This next one is my favorite!!!

Matthew and his mommy…. (I want a picture of me and Brandon like this.  Warning Bob it is gonna be picture time again soon)

Matthew is Brandon’s friend.  Isn’t he so darn cute.  He is in our story time group at the library.  He is such a smart little boy, I think it is because he hangs out with the older kids.  Brandon and most of the others in our group are getting ready to turn four.  Thanks Matthew for doing such a good job for me!

Last night I went to the Chamber of Commerce Dinner.  There they awarded Charlie Weaver the Schricker Award.  Here is Charlie and his wife Jennifer Davis.

They also auctioned off the Eagle Plaque.  Here is the group involved with that.

And at the start of the evening Mrs. Lucas and her husband sang and played their guitars.  They were fantastic!

I had an awesome time last night.  My mom went representing 1st Source Bank and it was nice to have mom and daughter evening.  We had a great group sitting at our table.  David and Linda from Starke Hospital and John from Ivy Tech College.  It was nice talking to them about our community.  I have lived here all my life and both John and David shared some things that even I didn’t know and both aren’t originally from the area.

If you are on my facebook you have already read this but I have to share with everyone else… I want to thank Charlie and everyone else that was at the event last night you guys have inspired me to do more for my community.  Now that my kids are older I need to do more with the 4-H program that I love and that has done so much for me and my family.

The influence of a beautiful, helpful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town.”-Collier Graham

OD beat North Judson girls the other day (JV and Varsity).  This friday night the Lady Cats will welcome the Knox Lady Redskins to the Bobcat Den.  Should be a great game so if you don’t have plans come out and  support the teams.  JV game starts at 6pm.

Back to the OD NJ game… (Defense was key!)

In case you didn’t know the lady cats wear shoe laces that represent a cancer.  They all have had family or friends battle cancer.  The green band was special for that game to honor Christina their manager.

I met Christina Rotering and her mom May 2008 at the OD relay (do you guys remember that??)  She is a super sweet girl and happens to be the manager of the Lady Cats.  She is holding a shoe that was made by the Elizabeth’s Garden team.  It is a replica of the girls shoes.

Before the Varsity game Lou Ann from WKVI radio gave a little talk to the girls.  I went in because well, I am Lou’s body guard.  (inside joke)  It was special to have Lou Ann at the game, she is usually stuck at the station working during the games.  And she loves OD because when she was little she use to go there.  (BTW did ya know I live in the house Lou Ann grew up in, yeah small world)

And someone that is a familiar face to the local sport scene… Harold Welter from WKVI.  He is UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!!

Lou Ann wrote alittle article about the game and she posted some pictures too, which by the way are pretty darn good Lou!!  Once we got her setting in her camera she fired away and got some great captures.

http://www.wkviarchives.com/December_9_2009/#EDITORIAL-8

Thanks WKVI radio for always doing such a good job and for supporting our local young people.  And kuddos to the Lady Cats for caring about others and wanting to do something nice for someone that is having a rough time.

PS  What happened in the locker room stays in the locker room!

American Oak in North Judson, Indiana had a celebration for their expansion of their company.  They recently built a new building that holds the offices and the showroom.  Here are a few photos for the event.

First here is the American Oak team…

The owner Charlie Vorm, and his daughter’s (which by the way are super duper sweet gals)

We got a tour of the new building and the factory….

After the tour we headed to Grand Central Station for a lunch…

Congrats on your expansion American Oak.  Also, had to tell you guys this.  Bob (my hubby) came home with some of your scented pine cones when we was shopping the other day, I asked if he bought them because they were American Oak ones, but he didn’t even realize they were from your factory, all he knew was they smelled good.  I had given my bag that I got from you guys to my mother-in-law as a thank you for watching my son, but now I have my kitchen filled with the cinnamon smell also.

I love this shot….

I have known Angie for years, we did the 4-H thing together.  She is super mom!  I know how much she does with the kids, with the catering business, and volunteer work so I thought maybe just maybe that her house would be alittle messy and I would feel alittle better about myself.  I was wrong!.  Oh well, I am just one of those people that can’t do it all and I am okay with that, as I sit at my messy desk and look at all the laundry that is on my dinning room table.

Wes and Angie have awesome kids.  They were so easy to work with and they were so polite.  After we were done they even asked if I wanted to for ice cream with them, which I would have totally took them up on the offer but I had just had a root beer float at the Jernas Family reunion just moments before I went to their house.

Angie also has a super mom, I am so glad Wilma stopped in to get a picture with Angie and the girls.  Wilma has always been so good to me.  I have great memories of working with her and her late husband in the 4-H building checking in 4-H projects.

Thanks so much Angie for asking me to photograph this time in your lives.  I hope we come up with a super cool arrangement for your family room.  PS… Huge thanks to Ariel for the help on the family picture with the kids lined up.  I would have never been able to do that by myself.  P.S.S  Hey Wes, I was thinking about your pink shirt today and if we make the pictures bw then your shirt would be grey.  (just a thought)