Bryn's private lesson teacher was finally able to move some students around and fit Bryn in for trombone lessons on Mondays. It's her only free weeknight, so it was make it work or find another teacher!

Tuesday (16th), Jeff walked Paige's school schedule at North's Open House and I drove Bryn's UWAY carpool down to UWM. I put some effort in ahead of time (at work) and found a helpful website that mapped out walking routes. I wanted to take advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather and the opportunity to enjoy new surroundings for my Tuesday walk. I had a lot of company walking down by the lake and back through Lake Park. It was very scenic. I was back to the Union by 7:40 (it was dark anyways) where I had a snack and read til UWAY was over. Bryn gathered her nerves and did approach the conductor after practice about her last chair position. He did offer to listen to her again before next rehearsal.

Wednesday (17th), I walked Bryn's school schedule at the High School Open House while Jeff chauffeured Paige back and forth to Tae Kwon Do. These Open House's allow you to meet each of your child's teachers for 10 minutes. It's not like a conference where you discuss your child. I was anxious to see the progress of the construction at the High School and it did get quite a facelift. I was able to see the new weightroom which Bryn utilizes for her Aerobic Conditioning class and the new science rooms. I commented to Bryn on how I couldn't take her Anatomy & Physiology class - her teacher described the cat they GET TO dissect and the cadavers they GET TO view at Marquette and the Medical College. Ew!

Our home was host to the girls Cross Country "Carb Cram" Thursday (18th) evening. There's a myth out there that eating tons of carbs two days before a race is good for you. It's not bad for you, but there's just no scientific proof. Anyways, this year the girls have coordinated weekly Carb Crams at rotating homes where the host home provides the main dish and others are assigned to bring fruit, plates/utensils, salad, dessert, etc. Even the coaches come! It's a great bonding tool for the team. Bryn did an excellent job cleaning the basement up the night before. I made 2 pans of mostaccioli and 3 loaves of french bread. It was fun to see them all relaxing together.

Jeff got to enjoy the afternoon golfing with a couple dads from the area. The girls had early release from school. Bryn still had XC practice right after. Paige walked to have lunch with a group of friends. Paige was hired to babysit at night. Jeff and I decided to take advantage of her being occupied and met another couple for the Big Pig Gig. Again the weather was perfect and we were home by 10pm, so Bryn could get to bed to be ready for her race the next day. I waited up for Paige and was amazed I made it til 12:15am!

Since Paige was up so late Friday night, Jeff opted to stay home and let her sleep in while I drove down to UWParkside in Kenosha to watch Bryn run at her Cross Country meet. I arrived just as the JV Girls were finishing. The course at Parkside is strictly for Cross Country so it is well groomed and very pretty. The sun was out and it was a perfect 72° for the runners. Bryn looked much more confident and strong, but did not reach her goal to run under 17 minutes so was disappointed. I love cheering her on at the meets. She has so much potential. Bryn skipped the rescheduled Student Council car wash, but made it to fulfill her volunteer commitment at the Big Pig Gig that evening.

We're anxiously anticipating Abby's first time coming home from college. Jeff and I are still getting things re-organized between bedrooms so everybody's comfy. I made a dinner reservation with Abby for that weekend so I was sure to get MY time in! She's found a carpool to/from UWL already for only $15! Deal! I'm so thankful for facebook because that's my little snapshot of what's going on without asking her 20 questions.

I'm making an effort to blog every Sunday for my college freshmen audience who may be feeling a teensy bit homesick. I know all of you are struggling with your new independence, and hopefully are enjoying it. We miss all of you and hope that when you're home you'll remember to visit ALL your "moms" and "dads" and "sisters" and "brothers".

Bryn made it to her ortho appointment this Monday (8th). No big deal after her trial run last Friday. :)

Paige and I had the house to ourselves Tuesday (9th) night as Jeff went to the 11-inning Brewers game with his work and Bryn had her first UWAY rehearsal of the season. After Paige finished her homework, I decided to get in my weekly Tuesday evening power walk. It's getting darker so much earlier, that for me to walk for my hour, I now have to leave the house by 6:30pm. Anyways, off I go and as usual I never go the same way. I like to explore the neighborhoods and new construction. Unfortunately this route led me to a dead end so I had to retrace my route and ended up walking way further than I wanted. And my dumb shoes game me a huge blister on the back of my right heel! I was walking so fast to get home, against it getting dark and wanting to take my stupid shoes off!!! Abby called and talked to Paige while I was gone. When I got back, Paige of course is so excited to visit Abby, she had me checking the train schedule online. All of a sudden, Paige is talking to Jeff at the Brewers game telling him she's going to UWL to visit Abby! Wait a minute! Bryn came home from UWAY later and announces she's last chair! She dropped 3 chairs from last year. Weird. I told her to go talk to the conductor and ask what the determining factors were. We'll see where that goes.

I had to cancel the 3rd trombone lesson I had scheduled for Bryn for this week on Wed (10th). Bryn came home from Cross Country practice and notified us of Jazz Band practice also that night. Don't know how she fits it all in.

Friday (12th) I was off again (as it should be). I was able to further clean out Abby's new room, iron, and pay bills. My friend, Carrie, invited me to Target with her but I answered that I needed to stay away as it's a non-paycheck week and there's a few items there I want to buy... Paige didn't come home on the bus after school, but then I remembered that at dinner last night she had mentioned a "waffle party" at a boy's house. When I had no contact from her at 7pm, I called the boy's house. His mom answered and everything was cool. This boy had it made hosting 6 girls! They had a lot of fun making waffles, and playing basketball and RockBand.


Bryn had a Cross Country meet scheduled for Saturday (13th) morning. She was up early to prepare, only to receive a text about a half hour before: "cancelled." She was mildly relieved. It was rainy and the course would've been a mess. I rearranged my morning and went out to grocery shop deciding to drive by the park (the meet was held here in the Falls) to see how bad the conditions/possible flooding was. I noticed runners from faraway schools walking the course (Sheboygan Falls, Appleton East), feeling sorry those teams didn't get the cancellation notice early enough in the morning. As I drove further, there was our Falls concession stand... families I knew... and our runners!!! It's not cancelled!!! I called home immediately and told Bryn. Luckily it was still 20 minutes before the meet started. I made a U-turn to go home to pick up Jeff so we could watch. We met up with Bryn under the girls' tent and she was not happy. Because she thought she wasn't running, she ate more than her typical pre-race menu. Together with her pre-race jitters, her tummy wasn't feeling good. By the time the girls varsity was up to run, she had convinced her coach that she couldn't run today. Jeff and I both had individual pep talks with her to urge her to be there for the team and give it her best try. The light rain was refreshing and if she didn't do well, she could always blame it on the poor course conditions! Her coach ended up pushing her to run and she did great. She didn't talk to us the rest of the day though so we don't know exactly what place she finished in. Understandable. But I'm proud of her efforts. We finally figured that the text message she received that morning must've been about the Student Council car wash, but we still don't know the source.

Today (14th) was Paige's first day of Sunday School. Jeff is still watching the Packers game (what the heck was that!), Paige is baking chocolate chip cookies and Bryn's doing homework. I had go down a list of La Crosse hotels today to figure out where I made reservations for UWL Parents Weekend in October. Not like me, but I must not have printed out my reservation confirmations. I remembered making 2 reservations, because my choices were so limited. The hotel clerks were entertained at my forgetfulness and I did locate the hotels. Now we just have to decided between the two and cancel one. I fiddled around on the computer and came up with 4 new options for new Band logos for the school district. I emailed them off this morning to one of the teachers. No one really asked for them, so I'm not sure how they'll be received.

We enjoyed the Brewers Game in cool comfort on Labor Day. A printer Norman Design uses invited the company to view the game in their club-level suite. Sweet! It was a 90° day and the accommodations were perfect. All food and beverages were supplied (except for Paige's pretzel she had to have). My boss, John, and his girlfriend and her son were able to come, as well as my co-worker Kevin with his girlfriend and 2 other friends and the new Saunders-minus-one (Abby!) family. Bryn and Paige loved the luxury of having a parking pass, special escalators for "suites only" and our own restroom.

Tuesday Sept 2 was Paige's first day of school. Her bus picks her up at 6:40am now that she's in 8th grade. And Bryn went for her first day on Wednesday. She's very excited to drive herself and especially not have to wait around to be picked up after Cross Country practice. Construction at the high school is still not near finished. All the lockers throughout the school were replaced, but the kids were issued crazy combinations (like too few or too many digits) and locker numbers for lockers that didn't even exist! So the poor kids carried around everything for the first few days.

Bryn drove herself to the orthodontist for the first time Thursday. Loves morning ortho appointments because even though an 8:00 appointment sounds early, it's not as early as getting to school by 7:10! I think Bryn still wasn't quite wide awake as she got all the way to the ortho and realized she forgot her retainer for her retainer check.... It's now rescheduled for Monday. And Abby called me at work to ask why her debit card might be repeatedly getting declined. I asked her if she was checking her bank balance online (as I told her to do) before she went out to make any purchases and her response was, "does it matter?" I think she answered her own question.

My boss asked me to work Friday as it was a short week, but we've been so slow I just didn't feel the need. Besides, it's so exciting, that first Friday of school when I know I have the house to myself! I worked out and then ran so many errands! Like depositing money from Abby's savings into her checking account. :) After school Bryn ran Cross Country at Greenfield Park and placed around 40th. Improved her time by 30 seconds! Jeff and I are going to take a short movie at the next meet so she can critique her running form. We think she can gain a lot of time by just lengthening her strides. And she never looks tired at the end of the race!

Saturday morning I got up and started baking. It's my weekend to bake the communion bread for church. I like that our church promotes baking our own bread. I was done by 10. Got my hair cut and updated my facebook picture that I was getting insults about. Jeff took Bryn to the Good Feet Store to see what they might have available for Bryn's tired cross-country-running feet. They measured her all up and took some kind of scan, had her try various inserts and handed Jeff the package for a discount price of $600!!! He turned them down as none of their products seemed specific to her needs. Guess we'll be trying out Dr. Scholls. I've been cleaning and organizing all Abby's leftovers so that Paige may move into her room. Then I'll have to do the same with Paige's leftovers so Abby can move there. I think with a few cosmetic additions, each room can be updated. It's kind of nice having the extra space (bedroom) to dump stuff in for a while and sort out when time allows.

Today I was able to take Bryn and Paige shopping for a couple additions to their bedrooms. Don't worry Abby, we'll have yours set before you come back for Homecoming too! The girls then did their weekend homework.

We're lucky to communicate with Abby via cell phones, facebook, and email - and she's been good about talking to us. But not having Little Abby around has been noticeable. No drive-through breakfast in the morning before school. No Gilmore Girls or Jon and Kate +8 after school. We can see the bathroom counter. But we miss her teasing and craziness around the house and hope someone at UWL is smiling because of it.

Sunday Aug 24th Paige left at 7am for Indiana with 3 friends for a few days. She was invited to a friend's lakehouse. I was surprised to find out the lakehouse was located in Indiana, but the family is originally from there, so I guess that's their "up north." I drove Bryn down to UWM to test for her chair position within UWAY. She won't find out the result til her first rehearsal. She had extra practices with her teacher to get ready for this, but felt she didn't do her best. I think Bryn underestimates herself.

Abby had a very traumatic Monday night. She and her boyfriend of 11 months broke up. Great timing. I guess it never is though. Her good friends Mac and Kendal came over very late to console her and I was able to have a bedside talk with her after that.

Paige returned on Tuesday and had a great time. They went boating, canoeing, tubing, waterskiing, to a flea market and just walking around. We developed her pictures from her disposable cameras and the pictures show how much fun they had.

Bryn had her first Cross Country meet right at Rotary Park here in the village Thursday Aug 28th. She was a little nervous all day before the meet. Again this year, Bryn leads as our school's top runner and placed 14th overall. Abby's last day of work was today and the Hallmark ladies made her a big send-off sign and gave her lots of little presents. Fortunately, Abby will be able to continue to work there whenever she lets them home she's home. After her shift, Abby and I went out last-minute dorm shopping for all those forgotten items that somehow slipped through our checklist. We hit JCPenney, then Kohls, too late for Target so we went to WalMart. We were out til 11:00pm!!! One bonus is that it's not busy at that time of night!

Kristin brought Bella and Lucy over to say good-bye and good luck to Abby as she heads off to UWL. Bella was silly and took a few bounces out on the "trampolina" with Bryn and Paige. Abby continued packing boxes and crates most of the day, but had to run out to pick up something else and deposit her paycheck. We all headed over to the high school booster club's corn roast for dinner. Really nice event that's totally free: hot dogs, soda/water and corn! Paige didn't feel like watching the first high school football game that followed, so Jeff and I went back home with her while Bryn and Abby stayed. Jeff and I kept packing and came to the realization that we did need two cars to carry all Abby's stuff plus our family.




Saturday morning we were all up and on the road at 7am. Abby's scheduled move-in time was between 11am and noon. We arrived in La Crosse about 10:45am and drove up to unload. Then student volunteers help carry boxes up to your room! Nice! Abby did admit she overpacked but didn't let us take much back with us. Thank goodness Paige and Bryn are such great helpers as they were indispensable picking up the loft and futon and then helping to assemble them within the room. They also came along to shop (again?!!!) for dormroom food and a few other forgotten items. We finally got to meet Abby's roommate, Ashley, who arrived just before us and her parents. Ashley is also the oldest of 3 children. I believe Abby set the record for taking the longest amount of time moving in. We left she and Ashley at 4:00pm. Abby is in an all-freshmen dorm which should be reassuring that everyone in there is in the same situation. We rented a hotel room (thank god!) and just chilled for a half hour before cleaning up to have dinner at 4:30. (We didn't eat lunch and were so exhausted from going up and down 4 flights of stairs in 90° weather!) Came back to swim for a bit and watched a movie.

Sunday morning we visited Abby one last time bringing her another shopping bag of needed items and helped her with her bike lock that didn't want to cooperate. Abby was planning to buy her books later that day. She told us she didn't like living there, but we assured her that these first few days are the toughest part of college because you have to redefine yourself in a totally unfamiliar setting. We treated Bryn and Paige to some not-for-Abby-going-to-college shopping at Johnson Creek and returned home by 6pm. Did I mention we are broke?

No pictures again. Our newest camera suffered a fatal accident. We're sending it away for a repair estimate.

Sunday Aug 17th Jeff and I went down to the lakefront for IrishFest. I received two tickets at work via IrishFest's current PR firm who's looking outside to redesign the Fest's logo. So the visit was "research." I really wanted to attend the huge Catholic mass that's held at the Amphitheatre, but Paige hosted a sleepover from the night before that didn't really cooperate with our plans. No takers on wanting to come with either. So Jeff and I went down for a pint of ale and stew. It's really an enjoyable Fest.

Bryn had to stay up Sunday night as Monday Aug 18th is the first official WIAA-sanctioned day of practice for high school fall sports so Cross Country annually schedules a Midnight Run. Thank goodness Bryn is 16 now and could drive herself to the high school and back. We didn't wait up.

Bryn visited the doctor Tuesday as she hasn't been feeling the best while running. She feels nauseous and isn't sleeping because of it. The doctor's treating it as acid reflux and of course there's over-the-counter stuff for that. The doctor also suggested slight modifications to her diet including eating yogurt in the morning. Bryn is not a fan. But Go-Gurt seems to be better. We'll see how it goes, but she seems to be working through it.

Paige was called back by the select softball team for a 2nd tryout Wednesday Aug 20th. There were also some girls trying out for the 1st time as they couldn't make the other tryout date. Not sure where Paige stands, but getting called back has to be good! We haven't heard anything yet...

Thursday Aug 21st was school registration day. I switched my off day from Friday to Thursday just for the occasion. We took Bryn to the high school after morning Cross Country practice. There's a lot of construction still going on at the high school, but what is done looks pretty spiffy! After lunch I accompanied Paige to her new junior high school. She wouldn't walk her classes with me. She prefers that her older sisters do that. The school is open next week so they can drop off her supplies and walk her schedule. First day of school is Sep 2nd for Paige and 3rd for Bryn.

Saturday Aug 23rd was Paige's school shopping day. We purchased all her school supplies as well as a few clothes. And a couple of her own makeup items. Major milestone. Shopping trips are so much more enjoyable when you can take one child by themselves. She had a good day.

Abby's pretty much MIA lately: getting up early and coming home around midnight. She leaves on her bike with all her belongings in a gianormous backpack and goes to the Y, shops, visits/has lunch with friends, works, goes to Brewers games... I had to ask her to write down her social schedule so that I can request a time to fit in a few family things and organize/pack up for college before next weekend when she leaves! Believe me, there weren't very many open spots! The whole day today is open, of which I'm hoping she'll be catching up on some sleep. She went for a midnight bike ride last night which got her back home at 3am!

Obviously from my lack of blogging, a lot has been happening.

Aug 6th Jeff and I attended a UWL Freshmen SendOff picnic with Abby for all incoming freshmen from the area. We mingled with new friends as well as a few from Menomonee Falls. Too bad Abby's roommate is from further away or we would've been able to meet her. Guess we'll have to wait until move in day! We exchanged email addresses with a couple parents hoping to coordinate rides home, or delivery of care packages when one of us goes.


Aug 8th Jeff took 3 buddies from his softball coaching days out to The Bog for a day of golf. They had a beautiful day. Afterward, us spouses joined them for dinner at one of their homes. We each brought a portion of the meal and we really enjoyed ourselves. I got to bring dessert and luckily had leftovers! Coffee ice cream with crushed Heath bars, hot fudge sauce and whip cream!!!

Meg & Co drove down from up north and arrived Saturday morning. The kids had a lot of fun bouncing on the trampoline, riding bikes and just coloring. We thought about going to the State Fair or going for pizza and games, but ended up just hanging here and having frozen pizzas. Kristin brought over Bella and Lucy after she grew tired of waiting for Craig to come deliver her new piece of furniture. Carlo waited at home for him. Seeing as Lucy, Mia and Cooper weren't going to the Brewers game the next day, it was perfect for all to get to see them.

Sunday Aug 10th was the Brewer Outing that Jeff organized. He does such a great job and it all just seems to work out. Works for me! Last year it was so hot over the grills, that Jeff pre-cooked the brats and hot dogs. Smart. Jeff extended invitations beyond just family this year and the Klimkos and the Wolfs took us up. Todd Wolf called that morning to inform us their car had broken down and they were still 2 hours away! They were unable to get to Milwaukee for the game. Really would have been fun to see them.

Wed Aug 13th Bryn participated in the Girls Cross Country Team's 24 Hour Run. This event is the team's fundraiser as the girls collect pledges for the number of laps they run. The lights are kept on all night as the girls pair up to take turns running laps around the high school track. Bryn had our van there for girls to take naps in or just to have a comfy place to sit. The coaches provided lunch and a spaghetti dinner and ice cream.

Miss Abby is at a local hotel for the weekend. It's "Girls Weekend" with her fearsome foursome that will soon leave each other for separate UW schools. Included in their itinerary is seeing "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2", exchanging good luck/goodbye/friends forever presents and (I would expect) lots of crying. Abby purchased each friend a pair of jeans and then sewed and/or ironed on patches, buttons, etc. to represent each of them for one of her presents. She's a sentimental girl. We hope to see her tomorrow sometime.

Paige tried out for the local select softball team today. A little stiffer competition than playing Little League. Don't know when we'll hear results, but Jeff said she looked good pitching and fielding. She can play this and Little League if she wants to.

Abby got her wisdom teeth pulled last Wednesday (23rd). Her appointment was early. I met her in the oral surgeon's recovery room where she was very drowsy. While she alternated holding ice over each cheek, she repeatedly told me how they put the IV in her arm and not her hand. I drove her home and set her up on the couch with remote, ice packs, water and tylenol. Alex was the first visitor (no surprise) and stayed and helped most of the day. Good thing as I had work to do from home. Abby was so impressed with her speedy recovery, she let a friend take her to the mall for gelato against my advice. Her girlfriends came over with ice cream in the evening. She had a bumpy night which turned into a sickly morning. Jeff stayed home with her Thursday and I went in to work. She was sick the entire day and Jeff ended up calling the doctor for help. One dose of the prescription in the evening, and Abby was finally able to let her body relax. I was off Friday and chauffeured Abby to the regional baseball game vs. Brookfield Central at Arrowhead. They won! And went on to win over Arrowhead at 4:00, earning their place to play at State! Abby felt OK to work her 3-hour shift that evening and show off her post-wisdom-teeth-removal chipmunk cheeks.




Bryn returned from Coahoma on Saturday (26th) afternoon. We held a welcome back luncheon for the kids and chaperones inside the church when they arrived. Unlike last year where Bryn only called us once, she out-called all the other trippers this year! I was actually filling parents in with details learned from Bryn's phone calls! Bryn had a fantastic, inspiring time again helping residents fix up their homes and playing with the children. Next year the team voted to go to Ohio so they won't experience the subtropical heat again. Everyone commented how their clothes were dripping wet from sweat within 20 seconds of walking outside. They all were also amazed at how rural the community was. "It was surrounded by cornfields!" Bryn slept 12 hours Saturday night before going back to church to celebrate the mission trippers' homecoming at mass Sunday morning.

Meg was concerned about Abby's recovery and checked in daily. We were turning Abby over to Meg for the week starting Saturday! Jeff drove Abby down to Meg's Saturday night after Abby worked again. They made record time on their way down, but Jeff said coming back Sunday was a different story. He finally pulled back in to our driveway around 3pm, only to pack up the van to drive up north at 5!

This was the only week where all of us had an open schedule, so we decided to take a few days and laze around on the lake. We cancelled Bryn's trombone lesson, her babysitting job and Paige's clarinet lesson. It's really difficult for me to adjust to not having anything to do and I wish I would've brought a few more things along. But the weather couldn't be better for being near water. Tuesday there was a chance for storms so we went in to town and had a burger at the local greasy spoon and went to Mamma Mia! (The movie did not rival the show.) Theo's coat is already so pretty from constantly swimming. We had terrific weather. Jeff helped my dad scrape the bad varnish off the cabin's exterior, we went golfing Friday morning, to the Shawano Fly Out Saturday morning and filled the rest of the time swimming and relaxing.

The Sears clan drove north for their week at the cabin Saturday where we made the Abby exchange. Meg and William left Indy at 4am while we stayed up for the day so the kids could all play together (we had the easy part of the deal).