Sophia Qualifies for Divisionals!!

A big congratulations to our swimmer in the family, Sophia. This past weekend Sophia qualified for the upcoming divisional swim meet. She qualified for this meet in the Breaststroke event by matching the qualifying time exactly. She has made such great strides this year with her swimming. At nine years old she is qualifying in the 10 and under age group. She has two more meets to see if she can qualify for the state meet in March. We are so proud of her accomplishment. Way to go Sophia!!

I know, I know..

I don't where to begin with all of the things that have gone on since the last time I posted anything. I am not even sure I recognize those kids on this page. Suffice it to say we are a busy bunch! Olivia is playing baskeyball and volleyball, Sophia is swimming, and Isaiah does whatever is in season. Jennifer is back at Durbin Elementary this year as the school nurse and I am still the principal at Riverside Junior High. So with that quick update how about some pictures of the
family!

Once again, its been awhile!

Okay, okay I know I said I would keep our family blog up to date. Six months later I am finally back at it with a renewed effort to do a better job this new year. Hey, nothing like a new year's resolution!

So, to bring you up to speed on what has been going on in the last six months here is the cliff notes version:

...we spent the rest of our summer enjoying Bailey our new puppy...school started, Olivia is in 5th grade, Sophia is in 3rd, and Isaiah is in Kindergarten...the fall saw the sports season begin for our kids with Olivia playing volleyball, the first real venture into youth sports...the fall saw us take one last camping trip, this time with our good friends the Brantmans. This trip saw some really cool October nights but it was a lot of fun...we also capped off our fall with a trip to Nashville, TN to visit our friends the Rowlands. They were great hosts and we enjoyed spending a lot of time just catching up with them...as the temperature turned colder the sports picked up in our house. Olivia turned her attention to basketball. She decided to tryout for the 5th grade travel team. She made the team and has really enjoyed it. She practices two days a week and plays games on two other days so she is pretty busy...Sophia decided to tryout for the swim club associated with the high school and she made that. This has been a lot of fun for her and a real education for the whole family. We are learning all of the different swim strokes and rules that go with swimming. The meets are a lot of fun and she is improving her times with each meet...the Christmas season saw a lot of joys for our family. The kids are really enjoying some of their new gifts. A big challenge for our family came when Isaiah was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease in December. For those not familiar, people with Celiac's are not able to handle diets which include glutens. Well as we are quickly learning, gluten is in practically EVERYTHING bought in the store. He has handled his change in his diet very well. He has been quite a trooper. He has endured some blood tests, visits to the allergist, and an endoscopy to confirm the disease. We ask that you say a prayer for our little guy that he continues to adjust well to his new diet and help his body recover from the damage that has been done to this point...to end this update on a high note for Isaiah, he had a chance to go with me and my dad to Star Wars In Concert. It was great fun for him because he got to wear his Darth Vader outfit and pose with several of the characters from the movie which was great since he is all about Star Wars right now.

So, that is a quick summary. I know it didn't seem quick but we just covered six months! Below are some pictures from the last few months. Enjoy and I promise to update again soon.

Update and Summer Activity

Hello all! I know I know, it has been a long time since I last posted anything on behalf of the family. Fortunately, for many of you, you had no idea we even had a blog so you have not missed us. My goal is to stay more on top of things in the future. Before we jump into what we have been doing this summer how about a quick recap from the spring?

All the Kegley's finished up their school year successfully. My first year as principal at Riverside was a busy one. The transition from one school to two is now complete. Starting this August I will be principal just over the junior high. I am looking forward to this very much.

Jennifer finished her first full year as school nurse at Durbin Elementary with much success. She enjoyed her first year greatly but is also looking forward to a change this fall. After much discussion and prayerful consideration she decided to interview for a part time school nurse position at Fall Creek Elementary where our kids go to school. She got the job and we are all excited about her being closer to home and about her making this change to help us all better balance our home and work/school lives.

Olivia finished her fourth grade year with much success and is looking forward to the life of a 5th grader at Fall Creek Intermediate. Sophia had another good year as well and will be a third grader this fall.

Isaiah finished a year of all day Pre-K school this year. He learned a great deal (even a little Spanish) but most importantly got to work on his socialization and seemed to turn into the center of attention at school. He will be in half day Kindergarten in the fall and spend the other half of his day in a K+ program run by the YMCA. Here are some pictures of our little guy on graduation day.

So now that you are somewhat up to speed, here is what we have been doing this summer. Aside from spending some hot days at the neighborhood pool, our first big adventure of the summer as a family was camping at McCormick's Creek State Park. It was the first time we had been camping as a family and it was a great adventure. Everyone enjoyed it and all are eager to go back for more. Here are some pictures from the campsite. Olivia is on the left showing off our tent and I am fixing some grub for dinner. We were supposed to go for two nights but cut it to one because we were supposed to get some strong storms. As I said we all had a great time. We hiked, swam, and hung out by the fire. And of course ate Smores!!
Our camping trip was quickly followed up with a trip to Kings Island. The last time we had been was three years ago when Jennifer and I just took the girls. This year we all went and my parents joined us as well. Even though it was hot, it was a great time. We went for two days and the there was basically no crowd to speak of. We could more or less get off of a ride and get right back on. Proudly, my kids are turning not only into amusement park lovers but also thrill seekers. Olivia and I rode the new Diamondback roller coaster and she also got on The Beast for the first time. Her first trip was in the very front seat. It is still the best ride in the park. By the end of the day I had Sophia on the Racer and on the Stunt Coaster. We spent day two at the water park and she asked me a couple of times if we could sneak over for more action on the Racer. Unfortunately Isaiah was not tall enough for several rides but rode the most thrilling ones he

could.

Here is the crew. And four of us on one of the tamer kids rides. (Not sure who the kid on the end is..not mine!) And Olivia and Isaiah at the water park.

Okay, now the event of the summer so far....We welcomed a new addition to our family last Saturday. Another girl to the Kegley household....Meet Bailey....

Bailey is a Goldendoodle puppy who is nine weeks old. A little background for you all. The kids have been asking for a dog forever especially Sophia who is the animal lover of the bunch. Jennifer started doing some pretty extensive research and we stumbled across a breeder in Huntington. We took the kids up to see the puppies over Memorial Day weekend. We told them we were just going to look and were NOT getting a dog (which was really the plan). However, after checking them out Jennifer and I decided to move forward with getting one and so we started Operation Canine Surprise! We told only a very few people that we were getting a dog and arranged for a day to pick the dog up. We coordinated plans with my parents to watch the kids while we went and picked up Bailey. We had one last snag that delayed us getting her by a day. My parents were wonderful in helping us out with the kids, even making another trip up to spend the day with them while we were meeting the breeder. The end result was the biggest surprise we have ever pulled off. Here are pictures of the big event. We put Bailey in a box and as the kids came back from the pool we gave them their surprise.

So that brings us up to today. I hope you will all come back from time to time and see what we are up to. We would love to read your comments as well. I promise to be a little more diligent in staying on top of this blog!

Fun in the Snow

Until last week this winter had been pretty tame. We have had a little ice but no real snow to speak of. That all changed last Wednesday. The Indianapolis area saw anywhere from 8-13 inches. Although the Indy Airport officially recorded 12.5 inches, we had about ten to eleven inches here in Fishers.

Schools were out on Wednesday so it was time to hit the local sledding hill. For us that meant a quick ride over to Verizon Wireless Music Center. As you can see from the picture below the hill there provides for great sledding.

The Kegley Kids with our neighbors Breanna and Natalie

Jennifer and good friend Melody Brantman

A great day in the snow!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. As you can see the Kegley's have finally leapt into the technology age. We hope this is a great way for all of our friends and relatives (especially those we do not see that often) to keep up with us.

Before we get too far into 2009, I thought it might be good to look back at '08. For the last few years Jennifer and I have talked about writing a Christmas letter but never really got around to it once the holiday rush got into full swing.

2008 saw some big changes in the Kegley house. The girls are still in school at Fall Creek Elementary. Olivia is now in the fourth grade and Sophia is in the second grade. I changed jobs again but at least this one did not require another move! In May I was named principal at Riverside School. Riverside is a middle school for this year and then will split into a junior high and intermediate school. In the fall of '09 I will be the principal of just the junior high but our school attendance will likely double. The first semester has been great. I love the school and the staff and students are great.

Jennifer also went back to work this year. In May she was hired as the school nurse at Durbin Elementary which is in the HSE school district also. She had a lot of work to do when fall came around but she has settled into a groove and enjoys her school and the people she works with. With both of us working that meant that Isaiah needed a place to go. So, he started in a pre-K program at a school in August. The initial adjustment was hard on him (and mom) but he has come around nicely. He comes home pretty regularly telling us about the friends he has made and the things he has learned.

The highlight of our summer was a vacation to Florida. My parents had planned a trip for both of my brothers, Tim's family, and ours as well. We spent a week in Ft. Walton Beach and it was great. Very relaxing!

The year ended with another trip as well. Jennifer's parents gave us a visit to Disney World for Christmas. So of course we had to visit Florida again for a week! The weather was great and we had a blast! Jennifer's brother and his family spent some time with us that same week and we all had a great time. All seven kids love each other's company and were all disappointed when we flew back home on New Year's Eve while they stayed behind to enjoy Florida a little more. Below are some of the pictures from our visit in December. Enjoy!

Well, hopefully this is the first of many "blogs" and I hope you all have fun keeping up with us. Look forward to reading your comments!

Matt

Sunset on the Myakka River-Venice, Florida

Nothing like Mickey Mouse Ice Cream

The Kegley crew in front of the Magic Kingdom

Olivia and Sophia floating down the Intercoastal on Papaw Turner's boat.

Isaiah at Venice Beach