Happy 15th birthday to our youngest! Can you believe it? Paige got to begin her awesome birthday by marching with the high school band in our Village Memorial Day parade. Thank goodness it was much cooler weather this morning! Our family met afterwards to share birthday cake - which this year was custard at Kraverz - with Paige. After blogging, I will begin to prepare Paige's birthday dinner request: spaghetti and meatballs!



Since we've been so busy putting in extra hours at work, attending school year-end events, and with softball and track seasons ending, we decided to stay home this Memorial Day weekend. Jeff ordered 10 yards of mulch for us and we put our team to work! We got about half the yard done so we're happy. But Jeff heard his knee "pop" Saturday and has been limping ever since. That hasn't kept him from the yardwork, but us girls are trying to keep him away from it. While watering some of the flowers, Paige discovered a bird's nest in one of our hanging plants on the front porch.


So Paige's freshman softball team is the unofficial conference champ (not recognized at the freshman level) with their win over Brookfield East last Thursday! Paige was bummed that game as she was saved to pitch that final game, but the coaches determined that her batting average was better at games where she wasn't pitching, so they didn't have her pitch. The coaches kept yelling at her to "smile" when she was in the outfield. Since school ball is over, her Little League season can begin!

And Bryn wasn't able to participate as much as she had hoped with the track team. She's planning to head out to La Crosse for the Track State and watch some of her teammates compete this coming weekend. Bryn still attended every practice and meet, fully supporting her team. We visited the foot doctor this past Friday as Bryn is still experiencing some pain and swelling. The doctor prescribed some insoles and anti-flammatory cream and we'll see him back in a month or so.

Bryn had a big day May 22nd. She signed up Abby and herself to ride in the Bike A Thon, a fundraiser for her summer mission trip. It was a beautiful day. I was able to help out again with designing the t-shirts. Aren't they cool? I suggested the red color this year for community visibility. And I stuck around to take some pictures, help with registration and serving lunch at the park, where the halfway point is. Next year I swear I'm going to ride it!

In the evening, Grandma Karen and Grandpa Clark came into town and we all went to see Bryn and Paige perform at the high school for Jazz N Java. Such a nice event. The audience is seated at round tables and is able to purchase drinks and bakery while you listen to samplings from all the area schools' jazz bands.

May 14th I drove out to La Crosse with Abby's boyfriend, Mark, and packed Abby up from the dorms to move back home for the summer. Thank goodness Mark was available and willing. We ran up and down from her dorm room to the van, while Abby kept filling boxes and duffle bags! Then we treated Mark to Buzzard Billy's for lunch and then headed across the street for ice cream. Not looking forward to moving the big stuff into a house for her next year!

The biggest news in my life is that one of my 3 co-workers quit 2 weeks ago. When there's only 4 of you at work, 1 missing makes a huge difference. And that difference directly impacts me. So I'm a 9 to 5 gal now. Temporarily. And it's 7:30 to 3:30. Hopefully my boss will begin interviewing replacements soon. My remaining co-worker, Mike, and I are cranking so hard at work. We barely talk.

This is the group Bryn went to Senior Holiday with last Friday night. We hosted the picture party. They had a lot of fun, except that Bryn had a track meet in the nasty, cold rain the next morning. The track coaches have finally put Bryn in a few meets, but Bryn's been disappointed with her performance. I think she just needs more time. She's very hard on herself. Bryn is filling out all her forms to officially attend Carroll next fall. She picked her grad party to be July 10th, so she could make it to all her other friends' parties already scheduled. I've been helping Bryn resize digital pictures of all her Art projects throughout her Senior Portfolio class - very impressive!

Paige was checked over by her regular doctor today and he gave her the green light to start back in to softball after her shoulder sprain a week ago Friday. Paige really gave her all she got that night with a big lead off first base, only to have to do a crazy head-first slide back when they tried to throw her out. She ended up landing on her outstretched shoulder and it was very painful to move. The urgent care gave her a sling to wear for week. Which Paige literally wore for one week. Paige also saw the trainer today who had her do some great stretches to ease her shoulder back into shape. Paige officially umped her first Little League game last weekend - check's in the mail! I think she liked it.

I had a great Mother's Day! Jeff and the kids took me to see Avatar at the IMAX! It was very cool. A little too much fighting, but the scenery was beautiful. I was also presented with new, very needed, fully assembled laundry-sorting bins.

Our stove is slowly dying. We never know which burner will decide to work or for how long.

Abby has finals this week and her boyfriend and I will be going to La Crosse to move her back home on Friday. Jeff's boss conveniently signed him up to attend a conference that day.

Abby was home this past weekend and reminded me I had fallen behind on the blog. I forget how those college students depend on the news from home.

This time, I will journal backwards... So Abby brought her friend, Amy, home from UWL this weekend to take her to Miller Park and see a Brewers game. Jeff also attended the game with Terry, Paul, Kayla, Nate and some of Paul's family. Because Terry was involved, there was plenty of food and no one wanted for anything. They didn't get to see a good game, but I think all had fun. I stayed put here in the Falls strolling back and forth between the softball field where Paige was playing and the track field where Bryn ran. Bryn was put in her first meet Friday since her surgery. She ran the last leg of the 4x800 relay and got a very decent time! She's earned her spot back on the Varsity team now.

All this past week we didn't see much of Bryn as she rehearsed with the band for the musical, Fame, put on this weekend. She'd have all of 20 minutes between track practice and pit band practice to grab something to eat. So basically she was gone from 7:30 am to 10:00pm. She's looking forward to sleeping again this week.

One of my co-workers will be leaving Norman Design this week. Really sad about it. Obviously, John wants me to work full-time. I'd like to get a lot more out of my job if I'm putting that much time into it, so I think I'll pass.

Paige's softball team is undefeated! Paige is doing very well pitching. And a game doesn't go by without someone commenting on how fast she runs those bases. She's earned the nickname Spidey for her crouching stance and the way she holds her hands out when leading off base. And the coach calls her Wheels for her speed.

Last weekend I traveled to Indy to help celebrate Meg and William's 40th birthdays. They rented a bar & grill, hired a DJ and invited about 100 people to their 80s themed party. I rode with Kristin down there and with Kristin and Craig on the way back. It's nice the ride is so long so we could have a great conversation! The highlight of the party - without a doubt - was Meg's best friend, Betsy, karaoke-ing to Michael Jackson.

And the weekend before that, Jeff and I flew out to New York City! Bryn and Paige were already there on their band trip and we did get to run into them for pizza Friday night and at the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Ctr) on Saturday night. We had dinner Friday night with Melissa, my first co-worker at Norman Design, who now lives and works out there. We toured Central Park, walked through the Guggenheim Museum, took in a Broadway show and ferried out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Out hotel was in the best possible spot: we could walk 6 blocks in any direction and be in Times Square, Central Park... So nice.

On Monday, Bryn was let out of school to play with the high school Wind Symphony for the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference in the Capitol in Madison. She had a great time.

Paige passed her umpire test Tuesday night, so will be scheduled to umpire at Little League games during the summer.

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day and both Jeff and I were able to watch the freshman softball team scrimmage against Germantown. Paige looked good pitching.


Abby was able to hitch a ride home from La Crosse Thursday night for Easter weekend. The girls had a lot of fun outside enjoying the warm weather that night.

Everybody was off on Friday except for Jeff. I went to the Y in the morning, then us girls did a little shopping to prepare for our upcoming trips. We made stops at Target, TJMaxx, and JCPenney. It was a lot of fun. Jeff rented the Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker, from the library and we were excited to watch it that night. I found it quite boring and went to bed after the first hour. Jeff watched the rest, but wasn't so impressed either.

I woke up early Saturday morning and found myself grocery shopping amongst a store-wide Easter Egg Hunt! The store puts wrapped Easter candy throughout the aisles. Not a bad deal - there were lots of leftovers! Back home, it was a big laundry day to make sure Abby had hers done to go back to school the next day and Bryn and Paige's done so they could pack it up to leave on Monday for the band trip to Boston and New York City. Jeff is suffering from spring allergies with a headache, watery eyes, and congestion.



Abby, Bryn and Paige had to get up at 8:00am this morning to search for their Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny did something different this year: a scavenger hunt. The first clue was on the kitchen table. They had to figure out clues which led them to a page in the Bible, a message in Paige's email, and finally to the passenger seat of their car: "I call shotgun!" It was fun to watch. We all got ready and headed to church at Elmbrook, then for Easter brunch at the Odyssey. We got our turn to be serenaded before we left. Abby got invited to Mark's for Easter dinner this afternoon while Paige and Bryn finish checking things off their packing lists.

Bryn was buried in paperwork early this week as she wrote numerous essays and filled out applications for several scholarships that are run through the high school. The packet was due Wednesday, so she began printing Monday night. I was so proud I had remembered to purchase another ream of paper. So of course, we run out of ink! Back on track Tuesday night, but Bryn had a track meet so Jeff and I had to collate all 20 sets consisting of 1 application form, 9 pages of essays, and 2 letters of recommendation EACH.

Paige endured 4 days of softball tryouts Monday through Thursday. On Friday, the teams were announced and she made the freshman team! She will be 1 of 2 pitchers for the team. Yay Paige! Her first game is Wednesday already!

Bryn checked in with Dr Barczak on Thursday and he recommended she not do the hurdles til after spring break, but was good with Bryn running whatever other event she was comfortable doing. Bryn's been participating in all the practices and at meets she's been helping coach and taking times.

Maggie and Terry came down to visit Saturday. We're so terrible about getting anywhere besides our own events, it's nice people take time to come to us.

Saturday was also my final day of work at Kohls. I really did like working there. It did get to be a lot to juggle schedule-wise though, and I just couldn't put anything in the way of attending all Bryn's track meets and Paige's softball games this spring. They really hate it if I'm not there to take pictures.

I entered a team into our local Incredible Trivia contest that took place last night. We hosted the team, Random House, at our home. Jeff and I have both participated in Lawrence University's trivia weekend back in Appleton. We were able to recruit 4 families and shared dinner and snacks throughout the contest which ran from 4 - 9 pm. We had access to 3 laptops and 1 iMac. The contest even included a "road rally" portion which was kind of a scavenger hunt that we sent the kids on and they had a blast bragging how they had overtaken the "ladies in the green van" to take 1st place! The kids also were very quick googling and calling in our answers. Toward the end of the contest, we received a phone call that our team was one of the top 5 finishers and we needed to come to the studio! We were then announced as the 4th place team and made our television cable access debut! We all really had a lot of fun and think we'll do it again next year.

Bryn was supposed to do some testing for the UW system today, but opted not to as she has eliminated UW-La Crosse from her list of college prospects.

Back to me blogging. Won't be as clever as Miss Paige.

Paige was a good little girl wearing her rubberbands 24/7 throughout February and was rewarded by getting her braces off March 1st. She had them on a little over 2 years. She now has a clear retainer she only has to wear at night.



Bryn turned 18 on March 9th and when I asked her about having a party, she replied "I'm not supposed to know about it!" So I went with that and sent out evites to 20 of her closest friends for a surprise party. I had to have an inside man, so I relied on Natalie to help me out. Natalie and Paige both helped me make the guest list and get in contact with those I couldn't via email. Natalie's main job was creating a diversion for Bryn to get out of the house while all her guests arrived. Natalie's birthday is close to Bryn's, so Natalie got her to Fuddrucker's for dinner on Friday, March 5th. All the guests got here before Bryn and Natalie got back and did an excellent job parking far enough away from the house. When Bryn came downstairs, she was actually scared at first and jumped back when everyone shouted "Surprise!" Only 2 couldn't make it so it was a great turnout. They had cake and ice cream here, then were treated to bowling.


Paige participated in another demo, The Best of the Best, for Tae Kwon Do on March 13th. I wasn't able to go again (working at Kohls), but Abby was home for spring break and my mom and dad were down too so Paige had plenty of spectators. Paige played a part in the demonstration early on, then took 4th place in breaking a board and showing her form.

My parents stopped in last weekend on their way back from Florida. Unfortunately I had to work at Kohls everyday. Good thing having Mom here though: my laundry and ironing is all caught up! Dad and Jeff got to watch a lot of basketball. Craig (they stayed in Chicago with him before coming here) and Bryn both caught the flu germs they left behind though.

So Abby was home this past week and got to enjoy the beautiful spring-like weather. Hallmark got her in to work where one of her tasks was creating a Facebook fan page for the store. Abby got to see Mark play intramural soccer at MSOE, take Bryn to a movie for her birthday, take advantage of my Kohls Associate shop day (extra 30% off!), and get a massage, brow wax and haircut. We all got to spend some quality time with her this week which was really nice.

We're really pressuring Bryn to make a decision about where to go to college next year as many due dates are coming up fast. So to help her along, I took her out to Carroll Friday afternoon to visit their Physical Therapy department. Bryn has been offered a generous financial aid package there, so Carroll's very worth considering. She has to name one college on her school scholarship package that she'll turn in on Wednesday....



This past Saturday was Solo & Ensemble where both Bryn and Paige participated in several events. Both the girls seem to attract large audiences when they play which is unusual in this particular situation. Bryn will go on to State for both her solo and a trombone duet.

February 28, 2010

What's crackalackin, this is Paige. My mom is at a StuCo meeting and she probably wouldn't have done the blog anyways if she were here because well, she's been slacking. Remember when she updated it every week?!
Anyways, happy late Valentine's Day!
Bryn went up to watch her best friend Natalie Misasi compete in a state skiing race. She took 5 in the state!
So Bryn had a band concert a while ago. Also, she's been busy with a lot of art projects. Apparently tomorrow is the start of "Spirit week" and I don't mean spirit like pep, I mean the teacher. I had a Pop's Concert like last week, it was okay. Upside: I got a shamrock shake! Downside: We had to wait like a half hour to get it because they ran out of syrup in the machine. At one point, they said they were out and I just about died inside.
I went to the dermatologist and they made me take a pregnancy test. It was quite awkward. Not like they thought I was pregnant or anything, it's just required because if I get put on this pill which I'd prefer not to start after reading the BOOKLET of side effects, if you're pregnant it gives your child serious birth defects. Like they have probably 0-1% of being SEMI normal. So yeah. That was just...interesting. Didn't think I'd be taking a pregnancy test at 14 years old.
Bryn can jog now, that's pretty cool. She'll be able to run by track season! I'm doing track until softball tryouts, and then I'll be playing for the Freshmen softball team (JV if I just suddenly become a beast during tryouts) I get to pitch at the open gyms, and I have to admit the first time I did I was basically freaking out since it was the first time I pitched since my lovely little hit to the face last summer. Well my big news is...I GET MY BRACES OFF TOMORROW!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY. You're probably not excited, but I've been counting down the days for a month now. After being told at age 3 that you were getting braces, and then going through the process of 2 years of headgear, spacers, bands, chains, and rubber bands, I think you'd be pretty pumped. If you've never had braces, you do NOT understand. Wow, our family's pretty boring. (Story of my life since Abby left.)
We had a big snow storm but of course no school cancellations. Theo really loved running around in all the snow.I was very dissapointed when I found out college spring break is only a week. What?! Let's be realistic, that is not enough time for a college student's spring break.
During MFHS's spring break Bryn and I are going to New York! It's gonna be sweet. And joy! Mom and dad are also going...the same week.
Mom dragged me along to clean her work and lied and told me she'd give me $15. I never received any money...what is this.
So we went to Tazino's to eat tonight. I. am. so. full. You go and get tons of food, eat it, and then you feel like 50 billioin pounds fatter. Sick. At least the food was good.
I went to my friend Becca's house with my other friend Jamie yesterday because we had to make a History video about WWII and Women entering the workforce. Gotta say, it was pretty dramatic. For real. Like there were two crying scenes. I mean, that is intense for a 3ish minute video. And to add to this greatness, I look like a stud in a suit with extra broad built in shoulders.
So uh, I guess that's pretty much it. Livin the Saunders life can be a little blah sometimes. It pretty much consists of: One Tree Hill, school, sports, Bryn & I making fun of mom, Bryn being sarcastic, Mom smiling, Dad farting and saying "whoops", missing Abby, and Theo spitting in random places and farting such horrible smelling farts that we need to evacuate the area. But ya know we have our fun times. After all we are the Saunders! haha. I feel like I talked about myself too much during this. I'm sorry. Have a wonderful evening all you cool cats reading this!