Back to the wedding last Saturday (21st). Jeff drove with Abby and Paige up to Appleton and was able to be at Chad & Robbyn's wedding ceremony. There were lots of pictures afterward. Jeff was invited for a drink at Cleo's downtown with his family, but didn't quite know what to do the girls so declined. Bryn drove me up after her two band ensembles, we arrived about 3:30pm and met Jeff, Abby and Paige at the hotel where we got ready. From there it was on to the reception out in Freedom. I was not disappointed with dinner, as they had yummy broasted chicken! and a lot of it! Chad & Robbyn's wedding cake was actually cupcakes! They were color-coded by the flower on top: red for carrot cake, blue for chocolate, etc. So good! The girls danced up a storm with cousin Kayla and Mitchell's girlfriend, Sam. The pic is of the father-daughter dance – Jeff had his arms full!

Abby's spring break ended as I drove with her back to La Crosse Sunday and Jeff went back to Milwaukee with Bryn and Paige. I took Abby and 2 of her good friends out for Chinese because they've never been able do Chinese yet. It was fun just soaking in their conversation. Monday I spoke at UW-La Crosse to a senior graphic design class about a typical day on the job. I have to admit my presentation was a little dry. But it's hard knowing what to share and what to edit out! Needed more interaction with the students. Obviously my job is not a professional speaker! I returned home to happily attend my BodyFlo class. My body needed stretching after all that weekend driving.

Jeff's little CRV is still on the mend. Jeff still want to try (God bless him!) one more thing! Some gasket that's on order. The car is certainly drivable, it's just a bit noisy.

I got to see Bryn win the hurdles and her 4x800 relay at her track meet in Cudahy this Thursday. Go Bryn! Forgot the camera though - I know Bryn was disappointed. She also ran the 4x400, but I didn't stay to watch. They placed 2nd. In the meantime, Paige and a few other students went with her Science teacher to help at an elementary school Science Fair. They held animals for the kids to pet.

Paige got her Little League draft call and will be playing on the Cardinals again this year. Her best friend, Miranda, got on the same team for the first time in their softball careers! Miranda was over all day yesterday making an extra-credit movie to accompany their Oregon Trail journal for social studies. They used puppetry and it's pretty cool. If Paige doesn't go into some sort of video arts for a career, I'll be surprised.

Bryn has been selected to Badger Girls State! What an honor! It just happens to take place the same week as our trip to Banff (June 21 - 16). Poop. I'll be on the phone with our timeshare company working that out this week. I really hope we can move our vacation. Bryn played with the high school Wind Symphony at Menomonee Falls Junior Miss Pageant last night. I asked if she got a lot of flak for not being a contestant. She said she'd never do that physical fitness routine the contestants did.


What a difference a day makes! Yesterday I see the promise of spring as I see my crocuses popping up and today it's back to the winter doldrums with 4 new inches of snow! Subsequently, I'm making homemade chicken and dumplings.

Well here I am in the UWL Library typing this week's blog entry. That's right. I'm staying overnight tonight in Abby's dorm room tonight. She's off with a girlfriend to make an appearance at a back-from-spring-break party. I actually thought ahead to have her drop me off here so I could blog and maybe do a little reading.

So this past week we've had Abby home all week. Not quite as crazy as when she was home over Christmas, but still very hard to adapt to having an additional schedule to incorporate into our lives. Abby was very fortunate to get scheduled to work over 20 hours at Hallmark this week. We all know college students need money! But of course working requires a vehicle to get there and back so we had to do a little rearranging with Bryn's car.

Tuesday I went in and got my passport picture taken. It only took 6 pictures to get it right. I'm sure it had nothing to do with me or my eyes. Abby got hers taken on Thursday - in 1 try. Then we went together to the post office on Friday to officially apply for our passports that we'll need for our trip to Canada this summer—and Abby will use again when she goes abroad one semester for school.


Bryn had her first indoor exhibition track meet on Thursday at Mequon. She looked excellent coming in 2nd in the hurdles (which I didn't get to see), 1st in the 400 and then ran in a 4x400 relay.

Paige stayed home from school Friday just to be safe. She went to bed at 6:30 Thursday night, wasn't hungry, complained that her tummy hurt. When I woke her Friday morning, she said she felt "like a noodle" and had a headache. Better safe than sorry with such a big day Saturday. Kristin brought Bella and Lucy over to see their cousin Abby. Bella let us know she was shy and asked not to be tickled. Bryn had a pasta dinner with her track team at the high school so I invited Abby's friends who were also home on break over for homemade mac n cheese dinner. The week went so fast that they really didn't get to spend great lengths of time together. They made up for it today. After dinner, they were off to their old grade school to see the annual Hoops Night, then topped the night off by having a big pajama party.


Saturday was a big day all around. Bryn and Paige started it off with performances at the school district's Solo & Ensemble. Both played beautiful solos. They rehearsed so hard and their accompanist did a great job. The only disappointment was that Paige's solo was cut short (actually in half!) by the judge due to time restrictions, which we had never heard of before. We commented to the parent helper and word found its way back to the band directors who got Paige in to perform and finish her piece. The disappointment was in the fact that Paige did not get to perform that 2nd time with her accompanist that she had practiced with so hard and so beautifully! :( Bryn got a 1* (highest you can get) on both her solo and her quartet which means she'll be playing it competitively again. While I stayed with Bryn for her later performances, Jeff took Abby and Paige up to Appleton for Chad and Robbyn's wedding in Appleton for the ceremony. And that's where I have to leave off because I haven't gone through the pictures yet!

Wish me sweet dreams as I lay on my futon tonight amidst piles of Abby's clean and dirty clothes! I speak to UWL tomorrow!

I've been working so hard on my presentation for UW-La Crosse, I completely forgot to blog!

We celebrated Bryn's birthday last Monday (9th) during the hour and a half she was home that day. A couple friends donned her with balloons she got to carry around school for the day. Jeff took Theo in bright and early to the vet to get his teeth cleaned - which means anesthesia. Jeff picked him up at the end of the day and Theo was so out of it. He cried and cried so we kept him closeby all evening.

Wednesday (11th) evening the high school put on a Donkey Basketball game. Yes, students and teacher actually rode donkeys! The game was a fundraiser for the Junior Prom. My friend Carrie and I went because we were curious and wanted to see the all the kids. It was fun, but kind of strange.

Bryn and Paige had off school Thursday (12th). This didn't exclude Bryn from having track practice.

Friday we welcomed Abby back home for spring break. She was able to get a ride from a girl in Hartland so I met them out that way. She got into the van holding a goldfish she is pet-sitting and I therefore had to be cautious of potholes as I drove so as to not make waves. Abby's first assignment upon arriving home was exchanging her loaner cell phone for a new replacement phone at the cell phone store because we received the replacement 10 days earlier to our home address explaining we had 10 days to do so! It went smoothly.

Paige has had several practices with her piano accompanist for Solo & Ensemble and she says Paige has a very difficult piece and is making great progress.

Saturday evening Abby, Bryn and Paige met at the mall to dress shop for Chad & Robbyn's wedding this weekend. Amazingly, they all found a dress within 2 hours! And stayed within the $ limit I set! I think we still have to get shoes though.

This is a pic of a recent job I've done at work and I was excited to see it in real life! It's a bus board for MillerCoors advertising their Free Rides program on St. Patrick's Day.

So I am supposed to be paying bills online right now, but I'm not quite ready for all that fun stuff yet. Maybe after I'm done blogging.

Bryn is in the middle of taking the ACT Prep class to prepare her for the ACT test on April 4th. The class is weekly and goes through each subject covered on the test.

Got a call at work from Abby's art teacher asking me to speak to her graphic design students at UW-L! So I'm signed up to talk the Monday after spring break which will be convenient with bringing Abby back to school. All I have to share is what it's like in the real job world for a graphic designer. I'm trying to put together a really cool presentation - hope I make the time to do it right! Cuz I'm certainly not going to just stand there and talk!

Friday we met Bryn and Paige's accompanist, Ms. Heins, for Solo & Ensemble. Ms. Heins teaches at their old elementary school, Ben Franklin. So Bryn and Paige each spent a half hour with Ms. Heins going over their solo pieces at Ms. Heins' home. Apparently, Paige's piece is quite difficult, so she needs more practice sessions than Bryn. From there, we drove to the Legion to meet Kristin, Carlo, Bella and Lucy for a fish fry. I put our name in right away as the place was jam packed. Unfortunately the hostess wasn't all that organized and nobody's name on the list ever got called. So Kristin just stood right in front of the hostess stand til we were assigned a table! We finally got to eat an hour and a half later! Luckily Paige entertained Lucy and Bella by taking them to the dance floor while we were waiting for our food to come. Then Bryn was off to a surprise birthday party for a friend and Jeff, Paige and I watched American Idol.


Saturday Bryn, Paige and I drove up to Appleton for Chad's fiancee's, Robbyn, shower. Great food and really liked the bingo game where you filled in the empty gameboard with guesses of what gifts Robbyn would open today, then of course as she opened them you marked them off. Paige won at our table. We were able to hold Chayse for quite a while. Then we played another game as a story was read and Paige won again! The shower ended earlier than scheduled, so I stopped at Shaffers who live just a block away. Only Tim was home, and since I came unannounced, I just chatted for about 10 minutes. Then me and the girls were off to the mall to get Bryn some running shoes for track. Kayla had recommended a great store! They analyze your foot as you run and they choose the shoes to fit you! Finished off shopping by buying fleeces, which is part of all their birthday presents this year for our trip to Canada this summer.

Jeff worked on the CRV again while we were gone and made us pizza when we got home. Then took Paige out to Hartland Ice Center because Jeff's friend Dave's son was playing in a hockey tournament out there. Paige really enjoyed the game and Jeff had fun with his buds and their kids.

This was a tough week for the Saunders - most of it we saw coming.

I've been driving our Honda CRV to work because I work further away and it gets better gas mileage than the van. I warned Jeff that it had been sounding rather loud so he drove it to work and apparently the entire exhaust system is falling apart. Luckily, we have a 3rd car (not lucky for Bryn!). So Bryn hasn't had her own car to drive to school all week. And when she did get it to drive to her trombone lesson Monday night, she got her first speeding ticket! Poor Jeff tries every night getting another part and getting under the CRV, which is on blocks in the garage. It's still there tonight. To be continued...

Tuesday my parents came down to see Paige's Pops Band Concert which was very enjoyable. Instead of classical music, this concert is all more popular music.

Wednesday Jeff and I had committed to work concessions for the last boys' basketball game at the high school. My parents opted to stay another night planning to watch Idol with Paige. Paige got invited to paint t-shirts for her upcoming Dodgeball tournament. So my parents were alone. Nice visit, eh?

The completed, every-bone-labeled skeleton left our home Thursday. I told Bryn and Marisa that theirs has to be the best! Theo went to the vet on Thursday for a regular check-up and the vet commented on what a happy dog he is. :) When I came home from work I was surprised to find Bryn home as she was scheduled to work. Sadly Bryn explained that she had informed her boss about track practice beginning in 2 weeks and her boss decided that wasn't going to fit into her work schedule, so Bryn can be "done." Nice. Poor Bryn. After supper, I went over to another Student Council parent's home to help organize all the donated items for the Winter Carnival's Silent Auction. We got some great stuff, and I carefully planned my bidding strategy for Sunday as I helped assemble the auction baskets.

Friday I had to drag myself into work as we are very busy and a co-worker (very deservedly) had off. It's hard to complain about work when so many are out of a job. Paige had her afterschool "Friday Frenzy" where the Dodgeball tournament was held. Her team came in 2nd! Their name was the Foo Fighters and each kid had 2 of the team name letters on their shirt so when they stood together you could read "Foo Fighters." On her ride home Jeff and I learned that we were hosting a sleepover. As the girls were dropped off, we learned how many guests we were having. It was fine and Jeff and I had just planned to stay home and watch TV anyways.

Abby went to Kaukauna for the weekend to a friend's house and even went to visit her Grandma in Appleton! We've only heard about it because Jeff's mom called us to tell us. We'll have to get details from Abby later. Jeff coordinated a nice dinner out with 2 other couples for Saturday night. Paige was hired to babysit and asked to bring a friend because it was for 6 kids and it was a long night: 6pm to 1am! They both made a lot of money. And Bryn had a friend over to chill.


And Sunday (today) was the big event: The Student Council Childrens Winter Carnival. This is an annual event that I've become involved in because my children have been on the Exec Board of Student Council the last two years. Bryn and I had to be there at 8:30am for set up. It's kind of chaos but it all works out. We had to set up about 12 games, a concession stand, ticket booth, welcome table, posters for everything. I had such fun being the "runner" and taking pictures of all the high school kids! The Carnival runs from noon til 4pm. My sister and her family came and it's fun to watch them play. Lucy was fascinated with the dog on top of the big bouncy house! Bryn and I helped clean up til 4:30, then we came home so Bryn could have a nap and go on to her next event: a UWAY concert. Jeff went down to see it this time. We're tired.