A long, long, time ago...

I posted regularly to this blog. My Ph.D work has really kicked in and I rarely get the time over here. Plus, facebook is so easy to post to, it makes it harder to come over here and do long form, more personal writing.

Since January, I have been involved in a cover band, called the Crestview Kings. It has been a great experience. We played out to a packed house in May. We have several gigs lined up. I have completed almost all of my Ph.D class work. I am in the running for the coordinator position at my work.

Lara has kept her job secure for another year. The kids have done great in school. The girls enjoyed another season of soccer. Carl applied and was accepted into IMSA, the Illinois Math and Science Academy. He'll start in the fall, which means our baby will be leaving home soon. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it.

We were nearly flooded out of our home in May, during the flood in Metropolis. The water was once in a lifetime high. I'll get back to you with pictures later.

Again, way too long...

Sorry, family and friends, for not posting very much on here. Over the Christmas break, I will go through photos and events and list them out here. Merry Christmas everybody!

Fall Soccer

The girls have really come into their own playing soccer.

Labor Day

Here is a sampling of our Labor Day Parade. The girls are getting the candy. I took video of the band---Carl marching, and Lara one of the parent boosters. Below is the photo slideshow.

The Springfield State Fair

In August, we traveled to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. We went initially because we were taking the kids to see Cheap Trick and Blondie, but unfortunately, that got rained out. However, we did spend the day at the fair on Saturday, which was great.

After the fair, we dropped Carl off with Grandpa. They camped out and then Carl got to experience a shoot with Grandpa outside of Springfield. He is a natural shot.

What I did on Summer Vacation...

The Pughs, as part of Cub Scout Pack 101, just got back from a wonderful trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium and camping at Harrison Bay State Park. Here are some pictures. Yeah, I know, we said that we would have some Alaska pictures up by now....but Lara is in charge of that!

The recent storm...

Hi all. I haven't had time yet to post the Alaska pictures. However, here are some photos of the huge limb that came down out of our tree in the backyard after a storm in June.








Since then, my band played at a local infamous party, Craig and Roberta's 4th of July bash. We had a blast. Check out my band's page, or my facebook page for pictures and video.

A Busy Month....

A quick summary: Carl went to scout camp, and was inducted into the order of the arrow. He and I went up to Mt. Vernon and continued to play some D&D. I have taken and completed a very intense but good summer class. Lara, the kids, and Dee have taken a long-planned vacation to Alaska to visit Tanya, Rick and Suresh, and they are having the time of their lives.

When I get more than a free moment, I will post pictures.

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello all,

We had a great weekend so far, with our friends Mike, Susan, Joe, and Molly coming down to play a fun game of Dungeons and Dragons with the Pugh kids. We grilled out and stayed up way too late. I'll post some pictures of Carl's graduation and the kids in the next day or two.

Sorry about no updates lately....

Here is the quick update on family news....sorry I have been so long between posts. I have been working feverishly each weekend on papers for my Ph.D. classes, and it simply takes me a long time to churn these things out, so literally, everything else has to wait until I'm done. Well, I'm done!

Here are some pictures:

Maggie, doing great in soccer this year!
On the prowl!

Carl's Band Performance, and accepting his award for First Superior, and sticking the award to his shoe.

Carl, receiving several school awards, including Beta Club, Scholar Bowl, Honor Roll, Match Club, and Music. He was recognized for winning the Region wide Math tournament, and setting a new record for the number of problems correct. Nerd power rocks.

His awards, including Scholar Bowl, Math tournament, First Superior on saxophone, and the several school awards.

Easter

Over the Easter Holiday, our good friends the Aimones came down to visit. We took a nature hike, grilled out, and the kids had a great Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. Then we drove up north to Mt. Vernon and visited with Mike, Molly, Susan and Joe. We had a great evening chilling out at the Fairfield Inn.

Elvis Update....

Here are a couple of pictures of Elvis. I've taken to calling him Emilio Lizardo, from the movie, Buckaroo Bonzai.

Merry Christmas, Three Months Late....

Merry Christmas, Pugh Family!

Merry Christmas, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nan!

Pageants, Plays, and Productions...

Here are the various children in the church Christmas play and Carl in the School Band Christmas Concert:

FINALLY!

Finally, on Friday, the police were able to return our camera, and about 10 movies that had been stolen out of our van after Christmas.

There were a couple hundred pictures that were on the camera. I will put up the slideshows here, one post at a time, starting with December 14th or so. What's so special about that day, you might ask? Oh yeah, my birthday! And the kids' birthdays, too!

The Highs and the Lows

Still don't have our camera back from the police.....

But, even without pictures, I will brag on Carl a little bit. He took a first at State on saxophone on a very difficult piece. It was cool to watch.

However, this week, after winning another scholar bowl tournament, Carl snuck off to an ex-teacher's room, took some of her candy, and left her an anonymous, but not very nice, note.

He was caught.

He served an in-school suspension for that little stunt, but I do believe he learned his lesson, since he has had to spend his own money to replace the candy, apologize to the teacher in person and in writing, apologize to the principal, AND has been grounded for a month from video games and TV.

On another front, Maggie was asked to spend the night at a friend's house and Katie wasn't. That is happening tonight. No big deal right, except that up until now, if Maggie were asked to do something, so was Katie, not because we push them as a package deal, but they had a similar group of friends, and it has always worked out that way. Now, we're starting to see some differentiation, and it ain't gonna be pretty. Katie feels passed over, Maggie is overjoyed. Katie is crying, and it is cold comfort to know that there will come a time that she is asked to do something and Maggie is not.

Still Alive

and still without our camera and other stuff that was stolen and recovered last month. Police still need it for evidence. So, sorry I haven't posted for awhile. Also, school is heating up for me which means I have less time to post. Things are going well down here, though. How are you?

We Were Robbed!

It is true. Late in December, we were robbed. A couple of thieves who were hitting random places in town, took a chance and stole stuff out of our van as we were unloading it from our Christmas trip.

No big deal, really. They took some DVD's and our camera.

However, the police caught them with our goods and many other peoples' things.

This explains why I haven't posted many pictures lately.

We asked for our stuff back, but the police need it for evidence.

We may have to buy a new camera.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! We had a great, albeit, stressful year. You won't see new pictures up on the blog for awhile because a few days after Christmas, someone broke into our van and stole some things out of it, including our camera, which had pictures from since Thanksgiving on it. The crazy thing is that all our things were recovered, but are currently being held by the police as evidence.

That sums up our year in a nutshell: Get hit with something negative and unexpected, but then roll with the punches and have it work out in the end. Here's to a better year in 2010!

The kids in the Christmas Parade...

Carl and Katie participated in the Christmas Parade this year. Here are some pics: