The Summer of 2022 is one of the hottest ones on record for Kansas. We spent most of the weekends sizzling in the heat, going through a ridiculous amount of sunscreen, ice, water, and sunflower seeds watching Matthew play baseball. Despite the heat, I enjoy a good baseball game.
Allison’s gymnastic team qualified to participate in the AAU National competition this year! She was pretty excited! It changes locations every year, this year it was in Springfield, Illinois-home of Abraham Lincoln.
It was a quick trip but we had a fun time together. After I finished work on Thursday Allison and I drove to Springfield. It was about a 5 hour drive. We ate lots of snacks and sang songs at the top of our lungs to pass the time. The last hour of the drive we saw thousands of fire flies along the road. A lot of them hit the car window too. We new it was a fire fly because the smear they made on the window glowed just like they did for about a minute after it got squashed on the window.
We made it to our hotel and got settled in. Allison had a little excitement to burn off so we explored the hotel and then she bounced all over the bed for a bit. We had to be at the convention center by 7:45 the next morning. We woke up early and made it to breakfast. They had potato squares which are one of Allison’s favorite so she took that as a good sign for the day.
We got to the convention center and once we found her coach and team mate I went and found a good seat. She did a great job! I enjoy watching her compete.
She is the Missouri Valley group when they announce where people are from.
Her scores for her events were;
Bars:8.825
Beam:8.8
Vault:8.65
Floor 9.15.
For her division she ended up placing 10th overall and took 7th on the floor. She messed up a little bit on the last run of her floor routine so she was surprised at her score a little bit. That is why you always show confidence!
After her competition and awards we headed back home. Allison spotted a Pizza Ranch Buffet- one of her favorites- so we stopped there for lunch on our way home. It was good but put me in a carb coma so I had to pull over and take a 30 minute cat nap. Allison took embarrassing videos and pictures of me while I slept.
To help you remember, last year Allison brought me the plan for her birthday party she wanted to have when she turned 10 a few weeks before so I had plenty of time to prepare. Her original party spanned several days and two nights with several outings planned each day. After some negotiating we chiseled it down to a full 24 hour party with two outings, and just one night of sleeping over.
Usually we do a bigger party every other year and then keep it to a little smaller family party in between with a little bigger present. Allison came to me with her birthday brainstorming before getting to into her planning to determine what I considered a ‘big party’ to be. I believe she clarified by saying, “What is the number of days difference to you for a big party or a small party?” She is a funny girl. I told to keep it small and she would get some cash for her present. Nothing motivates Allison more than cash money.
She was happy to oblige and she helped me plan a pool party with a few friends. They ate pizza, opened presents, had a silly string fight, swam while listening to music, then everyone went home. Except for Leah, she spent the night. I think it was a very successful birthday for her. The next day we went to a few stores to release some of the heat from Allison’s pockets because she had money burning a hole in them. She added to her pop it and fidget collection that is getting pretty large.
We had a family dinner with local Terry’s on Sunday as well, which she loved. She is now 11. Going to be starting 6th grade and ready to take on the next year of her life. Happy Birthday Allison!
It has been awhile since I wrote about each kiddo individually so I thought I would do that. They like reading about themselves when they look through these blogs so I’ll catch up on what they are like in their lives right now.
She has changed from a little girl into a young lady the past several months. I love watching her grow up but it is also a little bitter sweet with her because each time she finishes a phase it is the last of my kids to go through it. Sometimes it is nice- like potty training. Other times it is a little sad- like losing her first tooth, or holding my hand when we go places. I can still talk her into holding my hand for now.
She is finishing her last week of a two week trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Jones in Florida this Summer. She has been having a great time. She told me some of the highlights have been watching movies with grandma and grandpa, going to the zoo, playing with her cousin Aubry, swimming A LOT, and her cousin Hannah coming to stay too. They even had a Pioneer Primary Activity while she was there. She was a little nervous about flying on the airplane by herself to get there but she is a pro now so she isn’t worried about the flight home.
Emilee is 8 years old. She loves being the youngest kid and tries to take advantage of the ‘I don’t know how’ excuse any chance she gets. She is a master at getting what she wants right under your nose. I have to really watch myself or before I know it I am doing everything for her or having her brother or sister do it for her. The saying, you catch more bees with sugar than vinegar is her motto in life, if it doesn’t work she is fully prepared to back it up with crying or even the occasional tantrum. Those tactics are easier to spot because they are more annoying obviously, and she usually over does the theatrics a bit so it is almost comical. Overall she is still a happy easy going girl for the most part.
We often hear her singing either a real or made up song while she plays. She is the best at using her imagination and will entertain herself for hours with her stuffed animals or her little animal toys or legos. She has an amazing stuffed animal collection. It is almost like her journal. She remembers each of their names and where or why she got them. They rotate on her bed so they all have turns sleeping with her at night. There are 10-15 stuffed animals in her bed at any given time.
She is very tall for her age. Dad still tries to get her interested in sports. She is very fast and has a fair amount of natural athleticism. She has tried basketball, soccer, softball, gymnastics and will be trying volleyball this Fall. She could be very good at any of those but so far she hasn’t loved any of them. Her love is animals. She started riding lessons with one of her besties Reese about a year ago. She loves riding the horses and helping take care of them each week. She did a horse camp this Summer and has been telling us she wants a horse for Christmas ever since then. I am hoping she will be my kiddo that does some theater and choir in school.
She likes to color and draw. If I let her she would keep every single piece of paper from school, church, restaurants, and anywhere else she gets it. She wants to color every single space on the paper and then display it when she is done. She has a good memory and if one of her papers comes up missing she quickly checks her bed room garbage, then the kitchen garbage and the big dumpster in the garage to retrieve it. She has followed the chain of where I throw things away that she hasn’t approved. Paper is not the only thing she likes to keep. She likes to collect almost anything. She has her stuffed animals, sea shells, sunglasses, chap stick, rocks, dragons, anything she can think of. She loves collecting and prefers to have all of her collections on display, not neatly put away.
She loves having a friend to play with. Her besties are Reese Dunn, Summer Beashore, Cambrie McDonald and her cousin Jovee. If she is with any of them they can entertain themselves for hours. Reese and her share a love of animals and swimming. Summer and her love coloring together, Cambrie and her love Lego dragons and Jovee and her come up with all sorts of games to play.
She has loved dragons since she was very little and still loves them. She collects all kids of dragons-stuffed, plastic, action figures, but her most favorite is Dragons out of Legos. Her and Cambrie line them up for hours and play endlessly with them. She loves the How to Train Your Dragon movies and all the spin off shows from them.
Emilee is a sweet girl and has brought joy to our home from day one. She is the best cuddler. She loves to be tucked in every night. She enjoys going to bed when she is tired and looks forward to good sleep. She does not like getting up in the morning and the thought of having to get up early stresses her out. She is the pickiest eater you will ever meet. I think the biggest culprit to her pickiness is texture but it is a constantly changing, ridiculous list of what she will and won’t eat. Her food of choice is mac n cheese, cheese quesadilla, yogurt, carrots, apples, cereal, PB and honey, bagels with brown sugar cream cheese and water (unless root beer is an option which it usually isn’t but she likes to double check). She has been slowly getting better at broadening her list of foods she will eat with the exception of berries. Strawberries in particular. She will do any chore, go to bed in the middle of the afternoon, sit at the table for hours, go without any food before she will eat a strawberry or anything she knows has a strawberry in it. With the exception of strawberry milk which she calls pink milk and doesn’t know is strawberry. Technically it is just added flavored sugar so it isn’t really strawberry. As picky as she is she has a giant sweet tooth and we have to really watch what treats we keep around the house because she will eat all of them. Don’t think her inconsistent though, her sweet tooth is pretty picky too.
Emilee is a beautiful little girl but she doesn’t overly concern herself with matters of hygiene. She used to prefer to change into the clothes she was wearing the next day the night before instead of pajamas so she could roll out of bed and be ready. She now prefers to wear her pajamas and change in the morning like the rest of the world. She grabs whatever is at the top of her drawer and puts it on. Luckily she matches most of the time. She rarely shows a preference on what to wear and is fine with me picking out clothes for her at the store. She will brush the top layer of her hair and pull it into a pony tail. If she grabs shorts and it is cold she will put on a sweatshirt and wear knee high socks. If it is warm and she grabs leggings or long sleeves she will pull or roll them up if she gets hot. She would wear tennis shoes all the time even to church if I let her. One of her nick names is ‘Dirty Pigeon’. If you haven’t read the book by Mo Willems called The Dirty Pigeon, you should. It is about a pigeon that really needs a bath but doesn’t want to take one and makes a big fuss about it. When he finally gets in the bath he is in it for hours and won’t get out. That is Emilee. She will try and go days and days without taking a shower. When she is caught and has to take one she stomps and pouts about it then gets in the showers and literally stays until all the hot water is gone, or takes a bath and keeps adding hot water and stays for hours.
Emilee will be starting 3rd grade in a few weeks. School is not her favorite. The eye doctor is wondering and keeps checking her for focusing issues because reading is not her favorite. I think it is just that reading is not her favorite. She loves being read to but isn’t a big reader on her own. She does fine in school but is much more into the hands on active learning then sitting and concentrate learning. Her biggest hang up with school is she has to get up early (her definition of get up early is waking up anytime before she wakes up naturally on her own and can’t lay in bed for 30 minutes) but once she is there she does fine. Her teachers always say she is a sweet girl and a good listener.
Well that is kind of a hodge podge of things about Emilee. She is a happy fun girl and we love her a lot. She has been a happy easy going girl from day one. I am glad she is in our family and I love watching her grow up. The 5 words that pop into my head first when I think of Emilee are happy, fun, loving, silly, and kind.
Allison had her 10th birthday. Double digits for her is a big deal! She has told us that her standing in the world is basically an adult now that she has two digits in her age. She is beyond excited to be able to say, “I am 10 years old!” Instead of the slightly less dignified, “I am basically 10.”
She originally approached me with a three day two night party plan with her closest 20 friends. After some negotiating we were able to get it narrowed down to something a little more manageable for her no fun mom. She helped plan a very good party for herself. She invited a few friends over to watch a gymnastics movie about mid afternoon and play some games. Then per her request we had Wendy’s for dinner. Of course their was blowing out candles and a cookie cake and opening presents. Then they went not just swimming, but swimming at the end of the day so it was dark and the pool lights were on. It is fun to swim in the dark.
After swimming they cleaned up and watched a movie outside in the driveway with lots of movie snacks. Then they goofed around in the basement until they fell asleep. The next morning we had donuts and juice for breakfast. After breakfast they all piled into the car for the last activity of the party, open gym at the gymnastics gym. When that was over everyone was pretty tired and went home to hopefully take a nap.
It was a fun group of girls, I think Allison had a fun time and loved celebrating herself. Her dad and I gave her a hover board which she was beyond excited about. She zips around all over the place with it.
Since school ‘ended’ after Spring Break in March, it has been a LONG break. I started working a few days a week in May and the kids are technically old enough to watch each other but to be blunt, they aren’t very good at it. Maybe because they aren’t old enough after all, or because like me their patience with each other is low after being together 24/7 for months. Whatever the reason, it was causing me some stress to come home to arguing kids that had eaten junk food all day, a destroyed house. Ryan’s boss has a daughter who is in college that was not supposed to be home but like everyone else, her plans were canceled when COVID started. We asked her if she would come over on the days that I work and help keep the peace and sanity of the kids. It has worked out great. The kids get up and get ready and do their jobs and then she comes over from 11-5 and takes them to the pool, or does things around the house with them. Matthew is more on his own and can do things with them or go hang out with friends. The girls love her though. They ask if Claire can come over everyday. I am glad it is working out for all of us.
After two years I am signing off as the Girl Scout Leader for Emilee’s troop. She is old enough for Primary Activity Girls now and enjoys going to that. I don’t have as much free time once all the kids activities get going too. We had one last activity together this past week to celebrate the year and their hard work selling cookies. I rented a big blow up water slide, set up the slip-n-slide and they played on those for a few hours. We had pizza for dinner and played some more. Then when it got dark we watched Aladdin on an outdoor screen in the back yard. It lasted about 7 hours. It was exhausting, but the girls had a blast. They were a really good group of girls. I had fun being the leader but I am ready to pass the torch.
It seemed like things were slowly getting back to normal and school was scheduled to start August 12th. Then the Kansas Governor decided to make an announcement saying that she was issuing an executive order to post phone school starting until after Labor Day. I am not going to lie. It was a big mental blow for A LOT of people, and while she had her ‘reasons’ they seemed unfounded to me. The Kansas school board voted against her executive order, which meant each school district could decide when to start for themselves. The two biggest districts around us decided to just do what the Governor said so they could be better prepared. I am not sure what that means…did they not know they were going to start school on August 12th when they made the calendar and gave it to everyone?! Everyone seems to be sitting around waiting for someone to tell them what to do instead of making a decision and moving forward. Anyway, our school district is having a meeting soon so decide when we will start. It will be Aug 12th as planned, Aug 26th to allow ‘a little more preparing time’ or September 8th. I think if they delay it once they will just continue to delay it and dig the COVID recovery hole deeper and deeper. We need to start and get society and life back on track. A regular school schedule will help with that A LOT. Unless you think I am insensitive to the pandemic, I am not, I check the numbers, I know the risks, I am just in the opinion that we mitigate the risks (reasonably) and keep life moving.
We thought last year would be our final year in Lincoln Nebraska for July 4th. However, Roger and Rhonda dragged their feet and delayed long enough to get another one in. This one will be the last though because right before the weekend they bought a house in Olathe, right down the street from us actually. Then shortly after the weekend they listed their current house and it sold in less that 24 hours. They are set to move mid August and will be Kansans again.
The Fourth in Lincoln is always a great time though. I will miss our gatherings there. Neighbors all around us do amazing fireworks for hours and we get some good ones of our own. It is just a nice relaxing holiday. This year I asked Ryan to blast some patriotic music while we lit them off, that was inspiring.
It will be better to have a Grandma and Grandpa closer all year round though.
Spring baseball for Matthew didn’t end up starting until June, so it was more like REALLY HOT SUMMER BASEBALL but Matthew and the rest of the boys didn’t care. They just want to play and have fun. We did lots of tournaments and played League games so we were able to get plenty of games in. The girls have a good group of friends that they run around with during the games (other players younger siblings) so they love it just as much.
We had a fun tournament scheduled in Branson Missouri in June. We decided to post phone until July to have more/better competition. Then to make a long story short a few lame parents were able to manipulate the head coach into canceling it all together. Instead of Branson Missouri we went to Liberty Missouri which is not the same, but we tried to make the best of it and planned some team activities to get the boys together on the days we were supposed to be in Branson. They had a sleep over with the whole team and basically stayed up all night. We went to a baseball museum and lunch at Chicken-n-Pickle were they could play pickle ball for an hour or so. We also scheduled a parent vs player whiffle ball game but that hasn’t happened yet because of weather.
One of the highlights of this season for Matthew was his double that ended the game with a walk off. I made a little ‘news shot’ from the Game Changer recap of the game. I was the one keeping score and I know the score would actually be 4-3 since it was a walk off hit, but since he hit a double the App recorded both runners that came in. Anyway, it was an awesome hit and the boys were pretty excited to win.
The parent that takes all the awesome pictures for us is moving so this is probably the last season she will take picture for us. After this the quality of pictures will change drastically because I am the one taking them. I am trying to improve my photography skills though.
Another big change for baseball is that Ryan and Coach Jimmy Adams didn’t like the way the 14 year old program is run so they have decided to leave NBA (the academy Matthew has played for the past three years) and do their own team for at least the next year. They are combining teams with another coach and are planning on having two teams that will practice together and mix and match through the Fall then be divided into more permanent teams in the Spring. Matthew will now be on a team called FBC (Fire Birds Baseball Club). We played a tournament with some of the boys on his new team this past weekend. There were a few bloopers because they had never played together but they ended up winning the tournament. Matthew is pretty excited, they will be a pretty competitive higher end AAA team. Ryan likes to say, “They will be a really salty team.” Once they practice with each other and get to know each other. I think it will be good for Matthew because instead of being closer to the top of the team talent, he is more mid range so he will have to challenge himself more to get better and have more kids to learn from.
Emilee and Allison have a group of friends they hang out with during the game. The younger siblings of players group. They all have a good time together. At one of the last games, the boys dugout had some weird holes in it, probably for drainage, but the girls decided to make good use of them.
The last two league games for NBA were back to back. The first game was a blow out. The final score was 18 to 3 or something like that. One of their players ended up getting hurt and they didn’t have enough so we lent them one of our just so we could keep playing. The coaches let the boys try spots they usually don’t play, one player even tried batting left handed and got a double. Matthew got a chance at pitching, which he has been begging for all season. While he was warming up the score was 17-0 us, the catcher and him were joking around that hopefully their lead was big enough Matthew didn’t blow the game. He only gave up 3 runs though.
The last event of our season and time with the NBA-Adams team was a parent vs player wiffle ball game. It was a lot of fun. A lot of cheating from the parents, but a lot of fun. For example, after each hit I relocated second base to give us the advantage of them not knowing were the base was to get them out.
Our little Allison is getting less and less little everyday. We celebrated her 9th birthday this week.
For her birthday she wanted to have a sleepover with her cousin Leah and then go to the World’s of Fun and Ocean’s of Fun Amusement Park. We went for the first time last summer, she loved it so much she wanted to do it for her birthday.
She had her sleep over with Leah the night before her birthday. The morning of her birthday we picked up birthday donuts on the way to pick up Aunt Lauren and the rest of her cousins. When everyone was aboard we were off. We started in the World’s of Fun area. We rode the roller coasters, water rides, and as many of the other fun rides as they wanted before we were ready for lunch. Once we finished lunch we spent the rest of the day at Ocean’s of Fun. There was water slides, obstacle courses, and a wave pool that kept them happy and loving life for hours. Everyone played and swam until we were exhausted. On the way home we stopped at 5 Guys for a yummy dinner and then by the time we got home everyone was ready to go to bed.
For her present this year she wanted a new bed. She asked for a loft bed with a desk under it. While she was gone on her trip with Grandma and Grandpa Jones we got her bed and set it up for her. We got a few other things for her room so she had a fun knew room when she got home. She was pretty happy with the final product.
Leah spent the night again later that week. In the morning they woke up early and made menus, and a breakfast for everyone. When we came downstairs they handed us a menu to order our breakfast from then served us. It was pretty cute. They did a good job. She had a fun birthday. We did lots of fun things throughout the week to have a fun week in general.
I’m glad to have my girl back with us. We missed her and her spunky self.
These are pictures that the rafting company took for us while we were on our trip. We didn’t see all the animals pictured, I wish we had, but they were included in our picture package so I stuck them in here.
