The Bears Best the Bulldogs!

Our Barron Boys took on the Chetek Bulldogs on Friday night on our home court. We had a close game going throughout the entire JV game. Austin was not especially happy with his performance in the game, although his mom thought he did okay. I have seen him play better, yes, but this IS my blog...

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Here is Austin taking it to the defender...~~~

Bringing it to our side of the court...
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Due to some injuries and a few players that have quit the team, we were down to only one sub on the bench for Friday night's game! Our boys played well and never backed down--it payed off when we ended up winning a close race with a final score of:

Yeah, Bears!

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Our Varsity also won in a VERY exciting game! I watched the fourth quarter from the outside of the gym, however, because I was being a "baby hog" with our young friend, Alanna's baby. Little Brennan didn't appreciate all of the yelling, screaming, whistles, and horns in the gym when it was getting so close to his bedtime. I was more than happy to take him out into the lobby and snuggle him up!

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Wish I would have taken his picture...

Pleasantly Plug Your Nose

Today we had a rather stinky patient at work.

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On CSI and other TV shows, when the medical examiner has to deal with unpleasant smells, he or she smears Vicks VapoRub or some other similar product under their nose to mask the horrible odor.

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I didn't have any of that fancy stuff.

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So, I stuck a candy conversation heart up each nostril to block the stench.

The first one went in easy--the second one was harder.
My co-workers wouldn't let me go in to do my exam that way--I don't know why not!
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I'm just sayin'...
:-)

(Hey, a girl has to have SOME fun at work!)

A Complete Statehood Set!

Many years ago--I believe for Christmas of 1999--Meme and Grandpa Edward gave Austin, Andrew, and Abby each wooden plaques to save and display the statehood quarters. They all began their collections--actually, Meme started them off with five quarters, I think, and then they started collecting themselves. The boys lost interest a long time ago--I am sure they have spent their quarters!

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Abby, on the other hand, has faithfully been collecting quarters over the years and adding them to her Liberty Bell Plaque. Today, she and I ate lunch at Pizza Hut. Lo and Behold, our change include the elusive Hawaii Quarter--the last one she needed to fill her Liberty Bell!

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Abby was pretty excited to FINALLY have all 50 quarters, so, of course, it deserved it's own blog post! Here is Abby with her COMPLETED collection of all 50 statehood quarters!~~~

Thanks to Meme and Grandpa Edward for a gift she will cherish forever!

BHS Golden JV Takes the Wind Out of the Hurricanes!

We traveled to Hayward on Tuesday night for another of Austin's basketball games. The Golden Bears took on the Hurricanes at Hayward. Another long ride, but not near as far a Northwestern was last week! Jamie, Abby, and I were fortunate to ride with our friends, Dallas, Diane, and Hannah, so the ride was quite fun!

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Abby was the photographer for the night--she did a great job taking pics of her brother and his teammates! Here is Austin taking it to the defender (Phil--we have watched him play since fifth grade!!!)~~~

Austin getting ready to sink a free-throw.
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In the huddle
clockwise: Coach Schradle (in the blue), Grant J, David S, David K, Austin H, Mitch C, Austin K, Hayden K, and Lee K.

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The Golden Bears JV were victorious on the road! Final score: BHS JV, 37--HH, 29!

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Unfortunately, our Varsity boys didn't fare as well. We didn't play up to our abilities, and we ended up going into overtime. We lost our overtime by 2 points--we just missed a three-pointer. It was a disappointing loss for the boys and for the crowd.

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David and Austin sat at the scorer's table keeping the books...

Next game is Friday night at Barron against Chetek. Gotta love those bleachers!

The Awards Are In...Finally

Austin recently received his SOCCER awards from last fall. I thought I would post a few pictures to remind you of what it looked like when there was no snow...
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Austin's plaque for Best Offensive Player

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Austin's Certificate for Recognition of Honorable Mention in the Great Northwest Soccer Conference

Sure miss those snow-free soccer fields!

Sunday Projects

Today Abby started working on her Wisconsin Project. It has to be a project about something to do with Wisconsin history. Abby has chosen to do hers on the History of Badgers Women's Basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is making a basketball court out of popsicle sticks and researching the history on the internet. Today, she started the court construction...~~~

A few weeks ago, Abby was fortunate to inherit a bedroom set from Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken--and Grandpa Edward! Kind of a long story, but there was some switching, furniture moving, and trading, and now Abby has a really nice full-sized bed in her room, complete with dressers! She picked out a comforter set on line, and she is all set! The best thing about the big bed, is there is plenty of room for her and the two big, hairy, stinky dogs...
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Jamie ran to Eau Claire today to pick up a mattress and box spring for Andrew. Poor Andrew had been sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor ever since he moved into Austin's old room. When Austin moved into his new room, he took his bed with him, and Andrew didn't want his old bed with the ladder anymore--that went to storage. Andrew and I had found a headboard this week, and I had picked up some bedding for him a few weeks ago--the only thing missing was, well, the BED!
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Andrew was pretty pumped to have his new bed all assembled and ready to go for bed tonight--and look! Lots of room in his bed, too, for the big, hairy, stinky dogs!
Next thing you know, those hairballs will be taking over MY bed...

Three Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds

Austin had the opportuntity on Saturday to suit up with the BHS Varsity as they played in the E-Metro Classic in St. Paul. They traveled to Johnson High School in St. Paul, MN on Saturday morning for the game.

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Jamie was able to make the trip to watch the game and cheer on the Bears. He saw some pretty talented players from the St. Paul team--our boys didn't do TOO bad. We ended up losing by 18 points, so we held in there better than expected.

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In the last three minutes and thirty-three seconds, Austin and his buddy, David, checked into the game. This was Austin's first experience on the floor in a Varsity uniform! I won't talk about someone who left the camera at home... But Jamie did attempt to take some pictures with his cell phone to share with me.

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Here is Austin checking into the game at the scorer's table...~~~
Out on the court--Austin wore number 40 for the game.

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Here is number 40, ready to play some "D"!

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Jamie said Austin had a really nice pass as point guard when he got out on the court. Austin told me he may have had a turn-over or two, but his mom won't talk about THAT on her blog! We are proud of the hard work Austin puts in in practice and lifting weights that led to him getting this opportunity--congrats, Austin!

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BHS Golden Boys have two games next week--at Hayward on Tuesday night and against Chetek Friday night at home.

Bears at New Richmond

Andrew and his team traveled to New Richmond on Saturday for another tournament. Once again, our boys had their usual sleepy performance in their first game of the day against Hudson, and we ended up losing. I don't know what it is about those first games, but our boys always struggle to get going on tournament days!

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The next three games of the day against Stillwater Red, White Bear Lake, and Cambridge-Isanti went much better. The boys won the remainder of their games to take home a third place white ribbon for the day.

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Here is Andrew driving the lane against White Bear Lake for two points... ~~~

At the point position...
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Our final game of the day was against Cambridge-Isanti. Andrew had a GREAT game! His defense was really good, and he nailed three three-pointers!!! I know he also drove in for a two-pointer, so he had at least 11 points that game!
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Here is Andrew stroking up one of his "money" three-pointers!
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My friend, Kelly, and I, got quite a bit of entertainment watching this young man play for Cambridge-Isanti. He seemed to have some anger-management issues, and it was kind of fun to see what he would do next! We were disappointed when he fouled out! I don't know his name or anything, I just thought I should take his picture so I could blog about him!

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Some of the guys taking a break...

Michael, Nick, Andrew, and Neil with Coach Bruce intently watching the game

Thanks to Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken for making the trip to New Richmond to watch the boys play! Next weekend, we will be in Superior...

A Tough Week of Basketball

Austin had two basketball games this week. His first game was on Monday night--a make-up game from last Friday--against Bloomer. We played at home in Barron. It was a tough game for the BHS JV team; Bloomer gave us some strong competition.

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Here is Austin working the ball around on offense.~~~

Bringing the ball up the court...
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The inbound pass-- David "Sparky" Sloan to Austin "Eddie" Klimek.

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Our guys fought to the end, and David almost nailed a three-point shot with one second left to tie the game, but the final score left us with a three-point deficit.

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Last night, Thursday, we made the LONG trek to Northwestern School District. It is between the towns of Poplar and Maple, WI--about a 2 hour drive from here. UGH! Andrew stayed at Neil's house overnight and Abby brought her friend, Brenda, with us to the game.

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Northwestern has a 9-0 record this season. They have a team of tall, big guys and they are dominating the conference. Last night was no exception!

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Our JV was actually giving Northwestern a run for their money in the first half of the game, but they ended up losing by 20 points.

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Here is Austin doing what he does best--bringing the ball up the court past the man-to-man press...

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Taking a breather...

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Abby and Brenda amused themselves during the two games--it was a good thing Brenda was able to come along and keep Abz company!

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Abby used some of the time to work on perfecting the art of catching a popcorn kernel with her big, huge mouth...

almost...

Got it!!!!

The kids don't have school today. It is the end of the semester, so they have the day off. Tomorrow, Andrew has a tournament in New Richmond. I am happy to say Superior won't be at this tournament! Unfortunately, Isaiah is out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture of his foot, and Neil is having some trouble with his shins and it is questionable as to whether or not he will be playing.

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Our boy's Varsity team has a game tomorrow in St. Paul--the "E-Metro Classic". Guess who was asked to suit up for Varsity and be at the game, ready to play?!?!!!!!!

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Have a good weekend!

Pray for Jolene!

One of Barron's own, Jolene Lansin, was recently diagnosed (Friday) with Hodgkin's Disease, or cancer of the Lymph Nodes. Abby and Jolene were in Kindergarten together before we decided to have Abz redo Kindergarten, and Jolene was in Abby's dance classes for years.You can check Jolene's progress in fighting this disease at her Caringbridge web site:

http://caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do

or at

http://caringbridge.org

and type in the website: jolenelansin

Please pray for 11 year old Jolene and her family.

The Steelers Are Going to the SUPERBOWL!!!

Jamie can't stop smiling tonight, as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game by a score of 23 to 14 and earned a trip to the SUPERBOWL! The Steelers will be trying to earn their sixth Superbowl Title!
We could hear Jamie chanting thru out the whole house when Troy Polamalu caught an interception and ran the ball back 40 yards for the game-clinching touch down, "Run, Troy! Run all the way to the Superbowl!!!"

Here's to hoping the Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals in two weeks in the Superbowl!

Barron Golden Bears Eighth Grade Barron Tournament

Today Andrew's traveling basketball team, the Golden Bears, had their home tournament here in Barron. It is always great to be the hosting team--you don't have to switch gyms and you get the best court to play on all day! Our boys played on the varsity floor for all four of their games today.

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Our first game was against Grantsburg. Barron won by a score of 47 to 28.

Here is Andrew playing some tough Defense against a Grantsburg point guard...~~~

Our second game was against Ladysmith, a team we run up against in school basketball. Again, Barron came away with a victory with a score of 55 to 25! The Bears were on FIRE!

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The third game of the day brought us up against Stillwater White. We played against Stillwater Red in our League Championship Tournament last weekend, but had yet to play Stillwater White this year. I am happy to say the boys ran off with another "W" by a score of 40 to 25!

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Here is Andrew at the point guard position making a pass to a fellow teammate...

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In the huddle... Look for number 23--he's the cute one next to number 32!

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I heard a rumor that some of Andrew's friends are loyal Klimek Chronicle readers, so I wanted to include a few shots of some of the guys that I snapped today during the games for their enjoyment...

Nick

Neil








Macky

Zach

Carson

Isaiah

Elliott

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Austin had the special job of bookkeeper/clock today as part of his "community service" effort for basketball. Here he is (white hat) with his buddies, captivated by the game...

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Our boys went into the Championship game with a 3-0 record to face Superior, one of the toughest teams in the Great Northwest Basketball League. In fact, Superior is the number one ranked team in our League! We started out the game pretty slow, and it didn't look good for Barron. Our boys fought hard, though, and we ended up with a final score of 30 to 31! We only lost by one point, and that was close, as we had one second left on the clock, fired up a three-pointer from way back, and it hit the rim and almost went in!

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Barron ended up taking second place in the tournament, and can be proud of their efforts in the Championship game! We will have several more opportunities to go up against Superior this year--we play them again next weekend in New Richmond, and again the following weekend in Superior!

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Here is our team showing off their second-place reds...

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Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken made the trip up for the tournaments today, too--thanks, Grandma and Grandpa! Unfortunately, I didn't take a "fresh" picture of them today all decked out in their Barron Bears attire, but here is one from the archives to commemerate their visit...

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Congratulations, Bears, on a great day of basketball!

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Austin's game on Friday against Bloomer was cancelled because Bloomer didn't have school due to the cold weather. That game has been rescheduled to Monday night. I believe Austin has three games next week now...