The Bockey Clan: Getting Caught Up

Woah, where has time gone!? You may want to grab a snack before you sit down to read this and look at the pictures as it's absurdly long.

Here's an update to get caught up as to what's been going on since early August with some pictures thrown in at the end. August is always somewhat crazy because of the BlueJay Invitational that Jeff and I are in charge of. Jeff stopped coaching two years ago, but we still do the invitational which we both enjoy. I do most of the paperwork end of things and he does all of the contacting of people. It works well, but add two kids and other life things into the mix and you get a blog that is woefully behind. Besides getting things ready for the invitational, Maria and I went to my friend's, Sarah, wedding in early August. It was nice just having one kiddo with me and it was nice chatting with other friends that were there!

We also went camping with some of Jeff's family at Indian Lake State Park. Jack had a great time with his cousins and both kids enjoy being outside so it was fun for all of us. Though we could've done without the huge rain/windstorm that popped up on our first night there. We had a little excitement with rain coming in the tent, but that was because our rain flap wasn't handling the wind and rain so well. We got it taken care of and somehow both kids slept through all of the excitement.

The Invitational was the next thing on the list and it went well. I wasn't at the invite this year because I had a meeting that day for TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) directors. I'm a director for a retreat that I work once a year and it was nice meeting the other directors and getting a feel for what other TECs do, etc. Shameless plug for TEC: want for info? Toledo Diocese Teens Encounter Christ I help direct the April girls TEC, but they are all good weekends!

Jeff's also been helping one of his cousin's build a barn on most Saturdays if we don't have something else going on. This tends to make Mom's week kind of l-o-n-g, but we've had other things to do a few Saturdays so it hasn't been too bad.

I've joined the choir at church so it's nice to sing again with a group and enjoy an hour to myself each week during practice and sit by myself during church a few times a month. The kids and I have gone to a few of my sister, Natalie's, volleyball games this fall. This past Saturday was one up in Napoleon, which worked well. My parents and sister, Holly, and her kids were there. Jack had a great time playing with his cousins, especially after the game when we went to a cool playground and ate lunch. Afterwards, we stopped at my cousin's retirement party. He was in the Air Force for 20 years and recently retired. Congrats and thanks for serving, Tony!

Labor Day weekend we went up to my parent's house for the annual bonfire and cookout. Jack had fun playing with all of the kids there - his cousins plus the Seibert's were there and all of their kids were home which meant LOTS of little kids! We had a nice evening visiting and spent the night! Jack was excited as always to spend the night somewhere besides home!

This past weekend was Canal Days here in Delphos. This kids and I went on walks Thursday and Friday and walked through the setup of things. They close down Main St. for 4 blocks and set up tents, fair type rides, and fair type food. Friday evening we went downtown and walked around a little bit before heading out to see a few nephews that were staying at G & G Bockey's house for the weekend. Isaac and Jack are only 6 months apart so it's fun to get them together to play. It took Jack a bit to warm up but once he did we had a hard time getting him to leave. Saturday evening we walked downtown and checked out the canal museum. The museum was recently expanded and is now on 3 floors. It's not just a museum about the canal, it's more of a history of Delphos museum. I think Jeff and I could spend multiple hours in there! It's fun to see pictures of places and the many old things they have in there. We spent at least an hour in there and Jack and Maria did great. It helped that I had Maria in a front carrier on me and Jack was good about keeping his hands to himself.

Well, now that we're caught up, let's hope I can stay on top of doing updates at least a few times a week!

Taking some 6 month pictures of Maria. Kinda looks like she's coming up out of the ground since you can only see the top half of her.

Sarah & Ruben's wedding

Jack LOVED playing with all of the gatorade that we bought for the invitational. This was his "train".

Cuteness in the backyard while I was taking towels off of the clothesline.

2 little Bluejay fans

Maria's first taste of baby food...it was rice cereal. It went relatively well especially since we were having a picnic lunch in the garage that day.

Jack (hidden by his cousin, Andrew) and his cousins waiting on Jeff and Mark to finish the Alumni 5K.

The kids and I relaxing while the Alumni race was going on.

Camping and hiking with the Bockey's. We picked a weekend to go camping and it worked for everyone else too.

Sweet corn! Maria really like gnawing on the cob!

Jack being a "fireman" with his boots (AKA Mom's snowboots) on.

Two little cuties in the bathtub. Maria really likes baths and Jack doesn't mind having her in there. Sometimes he even insists that she takes a bath with him.