Samuel Dean Conger 6

Nick went out on his first unchaperoned date and took his lady friend to a Pizza place where they dined on pizza. His father had given him a little money to help pay but when he checked out, low and behold, their meal had been payed for already ....... by an older gentleman and his lady friend, who had been setting at a table near them during the meal!

Ain't that somethun ............... WHO SAID CHIVALRY WAS DEAD! God bless'm ......

 

Carlie has taken soccer to heart and is doing pretty good. Kind of surprised her Grandpa. Here is a picture from our local paper noting some of the team's recent exploits.



Man, that little Latino boy is heck of a player! Way to go, Alejandro!!


No education is complete without music, that thing that makes the heart sing, even in the days when things are not going very well. So Nick and his cousin have joined the High School band and I'm proud to report both are doing very well.

Here is Nick at his band night .......... Cousin Riley plays in the same band, I believe.

He plays the trumpet and boy, can he ever blow it!


Sam got some pictures from Carlie's soccer games and he seems to be having as much fun as the kiddies are!






Carlie is very good at soccer and is a ferocious little competitor ........

As a matter of fact she has been pretty good at all sports so far.



That's her second from right above.

My goodness, she just keeps improving! Here she competed in The Iowa Games in a tournament in Dubuque, IA of all places (about as far from home here in Iowa that you could get. Her team got first place in the tournament, an Indoor Soccer Meet. I't have to be indoors in Jan 2014, one of the coldest winters here that I can remember. She has a pretty good team to play on and she generally scores pretty well.

Here's the pictures ............ that's Carlie top left.





Lordy, she's growing ...................


The group of youngsters shown above were a very good bunch of kids. Having spent some time in the US Army and rubbing up against it's programs for leadership and so forth, I learned quite a bit about following and leading. One thing about this group of kids, described as "the best ever ....," stands right out. That is "eye contact" and not just this photo but the several I have seen of this group show evidence of good eye contact throughout. This tells me they are alert, have confidence in themselves and "are in the game" so to speak. Look at the picture and there are 14 sets of eyeballs looking directly at you - wide awake, confident in their abilities, and ready for the game. I see no fear in the bunch. You look at them and think a minute about what you are looking at. They had some help getting there, too, by the way.




I think this picture goes in here somewhere. They went to Dubuque, IA where the Iowa Indoor Tourney was held.



Sam is a single parent at this writing and he tries to make it to the kids' activities and they thrive on that.
Looks like they aren't the only ones.

Nick is maturing in his band music. They are traveling around to different places to play. They just had a contest somewhere and Nick's band got 1st place, again. Here he is going into the building. He does his Grandpa proud.

Not just band but he does his share of athletics, etc. He kind of had a kink thrown into them as he came up with some stomach troubles and has been going to Iowa City Hospitals for treatment. They weren't sure about things locally so sent him up there and he is now responding to their treatment but he'd do athletics when he was able - which was most of the time. Here is Nick running in fifty yard dash(?). I kept the picture to show his stride. I've never seen anyone running and be this high off the ground. He's third runner from the right side.

Easter 2014 and Sam is at the family gathering (held one day early to accomodate travelers). Riley is teasing again ......




Not as many as last year. A couple are missing and some of the older ones dropped out of the egg hunt so didn't stand for photo. We only had one toddler but he was so energetic at it he filled in for two or three others. Oscar wanted to participate but we wouldn't let him off the front porch. Here's a few pictures of the toddler. Nick explained to him and pointed him in the right direction and he did the rest himself, Nick kind of watching to make sure he didn't get in trouble.










We have a photo of two of the girls ........... Carlie and Zoie.





The gathering was held at Naomi's house, one of those big old farmhouses in the area. It's nice place pretty well kept up. There is a farming operation there that is very well managed. The place is clean and not junked up. There are a couple old  wells in the yard with the hand pumps still in them. Naomi's partner said they didn't seem to work too well and I advised they try priming the pump and he did and it took off and pumped the water. Gave Grandpa an opportunity to explain the priming function. I had lived around them all my younger years so could explain also that you always hept a container of water hanging on the pump. When you used that water to prime the pump for your water, you had to be sure and refill it before you left SO THE NEXT PERSON COULD GET THEIR WATER, TOO.




Boy, that Carlie ..... !!
What're we going to do with her? Now she wins the High Jump .......





Like I said, Carlie is a fine competitor and she played softball again this year but she wound up on a team that just
wasn't very aggressive and they did not do well. It kind of slowed her down some.
Here's a picture which pretty much shows how things went .........




But she has picked up a hobby - darnest thing I ever saw ........ "Rubber Band Art"! She's always making things
with her kit and she had all of her Art Pieces in a box and she brought it to me and showed me her art.  Well, I thought some of them looked pretty nice so I told her she should get my camera and take a picture of them. I suggested she get a little table of some kind and cover it and arrange the pieces neatly on it and Have her uncle take the picture. She asked her uncle but he was busy so she did it herself.

She brought me the picture and It really looked neat, I thought, so here it is ....... Carlie Art, all the way ........

 


As  far as I'm concerned, it's 5-star art all the way.



Nick has started in his new school over in Corydon IA and has been making friends faster than we can keep up with. We were a little concerned about the move and it's effects on the young ones but heck, they seem to thrive on it. Anyway, here is one of Nick's new friends ......




Just had to put them in here some where ......... 

                  


Now, there is a pair  to draw to .........





Nick posing and then relaxing during a band session .....

          

Boy, can he ever blow that horn.


Nick and Oscar - Carlie and buddy Riley Hawk

    

Carlie made a rope with her rubber band tuff and it works! Look at these ........ look hard, you can barely see it!

         



Well, it's Christmas 2015 and plenty of presents for everybody ........

         


        

Missed Tara somehow ........

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