Brag Time...

We had Parent/Teacher conferences this week and while I was not concerned with what Madi's teacher was going to say, I was a little concerned with what Boston's teacher would say.  I wasn't expecting a very bad review, he never had any problems at Pre-School or at Elaina's, but still, I was a little concerned.

Madi's P/T conference was first.  She has a sub while her teacher is on maternity leave (2mo early!), her sub just happens to be the mother of one of DJs friends.  We see her in Willie's quite a bit and she had already told DJ what a joy it is to have Madi in her class.  She said she is a leader, gets along with everyone in class and is a wonderful student.  She said the only problem she ever sees her having in school is not accepting anything but perfect!  She is not going to be happy if she ever gets less than an A.  I don't see that as being a HUGE problem ;)

On to Boston.  We went in and she said Boston is a good student, tries very hard & does what he is supposed to (without whining - WHA?!  who is this child she speaks of?!?).  She said the only problem he has is that he maybe needs to keep his hands to himself at times, BUT she has 16 boys (SIXTEEN!!) in her class (poor lady) and that it's to be expected with boys.  At the beginning of the year he could only write his numbers 1-7, but this past week he wrote from 1-100!!  She said while all his friends gave up around 7 he kept plugging away until he got to 100!  When I asked him about it, he said, "I could have wrote to 200, but I ran out of boxes!" LOL.

All in all, I'd say they're doing great & I couldn't be more proud!!

This week we added a new man to the family!  Meet Fred the 4-Runner, my new ride:

 it's official - I'm a soccer mom

DJ told me I had homework to do for Willie's.  This is usually nothing I really want anything to do with so I cautiously asked him "what kind of homework" ... this is what he pulls out from behind his back:

now, there's some homework I can handle!

4 bottles of Kansas made wine (Stone Pillar Winery) that need to be tasted & reported back on.

Prairie Fire Red * Kansas Table Wine * Hofftoberfest * & * Prairie Star Blush

I haven't been very good about the Bruce-ism's lately, but here's a small one for ya...

Boston is talking on the phone to Papa
B: I have your fun-ways stuff that you ordered
(I can hear Rick on the other end of the phone)
R: My what buddy
B: Your FUN WAYS stuff that you ordered
R: What?  Tell Mammo to talk louder so I can hear her
(she was trying to tell him FUNDRAISER)
B: YOUR FUN WAYS STUFF PAPA (talking a lot louder now)
R: Ok buddy

Rick had no clue what Fun Ways was but he decided he wasn't going to get anymore out of him than Fun Ways so he left it at that and said ok.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!  We're gearing up for another busy one!  Super jealous of all you that are headed to Manhattan for the weekend, hope you get to celebrate a CATS victory!! 

What a Weekend!!

WOW!  I'm not sure we could have squeezed anything else into our weekend!! 

We went to St. Joe for some shopping & dinner on Friday (pretty laid back compared to the rest of the weekend!)

Saturday we woke up bright & early - "we were up before the sun" as Madi would say.  We had 3 soccer games, the first being at 8am, the kids were not happy about having to be on the soccer field before they would normally leave for school, but somehow (sarcasm) they managed to make it through ;)  Boston's games were 12-2 & 15-5, they kicked butt  - WAY TO GO GALAXY!  Madi's game was 3-2 with a win as well!  NICE JOB WILDCATS!  After that we went to Willie's to have lunch and see daddy for a little bit.  Then it was grocery shopping to get everything for Madi's fiesta the next day.  Home, cook, clean, shower, get ready, more cooking, out the door for KC.  We were off to Legends so Madi could do some shopping with her Justice card and then it was off to Arrowhead for TAYLOR SWIFT.  Madi & my niece Hayley got tickets for their birthdays from DJ & I and they were PUMPED for the concert!  We got to share a ride with Madi's friends so we didn't have to fork over the TWENTY-SEVEN dollars for parking alone!  THANK YOU LIZ FOR THAT IDEA!  The girls had a great time, but were a little cold, hey, if that's the only complaint, I'm a happy lady!!  We didn't get home until a bit after midnight, but the girls slept on the way back while I was trying to keep myself awake the whole drive home!!

waiting for Taylor

Sunday, another fun packed day!  Short trip to the grocery store for forgotten things & the cake, then it's time to make lunch for the party.  We had Madi's birthday party with the fam.  She got some great gifts and lots of cash!  She is loving money because then if she sees something she wants, she can buy it herself!  In the middle of the party I had to leave for kickball.  The team we played won the game before 13-0 so we were a little scared before the game even started!  We didn't win, but we stayed with em!  Only lost 4-1.  Not terrible, but not so good.  Came home, hung out with the fam some more and then headed to Maur Hill for Boston's first flag football game!  He was SO excited!  The kids really didn't know a whole lot about what was going on, but by the end of the game I think they were getting the hang of it.  Boston's stand in coach didn't know what was going on either, so that didn't help a whole lot.  We think they won, but were never given the score so aren't real sure, but the kids had a great time, so that's all that matters.

Boston played Quarterback the entire game (he didn't really love that, he wanted to RUN)

One would think that was enough for one day, but not us, it was our anniversary, so DJ & I packed up & headed to KC for the night.  We had a really nice meal at Capital Grille on the Plaza.

We slept in, ate lunch at one of our favorite BBQ places, Jack Stack, and then walked around the Plaza - what a BEAUTIFUL day!!  Madi dropped her iPod a few months ago, so I decided to see what they could do about fixing it at the Apple store.  To my amazement, they replaced the iPod at NO COST to us!  I could not believe that!  Not only that, when I asked for a new protective case for it so this wouldn't happen again, the Apple employee told me I should try an Otter Box and they didn't sell them.  I've forgotten what this kind of customer service is like!  No where do they do that for you anymore, it's how long have you had it, how did it break, is it under warranty, no sorry, we can't help you, etc etc.  They were so nice & weren't trying to push anything I didn't need on me!

Now, I'm ready for a laid back Tuesday... O wait, not gonna happen!  O well, such is life. Happy to be happy with our crazy busy life!

Madilynne Grace

Happy birthday Madilynne Grace... Maddog, MadGrace, MadiGrace, Madi da Geek, Madi Moo, Big Booty Judy, etc etc ;)



I can't explain to you how much I love you.  You were quite the unexpected surprise that I can't imagine my life without!  I am so thankful that God gave you to ME!  8 years ago I was headed to the hospital SCARED out of my mind!  I was not prepared and had no idea what I was in store for!  I came home with a beautiful, easy going, baby girl - YOU!  You were PERFECT!  I was still scared, but knew we were gonna be just fine.  Since the day you were born you have been such an easy going little girl.  I have loved every minute of watching you grow and can't wait to see what the future has in store for you... BIG things, I'm sure!  You are such a smart & talented girl, you could do anything you set your mind to!  You remind me of myself with your sensitivity, I remember my parents scolding me & bursting into tears - geesh, I wish you didn't get that from me!!  Time to toughen up girl ;)  You are an amazing big sister - a little too much sometimes as you seem to think you are Boston's mother at times.  You have always been a little mommy since the day he was born and I am so proud of the way you have always taken care of him!  He is lucky to have you & he is so proud to call you his big sister, just ask him (when he's not whining, hehe)  You are beautiful inside & out.  I love you Madilynne Grace and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for the wonderful gift he gave me in you!  I hope you had a wonderful birthday and I can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend at TAYLOR SWIFT and at your party on Sunday!  Love, Mom

Lunch Date...

The weekend was set to be a busy, but fun weekend.  Boston went again with Kilee to watch Jared play football in St. Joe, he had been looking forward to it since the week before when he went with her ... and is looking forward to going again this Friday.  Madi & I dropped him off and he rode to St. Joe with "the boys", Big George & George and then we headed home for some girl time.  We did mani/pedi's, went out for dinner, and then came home to watch a movie together in bed.  While we were watching a movie DJ called to ask me if I had heard anything about Jerry, a regular of ours that came in almost every M-F to have lunch around 1-1:30.  I think Jerry liked coming in at that time because all of us girls would be slowing down and at least one of us could eat with him while the rest of us rolled silverware or just chit chatted with him.  I hadn't heard anything about Jerry and I thought for sure someone had gotten their story wrong.  NO way had Jerry passed away, we JUST saw him at lunch 7 hours earlier!  Bye Jer, have a good weekend!  Not a minute later did I get a call and my screen said Jodi Therer, I knew right then, it was true, we'd lost our lunch date.  Lunches will not be the same without Jerry, we look forward to seeing him everyday and when he's not there we always give him trouble & ask if he's been cheating on us.  I remember a week went by with no Jerry & we were all ready to call and see if he was sick or something and he came in the next day, he had been working on the farm instead of in town that week.  Whew!!  I still sort of expect to see him walk through the door today like any other day, but I know that's not going to happen.  We're gonna miss you Jerry!!

The rest of our weekend:
On Saturday we chilled around the house for a while, then headed over to Mammo & Papa's to help get ready for Shelly's big SURPRISE 50th birthday party.  Kelsey & Shawna came over to decorate so I got to have some time with baby Charley (so cute!)  She loved watching mommy & aunt Kels put up all the decorations.  We all hid in the garage until Shelly showed up for "Madi's birthday party", opened the garage and out ran Kale, LOL, I think she knew something was up then!  She said she was mad, but she had a good time anyway!  Happy 50th Aunt Sheddy!!

I left the party to come back around and see Captain America (HA!)  We met Tim & Wendy in Manhattan while Tim was stationed at Ft. Riley.  They came in to watch the Red Sox play and the rest is pretty much history!  We became friends with them and then they left us, they moved to Georgia and now Rhode Island.  Tim is at Ft. Leavenworth this week for some training and since that is only 20 minutes from us, he graced us with a visit!  YAY!  Sure wish Wendy & Bronwyn could have come but getting to see Tim was nice.  DJ may have been talked into a trip for us to go see them this Fall.

The kids came home on Sunday and we all watched Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, it's become one of their favorites lately.  After that, I went to work and they got to have some daddy time.

The kids start soccer this week, so add that to the play rehersals and maybe football for the little guy and we're one busy family.  Oh yea, and Madi is now on Student Council at school, but that is only a twice a month meeting before school, so that shouldn't be a big add-on.

Cheers to you, Jerry!  I think I'll have the special today ;)