Holiday Cheer!!!!!!

Time for Abbi and Elli's Holiday message of good tidings and joy for all! Before pressing play, scroll down and mute the song on Abbi's swimming slideshow. Apparently in Ivanlam world it's 2009 already, I put the wrong year in at the start. Enjoy!

Rock Island ORCA the Pentathlon Challenge

Over the weekend Abigail participated in her 3rd swim meet. This was the first meet that you could sign up for five events, most are up to four events. Also the first one that she did the butterfly, her least favorite stroke. She did so awsome. In all four stroke events she came in first in her heat, out of six girls. She improved her time in three out of the four events. The individual medley, 100 IM, she came in second. We are very proud of her. She was exhausted afterwards. She got up at 5:30, left at 6:10, and was in the pool for warm-ups at 6:45. Events started at 8, and went till about noon. I was so excited to get so many good pictures I just had to share them all. I did have to explain to her that she just made it difficult for her next meet because she did so well, and improved her times, she will be swimming against faster girls next time. But she is up for the challenge.

Abbi's swim meet at RockIsland

Turkey Day '08

As promised, a holiday greeting from my favorite turkeys, Abbi, Elli and Ambrose. Scroll down to turn the sound off the Halloween slide show, click on the speaker to mute the scary music, then hit play on this video.

New Stuff

Here is a few pictures from the opening night of the Festival of Trees at the River Center in Davenport from Last Friday. Uncle Jamie's boss at Bill's Moving and Storage Becky had a few extras and Tiff and I got invited. It's not often we get to dress and go out for some food and some drinks! Gabe was head baby sitter at home.We ran into a lot friends at the Festival as we enjoyed the free wine.

Introducing Brenda.....Jamie's new girlfriend for the last few months. They sure do look happy!

Good news from the family swimmer, Abbi. On Sunday she got up at 4:30am to catch a ride with her best friend Meredith to a meet in Cedar Rapids. Abbi won her 100IM heat and she finished second in the backstroke in her heat and she took third in the her breast stroke heat. She came home quite excited. Last week she was promoted to the advanced class of the swim team, now Abbi goes from 6:30-8pm each night. Hard work is paying off!Elli is waiting for her indoor soccer season to start at the sports bubble in Davenport and is doing very well school. Gabe is in a soccer league at the sports bubble and is working hard on perfecting the show choir routine for the winter season.I started a new job three weeks ago, I left Clear Channel after 9 years. The new job is with JMF Company (http://www.jmfcompany.com/) a master distributor of plumbing and HVAC supplies to wholesale company's across the nation. It's a stable company that has positioned itself well considering the recent economic climate the country is going through. I'm an account manager, an inside sales position. The warehouse I work out of is in East Moline, I have my own office! I'm a slow learner, so it's been a few tough weeks, but things get a little clearer each day.The dog you ask.....well, little Ambrose has been growing ornery by the second. Several days ago he was in his kennel alone at home, he managed to break the door down and get out. The broken kennel now sits with the trash. A couple days before that he wiggled the kennel freeing his paws enough to chew out a big hole in the living room carpet. After ripping the carpet up we have spent the last two weekends trying to restore the luster of the old time hard wood floors, but it ain't coming easy! He loves running from the living room to the front door, but because of his ruining the carpet, running in the living room has gotten a little tougher.Check back, I'm betting Abbi and Elli will have a Thanksgiving message for all!!!

OBAMA!!! Our nations new leader

Happy Halloween

More Stuff

Another eventful weekend is in the books, everyone had practices that led to games. Tiff posted some photos below, Gabe playing on his Sunday soccer team, then Elli and flag football and then Abbi, who participated in her first swim meet Saturday. And oh yeah, we thought the dog broke his leg last week, but it turned out its just a sprain!

Gabe has one more week of football left and he has informed us this is it for football, he would like to try cross country next fall, fine with us! After missing four games with a concussion he has suited up with minimal playing time. The sophs are 6-2 and should pick up win 7 against North on Friday, the team should finish in 3rd place in the soph MAC race. The varsity team beat West a few weeks back, they are 1-7. Like the Cubbies....maybe next year!

Elli has been busy with both her soccer teams, she scored a goal on her select team game on Saturday off a corner kick, split two defenders and beat the goalie! As previously blogged, that used to mean Whiteys, but I came up with another idea......Frosty's from Wendy's. A lot cheaper!!! Her flag football team has a couple games left. They have not scored a lot of touchdowns, the kids don't block, which makes it hard. There is some video below.

Abbi had a rather exciting weekend competing in her first swim meet for the Metro Swim Club. She told us a couple weeks ago she wanted to try it, but we didn't have the proper gear, so investments were made for Metro swim caps, Metro swim suits, new goggles and plenty of clothes, snacks and towels. Her best friend Meredith is also on the team, they were extremely excited for the meet at West High. They had to be there early, in the water at 6:45am for the 8am start time. Abbi did 4 events, including a relay, which starts the video below. Elli had a soccer game at 10am, so Tiff went and then I came a short while later and saw a couple events she was in, it was really cool, she has already informed us that she wants to do more meets this fall and winter.

I mentioned Ambrose had a tough week confined to our living room following his accident in the yard. The vet didn't think he had broken his leg, gave us some pills and told us no excitement. Kinda hard for a 7 month old puppy. His gimp went away later in the week, not without some incidents during the week. Like somehow he managed to knock off his pill bottle from the kitchen counter and then somehow he got it open and then he ate the three pills in the bottle, before eating the bottle. Yeah, he ate the pill bottle. Interestingly enough though, he didn't eat the pill bottle cap. He also jumped out of front window watching uncle Jamie wash his car and he jumped high in the air to try and jump over his kennel, stood upright keeping him confined in the kitchen. I failed to close the lid of the kennel, he wound up jumping in the kennel, trapping himself in the kennel.

New Pictures!

An interesting picture to start this entry, Sophie chasing Ambrose on a sunny Fall afternoon in the front yard.


And here is a good one from a couple weeks ago when it was warm enough to get in the pool. Ambrose often stands at the pools ladder and thinks about getting in. He has jumped in a couple times himself, but sometimes he needs a little help! If he gets in, he swims a lap or two and then heads back for the ladder. It is a riot!



Anyone have a guess to what this picture says....or means? 3 fedora's with 3 matching neckties?


Well........Homecoming at Central was this past weekend and this was the closet we could get to a picture of Gabe and his friends he went with. One of the boys had the idea for matching animal print ties and hats to go along with some shoes they had bought. Tiffany made the ties and the stripe on the hats. The three wore black pants with the tennis shoes, white dress shirt and tie with the matching hat. They ate at Outback Steakhouse, went to the dance and headed to the Pearson's for a post party and stayed the night there. Must have been good, didn't hear any complaining! Feel old do you? That was Gabe's second Homecoming!



First flag football game was two weeks ago, here is a good shot of Elli exploding off the line ready to knock some unassuming boy on his fanny. She was a little disappointed after the first game, she didn't get to run with the ball. The team has too many kids, she only gets to play half the game. At her game yesterday she was the quarterback a couple times but didn't have a chance to break any long runs.


Abbi is having quite the soccer season, through three games she has scored three times, including two goals this past Saturday. Her first goal last week earned everyone a trip to Whitey's, a deal that I guess was carried over from the Spring season. Score a goal, get Whiteys. Unfortunately due to a hike in prices at every one's favorite ice cream place, that deal has been revoked. Malts and shakes are now $4.45 to $4.99....ouch!



I said that Ambrose swimming is hilarious, see for yourself!!!!!

Kids Updates.......

The REAL Ocho Cinco.......

Week number 3 of the High School football season is in the books, the Central sophomore team is 2-1, with wins over Muscatine (week 1) and North Scott last Friday. Their lone defeat was at Burlington last week, all three games have been extremely close scores, coming down to the last minutes of each game. The varsity team is 0-3, but they are not all that bad, the scores have not been blowouts.

Gabe is not getting much playing time, except on special teams and some series at outside linebacker. He sat out of Fridays game in Eldridge, a result of a concussion from earlier in the week during practice that caused him to miss a day of school.

Gabe, now a member of the Central Singers Inc., the varsity show choir team, will spend this week entrenched in rehearsals each day after football practice till 9pm. Their hired choreographer is in town for the week. Should be a long week!
He has gotten off to a great start in school, taking physics, Spanish, choir and a life guard class and he is also playing on a soccer team which plays games on Sundays around the area.

Abbi Update

Abbi starting swimming this week with the Metro team at Central, she was very excited to get back in the pool. In the spring/summer session, about 20 kids would show for practice. Now they have about 60 kids participating...thank you Michael Phelps! Dads Club soccer games were to start yesterday, but rain postponed the first weeks worth of games, we're working on 3 days straight of rain in the Quad Cities.

We were told by Abbi at the end of the school year she wanted to take violin lessons at school with the music instructor, so we rented a violin from the guy who works on my guitars. She is very excited and has been practicing a lot. Her friends seem quite jealous when she takes the violin out to show off!
Photo Above: Ambrose likes napping near the laundry area, Abbi decided to cover him up!

Elli Happenings

Elli is keeping herself busy with her Dads Club soccer team as well as her select team that plays on Sundays. Dads Club practice is Wednesday, select team is Tuesday and Thursday. Flag football practice is Wednesday after soccer, first game is next week. Both girls alternate scout meetings on Wednesdays before soccer. Wednesday are a little hectic, we call them...'crock pot' days.

A few weeks back Tiff and girls were bored so they decided to dress up the dog and have some fun. Elli is posing with Ambrose in his soccer uniform and in the photo to the left Ambrose declares who his favorite baseball team is......Go Cubs Go!

Need More Cowbell????

The Rock Star we know as Gabe did a very nice thing yesterday for a friend in need.

You might recall a few posts back about our night at the ballpark in honor of our friend Davenport Firefighter Bob Juarez. Well, Gabe and his bandmate Drew Hence came up with a way to help with a benefit concert featuring some other bands at Central. A great idea! 'Rock For Juarez!...A Benefit Concert' was born.

The idea came a couple months ago from the boys, they asked if I could help. I gave them a list of some things to check on, but I thought the task would be too much to put together. It wasn't until Drew's dad Dan, the manager at the Stoney Creek Inn in Moline offered their banquet room for the event at no charge.....then the ball started rolling.

He gave the boys a date and said he would sell pop and candy at the bar. The boys got four other acts involved including a friend of Drews who played in a cover band at bars in our area that had a decent sound system.

We printed over 500 fliers and the event was included on various media reports about Bob's progress. Signs on schools in Davenport mentioned the event as well. $5 to get in, donations welcomed.

After weeks of rehearsal, the foursome known as Racing Sunsets was the third act of the day, following the Demon Ducks, leading into Firesale. They played for about 45 minutes mostly cover songs with a couple originals mixed in.

After load in yesterday before the gig, I decided to go home and get my Les Paul electric guitar for Luke Bergman to play, I knew how much he likes it, he drools over it when he comes over.

More than 100 people attended and most stayed for a long time. The efforts of the boys raised almost $1300 for Bob's fund. The Argus/Dispatch sent a report and photographer, it was on the front page of the paper this morning! Good Job Boy!

Tiff took a bunch of photos, once she downloads them off the camera we'll get a few posted.

California Adventures

Well we're back from the coast. I have plenty of info and pictures and videos to share. So here goes......


We flew out Tuesday morning, Aug 12 everything but our bags made it to San Diego! Those came later in the day. We were picked up by Grandma from Arizona, my sister Britta and her daughter Morgan. We hit Old Town, an area of town that is Mexican influenced for a hearty Mexican lunch.....I had a west coast staple...the fish tacos! After eating we took a trolley ride of the city which last two hours. Our tour guide, Deb, is probably the most knowledgeable person on the topic of all things San Diego....Deb became an inside joke during our week long stay. Here's a shot of Gabe and Abbi on the trolley taken with Tiff's new toy, her much sought after Canon Rebel. She took around 550 photos! I took about 2 hours worth of video.








Wednesday was Disneyland day!! Britta, Morgan and our five loaded up and headed out early in the morning for the drive north up the coast. We got there at 9:30am and didn't leave until 11:30pm!!!!! That's like 14 hours. We did as many rides as we could, ate some over priced food and bought some over priced merchandise. The day was as fun as it could be. The topper might have been riding the big roller coaster at the California Adventure, the Disney owned theme park next to Disney, for Elli and Morgan it was a first, but we all got through it in good shape. I bet we walked about 15 miles.






Here is the best shot.....some 20 minutes into our ride home shortly after midnight, Elli and Morgan passed out in the van.



A few weeks back, Britta noticed that the San Diego Padres were town and they had a Thursday afternoon game scheduled with the Brewers. She also noticed she could get upper deck seats for $7. $7!!! By then my brother JP flew in from Columbus and we finally met up with my bride to be sister Rachel and her man Tim and some of their friends at the game. We had a blast, ate some dogs, drank some brews and took in the excellent scenery of the new downtown ballpark. It was Abbi and Elli's first big league game. Rachel and Tim then hosted a party at their apartment where we were introduced to some of Tim's family.





Friday we headed to the beach at Cardiff by the Sea, not far from where Britta and uncle Tom live in San Marcos, a town over from Carlsbad, about 45 or so minutes outside of San Diego. Gabe wanted to surf and we wanted to introduce the girls to beach life. They have never been in the ocean before. We stayed for a few hours, Tom had all the toys, from surf and boogie boards to wet suits to sand toys.

Following our first visit to the beach we went to Mission Bay to check into the Catamaran Resort, the site of the wedding. The rehearsal was at the resort, the wedding took place on the back lawn over looking the bay. The rehearsal dinner was at a place in Balboa Park, not far away. I got some funny video there before the dinner began. The next morning we discovered a mama duck and some baby ducky's hanging out on our patio at the hotel, so we gave them breakfast, Cheezits and Fruit Loops!

Saturday was wedding day, the girls got their hair done while Gabe and I took a walk along the boardwalk and got a bite to eat and bought some t-shirts from a boardwalk shop. I got to walk Rachel down the isle, it was very special. Abbi and Elli were very excited to be flower girls, they looked amazing! Here is the girls in our room before we left for the ceremony, followed by Rachel and Tim entering the ballroom at the start of the reception. The ceremony went off without a hitch.

After the reception dinner, the hired DJ played some dance songs, the video below will start with Gabe and Elli dancing. Soon after, my cousin Rich from Chicago taps in to dance with Elli, as Rich's wife Germaine takes Gabe. That is followed by Tom and Abbi getting down. Then you'll get some scenes of the Grateful Dead cover band Rachel hired to play after the DJ. Yes, my sister hired a Grateful Dead cover band to play at her wedding. You're not reading that wrong. I was in heaven, they sounded wonderful. I was the guy yelling song suggestions, the one guy you hate to be around at shows.....but they played everything I threw at them. Tiff got that funny scene of me turning and waving at the camera. I truly didn't know she was recording, or why I turned around at that point.

Sunday we took it easy, headed back up to San Marcos and had a quiet day. I remember telling Tiff and Britta that I thought it was time to give the kids a break. For days we were asking a lot of them to be good and proper at Disney, the ball game, rehearsal dinner and wedding. Later that afternoon, Tom took JP, Gabe and I to a local brewery for a tour and a couple brews, Stone Brewing Company. It was impressive. That night we ate at Sammy's Woodfire Grill, where JP ordered an appetizer.....the duck tacos. I tried them, pretty good, to everyones astonishment Gabe decided to try it, he liked them as well. He normally doesn't venture out and try weird stuff. The girls got dessert with their meals, a messy sundae.

Monday was deemed another beach day, a beach in Carlsbad. The ocean water was very chilly, around 67 degrees I read in a local paper. But after about four minutes you really don't feel it any more, the water warms up to you and you get comfortable. Tom took Gabe out for more surfing and Abbi and Elli boogie boarded and Rachel drove up to be with us for our last day there. The weather was sunny and clear and the beach was ours, there wasn't many people there.

We left Tuesday morning, Ambrose was sure happy to see us return!

Dog Tricks

We've had some more requests for another feature on our little guy Ambrose, so I taped him the other night with Abbi going over some tricks we have taught him over the last two months. He has got the sitting command down pretty good, from that he learn how to go down, laying on his belly. From there he learned how to roll over, or on his side. Recently he has learned how to shake. As you can tell....he loves having his belly rubbed. Abbi seems to have the best rapport with Ambrose, but then again, she has always been great with any animal she encounters! Ambrose has been sleeping much better and now doesn't have a problem with his kennel when it's bed time. He is also getting comfortable with walks around park.

It's Saturday, three days before we leave for our vacation in San Diego for Aunt Rachel's wedding next weekend. We are all very excited to go and will start packing tomorrow. Plane leaves 6am on Tuesday, Wednesday we will spend at Disneyland, Thursday is a Padres game with wedding stuff taking up much of Friday and Saturday, not much on the books for Sunday and Monday (at least not that I know of), plane leaves around 10:30am the following Tuesday for home.

I asked the kids what they are most looking forward to doing while out West. Elli said Disney and seeing her cousin Morgan. A few days ago I told Elli about sunsets over the ocean, so she mentioned she wants to see the sun set over the Pacific. Abbi also said Disney and she is very much looking forward to wearing her flower girl dress for the wedding as well as spending the night at Morgan's with Aunt Britta and Uncle Tom. Gabe is looking forward to seeing the Padres-Brewers game and mentioned he hopes Tom takes him surfing. I got a feeling Gabe is looking forward to showing off his much improved muscular physique he has been working on during summer football conditioning........so look out California girls....the G-Dog is on his way!!!! I am looking forward to not working.

We'll talk when we get home.....Boom! Outahere.

Take Me Out To The.......

So......got the computer yesterday and it works. We are very happy. As promised, I put together a little piece of film from our latest visit Modern Woodmen Park (aka John O'Donnell Stadium).

The reason I requested the company suite last Monday was because the team was honoring a friend of ours who was recently injured while on the job. Davenport fire fighter Bob Juarez was injured the night the storm came through town and leveled us with rain that led to the second flood of the year. If you recall, I blogged about that storm, with some video of the clouds and sirens going off, almost 2 months ago. Bob, a twenty year fire fighter veteran, was on a ladder with a hose fighting a fire at the building that is next to the Front Street Brewery.

In unstable conditions, Bob fell about 20 feet off the ladder into about a half foot of water on a sidewalk. He was air lifted to Peoria where he was operated on a few days later. He is unable to move his legs and his recovery has been a slow process. Bob's son AJ is one of Gabe's best friends and Bob and I have coached teams together.

Bob was moved to Davenport a couple weeks ago and continues to be a news topic in the area. There have been several fundraisers, including a poker run and a big photograph taken with 600 people in it that was turned into a birthday card for Bob. More functions are being planned, like a golf outing and a silent auction. Bob and Nancy and their kids Lindsey and AJ are good people who live near us. We are proud to know them. 6200 fans showed up for the game, with a lot of 'I Love Bob' shirts on.

In the film you'll see AJ getting to throw out the game's first pitch, a strike. Then we chatted about the pitch when he came up and sat with us in the suite for a bit. David saved Elli getting hit by a foul ball as he showed off to the camera. We invited our good friends Brent and Lisa Pearson to enjoy the suite with us, with some of their kids as well. Lisa was Abbi and Elli's kindergarten teacher and Brent will be the head sophomore coach (Gabe's coach) this upcoming season at Central. We also invited Sara and Kyle Gott and their son Anthony. The Gott's are good friends of Ally and David's, Sara is an assistant dean at Central. Gabe was in and out of the suite, each time he came back it seemed he brought a friend or two with him! By the end of the night the suite was full with everyone having a grand time. That's us on the video screen at the stadium singing during the seventh inning stretch. Gabe stands out in his black t-shirt.

With the power out at home due to the devastating storms that rolled through the area that morning it was a great diversion! Can't beat fun at the old ball park!

Tough Times

Well.......we received our computer back last Thursday after two weeks without it. We got it all plugged in and started it up and................... nothing happened. Spent an hour on the phone with technicians yelling and screaming, but in the end it was determined I had to ship it back to HP. So we are still without a home computer as I update this blog from work.

Luckily our old computer was still hanging out in the dungeon part of the basement, so Saturday I hooked it up and we were able to enjoy some web searching! But that ended first thing Monday morning.

A little before 6am on Monday we were awakened by a quick but powerful storm that rocked the QC's, especially Rock Island and Moline. No tornadoes reported, just a lot of heavy wind and rain. It knocked power out to a large part of the region.

Our power remains off, it's been tough. There is a tree hanging on some lines in the alley across the street from us. Power crews have been by to look at it and put some yellow tape up to keep people away from it. Luckily our water is on.

We did not make it to the grocery store over the weekend so food we need to get rid of is not new. The weather is not stinking hot like it was over the weekend, which is a plus and no rain is forecasted anytime soon. Power crews were on the scene at 5:30 this morning, but then were called else where. Hopefully we'll get power sometime today. Looks like we will be firing up the grille tonight!

Life is really completely boring without power. If I had not reserved the company suite last night at the River Bandits game I don't know what we would have done. More on that game will come, I have some video of it to post once the computer returns.

*******UPDATE*********
After nearly 29 hours without power, the power was switched on around 10:30 this morning. Life is back to normal.

Post 4th of July

We had a very nice long fourth of July weekend here in the Quad Cities. Everyone got to do some cool things.

On Thursday, Davenport/Rock Island's annual Red White and Boom took place on the river outside of the baseball stadium as fireworks started on time at 9:30pm. Last year Jamie took us to the Bill's Moving and Storage offices which is near the Centennial Bridge in Rock Island for a great view. We did the same this year, made a fire, cooked some 'smores, had a few drinks, set off our own fireworks and stayed for a couple hours. We had a real good time. Ambrose came with us, he pretty much slept through the fireworks.

We also discovered Thursday morning that our computer crashed again....the one I bought in November. It is still under warranty, HP is sending a box so we can ship it somewhere so it can be fixed. It should take more than a week, a real bummer, I was not happy on the phone!!!! Saturday I went into to work to check my home e-mail and set my fantasy baseball rosters. My normal routine will be thrown off a bit for a while. This time I did manage to save a few things, like contacts and photos, unlike 3 months ago when we lost everything.

Friday we worked on yard, mowing the lawn and cutting some branches off the trees. The weather was outstanding. We grilled some chops for dinner. Gabe hung out with some friends and attended the Bettendorf fireworks display. We had some left over fireworks from the night before so we made another fire for more 'smores and I did the honors of lighting some the rest of the stuff off. Abbi and Elli ran around with sparklers, again Ambrose just didn't care too much for it.

Saturday Elli had a birthday party for her good friend down the street Carly. At 4pm we left home and headed to Tiff's Aunt's place in Davenport, Cheryl and Terry's. They cooked out and we drank a lot and hung out with them and some of Terry's grand kids who live here in Davenport. Ally and David and their kids also attended. They have a very big back yard, so all the kids had fun chasing Jamie and David. We stayed for 5 hours, the time went pretty quick, the food and drinks were good on such a beautiful July Saturday.

Sunday we cleaned the garage out and did some more work outside, it was very humid. Later on I decided to jump in the pool for my first swim of the season. The water was a little more chilly(73 degrees) than the normal 80 degree water temperature I require, but it was refreshing and water looked very clean and clear. Ally and David came over for a meatloaf dinner, every one's favorite! After dinner Tiff broke out her new toy, a chocolate fountain, you know, like the kind you see at weddings and parties. She received a gift card a while back and saw it and had to have it! She melted some chocolate and we all made a big mess dipping pineapple, angel food cake, bananas and strawberries in it. It was very tasty!

Oh and......happy anniversary to this blog, found July 4th 2007. I have fun sharing things and posting videos and photos to everyone who tunes in!

Ambrose At Home

Here is some more video of Ambrose playing at home and in the yard. He made his second visit to the vet yesterday, all is well, in the 16 days between visits he has gained almost 6 pounds. He is getting a little feistier too, nibbling at things and people and such. He has not been sleeping well at night, which is annoying. So last night the girls and I took him for a long walk around our block. That did the trick, he didn't make any noise all night.

Gabe and Grandma Marcia flew to Denver several days ago, so this week as been very quiet around the compound, which Tiff and I like a lot. We made smores a couples times for a night time snack and got to spend some quality time with Ambrose. The girls even slept in Gabe's room a couple times.

More Pooch

Week number 1 with Ambrose was certainly entertaining. He was very shy for the first few days but the last couple he has really come out of his shell.

Tuesday we visited our vet to introduce Ambrose, they ran some tests and did some shots that he needed. The vet didn't like the fact that Ambrose wasn't being very playful, for a puppy. They gave us some pills and a liquid medicine we have been giving him orally, the vet said he had something that he caught on the farm he was living on, probably from another animal.

Those symptoms have seemed to clear up, in the last 48 hours he has really been a handful, but fun to have around the home and yard. Sure, he is not house broken just yet and it is frustrating when you see him pee and he is looking right at you. We take him outside and we try and wait till he goes again before we bring him inside. That's time consuming and sometimes he doesn't want to go.

Sleeping has been tough too. We have a kennel in our living room for him at night and when we leave. We discovered he can get out of it, so we made some modifications to it. But with the recent increase in his physical activity, we expect him to sleep more at night. He truly enjoys being around Abbi and Elli, whenever they walk by he follows them.

Since he spent all his time outdoors on the farm, he loves being out in the front yard. We noticed that he can fit his head through the bars of the fence. A few times, when people walked by on the sidewalk, he has easily fit his whole body through the fence, getting out of the yard. Hopefully he grows up fast here in the next few weeks and that will be the end of that!

Here are some scenes in the yard playing with some toys. Cousin Riley also makes a funny appearance. Notice the similarities between Ambrose and Riley, young and very interested in everything and anything that catches their attention.

Stormy Weather

We just ended one of the most wildest weeks of weather the Quad City area has seen in quite awhile. A month ago the Mississippi and Rock Rivers were exceeding their boundry as the spring rains did a lot of damage.

Now Summer time rains are doing the damage. The same areas that flooded just 4 weeks ago are repeating the process over again. Cedar Rapids is suffering the most, last I heard the city is pretty much shut down. 25,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, about a quarter of the city. Downtown Davenport is also under water.

Last night, Thursday, things got crazy. We expected a couples inches of stormy rainy conditions during the day, which should have been a part of the deadly tornado pattern that went through Souix City Wednesday, but the day was quiet. Elli was at Girl Scout day camp this week, but her pack decided not to go on Thursday, fearing the weather.

About 9pm things broke loose. I have never seen so much lightning before, which was the reason I got the video camera. But as the night grew longer, the lightning got closer which allowed us to see some clouds that looked like trouble. The rain poured hard and the wind blew, sirens were going off for a while. We put the kids in the basement for the night, but after 11pm things got calm.

Our New Little Bundle of Joy..........

We have a new addition to announce to the Ivanlam clan..........born March 18th, a husky we have named Ambrose.

Tiffany has been saying she would like a new puppy for the kids to train over the summer and we had been checking the newspaper classifieds. All the husky ads are priced $350 and up. But Friday I noticed an ad that had husky pups listed at $150. A phone call was made Friday night, the breeders were in Stockport, IA, a farm community about 50 miles east of Burlington. So we made the 2 hour drive Saturday night to pick one out.

Abbi and Elli thought we were visiting some old friends, when we got to the farm they saw the dogs in a kennel and I told them to go take a look and to pick one out. They were pleasantly surprised! We picked one out and headed back home with our nameless dog.

Tiff and I had been writing names down out of some old baby books, and Gabe gave a few choices as well. The ride home we narrowed it down to seven...Ace, Zeke, Gibson, Samson, Xander and Marshall, (McLovin' didn't make the cut!!). But the kids felt very strong about one name....Ambrose. So, following a short family meeting after the power when out during a Sunday morning storm, we decided to make it official.....Ambrose was the name.

He is white and has some color around his face and back that is a mix of brown and grey. He spent all his time outside on the farm so he is slowly adjusting to life inside. His first night was OK, he slept in his kennel next to Abbi who slept on the floor. A couple times during the night he started howling, Tiff noticed Abbi had rolled over so he couldn't see her face. She rolled Abbi back over and he fell back asleep.

He has eaten a couple times and has been drinking water but he has spent more time sleeping than anything else. I made a short film of our first 24 hours with Ambrose which is below. Abbi talks in a soft voice about his birthday, being so close to the kids' birthdays, saying "He is already part of the family because our birthdays are in March". Birthday week just got a little more crowded!!!!

Spring Soccer Clips

We've got some video of the girls playing soccer last weekend for your viewing pleasure. It's been a strange season, they have had 2 games postponed due to wet weather, so the season was extended into June, last game is this Saturday.

I have weaved some highlights of Elli and Abbi into one video. A few weeks ago I promised Whiteys to each if they scored 1 goal, $20 for a second goal and a new car for a third goal in a game. Elli scored, Abbi came very close! Thanks to Elli we all enjoyed malts from our favorite ice cream place. Both had chances in the film below.

Elli's friend Carly scores a goal, it's cute to see them celebrate! Also, notice Abbi take a girl down as she stops the ball with her foot.

Ool Open

Notice there is no P in it? Lets try and keep it that way!

Memorial Day weekend we lifted the cover off the pool to get it ready for the swimming season. In February the cover ripped a giant hole in the middle, so getting the water clear and clean was not going to be easy. We spent two days vacuuming and netting and changing the filter but we got it ready! Last Saturday Abbi and Elli could wait no longer, so we let them jump in. It was an 80 degree day, but it usually takes a few 80 degree days to warm the water up. The water temp in the pool was 68 degrees.....a little too chilly for me!

Soccer Stud

Yesterday Gabe and the Freshman/Sophomore Blue Devil soccer team hosted Burlington at the Davenport Dads Club soccer complex. Any time we are there you can pretty much choose one of three different types of weather patterns....wet, windy or cold. Tuesday was windy!

Central used the wind in the first half, scoring a goal early. But the wind picked up stronger in the second half. Burlington used the wind at their back to score 3 unanswered goals for a 3-1 win. The strong breeze made it harder for Central to move forward, they didn't come close to scoring in the second half. Gabe played the entire game at his customary position, left back defense man. Here are the highlights:

We'll try and get some film of Abbi and Elli playing soccer and Elli at Little League later this week.

Reesey Pooh

Last Sunday Marcia and Tiffany held a baby shower for Ally here at our house. About 20 of Ally's friends and family showed. They were treated with some snack foods and played games for prizes. Ally looked like she was very happy with the turnout and she even got to take home some cool gifts for her and the baby.

Before the party started I got to take this video of the girls playing with Reese. You'll hear the name Reesey Pooh mentioned a couple of times, if you are wondering there is a story behind the name, which Gabe came up with. But not for baby Reese....for his choir teacher Mr. Reese!! It seems back in February Gabe found Mr. Reese's cell phone out of sight from Mr. Reese. Gabe got the number and started texting and calling him....Reesey Pooh! Mr. Reese didn't know who it was until a few days later when Gabe couldn't keep the secret to himself any longer. Enjoy our little Reesey Pooh...awake and animated!!!!

Bedroom Makeover

Over the last few months we have slowly been remodeling the girls' bedroom with a splash of new paint and some new stuff hanging from the ceiling and walls. We cut the bunk beds to make separate beds for the girls and added some stuff for their dressing room/closet area. They wanted to take a moment to show off their new duds!

Spring Pictures

We thought we would throw these in, the girls spring pictures from school and Gabe in a tux from Show Choir. I guess us old timers only had one shot at taking photos in school. Now you get two chances! The fall photo is what runs in the yearbook. The good thing about the spring photo is that it is optional, you are not required to purchase it. Both the girls always take a good spring photo though. Click on the image to make it larger.

Rambling On..........

After the excitement of our new cousin Reese's birth last week, things settled down a little as the past weekend approached. The weather seemed to take a turn here in the Quads, a turn for the better for sure! The last 2 days the temp as been over 70 degrees! The extended forecast seems warm, jackets are put away, the heat is turned off and snow boots are no where to be found and the lawn is getting greener every day and it almost needs to be mowed!

We started soccer last week for Abbi and Elli, they actually had games scheduled the week before but heavy rains forced cancellations. Abbi had a game at 8:30am (ugghh!!), they played well, it was a close game, I think they tied...whoops....no keeping score in Dad's Club! The cool aspect of the game was the fog that surrounded the complex. You could not see 2 fields down at the complex, I wish I had taken the video camera for you to see. Abbi was her normal rock solid player, doesn't let anybody by her.

Elli's game was at 12:30, by then the fog had lifted and a beautiful sky shined through. They struggled in the third quarter and found themselves down 4-1, but Elli and her friend Sam mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, with a little luck (and better passing) they could have easily tied the game, but it was not to be. Though her first game is a couple weeks away, Elli has started coach pitch Little League baseball. We have been playing catch a lot in the yard lately, she has moved up in gloves, now using Gabe's old Kerry Wood glove!

Last week Abbi started swimming for the Metro Swim Team at Central High School, an hour each weekday. I went and watched last Tuesday and I was real impressed with Abbi in the water. They work on technique and endurance, swimming lap after lap with a different stroke or variation of a stroke. Abbi has a couple friends on the team with her, so she is loving it! By 8:15 after dinner and homework she is ready for bed.

Gabe had a set back last Tuesday during Central's loss at Bettendorf. We were unable to attend with Abbi swimming and Elli at baseball, both the varsity and JV teams lost, but when Gabe got home we knew something was wrong. He complained of chest pain and had difficulty breathing. He thought it was his ribs. He collided with a Bettendorf player going for a ball. It was past 8pm when he got home, so Tiff called a nurse friend for some consulting. Ten minutes later they were out the door headed for the ER. Keeping me updated with text messages (we're so hip!) the doctor thought he had broken a couple ribs.

After some X-rays, no ribs were broken. He had some bruised cartilage in his chest. Gabe was given some pills and we kept him home from school last Wednesday, he was still in a lot of pain. He hasn't practiced full go, but only missed 1 game, earlier tonight a loss to North Scott. They were scheduled to compete in a tournament in Muscatine on Saturday, but it got weathered out. He is looking forward to Friday's game, he said today it was moved to Brady Street Stadium, where the new Field Turf surface should be completely installed by then.

I'll have the video camera out this week for some stuff to post soon. Keep checking back......

The Homecoming......

After staying a third night in the hospital, Ally and David finally welcomed home Reese to their home on Thursday afternoon. Elli and Abbi were very anxious to see their new cousin, so after all practices were done and the Millers were done with dinner we loaded the van for a visit!

Reese was asleep when we arrived, Riley was quite happy to have some people to play with! Gabe was first to hold the baby, he must have said 3 times how small she is....being a baby in all!! Elli was very excited and couldn't wait any longer, she took the reins for a few moments, but Riley started chasing Gabe and Abbi around the house, so Elli wanted in. Next came Abbi's turn. Reese still sleeping Abbi held her new cousin for a long time. Their dog Enzo was happy to see all too, he has remarkably turned into a very well behaved dog.

Their next door neighbors, our good friends and Abbi's best friend Miranda's parents, Scott and Michele came for a visit as well. David took us guys upstairs to show off the nursery and the work he had done on Riley's new room. We stayed for more than hour, Reese was asleep the entire visit, I'm sure she up most of the night!!!! To view these photos larger, click on them. Also...Hello Nicole!!!!!!!!!