Cute New Dishwasher

Today seems to be the day to discover new helpers around the house. Emerson was coloring a picture at the kitchen table, or I thought that was what she was doing. I was folding laundry in the bedroom and walked into the kitchen to see my Cute Priss washing and rinsing the dishes. I couldn't believe it!








She is so sweet and lite up when I questioned her about what she was doing. She replied with a smile...I am doing the dishes for you! How can you not love a child who gives service with a big smile.

I love you, Emerson Yvonne!

My Personal Laundryman

Today is my laundry day - yes, I only do it once a week. When I was getting ready to remove a load from the washer to put in the dryer Sawyer came along and wanted to help. I allowed him to stand on the step stool, watching to be sure he didn't put dirty clothes into the washer instead of caught him doing this....









Never did I realize before that I had my own personal laundryman - neither did I even know Laundryman was a word. Give Sawyer a couple more inches and I might not have to ever do the laundry anymore. I don't know if I trust him to sort the clothes, maybe we will work on that this upcoming year and by the time he is three I can pass the laundry torch to him. I love my Sweet Sawyer Jacob!

The Prophet

Last night at about 10:00 Erica called to say that she had just her from her in-laws that the Prophet - President Gordon B. Hinckley had just past away at the age of 97.

I was completely shocked and couldn't believe it. When I told Jason he thought I was lying to him. I quickly checked the church's website but couldn't find any information to contradict or support what I had just been told. Pres. Hinckley is the only Prophet that Jason has ever known since joining the church in 1998. President Hinckley was sustained as our Prophet, Seer & Revelator in 1995.

General Conference this fall will seem so odd without him sitting on the stand or addressing us from the pulpit. He truly was a man called of God who magnified his calling to the best of his abilities...I will truly miss his presence and spiritual nature at the upcoming General Conference in April.

To read more about him and the events that preceded his death click here. http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/

The BYE

It is once again Girls' Basketball Sectional time in Indiana. Jason invited his team over for his famous enchiladas and to watch the sectional draw as team. That being said, Saturday night we spent a hour or two making enough enchiladas to feed a small country since we were unsure how many girls would be coming.

At around 5:30 his team started arriving. Only 5 girls ended up coming so we had more than enough food for everyone to eat. Emerson enjoyed performing for them...she tapped, she sang & she showed off her room. Sawyer enjoyed being as loud as possible and for some reason decided that any cup he found needed a chip put in it. Who knows why but he managed to add cups to about 5 cups...he got one girl's cup 2 or 3 times.

7:00 rolled around and the Sectional draw began. Batesville is a 3A school so we had to sit through the 1 & 2A draws first. Our Sectional bracket was finally shown and we ended up with the best draw possible. Batesville got the bye and will play Greensburg on Friday, February 8th at South Dearborn. The girls and Jason wanted the bye and really wanted to play Greensburg since they are a big rival in our conference.

Let's go Bulldogs and crush the Pirates to send us to the Championship game!

One Away

Last night was senior night for Jason's basketball team and 4 girls were honored. That for awhile was the highlight of the evening seeing that the Lady Bulldogs were winning by 16 points and then in a matter of a couple of minutes were losing by 6. I think stunned is the only word that conveys just what the crowd was feeling. In the midst of losing one of Jason's players forgot is she was supposed to be playing offense or defense. Needless, to say she chose the wrong one and Jason was so angry that he couldn't see who was on the bench to sub in. An assistant pointed him in the right direction by giving him a name to yell and thus removing the confused girl from the court.

After an intense couple of minutes...very intense if you were sitting anywhere near me, the Lady Bulldogs ended up pulling out a victory, 49-44. They are now sitting at 10-9, the best record they have had in 4 years, or since Jason has been teaching/coaching there. They have one more season game and then sectionals will be here. I hope they are able to win next Thursday just so that Jason won't make me watch the game over and over again.

Misc. Updates

Life in Slopsema-land has been busy, stressful and great at the same time. Hard to believe that over the course of the past couple of weeks we have endured...
Sawyer blocking all the plumbing in the house - $400
Jason getting a hateful letter about coaching from an anonymous writer
Megan becoming paranoid about the kids she watches getting hurt
Jason losing a game that he desperately wanted to win
The dishwasher flooding every time it was run only to find out that a screw had come loose - thankfully we don't have to buy a new one for the time being
Emerson becoming very dramatic about having to help around the house

Does this sound like your life....don't you love it! I totally love being able to count on my faith and knowing that this too shall pass. Jason and I have talked a lot about how all of these things can be handled but when they all occur at the same time you begin to question how much you can bear. Thankfully all of these things are in the past and we are once again focused on the fun stuff like...
Emerson going to preschool and loving it
Sawyer beginning to talk constantly and being understood
Jason applying for a new job and pray that it what the Lord wants for us
Me enjoying the challenges of staying at home and staying sane!

Life is wonderful and I wouldn't trade a challenge for anything because I might miss out on recognizing just how blessed we are each and everyday!

2 in a Row

The Lady Bulldogs have put two wins together back to back for the first time in several weeks. We have enjoyed watching Jason's team win and being on the positive side of the score. His players played very defensively and really wanted to win tonight. Milan and Lawrenceburg came to play and really hearts set on a win but thankfully Jason's girls came ready to play!

We are hopeful that the momentum carries over to Saturday when we face our hometown rival, Greensburg. The last time we played them, Batesville won and would love to win both the the meetings this year.

Let go Bulldogs so we keep a winning record since right now we are 9-8!

Speechless

As I was sitting at Jason's game tonight visiting with the JV coach's wife, Katina, her uncle walked up and sat down. Practically as soon as he sat down he asked if we had heard about two of the boys basketball players. We answered "no" and he proceeded to tell us the two boys basketball players had been beaten, physically but some opposing team players in a fight after the basketball game between the two teams. Wanting to know the true I asked one of the JV players that I know pretty well, what was going on with the players and she gave me a lot of the same information but also included some new. Such as, the Batesville players went to meet to opposing players with the intent to fight but when they arrived at the designated place 4 more cars pulled up and proceeded to block the Batesville players from leaving. A royal beating in sued with the Batesville players taking the brunt of it. The other guys were armed with baseball bats and shovels! Where are we living South Central LA no we are living in little rural Batesville. It is very scary to think that this type of confrontation takes place in small town USA.

It makes me want to homeschool my kids and never allow them to leave my sight but realistically kids don't need to be sheltered simply taught that conflict isn't dealt with through physically mutilating another person because you are frustrated. I am so saddened that today's youth feels as though they need to permanently injure someone else to make them feel better about their selves.

One Batesville player ended up with at least broken cheek bone and the opposing player has a broken hand from hitting the Batesville player. I fear how intense sports are going to be viewed when my kids are older and involved in sports.

Can We Help?

On Saturday evening when I went to run the dishwasher I started it like usual and went about doing other things. Once when I was walking through the kitchen I noticed some water on the floor. I cleaned it up and wondered what was going on, so I checked underneath the sink for water since last time we had water under there. Nope, none! About ten minutes later I found an even larger puddle than before. I called Jason but couldn't get a hold of him. I cleaned up this mess and shut off the dishwasher. Thankfully the dishes were clean and I didn't have to unload saturated dirty dishes.

Jason and the kids set out to find where the leak was and I thought it was the perfect picture of Daddy's Little Helpers. One day they will be too big to think it is fun to lay on the kitchen floor with a flashlight looking underneath a dishwasher. Thanks kids and Jason for finding the leak. Now we just need to fix it!

Not As Planned

Jason's team competed in the Ripley County Basketball Tournament this past week and weekend. For those who don't know what this is or it seems Greek to you....it is where all the teams in a county play each other in a tournament form to see who is "the best" in the county. Jason's team won their first game and were to play in the championship game Friday evening. He was so ready to take on Jac-Cen-Del since his team had already been beat by them this season. Jac-Cen-Del is ranked 2 in Class 1A and Jason's team is a 3A team. Jason's team was winning at the end of the first quarter by 3 points. By the end of the second quarter his team was down by 5. Jason's team won the third quarter but them fell behind by 7 points. They would be able to get within 4 points but never could overcome that deficit. The Bulldogs ended up losing by 6 in a game that really should have been theirs.

It was one of those games that the refs let the girls play and didn't call very many fouls and when that happens Jason's team doesn't fair well. The other team was just a little tougher than our girls and so the calls or lack there of were in their favor.

At this point in time Jason really wants to coach again next year!

2008 - What Will It Hold?

Happy New Year's everyone! We hope that however you rang the New Year in that you were with people you cared about.

We spent New Year's Eve as a family. I really wanted some authentic Mexican for dinner so we went to our local Mexican food establishment and enjoyed a great dinner. After dinner we went bowling. Emerson really enjoyed bowling when we went for my birthday and we have been meaning to return. When we arrived at the bowling alley it was cosmic bowling so the lanes were all lite up. Emerson and Sawyer shared a game, and for awhile were beating me. Jason ended up winning and was very excited because usually I win when we bowl.

This New Year's Eve was great! I enjoyed spending it with people I truly love and couldn't imagine not being with them to ring the new year in. This year looks to be a very exciting one full of firsts for our family and I can't wait!