Busy Busy Busy

The school year has started......along with that comes our busy fall schedule. We'll start with school itself.

Gabe is adjusting well to high school, we thought he might have a problem waking up much earlier than the last few years, but that has not been the case. Classes start at 7:40, his alarm fires off at 6:15ish, I have not yet had to march up the stairs to wake him up. He has had a couple of show choir rehearsals around his football practices. First game against North is tomorrow morning at 9am, he is starting at tight end and told us this week he will handle the kicking duties.

Abbi's 3rd grade teacher is Mrs. Thissen, same as Gabe's when he was at Garfield. Abbi loves school and this year is no different. Mrs. Thissen is big into classroom pets, they have gerbals! Soccer practice has begun, first game is next week.

Elli is enjoying Mrs. Volliger, same first grade teacher that had Gabe and Abbi! Mrs. Volliger is a teacher that strives on good behavior in the classroom. She has a system where every kid starts the week with 5 beans. If you end the week with 5 beans you get to pick a prize from the treasure chest, if you loose a few, you get to spend recess inside. So far, Elli has a clean slate, for those of you counting....Abbi cruised into April without having a bean taken away when she was with Mrs. Volliger!!!!! Elli is also looking forward to soccer and informed us this week of her intentions to play flag football this fall. Both girls will also be involved with girl scouts.

Tiffany and I were invited to a Show Choir party last night, I was scheduled to call a football game for TV, so Tiffany went with one of Gabe's friends mom. She got a chance to meet some of the other parents involved in the program. Tiffany has been busy this week sewing dresses for the girls and planning soccer practices. She plans on attending tonights Central-North game with the girls, Gabe will already be there, the freshman practice tonight before the varsity game. The football season got under way for me last week, after taping last nights game, tonight will be the third of 12 games Mediacom has hired me to do. At work I am enjoying our new management team who is allowing us to wear polo's instead of ties if we so choose.

After Gabe's game tomorrow morning we will pile in the family truckster and trek to the northern suburbs of Chicago for an Ivanic family reunion, the first ever. Grandma in Arizona, Uncle JP and Krista, Aunt Britta and Uncle Tom and cousin Morgan along with Rachel and her fiance Tim will all be waiting for us. We'll be home on Monday, in time for Gabe's football practice.

Gabe got his too......

It's a time honored tradition that happens in circles around the globe. An act where one accepts another into a group, a team, a fraternity, or even a high school. Earlier this evening a loud knock hit our front door and a male voice shouted out for Gabe to come outside. It's tradition for Davenport Central students to haze incoming students on the night before the first day of school. Gabe went outside, there wasn't 5 or 10 kids ready to afflict Gabe with some good old fashioned hazing......more like 50 kids, some football players, some show choir members, all running through our yard spraying shaving cream and dispensing toilet paper on our trees. It was truly an amazing site. Tiffany grabbed her camera to try and get a shot, I searched for Gabe. After 4 minutes someone shouted a command, and the group was off to the next victim. A stream of cars that totaled near 20 then headed down Farnam into the dark night. Then we spotted Gabe. Huddled alone underneath a tree in our yard. You could barely make him out. Covered in ketchup, mustard, shaving cream, chocolate syrup, eggs, rice, vinegar, mayo, various salad dressings and wrapped in saran wrap, stood Gabe. As soon as it had started, it ended, Gabe alone covered in all that muck shivering in the lawn. We then hosed him off with the garden hose, and Gabe took a hot shower. It was quite a laugh. Welcome to high school son, welcome!!!!!

Summer is coming to a close.........

The summer is winding down. Tiffany and the kids have been busy preparing for school and after school activities. As you can see from the pictures in the previous blog, Tiff took the kids to Burlington, IA to Fun City, a Best Western Hotel with a huge indoor outdoor water park/casino/arcade/indoor go kart track/bowling alley/doesn't it just sound cool already? Along with Tiff, Gabe, Abbi and Elli on the trip was Aunt Ally and cousin Riley and Miranda and Michelle Metz, Abbi's best friend and mom. They left in the morning and came home in the early evening. I was working so I didn't go, but when the gang came home both Abbi and Elli bombarded me with the tales of an all around great day. Michelle marveled at Elli and her never ending smile, even on the big slides. Abbi, as you can see on the picture riding what is now know as the toilet bowl slide, was daring. Fun City will be visited in the future by the entire Ivanlam clan. Reminder: You can click on the photos to see them larger!

Gabe started football practice at Central a couple weeks ago. Things are going well, he should see quite a bit of playing time this fall for the freshman team. This past weekend he completed show choir camp at Central, classes start at 7:40 sharp, Thursday morning.

Abbi and Elli also start school Thursday morning, Ab in 3rd grade and El in 1st grade. We completed our school shopping Sunday at KMart, finding book bags for 50% off. Notice I didn't write back packs, the girls went trendy, opting for over the shoulder book bags.

Last Friday was the premier of High School Musical 2 on Disney. Abbi was invited to a party at a friends house, so Elli was allowed to have a few friends over to watch. A few parents also stayed for drinks and conversation out on the front deck, or Dover Court Pub, as we call it. For those of you who don't know it, HS Musical is the 'Grease' of this decade. This shot was taken before the movie started....top row is Marissa, Lauren and Ivey. Bottom row is Elli, Jamee and Claire.

A day at the waterpark

fun in the sun all day long. we played till we couldn't move anymore. elli got very good at stretching her height (since she was a little shy of the required), but as you can see, she enjoyed it. abbi loved the slide they were referring to as the toilet bowl. we didn't let elli do that one though, she was having a hard time staying in the tubes, and this one dropped you through a whole in the center. as we were leaving they said "fun city" sure was fun.

Swim party....Ivanlam style!!!!

Uncle David.......walking on water. Shot? No good!


I didn't hurt myself.....and I didn't make the shot. Yeah..I know...nice tan.



Daddy daughter time......swim style!


Do not attempt this trick shot at home. Pete was successful making this blind shot.

It's not a bird, it's not a plane...it's Gabe. Gabe went Jordan on this shot during a game of 'pig' with the guys on Sunday after a satisfying dinner. Pete, David and Jaime participated in the game, as you can see, things got a little wild. Sunday's temps were near 100 degrees, so the ool came in handy. (Remember...no P in the ool!)

Take me out to the Ballllllgaaammmeee!!!!!

Pete pulled some strings at work and was able to use the company suite at John O'Donnell Stadium on Tuesday night. It was a hot and steamy night, so staying in the cool confines of the suite made for a fun night. The suite was stocked with a 12 pack of beer and pop, we ordered burgers from the kitchen and went down to the concourse for ice cream cones.

Riley was busy moving from the outdoor seats to the cozy indoors, where she played on the couch and the floor with her toys. Everyone kept an eye on the Cubs score on the TV in the suite. Even uncle Jaime joined us for the night!

The highlight of the game happened about an hour in, when a Dayton Dragon was called out, looking at strike 3. The player didn't like the call, argued and was ejected by the umpire. Then the 3 rd base coach got ejected after arguing with the ump and proceeded to kick dirt on the ump's shoes, then covered home plate with dirt. It was funny.

The humidity of the night brought some rain showers and lighting to the area, the game was called in the 8th inning, it was quite a lighting storm and it rained very hard. Unfortunately the kids didn't get to play on the blow up jumpy things, by the time we got around to that, the staff at the stadium was taking them down, getting ready for the bad weather coming. At least for 1 night we all felt like very important people!

Now On To The Next Project........

Good news, the ever changing lot on the corner of Farnam and E Dover Court got a face lift. 3 weeks ago we finished the fence along the street, a project that took a little over a year. Uncle Jamie had the blue print in his head, Gabe and Pete helped put the image to reality by digging holes and pouring concrete. Gabe did a great job of putting the fence panels together, he was the only one who could figure out how to do it! It was not easy, there were a lot of little things involved that made the job difficult. It was fun, the day we completed the job was a Sunday, we were working with floodlights up to 11pm to get the job done!




Grandma Marcia and Tiffany then took over the landscaping duties around the fence and the yard by re-sculpting the yard bricks and adding several bags of a redish colored mulch. The end result was fabulous, many walkers or bike riders have commented how good the fence and the yard looks. Now Jamie's black lab Sophie and our old dog Dakota have a place to run, without getting out of the yard!!!!!!!!