Out of Blogging World

I am currently out raising my kids and being a parent. I might be back later.

This Blog Thing

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted anything in two months. Sometimes there are things that happen in your life that you just have to put at the top of your priority list and this blog thing wasn't it.
I have debated about keeping it or just signing off for good. I'm not really sure who actually reads this thing anyway. So, I leave it up to whoever is out there --let me know...

keep it
or
sign off.

Leave me a comment and let me know.

Rare Treat

When Madison started playing guitars, she didn't like to play in front of anyone. She would always worry about messing up and what other people thought. This was sad to me because we never got to hear her play.  Since school started, she is playing her bass everyday in jazz band. Her confidence has grew in such a few short months. I am so proud of her. 

She not only let us hear her play, but she actually let me record her playing as well. What a rare treat for me. Here she is playing The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army.

Birthday Fun

Thursday was Madison's actual birthday. She is 15 years old. I CANNOT believe that. It makes me feel old, thinking back to when she was born. It just doesn't seem possible.

She is on fall break, but she still had band practice in the morning. I decided to take off from work and picked her up from practice. We went to lunch and did some much needed shopping (therapy purposes only).
That evening we celebrated with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cake and a sugar high that lasted a couple of hours.

 Spencer was wild the rest of the evening and plopped on Madi's lap (dirty face and all) to show her just how much he loves (to annoy) her.

¡Ay, caramba!

Holy smokes we have been busy, thus my blog has been ignored for awhile. We have done two out of town band contests, extra band practices and in between all of that has been laundry, groceries, parent/teacher conferences and a non-stop moving 4 year old.
So, I'm not even gonna try and catch you all up on that. Wednesday night we invited Madison's boyfriend, John, to come out to eat with us to celebrate Madison's 15th birthday. While we had hoped for a nice quiet dinner, Spencer didn't quite know how to take this extra guy at the table. He showed off, goofed off and generally DID NOT EAT. 
Needless to say, it was nice to see both of them outside of band. He plays bass clarinet in the band and is a sophomore.

 

Spencer Secrets

Spencer loves Madison.
He loves watching her and the football games.
Secretly, he likes football more than he likes the band.
But there is one thing he LOVES more than anything during the games.....

He loves to dance to the music when the band ISN'T playing!!

Irrational Fears

Many of us have fears, some rational (like spiders or snakes) and irrational fears.
I have an irrational fear of exploding biscuits.

Yes, these sweet buttery crescent rolls, biscuits and cinnamon rolls scare the living hell out of me. I almost NEVER open a can, I make Justin do it and he laughs at me the WHOLE time. 

If he isn't here, I hold it by the corner and let the weight of the can unwrap itself, praying that it POPS, so I don't have to push on the seam. God for bid, if I have to push on the seam, you will see me jump all the way in Kansas.
Yes, I have an irrational fear, what's yours?

Moore Outdoor Musical Festival

Saturday was the band's first contest and WOW, what a day. First the temperature was supposed to be 82 degrees. Nope, nada, not even close. It was at least 95 degrees and not a cloud in sight. The aluminum bleachers at the stadium just reflected more of the sun beams back into our faces. ICK!
Preliminaries were held during the day and it finally cooled down into the evening for the final show.
There were 14 bands that competed and here is a look behind the scenes while we waited for the final performance time.

 Thumbs up from the drum majors (L-R) Hunter, Madi, and Sarah

Hanging out in the bus (only place with shade) is (L-R) Kerry, Melissa, Madison, John and Lyric.

The band did an excellent job during there finals performance, but I am not a judge and I am rather biased.

 Can you find Madison in the photo above?  She is on the 45 yard line, 2nd from the front. I can always find her when she starts, but I loose her once they get into the performance.

 After all of the bands perform, massing takes place. Massing is when each band marches onto the field in the order they performed in preparation for the awards.

Each band presents their drum majors to accept the trophy. Ours happened to be 2nd Place! Woot, woot! How exciting for their first contest. Unfortunately, two of the most difficult contests are yet to come and the band has to be put their "closing" into the show piece. They are working hard this week to get it all together.

Our band has 189 students. Being a band parent means feeding them, helping them get their uniforms on, keeping them hydrated and just general support. I have found that I have to be all of the above to more than just my child because there are many parents who, let's say, don't do things above. So, I have adopted a few kids this year, but better me than no one. I am happy to be part of an organization that takes the time to make sure these kiddos are cared for and get the support they deserve!!

Friday Night Lights

Football season is well in swing and we have spent the last three Friday's watching the football band play on the football marching field. They have come along way. We have a great group of friends that we sit with each game it and it really makes it fun. Spencer L-O-V-E-S the football games. He gets so excited and loves to dance around, clap and yell. As exciting as it is, he does get bored.
One of our great friends' daughter, Ashton is in the 6th grade and she gets a bit bored as well. Thus, the terrific duo paired up.

They laugh, dance and basically goof off together. I LOVE having Ashton with us at the games because she gives us a small break from constantly watching Spencer. She is going to be such a fabulous babysitter some day.

Perfect

Spencer had his 4 year old well check last week and it was far from perfect. I told Spencer that we were going to the doctor's office and he immediately planted his feet as if they were stuck on concrete, while stating, "I don't wanna go to the doctor!" over and over and over.
So, with a promise to stop and get a doughnut, we at least made it into the van.

We did stop for doughnuts and he immediately picked the ones shaped and decorated like a football. We were a bit early, so we sat in the van and ate our doughnuts and drank our chocolate milk.

I needed to clean him up and get the chocolate out from underneath his fingers and from across his face.
"Come on Spencer, let's get cleaned up so we can go to the doctor."
"No, I don't wanna go!"
Thus, my van became a game of hide and seek. This was NOT a fun game that I enjoy at all!
We finally make it to the doctor's office and I had to carry Spencer inside like a one year old. Instead I walk in with his skinny long legs wrapped around my body to an office with no electricity. We sat and waited to see if it came back on.
Luckily, it came on minutes after we sat down and we were first to see the doctor.
I only had a few questions about Spencer and I was more than curious about his weight. At his 3 year old appointment he only weighed 33 pounds. There are two year old that weigh more than he does. I knew he was tall and skinny, so I was interested to see that he gained 1.8 pounds. Woot, woot. He's almost 35 pounds! His statistics were good, 37% for his weight, 62% for his height and his BMI was 14%. To me the BMI is almost laughable compared to what mine is. Anyway, the boy is skinny, 14% body fat isn't a lot of padding for a rough and tumble boy.
Spencer has a small issue with his feet, but is otherwise, "perfect" according to the doctor. I kinda laughed out load when she said that because no one has ever used that word to describe Spencer except when he was born.
He is:
Hell on Wheels
All Boy
A Pistol
and every other analogy that has been used to describe him including
PERFECT.

Holy Cow, It's Fall

I walked into CVS to get band aids and I got stopped DEAD. IN. MY. TRACKS for these:

These are Pumpkin Pie Spice Hershey Kisses. They taste exactly like a piece of pumpkin pie.
Oh
My
Goodness.
By the way, I did remember band aids.

Almost a Year

We have been in our new house almost a year and there are still empty walls. Thanks to Pinterest, I have been getting the motivation to hang something on those walls. The first room was the easiest and it was Spencer's. It has a sports theme to it because we wanted something that wasn't a fad and would last a bit longer than Toy Story or Spider Man.

These frames were hanging in his old room, but I didn't like the white. I spray painted them and added some sports themed die-cuts. I am NOT good at spray painting, but oh well.

I also found a large wooden "S" that I painted blue.

 

Here is one wall before:

 

 and after:

 

 Another before wall:

 and after:

  

The white board is actually a wipe board. Spencer loves to color and it will be useful later as a chore chart.

I am NOT a decorating guru at all. My awesome friend Becky came over and went room to room with me. We looked at what I already had, what could be re-purposed and what I needed to possibly buy.

We went shopping at Gordman's and Hobby Lobby and I think I got most of the stuff for each of the rooms. Some of the items take some work, I love crafty projects, but I am really short on time. So this might take a bit. I am hoping to have some more pictures to share later of other rooms.

Siblings: 10 Years, 10 Months

I realized when trying to order some pictures to hang on my empty walls that I do not have a photo of Madison and Spencer together. I have lots of separate ones, but not together. This was a problem. Spencer just turned 4 years old, Madison just got her braces off and she will be 15 years old in a month. I decided to take their photos.

There was a lot of drama with this. Spencer is picky about his clothes. Madison is picky about her clothes. Dear Lord, help me. After some arguing, tears, fits, me refusing to take their photos, then me deciding to take their photos, it was late. The morning sun had turned into some BRIGHT sun and I wasn't happy with the conditions. It was too late to go to the park (intended place of taking pictures), so we went outside in front of the pond.
I really do not know how I ended up with some good pictures. In fact, these make my heart melt. I'm glad I took them.

Southwest Showdown

The second football game was upon us this past weekend. My Fridays are now spent leaving work and taking food to Madison, so she can eat before the game. The band schedule is crazy on game nights.
The kids are out of school at 3:10pm. They have to be on the field ready to practice at 3:30pm. At 4:30pm they eat. Have you ever seen a band room with 225 kids at "feeding time." I will NOT say what it resembles.

Once everyone has eaten, it is time to load all of the equipment. I am amazed at how much stuff is transported to and from the football games. The instruments that won't fit in your lap are all loaded onto either a box truck or the trailer.

 

 

 The stadium was packed because this was a big game between Westmoore and Southmoore. Both schools had walloped their opponents the week before, so the game was going to be good. The weather was questionable, that is for sure. A cold front had moved in and the winds were around 40 mph and the clouds and lightning were building in the distance.
 We were the visiting team, so the band played before kickoff.
 

They sounded good, but it is hard to see them since they were facing the Westmoore crowd (they were the home team). We have three drum majors and at one point during the game and pep songs, two of them almost got blew off the stands.
The winds were blowing hard and Spencer was shivering. After the first quarter, we decided that it was time to head out. Justin and Spencer left and I stayed behind to work the band concession stand. The game was paused due to lightning and within minutes the entire stadium was in chaos and mother nature dumped rain and hail on all of the spectators. Needless to say, I GOT DRENCHED!!
After the rain stopped, we found out that the kids were shuttled back to the school, so the concession stand was packed up and we headed back. We thought the game was stopped, but they ended up finishing the game and Southmoore ended up winning (Yay)!
Next week is our first home game and the first time that we will get to see the band perform it's entire show on the marching field (yes, not the football field).

Redhawks Game

We took Spencer to his first baseball game last Friday night. I absolutely love our ballpark; there is definitely nothing minor about it. The only bad thing was that is was soooooo HOT!!

 Spencer cooled off with a raspberry snocone.

  

As we watched the game Spencer would lean over to me and say, "mama, watch. He's gonna hit the ball really far. He's awesome."

It was hilarious to listen to his commentary about the players and what they did. Every throw, slide and catch was AWE-SOME!

 

In the fifth inning, Spencer was restless, so we went to the outfield, passing the pitchers practicing along the way. Spencer played in the kid zone and I sat on the grass under the lights.
Needless to say, it was a good night. It was hot, but baseball is a summer sport. He's already talking about going back.

Parent Preview Night

Right before school started there was a Parent Preview Night for the band parents. This was our chance to watch the band perform what they had learned over the summer. It was at dusk and the pictures are great, but here are a few shots.

 This was also the first time ever they got to march on the field. They have practiced all summer on the asphalt. It was a bit different marching on the turf.

 The kids got to bring the parents on the field and WE got to try and march while holding the instrument. Here is Madi (middle) and our friends Tony (blue uniform), Quinn and Aston (green) learning how to march.

Quinn and Madison have been going to school together since 1st grade. Our families have literally grown up together.

Beer Bread

Fall is coming up and I cannot wait to cook everything fall. One of my favorite things is to bake beer bread to go along with some delicious soup or chicken and dumplings. It is moist and kinda sweet. 

Recipe:

3 Cups self rising flour

1/2 Cup sugar

 12oz beer (any kind)

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, add beer and stir using spoon. Do not use a mixer. The dough will become very sticky. Pour into greased loaf pan or mini pans.

For the large loaf, bake around 55 minutes. Once the top is golden brown, it is done. For the smaller loaves, start checking around 35 minutes.

When it is done, spread some butter over the top and voila, instant yummi-ness!!

Try it out, it is delish!

Good Old Fashioned Bake Sale

For the past two years Madison has been involved in confirmation classes at church. She will be confirmed on Oct. 28th. While she doesn't have any more classes to take, she has 5 projects to finish over the summer.
She finished one in July and began working on her service project as well. She decided to help a family friend who hit a really rough spot. Both parents work and have insurance, but it still wasn't enough to pay for the mounting medical bills due to her husband's poor health. Bills mounted and they used what money they had to move into a less expensive house to try and save money.

The bills kept coming and her husband eventually had to take a leave of absence from work. Red tape and paper work stalled short-term disability checks from coming in and daycare needed to be paid for their 3 year old.
Madison decided to step in. Her service project was going to be raising money to help pay for the daycare expenses, so they could use daycare money elsewhere.
Madison and I baked and baked one Saturday afternoon and her mentor, Cindy, baked from her house and we met at church the next morning to set up.

We had multiple kids of cookies, breads and cupcakes. We were ready for the two services (8:30am and 11am).
By 9:30 the table was EMPTY. OH, NO we ran out! Cindy and I looked at each other and decided that next weekend we had to bake WAAAAYYY more. It was great for Madison to see how everyday people opened their hearts and their wallets to help for a good cause. Everything was by donation only and she made about $350 the first day.

The following weekend, I planned what to bake and Madison went to Cindy's house to help her.

The beer bread I made the week before sold out fast, so I made 15 loaves this time around.

 
Madison and Cindy made cake pops and Madison was armed with the frosting tubes!

We had two tables set up for this week. She spoke to the entire congregation and explained her project and once again, everyone chipped in.

When it was all said and done, Madison raised over $800 to give to the daycare. This ended up covering about 6 weeks of daycare expenses for the family. 
I am so incredibly proud of my beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful daughter.

Pre-K

Spencer began Pre-K in the public school system. He goes for a 1/2 day (the same schedule as kindergarten). I was really, really worried about his starting school because of his age. Let's face it, he just turned 4 years old three days before school started.
He has know that he gets to go to "big school" once he turned 4. So, he was more than ready to get to ride the daycare van to "big school."

So far, things have been going great. We are going to continue to hope that this year is a good one for him and that school occupies his mischievous little mind.

High School

Madison started high school this year. She will be 15 min two months. WOW. High school didn't seem too big of a deal considering she has spent all summer at the high school with band. She really wasn't that nervous. She already knows 225 other kids (thanks to band) and many of them upperclassmen.

She has 6 classes this year: Band, AP Geometry, AP Biology, AP English, Personal Finance/Oklahoma History and Jazz Band.

She is completely psyched about Jazz Band because she gets to play her bass guitar. So far things are well. I hope she enjoys this year.