Deer Season

Many of you that know us, know the location where we built our house. It is in an area that is known to locals as the "north hills". Well, it is the gateway to the north hills. For our purposes we'll call it the "Foothills" because it makes us sound more ritzy than we really are.

Anyway, it is one of the most heavily hunted areas around because it is fairly close to town, easily accessible, and there are quite a few deer.

Well we were excited to enjoy a 4 day weekend this past weekend for the deer hunt. Calvin didn't have school Friday or Monday. We had no specific plans other than one...we wanted to sleep in. It has been forever since we have been able to sleep in & we thought it would be a perfect time to do that since our kids are both sleeping really well these days.

WRONG!!! On Saturday morning at about 7:00 I heard a loud BANG. I was startled because it was still too dark to shoot outside. I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter...and there was a hunter IN OUR BACK YARD shooting a deer...ON OUR PROPERTY. And people call ME a redneck?? :)

First of all...it wasn't even light enough to legally shoot. Secondly, he was in city limits and third he was on private property, right outside our bedroom window.

The whole weekend we felt like we were in a war zone. Every morning about 7:30-9:00 and every evening from about 5:00-7:00 we were dodging bullets.

Needless to say...we didn't get to sleep in this last weekend at all. Oh well. At least we survived "the surge". We did learn (or have reconfirmed to us) that there are some real idiots in the world though.

We're finally in!

We have finally moved into our new house and we LOVE it! Well, we actually moved in a month ago...we're just finally getting around to posting a few pictures. The day we took the pictures, it was cloudy and gloomy outside, so the color is not too great. Also, I haven't taken any interior pictures yet, so there are just a few exterior shots.

Special Announcement

You know, in this election season we get inundated with ads, television programs, news stories and rumors about the presidential candidates and their running mates. We are flooded with terms such as "flip-flop", "maverick", "change", "policy", "I care for the middle class", "my friends", "I come from humble circumstances", "we're gonna change Washington", "Washington is broken", etc. etc. etc. It is unbelievably sad to think that someone would want any job (much less this one) so much that they are willing to stoop to the levels that they do.
And (are ya with me here?) when someone asks you a question Mr. (or Mrs.) Candidate...please just answer the question. Don't try to camouflage your record by using smoke and mirrors. We the People are not as dumb as you think we are...in fact, we are probably not as dumb as YOU are!

Is anyone else as utterly annoyed as we are? In my humble but correct opinion, BOTH presidential candidates are absolute nut jobs. And their vice presidential picks? Wow...if we were to be governed as a country by either of them..a phrase comes to mind "jumping out of the frying pan right into the fire."

And so....it is after much consideration and heartfelt soul searching that I would like to come before you all today on this brisk Autumn day, exactly one day after the historic Columbus day which has such a huge significance in my life and the life of my constituents...and I would like to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

On November 4th, please remember to vote for me....and all of your wildest dreams will come true. I am now accepting applications for my vice presidential running mate.

Vote early, Vote often!

When I grow up, I want to be.....

....a principal?
Well, actually I do. (This is Calvin, not Ilene)
I have finished up the course work for my Master's degree in Educational Leadership. All I lack now is the internship. I have to spend 200 hours at the Elementary, 200 at the high school and 50 at the district office--doing administrative types of assignments. It is a pain trying to work full time, be a husband a father, teach a weekly evening class, and try to find a few extra hours to be an administrative intern. I have to get all 200 hours for elementary between Aug. and Dec. and then the 200 for high school between Jan-April.

I honestly don't know if I can see myself being a principal. But, at least this will open up the doors for the opportunity if it ever arises. You know, in case I just get sick of my current job and need a little change of scenery or a little fattening of the pocketbook.

Hopefully I can rank up there with the ranks of some of the famous principals of our time:

Someone told us that our blog was getting boring because we hadn't added an entry in a while...so that is the reason for this totally pointless post!

Blog

WARNING: Random thoughts!

OK, so this is the kind of stuff we think about. With the whole worlds going crazy in this fad of blogging, we have decided (somewhat against our principles and will) to have a blog as well to keep you all updated about things in our life that you don't really care about.

We know the history of the word blog, and why subsequently it is called a "blog", but here in the Holt household, we think the word "blog" sounds like a euphemism for the word "vomit".

Think of it...it fits with the others: barf, spew, upchuck, hurl, puke and blog.

It can be used as a noun OR a verb.
Examples:
The janitor cleaned up the blog from the floor. (noun)
I ate some bad fish at the restaurant, and now I feel like I am gonna blog. (verb)

See...this is the kind of stuff we think about. There is never a dull moment at the Holt home.

Stay tuned for some more random thoughts!!

Soccer Mom

Well, it has finally happened. I am officially a soccer mom.
I don't know if this comes as a surprise to any of you who know me...but it is quite a surprise to me. It may be somewhat a surprise, because this is Calvin writing this post, not Ilene.
That's right...Enterprise has a youth (elementary school) soccer league now and Ilene has been asked to coach and be involved since she is one of the few people in town that actually knows anything about soccer and has experience playing on a competitive level.
So...that means that each Saturday morning, bright and early, I get to wake up and make the pilgrimage to the elementary with my two daughters in tow and watch 5 and 6 year old kids run around and "play" soccer.
I am not exactly sure how a soccer mom is supposed to act...so if any of you have any ideas, I am open to suggestions. I just want to fit in with all the other soccer moms!

Photo Shoot

This summer, our sister in law (Debbie) took some time to do a photo shoot of our daughters. Now, I have to warn you...if you look at these pictures, you will be jealous of our kids. Just try not to be covetous! :) I'm just kidding...I'm sure your kids are all cute too.

Amelia is so photogenic. (She takes after her father, I guess) :)

Anya is a very happy baby. She is almost always smiling and laughing.

There is probably some cute little poem or saying that could go along with this picture. But, I'm not going to take the time to find it:

Again...probably another poem moment. Oh well.

Anya with her grandpa Bill.

Amelia looks confident enough here, but what about Anya? She doesn't know about this whole idea.