Just wanted to let everyone know. The three men have been apprehended and arrested. As far as the Dodge Journey I saw on Tuesday morning, it was the get away car. The car belongs to the girlfriend of one of the suspects. She had no knowledge of the robbery; and had been instrumental in getting her boyfriend arrested. She felt so bad about everything that she came to the neighborhood and brought Starbucks gift baskets for the cop, the Horton's, and my next door neighbor. Apparently, the Horton's have grown (early twenties/late teens) children. Mr. Horton had over $30,000 at the house and was going to the car auction on Monday to buy a car in cash. The Police feel one of their kids casually mentioned something about this to a friend, or was in on it somehow. I'm just relieved that it is all over. In 9 years of living here, we've only had one other "incident" in the neighborhood like this(an attempted kidnapping by a woman with a dog about five years ago). So, hopefully, it will go back to being quiet.
A couple people have called to check on us, so I thought I'd give the scoop (as I know it) here on the blog. There was an assault and robbery in my neighborhood yesterday morning around 8:00 am. If you are looking at our house, it took place to the right and just around the corner from our house (two doors down from where Erin and Jeff Halliday used to live--the Colonel's old house, if you're reading this, Erin). This is what I've gathered.
Mr. Horton (the man that lives in that house) has a business in Atlanta and deals mostly in cash (which seems really fishy to me). Three armed men laid in wait for him to come out of his house. They assaulted him with the butt of a handgun, demanded his keys and his money, and went into his house. They beat Mrs. Horton, who managed to get away and got to a neighbor's. The robbers came out of the house to find another neighbor (a Merriwhether Police Officer who lives on the street behind me) holding a gun on them and telling them to drop their weapons. By this time, my next door neighbor, Jenn, heard her dogs, Maddie and Skylar, barking and looked out her bathroom window to see what was going on. She saw the three men in the street with guns pointed. The robbers shot at the officer; and the officer returned fire. As Jenn was looking out of the window, she heard a thud on the outside wall above her head. It turned out to be a stray bullet being shot into her house. The robbers stole Mr. Horton's truck and got away. They dumped the truck near Canongate Elementary (causing the school to go into lockdown) and made their getaway in a Silver 2009 Dodge Journey. While all this was going on, I was sleeping in my bedroom. I had every intention of getting up and going running yesterday morning, and I wasn't a bit tired. But after Harry left at 7:30 am, I must have dozed off again; and I didn't wake up until about 9:40 am. I heard no sirens, I saw no police cars. I did hear a lot of helicopters, but didn't think much of it because of us living so near Falcon Field. I had been feeling guilty all day about not running and falling back to sleep...what a blessing!
Last night, we watched the news and learned all the details. Then, this morning as I was scraping the ice off of my windshield to take the kids to school, I saw a silver Dodge drive past my house. I thought I was going to pee myself! I called Harry and asked him what he thought I should do. He said that it wasn't being stupid, and we couldn't be too careful; and that I should call the sheriff. I called the sheriff's department who promptly (30 minutes later) sent a car around to patrol the area. To my knowledge, the men have not been caught. Thus ends an exciting day in Line Creek Cove :c) Here is one of the news stories on the incident.
Today was Harry's birthday. We found a few minutes in our hectic, busy lives to celebrate. Yesterday, we had cake with my parents. I made a key lime cake (Harry's request). It was so yummy. Harry took the day off from work and went golfing with a vendor from work. Tonight, We went to dinner at Taco Mac with Harry's parents (they're in town until Wednesday) and had yummy food and got to catch up. We, then, came home and Harry opened up his presents--all four seasons of "The Office," and a gift card to The Gap. All in all, a pretty good day.
Harry is such a wonderful person. He is extremely hard-working and takes such good care of us. We couldn't ask for a better dad/husband. Happy Birthday, Harry! We love you.
Shay tagged me. So, here it goes. 7 Interesting Facts About Me:
I survived a tornado when I was about 3 years old. I've been PETRIFIED of them ever since.
Many people know that I decorate cakes, but they don't know where it all started. I went to a Wilton cake decorating class with my Grandma Mullet when I was about 9 years old. That is the only cake decorating class I've ever taken.
Harry and I have known each other for 25 years. We've only been together for 16 years, though. We couldn't stand each other when we were teenagers. We became really good friends when he went on his mission and we wrote to each other. When our wedding announcements went out, there were quite a few VERY shocked people.
I was the Scripture Mastery Champion in Seminary. I rigged my scriptures with baby powder and crinkling the pages to go as fast as I did. It wasn't considered going against the rules to do so, though. So, I didn't cheat.
I played the flute and the piccolo in elementary, junior high, and high school. I was also in the marching band for four years.
My dance partner, Greg, and I won the Medal's Ball at BYU in the Cha-Cha my sophmore year of college. I took a total of four semesters of Ballroom Dance; and I miss it terribly.
I can tie a cherry stem into a knot using only my tongue...I don't like to admit this one because of the "connotations" it carries :c)
I tag Jacque Hanks, Lindsey Williams, Rhonda Wardwell, Laura Plauche, Erin Halliday, Laurie Marler, and Jamie Kartchner
Well, this has been a long, but exciting, weekend for the Schaefer Family. Friday night, Harrison had an away football game at Whitewater High School. Hannah spent the night with my parents; and Harry and I actually got to go out--we went to Applebee's.
Saturday morning, bright and early, we took Harrison to the school for practice and the long bus ride to Warner Robins for the Heart of Georgia Band Competition. Harry and I went down and arrived around 5:00 pm. My parents also went down and brought Hannah with them. We enjoyed watching the bands perform. Some of the bands we had seen in Carrollton at the last competition, but some of them were new to us. They were all good. The music was very diverse--from classical to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." It was a lot of fun. Northgate got all Superior ratings. They came in 1st in the class in Drum Major, Color Guard, Percussion, and Over-all band. They also placed in the over-all competition in Color Guard and Percussion. They did phenomenally...we were so proud of them.
That night, we drove up to Macon and spent the night--we didn't get in to the room until about 11:30 pm. We were absolutely exhausted. We had every intention of going to church at the Macon Ward the next morning and never made it. I felt so guilty. Hannah needed her rest, though, because she had a gymnastics competition at 3:30 in the afternoon. We lounged around the hotel room and watched some movies. We got ready for the meet, finished packing up, checked out, and got some lunch before the competition. Hannah was so nervous that she could hardly eat her lunch. I was pretty nervous for Hannah myself. She had worked so hard this past week; and I was scared to death the Lord was going to smite her off the beam for us allowing her to compete on Sunday :c).
We got to the meet and Stacy took over the pep talk for Hannah. I guess it paid off. Hannah had her best meet yet. Her goal for the meet was to get straight 9's and earn 36 points over all. She came within .075 points of achieving that goal. She scored 9.075 on beam; 9.10 on bars; 9.150 on vault; and 8.600 on floor (she remembered to salute this time, though). She was so shocked by her first score that it took everything she had to not scream, shout, and jump up and down.
She ended up taking 2nd in beam, 4th in vault, 4th in floor, and 5th in bars. Her total score of 35.925 earned her 3rd place over all; and also qualified her for the State Gymnastics meet in December. We were so excited and proud of her.
We got back late last night and crashed. Thank heavens the only things going on this weekend are a football game, trunk-or-treat, and Harry's birthday (officially Monday the 27th). November 1st...well, that's a different story with Hannah competing in Woodstock and Harrison competing in Newnan. Give me strength :c)!
On Saturday, Hannah attended her second gymnastics meet in Cartersville. The girls had their competition leotards and their black velvet warmups. I also made them scrunchies for their hair and matching flip-flops. They looked too cute.
All around, the girls did better on some events than last time, but they all struggled a little with others. Hannah did much better on the beam and the floor, but, disappointingly, scored lower on vault and bars. She scored an 8.10 on vault, an 8.10 on bars, an 8.85 on beam, and an 8.250 on floor for a total score of 33.30. She came in 4th in her age group on the beam. Her next meet is this Sunday. We'll let you know how she does. Her goal is to break a 9.0 on one of the events.
This is the video Harry took of the meet. After the floor routine, Hannah forgets to immediately salute the judges. Oops! Stacy said she was going to beat her with a wet noodle :c). Next time we're going to remember....right?
I've blogged a lot about our kids, but I left out one of them--Maggie, our four-legged child :c). She is as much a part of our family as anyone. I got her for my birthday 8 years ago when she was just 10 weeks old. She brings a peace and calm over the house because she is so laid back and easy going--unlike anyone else in the house. We have a lot of fun with her; and she does all kinds of tricks we've taught her over the years. She understands ASL (American Sign Language) and can sit, stay, lay down, whisper, speak, and sing all with ASL commands. She also, believe it or not, knows her left paw from her right paw and gives great high fives. She LOVES to play catch and fetch, but only in the house. She's a bit neurotic about her toys touching the grass outside--see, I told you she was just as much a part of the family as anyone else :c).
So, tonight, she came to Harry with one of the mini Northgate footballs they throw out at the game. She wanted to play catch. However, the ball was too bouncy and it turned into a game of bounce-back instead. We laughed and laughed. She acted like she was pretty proud of herself, too. This video was a re-creation. She went much longer the first time around.
On Thursday, Harrison had his first non-marching band concert. They did such a wonderful job. Harrison even had a duet in the first song. He did beautifully. We were really proud of him. I wasn't ready; so, I didn't get it on tape. Towards the beginning of the concert, I was snapping pictures right and left. The tuba player sitting next to Harrison asked, "Hey, is that your mom?" Harrison replied, "No, she's just some lady that has been following me around since I was little taking pictures...kind of like my own personal paparazzi." UGH! What a smarty pants.
He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. Harrison wants to say, "Thanks, Ga-Ga, for hemming my pants...they were perfect." I want to say thanks to my mom, too. Because if I had tried to hem them, they would have been a big mess :c). That beautiful french horn makes the outfit--I think. Way to go, Harrison!
Harrison attended his first marching band competition on Saturday in Carrollton at Central Carrollton High School. There were 22 bands that performed for single A to Open category. Bands are classified by the number of wind instruments they have (not drums, pit, or colorguard members). Northgate is classified at a AAA school and we march about 87 students (including drums, pit, and colorguard). They have worked really hard and they have their entire show plus the choreography on the field, now. They came in second out of five band in their division. Not too shabby! Way to go...Nothing Less Than the Best!
That has been the question for our family every first weekend of April and October for the last 15 years. I think I found a solution...Check out my post on the Genius Georgia Gals Blog.
