What Quinn wants to wear to mass on Christmas Eve

The Halloween Crew

A bit late but Happy Halloween from the Windhaven Ct. Crew!

Welcome to the world

Welcome Owen Thomas Koch! Born on Wednesday October 24. Anna and Will are excited to have their new brother join the family.

On behalf of a grateful nation

He was on the beach at Normandy and was serving his country in Germany at the end of World War 2. He raised a family and then adopted another to raise. Grandpa Ike was a wonderful, kind and generous man.

The crown Vic

Awesome rental car, a Crown Vic

Crazy hair

Walker and I ran a 5k today for her school called the CV classic. CV stands for cardio vascular. It's a fundraiser for the school. After they had a fall festival and Walker had this fabulous hair done. Jay had a tennis match and Quinn opted to go and watch him instead of running.

Grandpa Ike

He was a wonderful Grandpa who will be missed. I read this earlier and feel that it applies to him.  "Well done my good and faithful servant".  We love you Grandpa Ike.

Smart boy

When he can't see the game because everyone is standing, he watches on the tv above him.

Chop the Braves!

Getting ready for the game

Go Braves!

Missing

I think almost daily about this blog and how I seemed to have neglected it.  I thought I would blog about our summer.  That didn't happen.  Then I thought when school started and we got into a routine I would blog more. Don't think so.  What it all boils down to is that we are busy!  Not as busy as when school started and Walker was playing Middle School softball for St. Pius but we seem to have something a few nights a week. Oh and homework pretty much fills our days from 3-6 between the both kids.  Here are the highlights from the past few months.  Walker loves her new softball team, GA Select.  She scored the teams first run last weekend at their tournament.  They will play a few tournaments this fall and then a ton in the Spring. The drive is not that bad.

Quinn is still playing baseball at Murphey Candler.  He begins his travel baseball next week. He will be playing for the Ninth Inning Royals.  He is super excited to be able to be on a team like his sister.  Here he is with his tickets he received for his birthday to go to the Falcons game. We are finally having his birthday party on Monday, no school!

I am loving my class at school. They are such hard workers and sweet kids. It helps that I have a great assistant and have made my classroom mine!  Jay is still working hard and is putting many miles on his car.  He is looking forward to being able to watch both kids play ball and not have to coach!

We all cannot wait for this weekend. Our friend Eric(my other husband) is coming from St. John on Thursday and Mary is coming in on Friday. We are heading to the Braves playoff game on Friday, GO BRAVES!  It will be a great time!

Love note

Look at what my sweet daughter put in my lunch box today. What a great surprise!

A tired birthday boy

My tired 10yr old!

Happy Birthday Quinn

An early birthday present, a trip to Monday Night Football! Atlanta Falcons vs Denver Broncos.

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Yep, that's the freezer

And yes, those are Walker's shoes in the freezer. We are hoping the cold will kill the smell.

I'm exhausted!

The first day went great for the kids!  Quinn likes his teacher, Mr. Unger.  Quinn sprinted out of the building at the end of the day proclaiming "School is boring" and then proceeded to lay on the couch.  6:30am comes early!  On the other hand, Walker "loved school". She gave us the blow by blow class by class.  We are glad to hear that considering how hectic her first day was.  Here is how it went.  Get up at 7:00, have picture taken with brother, eat breakfast, go and wait for bus. Bus never shows, get driven to school.  Go to school, bus is REALLY late coming, get home an hour late.  Change into softball uniform to go to first Middle School softball game (Walker got home from school at 5pm. She was supposed to be at the field at 5pm!), play game in the rain, eat dinner on the way home, go to be at 9:45 pm.  And you can see why I was exhausted!

It's the first day of school!

How Quinn feels about the first day of school

She is ready!

School starts on Monday. Middle school, 6th grade, for Walker and 4th grade for Quinn. Walker has her locker all decorated. The theme, zebra stripes! What you cannot see in this picture is the rug on the bottom. What's that hanging from the ceiling of the locker? Oh, its a light so you can see!

Getting ready for the Braves game

We have to squeeze everything in before school starts in a week.

The cousins -1

We had a great week in Gatlinburg with the family. The only one missing in this picture is Eli. He was already back in California.

Go Smokies!

Quinn and Will are having a great time at the Tennessee Smokies AA baseball game.

Vacation visitor

Grandpa Koch was flown down to Gatlinburg for the day. Billy Shoemaker flew him down so he could spend the afternoon with the Koch clan.

The cousins are coming!

Quinn and Will are becoming best friends!

Cows

They are off to Chick fil a for a free lunch!

The finished result

Not the best pictures but they will have to do. A before and after
with my braces. Thanks Dr. Rodgers!

Quinn and his friends wish you a happy 4th of July!

Help Mom! I'm stuck!

A little 4th of July hide and seek.

I'm off to get my braces off!

Bahamas bound

Walker is off to the Bahamas with her friend from softball Tori.

Tough loss

Quinn's MCLL Blue team played in the championship game last night and lost a close one to Smyrna 6-1.I know 6-1 does not sound close but after 4 innings it was 2-1.  The boys all played great and the parents had a great time together.  We were very fortunate to be with a wonderful group of boys and their parents.  I cannot forget how great our three coaches were. They made it all about the boys, which it should be.  Hopefully we will get to play again in July.

On tap for the weekend, what else but softball!

Go Fire?

Even though Walker's Flame season is over she couldn't help but want to play more softball. So more softball it is. She picked up a few games with the Georgia Fire. They played yesterday in Adairsville. The Fire made it to the championship but lost in the final game. Walker was a bit nervous going into it all, playing for a different team, but she did well. I will say a I will not miss the 1 hr + to drive to all of these tournaments.  She is going to play for them again this weekend and then I think, I think, we are done.

Go Blue!

Quinn started his tournament team with a bang today! The weather was awful but they got the game in!  Blue was victorious over the other Murphey Candler team, Gold, 7-1.  Quinn was horrible at the plate but great in the field. Between him and the 2nd baseman Carter, they had the last 6 outs of the game. The tournament runs through Wednesday, weather permitting. They play every night. The championship game is Thursday! Go Blue!

Its been forever

It's been forever since I blogged. The end of the school year approached and took over!  Both kids finished the  year on the honor roll and with perfect attendance!  The also received a variety of awards in PE, Art and Music.  Walker will be moving onto Peachtree Middle School next year and Quinn stays at DES in 4th grade.  I also finished at the same time the kids did. I had a great year and am looking forward to going back to Kingswood for another year in Kindergarten.  Softball and baseball have taken over again.  Quinn made the tournament team at Murphey Candler. Their tournament starts next Sunday and goes for a week. He has been having fun practicing with he teammates. It should be some good baseball next week.  Walker finished her Flames season this past weekend.  The Flames finished in the top 12 in the state tournament.  Walker was disappointed to be finished with the Flames but is looking forward to playing a few games with another team over the next few weeks to try something different.  Jay started a new job on Monday. He is now the president of Wilkinson Construction company.  He is looking forward to the challenge and less travel.  I am trying to relax from the school year but am having a hard time doing so!  Between baseball, softball, laundry, and swim team (yes Walker is swimming - her stroke, the butterfly) I cant seem to find the time.  That's ok, I am having being with my kids.

My car

My cars a mess, I know. I decided to clean it out a bit today but once I started emptying the pockets I could not believe the amount of random crap I have in there, so I had to share. What is some of the stuff... Birth announcement, tape measure (I used to have two), brackets from a softball Tournamnet, ketchup, fork, rain poncho, sewing kit, big spray, koozie, glue stick, sunscreen, deodorant, scissors, toothpaste, baseball cards...I could keep going. Some of it will end back up in the car once I'm done cleaning it. You'll be surprised what I will put back.

Windhaven Ct graduates

Here they are, the 5th grade graduates, Zack, Jack, and Walker!

The other half of the daily double

Happy birthday Eli! Your daddy made it home just in time!

Daily double

Welcome home Uncle Mitch! We missed you!

All star

Quinn played in the AA Allstar game Saturday morning. The American league came out victorious, 14-13. From there it is off to Oxford for Walkers softball tournament. Another great day at the park! Update from the game on Friday that we went to see. Jack hit his first home run to tie the game at 13. After scoring 12 runs in the top of the 6th including Jacks 3 run home run, the Pirates won! Congrats Jack!

Evening at the patk

Our kids are not playing but we wanted to support our neighbors and friends in the championship games at Murphey Candler.

How to clean a pair of softball pants

Iron out, warm water, and a bucket

Save this forever

Yes that is Quinn reading a book in a Costco shopping cart.

Rangers vs Yankees

The Rangers won thier playoff game today after losing thier first one
on Monday! They play again on Saturday. Go Rangers!

Walker bridging

Yesterday Walker became a girl scout cadette. Way to go Walker!

Family day

What a great day! We spent the day at Murphey Candler. It was the
first weekend in a while that we did not have a softball tournament.
Quinn had a game, they lost. Before and after the kids went to Family
Day at the park. Family Day is when they close the Major field and
fill it with games and jumpies. Both kids came home hot and tired!

It has been a while since a I posted, or at least it feels that way.
Last weekend we had to go to California for a funeral. Mary's brother
Pete passed away so Jay and I headed out there for a quick visit. It
was nice to catch up with Jay's side of the family. Lucky for us my
dad was coming for a visit so he was kind enough to take over for the
weekend. Walker had a tournament, they did awful. Quinn had a game,
they won. Quinn also had a friendly game with another park, they won.

The playoffs start for Quinn on Monday. Walker is in another
tournament next weekend. School is almost over, 14 days left!