Christmas at Our House

This year on Christmas morning, we had an addition.

B's girlfriend came over early to spend the morning with us...


She came at 8am. We had to set our alarms to be up when she came. With the kids being older now, we have become slackers on Christmas morning. We just don't get up as early as we used to. No more 5am knocks at the bedroom door asking, "Can we get up now?". Now, we usually end up waking them up!

We did pretty good this year. With three kids, it's sometimes hard to make everyone totally satisfied, but this year, I think we did it!

B's main gift was a punching bag.

We all have joked that we will be taking our frustrations to the garage from now on.


C1 got a digital camera.

It had to be PINK!


Now, C2 being the youngest, he had quite the list that he had been perfecting since June.

He got everything on his list, but this one, I think was his favorite...


Let me explain...

When B was little, M and I were much younger and completely against guns. We were even leery about water guns. But, in our old age, we have mellowed out, and bought not only a gun, but one of the biggest ones they had!

Let me also explain this...

Knowing C2, we knew the gun would not be shot very often.

He's too paranoid about losing the bullets.

We were right.

What!?!

C1 just got back from the Eighth Grade Trip to Washington, DC.

She has lots of good pictures that hopefully I'll get on here soon.

Right now, this is the one that I'm most concerned about...


On Sunday, they went on a dinner cruise. The kids dressed up, had dinner, and there was a DJ. That is where this picture was taken.

By the way, that's N, her BOYFRIEND!!!

I think it's time to lock her up!

Tornado Warning!!!

If you read my previous post, you saw that we had a beautiful evening for the Halloween Parade.

Little did we know what was in store for the following day...

The day started out partly cloudy and they were calling for severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. OK...probably have indoor recess, was my thought.

I left the school at 11:00am for lunch. On my drive back to the school, they came over the radio and announced a thunderstorm warning for the counties north of us.

When I walked in the school, all the kids and staff were in the hallway, sitting.

Oh...

I passed the Principal on my way in and he said, "Fun times!"

They had received a call from the police chief to get everyone in the halls and prepare for the worst.

When I passed the cafeteria, it was completely deserted, with all the lunches left on the tables. It was kind of eerie...

I got to the Kindergarten Hallway, and there they all were. All three Kindergarten classes, the Pre-first class, the LD class, and the MD Unit. The kids were just sitting along the walls and a teacher was reading a book to them. After the book, we sang songs.

Then the announcement came that we were to get in tornado position. The kids all turned around on their hands and knees and covered their heads with their hands.

This.was.for.real.

The adults kept singing, and watching...

The wind picked up and it started to rain. Luckily, all we could see was out the door at the end of the hallway. I know, that if I could have seen more, I probably would have lost it...

Then, you could hear it. And the lights went out.

You always hear that a tornado sounds just like a freight train...IT DOES!!!

The good news, it was over as fast as it began.

The kids stayed down another ten minutes, and they were all great! What a good bunch of troopers. Sure, a few cried. But I think it was more out of frustration from sitting the way they had to, than really being too scared. As soon as we got the OK to let the kids turn around, they all got Jolly Ranchers!

Soon, we were released to go back to the classrooms and proceed with the day.

Of course, every adult had a cell phone out and the reports of what had happened in town started to come in.

When my kids were all home safely, we went for a walk to see the damage for ourselves.

This house is the worst hit. The roof completely blew off, hit the neighbor's house across the street and threw it off it's foundation. Both of these houses will be demolished and rebuilt.



This is an old gymnasium that was used for storage.


These trees were completely uprooted.


This is the temporary fencing that was placed around our old school building.

We are so blessed that we were not in this building when this happened. It was right in the path of destruction.


We had walked down the main street and saw a lot of debris. There were pieces of siding, roofing, insulation and wood everywhere. Lots of places were taped off with security tape.

We passed one house that was taped off. C2 asked what was wrong with that house. To look at it, you could see no damage.

Then, when you looked up, in the tree in the front yard, was this...


A WHOLE FREAKING GARAGE DOOR WRAPPED AROUND THE TOP OF THE TREE!

This was when I knew how lucky we all really were.

All this damage, and not one injury...

God is so good!

Halloween Parade

This was a BIG year for the Mosgrove's in the Halloween Parade!

For the first time, the Middle School Band got to march in the parade. They actually marched seperate from the High School Band, and sounded just as good!

We were all very impressed because these are only 7th and 8th graders!


Of course, the football team and cheerleaders were in the parade.

If you knew my cousin's daughter R, you would know how out of character this costume is for her. She is a "goody two shoes", and when I heard that she picked this costume, my jaw dropped...


And of course, the football players...


We had good weather for the parade...but we didn't know what was coming...

Reading and Visitors II

Two years ago, I added two items to my sidebar.

On the first year anniversary date, I did an update.

Here's the update for the last year...

I read 55 books. Wow! When did I have time for that!?!

I also had 1691 visitors. That number is down from the previous year. But, if you don't blog regularly, who's going to read it right?

Time to clear it and start over!

The Picture That Saved The Day

Last weekend was the Western Buckeye League (WBL) Meet.

There are nine schools in our league.

It was a beautiful fall day. A great day for a run!

The girls got stretched out and were ready to run.


They lined up to go.

C1 is in the middle and to the right of her, is her friend, S.

S is very fast. She always comes in at least a 45 seconds to a minute before the other girls. The coach's goal this year was to get C1 to run at S's speed. He knew she could do it. But, C1 had it in her head that she was the same speed as another girl, M. M was hurt and not running in this meet...


The first time they came around,

C1 was.right.behind.S!!!


I couldn't believe it!

Take M out of the picture, and she was on S's heels!

The girls started coming in. S came in 4th and C1 followed a few girls later.

In the chute, they gave them their placement cards.

C1's had an 8 on it! Great job!

Or so we thought.

She started crying and telling me about how the girl behind her got in front of her in the chute and took 7th place.

Well, Mommy and a friend both had a picture of her finishing that showed the order that the girls actually came in.

This is the picture that saved the day, and got her her 7th place.


Her time was 13:57! WOW!!!

I'm glad I was there to help her out. It didn't hurt that my friend with the other picture, is a 6'4" man!

Thanks J!

What's Been Happening

We have been busy, busy, busy!

Things are finally settling down, but here's a short recap of what we've been up to.

C1 marched with the High School Band at the football game.

I have to say that this thrilled me greatly. They always give the Eighth Graders a chance to see what it is all about. She loved it! She was a little nervous about actually playing and moving around on the field, but she did great. Next year, she will be playing with the big kids, in.full.uniform. I don't know who's more excited, her or me!


C1 also ran her best time at the last actual Cross Country Meet!

Two miles in 14:34! AMAZING!


C2 ended a great year in football.

We have always given him a hard time, telling him he is not aggressive enough.

Well, this year, he stepped it up! He had a few good tackles and two sacks! I always joked that I would never hear the words "Mosgrove, the ball carrier" but I have to say, hearing "Stopped by number 12, Mosgrove" is just as thrilling!

To end the season, they had their annual Whipped Cream Fight!


If it hadn't have gotten so chilly, I would have made him walk home!

Homecoming

This year for the first time, B decided he was going to the Homecoming Dance.

I guess having a girlfriend helps. She probably told him they were going.

Surprisingly, he was very excited about it and took way longer than normal to get ready. I was beginning to think he was a girl!

We met at her house for pictures and then they were off to eat and then to the dance.



When he came home, he was still excited and said they had a lot of fun.

It's so good to see him happy!

My Cross Country Girl

This fall C1 has been doing Cross Country.

Last spring, the High School Cross Country Coach spotted her at Track practice and asked her name. He asked her why she didn't run Cross Country. He said he would remember her name and make sure that she signed up for the fall.

He held that promise.

She has improved greatly through the season and really enjoys it.

This morning she had a meet and I remembered my camera!

After they take off, you can always walk to about the halfway point and cheer them on.


As she approached the Finish Line, she was the third girl from her team coming in.


Her best time this season was 14:49. She came in just a little over that today.


Good job!

Going, Going, Gone...

As you may know, last school year was the last year we would spend in our old building.

The village that we live in had the opportunity to take possession of the old building and use it for whatever they liked.

They decided against keeping it because of costs involved, so the building was to be demolished.

Throughout the summer, our dear old building has gone through many changes beginning with the auction.

In early August, they fenced in the building and cut all the power.

It was no longer lit up at night.


Several local Fire Departments and the National Guard came in and used the building for training after all the exterior doors and windows were removed.

At this point, sadly enough, the building was an eyesore and needed to go...



Monday of this past week, demolition began and it.went.quick!

Monday they removed all the decorative concrete from the building. The village will use these pieces for a memorial they plan to build where the old building stood.

Tuesday the whole back wing was demolished and Wednesday the gym.




Thursday the rest of the building came down.



In four days, this was all we had left of our beloved Cridersville Elementary on Main Street.



Too soon, this too will be gone and we will have green space for the kids to play on.

This is going to take some getting used to...

First Day of School

School has started and here's the proof.

B started a week and a half before the rest of us did. He is going to the local Career Center this year. He is taking welding and loves it so far. He's like a totally different student. He's getting his homework done, going to bed early, and really seems to enjoy it. I'm so thankful for that!


C1 is in the Eighth Grade and at the High School this year. Yikes! How did my baby girl get this old!?! When I was in the Eighth Grade, we were just getting into Junior High. We were in Elementary School through the Seventh Grade. My, how things have changed!


C2 is spending his last year of Elementary School in our brand spanking new building! He is in the Fourth Grade and really likes it so far. I'm glad that he gets to spend one year in this school. It is huge and beautiful!


They are all growing up so fast.

Hopefully, we have a great year!

Silly Bandz

The big thing around here right now is Silly Bandz.

We buy them.

We count them.

We sort them.

We carry them around with us in plastic boxes.

We trade them.

And by "we", I mean C1 and C2...especially C1.

She took a picture of how many she had two weeks ago; she now has more.


And of course, we wear them...


Wonder how long this craze will last?

Children's Fountain

Last week, for something different, my cousin and I took the kids to the Children"s Fountain in Faurot Park.

At first, they didn't know quite know what to do.

"Just go play!" we said...

We were tired of hearing how boring the pool is getting, so we thought they would enjoy this.

Eventually, they did...



for about twenty minutes.

Then, they were ready to go.

So much for different; the next day, we were back at the pool!

Memories

When the school year finished, this was the last message that was put on the sign out front.


C1 said, "Why do they have to make it so sad? Who put that up?"

I told her it was Mr. G. that puts the messages up. She said she was mad at him. I then told her that Mr. T. tells him what to put up. She said she was really mad at him!

When I told Mr. T. what she said his reply was, "That was my goal. To make everyone sad."

I'm glad I got this picture when I did.

This sign too, is now gone...

Sold! To Bidder Number...

Saturday was the auction at our old school building.

It was weird to be there and look around the auction before everything started.

When I walked into the classroom that I had worked in for the last five years, it smelled like home. But, everything was gone. All that was left, was what was to be auctioned.


They had two rings going. One in the gym and one that moved from classroom to classroom. In the gym they were auctioning things that had come from the other two schools that had already had their auctions and anything else that the district had found in storage to get rid of. What was being auctioned in the classrooms were the things that were actually from our school.

We hung around in the gym for awhile and then went upstairs to see what was happening there.

That is where it really hit me that this was for real. We were really done in this building.

Why?

After the auctioneer finished in a classroom, everything was ready to be removed.

And people did not mess around...

In the office, our old kitchen supervisor bought the teacher mailboxes. She had retired from this school and wanted a memento. They were one of the first things that I saw being removed and it was hard to see.


I guess I just didn't realize that EVERYTHING would be sold. They sold ceiling fans, drinking fountains, restroom dividers, stage curtains, the gym floor. Everything went.

We went back in the evening to get the things we had purchased and the hand railings on the stairs were gone. Lockers had been taken out of the walls and blackboards removed.

C1 jumped in the hole that was left in a classroom where the lockers used to be...


C2 wanted one last picture in the classroom that he had spent the last two years in...


There was one very neat thing that we discovered.

We were walking by a classroom where the whiteboard had been removed. I noticed that there was writing on the blackboard that was underneath and went in to see what it was and got a nice surprise!


Hidden under that whiteboard for the last eight years was the signatures of all the students that were in that classroom when they had put the whiteboard up. One of them was B. Hidden all that time was his little nine year old signature.

Made a happy ending to a sad day...