Thirteen years ago at 11:09 a.m., this cutie pie came into our world!  I don’t know if it is actually possible to have a perfect baby, but he had to be close!  He really was so easy to care for.  Which probably means, he’s going to be the worst teenager!  YIKES!When I got up to wish him a happy birthday, he was already dressed, ready for school, and swinging a golf club (of course)!Hey….why not make the best of your birthday!?Then Aunt Jenn arrived with donuts because that’s ‘her thing’ and we always look forward to it!None of his siblings have even made him a birthday card yet!  They better get on it!  Even our sweet little neighbor, Olivia, brought him a homemade card this morning.  Gold star for Olivia!

We already had a great celebration over the weekend and I will share that on here soon but for now, you can access the pictures with this link…

https://pix.sfly.com/8gGv9q

Jakers, you are so loved.  We love your passion for sports, your dedication to getting good grades, your ability to make people laugh and welcome all with open arms.  We can’t wait to see what you achieve in the coming years!

P.S. Let’s try to be a ‘good’ teenager…if there is such a thing!?

Here are a few of my all time favorite Jake pics….

 

Sometimes the best days are the ones that don’t go as planned.  Yesterday I told myself it was really ok to miss one golf tournament to go to the gym and get some much needed things done around the house.  By 8am, my van was headed straight to Lawrence because I couldn’t stomach the thought of missing Morgan’s varsity golf match.  Thankfully I had the thought to grab a jacket because it was cold!  I walked 14 holes by myself enjoying the peacefulness of the course and my first time seeing her birdie a hole.  I was so happy that tears welled up in my eyes.  You go girl!Her round had ups and downs, some terrific golf shots, and some not so terrific putting, some muddy white golf pants, but always a positive attitude and a smile.  That, to me, is one of the greatest attributes to success on the golf course and off.  At one point her tee shot ended here….

Somehow she miraculously found her ball in this very messy tall prairie grass and hit it dead center into the fairway.  Amazing!  However, she did end up with a triple bogey because of putting but hey–this just proves my point of ups and downs!  Celebrate the ups and the downs will become fewer and far between.  So proud of you MoMo!

With 4 holes to go I realized I needed to get to the other end of the world to make it to Jake’s cross country meet.  When I arrived, I realized it was HUGE – 22 schools!  I was not experienced with this.  Runners were everywhere!  Luckily I found one of Jake’s friends who directed me to where he was hanging out pre-race because I may have never found him!

When we saw this massive crowd, we set our expectations low on a top 5 finish (top 5 receive medals).  Plus, he was running a 2 mile race for the first time with combined 7th and 8th grade boys.  Brian was traveling, so my plan was to scoot right on out of there after his race to give me time to pick up Reece from gymnastics.  And this is where my plan failed.

The little stinker came in 5th place out of 121 runners!!  I mean, don’t get me wrong, this is AMAZING, but this meant I needed to stay to the end for the awards and either leave Reece stranded at gymnastics or text my sister in a massive panic.  No way was I missing those awards!Thank you to my friend, Craig, for getting these photos because the ONE picture I got was the back of his head. Seriously!?I’m not sure I’ve ever been so proud!  Jake, you weren’t even sure if you could run 2 miles!  Love your determination, buddy, you are so fun to watch and I laughed afterwards when you said it was “pretty easy.”So 12 hours later I finally arrived home from my day that didn’t go as planned.  I was exhausted, happy, proud, fed my kids dinner from a Wendy’s bag, and everything that needed to get done could wait.  I wouldn’t change one minute of it!

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet!  One of my favorite things that happened this summer was attending the women’s soccer tournament of nations at Sporting KC stadium!!Reece’s soccer team was very fortunate to be selected to walk out with the players to kick off the games!  I’m not even sure she realized what a big deal that was at the time, but she does now!  She just included this as her main story on her 3rd grade star of the week poster for school:There was A LOT of communication about this event prior to our arrival; when to arrive, what gate to be at, signed waivers, dress code rules – the girls had to wear Nike brand tennis shoes NO EXCEPTION (many girls had to go buy new shoes!), what they could bring with them, and no parents allowed to accompany them past the gate.  These soccer people don’t mess around…it’s high security!  The first game wasn’t until 3:15, but we had to have our girls there by 12:15!  I was literally scared to death I was going to screw something up.  I bet I read those emails 30 times!

The girls got the VIP tour of all the behind the scenes events of a professional soccer game.  So lucky!Then they got changed into new soccer outfits that they got to take home…They had to practice this ‘walk out’ multiple times!

Meet Kayla, our team’s assistant coach.  She is a die-hard soccer fan and player and she was LOVING being their chaperone for the day!Our girls were assigned to walk out with the players from Mexico first and Morgan caught some great pictures.  We scaled a lot of railings and seats to get close enough!

Finally the main event that everyone was waiting for was the USA vs Japan game.  The energy in the stadium was awesome.  Morgan and I tried our best to scale the railings and seats again but it was really hard with a full crowd!Reece got paired up with Megan Rapinoe!  She’s a star player on the US women’s national team.  She’s awesome and has been listed as one of 10 nominees for FIFA’s 2018 The Best players!Again, I don’t think Reece actually realized at the time what a privilege this was!USA won the match 4-2 with a hat trick by Alex Morgan and a goal by Megan Rapinoe.  Of course when we got home we watched it back and snapped a picture of Reece making her debut appearance on TV.  Yay Reecie Cups!

 

Here are the videos from Reece’s once in a lifetime experience!!

 

What is going on here, it’s already homecoming!?  It seems like just a moment ago that Morgan started high school and went shopping for her first hoco dress.  Now she’s a sophomore and attending two homecoming dances!?  That’s two dresses, two pairs of shoes, two corsages, etc.  Yikes, we’ve got work to do!

This is Alex Dandy, Morgan’s date.  We think he’s great and he came over with this cute sign and soccer ball.  It’s a perfect match for Morgan and the $4 ball has been a huge hit with her siblings!Everything is a family affair at our house.  Drew was inspecting the poster, critiquing the creativity, and reminiscing about how Alex asked her last year.  They all remember last year’s poster…it’s so cute!  Reece was asking her normal inquisitive questions, like “why do you call it hoco?”

I’m pretty sure after he left he was reconsidering his decision to be involved with Morgan.  After all, in the time he was at our house, Reece was doing back handsprings over the arm of the couch, Morgan’s friends started up a push-up and soccer juggling competition in the family room,  the soccer ball went flying and barely missed my lamp, and we got the measuring tape out to see how much of a height difference there was between them.   We’re just lucky Drew didn’t bust out his clarinet and start playing!  I’m telling you, it’s a crazy 3-ring circus around here most of the time, Alex, sorry!Reece happens to be star of the week in her 3rd grade class this week and look at this precious segment she included on her poster about Morgan.  I hope anyone that Morgan dates is ready for this package deal…

More to come on HOCO 2018!

 

 

When my sweet 10 year old boy asked me if my Grammy (his great Grammy) could come to his school for his last grandparent lunch in elementary school, you better believe I was all over it.  He has a heart of gold and so does she!  She’s 94 years old, still living at home, and everyone adores her!

None of us are ready to accept the fact that Drew is in his last year at Manchester Park!All the grandparents got to go back to the classroom and Drew gave them all the scoop about his class.  It was also red Friday spirit day so we tipped the grandparents off to wear their chiefs gear.  He was absolutely thrilled to have all of these wonderful people show up to see where he hangs out for 8 hours a day!He was hoping that Grammy would win a prize for being the oldest grandparent in attendance but they gave the prize to the grandparent that came the furthest.  Darn it!

Reece also  had a big crew at her lunch 2 days prior.  She couldn’t wait to show off her room!It was raining very hard both days so they weren’t able to go out for recess but from all accounts, grandparent lunches 2018 were a huge success!

And while we are on the topic of grandparents, I should probably not let this one go without mention.  Each August, Grandma and Grandpa take the kids to their church ice cream social.  I usually take the opportunity to get a few things done without my crew and they always come home very excited to show me all of their treasures they won.  Most of them end up in the “white elephant gift pile” in the basement.  But their all time favorite event is the 2 liter pop ring toss.  They think it’s the best game ever!

You will love this flashback to 2009 when Jake was so proud of himself for winning this big bottle of grape pop.  We shared it with the neighborhood kids, they thought they were hot stuff!Cheers to grandparents!!

 

 

 

Today marks the start of fall because I switched out my front door wreath to my fall leaves.  It’s really that simple for me.  When I’m ready for fall, I just change out my wreath.  Isn’t it wonderful that I have that much control over the seasons!?  I also bought my first batch of mums, so that’s definitely a good sign that I’m on the right track.Fall sports have begun and although, we aren’t in full on craziness mode, I can see it coming!

Reece has started her first season on a competitive soccer team.  The expectations are high, they have lots of homework assignments, and It’s a full time job for me to keep track of all the emails I receive from her coach.  I sure love his passion for soccer, but I feel like I’m falling way behind and I’m not even on the team!  Here we are practicing drills on a non-practice night.  I set these cones up, guys – I’m not about to fail at soccer homework!  Thank goodness Drew was there to help me explain the foot skills because I don’t think my parents ever put me in soccer, did you guys!?Luckily for Reece, she’s just good at soccer without much practice because If I have to continue doing this, I might go insane.  I’m not a soccer coach for a very good reason!

She got new ‘big girl’ glasses and had a fun date day with daddy at Main Event!

 

Drew is acclimating quickly to his new teams.  His baseball team is a fun little group of guys and he’s having a great time!  He loves to pitch and play 2nd base.His soccer team is intense – these boys know how to play!  They are learning a lot of life skills in the process.  It’s a great fit for Drew.  The coach sends us a lot of information to review.  I hope there isn’t a final exam because I would likely fail.  I do read everything word for word, but there’s just a lot swirling around in my brain with all these sports!And just look what I caught on camera…he was being super dedicated and doing his social studies homework on Labor Day.  It just doesn’t get much cuter than that!

Jake is continuing his obsession with golf  when it doesn’t interfere with soccer and is even playing rounds on school nights.

He played US Kids golf tournament recently and is bumped up into the 13-14 age group even though he is still 12.  He still took 5th place, which is a job well done for a multi sport athlete.  Being in the older group creates a challenge for him, but if anyone is up for it, it’s Jake!  I never doubt his commitment to sports.  He’s a die hard.  He set up this hitting net in our garage and is giving me his stats daily on how many swings he has taken with each club.  He’s subscribed to the theory that “practice makes perfect.”  For now at least…In the meantime, he has also made it out to the course with the other golf fanatics I know…Brian and his uncles!  He’s always looking for someone to play with so if you ever need a partner, Jake’s your man!

 

 

In the midst of all of this, he is running cross country and his soccer team brought home a championship win last weekend in the Heartland Midwest Classic.  Way to go Fusion Academy boys!Morgan has been busy with her high school golf team.  They practice every day after school and then she goes to soccer 4 nights a week, not to mention 2 honors/college prep classes.  Sounds exhausting, right!?  Thank goodness she’s young, healthy,  and doesn’t require a ton of sleep!  Don’t call the authorities on us just yet, she’s still making time for fun…here she is with her besties, tubing at Clinton Lake…She’s been selected to play in two more varsity matches and we could not be more proud after just picking up this sport last summer, she’s rocking it!

These golf tournaments are really intimidating.  The rules are strict even for spectators.  If I get caught on my cell phone, step off the cart path, or get within 30 yards of the players, I might be banished forever!  They are not messing around!  I’m almost scared to post these pictures 😉

This week she played in the tournament at Milburn Country Club hosted by Shawnee Mission East.  A beautiful course but it was extremely windy again and off and on rain.  Some of these girls are amazing golfers!  Morgan is holding her own and still trying to reach her goals of better putting and shooting under 100.  You’ve got this, MoMo!  Keep working hard!She was so excited to have this surprise visitor at her tournament…my Grammy D.  She’s from Pittsburg, KS, 94 years old and truly wonderful.  We were thrilled!And you may be wondering what I did over labor day weekend between sporting events!?  I went to a super fun cookie decorating class with my BFF, Lisa.  Hers were nothing less than perfection of course and I still need a little more practice!Perhaps a little more wine might have made a difference.  The class was held at a local winery!  Wine + Cookies + my BFF = an awesome day!

And my sister and I cleaned out my closet.  She made me get rid of most of my shoes!!  I can’t believe all of these were smashed in my closet!  Yikes!No one makes me laugh harder than my sister during closet clean out.  We determined one of my jackets could only be worn if I was participating in a bull fight….I cannot make this stuff up!

Cheers to fall clean-outs, fun with family & friends, and sports!

 

We’ve been wanting to go to Hilton Head, SC for awhile now.  We originally had it on the books for last spring break but we realized that it’s a bit chilly there in March.  So, we postponed and went there this summer.  Wow, I can definitely see why people love it!  It’s a great place to vacation, relax, and have fun with your family.  We had a lot of recommendations from friends that frequent the area, and they were spot on.

As you may have figured out, I love to write.  I may not have a future in journalism but I thought I did at one time.  My first attempt at a college major was Radio/TV at KU.  I ended up at KSU with a degree in business & an MBA.  Go figure.  As a senior, I distinctly remember my dad asking me why I would choose a radio/tv/journalism major when I struggle with writing papers in school.  Well looking back on that now, my response is, no one likes to write research papers in high school do they!?  Funny how things come full circle.

I kept a journal while we were in Hilton Head and sent it to our family back home each day.  It’s not grammatically correct nor did I spend any time proof-reading.  I typed most of it from my phone!  Feel free to skim through if you like.  Kiddos, you will hopefully enjoy reminiscing at some point (you should be able to click on the link for each day to pull up the pdf file).

HHI July 2018 Day 1

HHI July 2018 Day 2

HHI July 2018 Day 3

HHI July 2018 Day 4

HHI July 2018 Day 5

HHI July 2018 Day 6

HHI July 2018 Day 7

HHI July 2018 Day 8

As you can imagine we took TONS of pictures and it’s just too hard to pick out my favorites.  But you’ve gotten a glimpse!  We miss you, HHI!A link to all of our photos on Shutterfly is coming soon!

 

 

I try to hang on to summer as long as possible – it’s by far my favorite season!  But here we are in the last few days of August so it’s probably time to move on!  With reluctance I decided to review our summer fun list and remove it from the fridge.  It’s usually a reminder of all the things we DIDN’T get to over the summer.  However, this year, I was pleasantly surprised…we managed to check off 67% of our boxes!  Woo hoo!  One of them doesn’t count because it got scratched out by an ornery kid – #21 reading (of course!)On the other hand, we didn’t do so hot on the summer chores – which is why they haven’t been paid out yet.  Mom is probably going to get a little bit of cash 😉Excellent job, Reecie, on making our charts!  You always keep us accountable.

At the very last available minute I managed to get us on the schedule at my brothers lake place at Linn Valley Lake.  Literally it was the last weekend before school started but we did it!  And we had a ton of fun.  The only thing we didn’t get to this time was fishing.  Collin had some success with that after we left.

We had a couple of VERY exhausted boys because they had their summer friend sleepover with Aunt Jenn the night before.   Jake went inside the camper to change and never came back out!

Let’s just say the bed time when you’re with Aunt Jenn ends up being very late!  She runs on a different clock but she’s awesome and treated these boys to a super fun time!

Reece got to have her sleepover on a separate evening with her sweet little friend Stella and Aunt Jenn is already rethinking her promise…friend sleepovers in the future will only happen every OTHER year.  Can’t blame her!In the meantime, the girls discovered that if they hang out on our backyard putting green when it gets dark, they can create giant shadows on the side of our neighbors house through a reflection in the light.  I know it sounds weird, but it is very fun and entertainment for hours!  They even have props!  It’s super hard to capture a photo – this is all I have.  It’s one of those…”you have to be there” kind of moments.  Come check it out sometime!

We also spent some time at my parents place, which includes lots of acreage and always a time to channel our inner backwoods country roots.  What am I saying, I have no country roots.  I love being right in the middle of the suburbs!

A little shooting practice and learning to drive an old stick shift with no speedometer….you know typical country bumpkin stuff 🙂I love spending time with these fun people at the ‘Michie Farm’ but I’m very happy to venture right back into my Lenexa neighborhood!

The highlight of our summer was our vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC.  It was AMAZING!  I will make that a separate post.Way to go Conley crew – job well done on that summer fun list!

Morgan turned 15 on June 29th and of course we celebrated!  This was a BIG birthday because she got her restricted driver’s licence and a car!  Don’t fret, we did not buy her a brand new car, it’s used, but it does happen to be newer than both Brian’s and mine.  And she is responsible for paying us back for a portion of the cost.  It was a BIG surprise and let me tell you, it was not easy keeping this secret!  I was certain someone at the party would spill the beans by accident.  We told her she was coming outside to do water balloons!  She walked out looking afraid she was going to get slammed by balloons but actually, we were all waiting there to see her reaction when her car was parked out front!She proceeded to give multiple rides around the block to the neighborhood kids and adults too.  The kids thought they were hot stuff getting a ride from Morgan.   Getting your first car is SO exciting!!It’s really not easy coming up with a theme for a birthday party for teenagers!  The only thing that kept popping into my mind was snap chat, texting, selfies & captions, and the endless communicating they do on their phones!  So I just went to work on that inspiration and pulled off this party for Morgan.Her only request was she wanted to do a backyard cookout and helped me shop for a color scheme.  I don’t want anyone being disappointed with a party, that would be devastating to me!

 

Somehow I came across these tiny little colorful grills in the dollar aisle at Target at the last minute….WHAT!?  Why on earth do they have these and could these be any more perfect for decorations for this cookout teenager party!!!?  I’ll take 4, please.  (food not included…that is Reece’s tiny fake food)  Don’t even ask why we have that!Morgan made her famous chocolate chex mix and I made my cake pops – the cashier probably thought we were absolutely insane buying all of these ingredients.  This is enough sugar for an entire year!

 

She helped me put together these fun party favors – cook out themed coozies and brightly colored flowers in painted mason jars with an eclectic mix of ribbons.  Morgan shares my love of flowers and always keeps me on schedule fertilizing our outdoor plants.  Thank goodness someone is keeping track!

 

Despite the fact that Morgan’s birthday always falls in the middle of the state baseball tournament, we had so many friends and family that were able to join us this year and we had a blast!  We are so lucky to have all these people to celebrate with!

 

Morgan, you are so LOVED…Happy 15th Birthday!!  Make this your best year!

To see all the pictures from our celebration you can view this Shutterfly link…

https://pix.sfly.com/VqRva3

 

I have been slightly avoiding talking about golf too much because I shared so much about it on here last summer.  Since then, I haven’t picked up a golf club and my kids have gotten way better.  I guess that’s not a bad thing – that’s actually fantastic!  But I do have a little remorse that I haven’t followed up on my aspirations of joining the golf community.  This summer I’ve been more of a spectator.  Sometimes duty calls (i.e. being a mom to 4 super busy kids).  For now, I’m loving being a spectator but will never forget taking lessons at Lake Quivira with Morgan…we had an absolute blast!

While we were on vacation this summer, my brother graciously attended the Burning Tree Golf Academy picnic and awards.  This is the first time we have missed the picnic.  It’s always burning hot at that course – I’m starting to wonder if that’s the reason the course is called Burning Tree!  I’m happy to report that the Conley Crew swept the tourney with first place finishes.  Way to go kids and thank you, Collin, for re-creating an awards ceremony for us!  You’re awesome!

Thank you Papa and Greg for being awesome caddies!

When we returned from vacation, Morgan, Jake, and Drew had the opportunity to work as driving range attendants and ball spotters for the Lake Quivira member guest tourney.  They really raked in the cash!  It can be long hours and very hot, but it’s so worth it!!  Jake will spend his tip money immediately on tennis shoes and golf stuff, Drew and Morgan will save.  Thank goodness someone has learned!The first week of August is the Overland Park Junior Golf Tournament and it’s permanently on the calendar.  This year, I had all 4 kids playing in it and it’s 3 full days of competition with varying tee times.   I walked back and forth so many times, the volunteer staff members were really getting to know me.  I’m so proud of all of them!Jake played some of his best golf and earned 1st place in the championship flight and was a medalist for the lowest 1st round score.  AWESOME!  Best tournament to date!

Drew earned 1st place in the 2nd flight and 7th place overall.  That’s fantastic, Drewy!

Reece was awesome!  She’s never played 9 holes of golf in her life…let alone 3 days of it! Way to go, Reecie Cups!  She played so well and exceeded all expectations.  I hate to admit this, but visions of her stomping off the course and quitting mid-round did run through my mind.  She actually had a smile on her face all the time!  Woo hoo!

These cute girls were cracking us up!  They take SO MANY practice swings!  We weren’t sure if they were doing it because they thought they had to or out of boredom during times of slow play.  I don’t know…but I bet they swung those clubs hundreds of times each round!  We were worn out just watching them!And WOW – Morgan played 18 holes for 3 days…another first!  We could not be more proud!  She always has a great attitude and shakes off the bad shots.  This is why she is so fun to play with!  You go girl!Day 2 was very rainy and tough conditions but these cuties managed to play right through it.

But overall, it was just a lot of fun on the golf course…

This is my dad interviewing Jake (he’s a super fan!)…

CONGRATULATIONS JR. GOLFERS!Just a couple days prior to the OP tournament, Jake was selected to compete in the PGA Jr. All Stars tournament at Lloch Lloyd.  They made it through the semi-finals.  It was very exciting and fun to watch these guys.  The competition is tough!  Congrats!!

We also had the opportunity to sign Morgan and Jake up for a tournament at Falcon Ridge.  Even my sister and Scott came out to watch since they live on the course.  We had the best time watching her!Every time I turn around, new clubs are appearing in Morgan’s bag!  I don’t even want to know what is being spent on those custom fit clubs.  Apparently she kept getting in trouble at her lessons that she needed better equipment.  Ugh!

She was only a few strokes off of her goal and took 3rd place.  Yay MoMo!Jake took first place in the 12 & Under group and actually also scored better than the 13/14 year olds.  Way to go Jake, you’re on fire!Finally, I will finish this up with a big congratulations to Morgan for making the JV golf team at Olathe Northwest High School and competing in her first Varsity tournament!All of your hard work has paid off!!  Way to go MoMo!