Sunset Stroll

Wednesday night, the kids 4-H club participated in the Sunset Stroll. It is sort of a local, scaled down version of Relay for Life. All the money raised is for breast cancer awareness and prevention. This year's Stroll was dedicated to my grandma Shirley. They had a memorial balloon launch, and my aunts spoke a little about my grandma, and about battling cancer. I did not get to attend the stroll, because I had to teach my Religion Ed class, but Jim and the kids said it was really nice. I can't help but think grandma would be pleased that so many people got behind the cause!

recap

Another week is gone, and I didn't do a very good job of blogging. Seems like at the end of the day, all I want to do is go to bed, not jump on the computer! We had a full week, as usual. Colin's football team played a very hard game against Holton, and even though they lost, I was super impressed with how they played.....they made Colin's team look like first graders! Those boys were huge. Not sure what they are feeding their boys in Holton, but I am pretty sure we don't have that much protein in this part of the country!! Cam's team also was on the losing end of their game this week. I did not get to go to his game since I was helping the girls run a food stand at the farm auction of my grandparent's farm equipment. It was a good day for food sales, and the girls made quite a bit of money toward their trip to DC. It was a little sad to see them sell my grandpa's farm equipment, especially his bulldozer which I know grandpa was very excited about owning!

After the auction, Mallory and Madison had about 2 hours to rest and then they went with Jim to Ottawa to work at a concession stand at the fall demolition derby. Jim said that the girls worked very hard, and that he thought they stayed busy the whole time - so we are hoping that they made some more money for their trip! They didn't get home until 1:00 a.m. so I hope it was worth the exhaustion they felt on Sunday!
Even though Quincy didn't work, she was also exhausted this weekend...you can see it on her face! She wasn't too tired to go to a princess party for her friend though! She was excited to get her hair and make up done! I thought she looked very princess-y! She had fun! We did trick her into going to bed early last night because she was so grouchy though!

I am excited because we are now 7 weeks away from meeting our new baby! I am definitely ready to meet her and also to have her dad take a turn in carrying her!

Also new this week, Mallory and Madison's class rings are ordered. Seems impossible to me that they are ordering class rings! Better a class ring than an engagement one though right? They did a fabulous job of staying on my budget and the photos of what they ordered look pretty cool....and they were sure excited about it! They also performed at the homecoming game, and attended the homecoming dance. I did not go to homecoming since I was at my cousin Kelsey's wedding. The wedding was literally 2 minutes long - with vows only! My cousin Michael performed the wedding -- he was ordained on line! Colin though it might be a good idea for him to become our parish priest.....maybe we would get home a little sooner! I don't see that happening!

Fundraising Gurus

Mallory and Madison have been spending quite a bit of their time lately fundraising for their Washington DC trip next summer. They are a little more than halfway to their goal. They spent Saturday all day parking cars at a car show in Ottawa. It was not hard work, but it was not really fun, exciting, or entertaining. And it did rain, which meant we got a little bit wet, and they did have to have a parent present, which meant that I spent half a day there and then Jim came down and spent the other half of the day.

When I was a kid, we used to go to Ottawa all the time....they had a nice Saturday morning auction there, and we shopped at the Town and Country. I have been there probably hundreds of times - and somehow managed to get lost not once, but twice on my way home! Next weekend, the girls have to go back to Ottawa to work in a concession stand at a demolition derby.....I am hoping Jim will take them, as I am still feeling rather silly for getting lost in a place I should know how to get home from! Luckily, we did not get lost on the way there, so they were on time for their jobs!

After spending so much time fundraising for this CWF trip, I was feeling kind of good about having a lot of the money already in their accounts. What happens when I start to feel good? Well, that is when the school sends home a letter requesting your presence at a band meeting. At the band meeting, we were informed that the band director had gotten permission to take his band (including both Mallory and Madison) to New York over spring break. He stated that the cost per student will run about $800. BUT never fear - he had some FUNDRAISING ideas that we can do so that he is hoping that there will be no out of pocket expense at all! GREAT!! Just what I wanted to hear! So now I am on a committee that is planning "Cow Pie Bingo" and I am working at all the high school football games. Although this is actually an advantage, because I will get into the games for free, which means that I can watch the girls marching band without having to pay! Gotta look for the bright side right? Truly, these are both trips of a lifetime, and I sure don't want to deny the girls the opportunity to go if we can make it happen for them...plus they really have been putting in a ton of effort, so it makes it seem like its worth it!

Add that to the fact that they brought home class ring order forms though, and I am starting to get a good feel for how financially draining high school students are!

But totally worth it, of course!

And so, that is what our weekends are going to be made of from now until forever because when the girls get back from Washington next summer, it will be time for Colin to apply to go! And so by the time I get all 8 kids through high school, I may have a future career in fundraising! I just pray that our family, friends, grandparents and neighbors will still be talking to me by then!

We have also been up to our eyeballs in other activities. Preston and Quincy are signed up to play flag football, Cam and Colin's football teams are both doing pretty well. Colin played a lot in his game last week, and they did win a game finally. Cam's team has not won a game yet....and their players keep getting hurt, so it has been a little bit of a rough season!

Colin also got contacts, but it has been a little bit of a challenge. He can get them in, but it is very time consuming. He doesn't seem to have any trouble getting them out. He absolutely loves them once he gets them into his eyes, and thinks they will be great when he is playing sports. I never realized that he has kind of narrow eye sockets so I really think the struggle is to get his eyes open wide enough to place the contact. I am sure he will get it with a little more time and practice!

I think that pretty much brings the blog up to date. Things haven't been overly exciting around here lately! Just the normal day to day grind!

Confusion?

Is it confusion, or a 20 month old cat infatuation?

Weekend looked busy, turned out to be somewhat relaxing!

The girls were supposed to perform at the first home football game Friday evening for marching band. They were also supposed to run a concession stand for a softball tournament on Saturday morning. So when they got home from school, I had a list made, and we ran to the store to pick up all the stuff they would need, then hurried over and stocked up the concession stand with sodas etc so they would be cold, and set everything up. We then hurried to get them ready to get to their call time, and I had to pick up Colin from football practice and get him ready because he was supposed to be the high school marching band's jr. high helper. We got everyone where they needed to be, only to have marching band (as well as the football game) called off due to heavy rain and lightening. The band did not march, but the football game did resume after an hour or more rain delay. I did not stay....I figured since I went to watch the band, and they were not playing, I could excuse myself from sitting in the rain! I then hurried home, and started making breakfast burrito stuffing. The girls came home a little later, and helped me finish making the burritos for their concession stand on Saturday.

When we looked at the calendar for Saturday, Jim and I knew that we were going to have to do some major stragetizing to get everyone where they needed to be. We made arrangements for the other CWF family who was working the stand to be the 'adult in charge' for the morning shift, and let the girls take themselves. Cameron had his first official football game in North Topeka, and Overbrook was having its annual fishing derby, which Jim was supposed to help with. So I left with Cameron and headed to town.

Cameron's team did not fare well against Holton, and we won't be recalling the score. While I am watching the football game, I get a call from the girls saying nobody is at the ball diamonds. Nobody. No lined fields, no players, no umpires, nobody at all. The other CWF family had heard that it was cancelled, but nobody ever called to let us know.....all we had to go on was a rumor. I told the girls to wait a little while, and if nobody showed up, then to go over to the fishing derby with their dad.....which ended up being what they did. To say that I was a little upset is an understatement. I did not enjoy making dozens of breakfast burritos for no reason at all! Not to mention the shopping, stocking, planning, menu printing etc that went into it.
The fishing derby, however was a huge success, and the kids had a wonderful time! Preston, Quincy and Colin all fished. Colin's friend, Kyle helped a bunch!

By the time I got done with Cameron's game and got to the fishing derby, Colin had broken his pole in half (he says he caught a monster fish, Jim says it was a monster snag!)

And although Quincy loves fishing, the derby was longer than her attention span! When I got there, she was mostly playing with the worms and playing in the mud!

Preston, however was all business! He had caught something like 26 pounds of fish, and won a fishing pole and tackle box for his efforts. I believe he caught the most pounds of fish for his age, as well as the 3rd biggest fish for his age group -- I think his fish weighed a little over 5 pounds!

Quincy also got a prize, but I am going to admit that I have no idea what she won it for!

It was a great morning! I love watching my husband and kids have such a good time together! And the look of pride that Jim had when his little kids love something that he loves, is priceless!

Since the girls did not have to work at a concession stand, they then spent their evening babysitting for my cousin's new twin babies. They got paid to snuggle babies - sweet deal! The boys both went to friend's houses for the night. We were supposed to go to my aunt's birthday party, but I told Jim I just felt like eating breakfast burritos and watching a movie! So we were down to 3 kids and we did just that! And it was a very relaxing evening!

Today, we had enrollment for Religion Ed. I had been kind of worried about how I was going to get Colin to his Confirmation classes, since some of the classes are in Osage City at the same time as our church has mass. Luckily, his Confirmation teacher has agreed to give him a ride. I just haven't figured out how to be in two places at once! But we worked it out! I am glad, because I really want him to make his Confirmation!

This evening, we watched some of the coverage of the Sept. 11 tragedy. I forgot that Colin and Cam were both pretty little when it happened. They had no recollection of it, which seems weird to me since it is a day I will never forget.
And so the weekend that looked horrifying by the calendar page, really turned out to be ok. I am thankful for my family, and grateful that we can have some time occasionally to just relax!

Now that it is September....

We have been royally enjoying the weather! Playing outside, going to the park, and watching football without sweating at all has been so nice - not to mention turning off the air conditioning so that maybe we won't have to spend every dime with westar energy this month!
Preston is absolutely loving first grade and his teacher keeps telling me how much she loves him! I guess he is a good example to his fellow classmates!
Sure hope that lasts!

The adjustment has been harder for Harper - who asks for the kids all day long - she runs around saying "Mad Mad school, Mallwry school, Holin school" and then goes through the rest of the kids! She plays for a while and then starts the whole thing over again! I guess in 9 more weeks she will have someone to play with!

Cameron took this photo of Colin (#60 - second from the right in blue) - I thought it was a pretty awesome photo! Thanks Cam! We have been going to lots of football practices and games. Colin's 8th grade team has not won a game yet, but I think they will start winning next week - at least that is what Colin told me! Speaking of Colin, I spent Labor Day in the ER with him. He had football practice on Monday morning.....while there he got hit (actually he says he did the hitting) and then was slow to get up, couldn't walk a straight line, and apparently gave the coach the wrong phone number when they tried to call me. Since there are new concussion laws, he had to be checked out before he could return to practice. Of course, these things always have to happen on a holiday! We sure would hate to not go to the ER on my day off! He did not have a concussion, and was cleared to go back to practice - which made him very happy! He did have a CAT scan, and they confirmed that there are brains in his head! Good news!

Cameron's team also played a practice game this week, they did not win, but they did score some points, so they have totally improved from last year!

The kitten is also busy - she likes to dive bomb feet, bite ankles, steal food, run off with socks, and meow madly if we put her in the garage! Although Colin originally thought that he should name the cat Carlos, we think she is a girl, so I changed her name to Zodiac. Colin wants to call her tiger, but I think everyone has a cat named Tiger -- so I over ruled him!
The nice part is that Harper has someone to keep her company when everyone else is off at school.

And now for my Cam story of the day. I was getting dinner ready so we could head out to Colin's football game tonight. Cam was doing homework at the kitchen table and complaining about math. He asks me for help - and I look at his paper -- the problem was Ada's crazy aunt Melba hides $10,000 under her mattress. If she spends $20 a day, how many days will the money last? Cam's answer? "Melba's boyfriend is a thief, he stole the money, it lasted 2 days." Sounded like the right answer to me, yep, he totally got his math skills from his mother!

bad photographer

Hard as I try to take photos of my kids and their stuff - once in a while a week gets the better of me. This week was one of those weeks. The kids had a ton of activities going on - back to school stuff, first football games etc. No camera was present at any of these things - I forgot to bring it. I missed getting photos of Colin getting to start in his first 8th grade football game....which may be ok since they got their rumps kicked! The list of other things I didn't document photographically is rather long - I am going to pretend that it doesn't exist!

I must say that after this week, a 3 day weekend was needed and overdue! Getting the kids back into the swing of a routine has been a challenge. Quincy has had a really good first week of full days of school - but she has never, ever been a morning person. The excitement of starting kindergarten wore off on day 4 when she pronounced she 'just needed a day off of school!' Well, darling guess what? You only have 12 more years to go after this one!! :)

Mallory and Madison are both taking rather challenging sophomore schedules and I have no idea what they are even doing homework wise! I know I took chemistry and geometry in high school.....but I sure hope they don't come to me for any help! I have had fun helping Madison study Spanish - I always liked that subject!

On top of activities, routine and homework it has been a rocky week at my office, and Jim has been hurt and is having a rather hard time moving very well. Challenge has been the name of the game!

In good news, the first full week of school is over, the kids are happy with seeing all their friends, and I am overall very happy with the teachers they got. I know things will settle in and calm down! At least they better!