Merry Christmas to all!!!

Hi.

I've been an awful blogger. I haven't posted in a seriously long time and I'm sorry.
Needless to say we've been busy, with basketball season in full swing as well as all of the exciting events of the holiday season.

There's also another reason; Janni is such a part of our family that it doesn't feel like there is any real reason for blogging, nothing extraordinary going on.

Tom and I were at a Christmas party Saturday night and a friend asked me how it was going with "an added teenager living in the house."For the record, she meant nothing negative whatsoever by the question, and I have to admit that it confused me for a few minutes. I had to think if there was an extra friend staying with us (it happens quite a bit) and then I realized that she was talking about Janni.

Oops.

I kind of forget that he hasn't always lived in our house, been a part of our family. That is such a huge testament to what an amazing kid he is - how lovable and adaptable. And today, on Christmas Day, I can't help but think about how much his mom, Maria, misses his presence. He was able to Skype with her, and with many other relatives, so I'm sure that helped but I am sure they missed his presence. While we were blessed by it.

Before I get too sad, thinking about the fact that Janni will be back with them next year, I'm going to sign off and post some recent photos.

Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours!!!

We are cherishing our blessings here at the Leahy casa!!!



Kids after church on Christmas Eve



Surprising Hailey with a car....gotta love that we were Facetiming with family so they could experience the moment too!



Christmas dinner!
(Yeah, this would've been a much better photo if it contained real, live people. But they were playing video games....and driving around. Hohohohoho!!!)



Giving Thanks and Gig 'Em!!

I've been a bad blogger.

But the truth is we've been going in a million different directions.

Janni enjoyed his first Thanksgiving - even though we ate a little later than planned since our stubborn bird refused to increase it's internal temperature as quickly as we would have liked.

It was the traditional southern Thanksgiving feast - turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, etc...
As Janni summed it all up "A holiday about food and watching football. I love it."

We all shared what we are thankful for and, not surprisingly, having Janni join our family was at the top of the list.

In addition to food, we mixed in some real, live football during the holiday break, traveling to College Station to watch the Aggies take on Missourri. We enjoyed time with the cute cousins and the grandparents and the fact that the Aggies blew them away was a bonus.

Janni seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere. And he looked really handsome in the Aggie shirt that Aunt Kim got for him. I have a feeling when the Nebraska cousins arrive next weekend they will be trying to pull him back to the "red side."

In addition to football, we are now officially in basketball season. Janni played yesterday and was a defensive star with several impressive rebounds. He plays again today and tomorrow so I will try and get some "action shots"!

And he scores!!!

Janni played in his first American basketball game yesterday and his team pretty much killed their opponents.
I think he was nervous at first but he quickly got into the groove and had fun - scoring two for the Mighty Mustangs!!

He's definitely a fan favorite - the crowd went wild when he scored!

Off the court he's having a great time, I think. He's fully integrated into the swing of the social scene at Kingwood High School.

Cutting Max's hair.....

Cutting Janni's hair....
He looks like the All Star he is!

Trick or Treat!

Janni is helping hand out candy.....they DO celebrate Halloween in Germany but don't go door-to-door for candy so this is a new experience:

Finally Fall Y'all!!

It's finally crisp and cool here in Houston and we are all enjoying the break from the heat. The kids have been taking advantage of the weather, carving pumpkins and spending time roasting marshmallows around the fire pit...

The girls felt compelled to dress Janni - in a scarf and a snuggie....notice the Nebraska print on the snuggie. Tom has him brainwashed.

The curse is broken!

I think athletes are a bit superstitious by nature. When Tom was playing professional baseball there were so many of the guys who had lucky items of clothing or rituals that they had to perform before playing or even talking the field.

Janni was convinced that it was his fault that the Mustangs lost two of their games. When he wasn't in the stands they pulled out a few amazing comeback wins. Yesterday we started joking that maybe he should stay at home....after all, we are talking about the rivalry game of the year!!

The booster club sponsored a "White Out", handing out white Kingwood t-shirts to everyone who entered. Though we were playing at our home stadium, the Eagles were considered the home team. Which really isn't fair. 

While both teams were bragging about their upcoming wins, the reality was that AHS had the better record, 5-2 against out 2-5. So while we were optimistic we also knew that the Mustangs would really have to play a great game to win.

All kidding about superstitions aside, I think Janni was a little nervous and the first half of the game seemed to reinforce his fear that the team couldn't win with him in the stands. It really looked like the Atascocita Eagles were going to pull out a win - I think we were down 21-9 at the half.

But then the tide turned. In a big way. In an incredible combination of turnovers, defense, and sheer will to win, the Mustangs ended the game victorious, 38-27. Janni was in the student section with many of his teammates and a lot of his friends. It was, he said, "Awesome."

It was one of those games that everyone will remember. And Janni was there to experience the win!!

Ketchup, Catching up

As usual, things have been moving at a pretty frantic pace around our house!
After the Homecoming excitement died down it was time for all of the teens to turn their focus to academics as it was the final week of the grading period and all of the teachers were cramming in final tests, papers, and projects.

Janni is doing well in school. Incredibly well considering he is learning in his fourth tongue...

I still get a lot of questions about our situation from friends and acquaintances. It's tough to answer a lot of them, to be quite honest. Yesterday a friend asked if we had gotten to the point where we had "quit being polite and start being real" (to quote The Real World).

That's an easy one: YES!

Janni has had a front row seat for some REAL family moments. Hailey has challenged me on multiple things on multiple occassions (and apparently I am M.E.A.N.) and we've argued as only mothers and teen daughters can. Despite this he says he STILL loves having a sister. I keep teasing him that one day he will look at me and tell me she is no longer fun to have around :)

One thing we all tease Janni about is ketchup. He loves it. On everything. Baked potatoes, tortillas, eggs, tacquitos...pretty much everything. In fact, I now buy the ginormous size:

In addition to Homecoming and football games, it's also time for KHS basketball to start gearing up. Janni played in his first American tournament with his team and they WON ALL OF THE GAMES. He's spending quite a bit of time with these great guys and really seems to be enjoying himself.

This Friday is what will likely be the biggest football game of the year - it's against Atascocita HS, Kingwood's biggest rival. In addition to the rivalry, many of the students are good friends with kids from other schools so there has been quite a bit of trash-talking back and forth. Hailey Z, bff to Hailey and a second sister to Janni, attends AHS so it will be a fun game - as long as the Mustangs win.