Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to 2 of the most important men in my life!

Thanks dad for being such an amazing father! I know we have had our ups and downs through the years, but I love you very much and I am so proud to be your daughter.

To my husband and the father of our 4 Amazing kids. You are such an awesome father to our kids. You always put your family first! For this I love you so much and can't imagine my life without you!

Happy Father's Day also to my 2 Awesome brother's (Tom and Jay) and also to my Brother-in-law (Tim) you are all Amazing father's and I hope you have a Happy Father's Day!

ECI Dynamite

Softball season for Jenny is in full swing...Jenny is on a traveling softball team out of Danville, IL. They are called ECI Dynamite. She plays games at the U of I women's softball diamonds during the week, then on the weekends, we are traveling all over for softball tournaments. Most of them have been pretty close to home. This weekend, we are going to Santa Clause, IN. She is playing in a tournament at Holiday World. It's an amusement park/water park. So it will be like a mini vacation. Jenny has been doing excellent this year. Her main position is 3rd base, but she is also the back-up catcher when the other girl needs a break..Usually because of the heat. That catcher's gear is pretty hot! Jerry is the assistant coach for Jenny's team. Sometimes the 2 of them butt heads...LOL!!! We will be going to East Peoria over 4th of July weekend so her team can compete @ state, then the last week of July we are in Indianapolis for the Softball World Series. Here are some pics of Jenny and her team...GO ECI DYNAMITE!!!!!!

Jordan and Amber

We had a beautiful wedding on May 14, 2011. Even though Jordan and Amber were already married, the Blessing of the Marriage ceremony and reception were beautiful. We started off with the ceremony, followed by a dessert reception. There was a candy table which the kids just loved. It was full of assorted candy and little bags for the kids to fill up. Awesome idea! There was an assortment of cupcakes, cookies and pies also. Then the DJ started playing and everyone was on their feet dancing. It was a wonderful night. Sunday, Jordan and Amber made the drive back to Florida to start their new life together. Jordan said they made it home about 3:3.0am Monday morning. I am so proud of Jordan and Amber and I wish them nothing but happiness in their marriage. Jordan had a lot of family travel to attend the wedding. His grandparents came from Colorado Springs, Co and so did his Uncle Tom and family. His 2 Great Aunts made the trip from California to help him celebrate his marriage, and finally, his Aunt Kim and family came from Ohio to spend time with them.I am attaching a video of pictures from the wedding. Enjoy!

Prom~Jami and James

Saturday was Prom....Jami and her cousin James are both Juniors so they were all dressed up and ready for a fun night. They had dinner and a dance, then Sunday morning at 6:45am they loaded a bus and all the kids headed to Six Flags in St. Louis for Post Prom. They had a really great time. Here are pictures that we took at the house before everyone left for Prom. Can't believe they are Juniors already....They grow up so fast...This time next year, they will be attending their SENIOR Prom and we will be planning for graduation!

Cupcakes

So.....I have been thinking about doing something in my spare time that I really love to do! And that's baking! So I have decided to try making cupcakes out of my home and selling them. A friend of mine had been doing this with decorated cookies, and she is doing really well. She talked me into trying it with cupcakes. So today I spent 6 hours in the kitchen making 5 different kinds of cupcakes. So far, my family is impressed, and so are a our friends (Shane, Jodi, Doug and Sherri). I even have Jessica giving me feedback and I am taking them to work tomorrow to get feedback before I jump into this...So if all goes well, I might be making some extra cash baking:) Here are some pics of the cupcakes I made today. They are from L to R: Lemon Drop, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Mint, Strawberries & Cream, and My favorite Margarita!!!!

Jenny

Jenny had her first softball game on Friday night. She is on a traveling softball team called ECI Dynamite out of Danville, IL. She played against her 2 best friends who are twins. Even though Jenny's team lost both games, Jenny played great. Her main position is 3rd base. Jenny had a perfect bunt, and she also hit a pop fly to the outfield. Next weekend, we are off to Charleston for another Double Header!!! Here are some pics of Jenny on Friday!

Awards Night

At the Spring Sports banquet, they gave away awards to 4 different girls on the dance team. Jami received an award for Most Improved Dancer! Way To Go Jami!!!!

Jami~Dance

Well, we survived another year of Warriorette Dance! Jami and her dance team has a really great year. They competed @ Charleston (received 1st place), Clinton (received 2nd place), Villa Grove (received 1st place), Tuscola (received 1st place) and Unity (received 3rd place). They qualified for STATE at their very first competition. The girls did really good at state. They competed against 11 other schools in their category and came away with 5th place! Not Bad! State was held @ the University of Illinois Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL.

So dance is officially over for this school year. They held tryouts 2 weeks ago, and I am happy to say that Jami is once again on the Warriorettes Dance team. And she will be a Senior! Woo Hoo!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Wishing a Happy Birthday to our daughter Jami...She turned 17 on Friday February 18th...and today is Jerry's birthday. He is 41!!! And also Happy Birthday today to Aunt Janet! She is ??? Ha Ha...Aunt Janet, i will not reveal your age! Happy Birthday to all of you!

Daddy/Daughter Dance

These are pics from the annual Daddy/Daughter dance that the Warriorettes do every year. They perform at halftime of a home basketball game. Its always a crowd pleaser. Jerry is such a good sport. He will never admit it, but I think he kinda enjoyed himself!

Tuscola Warriorettes

Tuscola Warriorettes are in full swing with competitions...They have already received 3 first and 1 third place finish. They have received a high enough score that they will be competing for the State title @ the Assembly Hall on March 12th. Their theme this year is Racing and its a really cute routine! (Jami is standing in the back row. She is 4th from the left)

Merry Christmas for the Knight's

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas...For the first time in 3 years, we had all 4 of the kids home for the Holidays! It was really fun. We had a great time with everyone. Jordan was able to come home for almost 2 weeks and we loved every minute of it. Jordan and Amber left the day after Christmas and headed back down to Jacksonville, FL as Jordan had to be back at work on Tuesday. Jessica also came over and spent the holiday with us...We ate lots of food, laughed a lot and to A LOT of pictures! You know me...I love my camera and love taking pics of the kids:)

For those of you that really know Jordan, he is a Huge Green Bay Packers fan...well, his new wife and her family are all Chicago Bears fans...Jordan made a bet with them that the Packers would beat the bears in a game this year...Well Jordan lost and his punishment was he had to wear a Bears jersey to Christmas this year...Below is a picture of Jordan hanging his head in shame with a Bears jersey on...And Jerry with him showing him that his Pittsburgh Steeler's are 6-time Super Bowl champs...Poor Jordan got crap from everyone...It was quite funny.

Anyway, Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with all your loved ones...This was one I will definitely cherish...Next year at this time, Jordan will be on deployment again..Somewhere in the desert...So this was a special Christmas for all of us.

Here are some pics of the family while everyone was home.

Love to all,
The Knight's

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

WOW!!!!!!! Where has the time gone...I have been so busy that I haven't had time to get on here to do any posts...Hope everyone is doing good. Can't believe Christmas is already upon us. We are so excited for Christmas this year...It will be the first Christmas in 3 years that we will have all of our kids together. Jordan drove up from Florida last Thursday and he is here until Dec 26th. He is then driving back home to Jacksonville, FL. I told him that while he is home I need a family photo..He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he will let me have one:) He is doing really well in Florida...Amber is going back with him for a couple weeks, then she will be flying back home. Jessica is finished with her first semester at Parkland College...She is already registered for next semester and doing really well. She is also working at TGI Friday's in her spare time. Jami is busy with dance..They are going to be starting their dance competitions in January. Their theme this year is Race Car Driver!!!! I will download a video of her routine once I get to see it. Jenny is busy with school and basketball...She has basketball games every Saturday starting in January and then softball practice every Sunday starting in January...So there once again go our weekends..Once day we will get to rest, but then we will be sad because all these times will be gone. We are busy getting ready for Christmas as most of you are probably doing the same...But as we come upon this Christmas, i would like to ask everyone to keep Aunt Brinda and Uncle Doc in your prayers. This will be their first Christmas without Stephen and I know its going to be a tough one...Stephen was such a wonderful young man and we dearly miss him. Well, that's all I have for now..

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....Please remember that "Jesus is the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas"!!

Love

The Knights

Tuscola Warriors!

The Tuscola Warriors are once again having an awesome season. They are 7-1 with only one more game before play-offs begin. Our nephew James is a starter on the Varsity football team and we have made it to every game to watch him. He has done so well this season. He even had the play of the game against our rival Unity Rockets. James blocked the ball from being caught and the other team was not allowed to score! James also plays JV football and averages 2+ touchdowns per game. GREAT JOB JAMES!!!! I am attaching some photo's of James playing football and also a very excited Uncle Jerry!

Jennifer Ashley

Jenny has just finished with another season of Soccer! She loves playing soccer and loves it even more when she gets to be the goalie! Now she is going to be playing winter biddy basketball and then she start traveling softball in January. She tried out and made ECI Dynomite. It's a traveling softball team out of Danville, IL. So once again 2011 will be extremely busy with softball and Jami's dance competition....If we weren't so busy, we would be bored. One day this will all be over and we will be missing it!