WHY WON'T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME?

Every Thursday afternoon, Mr. Ratliff hosts the Newspaper students in his classroom.  Everyone shows up and begins working. One of the photographers thought she was funny and caught Mr. Ratliff imparting instructions.

Wait! is that little Rebecca in the picture, just to the right? That is! That is her! Well, Rebecca served as a First Grade Correspondent on an assignment last Fall and ever since has determined that she is part of the newspaper staff, no questions asked.

I keep telling her that she should go to Youth Club. Her reply?

"Oh, Daddy! You know I have to come to Newspaper because I'm on the staff just like the big kids!"

I will say this: She takes a killer photograph!

It was 80's Day at Knox High School. During Winter Homecoming Week, each day is assigned a special event. As you can see, Biz has her hair done up in style!

Even the Elementary School gets in the swing. Their day was "Blast to the Past!" Becca decided to go as someone who blasted back to the 2000s.

Even as we continue to get slammed with system and lake effect snow (more than 8 inches on the ground right now) we continue to enjoy life in Knox.

Well, we finally decided to give up our wonderful Honda Civic Hybrid with its great gas mileage and purchased a 4WD. I guess it was the massive snow storm just before Christmas that did the trick.

We had been researching, waiting, and saving for more than a year. We were so ready for the release of the 2011 Explorer. This is the first model with the body style similar to the Ford Edge. This was the first one to arrive at our local dealership and had everything Biz and I wanted, so we went ahead and made them an offer.

The Explorer gives us everything we need to get through the winter, including snow clearance when pulling into Charles' unplowed driveway! It also has 4-Wheel-All Wheel-All Terrain drive for driving on those rough, slushy, slippery roads. Don't worry! Bizzy doesn't let Charles drive in those types of conditions anyways! As for gas mileage, the Explorer does give us 18-23, and last May Charles traded in his 8-year-old Jeep Liberty for a 2010 Ford Fusion, which gives us 26-30 MPG, so that will become our long distance car when driving to away games.

We're having fun getting to know our Ford Explorer and it's certainly an SUV one should consider buying, if you are in the market for one.

Just a Little Love Uncle Claude.....

Just when he thought he was going to get Becca to leave, she turned the tables on him and gave her Uncle Claude a big smoocherini right after lunch at the Hooters in Las Vegas' Sunset Station Casino. It was our last lunch on the last day in Vegas prior to heading back to the snowy mid-West. We enjoyed our trip to Bullhead City and Vegas and hope to get back out west in the near future.

SANTA FILLED MY STOCKING!

Becca shows off some of the things that she got in her stocking Christmas morning. She had to make sure Santa understood that she was staying with her grandparents during Christmas week and that he knew how to find her, which he did.

 VISITING HISTORIC OATMAN

Here, Becca poses with a couple of the Oatman gunfighters following their daily show in Oatman, Ariz. Becca so enjoys visiting the mountainside town halfway between Bullhead City and Needles. Becca also gets a kick out of feeding the burros! This can be a slight problem, however, as the burros FOLLOW you everywhere you go once you feed them!

WITH MOM AT CHRISTMAS!

Here, Biz and Mom take a moment to pose for the camera.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

In the top picture, Becca shows off her brand new silver sparkly dress (pardon Dad, he doesn't quite know the correct fashion terms. In the middle picture, Mom, Leslie, Biz and Becca all pose for a picture prior to Becca heading off to bed. Bottom, Leslie, Claude and Mom pose for a picture while visiting one of Claude's favorite restaraunts in Las Vegas - The Haufbrau Haus!

VISITING HISTORIC OATMAN

Dad and Becca pose in front of an antique John Deere tractor (yeah, like they really used tractors in the desert!) at one end of Historic Oatman.  Whenever we get back to the Bullhead City area, we like to pay a visit to one of the few remaining old west theme towns left in Arizona (the other one is Tombstone!).

Becca Poses in front of Christmas Tree

Trying on new dresses around our house can be a joy and always must be recorded for posterity's sake. Here, Becca is trying on one of her dresses, trying to decide which one - the green or the red - to wear for her program. The green one won out. The red one, on the other hand, she decided to wear to Bizzy's Christmas Cantata.

We want to wish all of our family and friends the best of the season. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Becca and classmates get ready to sing!

Following two days and 17 inches of snow, we returned to school and Becca's First Grade Christmas Program was rescheduled for that night. So, more than 150 first graders arrived at school in single digit temps and sang their hearts out.

Becca is seen here in the back row, second student in (standing tallest to shortest, Becca is the second tallest in her class!). The program was wonderful and the kids all did great.

Merry Christmas!

Becca poses in front of the school Christmas Tree following her first grade program.

Wishing all a wonderful, Merry Christmas!

 Biz getting briefed


Prior to suiting up, Driver Dan Wheldon, of the National Guard Formula One Race Car, visited with Biz in pit row at the Chicago Raceway.

Biz spent the day in the car, in the pit, in the owner's box.

Now, Biz says she wants her own Formula One car.

 Biz, the Race Car Driver


After school was underway, Biz got the opportunity to take a ride in a Formula One race car at Chicago Raceway.

Here, Biz takes a photo with driver Helio Castroneves. Then, Biz climbed into the car and took a few spins around the track. When she asked if she could drive, Helio politely refused: "No way!"

She had fun. 'Nuff said.

School Underway

It has been a pretty busy summer. After spending June fixing up some minor things around the house, I taught summer school to middle school students during July. Right after that let out, I headed to Arizona for a brief vacation to see the boys. I stayed at Russ' house, went to Tucson for a couple of days, then back to Phoenix. I got to see a lot of people, and missed others (sorry:( and then headed back to Indiana. The day after I got back, I was back to work again.

No rest for the weary! Just know that we are thinking of you all and love and miss you!

P.S. I'll post some videos from Tombstone later this week. Keep an eye out!

Looking into a big hole!

On our way out of Bisbee, we took the kids to see the open pit mine (now closed). The kids had never seen such a big hole in the ground (the Grand Canyon excluded) and you'd uh thunk they were never going to see another like it.

I loved Ailey's remark: "That's an awful lot of blood down there!" in reference, of course, to the rust colored water collecting in the bottom of the pit.

From Bisbee, we took the kids to Tombstone and spent an hour walking the streets. Even on a Sunday afternoon, things were in full swing, as Vigilante Days was in the process of wrapping up.

After Bisbee, I returned to Phoenix with Evan and spent a couple more days with Russ and Kira; then headed back to Indiana.

Visiting Uncle Ed in Bisbee

While on vacation in Arizona, spent a couple of days with Larry and Kristy and the kids in Tucson. As you can see by the picture, I managed to kidnap Evan and take him along. Actually, Russ and Kira had to do a job in Happy Jack and I offered to watch the kid. He got to see his Tucson cousins, which doesn't happen very often.

We went to Sunday Service and got to hear Uncle Ed preach. I really enjoyed the sermon. Later, we went to lunch.

Absolutely loved the visit. Next time I hope to catch the whole Hicks crew should they be around. Sorry I missed you all.

I WISH YOU WERE HERE FISHING WITH ME!

The other thing Becca likes to go to at the Starke County Fair besides the pony (see post below) and carnival rides, is the Conservation Club's Fishing hole. Here, children can try to snag a goldfish to take home.

Unfortunately, Becca hasn't quite learned the trick to nabbing a fish with her tiny hook.