So Pretty.....

These next few pictures were taken on one hole at Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells at the Sectional meet that Platteville (led by the #1 golfer you all know and love) qualified for as a team. You tee off from atop a big hill that looks out over a huge basin that is flanked by lush foliage (this was before the height of the drought we experienced this summer). Lush green growth that will eat your pretty white golf ball in a New York minute! Which is exactly what happened to Parker's tee shot. When you're a part of the gallery, one of your roles is to look for errant balls---no matter who hit them! Unfortunately, despite a tremendous effort in searching, we did not find his ball and he had to truck back up that hill and hit another ball =(

Parker's Graduation!

So one of the things that happened during my unexpected hiatus was that Parker graduated from high school! We had a beautiful day for a party (he chose to have it a week after the actual ceremony, which worked out wonderfully---MUCH less stress than doing it the way we did for Arielle) I took the smart/lazy way out and had a local bakery prepare the sandwiches and salads, Wal-mart did the cupcakes, I made cake pops and the highlight were the cookies that I had a gal from a nearby town make. Oh. My. Goodness. They were little works of art!! And yummy too!!! My MIL made a few different kinds of bars as well, so we were overflowing in the food and drinks department =) We're so proud of our first son's graduation! It's hard to believe that 3 short years ago it was Arielle and she'll be graduating from COLLEGE this Spring!!!

Golf: the College Years!

Sounds like a bad "Saved by the Bell" pun, my apologies =) Before I catch ya'll up on what you missed out on during my unexpected blogging hiatus, I'll keep you up to speed on what's going on now!
Parker is playing golf for his college team, the Clarke Crusaders. (He had been planning on attending UWP, and then VERY last minute, this opportunity presented itself) Momma is still following him hole by hole, camera in hand, whenever possible. It's a little strange to see him in yellow and navy when its always been maroon and white!
Anyhow, he had a 2 day tournament this past weekend, and here's a few highlights...

He works hard for the money....

I don't sound a THING like Donna Summer, so don't spend anymore time imagining me belting out that little ditty in the title.
No no--Parker had his Senior pictures taken today after school. (Flashback to Arielle's turn: she had at least 3 sittings and what seemed like 27 outfits---which had to be accomplished the nano-second she stopped being a Junior in HS. Parker: oh hey, we should get your senior pictures done one of these days....) We are fortunate beyond belief that FIL is a professional PHOTOGRAPHER, not even close to a FAUX-TOGRAPHER--big difference peeps! Even MORE fortunate is that he keeps agreeing to use his skills to make this motley crew look good for things like yearbooks and wedding albums.
And it's not easy! Between Parker making faces NOT suitable for publication in a book that half of his classmates will not be able to locate by 2014, Beckett tearing around insisting that he is NOT in the shot and the Mamarazzi, it's darn amazing that Grandpa doesn't self-medicate as soon as we clear the driveway!!
Anyhow, these are a few pictures of Grandpa working his magic for those he loves (and thank you Kurt for that!)

What $800 looks like

Disappointed? I'm still in the shock phase!!! Parker sees a dermatolgist for his areas of psoriasis and she is always changing up the creams, lotions, sprays, potions and miracles in a tube. We have a whole bin of these tubes. And dermatology drugs are flipping expensive!!
His dermatologist is sweet enough to send home coupons that bring down the cost of our copay for them, which is helpful to be sure. The other day my cousin who works in the pharmacy we use told me that Parker had an Rx there to be picked up (something Parker neglected to tell me). She went on to say that she was surprised that insurance paid for it and to my puzzled expression she said that it's REALLY expensive and not all insurances will cover it. Um, how expensive you ask? She said our carrier paid over $800 for it. ULP!! And he has 3 refills on it!
We did have a $35 coupon that would have zeroed out the copay, but you need to be 18 to use it and he's not quite there yet.
He IS noticing a difference, so I guess it's doing it's job!!

Back to School!!

Or as Kurt calls it: The most wonderful time of the year! HA! Everyone is in school all day every day this year (except for Momma, SHE graduated in the Spring!). Beckett is in kindergarten, Paxton begins 3rd grade and Parker is a SENIOR!! Everyone was pretty cooperative for the traditional first day of school photos--which is not always the case!

Parker the plumber, minus the butt...

Papa's right hand man was put to work again today in the continuing (but approaching finished!) bathroom remodel. The tub drain had a bit of a leak and a smaller hand (why don't you do this, Mom?!), but a strong one was needed to fit into the tight space to seal and tighten the connection. He learned a lot about righty-tighty/lefty-loosey and the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise! He also wasn't thrilled with camera flashes, but since he was sitting in the closet with his arm in a tight spot, its not like he could get away =)

Seventeen Big Ones!!!

That's how many birthdays my very first baby boy has had!!! My tiniest baby at 7# 7oz who came nice and early on a Thursday morning, about a week before we were expecting him---not that I complained a bit about that, HA!! He was turning a nice shade of yellow before we were kicked out of the hospital the next day (that was the day of "drive by deliveries" where you got 1 day for a "regular" birth and 2 for a c/s! Whatever you think of President Clinton, women across America should be thankful he made the 2 and 4 day stays the norm!) our MD wanted us to stay longer, but our insurance said "no way"! (Met Life, Snoopy as your mascot is darned cute, but as an insurance company I am not impressed). To make a long story short, he ended up being readmitted for 5 days to bring down his dangerously high bilirubin levels.
Clearly, we had a happy ending =) Here's some pictures from about 10 years ago. Pretty darn cute, don't you think?!

2011 Golf Season Recap...

Our young golfer had a TREMENDOUS season this year! He added to his letter and scrapbook =) The highlights:
Won PHS Masters--trophy
Won PHS match play--trophy
Won his match in the Southwest Cup, playing in the #2 spot for the entire conference--medal
Conference medalist with a 74, blowing the field away
First team all-conference--medal
PHS MVP--wall plaque
PHS lowest season average--name engraved on a trophy that stays at school
Top 10 medalist at the Springs invitational--medal
Top PHS score for all but one mini-meet
And a TON of ink in the local newspaper.
SO proud of Parker =)

Whistling Straits

If you know even a tiny bit about golf, you know that here in Wisconsin we've got this course known as Whistling Straits. Kind of a big deal. The US Open was held here again this past August---like with ALL the big golf names present.
For the 3rd year in a row, Parker has been lucky enough to play golf here. Last year it was FLIPPING cold (like Momma wore a winter coat and a fuzzy hat complete with earflaps) and this year we had to endure rain--to the point that they decided to only play 9 holes (and after the last group was in, the rain cleared, UGH). Since you've seen LOTS of golfing pics of my favorite young golfer (conference champion, did I mention that? First team all conference, did I slip that in somewhere?) these are just some shots of our day at WS with no swinging clubs in sight...