Sophomore

The years go by so fast.....

I look at Sassy and I am sometimes taken aback at what I see.  

The little girl who use to cry as we were trying to get out the door in the mornings because her socks didn't feel right, 

has become this beautiful young woman.  

(teaching her sister how to pitch)

Hard to believe she is in 10th grade, working hard at school and sports, preparing for confirmation and 

getting ready to get her drivers license (she earned her drivers permit this past July).

 (Passed the written test ~ on the first try ~ and received her permit)

 (Drove part of the way to a softball tournament ~ 14 hours round trip)

(yep, she drove into and through the city ~ gotta learn sometime)

She helped to fill our summer calendar with her softball practices, games and tournaments 

(a week long one in Colorado created lots of memories!).  

It is fun to cheer her and her team on.  Win or lose they played hard and are a great group of girls!

Sassy works hard at everything she does.

This season for high school volleyball, she made the JV team and was a "swinger" for the Varsity team.  Meaning, she attended varsity events, practices and games and played when called upon.  Her JV team ended the season 22-4, with one first place tournament finish and her Varsity team ended 24-2 with two first place tournament finishes.  She received a high school letter for her hard work.  

She had a fun season and made new friendships along the way.

She thrives on being busy.  I am always amazed at how well she does balancing school, softball, and volleyball, 

yet finds time to sneak in some fun!

Her sports never seem to end ~ she had softball tryouts for next summer's club team in August.  

They played a few tournaments together this fall and have winter training starting up soon.  

Winter club volleyball tryouts are next weekend.

(everyone needs to eat a giant donut at least once in their life!)

Her smile is contagious and her caring personality melts my heart.

7th

Now to bring you up to speed on Action.

He is 12 1/2 years old and just started 7th grade.

School is definitely not his favorite place to be and his lack of organization skills doesn't help, but we work hard to help him do his best.

He doesn't really like to read, but he did devour The Treasure Hunters series by James Patterson this summer ~ helps that it was interesting and a bit of an easy read for him!

He still has dimples that can light up a room.

Enjoys playing golf, baseball and football.

He is definitely an almost teenage boy and can find humor in the silliest things....objects and smells....I know, disgusting!

Much to his dad's chagrin, he likes to stick up for me!

He was gifted a remote control boat this summer and it has been the best thing ever!  He really enjoys driving it around the pond behind our house.  Only downer was when it ran out of battery power in the middle of the pond.  While he really wanted me to put on hubby's waders and walk in and get it,  I let him do a little brainstorming and figure it out himself.  It was fun watching him use his resources to solve the problem!

He enjoys playing with friends, going on bike rides and spending time on our actual boat.

I love his tender, loving, relaxed (although sometimes lazy) personality!

2,7 and 10

Three simple numbers.

The three grades that my kiddos started yesterday.

Summer came and summer went.

Today is day 2 of new school year.

Let me get you caught up on each one.

I'll start with Smiley.

She is a busy 7 year old ~ soon to be 8.

Yesterday was her first day of 2nd grade.

She can be stubborn, persistent and crabby (especially when she doesn't get enough sleep!)

BUT.....

She has a great imagination and like to draw and create things.  She is very creative.

She is obsessed with mermaids....obsessed.....

She played 8U slow pitch softball this summer and had a lot of fun (her team even ended up with some 2nd place hardware!)

 She loves playing with other kids and is thrilled when the neighbors drive into their driveway at the end of their workday, so she can play the moment they get home!

She finally learned to ride her bike without training wheels this summer and now loves going on family bike rides.

She enjoys listening to and playing back music ~ she knows the words to so many songs and it cracks me up when she starts singing songs word for word that I had no idea she knew.

She makes me laugh and smile with her goofy personality ~ I am blessed!

SaveSave

Purple

When I heard the news I was shocked.

Sure, I'd heard the reports that he was sick, cancelled some shows, and an airline he was on was forced to stop for a medical emergency.

But I also heard he was fine.  Threw an impromptu party at his "compound" and expressed that fans were not to believe the rumors and to save their prayers.

When I heard the news on Thursday, it took a bit for me to wrap my head around the fact Prince was dead.

Maybe you were a fan, maybe not, perhaps you didn't care either way, but you have to admit he was an amazing artist.  He could play around 27 different instruments, wrote his first song at the age of 7 and never stopped.  He wrote music for all types of artists: Kenny Rogers, Sinead O'Connor, the Bangles, Madonna, Cindi Lauper, and Stevie Nicks, just to name a few. Wrote songs for himself, performed like it was nobody's business and fought the music industry for artist rights.  He helped those in need and helped others achieve their dreams. Just listen to some of the stories out there.  He didn't get in trouble and wanted to be himself.  He had his own color.  Purple.

He was interesting, flamboyant and broke the music "rules."

When I was a child, I was intrigued by him and his fashion, his dance and his sound.  And I'll admit, it was probably a good thing I didn't understand what all of his lyrics meant!

This morning, I was compelled to visit Paisley Park. The flowers, balloons, artwork, and notes being left at his home, his studio, his compound are a beautiful tribute to this man.

With roads being closed, I had to take a walking trail to get there.  The trail was lined with luminaries.  As I got to the side of his property, the purple balloons and flowers on the fence began.  When I turned the corner to the front of the property, I was struck by the smell.  The scent of flowers permeated the air.  An amazing smell.  It was early, so the amount of people there was less.  I was able to walk up and down the fence line and look at and read some of the beautiful tributes to Prince. Besides the smell and the beautiful sight of remembrance, I was in awe at how quiet and peaceful it felt standing on that grassy area, on the corner of a highway,  with all of the news camera and reporters and the fans/mourners.  Prince was a proponent of peace and love and believe me when I say it was in the air.

The world has lost a music genius.  Whether you liked him or not, his music influenced the musicians of today and there will never be anyone quite like him.  RIP Prince.

Thanks for your music, your influence and the memories!

O Christmas Tree...O Christmas Tree....

I just realized that I wrote this way back in December, but never published it!  Oops!  
Well here you go... here is the Christmas tree story of 2015.

Yesterday I told you the story of the year our fully decorated Christmas tree fell over.  Today I have another story to tell, this was the year the tree HAD to GO.

I'm going to rewind a little, to December 2014.  For years we had purchased our Christmas trees through a local seller.  Unfortunately this gentleman's property was seized via eminent domain.  Basically the government forced the owners to move off of their property (they were paid) so a new freeway could be paved in its spot.  Since they were gone, we were left looking for a place to purchase our perfect Christmas tree.

I recalled a friend of mine raving about her Christmas trees throughout the years.  She would tell me how good they smelt, how full and pretty they were, how they lasted from Thanksgiving until well after Christmas had passed.  Where did she buy these wonderful trees?  Costco.

Of course!  Costco has everything!  So, in December of 2014, we purchased our first tree from Costco.  She was right, the tree was pretty, tall and full.  It had a great pine scent that permeated the living room and its branches stayed soft and flexible through the new year until alas, we took it down.

(Action and Smiley decorating the Christmas Tree in Dec. 2014)

So this year, we decided to go to Costco again to find our perfect Christmas tree.
Hubby had time over his lunch to help us find and load up the tree.  We climbed into the car (2 of them actually ~ needed room for the tree, you know!)  We purchased our tree inside the store, then drove around back to pick it out.  They had just received a new shipment of trees.  They were all bound up in netting so we chose mainly by height and whether or not it looked straight.

The tree was loaded up and we headed for home.  When we got home, hubby cut a few inches off of the base of the trunk, put it in the tree stand, brought it into the house, gave it some water and cut off the netting.  We made sure it was straight and he went back to work and I began decorating in a different area of the house.

About 30 minutes later, my son yelled,  "Mom!  A worm just fell out of the tree!"

And that it did.  I worm about 2 inches long and the width of a piece of spaghetti was squirming around on my hardwood floor.  I swiped it up and went back to decorating, only to be interrupted with another shout out about another bug.

I started by picking up one slug....and then another would fall.....soon I would see another wriggling on my floor.....5...10....

My hubby and I took the tree outside.  Gave it a good shaking and brought it back in.

11.....12....13....

NO WAY this tree was staying in my house!

We took it outside not quite knowing what to do with it.

After talking to my dad, we decided we would try to return the tree to Costco (I've been told they take everything back).

We carried the tree to the driveway, removed the stand and shoved it into the vehicle.  My 11 year old and 7 year old jumped into their seats.  They looked at each other, then down at the tree trunk that had been pushed into the vehicle between them and noticed the 5 slugs stuck to the bottom of the trunk.  They jumped right back out of the car and told hubby and I we were on our own to return this one and find a new tree.

(dark + driving = a blurry picture)

We returned it at Costco ~ the employees were a bit shocked at our story ~ we were given our money back, no questions asked.  They didn't even ask us if we wanted to simply exchange it.  Which was wise, because we wouldn't have.

Then we went across the parking lot and found a nice little tree at Lowes.  It was smaller and a little more expensive, but it was bug FREE!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches!