Getting Caught Up

My last blog post was September 1, 2011, so I don't think a post one month later is all that bad. However, there has been plenty to post about since September 1, 2011, just not enough time to sit down and do it. So, I am going to combine some of the past month's events into one post. Here we go: Manhattan High School Indians are now 5-0 and looking to go 6-0 tonight when they take on Highland Park. Unfortunately, Joe lost his starting quarterback in the second quarter of the game last Friday night but we are hoping some offensive changes will keep them on their winning streak.

A little over a week ago I was involved in an accident near Kira and Keenan's school. I had dropped off Kira and Keenan at school and also dropped of Keylee at day care when I noticed Kira left her map homework in the front seat of my car. I went around the block to run her homework back to her. As I was traveling north on Browning, in our (new) Buick Enclave, a Jeep Cherokee was traveling east on Dickens when the driver of the Jeep failed to stop (or even slow down) at the stop sign and blew through the intersection going about 40 to 45 mph. Since I was preparing to enter a school zone I had already decreased my speed but I could not get stopped and our cars collided with my car striking the right rear passenger side of his car. The impact made his car go airborne for about twenty-five (25) yards before finally landing on Dickens on its roof. In the above picture, you can see the Jeep on its top. Luckily there were no injuries. He was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device. I am without the Enclave for about three weeks due to about $8,500.00 worth of damage done. In the meantime, I am driving a rental car.

On September 11, 2011, I journeyed, with some friends, to Chicago to run the Chicago Half-Marathon. One year ago this Sunday, I ran the Chicago full marathon and can honestly say I enjoyed the full marathon so much more. Overall we had a great weekend! Now, I am training for the Rock-n-Roll which I will run in Las Vegas on December 4, 2011.

My sister and her husband have season tickets to the KSU games. Generally Joe and I do not attend the games because, quite honestly, I am footballed (not sure that is even a word) out by Saturday and like the down time at home. Plus, neither of us are KSU grads and don't quite bleed purple as others do around here. However, my sister and my parents, who also have season tickets, were unable to make the trip, so my other sister and her family came and we were all able to go to the game.

My sister has great seats in the front row of the south end zone which generally allows the kids to get pictures with Willie.

Little Apple Soccer Tournament

Kira had a full weekend of soccer last weekend. It was pretty hot but her team was tough and played through the heat.

Kira is #8 (in blue above)

Back to School

Here we go.....another year. Kira started 4th Grade and Keenan started 1st Grade. So far so good as they both love school and their teachers! We are off to a great start.

The Falcon meets the Spider

Joe's brother, James, an Air Force Academy graduate (Air Force Falcons), captured himself a Richmond, VA graduate, Rachel (Richmond Spiders) They were united in marriage in Rochester, NY on August 20, 2011. They had the most delicious sugar cookies with falcons and spiders on them. (Joe would not know about how good the cookies were because I ate them both, ha) Joe and I made a super quick trip that was worth every minute. My parents stayed with and spoiled our kids in Manhattan. When I called home to check on things Kira told me, "Don't worry Mom Grandma and Umpa are perfect."

The happy couple (James and Rachel)

Parents of the Groom (a/k/a Grammy and Papa) We had a great time spending time with them at the wedding.

Joe with his siblings and Rachel (L to R: Jeri, James, Jackie, Joe, Toni and Mike)

I am with Mike's wife Tammy and Joe's sisters Toni and Jackie as we wait for the shuttle since we missed the shuttle we were suppose to take (imagine that). Joe's sister Jeri is not pictured because she sang at the wedding and managed to get to the church a little early to practice.

Dodge City Days 2011

The first weekend of August we traveled back to our hometown for Dodge City Days. I have one sister that still lives in Dodge and my other two sisters traveled "home" for the weekend. Kira was so excited to go back so she could ride horses and go to the rodeo.

Creepy Rodeo Clown

Rodeo food.. I am pretty sure Keylee's face explains exactly how I feel about that food. Ick!

The kids with my nephew, Gage (with the purple cast due to a baseball injury this summer) and my nephew Briggs. They were playing the Wii and wouldn't even stop long enough for a quick picture.

Keylee with her cousin Briggs. Briggs wore spurs to the Rodeo with his hat and had to walk really slow all night so he could hear his spurs make noise. Too cute!!

All the kids love to go to play the piano at my Mom and Dad's house.

All my sisters (Susan, Tisha, Me and Tamie) Always good times when when we get together.

Sunflower State Games

Kira's basketball team played in The Sunflower State Games last weekend. The team had very few practices and, with all the girls involved in other summer activities, there were not many practices with all the players. Needless to say, there were clearly plenty of teams in the tournament that had many practices with all their players. Kira playing defense. She plays pretty aggressive and is very scrappy - never afraid to get on the floor for the ball.

Not only did it appear that the other teams put together several more practices than we did but it also looked like they had some special "Wheaties" for their breakfast as you can see the clear height advantage the team below had on us.

Kira is #15

A trip down memory lane

This past Friday I had a meeting in Topeka for work. Joe decided since he didn't have weights and conditioning he would tag along with the kids and they would go to lunch, movie and the mall until I was finished with my meeting. After my meeting we took the children to our Alma mater Washburn University. First we "made" the children go to the old (however much newer now) stadium where Joe played QB. I tried to explain to the kids how Joe was a very accomplished QB. I think the only one that had any interest in hearing me was Keenan. The girls just wanted off the hot turf. I would tell Keenan something about Joe's records and he would turn to Joe and say "is that true?" As if, I would make those stories up, ha.

Just in case the turf on the football field wasn't hot enough, I decided to drag the kids to my old stomping ground-the WU Tennis Courts (also much nicer now than when I played). As you can see from the photo below the kids were less than thrilled to be sizzling on the tennis courts. I also had some flashbacks of some very hot days on playing on those courts.

Next Stop: Petro Building. This is the athletic building where basketball games are played and all honors for athletes are displayed.

I walked straight to the MVP wall to show the kids our names. Joe, once again, a little annoyed at my attempt to relive the past would not even look at my camera when I asked for him to point at his name on the MVP wall. However, as you can see below, I was more than happy to point at my name and flash a big smile at the camera.

We also had the opportunity to visit the Lego Exhibit at Mulvane Art Center on Washburn's campus.

Finally we ended our day by meeting up with some old college friends and their children for dinner at Red Robin.

All in all, a great day!! Joe and I were both amazed how Washburn continues to improve their campus and facilities.