Thanks!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the good birthday wishes. I will post the pictures of the new paint job in the apartment as soon as I'm done.

Case and Cole

Karen's old friend, Melissa Hogan, was in town for her brother Nathan's wedding. She has three boys, Ty (4), Brock (almost 2), and Case, almost 6 months. We took them all to Chick Fil A for food and fun in the playground area. We couldn't get the older kids to sit still long enough to get good pictures of them together, but Cole and Case enjoyed laughing, smiling, drooling, and touching.

Happy Birthday, Claudia

Have a great day tomorrow--enjoy every minute. We're anxious to hear more details about your new job and the search for the perfect paint.

Love, Steve and Cheri

Toyotas can't swim

On Thursday of last week, Chicago was hit with two lines of pretty serious storms, including some tornadoes, heavy wind, and serious rain. Many Chicagoans are still without power (110,000 as of this morning).

We never lost power, but we may have lost a car.

We haven't been driving our Toyota Echo for the last couple of weeks because Claudia and I work so close to each other and have been riding together. So, our Toyota was sitting at home in the parking lot of our building during the rain. Claudia and I got home around 6:15, right at the end of the second line of storms, and found our car sitting at the deepest point of the flooded parking lot.

The picture on the left is of a neighbor's car that was not quite as bad off as ours. I moved our car before taking a picture of it, but the water was probably about 6 inches deeper where our car sat than it is where this car was. When I got in our car to move it, there was at least 2 inches of water inside the car. The picture at the top of the post is of another of our neighbors moving her car. Our car was in between her car and the gold one you see in the background.

We've called our insurance company and it looks like they are probably going to "total" the car. They said that if the estimated repairs exceed 33% of the value of the car, it is considered a total loss. Unless they somehow decide that it doesn't need anything more than new carpet, I'm guessing that the car will be totaled.

This is a picture I took of the inside of the car after I moved it. The water has drained, but you can see the wet carpet to get an idea for how much water was in there.

prison cell-phone

so i tried a little fast from my phone to see if maybe life would be a little more relaxing, and it turns out its not. actually its not even possible. i dont know how our ancestors did it. those crazy kids. so im gonna have to get some more minutos today or sometime tomorrow. hollar!

Kent

you comin up this week?

hellphone

so i ran out of prepaid minutes on my cell and im not really in a financial position to get more minutes right now, and plus im kind of enjoying the freedom from it. we'll see... i may just stay away from it or only get enough cheese on it to send texts messsages that way i can decide if i want to respond or not. hollar!! keith... how do i invite a friend that wants to get in on the action bro?

I went for a second interview yesterday with four guys in the company. I think it went well but still I haven't heard anything for sure yet.

Painting

Hello,

Just wanted to say "Hi". I am picking out paint colors today to paint the apartment. I am so excited that I get to do this. I've been waiting to do it for a long time. Well, work is going well. I was having a hard time adjusting the first week but now that I just finished my second week I feel much better about it. Talk to you all later.

I went to my interview on Monday and it went very well, just few minutes ago I got a call inviting me to a second interview which is going to be on Friday afternoon. Thanks for all your prayers, I really appreciate it. I will keep you posted.

Picture of my babies

Here's a picture from 2 weeks ago of Kennedy, Cole and their friends!

Family (and Friends) Fantasy Football League

As you may (or may not) have gathered from Luis's post, I started a (free) fantasy football league for family and friends. Right now, only Kent, Luis, and I are in the league, and we need ten teams to have a league.

Fantasy football is really easy; basically you draft a team before the season starts (this can be done automatically for you if you don't want to or can't participate in the draft). Your team will have players from any NFL team--in this league you will have one QB, 2-3 RBs, 2-3 WRs, one TE, one K, and one defensive team plus eight bench players. Each week, you set your starting lineup and get points based on how well they do in their real-life games. Your fantasy team will be matched up against another fantasy team in the league each week, and whoever gets the most points from their players will win.

If you are interested, shoot me an email (boonchie78 @ yahoo . com) and I'll send you an invite to join the league. Also, if you know anyone else that might want to join, let me know.

Update: Claudia joined too. Come on, you know you want to play. I can expand the league to add more teams if we get more than ten!

yo keith, i just signed on for the fantasy league. you sent the invitation to the email that i only check like once every few months. from now on send any emails to illetetsg@yahoo.com not the gmail account. so anyways i signed on but i have no idea what im doing, and am way to a.d.d. to sit and figure it out so if you could call me whenever you get a minute to school me on what the freak im doing then tha would be sweet like bear meat. hollar!

HI, took me long enough to figure this out!!! Steve, that is a hot pic of you with your cool trophy!! Anyway, so I am really bz working, being a mom, church, working out, i am going to be coaching Katya in soccer, so add that on...i am working at citi in the global trades services dept, praying i get to keep this job for a long time...Katya lost her first tooth!!! Isaiah wont stop sucking on this thumb....he is spoiled, not by me of course!! his sister spoils him badly.

i am single, well kinda, you know how my relationship with jeter is, its tough you know!!

i dont have any pics to put up right now, sorry, but i will soon, next time i have a little bit of time...

keith and claudia, you two are getting old, i cant believe its been so long since you two got married, OMG!! CONGRATS!!!!!

Hello family, I would like you to pray for me since I will have an interview on Monday for a nice position. This week I got an offer for a part time job in a marketing company which is very interesting job which I will be doing while I can get a full time job.

The Honors Course- Caddy Guest Day

Here's some pictures of mine and dad's day at The Honors Course. It was a day to forget for dad on the scorecard, and he still owes me on all sides from our $2 nassau. I'll probably let him slide though.

P.S.- One of these pictures was planned and sort of posed. Can you guess which one?

Happy 37th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Steve Williams wins flight in Club Championship!

This photo was taken at the honors course in Ooltewah, TN after playing with Kent on Aug 6. On August 4&5 I played and won my flight in the Club Champioship at Four Bridges Country Club and this is the crystal trophy I was awarded. This high honor qualifies me to represent our club on the Butler-Warren Cup team on Sept 22 & 23 this fall. This win comes on the heels of an Arnie's Cup championship with Bob Morgan at the Oasis Country Club in June; we had to beat 71 other teams to win the overall championship. Then in July Bob & I played in our Member Guest tournament in July and won our flight. It has been an unusual streak, but made my summer fun. Thanks for listening to me brag!

Kent will likely post some of our photos from our day of play at the Honors Course. Look for that soon.

Steve

I got a job too!

I got a new job also - I will be starting as Controller at Champion Window on August 16th! I'm very excited. I will try to post more about the kids later - you wouldn't believe how big Cole is getting! There's pictures of Kennedy all over the place, I have to make sure he's included.

Kennedy's first golf lesson.

I just wanted to share this photo with everyone from this past week when I was in Cincinnati. I gave Kennedy her birthday present a few weeks late, then gave her her first golf lesson. Needless to say, it's all she wants to do now.

Keith and Claudia in Saugatuck

Hello Family,

Just thought that we share some pictures with you of our anniversary trip to Saugatuck. We've had a wonderful time here taking walks in the town, going to the beach, shopping and buying a nice picture of Van Gogh's Cafe at Night, doing a wine tasting and picking blueberries. The picture of Cheryl's Home and Garden and Massages by Steve was the way we thought Cheri and Steve should do retirement.

We go home tomorrow and I start my job on Tuesday. This has been the best anniversary trip we've ever had.

Love

Claudia

Happy 7th Anniversary

Keith and Claudia,

Have a great day as you begin another year together. We are so proud of both of you as individuals and as a couple. Your life together honors God as well as those who know and love you.

Love,

Mom

Headed to Saugatuck, MI

Claudia and I are going to Saugatuck, Michigan this weekend to celebrate our 7th anniversary. The lighter blue you see at the top of the picture is Lake Michigan, and our hotel is on the cove facing the downtown area you can see in the middle of the picture. We went to Saugatuck four years ago for our anniversary, and it's a nice little getaway that is only a three-hour drive from home.

We'll probably post some pictures later, but here's one of the beach we'll be spending some time at (the same one you can see in the picture above):