Sometimes you have to ditch your carpool duties, throw on some fake leather pants, a KISS shirt, and rock out!  My sister comes through with concert tickets often and she knows exactly who to ask to go with her.  I’m her trusty sidekick and I’ve been going to concerts with Shauna and friends for years – since junior high I guess.  I would spend all my money on concert tickets, t-shirts, cassette tapes and magazines.  Doesn’t sound like me, does it!?  It was sort of an odd phase for miss conservative, but it was a sign of the times I lived in.  80’s rock was uber popular and now I’m embracing the memories and trying to give my kids a glimpse here.  Somewhere along the line, I decided to purge all of my old shirts and I totally regret it!

Last night we pawned off our carpools on anyone that was available, enjoyed a fun dinner downtown, and hit the Hallmark suite to watch KISS.  None of us could remember if we had seen them in concert before.  Listen guys, they sort of all run together after awhile.  But I really don’t think I have, because it’s sort of an unforgettable theatrical spectacle.  It’s a pyrotechnic bonanza, outrageous outfits and makeup, and goofy songs.  Gene Simmons, spouts fake blood out of his mouth and dangles his unusually long tongue in the process.   The Sprint Center was packed, from young to old, many fans part of the “Kiss Army,” worshiping the band that was never allowed to be photographed without their makeup.

The truth is, I barely knew the songs!  KISS formed in 1973 and was headlining shows in 1975.  That’s the year I was born, people, and they really cooled down in the early to middle 80’s, so it’s no wonder I don’t know very many!  Check out these videos – you will surely recognize these songs.

I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but never seen so many fireworks and pyro in all my life.  It’s really a wonder the place didn’t go up in flames!  Check out this video…

And this went on the ENTIRE time!  Absolutely crazy.

Today, my KISS shirt and pleather leggings are in the wash and I’m delivering items to school for the Daddy Daughter Dance with a headache as big as the universe.  I have no regrets, I have a love of music and entertainment and fun friends to share it with!  Kids, you have just learned a little bit about the music scene in my day and age!

And to this day, these are my ALL TIME FAVORITE photos that my neighbor took of my AWESOME rocker kids!!

Long live Rock-n-Roll 😉

 

 

January 29th could not get here quick enough!  Reece was so excited for her 3rd grade musical that she pretty much recited lines, sang songs, and told me about every classmates part, every waking moment (between tumbling passes in our family room, of course!).  Reece was so committed to this performance!  And apparently I was committed too when she came home with a bag of material I was supposed to make into fish costumes!  Somewhere along the line I signed up to volunteer for that.  But, the problem is, I don’t know how to sew.  That’s when my mom steps in to save the day!  Moms are great at doing that.  Thank you, Nanny/Mom, for saving the Manchester Park 3rd Grade Musical!

It was an adorable performance and Morgan (my stand-in photographer) got some great shots.  Reece had quite a few speaking parts and you better believe she knew those lines like the back of her hand!  And if her classmates weren’t doing what they were supposed to do, you know she was correcting them.  Yikes!

As always, there was a lot of family support and it was nearly standing room only.  There was NO WAY I was letting her siblings get out of attending this performance we have all been hearing about for weeks!These little 3rd graders worked really hard rehearsing and memorizing lines and they did an awesome job!

I don’t know, but this girl might have a future in show biz!

It’s always better in person, but here are the YouTube clips if you missed this legendary performance!!

After a plan for our family to go to Dallas for the weekend for Jake’s soccer tournament, we had to scrap the idea.  Why in the world would we think we would be free to be together all 6 of us at once!?  All of the sudden, we had mandatory gymnastics pictures, a couple of BB games, and most importantly, Reece was scheduled to get her Bible at church that Sunday.  As a family, we are learning to be flexible!  As Jake and Brian caught a flight to Dallas, I was holding down the fort here in KC.  But, by the looks of it, I really got the short end of the stick!  Look at these hot rods….eating massive amounts of cheeseburgers, touring stadiums, joy riding in a sports car, taking in Jake’s first NBA game, playing Fortnite, and enjoying time with friends (even an old teammate that now lives in TX came by to catch up), playing soccer in the nice weather is the best!

Even after a knee injury in his basketball game the night before they were scheduled to fly out, there was no chance Jake was going to miss this tournament with his teammates.  The results didn’t come out the way they wanted but from what I hear, Jake played his heart out and made some great memories along the way.  They were missed!

Back here in KC, we got our little gal all dressed up cute to get her first, and very own Bible!This is a very exciting time and I hope she finds a way to keep it forever!  Although, she is a bit of a mess – it’s a wonder she keeps track of anything really.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses!  look at all of this stuff she keeps in her twin size bed!!

We are so happy for you Reece!

Wow.  Sometimes I just really fall off the wagon on my journal writing.  I really don’t mean to.  I have a list of things I want to write about that haunts me every single day.  But somehow we are ALWAYS busy.  For one thing, it’s basketball season, peeps.  That means my butt is sitting on a bleacher for hours, multiple times a week.  And I LOVE IT (minus the sore butt part).  And let’s see, for some reason we are living on a glacier right now.  If it’s not a blizzard, it’s an ice storm, or the temps are so low we apparently can’t be outside.  They cancel school if someone even mentions the word precipitation or just breathes wrong.  My kids have been home a lot, which I LOVE.  It’s the best excuse to goof off.  But it also means I don’t get to write or accomplish much of anything really.

Ok, enough jacking around.  Back to hoops.  All 4 of my babes are playing of course and we are having a blast.  I’ll start with my MVP, Drewy.  This kiddo LOVES basketball and all the sudden he just made a conscious decision to ROCK IT.  Too bad we are now at the end of the season when he’s really hit his stride.  Over the weekend he had 3 games and scored a total of close to 60 points (31 in one game!!), a bunch of assists, steals, rebounds, and 3-pointers.  I’m not a stat-keeper type of person, but my jaw was on the floor when I saw this little guy acting like he was playing pro basketball.  I don’t even have one action shot to share or even one video.  Boo for me on that!  Luckily, my sweet nephew Collin got to witness it, Jake, Reece, Gma & Gpa.  He was getting high fives from every coach, parent, and even people from the opposing side.  He said multiple times afterwards, “mom, I feel like I’m in a dream right now!”  Hey, I say bask in the glory, buddy!

I do have a few pics from the season, so I am actually not a total failure!Back in October, on one of our many car rides together, we were discussing jobs and working parents, etc.  Drew said “I’m never going to get to see my kids.”  I said, “why not?”  He said, “well I’m going to be playing in the NBA and I don’t think they get to see their kids very much. But they will come to all my games because I’ll give them free tickets.”  He asked me, “don’t you think they probably give free tickets to the players families?”  I said, “yep I bet they do!”  Gotta love these little conversations with kids. It’s the cutest!  Drewy, even if you don’t get free tickets, you can do anything you set your mind to, I’m certain of that!

Moving on to Jakers.  His primary team has been the Panthers and I’ve included them in my posts from time to time.  They are a very talented team.  Small but mighty in a lot of cases.

The time has come for these boys to try out for their respective middle school teams and take a break from Panthers BB.  This is always stressful…you know…only a handful of spots for a whole lot of boys that want to represent their school.  Jake worked really hard preparing for tryouts and every day I would sit outside the school with a stomach in knots waiting for him to come out with a “yes I made it to the next round of tryouts” or a look of devastation.  Sounds dramatic, I know.  But in the mind of a 13 year old, 7th grade boy, it really is quite a big deal.  Happy to report he made the squad and is really enjoying the experience.

The first game was an away game at Oregon Trail and Jake was SO excited and undoubtedly full of nerves too.  They lost in the final moments by 3 points in a gym completely full of excited fans ready to kick off the season.

 

Home games require them to dress up and there is nothing more handsome!  Dressed head to toe in men-sized clothing now, my guy is looking sharp!and also becoming a master at tying ties!

Jake, if anyone can rock some watermelon socks during a basketball game, it’s YOU bud!  So proud of all you’ve accomplished this season – even with a couple of injuries.

Let’s move on to the girls!  Don’t let this skinny, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, little 8 year old girl fool you!  She’s a beast on the court.And even though the scores sometimes end up 6-2, it’s a blast to watch!  You can’t help but root for Pink Thunder-they’re just plain adorable!

Morgan decided to pull out another year on the Olathe Northwest basketball team and is having so much fun (most of the time).  Being in the gym at 5:50 am sometimes can throw you into a tizzy but Morgan handles everything like a champ. She actually prefers morning practice to free up her evenings for homework.  That’s my girl!  And there is no question that she has a fan club!  My dad, aka “Papa” is a regular  visitor to every high school gym in the area.  Superfan!

Morgan has been playing with my cousins daughter, Andie, who moved into the area so her dad can be the head football coach at Olathe Northwest.  Strange coincidence, but I absolutely love it!  You can commonly find me huddled up in the stands with Katy, my cousin, discussing everything under the sun and laughing about who knows what!?  She’s one of my favorite peeps!  And everyone loves Aaron, he even hooks me up with ONW spirit wear.  We pretend like I’m a coaches wife so I can get swag.  Thank you Aaron!  Happy they moved to KC.

These two cutie pies killed it their first game – both of them putting up double digits.  Go Girls!  It’s rarely serious basketball and we get a kick out of the atrocious uniforms that make even a supermodel look horrible and the occasional fall on the court with no ball or opponent in sight.  Morgan entertains us with a steady job of keeping all the shooting shirts in a nice, tidy, folded up pile on the bench.  I love a kid that likes to keep things in order!  She laughs a lot, cheers on her teammates, you commonly see her gesturing what she thinks the ref calls should be, she’s an absolute joy, and the Ravens are lucky to have her!  Raven Pride.When I found out that the C-team never gets their lockers decorated for games, I quickly jumped at the chance to coordinate some decorations.  These girls deserve it too!  And, let’s face it, I love arts and crafts!

Recently Morgan had another double digit game!  Thatta girl!!

Before long I’ll be bombarding this journal with soccer and baseball pics, but for now I’m going to enjoy the last few weeks of BB season.  Banquets are right around the corner, and let’s hope I can keep it together and not cry this time.  Remember last year when I kept tearing up at Morgan’s banquet over girls and coaches I never even knew or spoke a word to all season!?  I’m stuffing my purse with kleenex just in case 😉