NCAA Elite Eight Game in Louisville, KYI

My Dad, who is a huge fan and alumni of KU, was coming to town for Easter. It just so happened to be at the same time as the NCAA tournament was being played in Louisville and who could resist NOT getting tickets to that game? Now, I'm not a huge basketball fan and the thought of attending the game would not have even entered my brain, but Prince Charming thought it would be a kind gesture for my father. (Suck up!) I found tickets ranging from $20-9200. I went with the cheapest option possible and landed nose-bleed section tickets. They truly were horrible seats, but that was rectified by moving to new seats! :)

 I called up my next door neighbors who love anything and everything sports and asked if they would like to go or at least their son who is my son's bff! They said sure and let their son, Squared, come with us. J-Bird was not too willing to go even when he found out Squared was going. Prince Charming and Obe Wan decided to sit this one out. I can't say as I blame them.

We had a good time. My Dad kept his manners in check which is always a concern of mine with his temper. He did yell out to everyone we passed when we were leaving, "Go Oklahoma!" HA. It was a good game--a few bad calls, a few bad passes, or maybe, just maybe the better team won? I had a good time and yelled a lot. J-Bird curled up in a ball and looked as if he might go to sleep despite the row of Villanova college kids down the row from us! J-Bird got a shirt and I will add it to his graduation t-shirt quilt one day.

Gaming Party for Spring Break!

First day of Spring BREAK!! Zach invited five friends over to DORK it UP! I bought tons of boy gaming snacks and invited friends over from 1:30-5:30. I believe two of them may even spend the night here. Oh boy. We had two friends over last night as well. I loved breaks from school because my Mom always allowed us to invite hordes of friends over. It was always fun. I am learning boys are way different hanging out together than a gaggle of girls. The lingo they use is quite comical.

Since we are year round school we have a LOT of days off. I'm glad we have Easter in there to help break it up. I love the Reeses Easter Eggs this time of year. They are deadly to the ol' diet plan....

Volleyball Tourney visit in Indy

Last Sunday I drove up to Indianapolis to return Mavis, the Australian Shepherd, to her original owner, my sister-in-law. SIL and Niece were at a Volleyball Tournament in Indianapolis and it made more sense for me to travel up there than to meet her halfway between my house and Kansas. I was excited to see my niece play some games--it was  bittersweet for me as she is a Senior this year and I probably won't ever be able to see her play in College. She is very talented and it was fun to watch her.

I'm going to try and get a scrapbook together for her graduation. We'll see if I can round up enough pictures. I made sure to take plenty this past weekend.

Saying Goodbye to my Gabby Girl

On Friday night, after three weeks of being on seizure medicine and in a Zombie like state, Gabby had a seizure to end all. She lost control of all bodily functions and we couldn't get her out of the seizure by using corn syrup or the meds given to us by the vet. When she finally came to she was not herself---worse than I had ever seen her. 

I stayed up with her all night, well the rest of the night as the seizure was at 2 a.m. I would doze off only to hear her still panting, pacing and falling over. At one point I heard her eating and when I came out of my slumber, she was pawing and chewing on a package of Mini Muffins. She had gotten in to my newly organized pantry, grabbed a package from the lower shelf and was chowing down. I wasn't going to yell or patronize her. She was grinning from ear to ear. She loves her food and I wasn't going to deprive her of a last treat. I knew her time was limited as we had all agreed to see what happened when her meds wore off and now we knew. 

On Saturday morning I called the vet and we took her in. She could walk and was our happy girl. The boys said goodbye at home and we all shed some tears. We lifted Gabby into the van as she can no longer jump. She laid in the back munching on dead french fry morsels. She was a good girl at the vet's office. She is always so well behaved. She made me proud up until the end. 

The staff took us into a 'grieving' room where we could say our good-byes. The vet came in and hugged me! She is so kind. She knew this was an extremely difficult decision for our family as we were putting down a member of our family of almost 13 years. Dr. Speed looked at Gabby and said, "Cookie." I took it from there and said, "FOOD?" Gabby did her happy dance as best as she could and walked into the sunset with the vet with the offer of FOOD. Dr. Speed said she went peacefully and ate cookies up until she took her last breath. 

The best way to die if you ask me.....

As a tribute to my girl, DH made me this video. I would like to share it with you as she was an amazing dog who gave me unconditional love. May she rest in peace.

Jedi Knights play piano!

My two stunning boys looking back at me!

After almost three solid years of playing piano, it was time! Joyful Noise had a piano recital and my two boys were there! Mrs. Lori Estes is their teacher and we really like her. She is patient and kind with my two boys and this keeps their spirits high even when they don't pass their pieces. They have grown tremendously in their skills. It is fun to watch their growth. Now, don't misunderstand me, they loathe playing, but I believe this is all part of life. I hated it and now it is my turn to make my children hate it! Muwhahahaha.





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Cat In the Hat Costume!

Doesn't everybody like taking a selfie? I had too much fun making this costume and wearing it. I even went up to the school and stood in the car rider line greeting every student who came to school last week. March 2 is Dr. Seuss' birthday, so what better way to celebrate than read one of his stories?

I started the day reading The Cat in the Hat and was bored too tears. WOW. 220 words of boredom. Thing 1 & Thing 2 get a lot of hype for the few pages they are on---they cause havoc, but other than that they are kind of boring. I switched to the 56 word book, Green Eggs and Ham. Now that is a fun book to read; I now have it memorized! Ta-Dah. That is what happens when you read it 16 times in two days!

Making the costume proved pretty simple. I found some helpful pins on Pinterest, but when it came down to it--I made it myself. DH helped me with the head piece as I royally screwed that one up for the Grinch. He was patient and kind while helping me modify. I used a shirt from Wal-Mart and covered it with Synthetic fur from Jo-Anns. I had bought a 1.99 Kindergarten/Preschool nap time rabbit at GoodWill a couple of months ago. It came in perfectly for the tummy of the cat. Some red and white felt made the bow and the hat. Obe Wan was super worried I didn't have the correct amount of stripes on the hat--he wrote an informational story on the life of Theodore Seuss Geisel, so he is a walking/talking Encyclopedia for Seuss! I had to make sure I was correct or I was going to walk the plank, or in my case, eat green eggs and ham! :)

Cat in the Hat knows all about that! 

J-Bird's first soccer game!

FIRST SOCCER GAME OF 2016!

Need I say more? He was team captain and got to flip for the game start. He is No. 6. It was 32 degrees, drizzly, wet and muddy. J-Bird played 55/60 minutes as we only had one sub. He played hard. He was completely gassed by the end of the game. It is so fun to watch him play. We have 7 games in the season---one down, six more to go....