Firemen vrs policemen

This evening, Andrew’s fire station played a softball game against the police department at Carbondale.  Preston was in a group of band kids who played the National Anthem before the game.  They also had a moment of silence in remembrance of the people who lost their lives on 9/11.   

Madison and Andrew both played on the firemen  softball team.  It has been a long time since we watched Madison play softball.  They both played well, but Madison reported that she felt really old!  

I got a huge kick out of Evie standing at the fence yelling “go Madison!”  So funny!  She also was very happy that the concession stand was giving out free hotdogs and chips.  And we let Saige bring Carlos to the game as well.  Carlos seemed to have fun!  Evelyn was happy to help walk him.   

It was a nice evening at the ballpark.  

I saw a lot of what were you doing 20 years ago posts.  It is hard for me to believe that 9/11 happened that long ago.  I had dropped the girls off at school.  They were in kindergarten.  Jim left for his job in Kansas City.  I was getting ready to take one of the boys to the doctor because they were sick. My mom called and asked if I saw the news.  Of course we had the tv on, but it was on some kid show.   I changed the channel just in time to see the plane fly into the second tower.  I remember my mom not wanting me to go to Topeka.  I remember battling with myself on whether to go pick the girls up from school. I remember wanting to ask Jim to come home from work.  The helpless feeling, and wondering what kind of world I brought kids into.  I also distinctly remember going to the doctor’s office, and them asking me for any information because they didn’t have a tv.  Followed by going into Walmart to get medicine for the sick kid, and feeling sort of eerie  because Walmart was completely silent.   Followed by being glued to the tv and not believing my eyes.   Jim finally turned it off and told me to stop watching.  I had a paper route at this time and spent 3 hours a morning alone in my car.  That was all that was on the radio, and I remember throwing the paper while being blinded by my own tears.   I will definitely never forget.  

Friday change o plans

Tonight was supposed to be the first home football game.  We were supposed to go watch Preston and Quincy perform in the band’s halftime show.   The other team apparently couldn’t play due to covid.  I could go into a long winded story about how these small county schools don’t think masks are necessary, and about my opinion on it, but I’m not going to.  Needless to say, I do not think this will be the last game that is missed this year.   

Since the game was not happening, Quincy went to work, Jim helped get stuff ready for tomorrow’s fishing derby, Preston went out with friends, and I took Harper and Saige to the Huff n Puff balloon rally.   We met Madison, Andrew, Mallory and Evie there.  The girls had a great time collecting trading cards.  Evie wasn’t quite as excited about things when they started blowing fire into the balloons, but she still had fun I think!  I love this event.  We have been going for a long time, and it never ceases to bring me joy.  There is something magical about hot air balloons.    

It was another long, exhausting week.  Honestly, I needed something fun and magical to do today.  

Labor Day weekend

Someone forgot that Labor Day doesn’t mean you should work your buns off!  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we all worked together to accomplish a lot today, which actually needed to happen so no regrets! 

First, a moment to brag….because this is my blog and I can do what I want.  I have to say I am very proud of my kids for taking on so much responsibility at church. Preston has been training Saige to serve as an acolyte.  He has been very patient and kind with her and she is really excited about doing it.  Yesterday, they both served and there was a baptism.  Preston helped with it.  He did parts of the readings and was very involved in assisting Father Jo.  He looked so grown up and I was just so proud of him.  

Today, we tried out a hack that we saw online.  You use a spin mop to clean the walls.  I found a spin  mop on clearance.  It was exciting!   The hack worked really well, but my shoulders are sure not happy about it this evening!  I am wanting to paint the upstairs, and this is the first step.  The hard part is finding a paint color that I like, and that Jim also likes!  We also got the pool cleaned, the laundry caught up, the lawn mowed, the kitchen cleaned and the whole house vacuumed.  It was a good, but exhausting day!

This evening, Quincy’s CWF group sold taco salads at the farmers market.  They were pretty busy, and they sold out!   She has 3 fundraisers left to work and then I’m praying she is fully funded.  I told Jim we have 2 more kids to get through this program, and then I am hanging up my fundraiser pants forever!   He laughed at me because he knows that this was probably a lie.  

The best news of all is that I finally found and  patched the pesky leak that has been haunting me all summer.    I knew where the water was coming out, but there was nothing on the inside that I could find.   I finally found a hole a good 4 feet from where it was leaking out.  I wasn’t sure that we were going to get it done before winter, and I was very worried.  This weekend, the rain water filled us up and we never had to add any water at all!   So much relief.   The kids swam a little bit to cool off between chores today.  I’m guessing in another week, we will be talking about shutting it down for the winter.  It makes me sad, but I am happy that we have gotten so much use out of it this year! 

And just like every single other 3 day weekend, this one didn’t stick around long enough.   

Car swap Saturday

It was another busy, fly by the seat of your pants week around here.   We have been trying to figure out a lot of stuff.   Sometimes life throws you a stumbling block.   Or two.  Sometimes it ends up working out fine too.   

We were pretty upset about Preston’s car.  For one thing, it was a very nice car that he thought might get him through a few years.  That didn’t happen.  Our friend Jagger had a Toyota 4Runner that needs some work.  He offered to sell it to Preston very cheaply.  We know it will need to be taken in to have some gaskets replaced, and we know what it will cost.  When that is done, it will be a good car we think.  He hates car shopping, and is a little down about the nice car he had being wrecked, and so when the opportunity came up, he jumped at it.  We picked the car up this morning.  

 When the news of Preston’s car drama spread through town, as only drama in a small town can, we had another offer of a vehicle for him to buy.  This little red car is a manual transmission though, and Preston wasn’t really wanting to buy a stick.  Quincy’s van has had multiple problems lately, and she very much wanted to buy a new vehicle.  She was willing to learn to drive it, and told me that she would learn how via YouTube videos.  Because I wanted to see if that was possible, we picked this car up for her this morning.  She had indeed watched the videos, and with a little help from daddy, managed to get it home and only killed it a few times!  

I hope and pray that this will be the last vehicle shopping we have to do for a long time.  I also hope they are safe and careful.   

Since we were dropping money like we have it, (which we don’t), Jim and I also went shopping today.  I figured since the KSU game was on TV, he would want to stay home.   He said he would rather spend the day with me.  Sometimes he says the sweetest things.  He followed that up with saying  he thought the game was going to go bad and needed a reason to not watch.   I’m going to ignore that statement and just go with he is sweet.  Cameron and Lauren went to Dallas to watch.  They sent me some picture, including when Cameron’s sign got on the Jumbotron.  Jim was frequently checking the score, and was pleased with the win.  I was pleased to have someone to help me load groceries!