Paige's birthday was Sunday and she had a grueling Little League game. They played the first place team and the game ended after 3 innings due to the slaughter rule (we were losing 22-2). Paige did not get a chance to pitch this game. Paige frosted her cake and we all indulged after our spaghetti and meatball dinner.


Bryn played in her last band concert of the year Tuesday evening. It was really pretty. Because it's the end of the year, a projected slideshow of all the graduating seniors in band is played during their last piece. I remember the photo we submitted of Abby for last year of her when she was about 5 years old blowing into Kristin's French horn. Abby checked out a college-age group at the church she's been attending while back here at home. She really liked it and will also be volunteering with the children's groups on Sundays. Bryn accompanied this girl on guitar Friday night while she sang "Heartless" by Kanye West - but the Kris Allen version - and "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. The High School Student Council and Spanish Clubs co-hosted a benefit open mike Concert. Paige and Abby went to watch and remarked how good Bryn & Wendy sounded.

Then the Girls Track Banquet snuck up on us Wednesday night. Very informal. All the coaches did a really nice job bringing up each one of the girls and recognizing her contributions to the team. Bryn was noted for being such a great team player and versatile athlete because she was able to switch events and fill in wherever they needed her.

The Student Council Banquet/Potluck was held at school on Thursday night. Their club advisor is so great with remembering details about each and every one of those student members.

I'm still in my purging mode, and had a lot more to move out of the house on Friday. Trying to be green, I had several stops to try to recycle: cell phone store to say good-bye to my deceased iPhone, books to Half Price Books, clothing to Goodwill and used printer ink cartridges to the schools. My only refusal was the ink cartridges. Have to find a new spot that accepts them. The rest of the day I alternated between cleaning my fridge and baking bread for church.

Saturday morning Bryn reported to the Student Council Car Wash. Such a shame that they couldn't have had Friday's weather!! I think the kids still did OK because they pre-sell a lot of tickets so the customers are lined up already. Paige had another softball game and lost a close one. She went to see the movie UP! in the afternoon and finished the day by hosting a sleepover. Jeff and I stopped in at Carrie Borchardt's graduation party and had a lot of fun chatting with my cousins and seeing Dana and Ross's new babies! That night we had dinner plans with 2 other couples, so Bryn was kind enough to stay home and supervise the sleepover. We tried a new restaurant by Brookfield Square called Stir Crazy and it was delicious!! We all raved about our entrees! You can order a dish from the menu, or select exactly what you want by going thru a buffet line where the cooks stir fry it all up in front of you.

Paige played ball again today and pitched 4 innings and was terrific! She did suffer a few battle scars: hit by the ball under her right knee and sliding scrape on the other leg. My favorite moment of the game was when Paige was pitching for her 4th inning, and the opposing coach was cheering to his batter "Get a hit on her! She's (Paige) getting tired!" Paige immediately threw a strike and glared at that coach afterward. If you all know Paige, you can visualize that glare. But I give her credit, not much rocks her boat while she's on the mound. And she has quite a ritual before each pitch: with her back to the batter, she first swipes the dirt to the left a couple times with her right foot, then once with her left foot and then clears the pitcher's mark clean with her right again. Then she's finally ready. Whatever works!

I am not lazy. The blog just wasn't high up on my priority list the past couple weeks. But I am grateful to Paige for being my guest blogger when I couldn't write.

This week started out with Memorial Day. We had such beautiful weather the entire holiday weekend and Monday was no different. Both Bryn and Paige participated in our village parade: Bryn rode in a convertible as she will be going to Badger Girls State in a few weeks and Paige marched with her junior high school band. Jeff and I were invited to a friends' home along the parade route to watch and picnic afterwards. Had a great time. Abby went off with her friends. Jeff and I were back by 1:30 to meet our first Craig's List buyer! Some of the better quality items that didn't sell at our rummage sale, I've put up on Craig's List. We'll see how that goes. Then I went off to purchase a few flowers to fill in around our terrace and some vegetables. The girls mentioned that they wanted to grow a garden. I decided to plant them in containers on our deck because I think they'll be easier to maintain and we've discovered a bunny family has taken up residence below our deck. We'll be growing red, yellow and green peppers and 4 varieties of tomatoes.

Bryn ran in the 300M hurdles, the 4x800M relay and the 4x400M relay in Regionals for track out at Oconomowoc Tuesday. Jeff and Abby drove out to cheer her on. Bryn did not qualify to go on to Sectionals and is very disappointed. Then Paige had her final Conference Relays track meet on Thursday. Paige was the 3rd leg of the 4x100M hurdle relay and their team finished 2nd!! Unfortunately a referee disqualified the team for one person starting too early.

Hallmark welcomed Abby back for the summer. She basically is available to take anybody and everybody's hours who needs to take off. She's acquired quite a few dates already. She's also been filling out job applications like crazy. Now that track's over, Bryn will be doing the same thing. Again.

Bryn went to Mequon to watch the Sectionals meet and root for those girls and boys from the high school who did move on. Some of the boys team qualified for state, but none of our girls. Jeff and I enjoyed a peaceful evening out of the patio when suddenly Jeff thought he spotted a skunk behind my chair. When he got up, we saw it was a cat: black and white, small and really fast! It took off down by the creek and ran up a tree. We put a little cup of dogfood near the base of the tree to coax it down and watched til it got dark. We saw it maneuver around onto various branches, but never all the way down. When we checked again Saturday morning it was nowhere to be found.

Bright and early Saturday morning was Paige's first softball game. She had to be there to warm up at 7:15am! The game started at 8:00am and Jeff saw a good game! Paige got to pitch 4 innings and struck out 7 batters. It all ended with Paige was on third base, the batter hit to 1st, the ball bounced off the first baseman's glove, bounced off, and Paige ran into home and scored! But the umpire called it a foul, they had to replay and the batter struck out ending the game in a tie. Paige's run would've won the game. Today she played again and it wasn't so pretty. The game ended after 3 innings due to the slaughter rule. Paige's team lost 21-2 - but Paige was one of the runs!!!

Abby, Bryn and I participated in the bike ride for Bryn's mission trip with St. James Saturday morning. Bryn and Abby rode and I helped with registration, taking pictures (of course) and acting as crossing guard for the bikers. Great day to ride! I'm hoping to recruit more helpers next year so that I can ride the trail! They start at the church in Sussex and follow the Bugline Trail 7 miles out to Fireman's Park out in Merton. There we serve them lunch (hot dog/brat, chips, soda/water and cookies). Then they turn around and ride back.

We ended the day with the Jazz N Java concert where all the jazz bands from all the Menomonee Falls schools play. I think it was the best ever! Bryn's brass section did a Java Jolt (intermission song between bands) and we got to hear an excellent performance repeated from Band Revue last winter.

Today is Paige's 14th birthday!!! Baked her a cake and we'll be having her favorite tonight: spaghetti and meatballs.

mom is lazy

Okay so my mom has not been doing her blogs and people are starting to get upset. So yeah, I'm writing it for her. Anyways, this is Paige, and there's going to be a boatload of information in here since my mother has missed like two weeks. So a long long time ago Bryn and I had track meets. I'm going to guess that Bryn won or got second or something another since that would be typical. She got second in hurdles I remember. The last two track meets I went to I got first in hurdles both times, and second and third in the 200m dash. I have conference this Thursday that I'm going to for the hurdle shuffle, because it's an all relay meet. Bryn has either sectionals, regionals, or state sometime soon I don't know which one but whatever.




So for the past couple weeks our house has been rampaged by our whole family, actually mostly mom slash dad but same thing, for our rummage sale. Apparently we sold like 200 dollers worth of crap. Woohoo! Grandma Karen was here to help my mom on both days of the rummage sale. Grandma and Grandpa came in Thursday and left on Monday. I liked it because then I got coffee every single day! And because they're cool. They night they came in I had a band concert. I guess it was really awesome, although everybody was sweating like pigs and pretty much in the process of going blind from the bright spotlights in our faces. It was cool though. The fun part of the weekend was going to Bella and Lucy's birthday party. We got to hang out and play in the backyard, watch them open presents, and eat cupcakes. Unfortunately we got about zero good pictures, which of course really dissapointed my mother. Bryn and I had another track meet and we both did good, blah blah blah. Mom told me she got a really good picture of me running and went on about how you could see my leg muscles (beastly) and everything, but I thought it was repulsive so you are seeing me smiling and holding the silver baton before my relay.
Mom and I decided Bryn has enough track pictures and you already know all that jazz. Bryn and Mom went on this Friday to tour UW Madison. Note that the picture is just of the building, of course Bryn would not pose or even be in a picture facing frontwards, so yeah. There is this hilarious picture of mom in the middle of talking and holding an ice cream cone, but I don't think she'd be very happy with me if I included that. Sad face. Abby was on a retreat thing and Dad went to pick her up on Friday, so our house was vacant. I would've gone with to retrieve Abby but it was a half day so I was with my friends. Later that night I went to see Dance Flick with some people, dude go see it, it's one of the funniest movies, although some of it is disgusting, but most people laughed at it so I'm guessing it's funny if you're older, and most of you reading this are older than thirteen so it's all funny to you. Just so you know my birthdays in seven days. That's one week from today. The 31. 7 something PM. We went to McDonald's yesterday for lunch and discussed genetic traits, which led to Abby telling us that she used to only be able to roll her tongue upside down... but not she does it correctly... ?! I told her, quoting my science teacher, that if you have the genetic trait you have it, if you can't roll your tongue you will never be able too! But I guess Abby taught herself or something. Then we went through all the genetic traits and it got a little odd so my mom told us we were going to leave. Last night Abby had some dudes over. They watch a lot of YouTube videos that are kind of funny. Then they were just telling stories or whatever. Tomorrow I have to stupid march for band, which I have like rhythem problems or something because I cannot march and play at the same time so don't watch my feet if you are there. But it doesn't matter because I probably won't be playing at all times, it's tiring and apparently we're not allowed to take our instruments away from our mouths if we want to take a breath. Bryn gets to ride in a fancy car for Badger Girl's State, lucky her.
Yay I filled you all in! That is all of the Saunders's life for the past two weeks.
Peace

Paige came in 1st in the hurdles and ran with the 4x200 relay in her track meet versus Port Washington Monday. I then accompanied Bryn to the Badger Girls meeting at the American Legion Post on Monday night. She had to leave early for a trombone lesson, so I stayed to keep up on all the details. Bryn's looking forward to Badger Girls! I was surveying the delegates for which would be a good pick to drive Bryn up to get there since we'll be on our Canada vacation. :( Bryn will get to ride in a convertible in our Memorial Day Parade!

I was finally treated to my birthday lunch at work on Tuesday. Little late - 6 months! But we went to a chic little Greek place on Milwaukee St and the food was terrific! That night I baked cookies to donate for Teacher Appreciation Week. Little did I know how handy those tubs of fundraiser cookie dough would be!

Bryn ran the 300M hurdles and 4x400 relay at Brookfield East's Conference Relays on Wednesday. I stopped at Kohls on my way there from work to get her a pair of much-needed (really?) basketball shorts. The weather looked iffy coming in and sure enough it began pouring in the middle of the boys 4x1600 relay and the meet stopped for a rain delay. We all packed into the high school gym. Just imagine the smell of 400 damp track athletes in one room. We resumed about 45 minutes later, but in the meantime I went to use my iPhone and got absolutely no response. I've never had anything like that happen and immediately realized it must've gotten wet through my clothing. I used a fellow parent's phone to let Jeff know.

Abby Skyped us Thursday night and as we were all talking, her cake was delivered! (My subtle hint to study hard for finals.) Surprise! I ordered her a birthday cake in April, but it wasn't delivered on her birthday, so I was entitled to another cake. Abby was going over pick-up details as she was bringing her good friend, Amy, to see Meno Falls this last possible weekend.

Friday I had an appointment at the Apple Store's Genius Bar to examine my iPhone. Confirmed severe water damage with a what looked like a doctor's tool that they look into your ear and mouth. No warranty coverage. No excuses. I'm not making any quick decisions and weighing my options. Friday night our new washer was delivered! It's huge! The deliverymen were none too excited when I showed them the route through the house to get the washer to the basement. There was a little moaning, but installation was quick!

Jeff made himself available to leave to meet Abby in Oconomowoc whenever she called Saturday morning. Jeff, Abby and Amy made it to Bryn's track meet in Mequon to see her run in the relay. Good motivation for Bryn. Bryn had run the open 400M just before they arrived. She was disappointed with her 400 time, but her 4x400 came in 3rd and she looked really strong there! The weather was really crappy again.

And today is Mother's Day. I just had a beautiful breakfast prepared by my 3 daughters (and Amy): quiche, pancakes, strawberries. Then they opened the patio door drapes to reveal hanging flowers and a birdbath. Life is good. We're taking Abby and Amy downtown to the train station later this afternoon for their first trainride back to UWL.

This was a very big week. And you can tell because I didn't get to my blog Sunday night. Basically the entire week was getting ready for Bryn's Prom and Confirmation. Picking up the garter.

Thursday morning the dentist put on my permanent crown. I'm really surprised that the entire process was pain-free. Paige had a track meet in Cedarburg that afternoon that we opted not to drive out to.

Friday I took Paige over to a friend's house after track practice. Then Jeff and I went to Bryn's track meet. The meet was called the "Pre-Prom Invitational" and all 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers got to stand on a podium and received flowers. I thought that was very appropriate for a girls meet. Bryn's 4x800 relay team placed first and therefore was awarded flowers. We returned home waiting for Paige to call for a ride home. No call by 9:30pm, so I searched for the girl's phone number. Unlisted. My only choice was to just drive back over. The house was completely dark. The mom answered the door in her bathrobe looking at me quizzically. I explained I didn't know what time to get Paige. She let me in and there I discovered Paige in a sleeping bag. "Oh! It's a sleepover!" News to me. I explained I'd pick Paige up in the morning. The mom was totally understanding.

Saturday morning was Little League Opening Day. Paige had to be there by 7:45am. She was too perky at first. Once we got a donut in her from the concession stand and her friends showed up we were good. We helped Miranda's mom push her car out of some pretty deep mud with the help of a good Samaritan who had a tow rope and big truck.

Meanwhile Bryn went with Kendal to Confirmation rehearsal. Then to lunch. I met up with them at the hair salon to see Bryn's updo in progress (and pay for it of course). Kendal helped Bryn with her makeup before she went back home. We hosted Bryn's date and parents for a few pictures at the house, then met another couple at the park for more pictures. It was warm enough out, but a little too breezy. From the park, everyone headed to the high school for the Grand March and more pictures! The kids then boarded the coach buses to the country club for dinner and the dance. We headed out for margaritas with the Seeds! We were not able to stay up til Bryn came home (about 2:30am).

Sunday morning my Dad and Jeff put up the martin house in the backyard. This was my parents' and my Dad cleaned it up for our yard. Because we have such open space, we really should attract martins. The note from my Dad on the house said "Happy Bird's Day!" My Mom and I prepared the food and ran and picked up some that I had ordered earlier. We were all set when the guests arrived at 1pm. Mass was at 4pm and was really nice. Bryn was a giftbearer. I can't say how pleased I am with Bryn choosing Kendal as her Confirmation sponsor.

Beautiful week all around.

Bryn is officially going to her Junior Prom! On Tuesday, she came home with the announcement that she has a date! The tickets have been purchased. Thursday we scheduled the updo appointment. Bryn bought her dress at the mall Friday shopping with her friend - so cute! Saturday we ordered the buttoneer from the florist. Now she just has to let us know where to show up for pictures next Saturday and we're all set!


Bryn and Paige both had track meets on Wednesday so Jeff and I had to divide and conquer. I went to Paige's home meet. She first ran the hurdles with great form. Her hurdles coach for this year isn't too experienced in the event, so he called over a high schooler from another area school who commented that Paige "is going to be wicked!" Paige also ran in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400. This meet was a developmental meet, so they were just racing against themselves. Paige's next meet is tomorrow (Monday)! After the meet we dined at Cousins with her friends. Jeff went out to Brookfield to watch Bryn run at the Lady Spartan Invitational which hosted 16 teams. Bryn took 3rd in her heat of the 300M high hurdles and placed 3rd with her relay team in the 4x400. She also ran earlier in the 4x800 relay, but said they didn't do too good.

Friday I excused Paige from track practice and picked her up when school let out to drive her out to La Crosse for Little Siblings Weekend. The college did a good job of collecting names to set up carpools, but let's face it: who's going to let their kid ride with complete strangers for 3.5 hours? Bryn ended up bowing out of the event, seeing as she was already committed to playing with the band for the high school musical and participating in a retreat with her Mission Trip gang. So Paige and I rode up on that hot, sunny day only to see it disappear into the clouds before our eyes accompanied by radio interruptions by the National Weather Service. We never did experience the rain though. We dropped Paige's stuff in Abby's room, collected a few things of Abby's to take back, and headed off to register Paige and eat dinner. Abby's friend, Sadie, treated me to a burger and fries in The Cellar. Abby and her friends had just come back from a Powderpuff Football practice. The tournament was to be held Saturday afternoon. I'll have to find out if the weather cooperated. Jeff is headed out to La Crosse today to bring Paige back home and to take the futon out of Abby's room - making the move back home a little easier.

Bryn spent the night at church Friday with her Mission Trip crew, eating pizza, playing games outside. Saturday they were scheduled to participate in yard service with a larger group. The rain kept it from lasting the entire day, but they worked hard outside raking throughout the downpours until noon. She came home, took a hot shower and a long nap until dinner. Jeff and I went to see the high school musical, "Back to the 80s," Bryn was in the band for. It was really good! I, of course, embarrassed her and went on stage afterward to take this picture of the band.

With all the girls busy for a day, Jeff and I started to seriously clear out the basement for our upcoming rummage sale in May. It's so nice to be able to do it together. Jeff unearthed quite a few long-forgotten items and today while he's gone, I'm going to see what I can make presentable. After lunch, we took a break and headed to Sears where we finally purchased a new front-loading washer! We went in knowing we'd only be purchasing a washer, but of course, the model we choose comes with free pedestals ONLY if you order the pair (washer and dryer)! We finally decide too bad. We like the washer, so we'll just pay for the pedestal. But when it rings up, the pedestal "zeroes out" - so we still get it free! The salesperson was even surprised! It'll be delivered a week before the rummage sale so we can put the old one out to sell.

I called the dentist repeatedly on Monday hoping to schedule my appointment to fix my broken tooth. Apparently the office had the day off so I had to wait til Tuesday. They got me in first thing Wednesday morning and after determining that the root was not dead, continued to take a mold and sand down my tooth to prepare for my crown. Of course, as I walk out I see Ali's sisters in the waiting room and my entire left jaw is numb! So I can only give then a nod and a dorky half-smile. When I got to my car I decided to call in to work to explain that I was absolutely NOT going to be doing any talking at the 10:00 meeting that morning and embarrass myself further.

Paige and Bryn were off school all week for Spring Break.

Paige got a sleepover in (at someone else's house) Tuesday night and then a dad took them over to the Little League complex for some playing time. Nice.

Bryn's first outdoor track meet was held at Menomonee Falls on Wednesday. Because it was during Spring Break, it was termed a "developmental" meet where coaches are able to try girls out in events with no pressure to score. Bryn ran the 300 hurdles for the first time and came in 2nd. She also ran in the 4x800 relay which I arrived too late to see. But I did get to see her 4x400 team win! It was just warming up on Wednesday so it was perfect weather for a meet.

Bryn had to drive Paige to her 8:15am orthodontist appointment Thursday. (I already missed enough work this week.) Paige got invited to go bowling in the afternoon where I then picked her up and took her straight to Tae Kwon Do. Jeff and I spent the entire evening online and in AAA books making reservations for our way out to Banff this summer. These hotels are not even open yet and don't take reservations online so I did that Friday.

With Friday being the end of Spring Break, I hoped to entice my lounging daughters to help get the house back in order. Paige was anxious to jump on the trampoline so I recruited her to rake/thatch the lawn in that area. I took a turn when she was done. That is hard work! Paige and Bryn both went to see the movie "17 Again" with Zac Efron on opening night last Friday. They went at different times with different friends. They couldn't wait to see it and said it was good.


Saturday morning was beautiful!!!! Paige had softball practice and said she thinks she'll be playing 1st base alot and pitching! She's really excited about her team this year. I accompanied Bryn on a Marquette Open House tour. They offer a 6-year Physical Therapy program which saves her a year or two. The campus is beautiful of course. Bryn liked it. I commend Bryn on picking such a dedicated and competitive major. Marquette said about 1000 freshman apply to this program and 62 get in!!! We made grilling plans with Seeds Saturday night and let Bryn and Paige go out by themselves. It was nice to relate to parents going through the same stuff.