Season End

Another fun sports season comes to an end.

Hannah loved playing basketball this year.  She got better and better and more aggressive as the season went on.  She is already looking forward to playing again next year.

Of course I know

Hannah: "Mom, look! We got an Elvis stamp!"

Me:  "How on earth do you know that that is Elvis?  Do you even know who that is?"

Hannah:  "Of course I know.  I learned about him on Full House, Jesse loves him."

February Life

Grandma showed Hannah how to make clothes this weekend out of her old fabric scraps.

She sat out on the porch with me today designing while I enjoyed this wonderful weather!

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

The Maroon 5 concert is tonight.

This morning we decided to go get some brunch and then walk around downtown Milwaukee.

There is an adorable 3rd ward district that has tons of cute shops and restaurants.

Our brunch was delicious- we ate at Café Benelux.  Recommended by a friend of Katie's.  Good call friend of Katie's, good call.  We then walked down the block checking out each cool looking store along the way.

We came to an intersection and glanced over at one of the hotels on the corner.  There was a huge tour bus outside of the hotel and 4-5 guys hanging out on the sidewalk looking like they were waiting for someone.  We giggled and made a joke about how it's probably Adam.

We took a few more steps and then stopped, turned around and looked harder.

I mean it's probably not but what if it is?  It could be.  I am sure it's not but we are here, so close and should probably just walk over there and see what those dudes are waiting for.

Loriann started across the street.  She saw something and as she turned around to come and tell me what she saw I noticed Jimmy Valentine of Maroon 5 walk out of the hotel and hop onto the bus.

OMG!

We went dashing over across the street to join the other groupies. (only 5 dudes that were carrying album covers, drums, and other things for the band to sign).  My heart started racing and I could not believe what was about to happen.

One at a time they came out.  The dudes ran over, got some signatures and then came back over to where we were standing to wait for the next guy.

As each one came out I got more and more excited.  My heart was pounding and I was starting to shake.  It's kind of embarrassing but I was totally star struck!

OMG!  It's Jesse Carmichael!

That leaves one guy left.  Only one guy left to come out and get on the bus.  As much as I had my hopes up I figured that he probably would take a different bus.  He was probably getting put into a car in the back of the hotel- even though there were only 10 people out on this street waiting for him.

But then......the bodyguard came out and said "It will be just one minute"

And then......... OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

He came out and announced that he didn't have time for pictures but would sign anything they had.  Give it to my guy and he'll bring it on the bus.

Then in a flash he was gone. 

I can't believe we saw him!  I can't believe I was so close to him!

The rest of the day was a blur.  We shopped some more and had lunch.  Everytime I thought about what just happened I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.  That was amazing!

We had a great dinner and then took an Uber to the show.

As expected, the concert was great and we had a good time!

Mommy's send off

Today the girls have a dance show in White Bear Lake.
Today is also the day that Sara, Katie, Kami, Loriann and I are heading to Milwaukee for the Maroon 5 concert tomorrow.
The girls don't have school tomorrow so after their dance show Brian will drop them off at Grandma and Grandpa Parmley's.
We took Brian's truck here and Sara will end up picking me up in my car when it's over and then we will go get Loriann and be on our way. Katie and Kami took a plane and will arrive earlier than us.

 As always, they did great!  I am always so proud of them and really enjoy seeing how good they do.

We said our goodbyes and then they went home with daddy while I waited a few minutes for Sara.

We had a nice drive there and after we checked in we met up with the others for dinner and cocktails.

The One When

Amy got the word that her oral chemo days have come to an end.

YAY!

Sara was hosting Bunco this month and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

The last few months we haven't even played Bunco, we have just gotten together to talk, eat and drink wine.

Sara and I thought it would be nice if we celebrated Amy instead.

We decided on a Friends theme. 

1.  Most of the ladies in this neighborhood can have a whole conversation in 'Friends talk'

2.  Friends- could it be more fitting?

Sara got some great decorations and I made a few signs.

We hired a massage therapist to do chair massages and Sara had a friend of hers make a cake.

We ordered her some gifts and tried to keep the party as much of a surprise as we could.

Although this is a huge accomplishment, you don't really know how she feels about it.

Obviously she is excited and thrilled to be done with the meds but she is scared too.  This leaves a different sense of 'next steps' lurking.  At least we knew the chemo was doing something.  Her body needs a break, no doubt about that.  Her doctors have done everything they can, no doubt about that.  She is a rockstar and inspiration to all of us, no doubt about that.

We wanted to make sure that the 'party' could get called off if it needed to.  We talked to Paul and he agreed that this is something we should celebrate.  Especially with the girls in the hood.

We had some blank cards laying out so that people could write her a note.

We hung this sign on the front door for people to see as they arrived.

The cake.  This amazing cake.  This lady told the whole story of the show Friends in this thing.

It was PERFECT!

Amy seemed very proud and happy to celebrate this milestone in her journey with us.

She will still wear her Optune for a few more months. 

Here's to many more celebrations!

Fart Food

Just a little mix up in words.  Good thing Hailey's teacher knew what she meant!

All About the Boxes

 


Valentine's Day.  The kids are told that they can make card boxes if they want and usually these two don't care so much about it but this year, thanks to Pinterest, Hannah decided she wanted to make her own.  I was gone for a bit of the night and when I got home I saw that she indeed made her own treat box.  It was ADORABLE!  She put so much time and effort into it.

Hailey went back and forth on whether or not she cared to make one and eventually agreed that she would bring one if I 'helped her'.  We talked through a few ideas and landed on a simple emoji theme. 

The girls were filling out their Valentines and I was looking over their shoulders, just a little.  Just to make sure they were keeping track of who they had done one for, who was left, etc.  Then I saw this!

It was written out for a boy in her class. 

Me:  Hannah! What on earth!  You can't write that!

Hannah:  Why?  I don't want him to think that I like him.

Me:  Sorry dude but you have to give Valentine's to everyone, not just your friends.

Hannah:  He is my friend.

Me:  Then I am confused.  Why on earth are you writing that?

Hannah:  Because he is just my friend and the front of this card might make it sound like I like him like him.  Not as friends.

We found a new card for this dude and threw this one away.  Whew!  That was a close one. LOL

Be Mine

I made the girls some special cookies last night- even let them eat them for breakfast :-)

 

I also left them some messages on their doors.  When they came down to breakfast, I was surprised with this nice message made from Legos.  Awwww how sweet!  I also received a wonderful Snapchat message from the CUTEST bunny I ever did see.

 

I had a gorgeous surprise at work today!

91!

Today we celebrated Grandma's 91st Birthday!

On the way there I asked Hannah to sign our names on the card- I loved the encouragement and the reminder to grandma about what a big accomplishment this is!

I have always told Grandma that I expect her to live to at least 103.  At a minimum.

I see Hannah must be listening and now has put it in writing that there will even be a party!

And even at 91, the poor woman gets no break. Grandma has always been a sew-er.  She has made curtains, slip covers, baby clothes, doll clothes, kids clothes, her own clothes, prom dresses, wedding dresses, bridesmaid and flower girl dresses.  Hemming pants and fixing ripped seams. 

She has a sewing machine but it's nothing fancy.  A lot of times she has done her work with just a needle and thread.  Pretty impressive that one!

JR/SR

Carl and Leah are moving next week.  They are building a beautiful house in Chaska and close on their current home next week.  We are going to miss them so much.

We are having a little get together at our house for them this weekend and today I went and got these golf shirts made for Brian and Carl.  I decided to have Junior and Senior put on in the same color as the actual shirt in hopes that it will blend in more and they may actually wear them.

I hope they like them!

Get a Grip

One of the latest crazes for the kids are things called PopSockets. 


According to their website- PopSockets are fashionable accessories that help transform your mobile devices. PopSockets offer a secure grip for texting or snapping the perfect selfie, and propping your phone up for catching the latest video. Just "pop" & expand one whenever you need a grip or stand for those brilliant pix, videos, or posts.


I am not sure how Hannah heard about these but ever since she has been all over Amazon and trying to convince me that she needs one. 


Tonight I sent her a selfie.  She was quick to text me and let me know that my selfie would have been much better had I had a PopSocket.


We ordered her one.

Neat Writing!

This year- all through the year- Hailey has gotten comments on her homework about how neat her writing is.  She really does have great writing!

At the beginning of this year I decided that I needed to make a change in our morning routine.  I was never eating a good breakfast and would find myself munching on a granola bar or a handful of crackers and then be starving by 9 am.  I decided that I was going to start eating better in the mornings.  I started making breakfast each day, usually eggs of some type.  Lately Hailey has been wanting eggs with us in the morning too.  It was cute to see this sentence on her sheet that came home.  Made my day.

Friendship Bracelets

Hailey has been really into making Friendship bracelets lately.

Everywhere she goes at night she leaves behind some floss, tape and floss wrappers.

This used to be one of my all time favorite things to do growing up.

I would sit on my bed and make bracelets for hours.  Friends would place orders for the colors and styles of bracelets they would want and I would get to work.

She hasn't gotten into all of the different patterns yet but is definitely having fun choosing the colors.

Still Fits

Hannah can still fit in my lap and will climb up and put herself there any chance she can get.  Sometimes it's annoying.  Sometimes I wish I could just sit on the couch or a chair without another human sitting on top of me getting as comfortable as she can all the while I get more and more uncomfortable.  Sometimes I just want to stand up and go to the bathroom without having to remove a 60 pound mound of flesh.  Sometimes I just want to twirl my hair and surf the internet on my phone.  Sometimes I find myself telling her to get off or to leave me alone. And then sometimes I ask for her to hop up.  Sometimes I am calling for her to come and sit with me.  Sometimes I can't wait to get home from work so I can sit and cuddle up with my girls. 

I will never know when it's the last time.  So each time when she climbs up I try to remind myself that this could be it.  Soak it in.  I'll miss this someday.