Locked up computer

I'll try to get this out. My computer is locking up and I don't get much done. I tried to blog on M's computer and I didn't know my password, so no luck then. Anyway.....the little girls are in VBS this week. I thought I'd get so much done in the mornings all alone, but NOT....then in the pm I take them swimming. Kat is taking care of our neighbor's dogs and we get to swim in the pool. NICE!!! Hannah is at church camp. The weather has been LOVELY, so that's a comfort to the mom. I needed to realize how much H does for me around here. I really miss her help with the girls. And I thought she mostly was the "aggravator". Silly me. Softball is over--yay! Kat's team had the best record in the division and lost the first game of the tournament---sad! She had a good season, playing first base, had a grand slam homerun one night--way cool!! Abby quit kicking the dirt and got a hit most nights. She says she is not going on to "kid pitch next year", fine with me!!

We go to Searcy to retrieve Jess this weekend. Yay! We will have a van load of stuff, plan to stop in Branson and see our good cousins, Wayne and Joy. The girls will get to stay here with a friend and family who love to keep them---they are the best!!! That's most of the news, besides Mark's sister, Cindy donated her kidney to her husband, Joe, today. The surgery went well and we hope that it "takes" and Joe recovers completely.

We enjoyed a wonderful vacation/camping trip/family reunion 2 weeks ago in AR. We counted 88 family members there. We were missing about 30 folks--some of our favs too, bummer. The weather couldn't have been nicer for the "tent people." We had an air conditioner on a card table zipped into our tent, took the humidity out of the tent. The girls LOVE camp, so many little cousins to play with, all day and past dark. Hannah enjoyed all the little ones and then the big cousins played cards with her at night. She had a great time. M played a bunch of cards, some kickball, some volleyball, did some fishing and relaxed a ton. We always eat so well, including the BEST bread puddin on the planet. LOVE IT!! Wayne and Joy crashed the party and had a local hotel room, so we got to see them, they got to experience camp, the girls got to swim in a pool and I got my only hot shower of the week there. Yay! Joy also helped me on my cook day---peeled the 80 lbs of potatoes herself, what a woman!!! Camp is so much fun for the kids, so good to see all the relatives. So good to realize there are many friends in the mix, not just folks we see at camp. We soak up all the laughs and hugs and try to remember all the fun when we are unpacking, doing a million loads of laundry and putting it all away until it rolls around again, next year! ARGH!!!

No big plans for the 4th yet. We never have done all the hoopla here in Indep--our local city band and fireworks, maybe fun. We'll see. The jogging report is good. I did 12 laps today---3 1/2 miles in 40 minutes, a new record for me. I never have gone that far and I didn't die. We'll see how far and how fast I can go before I keel over on the trail. lol

We WON!!!

Breaking news from THS!! We won the contest!!!! Truman High School won the Dream Team Field Contest. Out of more than 45,000 votes, THS had over 21,000!!! Thanks to all that voted!!! The paper said that we will receive the "finest baseball stadium in the country." It will have artificial turf and be able to be used for soccer and someday football!!! Just think, the Truman Patriots playing on a "home field", never has happened in the 40+ years of THS!!! So exciting!!!! Thanks again to all that took the time to vote. The second place school had a dj from the radio station promoting their school and THS beat them by 10,000 votes!! AWESOME!!!

PS A campblog is still forming in my brain!! Stay tuned!

Vote for Truman High School

I have meant to put this info out there for a week or two. Our high school is in a contest with 5 other KC schools for a new field. Please check it out at kansascity.com. The link to the contest is under Prizes--called the State St Dream Field--vote here. They only allow one vote per email addy, so please spread the word if possible. THS has to share a field with some other facility for all outdoor sporting events, so a new field on our campus would be so exciting. I think the final voting date is June 15. Thanks and GO PATRIOTS!!!

T-Bones and more

We had a lovely weekend with our visiting pal, CT. We fed him pork steaks and more pork steaks. We made him watch M's folks' anniversary video we made. He got to chase the girls around in the yard and also help M set up the tent for the "camp practice". We ventured out, way out to KCK and took in a KC T-Bones game. I hadn't been out there to the Speedway, Cabelas, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Legends Shopping Mall (brand new) and more. So I didn't know that the T-Bones Stadium was next to all of that, or we could have made an afternoon out of it. Anyway, we had a picnic table on the first base line. It was a super fun time. They had activities on the field between each inning. We all went and MOST of us had fun, fun, fun.( Em will not be invited back.) The evening concluded with fireworks. We watched some, then headed to the car. They were firing them off in a parking lot by our van, so we got to see the conclusion up close, super close, prob too close to be safe, but AWESOME!!!! So memorable.

I took Jess back to the airport Sun am w/o meeting any law enforcement types. :) She got home safe and sound, didn't meet up with any weirdos. She started her Anatomy and Physiology class and is pleased to discover that she learned more in high school Anatomy than she thought. She disected a pig today and even knew what to do. Amazing!! We miss her.

CT came back Sun pm with 2 of our favorite kids, Tawn and Darron. We got to worship then head to Rib Crib and a little visit over KK's Famous Apple Dumplins. All 3 kids are almost young enough to be our kids, and we enjoy them so much. It gives us hope that these girls here MAY turn out to be tolerable people and find wonderful young men to tolerate them too. Darron gave M a big "pep talk" about M's data expertise and how marketable he could be in the "real world'. It's been a rough, rough spring at Indep Pub Schls, so a "pep talk" was just what the old guy needed. We'll see what happens next.

Yesterday was Hannah's 14th birthday. We went to the water park here in Indep with some church friends. We all had a great time. Kat and Ab had ball games so H had frozen pizza for supper and then cake and presents at 8:30. (Kids in large families know that it's not "all about them" even on their b-days.) She was thrilled to get iTunes $, Bath and Body stuff, a Teddy Geiger ??? cd and of course, the High School Musical DVD---popular by all--all over the US.

We have tons to do to get ready for the camping marathon. I have been mentally shopping, packing and cooking. I think I have my menu for 80+ about set. I was greatly comforted to talk to Aunt Areva tonight and she says she gets "paralyzed just thinking about cooking for this group" too. I only do it every other year and then with help, she is in charge--so that's big. The forecast is good, altho on our "practice run", it rained on our tent in our yard, with the flaps down. We refuse to admit it could be an "omen". (especially on 06/06/06) lol

Time to race up a hill with M. I hope the weather will allow a run in the am. I ran 3 miles last week, my Memorial Day goal met on June 2. Onward and upward.