Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Ahhh! I look like Dad!

Not that long ago, Adam discovered that he could look like Carmen if he pulled his hair back and sucked in the sides of his face a little.
Ahhh! I look like Carmen!

A lot of people have been teasing Adam about his long hair, and others have asked me why I let him look like a hippie. "Can't you control your children". I usually tell them it is just a fad and it will pass. Given that he had a butch from the time he was six to the time he was 12, I think it is alright for him to have long hair.

At least it was not as bushy as mine was when I was in 7th grade. One the back of this photo, my mother had written "Playing Basket Ball now. doing real good."

Recently, Adam started playing basketball for Southern Middle School. He's learning the game very quickly.

Adam will not be shocked by this comparison, because people have compared our appearances before. Below you will find some pictures of both of us as 2 year olds in my father's work shoes.

He will be embarrassed, though. Adam is the one with his mouth open. He's always talking.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Carmen considering the IB Diploma Programme

Several teachers, community leaders and parents of Tates Creek High School have been pursuing a difficult goal of establishing TCHS as only the fifth high school in Kentucky to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

The program stresses how the student learns by thinking instead of repetition. It also has stringent requirements on course selection to ensure that the student is well rounded instead of advanced in his or her strengths.

Several of the teachers have already been inspired by the week long training at various locations throughout the world.

At one of the introduction meetings last week, there were several parents from private schools and magnet schools that were considering Tates Creek because of this IB programme.

There were several spokesman, but I was sold by the testimony of a product. This young lady was only 21 years old and had already graduated with two degrees from the University of Michigan because of the head start she received from her scores. She was very comfortable sharing a very small portion of her experiences. She sold me long before someone else disclosed that she had finished two degrees in three years at a major university.

It is hard to tell where Carmen will head to college, but knocking off a year of tuition will really help her stay out of debt:


I'd be interested in hearing any comments about the IB programme from educators, parents or students out there in blogdom.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

BAVA Tournament Season begins

Carmen started out her club volleyball season with BAVA this last weekend in Indianapolis at the Central Zone tournament. The team did very well. They played four different teams and played well together against all four. After losing two matches to teams that were very beatable, they ran into a very tough team from Fort Wayne. They hung with that team very well, but were clearly under experienced as mostly 15 year olds in that game.

The crossover match against the #3 team from another pool was very exciting and a great way to end the long day with a win.

I think it is going to be a great season. I caught Carmen smiling a few times, so I know that she enjoyed playing with seven other players and a coach that want to play well, improve and win.

We started out the day with a huge scare as Julie, our setter, went down with an injured knee during warmups before the first game. One of the dad's is a physical therapist and had her all t taped up and ready to play for the game and kept her going all day.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Happy Birthday Kim!

For Dr. Kim's birthday, a group of us went riding in the mud. I had to get the bikes down from the ceiling of the garage, put air in the tires and oil the chains and derailures since we didn't ride very much in 2006.

In fact, I think that our ride today was longer than the total for 2006, so we're off to a good start for 2007.

It was good to have Kelly with us. Matt and Kim are great mountain bikers in terms of strength, stamina and technical riding skills, but Kelly throws in some additional entertainment by jumping his bike over things. It was really amazing to me that he could do that with a muddy bike. I have never been able to do it with a clean bike.

Carmen and Matt headed home after our first two loops and Kim, Kelly and I took a third loop. I told Matt that I wanted to take pictures of the muddy bikes and people so he was stuck with the assignment of keeping Carmen from washing her bike when she got home.

As you can see from the photos, Matt completed his mission.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Best Movies of 2006

After seeing a few lists of the Best and Worst of 2006, I've determined that our family is from another planet.

There were 15 movies that the Eby family decided to go see at the theater, rent or purchase a DVD in 2006 and I have ranked the top ten:

  1. End of the Spear ( Dad's Favorite )
  2. We are Marshall ( Adam's Favorite, Becca's Favorite )
  3. Guardian
  4. Invincible
  5. Cars
  6. Stealth
  7. Mission Impossible III
  8. Pursuit of Happyness
  9. Over the Hedge
  10. Walk the Line