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!