Happy Trick-or-Treating

Just wanted to share the cutest little monkey EVER! He made it about 5 houses then it was lights out. Andrew has the best personality and his Aunt Mel and Uncle Danny are so in love with him.

I'm the coach and you are a player trying to make my team

Basketball season officially begins today! Tryouts start today and go through the end of the week. I am anxious to get home and see what Dan thinks about the new group of potential players. The first game is Nov. 14th against Druid Hills High School. Check out the schedule and plan to come support a game or two.

A close to volleyball season. We lost to Marist in the second round of state playoffs on Tuesday of last week. The girls had a great season and I know Dan is very proud! The state rankings should come out this week so we'll see if they show Jonesboro any love.

Dan had a pretty significant accomplishment during this season as well. He got his 300th win!!

It's A Girl!

For those of you that haven't heard, Carly is having another baby.....and it's a GIRL! I have had a blast with Andrew but am so excited to buy pink girly clothes for my new niece. Although when I tried to do that the other day somehow I came home with new shoes for Andrew and no pink clothes. I got a little side-tracked.

Congrats to Carly, Robert and Andrew!!! I love you guys more than you can imagine.

Love,
Aunt RiRi/Mel

State Tourney Time

Haven't blogged in a while. Here is an update on what we've been doing......VOLLEYBALL! The girls won in the first round of the state playoffs last Thursday and are playing the in the second round tomorrow night against Marist. Marist has always been a power house in volleyball, but I think we can do it.

Their overall record is 44-11. They won the county tournament, finished 2nd in the region tournament, 2nd in the Conyers Classic (out of 42 teams), and 2nd at the Volleyball on the Beach tournament in Brunswick, GA.

And since we are talking about state for volleyball, that means basketball is right around the corner. Tryouts begin Oct. 26th and the first game is Nov. 14th. Come out and support!

Vacations Are Over...

Well...we're back to the crazy, hectic life that we call "normal." All of our relaxing vacations and lazy summer weekends have come to a end. School is back in swing and volleyball is in full force. Our weekends now are filled with football games and volleyball tournaments. I get so excited when Sept. comes around for many reasons, UGA Football...Go Dawgs, high school football is always fun, basketball is right around the corner and of course, it's my birthday month!

And speaking of birthday's, today is my nephew's first birthday. He was such a champ at his party! And.....there's more good news in the Burch family....baby Burch #2 is on the way! I can't wait to have another niece/nephew. I personally hope it's a girl this time.

Well, that's all for now. Just a little update of what's been going on. Here's a picture of Andrew enjoying his birthday cake.

House Projects

So we've been doing a ton of things to the house lately. The most recent project was painting the outside of the house. Dan and I decided to go with a totally different color......I was nervous, but it looks GREAT! We also added shutters, which made the house look even better. I think we are done for a while...altho Dan wants to change the red mulch to black mulch. I am trying to push that one back a couple months but have a feeling that I will come home from work one day soon to find it all done. :) That's just the way Dan works. He gets and idea and has to have it done, now!

New gray color with black shutters and bright red door. No more yellowish/tan.

Hopefully soon the rocking chairs will both be black and on the front porch instead of in the middle of the yard.

Surprise Anniversary Trip

I have the best husband! I finally found out where we were going for our anniversary when Dan picked me up from work last Friday. We went to Helen! I love Helen. It is one of my favorite places. We took the dogs and spent the whole weekend playing in the river, shopping and eating. Below are some pictures from our weekend.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful, goofy husband that ALWAYS makes me laugh!!!

Sweet little Amos NOT enjoying the river.

Dan and Gussy enjoying the river.

Our babies.

The "don't mess with me" look. :)

We're Back!

We had a wonderful time in St. Lucia last week! Pictures do not show how beautiful the island really is. Dan and I both really enjoyed being away from work life and focusing on just the two of us. It was a perfect way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! And it was so nice to spend some time with Dan's sister and her husband who we hardly ever see.

Below are some pictures from the trip. I will try to post more tonight since I don't have all of the pictures with me at work. Enjoy!

View of our resort from Ft. Rodney Mountain.

Picture taken by sandals photographer before dinner one night.

On a catamaran sailing to the fishing villiage of Soufriere.

Family picture taken before dinner.

Senior~i~tis

According to Dan, I have a case of senioritis. We are leaving for vacation in a week and I have a million things to do at work before we leave. I brought work home this weekend and last night to try to get ahead of the game and guess what............. didn't even touch it! I am so bad. I've been working so much lately that I am more than ready for a vacation. Yet, I am in a panic about all of the work that I have to do by Thursday of next week. I guess it will all be worth it when I am laying by the ocean with a cold drink in my hand not even slightly thinking about work.

I laughed at Dan when he "diagnosed" me. But the more I think about it, he was totally right. I feel like I am back in school getting ready for summer to begin. It's kind of fun! :)

Babies and Airplanes

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Here are a few pictures of how we spent our Easter weekend. Enjoy!


Andrew soaking up some sun.


Checking out Pops new airplane.



This is what Andrew and Uncle Dan did while Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Mel were flying. Sweet little boy was out!!!!

Coach of the Year

Dan, my wonderful husband, was named Coach of the Year today for Clayton County. With this honor comes coaching one side of the North/South All-Star basketball game for Henry and Clayton counties. Two of his players were also named to the First and Second All Southern Crescent team and will be playing in the game and one was named honorable mention.

Below is part of an article in the Clayton News Daily referring to Dan's intimidating style of coaching. I thought this was perfect, especially the part in yellow!

Every good team needs a coach and I can think of no coach better suited than Jonesboro's Dan Maehlman to head up the All-Intimidation team. When off the court, Maehlman, who stands at about "6-foot-one-hundred", is one of the kindest and most dedicated coaches I've met. On the court, or rather on the sideline, his fire is the sort that could easily cause an NBA star to wet themselves.

Link to articles -
1 - http://www.news-daily.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=304&ArticleID=26939&TM=78480.27
2 - http://www.news-daily.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=304&ArticleID=26937&TM=78480.27

A close to a fabulous season

Well, we lost the game this week. I say "we" because I feel just as much a part of the team as any of the kids and coaches. I spend more time with some of these kids then I do my own family. I felt so bad for them, especially the seniors, but I know that they did more this season than anyone could have ever imagined. I am SO proud of them!!

The girls are playing in the Elite Eight tonight and I should get an update from Dan soon. Hopefully they can pull out a win!

This all means that I get my husband back!!!!!!!!! And as excited as I am for this, I would still give up anything in the world for them to play one more game, preferably all the way to the championship. :)

Tomorrow it is...

The boy's play tomorrow night to go to the Elite Eight (that means there will only be 8 teams left in our region). I still can't believe they've made it this far. But, win or loose, I know Dan is very proud of how the year turned out, shocked, but proud. Neither of us can believe they are playing in the second round of the state playoffs. :)

Wish us luck!!!

REGION CHAMPIONS

Jonesboro High School - 2009 Region Champs!

Saturday night was a close game, but in the end they pulled off a 2 point win and gave Dan his first region championship. It might also be the first region championship in the school's history, but we are checking on that one. I am so proud of him and the boys!

We play in the first round of the state playoffs Friday night at home against Evans (from Augusta). The girls also won the region championship and will be playing at home before the boys on Friday night. So...for all you alum out there - come out and support!!

Team Picture

Cutest Little Boy Ever!

Just wanted you to see my nephew. The cutest little boy ever! I finally got to spend a little bit of time with him this week and I couldn't get enough. He will definitely be able to get whatever he wants from Aunt ReRe. :)

State Playoffs Here We Come!

So, after a grueling season of listening to the comment "we suck" (putting it nicely) every night, Dan has some how coached the boys into the state playoffs. We still have to finish the region tournament to see what seed we will get, but we are in! The winning game was following by lots of celebrating Monday night with the staff and a few past players who understand the meaning of it all.

I've often wondered this season if Dan will make it to the next day. He has a team full of boys that do not have the heart that he does for basketball and competition. He has never experienced this before and has struggled daily with how to reach them. And although he has not fully reached every kid on the team, he has continued to push and refuses to give up. Sometimes I see his sad face come out of the locker room and it makes me just want to cry because I know there is nothing I can do to make it better. I try to keep his spirits up, but he is such an intense person and he expects so much out of these kids on and off the court. I wish they could see how much he cares instead of worrying about the next tattoo they are going to get........

We play Thursday and Saturday night to see where we will fall in the region (1-4). I'll let you know how it goes and update you on state playoffs after that.

Firsts

Ok, I'm with Summer on this one...I said I would never do it and here I am. I'm not sure if anything I have to say would be interesting to anyone...but here goes. I am married to a coach...and not just any run-of-the-mill coach. I am married to the greatest coach ever. He loves his job and I love watching him do his job! Basketball is his life (and of course Volleyball). Which in turn makes it mine. Most of our time together is spent in a gym - and yes, a lot of times that gym happens to be good ole' Jonesboro High School! Yep, I thought when I graduated that I would be outta there for good....but then along came Dan. :) I wouldn't trade the hectic schedule for anything in the world. It's amazing how these kids become a part of your life and somehow create a change in you while you are trying to do the same for them.

Well, as short as it is, that pretty much sums it up for us. Hopefully I'll continue to update this on a regular basis.