Thank goodness we have something to occupy our time.  We were in a bit of a slump on entertainment.  Luckily, Morgan is on the freshman basketball team at Olathe Northwest high school.  I will be at every game unless I’m deathly ill or double booked.  So, actually there’s a high likelihood I won’t be at every game ha! 😉  No worries, my dad will always step in my place.  He loves watching basketball.  Congrats on scoring 8 points in this game against Shawnee Mission Northwest!

Sorry MoMo, I know you probably want to kill me for putting these pictures out there for the world to see because those uniforms are absolutely atrocious!  Before the end of the season, I promise to take a pic of myself in your uniform, It’s going to be hilarious, just wait!!

We love you #14!!

More times than not lately, I find myself in the predicament of choosing between two equally awesome events due to scheduling conflicts.  This time it was my Grammy’s Christmas and Reece’s first Level 3 gymnastics meet.  Since I only see my cousins once a year, the obvious choice was jumping on the road to Pittsburg.  But you better believe, I was checking my phone every second to get an update on the meet from Brian.  We made arrangements for an experienced mom to do her hair…getting hair in a tight bun is not Brian’s specialty!

This is her very first time wearing her competition leotard and her warm up!  She must be smiling because the $275 to pay for these 3 items didn’t come out of her piggy bank, it came out of mom’s wallet!  Truthfully, I think she is just thrilled to pieces to be competing.  This little lady LOVES gymnastics.

She took 4th in balance beam…

3rd Place in Bars…

 

She took 1st place in Vault!  (she’s way in the back)

4th place in Floor Exercise

And 2nd place overall!!  Wow…that’s a job very well done.

In addition, the judges choose one girl per event to receive a special award, and Reece won for vault out of all those girls!  Way to rock it Reecie! 

A very proud daddy and aunt!

Overall, the Level 3 KGDC Twisters took 1st place!  Woo Hoo!  Way to go girls!

 

Reece came home with a lot of hardware, a new t-shirt she wears every waking minute, a pinnacle pacer cup, and a giant smile.  What an awesome day!  One meet down, 7 to go…

 

Every year we make a trip to Pittsburg, KS to celebrate Christmas with my mom’s side of the family.  All of us really look forward to this day but I definitely screwed up this year because I scheduled it on the weekend of a gymnastics meet.  I’m just learning the complicated world of gymnastics.  Ok, so it’s really not that complicated…you basically can’t miss anything. ever.  From this point forward, your life revolves around gymnastics.  Crap.  This is not good for our busy family.  Since Reece has been working her little tail off and meets are not optional, Brian and Reece stayed behind in KC to attend the Pinnacle Pacer gymnastics meet.

We had a few hiccups…grammy lost her diamond earring with sentimental value so we did an ‘all hands on deck’ search of her house to find it.  My dad literally took apart the shower drain looking for it and I finally found it in her bed sheets.  Whew!!  We had many laughs throughout the day with kids sampling egg nog for the first time, comparing and taste-testing my fudge vs. my aunt Kath’s (I think I’ve finally figured out what I’m doing wrong!!), deciding who doesn’t fit in the family by not loving French Cookies – a Delmez family tradition, obsessing over my Grammy’s new digital frame, and discussing fighting in high school & Morgan’s fight club (you had to be there for that one!) 😉

Since Reece missed all of the fun (but did rock her gymnastics meet!), Grammy came to church with us the next day in KC and came over to give Reece her xmas gift…During  the church service…Reece filled out this volunteer card in the pocket of her seat.  This girl is going to be REALLY busy if she does all of this! 😉 

Merry Christmas Grammy D, we love you to pieces!

 

Somehow I’ve managed to not attend 5 out of the 7 holiday parties on our calendar this holiday season because of conflicts and just not enough hours in the day.  BUT I did make it to the kids parties at school.  I always sign up to help for all classroom parties and then when it comes time, I panic and wonder why I over commit.  But I never regret seeing these cuties having fun at school.

It’s tradition at Manchester Park for the 4th graders to make ugly sweaters to wear to the winter party the following day.  This year, Morgan was available in the afternoon (trying to avoid studying for finals) and came to help hot glue a million holiday trinkets on sweaters…

Look how awesome it turned out!!  Now that is one UGLY sweater!!

Because I was trying to be thrifty, I took apart Jake’s ugly sweater from his 4th grade year for Drew to use.  What I didn’t realize is Jake needed to wear one for his choir caroling this year.  Oops!  Guess I should have just splurged on that $5 Walmart purchase.  However, he probably would have looked ridiculous in a sweatshirt from 4th grade anyway!  He’s grown quite a bit!  This is Jake’s masterpiece from 2 years ago…Not to worry, Morgan had a sweater for Jake to wear as he officially wrapped up his 6th grade choir career.  They went caroling through the school…now that’s brave!!  There he is in the green antlers looking very sweet in that sweater 😉Meanwhile, back at Manchester Park, Drew and his classmates were chucking jingle bells at each other and trying to catch them in plastic cups.  Drew’s partner was a disaster and gave him quite a challenge trying to catch the bells.  I’m guessing softball is not her strength.Either way, the Rudolph brownies were a hit with the kids and these ugly sweaters are simply awesome!I scurried over to Reece’s 2nd grade party and although I missed a majority of it, she seemed to be having a ball.And look at this amazing candy cane art she created…And for someone who claims he’s not good at arts and crafts, Drew really killed it on this poinsettia art!

Woo hoo!!  Cheers for Winter Break!!

It’s December 15th, which means it’s absolute madness for all humans.  I’m not even going to try to document everything that has been going on because I’m actually just functioning minute to minute right now.  But there are a few things I just can’t get out of my mind.  Like Morgan spending her Saturday face painting for Faces of Hope.This organization is made up of volunteers that go out into the community and paint children’s faces to raise money for a variety of charitable causes.  This is Morgan’s third time doing this and whenever she is asked to participate, she jumps at the chance.  If you want to read more about Faces of Hope, check out this short article.  It’s a wonderful story…

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/community/joco-913/overland-park-leawood/article63500097.html

The next day, our family made a shopping trip to buy Christmas gifts for a family that would otherwise have nothing under a Christmas tree.  It’s the most worthwhile $350 we will spend all year.  Guaranteed.  We are thrilled to report that we found everything they wished for and can’t wait to get these gifts delivered!  Even though we won’t get to meet them personally, we know they will be so thankful come Christmas morning.When we got home, Morgan went in the basement and got all the wrapping done completely unassisted and without being asked.Then she graciously helped me put these treats together for Drew’s 4th grade holiday party.  You do know that all kids like Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, right!?  I can’t figure out the appeal, but I really hope his classmates like the way we decorated them.

I’m going to cry when they tear apart those reindeer!

Morgan would no doubt be the best employee in the North Pole.  In fact, she should be the CEO!  She would run that show with her eyes closed.  In fact, she has single-handedly saved my butt this year by helping me with all things holiday.  160 Christmas cards wouldn’t be in everyone’s mailboxes without her stuffing, licking, and stamping and she has wrapped 90% of the gifts.  Man, this is really making me sound like a loser isn’t it!?

I did help Reece’s Brownies troop make these cute Christmas tree ornaments at their holiday party!  They exchanged fun socks and also collected socks to donate to charity.  Way to go girls!

And look at big bad soccer player, Jake, being a trooper and helping me do my annual bath & body works candle shopping!  Once a year I buy 15 candles at the big sale and it’s hard to manage alone.  Can you imagine the embarrassment of picking out candles with your mom?  He really got the raw end of that deal when I said, would you mind running a quick errand with me!?This morning, Reece and Drew excitedly participated in the school spirit day wearing holiday clothing.  The cutest reindeer around!  I’m hoping those hats warm up their brains for the multiple tests they had to take today.  yikes!  If Drew doesn’t get an A on that science test, I’m going to lose my mind.  I’m certain I would get a 100% – I’ve read that study guide a million times! And a special shout out to Drew, who has been released from his speech classes he’s been going to over the last year.  Woo Hoo!!  He’s so happy he will no longer be pulled out of class to work on the “R” sound.  Yay!!So as I wrap this up and feel good about teaching my kids about giving back to the community, I can’t help but throw in this ‘funny’ that our soccer coach friend sent us….I just need to add competitive gymnastics and baseball to this list and hope that this will sink in to their heads over the next 10 days.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

I used to dread going to Crown Center when it was a day off because it reminded me of going to work at Hallmark!  After finishing my MBA, my very first job out of college, I was the accountant/financial analyst for the Crown Center shops & restaurants.  My boss was Marcy Brey and that was in June of 1998!  I had numerous jobs throughout the company over the course of 15 years and it was a great place to work!  Since then, I have removed the corporate world out of my daily routine and replaced it with the craziness that comes with running a house of 6.  I love every minute of it…most of the time;)

On Monday, I was actually thrilled to be walking through the doors of the Crown Center shopping center.  The tables in the atrium are the same and it took me back to endless meetings about the big remodel of the center, and many of the tenants are also the same.  It’s like stepping back in time for me!  I used to walk over to eat lunch with friends during my work day and get annoyed with all the parents clogging the tables to watch the choirs during the holidays.  But this time I was on the other side of the table…I was going to watch Jake and the Prairie Trail Choir sing.  Karma.

I can’t take the cuteness of him singing!!

I adored every minute of it and I didn’t have that weird stomach ache that you get when you’re near your workplace on a day off.  My sister Shauna knows exactly what I’m talking about here!

 

After they sang, they had the ice rink all to themselves to skate!  It was awesome!  Luckily, it came back to him quickly and he was racing around in no time.

 

After skating, the kids were free to roam the center to eat lunch and shop.  Jake chose Fritz’s of course!  For those of you that are not Kansas Citians, Fritz’s delivers your food to your table by train which lowers a tray to your table.It’s always been a hot spot for our kids and I miss them being little and asking to go there.  Jake is definitely outgrowing that chair and he opted for no train engineers’ hat 😦Maybe I should just be glad he wanted to eat lunch with me instead of ditching me for friends.  I know that day is coming…

Sooooo, that basically wraps up Jake’s choir career!  He has a beautiful voice and really should take advantage of that talent, but I’m losing that battle!

We love you Jakers!On a side note, this freshman decided to give high school hoops a shot.  She was the leading scorer in the shortened version first game and was apparently draining 3’s during warm up.  What!?  She hasn’t picked up a basketball since her 8th grade season…I can promise you that!  She’s really only doing this to get in shape for soccer tryouts in February so our expectations are just that…get in shape and we’ll take a few baskets and stellar defense if that ends up happening.  Mo, you go girl…

I think this might be the 2nd or 3rd year that Morgan has said she’s quitting Orchestra.  Somehow she keeps plugging along and I, for one, am thrilled!  I love these concerts!  This year, Morgan has graduated from wearing the tuxedo shirt to the long black gown.  When she first brought it home we were slightly mortified but we’ve decided it’s really not that bad.  I mean she’s not going to be throwing it on to go on a date or anything, but certainly there are worse outfits!  And she had to borrow a pair of shoes from Aunt Shauna that feel like you’re walking on a bed of nails…so there’s that…

Before the concert started, she was standing up talking and laughing and just being her social butterfly self and we wondered if she was actually ever going to sit down!  You have to sit down to play the cello!  She did eventually take her seat and we enjoyed 2 songs with the 8th and 9th graders combined and at the end the entire gym participated in the finale 5th-12th grade.  It’s awesome!  The standing ovation was well deserved!

No matter what the attire, this young lady always has a fan club!My nephew, Collin, used to play in this concert too but has since moved to a new school so we don’t get to enjoy them playing together anymore.  Bummer.  However, he still plays, so we will at least have someone to entertain us if she quits!

We love you Morgan and love that you play an instrument!  It’s another thing that makes you awesome!

Here are the YouTube clips…(the video isn’t good because you can’t really see her in the back, but it sounds great!)

They are really good!

Back in September, our friend and Brownies troop leader, asked if Reece and I would like to join her family for the Nutcracker.  We said yes of course because I love going and I adored taking my girls last year!  There weren’t enough tickets available for Morgan to go this time…so sorry Morgan!  She might have been secretly relieved since she fell asleep last year in her cozy warm theater seat.  😉

At first, Reece had expressed her disappointment to me that we weren’t going just the 3 of us (which actually melted my heart), but once we slipped her into this gorgeous dress and strolled into that ballroom…she was good to go!
Isn’t she gorgeous!?  She would’ve been flawless had she not acquired a rug burn on her chin on stairs the day before courtesy of daddy  😉  Just kidding, Reecie, you’re gorgeous with your skinned up chin!

This event is actually a giant tea party where we enjoyed food and drinks before a shorter rendition of the nutcracker is performed by a junior ballet company.Before it starts, all the characters come around through the tables and you can get pictures with them.  It’s basically like meeting the Disney characters at Disney World.  Except this event doesn’t require months of planning, drain your bank account, stress you out to the max, and it’s over before you have a chance to have a mental breakdown if your child doesn’t get Cinderella’s autograph.  I’m making Disney seem very magical right now aren’t I!?  It is very magical for some people, just not as magical as relaxing on the beach with a strawberry daquiri!

Reece, to my surprise, was thrilled to see all these characters and wanted her picture taken with all of them.  We were in and out of our seats A LOT!  Most kids are scared of the mice, but we were actually chasing them around to get a picture!

 

About every third person was mesmerized by her gown and I’m so proud of myself for finding it!  It’s actually a Monique Lhuillier Fairy costume I picked up the day after Halloween at Pottery Barn Kids and it’s truly gorgeous.  I would certainly never pay the original price tag of $129, but $37 I can swing!  We need someone to get married or get invited to a fancy ball so she can wear it again!

On the way out of the event, they gave her a gold star ornament which is wonderfully placed front and center on our Christmas tree now.

I saved myself about $40 and a lot of pouting by warning her up front that we wouldn’t be buying anything at the show BUT I had a surprise for her at home…

 

I bet I stared at the Hobby Lobby Nutcracker display for 30 minutes trying to decide which one was the least scary looking.  Let’s just call it like it is…nutcrackers are not cute…they’re scary!  right? 

I went with the one that looked like a fairy and she appropriately named her “Sugar.”  Honestly, I was wondering why I was even spending $10 on it but Reece is very proud to be the owner of our first nutcracker.  She loves her!  Apparently so does our elf, Sparkles…

The performance was very well done and we had an absolute blast together!  I hope we can go again in the future…and take Morgan too!

I love you to pieces Reecie, thank you for making this memory with me!

Before I close this entry out, I want to share this beautiful letter I found in Reece’s backpack to me last week…I adore her honesty and although she challenges us in ways I never knew possible, she surprises me every day with her intellect and wit.  Reece, you are simply awesome!

Here are a few other notes I’ve found around the house lately that she is hoping will get to the North Pole quickly…

 

 

 

Translation for GUMY is Grace United Methodist Youth.  We really try to make it a point to get the kids involved at church.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t!  We’re pretty sure GUMY doesn’t realize that Jake exists.  He pops in from time to time and probably has to re-introduce himself because it’s been so long since anyone has seen his face.  Even when we sign him up for things, we have to cancel because he ALWAYS has a game of some sort.  Luckily we don’t have to work real hard with Morgan because she is totally self-motivated on this topic.  This school year she has been able to attend Wednesday night meetings (all past years she had a conflict with soccer).  She is loving her 9th grade life group!  Here they are last night enjoying dinner and just talking.  No wonder she loves it!She gets involved as much as she possibly can, including two mission trips, teaching VBS, serving community dinner and raking leaves for those in need.  And recently they asked her to serve communion in the non-traditional service.I know I know…our pictures are not so good but we just felt weird taking pictures in church.  Plus she was super nervous and we didn’t want to embarrass her.  I think we did anyway by just being there!  We moved seats 3 times to make sure we were seated in the right section!  Whew…she didn’t drop the cup, she remembered what to say, and she was GREAT!  They must have been pleased, because they invited her to serve whenever she wants!

Honestly, the church staff is always wonderful to her and she gets heartfelt notes like this in the mail from time to time.I couldn’t agree more with their words!  Thank you Morgan for being so kind without us even asking you.  You have grown into the most extraordinary young lady.  I honestly don’t know how you find the time, but I hope you keep serving others, it makes you amazing!  We’ll keep working on Jake…

Late again.  It’s becoming a trend with me.  I don’t want to gloss over Thanksgiving because I’m starting to love that holiday!  I know as a kid it wasn’t my favorite, because similar to my crew, I never liked the food and it didn’t involve presents.  Now I love the food, the wine, and the fact that it is has nothing to do with presents.  Mostly though, I love that other than cooking, it’s not stressful, it’s just a time to be with family and enjoy the time away from school and sports.

We started out celebrating at my parents place – sometimes we call it the Michie Farm.  It’s really not a farm at all.  It’s just a bunch of land with a pond and a hunting dog that tears everything up and drives my mom absolutely nuts!  Sort of similar to the four kids that tear up our stuff.  I’m trying to adopt the attitude that all the little dings and messes are a sign of family memories and life that has gone on in our home for 15 years.  So basically our stuff is just well-loved!?  This is a very difficult concept for someone like me!  I’m still using a magic eraser on things and a sharpie to cover up scratches.

Back to Thanksgiving at the Michie farm…the kids shot clay pigeons (this is a definite perk of living on a bunch of land) and wanted to fish but there’s just not enough time!  Morgan even brought her camo gear to wear for this part of the evening.  You have to look the part I guess!  Jake is still getting used to the idea of shooting.  It’s a powerful jolt and pretty scary if you ask me.  I’m not exactly condoning this activity but my dad sure is (that’s him throwing the targets) in the video clips…

He’s a proud Papa!

And here’s Morgan and Collin dueling on the last one…

Morgan is a bit of a ‘show-off’  😉  Just kidding!

The next day, we went to Manhattan for the day and had a wonderful meal with the Conley family.

I know I say this way too often, but everyone is getting so big!  Eli, despite being a preemie at birth, has outgrown almost every family member and he for sure has the biggest feet!  Hand-me-downs will definitely not be coming for my crew!  I hope they grow taller, but the odds are against them.  Sorry guys!

We were lucky to have beautiful weather for flag football…

 

Brian and his brother, John, were quarterbacksReece forgot to bring appropriate shoes, so she had to borrow a pair of Zach’s…as you can see, they were a little large!  But it didn’t stop her from really giving uncle John a challenge!  Way to go Reecie!And I’m still laughing about this one…John was actually using his belly to lay out the plays for his team!  I don’t think that happens in real games, does it?  His tactic might have worked…I think they won!I know who didn’t win…the Lenexa Conley’s!  Jake took major spill with Eli and Brian spent 2 hours in urgent care the next day with inflammation around his ribs.Nothing a little time on the golf course and a giant slab of ribs can’t cure…Who can even think about eating that the day after we’ve had two Thanksgiving meals!?! A pre-teen boy can I guess!

In closing, I would like to share a little bit of Thanksgiving art from Reece and Drew.  Drew as so proud of his coloring and particularly the cowboy hat he drew!  We sat down at the kitchen table to go through his school work and he described this paper to me at length.  so cute!

And the entire 2nd grade made these giant turkey hats…

I know this because I cut construction paper for 2 hours at the school in preparation for that activity.  I’m thinking of strategically planning my volunteering not so close to a holiday next time!

Reece’s 2nd grade class (she’s in the front row in the plaid dress)

She also created this wonderful story of disguising a turkey as a peacock (of course!)

She narrated her story so well!  You have to hear it…it’s on this YouTube clip…push play!

And here’s is what would be on her Thanksgiving menu and how she would cook the turkey!  Sounds like she’s on point for cooking next year!Here’s her narration–too cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!