Ok so I took a little hiatus from my online journal.  I’m cutting myself some slack since I was busy with Thanksgiving.  Now my list of things I want to write about is way too long and I’m having little faith I will get to all of them!  Let me take baby steps for now and see what happens.  I thoroughly enjoyed my Thanksgiving break by the way!

Just before our Fall break, Morgan’s basketball team had their last two home games. WHAT!?  How is this season already coming to an end…didn’t it just start?  I mean, what am I going to do with myself without doing midnight laundry hoping to get all of the uniforms clean and who will watch the other kiddos while I’m at her games?  and what’s for dinner for heaven’s sake!?  The truth is, I absolutely love watching Morgan and her teammates play and look forward to being entertained every Tues/Thurs afternoon!  Time is flying.  My sister-in-law reminds me on a weekly basis about how quickly time passes. She sends me all of her facebook flashback photos and we repeatedly get sad!  Why is she torturing me!?  Just kidding…I LOVE these photos, they are amazing memories.  She sent this one to me today and I swear I would do anything to have toddlers to plop into cow print carseats!

Back to basketball.  It’s a tradition to do parent appreciation after the last home game.  It’s not fancy, it’s just a time for the coach to say a few nice things about the girls, and the players get to recognize their parents with a short speech.  Here is the youtube video of what MoMo had to say:

Great job!  And most entertaining is the free throw contest!  Parents have the opportunity to make a free throw shot and if successful, you win a full-size candy bar for your player. We all know how valuable a full size candy bar is!  Thankfully, Brian was in town this year and could take the shot…of course he swished it.  Last year, I was on the hook for the shot because he was traveling and I failed miserably.  Apparently basketball is not the sport for 5’2″ moms…that hoop is high up there!  All the more reason for me to be amazingly proud of these middle school athletes.

Several of the girls on Morgan’s original “Shooting Stars” team are on the Prairie Trail team. Wow…they’ve really grown up!!

November 22, 2016Flashback to the Shooting Stars 1st game in 2012!March 2014-Post Season Pizza Party:February 2015:December 2015 (Prairie Trail Middle School-7th Grade BB):Love you girls!! Our dear friends, Ava (51) & Ellie (50) Peters are moving to Texas at the conclusion of the season. We are going to miss them SO MUCH!  And OH NO…we only have one more semester before we send our girls to high school!

On Monday night, we had an extra special treat at the game…Great Grammy D. was able to come watch Morgan play. MoMo, you played so hard, we loved watching you hustle! And despite the loss, Ethan made a great observation, you scored 33% of the points. So happy to have all of these special people there (including Collin, a fellow Husky) to support Morgan…MoMo, you have quite the fan club! I will leave you with this little tidbit. I captured Reece writing me this note on the bleachers at the game. It starts out so sweet and wonderful…Dear Mom, I love you so much… And then it takes a turn for the worse… Just when I thought I was ‘most of the time awesome’…it turns out I’m a little mean sometimes!  Thanks for your honesty Reecie, I love you to pieces.

Go Huskies!

This past weekend, Jake’s 5th grade basketball team entered into a Blue Valley Pre-Season basketball tourney for the first time to change up their competition.  It was a weekend of ups and downs and they came up a little short in the semi-finals.

However, it was a fun weekend checking out some schools we’ve never been to before and facing some great teams!  Jake, you played your heart out, made lots of baskets, sunk a 3 pointer in a clutch situation, and most importantly, you were an awesome team player.  We love watching your team play and cheering you on.  Even though, my bottom will never be the same after sitting on those bleachers all day.  Padded bleachers should be the new invention of the future! please!

After getting up at 6:30am for a chilly outdoor soccer training, playing two intense basketball games, we let him skip his afternoon soccer training.  Then at 7pm, he suited up for an indoor soccer game against a great team they really wanted to beat.  Is it bad when your soccer coach notices and comments about the bags under your eyes?   Under normal circumstances, the more sports the better for this guy, but sometimes it’s just a little too much and this sports fanatic was out of gas by the second half of the soccer game. No worries Jake, there are many more games in your future (in fact, you have one tonight again) and your body can only take so much when you’re fighting a nasty cold.   I’m so proud of your effort this weekend!  Maybe you should take Drew’s wise words, and just take a hot bath 😉

For the first time ever, one of my kids asked me what I do during the day while they are at school!!  I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t come up before.  However, maybe it’s just occurred to them that this school year is the first time that I have no kiddos at home!

This leads me to the cutest little conversation I had with Drew this morning before school. He said, “Mom, what do you do all day after we get on the bus?”  I said, “well, I do a lot of different things but I go to the gym right away.”  He said, “and then what do you do?”  It was clear to me that a vague answer was not going to cut it with this detail-oriented little guy.  So, I started listing out all the things I do all day.  Then it occurred to me that maybe he was just trying to coerce me into bringing him lunch at school!  They beg us to bring them lunch at school.  So I said, “are you wanting me to bring you lunch to school today?”  And he said, “no, I just thought maybe you could take a hot bath and relax…maybe you should do that sometime.”  Well there you have it…wise words from an 8 year old!  Drewy, I should definitely take your advice more often.  You are one smart boy!  I love you to pieces.

 

At Manchester Park, each year they recognize our veterans by making a wall of honor. Kids are invited to decorate and bring in stars for family members that served in the armed forces.  My sweet kiddos did this for their grandpa and their great grandpas.  Great job and thank you veterans!

And on Veteran’s Day, this lucky Grandpa & Veteran got to go out to eat with a few of his grandkids!

Drew’s 3rd grade music program has finally happened!!  Thank goodness…because he’s been fretting about it for weeks!!  Our little 3rd grader is really not into the musical arts, so asking him to learn 9 songs and get up on stage and sing is not really top on his list. You will see by his expression, that he’d rather read the encyclopedia than do this…

The theme of the program centered around the solar system and Saturn losing one of her moons…Calypso.  There were a few other numbers thrown in that included farm animals and Star Wars that I’m still scratching my head over, but I’m not an elementary school music teacher so I suppose I should be quiet!  What I cannot be quiet about is how crazy the spectators are to show up at the school almost an hour before show time to stand outside waiting to file in and get a seat.  It’s crazy!  And you wonder why I know this…well the truth is…I was there too, parked front row and hanging out in my car!!  BUT it really wasn’t on purpose, I swear!  Our plan was to go there straight from Morgan’s basketball game and it finished early so we just had lag time!  There was even a mass email that went out from the school that the doors wouldn’t open until 6:10pm but sure enough, people were standing in front of those LOCKED doors at 5:40pm.  You’d think we were trying to be first in line to get some spectacular tickets to something – nope – just the 3rd grade music program at Manchester Park Elementary.

Here are two youtube clips of the last number.  Before you shut it down – just remember this is pretty impressive for Drewy to get up there.  And not only that, this was the only time I could actually see him throughout the program.  Most of the time he was right in front of a music stand and not visible from the seats!  see that stupid music stand…grrrrr (kids…I’m sorry for saying stupid)

He was assigned to be a ‘glow stick’ dancer in the last song and the minute I finally actually saw his sweet face, they turned off the lights to jump around and dance! awesome.

They are “lighting up the night” by the way!!  This song was his favorite of all of them and I think they did a great job.  It cannot be easy to get all of the 3rd grade classes to learn and rehearse all of this in a short time frame.

By being persistent and climbing over little kids sitting on the floor, Brian caught a few pics…thank goodness!

Drewy, I could not be more proud of you for this performance!  I know that music is not ‘your thing’ and you did a great job learning all of the songs, following directions, and trying your hardest to be positive about it.  So maybe you are not going to be the next Justin Timberlake, but you are certainly cuter and the best glow stick dancer around!

Love you to pieces,

Mommy

 

 

 

Today took a slight turn that I wasn’t expecting…a super fun trip down memory lane!  This morning I dropped Morgan off at church at 8 am to participate in the Fall Serve Day.  These amazing teens volunteer their time on a Saturday to help families in need with yard work. Even though Morgan could not participate the whole day, I’m so proud of her for getting up early on her day off and doing what she could for the time she had available!  It was a chilly start to the morning so Reecie snuggled up on the couch…no yard work for this little gal!Morgan sent me the address of where her work group was located so I could get her picked up for her noon soccer game.  The rest of them were scheduled to keep working until 4pm. What I didn’t realize is the address was only about a mile from where I grew up!!  We had a little extra time, so I decided to drive down the streets that I went up and down millions of times over the course of my childhood!  It was so much fun for me and I loved sharing the experience with Morgan.  She’s at the age where she actually cares about where her mom came from!

It’s a beautiful Fall afternoon and I’m hanging out of my car taking pictures of my old stomping grounds.  I’m surprised people weren’t calling the police on the strange black minivan loitering around!  I escaped safely.  This is the house I grew up in – 2000 Cherokee Lane in Olathe, KS.  It looks quite a bit different now!  I have so many memories of fun times in this house and in this neighborhood!!  We rode our bikes constantly around here, played kick the can, tether-ball, basketball, and so many fun things.  Awwww…the good ol’ days when we didn’t have electronics!!  And of course I can say this now that I’m older and can no longer get grounded by my parents, a lot of parties occurred at the Michie household!  Don’t get any ideas kids….19602 W. 97th Terrace is going to be put on lock down.

I can’t believe they still have these yucca plants…remember these, Shauna and Greg?  We had quite a few in our yard.

My parents moved out of this house when I was in college and needless to say, I was reluctant to leave after all those years.  They moved to their current house in Spring Hill, and it was just too far out of the big city for me!  I think I slept in this house even after most everything had been moved out.

Around the corner, is 1405 Pawnee Drive, home to the Catalina family, who still live there!! I swear I spent half my childhood with my BFF, Lisa, or Lee as I call her, and her sister Amy, going back and forth between these two houses.   I think Lonnie and Jim probably got a little bit tired of having me around but they were the best days ever I swear!!I strolled just a little further towards my elementary school and found the house of one of my other best childhood friends…Chesley.  Her parents no longer live here but they still live very close to the area.  I guess none of us have strayed too far!Here is Scarborough Elementary where I went to school – Kindergarten through 6th grade. My mom was the secretary there for several of our school years.  Like all the houses, it looks a bit different too.  I remember my 5th grade class being in a trailer beside the school!  Scarborough Elementary has come a long way!My final stop was to Cara Chiaverini’s house, another childhood bestie.  I must admit I’m proud of myself for finding all of these houses because they do look different than I remember and the neighborhoods have expanded quite a bit.I’m feeling so blessed to still be best friends with all of my girls from elementary school…how cool is that!?   So lucky!

Morgan, Jake, Drew, and Reece, I hope all of you develop lifelong friendships too!  Keep in touch, be kind, and have so much fun with your friends…you will be super happy you did when you’re older!

Much love to all my friends & their families, my brother and sister, and my parents who gave me an awesome childhood in the big city of Olathe, KS!

 

 

 

 

Woo hoo!  Our 8th grade girls beat our rivals, Mission Trail, by slim margins last night.  It was so fun to see both the A and B teams play so well and they were super excited and happy to win!  Adorable!  Especially since they were convinced that the MT girls sent spies to a previous game to get all the intel on the PRT game plans.  I cannot make this stuff up!!  I also cannot take pictures…how is it that I took this exactly at the moment the ball is directly in front of Morgan’s head?!

That’s just sheer talent, isn’t it!?  I can’t even delete the photo because it makes me laugh so hard!  I really wish I could get better at taking pictures, but since I don’t put any effort into getting better, I guess we’re all going to have to settle for these!

Ok back to the game…the MT girls have a history of being really good and post undefeated records, so it’s pretty fun for our girls to get a win!  Way to go Huskies!  Here’s a few photos that do not contain a ball in the face of #42 😉

Get ready for some serious cuteness!  Several months ago I took Reece to a last minute casting call for an American Girl fashion show that benefits the local charity, Bethel Neighborhood Center.  I debated about taking her pretty much every minute for a week because I was nervous about adding to our schedule.  Apparently this is the 24th year the Junior League has sponsored this and it was the final show.  So, I guess I made the right decision!  We are fans of American Girl dolls and all of their loot, so why not!?

This past Saturday evening, we all gathered for a girls night out to support Reece and we had so much fun.  All of these little girls are so cute and they did a great job!  And trust me, I was NERVOUS!  First of all, she missed the first rehearsal because we were on vacation.  We were supposed to watch a you tube video of the choreography and learn the finale song.  Weeeeellll, we sort of watched the video for a minute in the airport and got a little intimidated and never watched it again!  oops!   So I had to drop her off in a ballroom full of people she didn’t know to practice and I gave her the best motherly advice…just pretend like you know the words.  What’s wrong with me!?  I should be teaching her to do her homework and practice!  Sometimes you do what you have to do and at this moment, we were out of time!  On top of all of it, when I showed her the picture of the outfit she was going to wear – she was less than thrilled.  She was apparently hoping for a red sparkly dress and the blue tone, under the sea inspired skirt and wellies was not cutting it for her.

Luckily, when we arrived at the Deer Creek Clubhouse the next day she was perfectly content to get into that outfit and hold that adorable Camille doll.  Somehow, her rehearsal and the show did not conflict with any other family activities for us so it was meant to be!  This experience  was a lot of sitting patiently with strangers and getting on a stage with lot’s of eyes watching and I couldn’t be more proud of how she handled herself.  Here are all of the videos of her performance – so cute!!  And I think my advice worked – she’s doing a good job of pretending she knows what she’s doing!  She’s a smarty…just watch the girl next to you and copy her motions and you’re all good!

I am so happy that I was able to fill a table of family which gives support to an important cause in the area-a local food pantry and my baby girl is now talking about this experience non-stop!

She has played with the paper doll set they received and has barely left it for a second.  She is now obsessed with Camille and the new American Girl line – the Wellie Wishers and she is well on her way to filling up a gigantic Christmas list.  So proud of you Reece!  Thank you family for joining us for this special evening, we love you!

I bought this little shirt for her at the event and she wore it to school today to show her friends.  Reecie, I’m glad you are proud of what you did this weekend!

Short video clip of Reece playing fashion show with her paper dolls…

This is her little friend Lila Ho, aren’t they the cutest!?

 

And here it is…the moment we’ve all been waiting for…new basketball uniforms!  Ok well maybe it’s just Jake that has been asking every single day for last month when his new uniform will arrive!  This cute little group of 5th grade boys are starting in on another season of basketball and new uni’s were top on the list.

They had to change their mascot from the Ravens because many of these boys will not be attending Olathe Northwest (home of the Ravens).  We have a new high school being built in the area.  So as a group, they voted and chose the Panthers and the design of these cool new uniforms.  Don’t they look great!?

And the even better news is, these athletes brought home 1st place medals for a tournament they played in over the weekend.  They went undefeated and played so hard….way to go Panthers!  Super proud of you!

We quickly got that uniform in the wash last night so Jake could wear his warm-up shirt to school today.  He had previously made a plan with Trent (his school buddy), that they would wear them to school if they won.  As we were leaving Drive 5, I saw them motion to each other to wear the shirts.  Isn’t that so funny!?

Wear that Panthers jersey with pride Jake, you deserve it.

Is it bad that I let my 11 year old stay up until midnight on a school night watching game 7 of the World Series Cubs vs Indians?  Actually, is it bad that we’ve been up late multiple school nights in a row now getting caught up in Halloween and baseball!?  Sorry Mrs. Petty for sending you a very tired and irritable 5th grade boy!  I’m making memories here, Mrs. Petty…please forgive me!  Our family does love baseball and we have been following this World Series pretty closely.  Drew (aka Rain Man) can recite back to you most plays, players, scores, etc.  And most of the time he pretends like he’s actually playing in the game.  It’s absolutely priceless!  Even Morgan was watching between activities and homework but poor Drewy, just could not make it…he sacked out in the 8th inning last night.

I guess maybe I like the Cubs because I love the city of Chicago, it’s one of my favorite US cities to visit!  We took our kids there for vacation earlier this summer – so perhaps we are feeling a little connection to the city at the moment.  In fact, my little baseball players took a tour of Cubs stadium and got a few souvenirs that have come in handy this post-season…aren’t they cute!?

You have to admit that this game 7 was pretty exciting to watch and for them to bring home the championship in extra innings after 108 years is pretty cool!  Way to go Chicago Cubs!  And how can you not be happy for Ben Zobrist for being the MVP and grabbing 2 World Series titles in a row with the Royals and the Cubs.  I would say he’s a bit of a ‘hot rod’ as I like to say.

Jake and Drew, it was probably against my better judgement to allow you to talk me into letting you stay up night after night watching the World Series and we are paying the price with irritability running high in this household.  However, thinking about it this morning, I don’t regret it at all.  I had an absolute blast watching baseball with both of you!  I love you so much, your love of baseball, and all of your commentary throughout the game is priceless.  I’m learning a lot!

I will leave you with this adorable little tid-bit that Jake passed along to me last night as we were watching post-game highlights.

” Mom–my favorite thing in baseball is when they hop over the dugout fence to celebrate”

Me too Jakers…I love it also and I hope you get to experience that kind of joy in your sports career.  I have a feeling you will, buddy.

P.S. Congrats to Aunt Jenn for winning her bet with Bob…hope you enjoy your dinner!