Introducing Koren Lynn Strong

One Happy Mommy! It's nice to know that 9 months of misery is worth it in the end!

You son are blessed to have the WEIRDEST dad on earth!

Koren doing what Koren does best!

The kids are smilling because they know they now outnumber Mom and Dad!

One HAPPY Big Brother! I think he's going to do a pretty good job!

Deciding that this Big Sister thing is actually pretty cool! She'll adjust!

The wait is finally over!

1:31 yesterday we welcomed baby #3 into our lives and family!

We gave HIM the name Koren Lynn. He was by far our lightest kid weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and being 19 1/4 inches.

Koren is a Latin name that we settled on a few days ago. Not really for the meaning (Spear) but just cause we liked it! Lynn is after my Dad and also makes him the third generation to carry the name.

Samantha is resting well and looks to be out of the Hospital by Monday. She's healing very well and is resting as much as possible.

Koren is sleeping the 20 hours at least that our kids tend to! He's waking up and eating every couple of hours.

Aundrea and Tristan are accepting their roles as the older siblings somewhat differently. We've long expected that Aundrea would be quite motherly and take to the baby rather quickly. We were pretty certain Tristan would take a little while to adjust to the newness of the baby and really get clingy to mommy.

As it turns out we were flipped completely. Tristan wants to hold him all the time. Aundrea was finally convinced today that it was ok to hold him! Crazy kids!

It's been a great day or two for the Strong Family!

A Night Out

As previously mentioned, we've had a busy couple of weeks.

All of the things we've done, between moving, preping to have a baby, work, classes, baseball 4x a week I have found that I haven't had a great deal of time to just spend it with my kids.

Tonight I changed that, if only temporarily.

Aundrea has really been activing out lately, mainly I feel, becuase I haven't been able to give her the attention she needs. Tristan has been more in a haze as he's not really understanding the move, or having the baby.

Tonight was all about them. I took them over to the Theatre for a showing of the "Dispicable Me". We bought pop, popcorn and two candy bars, all treats that they get very rarely.

The movie was ok, funny at times. But ultimately the kids enjoyed it! Which made it worth it. After that we went shoping at Wal-Mart mainly for a dog poop picker-upper and clippers for Tristans hair... not sure that those two are even closely connected!

It was such a great time for the four of us. I say four, because Samantha spent the night at home relaxing. Although she seemed to be a little more tense when we returned... maybe the baby is getting close!

It's so vital for me to spend time with the kids. Which every dad knows, it just seems like at stages I have a difficult time following through. I'd like to do a better job of that this fall and winter.

Aundrea told me tonight that she wants me to stay home now and not work. Pretty simple when a 4 year old understands the need to have daddy around. It's probably one of the best things Aundie has said to me. I know she desires my attention/affection.

Tristan has opened up to me a lot more in the last 2-3 months. He's still his momma's boy, but he's realized that dad can be a lot of fun to! That's gotten to be pretty cool. He's a pleaser more than his sister, he loves to be told that he's doing a good job or that he's a good boy!

It's difficult for me to imagine that #3 is only about +/- 36 hours away. On one hand I love Samantha and the kids more than anything on this planet, to imagine opening that up for one more child is difficult, makes me wonder if it's possible to open up that much more, yet I know that nothing will replace the feeling that I'll have when I see this baby for the first time.

The birth of Aundrea and Tristan has been to date the most EMOTIONAL experience in my life. Marrying Samantha was emotional, but much more excitting than anything! I can already feel myself slipping into that same set of emotions with this child. To imagine being able to call this life by his/her name for the first time is just absolutely incredible!

I'm having a difficult time just containing myself right now.

Aundrea in the pool this summer! It provided a chance to cool off and a chance to have FUN!

He may be freezing, but he's not coming out!

A New Roof

What a long, long week and a half!

We moved to Gillette, Wyoming (or Wynoming according to Aundie) on December 15, 2008. We're approaching the two year mark rapidly! We actually lived only about 5 miles North Savageton, Wyoming and 28 miles South of Gillette.

Savageton is complete with about 2-3 houses and a Bar. Making Gillette our postal residence.

We've found in the last 21 months that we enjoyed the quietness of our country home. The house/duplex itself was quite small. It was basically big enough for us and not much else! All the same the rent was reasonable, and I was handling the daily commute. What I didn't enjoy was getting home after 10 on some nights having left at before 6 that morning.

With that in mind and the number of trips we make into town on a weekly basis, Samantha and I began to look for a place in town about 2-3 months ago.

Gillette is pretty tricky. Your going to pay a bit more than you want to, but your ultimately not going to get the Ritz. For us, our budget was about $1000/month. I know, seems unreasonable, and yes you can buy a house for less than that per month, but you better know your staying in the area for a few years.

We toured a couple homes. Called on probably close to 100. Either to much or a home that I wouldn't allow the dogs to live in, let alone my wife and kids.

Eventually I shifted my focus from house to apartments. I had been adament that we will NOT live in an apartment ever again. I did it once in Ellendale and found the experience to not be overly excitting. However in Gillette it didn't appear that I had many options.

We basically settled on a three bedroom on the North side of town. The complex is fairly new and provided close access for school and about a 5 minute walk to the baseball field. Both were pretty appealing.

We're paying under budget which was another plus.

The most challenging part was actually packing and getting moved in.

I hate moving.

Anyways, we started on Labor day and are complete as of about 1:30 AM this morning. We have just a few items that we need a place for, but overall we feel confident that we're pretty much ready to weather the next storm.

The next storm of course is a new baby Strong.

We're scheduled for a c-section on Friday. I once thought that we'd see the baby before then, but I think this one is going to hold out on us!

We're both pretty confident we have a little girl on the way. We hope anyways! We've had the girl name set for 2-3 months and we're still back and forth on the boys name.

So at any rate, by Friday we will be parents for the third time. Odd for me to comprehend that.

Aundrea turns 4!!!

August 24, 2010!

Hard to believe that 4 years ago Aundrea entered our life! Around 7:30 in the morning!

Samantha and I have been busy decorating, wrapping, and CLEANING. The cleaning was the biggest part of the deal. We started decorating at about 11 and finished around 1:30. We get pretty excitted about birthdays!

Christopher, Rebeca, and Matias fly in today and them as well as mom and dad and some cousins are coming out to help celebrate.

Tristan seems to be as excitted as Aundrea! It's going to be a good night in the Strong house tonight!

There and back again.

As if a season of traveling wasn't enough, Samantha and I dropped off the kids and headed to Billings on Friday. We spent two days and a great deal of money. Yippee.
I'm now whipped and ready for bed.

One LOOOOONG Summer

It's been a long summer.



I thought when I signed up to teach I was supposed to sip lemonade next to the pool on these long months.



Ah Baseballl, yes that's right! Baseball has dominated our summer.



Quick update Samantha's somewhere between week 31 or 32. I have a tough time keeping track.



We have a girls name narrowed down to one. And we're pretty close to having a boys name. It seems to be getting more and more challenging. Both are great names!



Aundrea has grown a bunch this summer. I know have a young girl on my hands.



Tristan is losing most of his baby looks and is transitioning from baby to boy. This age is proving more challenging with him than it was for Aundrea. He's in for a shock in 2 months.



Riding my bike as often as possible. It's been my release for a season like this. I'm secretly considering taking a trip starting on Monday or Tuesday. I have an idea of where I'd like to go. Just gotta decide if I can run it by Samantha and get her to go for it. I just need a little R&R and time to think about my/our next move.

My body continues to remind me that it's not going to respond like it once would. I've done enough throwing to now have my shoulder about twice the size it should be. I'm afraid I've damaged some of what got repaired a 2 1/2 years ago. My knees ache, and I'm afraid the combination of the two has thrown my back out of whack. My neck doesn't rotate right now like it should. GREAT.

I'd say it's time for a break!

One date I'm really looking forward to is 8/6 as it marks our 5th wedding anniversary! We're not sure how we plan to celebrate. I have a good feeling we're going to wing it!

Back to baseball...

My team is now somewhere around 35-23 or 24. We've had a good season but I can tell these guys are starting to wear out. The end of the season on Sunday will be good for all of us.

Ok... off to practice.

Ejected by the Rejected

What a beautiful day for baseball!



85 Degrees, Sunny, with a sprinkle of clouds!



Started a "Big Stick" Tourney in Rapid City today against Sturgis, South Dakota. We won 9-2... the game wasn't that close though. The game however wasn't the "highlight" of the day.



In the top of the 4th inning, we had our second or third rally of the day in progress. Kid on third, Four hole hit's a fly to right, one of their kids come out and makes a pretty good over the head play on the ball.



My kid tagged up, waited till we knew the kid had caught the ball (typical... and difficult based on the angle. It was a good play mind you... I wasn't positive he made the catch and sent the kid once I was sure) He scored easy (don't let me forget that the umpire behind the plate was picking up our bat and not paying much attention to my guy tagging/scoring). Put us up 8-0, three outs and we end the game early.



There coach starts yelling at his kids from the dugout... "he left early, step on third." This is an old tactic, I've used it myself. Try and see if the ump was watching... heck maybe you'll get a call. In this situation I almost laughed... we had waited clearly past the kid having possesion of the ball... but whatever.



They throw it to third.



"Out"



"Huh?"



I jogged slowly to our dugout.



I admit I had a few words for the umpire.



Remember he was busy picking up a bat. I reminded him. It was a bad, bad call.



If you weren't watching don't make a call.



Whatever, we're up by 7. I was pretty sure everything would be fine.



I insert one of my young pitchers for the bottom of the 4th. As he's warming up Sturgis basically has their next kid to hit in the batter's circle. And most of their team out of the dug out taking practice swings.



The next batter is required to remain in the on deck circle. Not timing a new pitcher.



Common sense.



I've asked probably no less than 4 times for an ump to back up a player. Each has obliged. Even the players did so willingly.



I asked... and let me repeat EXACTLY what I said... "Sir, can you please back them up from timing my pitcher?"



I'm sitting on my bucket at this point.



He responded by asking me who was running the show...



I responded "Apparently their dugout"



He immediately says "One more word and you'll finish the game in the parking lot"



I respond, "Yeah, OK" (ZERO body language)



He responds, "That's it, your out of here"



At this point I picked myself up off my bucket, made my way to exactly 3" from his nose and proceded to get my money's worth! I got my money's worth... trust me!



What an ignorant OLD fool.



I would never imagine that I would get tossed sitting on my bucket.



Asking an ump for common courtesy, really?



This marks my second ejection this year. The first one it was 100% my intent after I was requested to let an ump have it.

I don't even know that I've exchanged negative words with an umpire outside of these two incidents. Silly stuff.