While I was in Springfield with Drew, Brian was handling all the madness at home in KC.  Morgan was competing in a soccer tournament with her Olathe Northwest High School team, Reece had a soccer game, and Jake was competing in the Challenger Cup.

Morgan’s team had success and went 2 and 1 in the tourney.  Way to go girls!

Reece had a successful soccer game and managed to pull off playing office and organizing her stuffed animals in her bed.  It’s a lot to accomplish in a weekend! 😉Jake’s semi-finals game came down to penalty kicks and they ended up coming out on top in the championship game as well.  Awesome job U13 Fusion Academy!

You can’t help but notice Tavian #15 in this pic…he has the coolest hair doesn’t he!?

On a very off-the-topic side note, I’m happy to report that I came home from Springfield to a beautiful blooming tulip garden!  I have literally been asking for one for years–maybe 15 years!?!  Brian has finally accomplished this and I am thrilled!  Thank you!

 

 

That is a ridiculously long name for a soccer tournament….they should really try to cut that down a bit!  We had to choose between a baseball tourney in KC or an out of town soccer tourney.  In the end, we hit the road with a van full of snacks, a PS4, and lots of extra clothing & rain gear.  Our destination was Springfield, MO, and on the way, my sidekick was not much company!I don’t know if I’ve ever realized this before, but on this stretch of highway, there is a billboard for “Fantastic Caverns” about every 50 ft.  I’m not joking!  I wished I would’ve counted how many I saw because it was a staggering amount.  The marketing team for Fantastic Caverns is really going all out!I almost felt the need to stop there.  But, I didn’t…I decided a dinner date with Drew was a way better choice!Once we got ourselves all settled in at our hotel, the FortNite frenzy started in.  UGH!  Is he playing a video game or is he a switchboard operator?Saturday, Drew had 3 soccer games to play in very rainy and cold conditions.  Thank goodness I was prepared with several layers of clothing and rain boots.

Saturday afternoon, while the rest of the team actually did go to visit Fantastic Caverns and the Granddaddy of all outdoor stores, Bass Pro Shop, Drew guest played in another soccer game.  And after a long day of soccer, and challenging weather conditions, we ventured out to downtown Springfield for a team dinner.

Clearly Drew is being a goofball here…too many rounds of Sprite I guess!?

On Sunday, we played in the Semi Finals game and Finals game and came up just short of going home champions.

Parents spent countless hours trying to get the mud out of these white uniforms.  Thank goodness my neighbor told me years ago to use Fels-Naptha soap for stains.I tipped off the rest of the team and they are all believers!  Listen, I have 2 boys that play baseball in white pants, if I didn’t have this soap, I would be toast!

We lost in the finals 1-0 on an own goal and a goal wrongfully called offsides (we have video proof!).

Sunday night, I had a 3 hour drive home with a very disappointed, wet and muddy soccer player!  Despite the loss, my heart was completely satisfied because Drew played his tail off all weekend.  He never gave up, gave it 110%, and rarely subbed out.  That’s a job well done, bud!

Love you to pieces #16…your championship is coming!

Easter came quickly this year and before we knew it, we were scrambling around trying to make plans.  I think the main problem was we were all wrapped up in getting together with friends and family to follow the final four!  Although, KU and K-State sort of dashed our dreams, we still had fun watching!

For the first time ever we had to color eggs without Brian!  He had to be out of town for work so we made the best of it.  I must say, I was quite proud of my ‘carrot’ eggs…aren’t they cute!?

We spent Good Friday hunting for eggs, grilling, and playing a crazy game to win 20 bucks…

It may be an unconventional way to celebrate Easter, but Morgan left the table $20 richer and with a red, sore nose!  Bob and Jenn thought it would be a fun game to have the kids press $5 bills against the wall with their noses and whoever lasted the longest got to keep all the money.  Drew and Morgan lasted the longest but then Drew started acting reckless so the money went to Morgan!  Way to go MoMo!  Reece collected $20 for winning the march madness family bracket bet and the boys wound up with only Easter candy!  Towards the end of the evening, Reece decided to start lifting weights and we had an arm wrestling contest.  Like I said….a very unconventional Easter celebration, but fun nonetheless!

On Sunday, we spent the day at my parents doing a frigid egg hunt.  It was sleeting and hailing and the boys ended up having the most fun playing it.  I can’t even remember a time that it has been that cold on Easter Sunday!Jake came prepared by wearing long johns under his church clothes but he was still having a hard time staying warm!

The golden egg brought the new Sporting KC jerseys and Birkenstock’s!And the Easter bunny filled baskets with work out clothes, books, and other fun treats.Happy Easter and hopefully happy Spring coming soon!

 

The bad thing about remodeling is sometimes your old furniture looks ridiculous when you put it back into the room!  This was most certainly the case in our dining room.  I was trying to be a good sport and live with it, but it just got way too hard.  I saw this black and white striped rug in a catalog and immediately I was on a quest to get it.From there, I combed the city looking for a buffet cabinet, tables, and chairs.  All of it came from a variety of different places and my mom graciously dropped everything to help me make decisions.  She’s awesome like that, and she’s retired, so she can!

I scoured through all of my kids artwork and picked my favorites for a gallery wall and it makes all of us so happy looking at it.  The lady at the store where I purchased all of my frames thought I was completely insane wanting to hang all of that amateur art, but what does she know anyway!?  Just in time to serve good Friday dinner to Brian’s family, the room was done!  Whew!I sold my old dining room furniture for next to nothing because there isn’t a strong market for formal dining anymore.  Morgan and I (along with two ladies who spoke fluent Spanish) carried all of that furniture out the front door and loaded it into a truck.  It was a sight for sure!!  We  had a great run with that dining room set – many parties occurred in there – I stood on top of that table many times hanging birthday party decorations and poking thumbtacks and staples into the top of that china cabinet!!  Change is good and we are going to have many more fun celebrations in here!

 

 

I’m already sad to report that this may be our last Spring Break trip!  As you know, Reece is very dedicated to gymnastics and the Kansas state meet always occurs around our break, and you aren’t allowed to compete if you miss that week of practice.  UGH!  We will need to get creative on our spring break travels going forward.  This year, however, our trip was already planned, in the books, paid for, and no one was stopping us from getting on that flight to Mexico!  When your family rarely gets to be together as a full crew of 6, scheduling time together becomes a priority.  I started early this time with the packing process because it can really get overwhelming.  Of course, the girls turned it into a fashion show…they always make things fun!And there is nothing cuter than Reece’s lists!  She wanted to make double sure we were prepared!

The boys were no where in sight during the packing.  Next time I’m going to forget their underwear on purpose and see what happens 😉

 

We had 6 suitcases and 6 packpacks loaded and ready for a 3:30am wake up call (holy moly, that’s early!)

 

When we arrived in Cancun, we stepped right into our transportation to the resort in a flash but it eventually took an hour to get there with heavy rain showers and traffic.  My sister and brother-in-law were anxiously awaiting our arrival…so they say ;)!  They spent a few days at the resort alone.  They’ve traveled with us before…they fully know the mayhem that sets in when we arrive!Take a peek at our 3 room villa – with a rooftop deck…it was awesome and the perfect set up for the 8 of us.  Thanks to Shauna & Scott for getting this booked through their membership!

 

Shauna and Scott had a room, Reece & Morgan had a room, and me, Brian, and the boys had the main suite.  This is a view of the resort…

 

Within minutes of our arrival, the kids were already ordering strawberry daquiri’s…this was only the start of a week-long plunge into endless junk food and sugary drinks. 

We have been lucky enough to travel to many destinations, and stay at some pretty great places, but what was unique and my favorite part about this resort, was it was in the center of a jungle/cenote.  We saw so many monkey’s, Coati’s, Paca’s…all kinds of wildlife.  I know this was a high-light for the kids as well.  It was a daily routine for us to walk through here and see how many monkey’s we could spot.

As you can see, they get really close to you!  It almost seems like they will jump on you!

 

We spent the first day parked at the pool as we had not gotten our request in yet for a beach cabana.  The kids played endless amounts of water basketball – we brought along a blow up hoop from home, and Reece did gymnastics and pool flips constantly.

 

The rest of the week we parked ourselves in two cabanas on the beach and had an absolute ball!  Brian and Scott had to stand in line each day at 3 to get them reserved…we were lucky to have them.  Despite the fact that there are tons of them, many are already reserved by members, so only a few are left for the taking.

There were large tide breakers in the water that were the hit of the beach.  Everyone loved swimming out there, standing on them, and jumping off.  Hours of fun!Our daily to do list was plentiful….take a walk, see monkey’s, eat & drink, play basketball, eat & drink, play beach soccer, eat & drink, run a race on the beach, eat & drink, play pool basketball, eat & drink, play catch, eat & drink, do back handsprings and handstands constantly, play cards, order room service, hang out on the rooftop, eat & drink, read a good book, play beach paddle ball, eat & drink, do yoga.  Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating on the eating and drinking, but I’m not exaggerating on the daily activities.  We had a lot we wanted to pack in each day!!

One day in, and the boys are already sunburned and ordering pizza from room service.  Note to self: never let them go on a high school or college spring break trip!

 

Morgan has read this book 4 times now.  We think it’s time for her to put that one back on the shelf and venture on to a new one!  We joked that she truly is a “heartbreaker” since she has now broken up with two boyfriends!  Most recently, she broke up with Zach on the last day of our trip.It’s just too much work to have a boyfriend…she’s too busy playing basketball with a fancy drink in one hand and learning how to play blackjack.  You know…really important stuff!We got dressed up for dinner each night and laughed about our daily adventures, talked smack about who was the best card/”rollers” player, filled out our march madness brackets, enjoyed a magician, and came home with some awesome souvenirs!
Drew ate more bacon for breakfast each morning than I thought was humanly possible, and I think he still weighs less than 60 lbs.  La Brasserie quickly became our breakfast favorite.  By the end, the waiters knew exactly what we wanted…shrimp omelette, extra crispy bacon, hash browns, chips & guacamole.  Of course, Brian & Scott would hit the taco stand on the way into breakfast – just a pre-breakfast snack 😉

Jake and Drew ate so many cheeseburgers on the beach, we weren’t sure if their bodies might go into shock when cheeseburgers weren’t readily available at home!  So far, we’re managing, but a full blown detox is on the to-do list!

 

The final day is always a hard one.  We are thrown right back into the madness the minute the plane lands back home.  You can see Reece is thrilled….this is what a week of sun and sugar will do!

Morgan got to sit in first class on the way home and Reece never did stop flipping!

 

 

This vacation meant so much to our family…to be together, to have so many laughs, so many memories, so many stories to tell!!We are already exactly one month post Spring Break and there were so many funny things the kids said that we wished we had written down!  Next time!Bye Bye Mexico, hope to be back again!

 

 

 

I’m using the word “Spring” in the title very loosely at this point.  It’s April 9th and I’m sitting here wearing fuzzy snowflake socks, 2 layers of clothing, and counting down 6 weeks until summer break.  Why am I wearing fuzzy snowflake socks and busting out my UGG boots?  This is crazy.  It snowed all day yesterday and all of our sports were cancelled.  If the sun doesn’t come out soon, my mental well-being will definitely be at stake.

I’ve already got my coat, boots, hat, and gloves laid out for tonight when I park myself on a cold bleacher at Morgan’s soccer game.  Don’t get me wrong, I adore watching her play, but I hate shivering head to toe for 80+ minutes.

 

We are thrilled that she made her high school soccer team…I’ve already signed up to be “snack mom,” stalking the bus pulling into every away game, and gluing my eyes to every move she makes.  It’s a problem, I know this.  Actually, I’m not the only one, I caught her ex-boyfriend taking an extraordinarily long time to stretch after his track practice, to watch the soccer girls.  It was pretty cute.  So far we’ve had 3 scheduled games.  One loss, one win, and one opponent no-show.  Does that actually happen!?  I made arrangements for my kids, drove 40 minutes to Lawrence KS, and started gathering my blankets for game time, when I saw all the girls filing right back on the bus.  Apparently Free State high school cancelled the game but didn’t tell us.  grrrr.  That’s 2 hours, we’ll never get back!  The girls made the best of it with a little singing…check this video link out on Twitter from Coach Weber – you can see Morgan right up front really getting her groove on…

t.co/SO53hlj8mq from Tony’s Tweet

https://twitter.com/tweb0613/status/979118046076907525/video/1

Here are a couple of pics I’ve managed to get so far this season.  Keep in mind that the fields are huge, and her position is center defense, so it’s not ideal for picture-taking.  Brian and I were both tearing up when we saw her walk onto the field suited up as a high school soccer player for the first time.  We need to get our emotions in check or we will never hear the end of it!

1st high school game vs. Shawnee Mission East 3.26.18 (3-0 loss)

 

In the meantime, Jake has joined the track team at his middle school.  You may recall that he ran cross country in the Fall and loved it.  They practice every day after school and have had one meet so far (the other one cancelled due to weather).  It was miserably cold and wet and I felt so sorry for all of those little 6th graders!  I was terribly ill-prepared and wore converse and no socks and couldn’t feel my feet after about 30 minutes.  My parents braved the weather with me but by the last event, we were all watching from the car!He took 1st place in the 400m.  Here’s a video clip of his run…(he’s the one with black running tights on)

Their team took 2nd in the 4x200m relay.  Long jump was the last event and we were just totally ‘over’ the meet by then!  It wasn’t his best jump but he did very good considering the field conditions.

It also happened to be Royals opening day!  We almost always go – it’s like a holiday here in KC.  This year we had to sell our tickets because we couldn’t miss Jake’s meet, the weather was awful, and Brian ended up out of town on business anyway.  Reece was supporting in her KC blue…C’mon Spring, please get here!!