Long time, no post...

So, yes...I don't know what to say but it has been a very long time!  There has been so much going on I don't even know where to start.  I can say that for a minute I have a break to check in.

I'll start with where I ended and I believe that was in November right before Thanksgiving and in the thick of the Nutcracker rehearsals.  Nutcracker went on without a hitch and my beautiful little dancer did a wonderful job. 

        

I barely remember Christmas...it is always such a blur.  I think that I am going to talk with my sisters and see if they can agree that we only buy something for each other if it's on clearance, at a garage sale or we make something.  Or the suggestion in the past has been to draw names.  I am thinking that we need to slim down the gifts (and a little of the craziness!)


     

"The Dungeon" is the home of Topeka High basketball and it's a tradition.   And starting in December (and through February) we spent a lot of time there.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to share in this with her. 

 

Oh, and Lauren went to a couple of Power Lifting competitions...We are so grateful for all of the opportunities our kids are taking advantage of!

    

Caleb played some B-team basketball.  Gotta love this kid!




The winter of 2013 (January-March) was pretty crazy.  We had an epic blizzard in which my boss for the first time ever sent the staff home!  Some of us (myself and a couple of others) had to catch a ride with the others who happen to have 4-Wheel Drive.  Thank goodness for them because it was crazy (I think I said that already-WINK!)  On a good note, the kids had a snow day and the hubby was home so we spent the day watching the first 3 seasons of Big Bang Theory...It was a great day!

    


In February, Lauren auditioned for Ballet Midwest Company (and the spring ballet Coppelia).  She was accepted into the company and March and April brought rehearsals as a Mazurka and Spinner.  She got a Big Sister in the company and is very excited about that as well.

                                  
Don't for get about the boy, it was Caleb's 8th grade year and so there were a lot of lasts for us this year.  We had our final middle school band concert, some extracurricular drumming in the Cruzline, and he was the second seed tennis champ for 501 middle schools.  (someone even let it slip to the THS tennis coach and he stopped by to make sure that we are going to get him to play in high school too.  (Well of course!)

                   

Caleb also had 8th grade promotion in May, many honors and we are blessed with pretty great kids!

Lauren has made the dance team again for her sophomore year (here we go again!) and has a dance team camp coming up in a week or two.  Caleb leaves this Sunday for a Church camp for a week.  Sometimes I  think that the summers are busier than the school year...not really but it seems that there is more structure during the school year.

Lauren and I ran the Warrior dash with my co-workers in May...next year the goal will be all of the family running it!

    


And just a random picture from Easter!




So, there you have some of it.  My hope is to not wait a lifetime to start blogging again, but it's hard to find the time sometimes.  I have a couple of full time jobs (work, kids and Pinterest-more on that later).

I will try to make a better effort to get on at least once a week if not more!  Until next time!

Renae

what a weekend

Okay, it's Sunday and I'm exhausted.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and it was very nice.  Everyone chips in and brings a little something and that makes it so much easier and takes a lot of the pressure off the hostess.  Mom made the turkey and that was a huge help too!  I love a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, it's my favorite meal of the year!  So to the family members that read my blog:  You are all excellent cooks and it was a fantastic day with all of you!  And Jill you will have to get me the recipe for Brad's favorite sweet potato casserole that you make. 

My sister Rachele and her girls stayed with us on Wednesday night and Rachele was a huge help on Thursday.  So a big thanks to you!  Plus, those mustache tattoos went over very well!  And I am not sure what happened to the movie marathon, but maybe next time.

My sisters all packed up Thursday night to get their "shop" on, I can't do this (sorry ladies) the crowds are not worth the couple of bucks you save in my opinion.  I worked retail for a very long time and it's not my thing.  But from what I understand they scored some good deals.  I still need to finish my shopping, but I'll do it a little at a time...there's still 5 weeks to Christmas right?  Actually the hubby and I went to Target on Saturday and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

As I look back at my list of things to get done for the week, I realized that the drumline concert was not last Tuesday, but this coming Tuesday so we are still looking forward to that.  We have marked off Thanksgiving and the 4-0 birthday party.  It was fun to have everyone over and visit with people we haven't seen in a while...plans have been made for lunch and a vacation for next year, I'll keep you updated.  I am just not very good at taking the camera around and getting pictures of everyone, so I may have to steal a couple from Facebook.

Our family also went to see the Twilight Breaking Dawn part 2.  The kids and I saw it on Sunday because I didn't want anyone to ruin the "surprise twist ending" that I keep hearing about.  But the hubby was working so we went again to see it in Olathe on Friday and had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse (yummy rolls!!!)

Nutcracker is now 2 weekends away and this week is our last "normal" week before we get into the thick of it.  Starting Saturday we will have 9 straight days of crazy until the production is over.  Luckily I have a couple of days vacation to keep myself sane.  But we will have a lot of people in to watch our lovely dance so it will be a little hectic too.  Whew, I'm tired just writing about it...or it's recovering form the current weekend...but probably both!

So here's this week's to-do list and hopefully I can get a menu up too!
1. Drumline concert-yes, I promise that it is this Tuesday and that there will be pictures!  Promise!

2. Cleaning-probably something that should have been done before this last weekend, but there are only so many hours in a day! (Smiley face)

3. Christmas Crap (I mean decorations!)-Looks like it will be this coming weekend while the girl is at rehearsals, it's such a chore, but the hubby is a huge help (sometimes too much help!)  And I feel like the fall and Thanksgiving decor should stay up through Black Friday.  We would normally have put the Christmas up on Saturday, but there was a little something else going on!

4. Nutcracker-starting Saturday the 1st, we will let the crazy begin!

Well, I intend to get back on here and post more throughout the week, but you'll forgive me if it doesn't happen as often as it should.

In honor of...

I guess that I really should know my audience better!  Thanks to my little sis Jillie-Bean for the very first comment ever on my blog (Thank you and love you). 

Now this is a test:  What does Jill want or need for Christmas?  Your hubby was easy to purchase for this year, but I am stumped as to what to get for you.  What is the test you say?  It's not really a test, but I am really phishing for another comment on my blog.  (Aha!)

I will try to write more later, but for now I have a headache that I need to try and shake!  Yuck! 

In the thick of it...

So, we are deep in Nutcracker rehearsals and drumline practices, school and Thanksgiving is only 4 days away!  I feel like yesterday was Halloween (Oh wait, that's the last time I posted on the blog.)  Things have been extremely stressful lately-work, family, driving...I haven't been coping very well with it all.  But now it seems that has passed (at least I am hoping!) and on with a better attitude.  Yuck, I will stop with the whiny now.

Last night, Lauren and I went to a middle school production of Peter Panic.  The son of a very dear friend was in the play and the kids did a very good job.  Today, I went to Salina with my Mom and my (favorite and never forgotten) sister Jill (see I did mention you in the blog!).  We went to a craft fair and it was crazy hectic (I am not a crowd girl at all-I don't like people in my personal space) it was fun and we picked up a couple of really cute Christmas decorations.  Oh yeah, yesterday we went to the Junior League of Topeka's Merry Market.  I love this event and try to go every year, I didn't buy anything this year, but it was fun to look.

We have some very big events coming up as alluded to above...
1. Last drumline practice and the performance this Tuesday evening.  Caleb will be starting the Cruzline up again next semester.  He has been playing the snare drum since the 4th grade and his band teacher asked 3 8th grade drummers to help the 6th grade band and Caleb was one of the chosen (Yippee)  But Cruzline is an extracurricular activity and the drum coach is an awesome guy!  I will try for pictures, but will be taking video to post on facebook.

2. Thanksgiving-We are having family over to our house to eat early and then if anyone needs to leave and go on to the next, they can or they can hang with us and have leftovers and I am threatening an Avengers movie marathon.  Obviously pictures will be posted.

3. The hubby's birthday-We have a big birthday this month as my husband turns 40.  We are again having friends and family over for light snacks and cupcakes.  No surprise party-he has been warned!

4. Nutcracker-This is still 3 weekends away, but the weekend before is just as crazy as the week of and finally the weekend of the ballet.  So after December 9th, I will have free time and weekends available again. Whew. At least I have some vacation time to take right then.

5. Then there is always Christmas and all the shopping, baking and getting Christmas cards out...I have started getting a few gifts here and there but I am no where near being completed.  We are hosting Christmas as well.  I know what you are thinking but I really don't mind having everyone over---I actually love it.  I think the part that I love best is that I don't have to travel anywhere! (Yes, I'm lazy!)

So, there you have it, the crazy that is my life.  But I wouldn't change it, and I am very excited for the upcoming events!  I apologize for this crazy mixed up post, but it goes along with my week.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, it's that time of year...costumes, candy-tricks and treats.  Our office dressed up as the No-No list this year.  I work for an Orthodontist and the No-No list consists of sticky-chewies and things that will break your braces.  We had stickers that said "Bad to the Braces" (instead of "Bad to the Bone") and t-shirts with Big Red, Sweet Tarts, Snickers, Runts, Orange Crush, Peanut M&M's, Whatchamacallit, Butterfinger and the doctor went as Dr Pepper.  Well, we thought it was cute.  Every year we go "Trick or Treating" to referring dentists offices and it's a blast!  One office took the picture below (Thanks Dr Julie!)

So, safe Tricks and Treats to all tonight, and if you want to get rid of that candy tomorrow check with local dental offices there are tons of Candy Buy Back promotions going on.  (Our office sends the candy to the National Guard and they send it overseas to the troops, what a great treat!)

Another Weekend...

So, it's been another weekend and it has been busy, busy, busy.  Friday noght was the last home football game.  Topeka High ended the season 8-1 and with a bang (fireworks donated by a local credit union.)

 

The hubs and son went to an overnight Youth Rally on Saturday night and I spent the night cleaning for the baby shower, getting the Halloween out (don't judge, at leastit got out this year at all!)...

 

, curling hair for Nutcracker pictures and running to said pictures.  We are down to 6 weeks before the performance.  Wow, time flies!

Yes, that face says it all!

And, today we hosted a baby shower in my home for a dear Church friend.  Welcome to baby Norman! (And thanks to all my co-hosts and his mommy for sharing him with us today!)

 

 

So, I really am trying to get better at posting more than once a week.  But I figure that it's better to write at least once than not at all.

 

 

PS-The mantel is 3 $2.50 pumpkins from the Dollar spot at Target and I painted the letters for FALL onto scrapbook paper then taped them to wooden squares from the craft store.  Then I tied some scraps of fabric onto a sring and hung them up.  Yay for simple (and inexpensive!)

 



Crazy...

What have I been doing?  Well, I was going to Dallas last weekend...mom and I left on Thursday afternoon and made it all the way to Blackwell(I know we were 20 miles past the Kansas border), Oklahoma and had to turn around and go back due to a wind storm causing pretty crazy accidents on I-35.  This is the 3rd trip out of the state that I have had to cancel or not go on and I am very sad...but for some reason I am not to go on a vacation this year.  Huh.  Well, the dust storm was very crazy and there are some pictures on Instagram but I'll post them here too.

This is the sun trying to get through the clouds of dust.

 

 

So, when we turned around, we headed to Olathe to see my sister and nieces.  It's a small trip, and only took us 7 hours to arrive.  Well, Mom and I spent the day taking my nieces to Garage Sales (they were out of school for Parent/Teacher conferences.)  After GS's, we went to a favorite breakfast place- First Watch.  It was the girls first time eating there and we may have created a couple of monsters.  Just kidding.

 

I think this silverware wrapper is the funniest thing ever. 

We love breakfast anytime of the day, but First Watch is only open til early afternoon (2pm  maybe).

 

The only other thing going on is Nutcracker rehearsals and there are only 6 more weekends until performances.  So we are spending a lot of time at the dance studio and I get bored and take a couple of pictures...

 

My girl is the one in green. 

 

I guess that we have been doing some home improvements too...we painted the family room and kitchen that were a stark white (I'll post pictures when I get them taken.)  I am trying to get ready for a baby shower this weekend and the last home football game is this Friday.  (Again pictures to follow).  Some how in the process of painting I did this to my toe:

Yes, I need a pedicure, but I honestly don't know how this happened.  I just found it when I woke up.  Gross, huh?  And no, I did not try to stick my foot into my daughters point shoe! 

 

Have a great week, if I don't get anything posted in the mean time.