Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Saunders household!

Our family was fortunate enough to take a 2-week driving trip out to Banff, Canada late last June. It was spectacular! We also had fun cheering our high school football team on to State this season. Weather couldn't have been better for those fall football games.

I'm still with Norman Design but have recently taken on 2 additional part-time jobs: cashiering at Kohls Dept Stores and cleaning the office every other weekend. Keeping me busy, but the retail job is quite a refreshing break from my quiet graphic design office where I sit all day. I've had fun getting involved with our local Art Guild, where I recently totally redesigned their web site. I also created a site for the girls high school Cross Country team that was a terrific outlet for the hundreds of pictures I take of them.

Paige is a freshman in high school. She plays clarinet in band and jazz band. Paige earned her black belt in Tae Kwon Do last spring and recently participated in a special routine with her Tae Kwon Do demo team. She pitched for Little League last summer and took a nasty line drive to her right eye that took her out for the playoffs. Paige will soon have to decide between Track and Softball as they are both spring sports.

Abby is a sophomore at UW-La Crosse where her major is now Communications and her minors are English as a Second Language and Art. This year Abby's rooming with an RA but already has her lease signed to live off campus with 5 close friends next year. Abby leads the Latino group with Campus Crusade for Christ at UWL. She still works at Hallmark whenever she is back home.

Bryn is a senior in high school. She wants to pursue a career in Physical Therapy but is still undecided as to where she will go to college. Bryn plays trombone in band and jazz band and runs Cross Country in the fall and Track in the spring. Band Revue just concluded its run, where Bryn was one of 4 student directors that wrote the script, set up rehearsals, did choreography and chose the music. Bryn attended Badger Girls State last June — unfortunately, the same week as our vacation. Bryn also volunteered on a mission trip again last summer, this time to West Virginia.

Jeff just celebrated 20 years with Ring & DuChateau. Jeff also continues to teach Senior Design class at MSOE. He was able to get together with his college friends in October for their annual hunt in Waubeno and Packer game, both in October. We've kept Jeff busy with many repairs he never thought he could do before: replacing a laptop screen and fixing a digital camera. However we did suffer a few losses after Jeff gave them his best try: washer, dishwasher, Honda CRV, bicycle. Luckily all replaceable.

Mike, Kevin and I celebrated John's last day of vacation on Nov 18th by going out to lunch at Brick3, a great pizza place, downtown. We really enjoy the camaraderie we have when our boss is away. As it turns out, John didn't come back the next day anyway.

For my birthday (Nov 19th) Jeff prepared a super delicious meal from my Rachel Ray cookbook. It was a halibut dish atop smashed peas. It was so yummy! Then he even had cheesecake for dessert! That was a real treat. This was my first birthday where I was on Facebook and all those well-wishes were awesome to hear!

Nov 20th was a gorgeous day and we all headed to Madison for the high school state football games. Paige rode the high school fan bus. There were 9 fan busses from our high school! Jeff and I rode out with Dave and Carrie while Bryn followed behind in her car with her friends. We arrived early so we could see part of the Division 2 game where our nephew's team, Kimberly, was playing. We were able to meet up with Terry, Debbie, Bobby, Richie and Kayla and watch the 2nd half with them. Kimberly lost. We had to travel around to the opposite side for our Division 1 game against Marquette University High School. Menomonee Falls was tough and held Marquette to only 1 touchdown, but we couldn't score against them. We ate dinner at the Stadium with Bryn and her friends before heading back home.

Saturday Nov 21st, Bryn played in a quintet at our local Sentry store. The Sentry store allows the Menomonee Falls bands to come in to the store to help celebrate the holidays. Paige had another Tae Kwon Do demo practice and I worked at Kohls. I went right from there to the grocery store. Then to the couch where Jeff and I enjoyed watching Australia at home.

I decided not to spoil my day off Sunday Nov 22nd and opted to go in to work (Norman Design) an hour early Monday and Tuesday to get my biweekly cleaning in. I had enough cleaning to accomplish at home!

So Bryn and Paige had off school for the week. Excellent. I put them on maid duty because I had a busy week ahead, plus company coming for Thanksgiving. I attended conferences for Paige and Bryn at the high school Monday night Nov 23rd. All good reports. Very weird to hear Paige being described as "quiet". At the Art Guild meeting Tuesday night Nov 24th, I am still getting rave reviews on the new website as more and more members are becoming acquainted with it. Jeff ran the concessions stand at the high school first basketball game of the season Wednesday night while I worked at Kohls. Luckily Abby, Bryn and Paige were home to welcome Meg, William and family when they got in from Indianapolis. Abby, Bryn and Paige really did a top-notch job getting the house cleaned up!

Jeff, Bryn and Paige drove up to Appleton to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. They ate out at VanAbel's, then went to visit with Debbie and her family afterwards. Abby and I drove over to Waukesha to meet my family at Kristin's. We really teased my mom about the turkeys this year. We ended up not having turkey with our Thanksgiving this year. Not done. And we couldn't get over one of the turkeys which was all breast meat and seemed to jiggle. Abby, Meg and I got the lowdown on where to meet Friday morning and we were all back home around 6pm to tuck in early. (Of course, I didn't sleep that night.)

Friday morning Nov 27th we met Kristin and Mom at Kohls at 4:30am. The store was not as crowded as other years. We found lots of early bird specials there and felt good. We were already hungry and stopped next for our annual McDonald's breakfast. From there we went to Target, ToysRUs and Brookfield Square mall. It was 10:30am and knowing we still had to work that day, Abby and I bowed out and went home to nap. We were so relieved to see Jeff and William packing up the kids to play at Flabbergast so we knew it'd be peaceful for us to sleep. The kids had a blast there, relieving their cabin fever. Abby and I got back home to enjoy pizza with everyone at our house.

Meg cut Abby's hair Saturday Nov 28th before Abby and I went off to work again. Meg, William and family left soon afterward. Abby was able to get together with her close girlfriends that night while they were all home on break. Kendal came over for a Saunders-exclusive visit before they went. I pooped out again that night and Jeff and I watched Gladiator.


Today Sunday Nov 29th we all slept in in the morning. Very busy doing laundry, paying bills, catching up on the blog! Abby's boyfriend, Mark, got back from his family vacation and was able to see Abby this afternoon before she went back to La Crosse. She was very happy. They baked cookies together for Abby to bring back with her.

Bryn and Paige played with their respective Jazz Bands at a jazz concert Thursday night. My mom and dad were down visiting Kristin, and ended up coming to the concert. They surprised Paige while she was on stage. And we were all surprised to find out Bryn had a solo! Band will quickly switch gears to focus on Band Revue - their big annual musical. Bryn is one of three directors and is being very secretive about story. All I know the theme is LOST. Stay tuned.

I kept Paige home from school Thursday and Friday: sore throat, super tired, cough, stuffy nose, bad headache. The schools are asking us to be super careful with this H1N1 going around. Abby came home with Amy for the weekend on Thursday. Abby will not be able to see her boyfriend over Thanksgiving and it was his birthday, so she squeezed in another trip home. Thursday night I had my orientation at Kohls. Yup. I signed up for a seasonal cashier job. I also trained on Saturday and Sunday learning the register, but have not been on my own yet. Probably when I go in on Wednesday night.


Abby and Mark drove Amy to Kenosha on Friday to catch the Metra train to Chicago where Amy went to visit friends for the remainder of the weekend at Northwestern. Jeff and I had a big night out Friday night. We attended the Menomonee Falls Scholarship Auction & Dinner. It was held at a local banquet hall and was very nice. We saw a lot of people we knew and had fun at all the different auction games they held. Dinner was great and there was even a DJ to dance to later.

Abby got on the schedule at Hallmark for the full day Saturday. Bryn is having trouble getting back on the schedule at Walgreens. They moved her from the pharmacy to cosmetics, and now it seems they just lost her! She's trying...
Paige had demo practice for Tae Kwon Do and was eager to have us listen to their demo song and show us where her part would be. Abby had Mark over for his birthday and made him dessert. Bryn headed up to Oshkosh to watch our high school football team play Appleton North to find out who would go on to State! Jeff and I wanted to go, but I had to be at Kohls til 6 and with Paige kind of being sick we stayed and waited for Bryn to text us. We won 10-0! So we'll be heading to Madison this Friday!!!!!

Sunday Jeff went to the Packer game with a bunch of people from his work. Luckily it was a great game to watch. He had a full day, leaving at 11am and returning 11pm. Paige accompanied Abby to church in the morning and Bryn slept in after her late night at the game. Then Abby was invited to Mark's for his birthday lunch with his family. I had to cook an early dinner so Abby and Amy could catch their ride back to LaCrosse at 5pm. I've got my sister's new salon logo done and now it's on to website designs.

Jeff's Honda CRV is still sitting in the parking lot at his work refusing to start. We had to ask Bryn and Paige to find a ride to school the remainder of last week so Jeff or I could use their car to get to work. Jeff spent a lot of time on AutoTrader.com to find the best deals on the 2 cars we were considering: Mazda 3 and Subaru Impreza. So on Friday, we headed down to Evanston, IL where we drove one of each. The intention was to have lunch to discuss after both test drives, but we ended up just staying and sealing the deal on the Mazda 3. It's a fun car to drive and we're very happy with it. In the meantime, Jeff is working on finding a charity that will tow the Honda.

Last Saturday was such a picture perfect day, we couldn't pass up being outside for a football game. We drove out to Sun Prairie with our friends, Dave and Carrie, to watch our high school football team play in the quarterfinals of our Division. Each of us took turns shedding layers of clothing because the weather was so much nicer than we anticipated. It was a great game! We won 34 - 17! So now Menomonee Falls is on to play Appleton North in Oshkosh this coming Saturday night! Go Falls!

Bryn was asked to be a friend's sponsor for her confirmation. Quite a compliment. Bryn took her friend to church Sunday morning. Fitting. I've taken on another job: cleaning my office. John was looking for a cleaning person, and I volunteered. It pays good and it's only 2 hours every other week. I went downtown Sunday afternoon to work my first shift and I think I really spruced the place up.


Monday was Bryn's Cross Country banquet. Bryn was one of four team captains and you could see they were all emotional about their final season being over. The captains gave silly awards out to every teammate and the coaches.The coaches made several comments about how the captains coordinated extra practices and elevated the status of the team. Jeff is checking in with the HR person at work (regarding health insurance) to see how we should proceed with Bryn's bunion surgery. Bryn would really like to have it done so she's ready for track season.

Paige is now on the demo team for Tae Kwon Do, which is only for black belts who want to perform special tricks and/or routines. We purchased her a new, blue uniform and nun-chucks! Little scary. She'll perform for her first time for the Dec. 12th testing. I'm proud of how committed she's been to Tae Kwon Do and excited to see her in her blue uniform!

Jeff returned home from Virginia safely Thursday night. His fellow passengers included Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl! I had a crazy work day and finally got home to Paige by 5 and got her to Tae Kwon Do.

Jeff left early Friday morning to meet up with Bryn at UWL for a Campus Close-Up. Abby and Bryn went for breakfast in the building where Jeff was to meet Bryn. Seems like UWL is 4th out of 4 colleges that Bryn is considering. I'm still glad she toured it because it'd be a good school for her program.



Friday Paige and I both had off. I did laundry and ironed most of the day. Paige got to wake up early to babysit Bella and Lucy. Lucy is potty-training and when she started following me a little too closely around the house, I put her on the toilet where she did her first poop! Lucy and Bella were really disappointed they couldn't bounce on the trampoline, but I couldn't let them outside in the rain when it was only 40°! We all had plenty of fun with stickers (Bella know where all my scrapbooking stickers are), puzzles, the piano and beanie babies.

I took Paige and her friend to look for pumpkins Friday afternoon. What a bust! There were NONE left! We went to 4 stands! Some farmer felt sorry for us and gave us these for $2 each. Friday night Paige went to an insomniac all-nighter with a church group. She had a lot of fun. She slept all day Saturday and woke up in time to go trick-or-treating with friends Halloween night. I didn't get pictures because they didn't go around here. But one of Paige's friends bought all 4 of their pumpkin costumes. I'm sure they were too cute. Jeff and I handed out candy to the chilly trick-or-treaters, then walked over to a neighbor's for a beer afterward.

Driving to work today, Paige texted me that she forgot to bring a class project to school and could I bring it? I was over halfway to work, so I called Jeff. Jeff called me back that his car wouldn't start. So I drove back home, to school, saved the day for Paige, and then in late to work. Jeff looked at his car at lunch and tried to jump start it, but no luck. He's back there now, seeing what he can figure out.

Bryn saw the podiatrist today and he rated her bunion as "moderate." Contemplating surgery... Tonight I picked up Paige's "lost" cell phone from the movie theatre! Yup! They called saying they finally found it, probably got lodged in between the seats. Paige is now opting to go back to her green phone. Good news: we now have an extra phone for next time. Bad news: there will be a next time.

Bryn had her first band concert back on the 20th. The concert featured the Wind Symphony band, the Choir and the Orchestra. It was nice to see other groups we wouldn't normally see. The choir did that famous Journey song "Don't Stop Believing" you always hear on commercials for the TV show "Glee." Really cool to hear live. Bryn is finally 1st chair trombone. Unfortunately, because she's a big brass instrument we never get to quite see her when she's performing because they're in the back.

Bryn's coach took her out of racing the rest of the season. Disappointing not to participate in sectionals her final, senior year, but she wants to concentrate on working it out for track. I made an appointment for her to see a podiatrist to see if he has any suggestions on helping her foot pain. Bryn couldn't leave her team for the weekend, she cheered everyone else on at the Sectional meet on Saturday.

Paige, Jeff and I drove over to La Crosse Friday night to visit Abby for Friends and Family Weekend. Abby stayed with us in the hotel room Friday night and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The weather forecast sounded lousy, but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day on Saturday. We walked around campus, but then chose to take Abby shopping for her Halloween costume rather than go to the football game. We did a drive-by of Abby's new house she'll be living in next year with her 5 closest friends. Very nice neighborhood. We'll have to wait til summer to see the inside. Paige stayed on campus with Abby Saturday night where they had a One Tree Hill marathon.
Sunday Abby had to part with her cell phone and was none too happy. Her screen would white out, then the entire display would read backwards! There aren't any at&t stores in the western part of Wisconsin, so we had to take it with us to find out what was going on. Water damage. So I had to send it in. Abby should have her replacement today. So poor Abby's been facebooking it and land-lining it for 4 entire days! And no texting!

We did get to celebrate Jeff's birthday when we returned home Sunday with a nice steak dinner and banana cream pie. Jeff's in Virginia. He flew out last night and will return Thursday night.

I put Bryn on the Amtrak today to La Crosse so she could have her time with Abby. Bryn and Paige don't have school Thu or Fri because of Teacher's Convention. I wonder if Abby will be happier to see Bryn or her SIM card from her old phone with all her contacts! Bryn's excited to finally have a chance to stay in the dorm with Abby. It's never worked out for her. Jeff will drive out to La Crosse on Friday and meet up with Bryn to tour the campus for a Campus Close-Up day she registered for.

So Paige and I (and Theo!) are holding up the fort. But not alone. Paige is having Miranda and Jennifer sleep over.

Great day for a Packers game! Jeff went up to Lambeau with college buddies for their annual tailgate and game. One guy did a fantastic job organizing the tailgate. Jeff was assigned soda and water. He should be home around 6:30 tonight.


We got Paige a loaner cell phone while we waited for the insurance company to approve her claim. Paige loved going retro with her tiny loaner phone and remembering how to text without a full keyboard. Her replacement phone arrived in the mail Friday so all is good. Paige will be babysitting to cover the co-pay.

While Jeff was present at the monthly Booster Club meeting, I accompanied Bryn to the Badger Girls/Boys Potluck Dinner at the American Legion. The Legion is the organization that puts on the statewide Badger Girls/Boys program. Each student was asked to give a few minute report on their weeklong experience last summer to the Legion members. Upon presentation of their certificates, the Legion chose one to read aloud. It was Bryn's. Unfortunately, they repeatedly mispronounced her name as "Brian Sanders". It was excrutiating to hear again and again. Poor Bryn.

Bryn's Cross Country coach called me at work in the middle of the week. I was a little nervous. He was calling all the runners' parents asking them to recruit a "Fab 5" for their respective daughters. This "Fab 5" was to be a fan club for that runner encouraging them at this important conference meet. I contacted 3 of Bryn's good friends who didn't hesitate to say yes. Natalie even came over that morning (after Bryn got on the bus) to help make posters. And what good friends they were: it was really chilly Saturday morning! Bryn was the happiest I've seen at a meet, so I think it worked.

Abby called me Friday morning all excited that she's found a house to live in next year at La Crosse. It has 5 bedrooms, and there will be 6 girls living in it. They put their deposit down on Monday. This coming weekend is Friends & Family Weekend, so we'll surely schedule a drive-by. We Skyped with Abby today and she was very tired and sore from playing 3 Powderpuff football games yesterday.

I'm happy to say my two weeks of working full-time are over. I know: I'm spoiled only working part-time. But I guess I have a certain balance I like to maintain between family, work and myself. It wasn't hard being at work that long. But it was hard not having that time at home to clean, do laundry, organize bills, talk to the kids, etc. It seems like sitting at a computer all day shouldn't make you tired, but I sure didn't feel like going to the Y those days! It'll be nice to have Mike back at work. He emailed pictures of his new baby girl, Lydia, on Friday afternoon and she's a cutie! Finally, someone at work who can relate to having kids!

Mike at my work had his baby last Sunday. A little girl they named Lydia. He is taking a 2-week paternity leave which requires me to become a temporary full-time employee. I'm more than happy to help out while he and his wife adjust to having a baby in the house. We've been king of slow at work, but took on a surprise rush job that turned out to be a ginormous project. Good to have the work, but I had my 40 hours in by Friday morning already!

Paige considered auditioning for the local community theatre's production of A Christmas Carole last Monday, but when the audition required a 3-minute singing solo with sheet music, it seemed a bit beyond what she was anticipating.

Abby was in town on Thursday with her art class from UWL to tour a couple art museums. She had a lengthy lunch break and called me at work to have lunch with her. We dined at the Public Market. It was good to see her again. Bryn had a cross country meet Thursday, but didn't run. She's been having some tendonitis issues in her achilles and with the conference meet next Saturday (17th), the coaches advised her not to chance it. So I didn't drive to watch this week.

Friday Jeff got picked up by 7:30am for his annual hunting expedition to Waubeno with his college friends. One friend wasn't able to go because it's too close to his wife's due date - and here we are sending ours off to college! Jeff got back by supper tonight and said he had a really great time. I'm glad the guys have kept the tradition up all these years.

I worked Friday morning, then went off to Carroll (my alma mater) in the afternoon for a new Alumni Networking event. The students were encouraged to attend and ask us alumni what we did with our degrees from Carroll and what words of encouragement we could offer them. Boy, did I meet the most enthusiastic and interesting art majors! It was so worth it for me to go and get re-energized! I do so much better talking one-on-one vs. presentations. I ended up going to the Y on Friday night because my increased work hours kept me from going during the week. Then Paige and I just hung out while Bryn went off to a bon fire with friends.

Saturday I got a lot of errands done: grocery shop, drop a ton of old computer stuff at the high school band's recycling fundraiser, drycleaners... Bryn worked all day. And Paige was planning her date.... New boy. I drove them up to the movies just before 6:00pm, and when I didn't hear anything by 9:00pm I started texting. Little did I know that they decided to see a 2nd movie. At 11:30pm, the boy's mother and I met in the theatre parking lot knowing we needed to put some stricter ground rules for dating in place after tonight. Paige ended up losing her cell phone at the theatre, so that's been a huge punishment in itself.

I thought the oven died yesterday. I broiled some chicken legs, then was going to slow cook them for a couple hours. The broiling went fine, but there was no heat after that. Overnight I figured out to check the circuit breaker, but that didn't seem to help. Of course, when Jeff came home he magically flipped the same switch and the oven came back to life. Go figure. It'll never die. I finally got around to scrapbooking Bella's 3-year page. I try to do it for her birthday, but that was almost 6 months ago! Better late than never I guess.

Twas the morning after Homecoming
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse.

Homecoming week overshadowed all other happenings of the past week. Themed days every school day helped with deciding what to wear every morning: Monday was Tropical Day (this year's Homecoming theme), Tuesday was crazy hair/hat day, Wednesday was class color day, Thursday was rival day and Friday, of course, was spirit day.

Wednesday night was the big Powderpuff game. Bryn was a major player being a starter. She played wide receiver and scored the 2nd touchdown for her Senior team. She was way excited! It was chilly out in the stands, but very bearable. The seniors won (tradition) 46 - 20 and will go down in the history books as the "most penalized team ever" with penalties of 300+ yards.

I drove up to watch Bryn run in Fond du Lac Friday afternoon. In the rain. Her coaches actually wanted to pull her from this race because of some tendonitis in her right achilles, but she fought to run. This is her favorite course as it's very flat, so runners typically get some of their best times. After the race, Bryn said she felt very relaxed while running and she did get her best time this year. She really needed that. I drove her back because Bryn was scheduled to work at 7pm. Jeff stayed back to welcome Abby home for the weekend and to get Paige where she needed to be for the game. We all sat in the drizzle and watched our undefeated team do it again, but I did convince Jeff to go home after the halftime festivities.


Our house was the host for Paige's group to take pictures at. I had fun and bought some pretty mum and gourds for decoration. Jeff and I cleaned the house most of the day to prepare. We welcomed Paige's date, Taylor, and 8 of Paige's closest girlfriends for pictures. Taylor did well amongst all the princesses. They went from our house to eat at UNO's, then to the dance. Jeff and I watched a movie before heading back to the high school for the Grand March at 10:30pm where we ran into Abby and her friends. We also ran into Paige and Taylor (the reason we came), to find out that they were just waiting for his dad to pick them up because they weren't doing the Grand March. His dad took them out for ice cream and delivered Paige home. We turned around and delivered Paige to her next gig, the bon fire/sleepover party. It'll be a big withdrawal today!

Paige opted to cancel her Homecoming updo appointment to get a haircut that couldn't wait this week. Also, since she and her girlfriends didn't see anything at the mall shopping for dresses last weekend, I picked a couple up for her and luckily, one is a keeper. Paige is all set to go to the dance with a group of friends. I'm still waiting for an update from Bryn.

Tuesday night Jeff and I had separate assignments. Jeff attended the high school Band trip meeting while I went to my Art Guild meeting where I nervously presented a "work-in-progress" of their new site I've designed and have been programming. I had hoped to have it launched for this meeting, but now I'm resolved to have it set for the October meeting. The artists all gave me nice compliments, but not the constructive criticism I'm used to from my work clientele. So I guess that's cool because I pretty much can do whatever I want with the content and the design. Jeff got to socialize with a lot of our friends at the Band trip meeting. The kids go over spring break again and will visit Boston and New York. The itinerary looks fabulous! They won't be having a performance for us to attend, so Jeff and I will just drop in on them during a different activity while in New York. Warning: Be prepared for lots of fundraising requests from Bryn and Paige for this band trip and their mission trips!

Jeff followed Paige's schedule while I walked Bryn's at the high school Open House Wednesday night. Reminded me to follow up on Abby's CAPP credits for Spanish! There sure are a lot more kids at the high school with those 9th graders there now!

The Saunders took a turn hosting one of the weekly Cross Country Carb Crams Thursday evening. I prepared 3 pans of taco lasagna and served it with yellow rice and lots of fruit. Jeff helped to rearrange furniture to make more eating areas available in case the entire team of 26 decided to come. The girls were very rowdy, but polite.

The rain held out Friday for Jeff to get in 18 holes of golf on Friday afternoon with a couple of Dads from the area. Abby found a ride home from La Crosse and arrived about 4pm. She nearly toppled her boyfriend Mark over when he arrived here.

We woke Paige and Abby up early to watch Bryn run Cross Country out at Nagawaukee Saturday morning (a stop at Panera for bagels and coffee helped). Bryn always looks great, but she's very disappointed in her times this year. Too much pressure on herself. Her coach called her at home later in the day to check up on her. Paige had a friend sleepover Saturday night seeing as they were both committed to being at the same event this morning at 8:00am. Bryn volunteered also and drove them to the high school for Student Council's annual Senior Citizen Prom. Senior citizens in the area mark their calendars for this event where the students join in dancing and there's lots of food. Abby came along with Kristin and Kristin's sister-in-law to the Cheery Cherry Art Fair. Always some good finds at this one!

Happy Birthday Maggie!!!! (At least she'll she I got this posted on her actual birthday, card to follow...)


Last Sunday we attended our church's first Generations of Faith program for the year. This program is replacing Sunday School at our parish. We get to mingle with other families and share breakfast while conversing and doing activities related to our faith. We were seated with Birschbachs and Erin and Bryn now have matching love ferns from the pots we decorated at the program. After lunch, Paige got to babysit Lucy and Bella while Kristin and Carlo walked through a Parade of Homes. Lucy only cried for the first 5 minutes, then both Bella and Lucy had a lot of fun skype-ing (video chatting on computer) with Abby and bouncing on the trampoline.

Tuesday morning was a mess. And it was all my fault. I saw on the orthodontist appointment on the calendar for 8:40am, so I let Paige sleep in a little longer and Bryn went off to school. I notified school about Paige's tardiness. As Paige and I were about to leave, I grabbed the reminder card from the orthodontist and discovered - it's not Paige who goes to the orthodontist today - it's Bryn! So I quickly texted Bryn and let her know. Of course, she has a test that hour. I drive Paige to school and explain my poor parenting skills to the Attendance Office. Yea.. I'm organized...

Paige is going to join the Demo Team with TaeKwonDo which means that at the beginning of testings, she'll perform routines and/or tricks with other black belts. She'll get a new blue uniform for this. She's excited: I get to buy her her own set of nunchucks!

Bryn and Paige had early release from school Friday so had some extra social time. I took advantage of this by working on the Art Guild web site. So hard to find large blocks of time to devote to this, but I am making serious progress. The first Art Guild meeting for the season is this coming Tuesday, and unfortunately I won't have the site live quite then. So I'm shooting for our October meeting. May bring in Jeff's laptop Tuesday to give them a preview. Abby and I had quite a text conversation that afternoon. She was homesick. I texted that her boyfriend stopped over at our house to purchase a Cross Country shirt from Bryn and she replied "You suck." I think she misses him too. Friday night we all went to the home football game. Separately of course. Paige won't even been seen driving to the game with us! Our team is undefeated so far this year and we played a really exciting game against a rival (Sussex Hamilton) and won again! The student fans stormed the field afterward. It was really fun to be there.

Saturday morning Bryn's Cross Country bus left at 6:20am for her meet at UW-Parkside (Kenosha). But Bryn wasn't there. She overslept and Jeff and I didn't set our alarm, so... I got to frantically get dressed and drive south at 6:40am! Thank goodness for Pop Tarts! Got her there in plenty of time and apologized to the head coach. He embarrassingly confessed that he didn't make the bus either! The bus had to drive to his house and wake him up! Bryn's times are coming down, but she's not happy with her progress. After the meet, Jeff took her out to the Badger Bus stop and she made plans to visit some friends at UWMadison this weekend. She couldn't arrive early enough to make the game because of her morning meet. We texted her to make sure she arrived OK and her friends found her. I bet she had a lot of fun. We're picking her up at the bus stop this evening.

Today we watched Bella and Lucy again as Kristin and Carlo get closer to building a new home. I'm glad for the interruption, because I have so many tasks that involve working on the computer, I really need to be forced to take a break.

So these are the birds that make the sounds we wake up to practically every morning now. I think they're cranes and these 3 hang out by the creek.

Jeff and I went to watch Bryn run at her Cross Country meet at Greenfield Park last Friday Sept 4th. She cut over 20 seconds off her time from the previous meet. We picked up a pizza on the way home which made Bryn a very happy girl when she arrived home. Abby went with Mark and Paige with her friends to the annual high school Corn Roast followed by the first home football game. Jeff and I couldn't pass up the beautiful night and also went over to the field after our pizza to watch our team score a big win.

We woke up early Saturday morning to drive Abby back to La Crosse. Her scheduled move-in time was 10-11am, so we had to get out of Dodge by 7:30 at the latest. Getting Abby's stuff up to her room was a breeze as UWL has such a nice system of student volunteers who carry your items to your floor for you as long as you label them with your room #. Abby is in a new dorm this year and is rooming with an RA due to a housing shortage. She happily accepted early last year already. Abby's room overlooks the just opened, newly constructed football/track field and stadium. Just yesterday Abby was to partake in her first college football game at home - tailgating and all. Abby brought my bike to school this year as hers was stolen last year on the day Jeff and my Dad came to move her out.

Paige and I chased down the UWL mascot for this couldn't-be-missed photo op. Paige was sad she didn't do a "thumbs up" with the eagle.

After driving to La Crosse Saturday morning, we drove back across the state to Shawano in the evening to arrive at my parents' cabin. Again, the weather has been so perfect, Bryn didn't have to work or practice, so we enjoyed the lake. The lake was so busy that the waves were optimum for jet-skiiing! Jeff took Paige out for a wild ride. Kristin, Carlo, Lucy and Bella were also up north and we took a long pontoon ride Sunday afternoon.

We did leave Sunday night just so we could have Monday to get the house back in order after Abby's move.
Bryn opted out of UWAY (band program at UWM) this year with her added responsibility of holding a job. I think it's a wise decision. Senior year is a busy one.
Bryn had another meet yesterday and did about the same. She wasn't feeling the best and ended up feeling dizzy and puking toward the end of her race. Yuck! We talked about concentrating on hydrating better the day before the next race.
Colleges begin accepting applications Tuesday (Sep 15th), so Bryn's been busy with paperwork. She turned in ones to Carroll University (Waukesha) and University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) last week through her guidance counselor. Today she finished up her application to Marquette (Milwaukee), then she only has one left: to UW La Crosse. All these offer programs in her intended major: Physical Therapy with Marquette and Carroll having a shortened 6-year program that you're accepted into right away as a freshman.

Glory hallelujah! Our digital camera has not been working for a couple weeks now. It just gives us a mysterious error message that apparently is only decipherable by the Canon repair dept and they're not sharing! We pretty much knew we were going to have to purchase another and I was OK temporarily taking pictures on my iPhone. But Jeff the Engineer couldn't let the camera go without a fight, so he took it apart last Saturday afternoon. Not seeing anything obviously sticking out or disconnected, he simply reassembled the mess and it now works! Who am I to question!

Bryn toured Carroll University in Waukesha last Friday and actually liked it! They have a unique 6-year, freshman-entry doctorate program in Physical Therapy which is what she wants to go into. Carroll was a great contrast for her to Univ of Minnesota, which she still likes also. It was fun for me to see all the beautiful building improvements since I went there back in the 80s. Bryn even got to meet with the Cross Country/Track coach who was very interested in her and talked running strategies with Bryn. Since we were so close to Kristin's, we stopped in for a quick lunch. Unfortunately, Lucy wasn't so welcoming and cried most of the time.

Bryn and Paige had their first day of school this Tuesday (Sept 1st). Each had a half-day with Paige going in the morning and Bryn in the afternoon. They both go to the high school now with Bryn being a senior and Paige a freshman.

With Bryn and Paige in school this week,

Abby has had a lot of time to herself to get ready to go back to UWL. One of her projects was making a quilt/blanket from squares she cut from old t-shirts. Kids receive t-shirts from so many events, the blanket really is a great idea for a keepsake. Abby went over to Kristin's last

Sunday after church to use her sewing machine to finish it up.

Abby also had several pictures printed and replaced all the pictures in her frames.

I collected the pots Abby and her friends decorated last summer and potted new plants for this year. Only one of the four plants from their freshman year survived! I'm hoping I made better (hearty) plant selections for them this year.

And finally we took Abby and Mark out for a "back-to-college" dinner at Stir Crazy last night. It was delicious. We all had fun watching the chefs torch our dinners in huge flames and then try to eat it with chopsticks. Hard to believe she's leaving us again tomorrow. It's been nice having her home.

We have been getting some much needed rain lately. I took this picture as I was exiting the liquor store buying wine. It's actually a giant double rainbow, but I'm not sure you can make it out here on the picture. Aint' it pretty?

Paige and Bryn are all registered for high school. Bryn will be a senior while Paige will be a freshman. Their first day of school is Sept 1st. Paige had a special freshman orientation today that was basically team-building exercises. This year, the high schoolers will begin their day at 8:01am, versus 7:20 previous years, and go until 3:15pm. And they made study halls mandatory. This totally screwed up Bryn's schedule to the point where she was having to come in early (0 hour) to fit in the study hall! We took care of that!

Seems that Bryn has rededicated herself to running this year. She's been chosen as one of the four captains for the girls Cross Country team this year. Those four have led practices all summer long. They've inspired a record number of freshmen to come out. Their first meet is tomorrow and I can't wait!

And Abby's looking forward to getting back to La Crosse. We move her back Sept 5th and her first day of classes is Sept 8th. She'll be moving into a new dorm with a new roommate. Still the 4th floor though... ugghh! Jeff was helping Abby get ready to go back by purchasing a new laptop computer screen online for Abby (she stepped on hers) and installing it himself. Way to go Dad! It was very detailed and the parts were super tiny. Abby attended a leadership retreat last weekend with fellow CRU members as she hopes to help with the Latino community next year.

Last weekend we had lots of parties to be seen at. Paige got invited to a party that lasted all weekend! Her friend invited her up to their family's place near Prairie du Chein on the Mississippi. Paige had a blast fishing, playing card games, and driving the tractor on the farm and the golf card around the trailer park. Bryn went paintballing and to a bonfire. Jeff and I had friends over for wine Friday night, to a neighbor's big barbecue Saturday night, and to Bryn's Mission Trip picnic Sunday.

I got to play hookey from work yesterday afternoon and play golf with a client and my co-worker, Kevin. Our client is quite good, but was patient with us who don't lead that Country Club life. The course was beautiful and very challenging. I just enjoyed being able to play again.

I can't keep my regular Sunday blogging schedule anymore. So it happens when it happens.

So last Friday (7th) was the funeral for Abby's friend's dad. This cut Abby's visit with Meg & family in Indy a little short, but it let us explore other means of travel. Abby ended up taking the Amtrak from Indy to Chicago. Meg had to have her to the train station by 5:30am!!! And I took the Metra train into Chicago from Waukegan and met Abby at Union Station. We dragged her bags from Union Station back to Ogilvie Station where we took the Metra back to Waukegan, and drove from there. Worked out great but Abby wouldn't let us take one extra minute to get a bite to eat because she wanted to get to the funeral and be there for her friend as soon as possible.

Jeff treated Theo to a nice cool sudsy bath in the kiddie pool last weekend. I think he really liked the cool water. And now he smells so nice!

Wednesday morning at 8am Bryn and her Cross Country teammates started their annual 24-hour marathon. They make a schedule so that someone is running the entire 24 hours, but each runner takes a 30-minute shift. In between they had fun playing Ultimate Frisbee, Ultimate Football and kickball. They also liked when the automatic sprinklers came on. The coaches brought in a spaghetti dinner. Paige is not digging the Cross Country thing right now and is holding out from going to practices. I'm having fun updating the Cross Country blog for the team and the school has even made it the Girls Cross Country link from their website!

So while Bryn was running and Abby was at State Fair with her posse, Jeff, Paige, her friend Miranda and I went to the Brewers game Wednesday night. A print vendor offered suite tickets and a preferred parking pass to my work so Kevin and John were there with friends as well. We enjoyed a good game - they almost won in the 9th - with great seats!

Jeff and I have been searching to replace our Honda CRV. After it barely passed the emissions test and the mechanic's quote of $2300 to fit it, we've had to get down to business. Jeff's always looking on the internet and we've test drove a couple so far. Think we've narrowed it down to a 2008 Mazda 3 or Subaru Impreza. Both are smaller hatchback cars with good gas mileage.