Yes, it's been a while. As you expect, a lot has happened.
The Saunders household has suffered a few major breakdowns. Not mentally, but in the way of machinery. Luckily Jeff is very handy and able to diagnose and fix most of our household items, but we did have to replace our lawnmower and trimmer. After days of a scientific process of elimination through vacuuming the coils, defrosting the freezer with a hair dryer Jeff was able to determine that our refrigerator needed a new thermostat so that's taken care of. And there will be no pictures to accompany my blog today as my computer is at the Apple store for repair. It seems my computer fit the profile (manufacture date and memory) for a tiny mishap where it shuts down unexpectedly (really fun!). So while the repair for a new power supply is free, I feel very handicapped without my computer.
Bryn has begun a new babysitting job for the summer for our hairdresser's 2 boys. Bryn will be their first non-relative babysitter. She'll be there 1 morning/week. And Bryn intends to go out for the high school Cross-Country team again in fall, so she's been following the coaches' recommended run schedule religiously.
Paige has been put in to pitch for her team thanks to a little mention by one of her previous coaches. I guess this year's coaches were unaware that Paige could pitch so she wasn't being utilized. Anyways, she's typically in for at least 1 inning every game now and is doing good. Just last week, Paige was chosen to play on the All Star team for her division. Pretty cool seeing as she's only a 7th grader in the 7th thru 12th grade division.
And of course, it's graduation party season. Every weekend I never have to cook, as there's always a grad party to go to. I finally got it together and chose grad party gifts. I just didn't want to go the gift card route. We took many great ideas from other parties and used them at Abby's party on the 22nd. We labeled the coolers with label cutouts from the packages, and we ran a movie of pictures from Abby's senior year on the TV. Abby had a great time being showered with attention and gifts. She was especially happy that my sister Meg made the drive from Indy - even exchanging kids one day due to tournament schedules! My other sister Kristin came even though she was feeling very under the weather. Abby has many thank yous to write for the very generous gifts. I was especially happy with the sub sandwich idea and our cake was so yummy! When my computer's back, I'll have to post a picture. The weather that day couldn't decide whether to cooperate or not. I think we had 3 quick storms pass through that alternated with sunshine. One idea we won't repeat is the "11:00am til whenever" schedule. Abby actually became tired of hostessing around 10:30pm.
We went as a family out to La Crosse this past Friday (27th) to accompany Abby to registration. We spent the night at the cool motel Jeff had discovered with Abby, Ali and Kendal last fall when they toured UWL. The trip is long - a little over 3 hours one way - but it's a beautiful ride. I got to sit in a School of Education session with Abby and could see why she got so excited over the Academic Advisor for her major. We signed Abby up for a checking account with a bank that's located in La Crosse as well as in Menomonee Falls. We took a tour of the campus, shopped in the bookstore, and drove to the riverfront. Abby registered for classes, but won't get her finalized schedule until mid-July. And that's when she'll receive her room assignment and roommate.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
School is officially out for Paige and Bryn as of last Tuesday (June 10th). Paige walked to a couple fast food joints with friends after the early release on that last day and Bryn made her annual trip to Fuddruckers with Natalie.
I was treated to a surprise field trip at work on Tuesday. John's brother-in-law, Pat, is a teamster that works on movie sets and packs up equipment, drive the actors around, etc. Well, they're filming Public Enemies in downtown Milwaukee and an unmarked white van picked us up and took us to the Historical Society building!!! Pat even timed it around the actor's lunch break so that we'd have a chance to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp! After an hour of hanging around with the inner circle of wardrobe, makeup artists, sound guys, etc. we left. But, luckily Pat's walkie-talkie announced that it was time for lunch so we looked for Johnny's body guard and sure enough Johnny was right behind!!!
That night, Bryn invited a few friends over for a Last Day of School get together. They played a little football, then burned their most-hated piece of band music in the firepit and roasted s'mores.
Abby was recognized at the Optimist Breakfast meeting Wednesday morning as one of the recipients of their scholarships. She was asked to come to the front along with the other winners and introduce themselves, where they're going to college, what volunteer work they've done, etc. Abby announced she will be attending UW-LaCrosse and her friend Anna almost tackled her when they went to sit down. Anna is also going to La Crosse, but never knew Abby was even considering it.
Paige had her postponed her birthday party Friday at Stonefire Pizza. It's like Chuck E Cheese, but they serve a buffet and it's much cleaner. The girls had a blast and even mingled with some boys from Franklin. A 13-year-old birthday party and they're checking out guys! The party was a great success.
Saturday Maggie came down for Grandparents Day at Little League and watched Paige pitch her first game. She was in for one inning and did great! Later, Paige slammed a triple! We thought it was gutsy to run to third but figured her coach at 1st base told her to go for it. Apparently, her only told her to take 2nd, but she felt she could make it to 3rd. She never slowed down. It was fun. Paige had to leave the Little League field for Tae Kwon Do testing so we said our goodbyes to Maggie. When Paige and I were almost to testing, we discovered we neglected to take her sparring equipment. So Jeff and Maggie drove on up and got to see her test. We drove Maggie out to the highway afterward and headed home to work in the yard a bit before going to Abby's friend, Ali's, graduation party.
To celebrate Father's Day, we took Jeff out to the field again. Paige had another game again today and got to pitch for 2 innings this time. She did really well again. And we won!!! The team really needed that confidence boost.
I was treated to a surprise field trip at work on Tuesday. John's brother-in-law, Pat, is a teamster that works on movie sets and packs up equipment, drive the actors around, etc. Well, they're filming Public Enemies in downtown Milwaukee and an unmarked white van picked us up and took us to the Historical Society building!!! Pat even timed it around the actor's lunch break so that we'd have a chance to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp! After an hour of hanging around with the inner circle of wardrobe, makeup artists, sound guys, etc. we left. But, luckily Pat's walkie-talkie announced that it was time for lunch so we looked for Johnny's body guard and sure enough Johnny was right behind!!!
That night, Bryn invited a few friends over for a Last Day of School get together. They played a little football, then burned their most-hated piece of band music in the firepit and roasted s'mores.Abby was recognized at the Optimist Breakfast meeting Wednesday morning as one of the recipients of their scholarships. She was asked to come to the front along with the other winners and introduce themselves, where they're going to college, what volunteer work they've done, etc. Abby announced she will be attending UW-LaCrosse and her friend Anna almost tackled her when they went to sit down. Anna is also going to La Crosse, but never knew Abby was even considering it.
Paige had her postponed her birthday party Friday at Stonefire Pizza. It's like Chuck E Cheese, but they serve a buffet and it's much cleaner. The girls had a blast and even mingled with some boys from Franklin. A 13-year-old birthday party and they're checking out guys! The party was a great success.
Saturday Maggie came down for Grandparents Day at Little League and watched Paige pitch her first game. She was in for one inning and did great! Later, Paige slammed a triple! We thought it was gutsy to run to third but figured her coach at 1st base told her to go for it. Apparently, her only told her to take 2nd, but she felt she could make it to 3rd. She never slowed down. It was fun. Paige had to leave the Little League field for Tae Kwon Do testing so we said our goodbyes to Maggie. When Paige and I were almost to testing, we discovered we neglected to take her sparring equipment. So Jeff and Maggie drove on up and got to see her test. We drove Maggie out to the highway afterward and headed home to work in the yard a bit before going to Abby's friend, Ali's, graduation party.To celebrate Father's Day, we took Jeff out to the field again. Paige had another game again today and got to pitch for 2 innings this time. She did really well again. And we won!!! The team really needed that confidence boost.
Monday, June 9, 2008
We left out Bryn's success stories in track!!! Bryn ran in regionals then made it to sectionals in track again this year! The Arrowhead Regional was held in Oconomowoc on May 19 where Bryn placed 2nd and advanced to Sectionals. Sectionals were May 22 so Jeff watched her place 4th in the 400 at the Regional meet in Germantown (top 3 places go on to State), while Kristin went to Paige's Little League game and Abby and I set up for her Girl Scout Gold award ceremony. Maybe it was the lack of family support for Bryn that day. We run in a tough division and she's definitely making progress each year so we're hoping next year is it!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
First of all, I'd like to thank Paige for being a guest-blogger last week for me. Excellent job! I feel a little pressure following you.
Sunday June 1st
Accompanied Bryn to a Mission Trip meeting where she made posters to put up after a couple upcoming masses to ask for gas money. She's taken on a bit of a leadership role being a one-year veteran and she's proud of it. They're going all the way to Coahoma, Mississippi this year at the end of July.
Monday I had to run with Paige shopping while we dropped Abby at the dentist. Paige needed a one-piece swimsuit for a field trip coming up Friday. What pre-teen/teenage girl owns a one-piece swimsuit????? We found one luckily that fit Paige's fashion sense as well as her size.
Wednesday Abby had her last final exams. How the school was allowed to let the seniors out that early I'm not sure. They must've been getting pretty disruptive. Paige and Bryn have to go until next Tuesday! Paige played softball against the Marlins in the dense fog. Paige hasn't had a chance at the pitcher's mound yet, so we reminded the coaches and it looks like her turn is coming at next Thursday's game.
Thursday I was so busy at work I never even got up from my computer to eat and I ended up staying until 5:00! Then I met Jeff at the Little League fields where we ran the concessions til 8:30pm. We had a gourmet dinner of popcorn, hot dogs and Coke! I went home to cook 6 lbs of chicken for my contribution to the Student Council potluck (thank you Abby!) the next evening.
Friday Jeff and I were both off work. Jeff ordered another 8 yds of mulch dumped in our driveway early that morning. I cut up my cooked chicken, then went to the Y. Bryn had her first day of finals and was done early because she only had one. Earlier in the week I talked to the Financial Aid Office at Marquette about checking into any further aid options for Abby. They told us to come on in anytime, so we took Abby down Friday afternoon. We found the office and met with a Counselor. The Counselor didn't make our trip worth our while unfortunately. Apparently we've already done everything we could. Abby is accepting of the fact that she needs now to focus on getting her plans in order at UWLaCrosse for fall.
Paige had a very exciting field trip to Noah's Ark Friday!! The forecast held the possibility of rain late, but Paige said it never happened. She got her friends to go on her favorite ride, Black Anaconda, with her and the first time they got stuck!!! They sat for 15 minutes on an uphill climb, then had to walk down to the start. So what exactly are you walking on???? I knew there was a reason I don't like roller coasters. Paige borrowed a friends cell phone (no, she still doesn't have a cell phone and it's so unfair) and called us at the Student Council potluck. Paige actually was asked to go over to a friend's, but didn't want to miss hanging out at The Barn. A classmate of Abby's lives on an old farm and they throw parties in their barn. I believe the father was a gymnast so the interior is basically a workout facility complete with trampolines, a swinging rope and a foam pit. We shared a terrific spread of delicious dishes at the potluck and thanks to speeches by Abby's friend, Ali, and the Student Council advisor, Ms. Novack, also a terrific amount of tears. It's a very sappy bunch. Bryn is continuing the Saunders involvement in the Club by being elected as Secretary for next schoolyear.
Saturday was Abby's high school graduation. The silver cord is for 100+ hours of volunteer service and the gold&blue are for National Honor Society. Abby announced to us that "pictures are at Ali's at 4" which didn't quite fit our incoming relatives coming to our house to see Abby so I had to mess up all their plans (this is something I excel in :)) and Kendal ended up getting ready with Abby and having a quick photoshoot at our house with our family before going over to pick up Ali. In the meantime, storms were threatening with the tornado sirens going off multiple times. We hearded our guests down to the basement and the local weather took over all programming. Abby answered the automated call that the ceremony would now be inside vs. in the football stadium. Our allotted 4 tickets got me, Jeff, Paige and Alex into the ceremony. Kendal's parents gave us 2 more which allowed my parents to sit with us. Maggie and Terry graciously took the off-site seating in the cafeteria where they watched in air-conditioned comfort on the big screen. Many booms of thunder accompanied Bryn and the Wind Symphony while they played during the reading of names. The gym got plenty hot. Bryn and Tyler stood up and played their trombone slides fully out and back when their graduating siblings walked across the stage. The whole event only took an hour and a half and the heat was soon forgotten with a frosty mug of beer afterwards.
You think I've been slacking on the blog - I've really been neglecting the Y. I'm excited because I think I have workout partners for a new class I'm dying to try. Wednesday nights Abby and her friend Kendal are going to try "Zumba" with me. It's a mix of salsa dancing and exercise. Everyone who's tried it says it's really fun and people of all ages attend.
Sunday June 1st
Accompanied Bryn to a Mission Trip meeting where she made posters to put up after a couple upcoming masses to ask for gas money. She's taken on a bit of a leadership role being a one-year veteran and she's proud of it. They're going all the way to Coahoma, Mississippi this year at the end of July.
Monday I had to run with Paige shopping while we dropped Abby at the dentist. Paige needed a one-piece swimsuit for a field trip coming up Friday. What pre-teen/teenage girl owns a one-piece swimsuit????? We found one luckily that fit Paige's fashion sense as well as her size.
Wednesday Abby had her last final exams. How the school was allowed to let the seniors out that early I'm not sure. They must've been getting pretty disruptive. Paige and Bryn have to go until next Tuesday! Paige played softball against the Marlins in the dense fog. Paige hasn't had a chance at the pitcher's mound yet, so we reminded the coaches and it looks like her turn is coming at next Thursday's game.Thursday I was so busy at work I never even got up from my computer to eat and I ended up staying until 5:00! Then I met Jeff at the Little League fields where we ran the concessions til 8:30pm. We had a gourmet dinner of popcorn, hot dogs and Coke! I went home to cook 6 lbs of chicken for my contribution to the Student Council potluck (thank you Abby!) the next evening.
Friday Jeff and I were both off work. Jeff ordered another 8 yds of mulch dumped in our driveway early that morning. I cut up my cooked chicken, then went to the Y. Bryn had her first day of finals and was done early because she only had one. Earlier in the week I talked to the Financial Aid Office at Marquette about checking into any further aid options for Abby. They told us to come on in anytime, so we took Abby down Friday afternoon. We found the office and met with a Counselor. The Counselor didn't make our trip worth our while unfortunately. Apparently we've already done everything we could. Abby is accepting of the fact that she needs now to focus on getting her plans in order at UWLaCrosse for fall.
Paige had a very exciting field trip to Noah's Ark Friday!! The forecast held the possibility of rain late, but Paige said it never happened. She got her friends to go on her favorite ride, Black Anaconda, with her and the first time they got stuck!!! They sat for 15 minutes on an uphill climb, then had to walk down to the start. So what exactly are you walking on???? I knew there was a reason I don't like roller coasters. Paige borrowed a friends cell phone (no, she still doesn't have a cell phone and it's so unfair) and called us at the Student Council potluck. Paige actually was asked to go over to a friend's, but didn't want to miss hanging out at The Barn. A classmate of Abby's lives on an old farm and they throw parties in their barn. I believe the father was a gymnast so the interior is basically a workout facility complete with trampolines, a swinging rope and a foam pit. We shared a terrific spread of delicious dishes at the potluck and thanks to speeches by Abby's friend, Ali, and the Student Council advisor, Ms. Novack, also a terrific amount of tears. It's a very sappy bunch. Bryn is continuing the Saunders involvement in the Club by being elected as Secretary for next schoolyear.
Saturday was Abby's high school graduation. The silver cord is for 100+ hours of volunteer service and the gold&blue are for National Honor Society. Abby announced to us that "pictures are at Ali's at 4" which didn't quite fit our incoming relatives coming to our house to see Abby so I had to mess up all their plans (this is something I excel in :)) and Kendal ended up getting ready with Abby and having a quick photoshoot at our house with our family before going over to pick up Ali. In the meantime, storms were threatening with the tornado sirens going off multiple times. We hearded our guests down to the basement and the local weather took over all programming. Abby answered the automated call that the ceremony would now be inside vs. in the football stadium. Our allotted 4 tickets got me, Jeff, Paige and Alex into the ceremony. Kendal's parents gave us 2 more which allowed my parents to sit with us. Maggie and Terry graciously took the off-site seating in the cafeteria where they watched in air-conditioned comfort on the big screen. Many booms of thunder accompanied Bryn and the Wind Symphony while they played during the reading of names. The gym got plenty hot. Bryn and Tyler stood up and played their trombone slides fully out and back when their graduating siblings walked across the stage. The whole event only took an hour and a half and the heat was soon forgotten with a frosty mug of beer afterwards.You think I've been slacking on the blog - I've really been neglecting the Y. I'm excited because I think I have workout partners for a new class I'm dying to try. Wednesday nights Abby and her friend Kendal are going to try "Zumba" with me. It's a mix of salsa dancing and exercise. Everyone who's tried it says it's really fun and people of all ages attend.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
HAPPY BiRTHDAY PAiGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! [very very long blog]
This is Paige filling in for my mother who always forgets to blog so i am in charge today :D
Since my mom hasn't "blogged" since may 18, i have a big buttload to cover.
on may 20, i had a band concert. our band was really bad and we got yelled at every day for not practicing and being really bad when the whole band played. we played the same songs over and over because they were the ones we really couldn't play. but at the concert I guess our band decided to play good for a change because we were really great.
on may 22, i had a softball game and we lost, and then kristin drove me to abby's gold award ceremony thing. the skits some of the kids did were really weird. my mom has a monsterload of pictures so i'll just pick one picture. we missed abby actually getting her award, but we saw her on stage being talked about. if you see in the picture that big bulging thing in her pocket, im guessing thats her cell phone (:
on may 24, there was this maxwell street fair i think it's called, and there was a duck race.i went with my mom and grandma! there were like 50 bajillion ducks and a lot of them got stuck in their way down the river. i ran into my friends miranda and kaitlin at the duck race. and yeah there were a lot of ducks so you'd just see like a big blob of ducks floating down the river :D after the duck race, i went home with miranda and went to her house for a little while and then she came back to our house, and miranda, bryn, abby and me all roasted s'mores! :D
grandma and grampa were at our house for like 5 days so it was really fun!! great for mom & dad because they helped landscape ALL weekend.
on the 26, we had our memorial day parade and abby had to march in the parade. haha.
after that, we went to bella & lucy's birthday party and that was really fun!!
i had to push bella in the swing for a while since she never wanted to get out :D
and bryn played with lucy
abby's boyfriend alex came to and we all tried to play hacky sack [if thats how you spell it] but none of us were really good, and abby kicked it like she was doing taekwondo. :D
nothing really exciting happened until the 31st
my birthday :]]
i have a trampoline and abby bryn and i go on a lot me and bryn were on for like 2 hours earlier.
i had a softball game that morning and i had to be there at 7:45 am.
the game was at 8:30, and usually i would have to be there at 8:15, but this time they decided to change it so i was not very excited. we won though (:
then i got home and my parents took me to buy the trampoline.
abby and bryn had a big student council carwash. we honked at abby's friend evan and he was waving his arms for us to come in so we just drove past (:
then my friend miranda came over and we walked to bartz's, culvers, and JC Penny's when my mom was grocery shopping, and when we got back she was STiLL not done. she spent a lot of money i wont even tell you the amount.
then we got back and me and miranda watched 27 dresses [very good movie] (:
and then we all ate cake.
are you still reading this. i don't think i would. this is longer than i thought. but i think i'm done....
yeah i'm done. have a nice day (:
Since my mom hasn't "blogged" since may 18, i have a big buttload to cover.
on may 20, i had a band concert. our band was really bad and we got yelled at every day for not practicing and being really bad when the whole band played. we played the same songs over and over because they were the ones we really couldn't play. but at the concert I guess our band decided to play good for a change because we were really great. 
on may 22, i had a softball game and we lost, and then kristin drove me to abby's gold award ceremony thing. the skits some of the kids did were really weird. my mom has a monsterload of pictures so i'll just pick one picture. we missed abby actually getting her award, but we saw her on stage being talked about. if you see in the picture that big bulging thing in her pocket, im guessing thats her cell phone (: on may 24, there was this maxwell street fair i think it's called, and there was a duck race.i went with my mom and grandma! there were like 50 bajillion ducks and a lot of them got stuck in their way down the river. i ran into my friends miranda and kaitlin at the duck race. and yeah there were a lot of ducks so you'd just see like a big blob of ducks floating down the river :D after the duck race, i went home with miranda and went to her house for a little while and then she came back to our house, and miranda, bryn, abby and me all roasted s'mores! :D
grandma and grampa were at our house for like 5 days so it was really fun!! great for mom & dad because they helped landscape ALL weekend.
on the 26, we had our memorial day parade and abby had to march in the parade. haha. 
after that, we went to bella & lucy's birthday party and that was really fun!!i had to push bella in the swing for a while since she never wanted to get out :D
and bryn played with lucy
abby's boyfriend alex came to and we all tried to play hacky sack [if thats how you spell it] but none of us were really good, and abby kicked it like she was doing taekwondo. :D
nothing really exciting happened until the 31st
my birthday :]]
i have a trampoline and abby bryn and i go on a lot me and bryn were on for like 2 hours earlier.i had a softball game that morning and i had to be there at 7:45 am.
the game was at 8:30, and usually i would have to be there at 8:15, but this time they decided to change it so i was not very excited. we won though (:
then i got home and my parents took me to buy the trampoline.
abby and bryn had a big student council carwash. we honked at abby's friend evan and he was waving his arms for us to come in so we just drove past (: then my friend miranda came over and we walked to bartz's, culvers, and JC Penny's when my mom was grocery shopping, and when we got back she was STiLL not done. she spent a lot of money i wont even tell you the amount.
then we got back and me and miranda watched 27 dresses [very good movie] (:
and then we all ate cake.
are you still reading this. i don't think i would. this is longer than i thought. but i think i'm done....
yeah i'm done. have a nice day (:
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