It's been so long....

I can't believe I haven't posted since January of 2019.

Where do I even begin?

Back to work full time

a graduation from high school 

Covid

A job change

A job promotion

Another high school graduation

and a college graduation.

Navigating middle school.

An engagement......

Life has been good, bad, happy, sad, frustrating, nerve wracking, exciting and everything else.

But, I've missed this little part of my world.

A part that meant so much to me for so long. 

This part of internet where I "met" so many people I would have never met; where I have shared joys, sorrows, recipes, tips and crafts, and ordinary miracles.

I hope to be back - whether anyone reads or not.

For now, if you're still here, how have you been?

Oh My it's Cold

I know many places in the US have been struck with crazy cold temperatures, and the state I live in is one of those. 

I saw a little blurb on Facebook yesterday that stated my state was currently colder than Mount Everest, Antartica and Siberia.  

Friends, it is cold here! 

My kids haven't had school yet this week  ~ 3 snow/too cold to go days so far and tomorrow is up in the air. Not that they are complaining!

And breaking news, I just got a phone alert that states we have now hit 57 degrees below zero wind chill. Brrrr......

Anyway, this past weekend my hubby's parents drove 4 1/2 hours to come visit and celebrate Jackson's 15th birthday (which was last week).  

While it wasn't quite as cold as today and yesterday have been, it was still quite cold, but we got out and had some fun anyway.

(chocolate cake on his actual birthday ~ his favorite since he was 7!)

(carrot cake to celebrate with Grandpa and Grandma)

They arrived Friday night and we spent some time catching up and playing cards.  I was completely unsuccessful in my quest to win and ended up being the biggest loser of the night.  Hopefully next time I will be able to turn my luck around!

Saturday morning after I made a yummy egg bake via this easy recipe I found on Pinterest, Hannah and I jumped in the car for a 40 minute drive to a softball photoshoot.  She was one of two players selected from her varsity softball team to be a "featured" player for a high school sports publication.

When we were finished with that we grabbed the rest of the family and headed to our local Top Golf facility to do a little golfing.  I'm not quite sure what the actual temperature was when we were there but since the high was only 10 degrees on Saturday, it was chilly. Sitting under the heat features did make it mostly comfortable.  

After that we warmed up at home, went to mass, out to dinner at Jackson's requested restaurant ~ Red Robin (that kid loves a good burger) then bowling.  I sat out of bowling as I tweaked my arch while working out and wasn't able to put a whole lot of pressure on it. It was fun watching a couple of good games of boys vs girls. Oh, and the girls won!

Sunday brought one more amazing breakfast bake via Pinterest. Biscuits and gravy casserole, another one of Jackson's favorites! Then off to watch Hannah play a couple of softball games in a sports dome. -9 degrees! So glad she was playing inside!

When those were over my in-laws headed for home and we had a nice, relaxing Sunday awaiting the snow and cold that was destine to come.

Hope you are staying warm and enjoying the one's you love!

~Wendy

One Week!

It's been awhile, but I am still here.

Navigating life with a 4th grader

A High School Freshman 

and 

A High School Senior!

I have so many thoughts and and feelings as I watch my children grow up so quickly.  And I'm hoping to carve out a bit more time to write about it all.  

But until then, I'm going to sit back, enjoy these lovely kiddos and savor this last week before Christmas.

Smiley's (aka....) School Year in Review

Last but never least is Smiley.

For a while now I think I could have switched up the nicknames and graced her with Hannah's ~ Sassy!

But instead, I will use her actual name, Alayna.

This kid is Sassy, Spunky and a bit Dramatic!

Alayna had a great school year.  She likes school for the most part.  

She does well academically and loves to be around her friends.

 (Alayna's first day of 2nd Grade)

(Alayna's last day of 2nd grade.  Notice the black eye?!  She was playing volleyball at a graduation party with 

some teenage boys and took a volleyball to the eye ~ YIKES!)

This kiddo is strong willed and typically has a lot of ideas going on in that head of hers, from what I should make for dinner, to how she could re-arrange her room and to planning parties with the neighbors that she forgets to tell me about.  

Last fall she was fascinated with mermaids (and still is).  She decided for her 8th birthday she wanted to have a mermaid themed party.  Before she was able to celebrate with friends, we were able to celebrate with family at my sister's house in another state.  My sister was sweet enough to get her a lovely mermaid cake!

When we were finally able to schedule a "friend" party she wanted to continue the mermaid theme.  

She went swimming with a few friends, then back to our house to celebrate "under the sea"  with food and fun.

Besides her fall birthday, she had a couple of other fun fall events:

Pheasant hunting with family (she walks alongside the hunters and tries to scare up birds)

and Halloween

However, much to her brothers dismay, she wanted to be like him and chose to be Robin Hoods Sister ~ HA!

This 2nd grade year was a big year for her at church.

She made two sacraments, Reconciliation and First Communion.

She had to learn a lot and was very proud of her accomplishments ~ as were we!

Alayna is spunky and definitely has some not so great moments with her siblings (and hubby and I if I'm being completely honest here).  

But she does love her family and is always cheering her siblings on

as long as we aren't in the volleyball gym for too long!

Like I said, she loves her family ~ once in awhile I'll wake up to notes like this one (her spelling has gotten better since this first one)

She loves spending time playing, laughing and simply just hanging out together

She is adventurous and full of life! I can't wait to see where she goes!

Action's (aka...) School Year in Review

Action finished his last day of 7th grade. Let me tell you, this school year wasn't without some struggles and frustrations both for him and Hubby and I.  Don't get me wrong, it was full of good, fun, laughs and happiness as well! 

Let's begin as I did with Hannah yesterday ~ Nicknames.  

Action.... Action got his nickname not only on this blog, but in real life as well.  We don't really use it anymore, but we use to.  Jackson is his actual name.  Action wasn't his only nickname either, Sodbuster was his other one.  Just as the busyness the name Action implies,  Sodbuster does as well.  Technically it means a farmer or worker who plows the land.  Jackson was busy and full of life.  Some of that constant moving and busyness has faded away, but he is still full of life.

Lets begin with September 2016

School started ~ 7th Grade

Football was in full swing.  Jackson had fun working hard and learning new positions.  It is definitely a proud parenting moment when you see your child work so hard.

Football Season ran right into hunting season.  Jackson took the hunter safety course required to get a  hunting license, meaning instead of just walking along, he was able to shoot.  This was an exciting first time for him and he couldn't wait to get out in the fields.

Of course right after that came Halloween.  I'm not sure Jackson has many more years of dressing up (and trick-or-treating anyway) ahead of him but this year he decided to dress up as Robin Hood (much to his dismay, his little sister dressed up as Robin Hood's Sister ~ as we called her anyway! Pics of that in my next post) This costume seemed to carryon the hunting theme ~ bow hunting instead

January was a busy month!

First, Jackson was able to travel with Smiley and I to meet his new cousin.  We thought we were heading on a 4 hour journey to attend a baby shower.  Baby shower turned into a birthday party when this little guy decided to arrive 3 weeks early!  A surprise for sure, but wonderful as we were all there to celebrate anyway!

The next weekend, he was able to head out of town with Dad, a buddy, and a few other guys for a fun  boys weekend.  They had a lot of fun hanging out and ice fishing.

Finally, we had a big day to celebrate.  Jackson's 13th Birthday!!! We didn't just have one celebration either.  (all the details are in this post)

One with just us as a family (with his favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting)

Another celebration with Grandpa and Grandma when they were able to come up for a visit.  This time he picked cheesecake as his celebration dessert.

Finally, he had a small party with a couple of friends.  First things first they went and worked up an appetite at a paint ball facility. They had a blast ~ literally and each of them had a few paint ball bruises to show for it!  Afterwards, they had a cupcake (or maybe a couple) to celebrate. Again ~ chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, just in cupcake form.

Once we got through January, things slowed down a bit.  The holidays were over, his birthday was celebrated. Time to focus on school and family.  Soon enough though, spring was creeping up on us.
Easter took us to Grandpa and Grandma's house where church, good food and lots of family were just what we needed.  Of course there was time to do a little four wheeler riding'

Baseball tryouts happened, and the team is practicing and gearing up for some fun baseball.  Jackson is playing with some buddies from previous years and is excited to play.

And just like that, 7th grade is over.
Jackson isn't very organized and finds himself playing catch up a lot of times when it comes to homework which hubby and I find completely frustrating.  However he had a good 7th grade year.  He made some fun memories and ended up with good grades.  We are definitely ready for summer though (and a haircut! Sheesh!)

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Sassy's (aka....) school year in review

Today is Sassy's last day of 10th grade.  As of tomorrow, I am the mother of a Junior in high school.  As I reflect on this school year with her, I have to acknowledge that the nickname I gave her years ago when I started this blog no longer fits.  She is not a sassy girl.  She does have a little sass from time to time of course, but don't we all?  Therefore, from this point on, I am going to talk about her with her actual name, Hannah.

This year for her was filled with laughter, family, friends, God, school, sports and so much more!  The memories she made this school year will be with her forever.

Lets start at the beginning (and the end):

Here she is:

excited for her first day of 10th grade (on the left) and really excited for her last day (on the right)

She was able to play volleyball for her high school ~ she was on the JV team,  but sat for the Varsity team 

and was able to play in a handful of games:

Once the high school volleyball season ended, it was time to play club volleyball.  Between that, offseason softball training and school there was little free time left.  She definitely worked hard at all three!

However, she was a "superman" for a friend who played on the high school basketball team and seemed to find time to make him fun treats on home game days as well as go to a few games when her schedule would allow

She also was able to go to a SnoDaze dance at a different high school that many of her friends attend

AND....

She attended her own high school SnoDaze dance and asked a friend (click the link to see how she asked) to go with her

March brought with it a big milestone.  Hannah celebrated her 16th birthday.

The day after her birthday, she easily passed her driving exam and got her license.

Once spring hit, high school softball was in full swing.  This is the first year in many years we didn't go anywhere for spring break.  Kind of a bummer to be home but Hannah was able to go to softball practice everyday!

This softball season brought challenges right along with it.  You see, Hannah usually plays shortstop or is a pitcher.  Those are the positions she has played in high school and club softball.  Those are the 2 positions she worked on all off season a minimum of a couple times per week. So, when her coach told  her to go to right field the practice right before their first game, her jaw hit the floor.  I'm not going to lie, it took a few days for her to wrap her head around this decision, but ultimately she decided her coach must have enough confidence in her to do well in that spot and to want her on the varsity team in general.  She worked hard all season long and for that I am very proud of her!

She also worked hard at church and this May was Confirmed

Also in May she went to prom with her"friend" and a group of others.  

She had a great time except for the fact that she had an 8am volleyball game the following morning!

This has been a great school year for Hannah and I am looking forward to cheering her on in softball this summer 

and enjoying our time together!

Thats a wrap!