our garage (ours died this weekend, so we had to get a new one), and you can really imagine the whole picture our poor neighbors get to see when they look out their windows!!!!

Below is a picture of what is left of our front porch. This is for Jamie's benefit, as he is at work today and is getting his remodel information from the blog pictures.
I am home with a sick squirrel, and we are being assulted from all sides of the house by pounding and banging and an occasional jack-hammer. Quite a day here in Barron, WI!!!

The Weekend in Review

Our weekend has flown by once again! I can't believe the month of January is almost gone!

On Friday, the kids didn't have school, as it was the end of the semester here in Barron. Austin took full advantage of his day off by going snowboarding in the afternoon. He had basketball practice in the morning, and then headed for the ski hill for the rest of the day. He and his buddies, Brett and Shay, had a great time 'boarding, and, thankfully, it was another trip to the hill with no broken bones!

On Saturday, Austin had to work at a basketball tournament here in Barron. All of the guys on the basketball team have to take shifts working the clock and keeping books. He had a get-together with friends on Saturday night to watch a movie.

~~~

Andrew spent his Friday morning hanging out around home playing Guitar Hero with Abby. He had a party Friday afternoon at his friend, Macky's, house with the rest of the basketball team, and then all of the guys went to watch the High School Girls Basketball game on Friday night.

Andrew had a tournament on Saturday in Somerset. His team played well, but all of their games were too close for my taste! They all came down to the last final seconds, and two of the games went into DOUBLE OVERTIME! They won their first three games of the day, and, unfortunately, they ended up losing their last game, the championship game. The final game was one of those that went into double overtime, but we ended up losing by three points at the end of the game. The boys brought home second place ribbons and very tired bodies!

~~~

Poor little Squirrel didn't have such a fun weekend. She has been sick with a sore throat and a fever since Thursday. Jamie was home with her on Thursday, and her brother, Andrew, took care of her on Friday. She did end up going to her Cheer Camp on Saturday afternoon with her friend, Brenda.

Today, we took Abby to the hospital for a strep test that turned out to be negative, so it appears she has a viral illness. Poor little peanut will just have to ride it out. We hope she is feeling better soon...

~~~

Tomorrow night, Abby is supposed to cheer at the girl's basketball game to show off what she learned at Cheer Camp--if she feels well enough, that is.

Tuesday night, Austin has a home game and it is also parent's night.

Friday night, Austin plays again in Northwestern--overlooking Lake Superior. It is a long drive!

Saturday, Andrew has a tournament in Superior. I am still trying to decide if we should just spend the night on Friday night after Austin's game, since Northwestern is only about 20 miles from Superior. Ugh--lots of driving!

~~~

Well, that is our weekend at-a-glance. Hope you all have a good week!

A Sad Day...

It was a very sad day here at the Klimek house, as we were told the news that Jack's "wife" and Sophie's mom, Misty the Dog, was killed by a garbage truck today outside of her house. She had been playing in the yard with her owner, Bill, when she took off for the road. The truck tried to stop, but was unable to do so in time to avoid Misty, and she died instantly.

~~~

There were some sad faces around here after school when I had to break the news to the kids, and one VERY sad little girl in our house! Also, Jason, the youngest son of Bill and Shelly, and one of Misty's owners, had piano lessons right after Abby tonight. He also told me the news, and he was pretty devestated, too. Poor kid!

~~~

So, tonight's blog update is a few pictures of Misty the Dog as a tribute to Jack's "wife" and Sophie's mom....

~~~

Jusans Raleigh Golden Misty

A.K.A. "Misty"

9-22-2007

Misty and her newborn puppies

Abby and Misty and 3 little puppies

Misty with all eleven of her babies...

~Misty and Jack~

Goodbye, Misty--you were a great dog!

Another VICTORY for BARRON!!!!

Austin had another game tonight--Barron hosted Chetek on this chilly evening with temperatures below zero and a wind chill warning. Austin's C-Team pulled off their second victory of the season tonight with a final score of 34 to 31. Austin had a good game tonight at point guard and scored 4 points in free throws. Grandma Pat and Grandpa Denny suprised us by braving the cold and coming to cheer the team on--thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

~~~

Barron played on Tuesday night, also, against Spooner at home. Unfortunately, our outcome in the C-Team game wasn't quite like tonight's victory, as we ended up losing the game on Tuesday night in double overtime. :-(

The boys played hard, but in the end, their missed free throws hurt them and we ended up losing by 5 points in the second overtime.

~~~

Andrew has a break this weekend from tournament play, and instead, I will be working at the girl's basketball tournament here in Barron to fufill our family's working obligation as part of the league rules. Should be a blast, as I have to be there at 6 am tomorrow morning, and will probably get home around 7 pm tomorrow evening! Andrew is happy for the break, and is spending the night at his friend, Zach's, house for some serious Guitar Hero tournaments.

~~~

Abby is enjoying her Friday night with her friends, Brenda and Kristin. They went to the games tonight, and now are making nests in the TV room for a big slumber party. I hope they get SOME sleep tonight!

~~~

Austin is off with friends tonight to watch High School Musical 2 at his friend, Kyle's, house. They wanted to go snowboarding after the game, but the parents had to squash that idea due to the dangerous wind chills--we are SO mean!

~~~

GO PACKERS!!!!!!

Monday Night Basketball in Cameron

Tonight found us warming yet another set of bleachers in Cameron as Austin's C-Team traveled a few miles on HWY 8 to play the Cameron C-Team in a non-conference game. Unfortunately, our boys left their "game" in Barron! They certainly have played better, and our score at the end reflected that fact! Hopefully, tonight was a nice warm-up for them for our conference game tomorrow night here in Barron.

~

I was able to get some pics of Austin tonight during the game--

Here he is taking it to the defense as he is bringing the ball down the court.

(side note: the defender is Ben Larson, son of Terry and Lynne (Kaste) Larson--graduates of Alma High school in 1980 and 1981--Ben's grandma was Janet Larson, the custodian at AHS, and Terry was my former boss at the hospital--just a little F.Y.I.!!)

Austin at the free-throw line--yes, he did make this shot, and the free-throw to follow!!!

Another action shot bringing the ball up the court....

Abz and her dogs--Jack on the left, and Sophie on the right!

Day Two--League Championship Tournaments

Day two of the League Championship Tournaments took us to Altoona for the last three games of the tourney. Andrew's team, the Barron Golden Bears, played their first game against Superior. The Bears put up a good fight, but their shots just didn't fall, and they ended up losing to Superior. (Superior took first place in the entire tournament...) The loss placed them in the bracket to play for 5th to 8th place. They played their last two games against G-E-T (Galesville-Ettrick-Trempleau) and then against Stillwater Red and pulled off victories against both teams to take 5th place overall in the tournament! Way to go, BEARS!!!

I remembered my camera on Sunday--here are a few pictures from the day...

Andrew on the free throw line getting ready to score!

A fast break down the court...

Working the ball around the court...

The 2008 Seventh Grade Barron Golden Bears

Andrew and the team's 5th place trophy!!!!

Andrew looking sexy with the trophy!

Abby is lucky to have Macky's sister, Ahna, at the tournaments with her. While their big brothers hit the court, these little sisters play all day with one another! They have tons of fun, and the moms and dads are sure glad they have one another to pass the day with!

Aren't they sweet!?!?!?!?

So, so sweet.....

It was a fun (and tiring) weekend of basketball--thanks to all of our family and friends who turned out to watch Andrew and his team play--we really appreciated having you there!

:-)

League Championship Tournament

Today was the first of two days of the 7th Grade Great Northwest Baskeball League Championship Tournament. The top 32 teams in the league are invited to play in this tournament every year. Andrew's team, the Barron Golden Bears, are ranked 7th in the League (they fell from 3rd rank last year). Barron is one of the host teams this year, so we were fortunate to play all four of our games today here in Barron. The Golden Bears had a GREAT day of basketball, and so far, remain undefeated in this tournament! Their record so far is as follows:

Barron 35, Eau Claire Rebels 33

Barron 37, Grantsburg 19

Barron 36, Arcadia 15

Barron 50, Duluth 34

Andrew was lucky to have a HUGE cheering section all to himself today, as Grandma Pat and Grandpa Denny have been here for a few days; Chad, Nicole, Carter, and Bradley spent the night Friday night and watched games today, and Grandpa Ken and Grandma Deb drove up for the day after Grandpa got the day off work so they could watch the games! Jamie also had the day off, and two of his friends from high school, Adam Highman and Brad Carlsile, came to watch some of the action, too! Thanks, everyone, for coming to cheer on the Golden Bears!

Tomorrow, the Barron Golden Bears will head to Altoona to finish the tournament with three final games. Our first game is against Superior at 9:15--it will be a tougher bracket of teams tomorrow, as we will be playing for 1st thru 8th place in our bracket. I hope to remember my camera tomorrow so I can post some pics...

GO BEARS!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And how 'bout them Packers!?!?!

:-)

A Busy Weekend....

We enjoyed a busy weekend this past weekend here in the Klimek Family! Andrew had his first tournament for traveling basketball this year in Prentice, WI. As usual, his team started out the day kind of slowly and they lost their first game to Medford in a very physical match. Fortunately, they went on to win their next three games against Prentice, Wausau West, and Rhinelander (the Hodags!) to take second place in the tournament! Way to go, Golden Bears!!!! Next weekend is the League Championship Tournaments on Saturday and Sunday here in Barron and Altoona--should be another fun-filled weekend.

Here is an "intense" action shot of Andrew bringing the ball down the court...

Andrew and his good buddies Zach and Nick at the end of the game...

Abby had the opportunity to go ice fishing with her good friend, Bailey, and Bailey's dad on Sunday afternoon. They had a good time, and even caught some fish in between all of the playing and talking they did! The girls brought the fish over to our house to show them off before Bailey's dad cut them up. Abby was especially proud to have caught the largest northern of the day...


Austin had a busy weekend, too. After playing basketball at Cumberland on Thursday night, where the Barron C-Team pulled off their first victory of the season (!!!!!), he headed out to Green Bay on Friday for an Evangelical Free Youth Districts Convention. He said he had a great time, and that there were some good speakers and an "awesome" band. He looked pretty tired when he got home on Sunday night!

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

Happy Birthday, Nicole!!!! Whitehall, WI's New Year's Baby of 1974! And, according to Grandma Meme, "the CUTEST baby she ever saw!" ( I THINK I have that quote correct...)

:-)

Hope you had a great birthday, Auntie Nicole! From, the Klimies!!!

New Year's Day

New Year's Day was pretty quiet around our house, as everyone slept in after our late night the night before. Andrew was still at his friend's house and came home around 1:00 in the afternoon. When he got home, he was too tired to even eat, and he went right up to his room and went to bed! He has slept on-and-off all day long! I guess that is what happens when you go two nights with no sleep! We are starting to call him "Matt Borowski"!

Austin went to Trollhaugen to go snowboarding with his friends. They left around 12:30 this afternoon and got home around 9:30 tonight. His face is all wind-burnt, but he said he had a great time. He was even "riding the rails" today--I guess that is a cool thing to do...

As for the rest of us, we "watched" collage football bowl games and napped. Abby played Candyland with Woody and Maite...

Later on, Woody and Abby took on Maite and I in a game of Cranium Cadoo. Here is Maite modeling the lovely glasses....

The following are some action-shots of our afternoon...

Jamie and Jack

Grandpa Denny and Jamie

And Abby's favorite picture--the one I am most proud of--I fell asleep on Jack's butt!

Abby thinks it is so funny, and Grandma Pat accused me of being biased when I choose blog pics, so I had to publish this one...

UGH!

Grandma, Grandpa, Woody, and Maite had to leave around 9:45 tonight to head back to Nelson, as Woody and Maite have to fly back to Florida tomorrow early evening. The temperature here now is a few degrees below zero, so they may be happy to get back to those tropical climates tomorrow night! We will miss them, though! I did remind them that they could move up here, but perhaps when they were standing outside in sub-zero temperatures was not the best time to ask them to move north???

Happy 2008!

New Year's Eve 2007

We celebrated New Year's Eve 2007 with Grandma Pat, Grandpa Denny, Woody, Maite, Jamie, Abby, and I--and of course, Jack and Sophie! Chad, Nicole, Carter, and Bradley were here earlier in the day to visit, also, and to play with the cousins. The dogs, especially, had fun playing with the little boys (Carter), and were so tired when they left, that they couldn't be woke up!

Andrew had an all-night party at his friend, Neil's, house (the girls were there until midnight!!!), and Austin got home from his party about 12:30. We watched the movie, The Transformers, and then watched the ball drop in Times Square in NYC at 11:00 PM, only to see it re-broadcast again at 12:00 central time!!! We didn't know they did a re-run of the ball dropping! We toasted the New Year with our sparkling cider--and some of us got creative with our cider!

Here is Grandma and Grandpa showing off with their "champagne" glasses--that Grandpa is SOOOO smooth!

Woody spun Maite around the floor to celebrate the New Year while he sang "Spider Pig" to her--how romantic!

Woody even "dipped" Maite and didn't drop her! Jack the dog looked on in disgust--he didn't like their dancing, and later barked in annoyance at them to let them know!

The three remaining Klimeks...

Happy New Year!

(Is it time for bed yet?!?)


Maite and Woody--ready to tackle 2008--but first, they need a good night's sleep!

Abz and Grandpa toasting "goodbye" to 2007 and "hello" to 2008!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy Birthday, WES!!!!

Happy Birthday, Wes on December 31st! We thought of you on New Year's Eve!

Here are some handsome pictures of Wes at Heather and Zac's wedding this summer...

Uncle Wes and Abz...
Hope you had a great birthday--even though you had to work! :-)