November 2019

11/27-11/30 - I took Wednesday off to hang with the family.  Greg had several people going to Philmont walking multiple days that week in a row.  It was pretty wet so they walked the track at the high school some days then walked Connemara when it dried out some.  Patch loved the 5 mile walks.  Wednesday one of the boys was coming that was afraid of dogs so Greg left Patch home with me.    Kasey rode bikes with friends, I walked Patch 3+ miles and the boys walked Connemara for 5+ miles.

Somehow we ended up doing leaves all afternoon.  I didn't think we had to many but we filled up 25 bags with leaves.  Needless to say we were a bit tired, but Greg and Kasey still started cooking for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning I slept in a little.  Kasey came in to tell me it was her birthday :)   She's so excited for her birthday.  Kasey and Greg were working on cooking.  I got showered and help get stuff organized as well.   We got everything ready and the family came over with their food.  We had a great lunch and then celebrated Kasey's birthday with the family.  Fun times and good food as always.

Friday we decided to get Freebirds from lunch to take  break from leftovers - and it's what the birthday girl wanted.  Both kids wanted to do some shopping but Greg and I didn't really want to deal with crowds on Black Friday.  We did do some online shopping though :)

Friday and Saturday I started working on calendars.  Saturday we went to Grammy's house so the kids could fill her Santa hats with kisses.  Always fun.

We had 5th street for dinner while we watched the Aggies lose.

Sunday somehow I slept until 11:30.  We got up, had lunch.  The boys went walking while Kasey and I worked on girl scout stuff.   We all went to dinner then got the Christmas stuff out.  We got 2 trees up and some stuff decorated.

11/25 - Started the day with Kasey's yearly check up, went to work and came home to eat.   A few of the ladies were meeting up for a few drinks to start the holiday week.  It was fun to get out for a little while.

11/20 - Landon performed at the high school with other honor band students from the 3 Allen middle schools.  They played 1 song, but it was neat to see them perform at the Allen PAC.

11/15 - 11/17 - I left 1/2 day  when a big meeting got moved so we could all drive to college station together.  Grammy and Gramps got Landon to where they were leaving for his campout and dinner.  Kasey wanted to come with us.   We got to the house and discovered it had 1 fewer beds than we expected.  The boys went to watch A&M play Gonzaga in basketball.  Kasey and I went to BJs then went to see a movie which was fun.  After the boys got back Kasey was in bed and we watched the first few episodes of the Mandilorian.  I love Disney+.

The next morning we slept in some, had breakfast and hung out at the house for a while.   One of my college roomates was coming in town and staying with us for the weekend.   They arrived and we all headed to Northgate.  We got 2 tables at Duddleys, got food (some from Duddleys and some next door at Freebirds).  We watched some football and got to talk while the kids went to hang out in the back.   It was great to catch up just like we hadn't missed a beat.   We sat together during the football game and the Aggies won.   After the game we went back to the house, got the kids to bed and we stayed up having a few drinks and talking.  Very fun times.

The next morning we slept in a little then headed back home.   We had to girls come over that afternoon to work on their Bronze award.  They made a video to share at their schools and made some small signs to post on boxes they are going to put at the school.

11/14 - Tonight we took Girl Scouts down to Northpark to do cybersecurity at Microsoft store.  It was good teaching them some about computers, hardware, software and how to look at messages and images to see if they are real or not.

11/11 - Landon had regional tryouts for band tonight.  He was 2nd alternate for regionals.  He was disappointed, but that means he was in the top ~300 band kids of 1000+ that tried out.

11/10 - Landon went early to Veterans Day celebration at the church - he was there with other scouts and getting some service hours.   After he got home we had some lunch together.  Then Kasey and I went shopping.  We went to a craft fair and had a lot of fun shopping.  We got several things for Kasey's birthday.   We came home for a little bit and then went to the salon for manicures.

After that the kids and I went to dinner at La Madeleine.  We tried to convince Kasey that she could like it but don't think we were successful.  Landon and I like it :)

11/9 - We had a busy but good day.  I went to a friend's mom's funeral with my mom.  Sad,but it was good to see my friend and her family.   During this time Landon was doing Regional band tryouts.

That afternoon Kasey had her first POM Squad performance at a Veterans Day celebration.   The grandparents were there and enjoyed seeing some of the old cars there.  Pops got to sit in a 53 Ford that was like 52 Ford he had.  Gramps saw one similar to one his dad had and told us a story when his dad turned it on it's side and they had to get it right side up.  That incident tore up part of the side, and Gramps still has scars on his legs from that.

Kasey did well in her performance and seems to really enjoy it.  Right after Kasey's performance Landon found out that he made it to the next round of tryouts for Regionals with band.  So proud of both of them.

11/3 - Today we had a girl scout activity to do programming with TI robots.   The girls got to change colors of lights, then they got to program the robot to move forward, backward and turn around with different increments.  It was really cool seeing them enjoy programming.  Kasey really liked doing it and had the robot do several things in a row.

After that we did low ropes course.  They have it set up at the STEM center several lower obstacles that the girls had to work together to get across.   They did them so they had spotters and then had to pass each other on the obstacle.  It was neat to see them work together and all get to try .

October 2019

10/31 - Halloween, it was a little different this year as the kids start to grow up.  Landon hung out with friends and had Laynes.  They ended up running around trick or treating, some of them without costumes.  Teenagers :)

Kasey and I went to neighbors house for dinner and drinks.   Then Kasey wanted to trick or treat with a few of her friends instead of the older girls at the neighbors.   I took the 3 of them around the neighborhood trick or treating.  We had fun.  They found the 2 houses that had full size candy bars.  This year a few places even gave parents candy :)

10/29 - It was Landon's last football game - maybe forever.   It was a cold wet night.  Cindy and Carlos came up to see him play.   We lost pretty bad, but it was still fun to watch them play.

10/27 - Auction started today, we got our parking spot one more year.   Kasey also wanted to bid on being Principal for the day and she ended up winning.  She's excited :)

10/26 - Greg left really early to head to College Station for Aggie game with Doug.  I got up early to take Landon and a friend to All City band workshop.   The grandparents, Kasey and I went to see Landon's performance.   It was kids from all 3 middle schools.  Landon was 5th chair for the french horns, 2nd from his school.  They played 4 songs, and performed really well especially for just working on the songs that morning.   The director was from a nearby city but has a few kids in our district in band and talked to families to encourage kids to be part of the band.  

Greg was on his way back and I was heading to a Halloween party.  We had fun with lots of karaoke :)

10/25 - I got to have girls night.  We went nearby places to have a few drinks.  Fun time with ladies.

10/19 - We started the morning doing Tango Tab feed the city with girl scouts and families.  Landon came with us and he ended up being a runner which means he was running around the whole time and even got sweaty.  We donated then made many sandwiches for families that don't have enough food.  Fun activity.

10/17 - Landon tried out for all City with band and made it.  We are proud of him.

10/15 - I worked all morning then we went to the State Fair as a family.  We had corn dogs, a few beers, the kids got to ride some rides, we saw dog show, and enjoyed some time together.   It's expensive but fun.  Good think we went on 1/2 price entrance day - ha!

10/11 - 10/14 - We got the kids after school and headed down south.  We stopped in to get some Mexican food as we headed to Aunt Mary's.  Greg wouldn't let us stop til we got close.  We got to visit and eat with a few drinks with family  which is always fun.

We got up the next morning, had yummy breakfast, showered then headed to College Station.  Kasey decided to stay with aunt Mary and they had fun talking.  Grammy and Gramps drove down.  The game was 2:30 so we got back to have a late dinner and hang out with family.  We got the kids to bed, the guys went to bed and the ladies stayed up with some drinks and lots of laughs.  Discussions not to be shared in the blog, but we had a great time :)

Sunday, more and more family came over.   We enjoyed food, visiting, watching the kids have fun together.  Its always fun spending time with family.  The kids had Monday off so we stayed Sunday night and headed home Monday after grabbing  a few fajitas to go for lunch.

10/8 - Landon had a football game tonight.   During the game a mom went to the fence, yelled Landon's number and told him to block better.  After the game Greg went up to her and told her she didn't have a right to call out kids on the field that aren't hers.   She came up to Greg at pick up and started again.  The coaches had to run her off.

10/6 - Landon went through his order of the arrow ordeal this weekend to become a member.  A few of the boys went together.  Proud of them.

10/1 - Landon played football tonight and the band was performing at the game.  So fun and lots of families there.  The boys won big at home too!

September 2019

9/28-9/29 - We had a few girl scout events.  The girls came over to present their research for their bronze award, and we decided on which one we wanted to focus on.  

Sunday most of the girls and few moms took a self defense class from a lady who is 8 time black belt.  It was a good class.  We learned a few thing how to handle if someone grabs you on the arm from the front and from behind

9/18-21 -  Kasey and I went to Sky Ranch with the 5th grade class.   We stayed in a big cabin with over 30 girls and 17 moms.  We had 6 showers and 6 toilets.  I convinced them we needed some extra space so they gave us access to another cabin which we used for several of us to shower at night.  There was some drama the first night with girls not wanting to go to sleep and some of the adults getting up early woke most everyone.

We had lunch when we first got there then started class.  The kids did a challenge/team building class, fishing class (which at the end they cut open a fish to show you different parts - Kasey did not want to watch, but she caught a fish that was released), they did a really fun american indian class where they got face paint, an indian name, got to taste buffalo jerky and learn from teachers dressed like indians.   They also did another science class where they got to make and shoot rockets, race Mr Potato head, and learn about erosion.   Great classes.  

In the evenings they had some free time to go swimming and do a few other things. Kasey wanted to go swimming then to water slides the first day. The 2nd day she wanted to go to the store then to the big blob to bounce.  Kasey and a few of the girls were there with a few of the boys.  They had so much fun.

The food was ok.   Kasey and I ate with Julie and Violet most of the time.   We were pretty tired when we got back but we kept going.  The night we got back we went to Oktoberfest in Addison.

The next day we day tripped College Station.  Kasey and I both slept in the car a good bit and some at the game :)

9/14 - Greg and Landon went to train for Philmont while Kasey and I walked Patch.  We all got showers and ready and Greg and I headed to College Station with Doug.  We had lunch at Wings n More, then had some beer and football at Duddleys before heading to the game.  Luckily A&M won the game.  We left a little early and headed back since my parents were staying at the house with the kids.

9/10 - Landon had another football game in Wylie.   He didn't play as much tonight but they won!

9/7 - Kasey a few other girls from the Girl Scout troop went to help at a recruiting event.  We probably had 40 younger girls there.  Our girls helped them do some activities while we talked to the parents and then they brought the girls back in and led them in some fun songs.  It was really fun to start seeing them as the older girls and helping out leading.

9/4 - Tonight was Landon's first football game of 8th grade.  It was also the first home game at the new stadium at our school.   It was hot but fun.  This year we have cheerleaders and several students show up to watch.

They boys lost, but Landon got 3 tackles as linebacker.  He played both linebacker and right tackle and played quite a bit of the game.

9/2 - We really had a pretty lazy labor day weekend.  The kids and I went to see Angry Birds 2, Greg went to see Auburn play football at Jerry World.

August 2019

8/29 - Greg and I got to go down for the A&M vs Texas State football game.  Kids were in school since it was a Thursday so Grandma stayed with the kids and Patch.  We headed down in the morning, had some lunch and shopping until we were able to check in.   Then we enjoyed a few drinks at the George before heading to early dinner at Porter and then walking to the game.  Aggies won!

8/27 - Friday Landon was told he had made the A team in football.  He wasn’t sure about that because compared to a lot of those guys he’s smaller, he’s playing for fun and most of his friends are on B team.  We found out today he got moved to B team. We are all ok with that 

8/21 - Kasey started her Pom Junior class today.  They will perform 4 times with the last one being at the dance recital.  She is taking it with a friend and enjoyed it.

8/17 - The boys got up early and went for their first Philmont training session - they walked 5 miles with backpacks and weights.   Its the start of a journey.  Kasey and I slept in and I walked the dog just before the boys got back.

8/12 - What at day.  I worked during the day then headed home early.  Landon had football checkin and it was meet the teacher night at the elementary school.  I got setup for PTA table which Kasey helped out.  I was wearing my VP membership nametag, my Girl Scout Leader pin, and Boy Scout ribbon with Landon's rank pins on it (in case people had questions).  Since I was at the PTA table for most of the evening we got to go to Kasey's teachers  little early.  We went to her homeroom teacher's class.  Kasey unpacked her supplies.  

We got to meet her homeroom teacher and ELA/Social studies teacher - both are named Mrs Wheeler.  We also got to hug her math teacher Mrs Harper who Landon had.   I spent the next few hours answering questions about PTA in the cafeteria.  Then I headed home to eat fast dinner and we headed to the Church for Boy Scout Court of Honor.  Landon received his Life Rank which is the rank below Eagle (very proud of him).  Landon was also one of the people leading the Court of Honor (MC for parts of it) and he received several merit badges from the summer.

8/10 - Most schools have moved to only electronic notification of teachers for the next year.  Our school sends electronic notification and sends home a letter in the mail from the teachers.   We found out Friday who Kasey had but she didn't want to know until she got her letter.  So today  Kasey checked the mail several times and it wasn't there.  We get a picture of the mail each day so I knew it was coming.   Finally Kasey found her letter.  She was so excited opening it and when she did she started yelling happily.  She got really good teachers and was excited.   She doesn't have to many friends in her class but has good teachers so she will be good.

July 2019

7/21 - While the boys were at summer camp - Landon had his board of review and earned his Life Rank.  This is the Boy Scout rank right below Eagle.  Very proud of him.  Several adults gave Greg feedback that Landon was doing a good job handling himself and was really doing a lot of work as leader.

The boys came back quite tired and needed lots of laundry done :)

7/15 - Landon had his board of review at summer camp and received his Life Rank in Boy Scouts.   Very proud of him.  He's acting as senior patrol leader at summer camp and Greg has heard from other adults that he's doing a good job.  

7/14 - We went to get breakfast in our pajamas.   I walked the dog in nice weather and Kasey went to a friends house for a while.    We went to a friends birthday party for the afternoon which was fun.  The girls got to swim and we got to hang out.

That night we went grocery shopping together, grabbed dinner and came home to hang out with Patchy.   Before bed we cooked onions for Kasey's lunch and made brownies for my work.

7/13 - Kasey and I had a fun day.  We hung out at home while I did a bunch of PTA stuff, we ran errands, did some shopping, and had some good lunch.   That afternoon we took some stuff to Grammy and Gramps and hung out with them for a little bit.  We came back to the house to chill with Patch a little bit.  Then we went to dinner with the Beach ladies.  Fun dinner at Wild Salsa and then the girls talked us into having frozen yogurt :)

7/12 - Today the boys left for summer camp. Greg is a driver and Landon was acting SPL.  I'm very proud of him for being asked to act as senior patrol leader for the whole troop for summer camp.  They will enjoy cool weather of Colorado for a week.

7/10 - Kind of a crazy time as usual.  We sort of last minute arranged to go out for Gramps and Greg's birthday.  Gramps wanted go to Outback Steakhouse.  We enjoyed Blooming onion, some steak and got a few desserts.  Yummy food and fun to spend some time with family.

June 2019

6/31 - Time to head home.  We headed to the airport, had lunch and a beer and got on our flight.  

6/30 - today we rented chairs and umbrellas at the beach right by us.   Greg and the kids spent most of the day in the water.  I spent most of the day under the umbrella but went out into the water a few times.

That day we had a little crab in the sand that was walking around and burying himself in the sand.   That night Greg and Kasey cooked burgers at the house.  We had yummy dinner

6/29 - we went down to the beach for a little while and it started raining so we headed back to the house.   It was interesting to see how the rain looked on the sand.

6/28 - Today we decided to go to the beach near our house.  Shorter walk and we enjoyed the beach just as much.   That night we went to a restaurant just down the street called Surfing Deer.  It was nice enough that that we got to sit outside on the patio.  Yummy dinner that started with bacon and I got chocolate peanut butter dessert!  We got a nice picture of the 4 of us since we were a little dressed up.  

6/27 - We decided to take the day off the beach.  We went to town and saw a movie.  Landon and I saw Men in Black 4.  Greg and Kasey saw Pets.  After the movies we had some yummy ice cream.  Then we decided to go try an escape room.  We had to try a harder one so we didn't solve it, but we still had fun doing it.  Pretty cool.

We went to Stinky's Fish Camp for dinner.  It was a long wait so we had a few drinks ;)  More ymmy food

6/26 - Another beach day.  I had some sun burn so I stayed in under the umbrellas more.  Greg and the kids were in the water most of the day.   Landon and I even took a little bit of nap in the chairs.   We had lunch at the grilled cheese food truck.  Yum.  Greg and I had a beer with lunch.

That night Greg and Kasey made dinner for us - we had fajitas.  Fun having dinner at our place and we even had dessert.

6/25 - Beach day.  We had rented 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas at Seaside.  It was a 5-7 minute walk from our house so not to bad.   We had breakfast at the house, made sandwiches for lunch and headed to the beach.

The water indicator was red and the waves are a little rough.  We definitely got beat up out there, but it's still fun.   We did a little boogie boarding, the kids played in the sand and just hanging out in the water.  Of course I got sunburned the first day.  We got a few drinks down on the beach which were $24 for 2.

That night after showers we went to Shunk Gulley for dinner.  Cool restaurant.  I think we got the last inside seat.  The food was really good and we were sitting in open area with the ocean across the street. Afterwards we went to get ice cream. Yummy!  As we were about done a big wind storm came in.   We got in the car and went home.

That night it rained pretty hard and cooled things down.  So Kasey and I went out on the patio to hang out in the nice weather.

6/24 - After a few days of what seemed like constant laundry it was time for family vacation.  We were headed to Seaside, Sea Grove area in Florida.  It was also housekeeper day and our flight was getting delayed some.  We ended up packing the car and heading to Grammy and Gramps house to wait til time to leave.  Grammy was heading down to water aerobics.  Gramps drove us to the airport so we didn't have to pay for parking.

Landon and I watched Riverdale on the plane and Daddy and Kasey did their own thing.    Once we got there we drove from Destin to where our rental house was.  Lots of complaining on the house.  We only had 1  and 1/2 baths but had 2 showers.   The bedrooms were downstairs.  Kasey had a room with 2 bunk beds, Landon had his own room with queen bed and Greg and I had a room with queen bed.  Upstairs was small kitchen, 1/2 bath and living room.  It was a cute little place.

We got settled in then headed to the store to buy groceries for the week.  We wanted to get breakfast and lunch stuff plus at least 1 dinner.   Kids were shocked that it was $300 - there might have been multiple bottles of wine too :)

That night for dinner we went to a place called Old Florida Fish House.  Cool place.  We went early so we got a seat.  The food was good and we had a view over a lake.  After dinner we hung out outside.  They had different games to play outside.  Corn hole, swing the ring on the hook, horse shoes.  It was a fun outside area to hang out.

After that we headed back to the house to settle in.

6/22 - We had to get up early and drive to Pinecove to pick up the kids.  Greg dropped me off and headed to Kasey's camp - pickup was at the same time.  I talked to Landon for a little bit then he wanted to go hang out with his cabin.

They sing a bunch of the songs that they sing through the week.   Then they divide up into their cabins and their counselor for the week talks about key words that describe the kids.

Landon's were joyful, insightful and deep.   Kasey's were kind, adaptable and content.

We drove home with some snacks, and Greg picked up food at Elke's when we got back.  I feel like I did not much other than laundry for 2 days.

Saturday night Kasey went to a friend's birthday party, Landon went to see Aladdin musical with a friend and Greg went to see FC Dallas game.  I went to market street and got sushi, wine and big brownie for dinner :)

I ended up getting Kasey a little early so we watched a movie together. 

6/21 - I had to work all day which is a little weird between 2 vacations.

6/20 - we got up super early, showered, checked out and headed to the airport.  It seemed like forever wait at the airport.  Luckily we got upgraded - along with 2 pilots and crew we assume from our flight the night before.   I had some food and slept most of the rest of the flight.

We got back to Dallas and met Grammy and Gramps at Greg's parents house.  They brought my work bag and wallet and took Greg and Patch home.  I took our car and went to work.  We had LT meetings then I had 2 happy hours in the afternoon.   I didn't get home til after 8 which is pretty late for waking up before 3am.   Needless to say we went to bed earlier than usual.

6/19 - We were supposed to leave to head home today.  We got up early and headed to the pool at 8am for a few hours before we went to take showers and pack up.

We decided to go to "check out" and go to lunch on the sister property with big buffet that is part of the resort for families.    Very different atmosphere, but the food was pretty good.  Got some street tacos, good guacamole and several other things.  We even had a few cervezas.  

We headed to the lobby for a last drink of two waiting on our driver to take us to the airport.  We started seeing that our flight was delaying, but there wasn't a whole lot that we could do about it.  Then all of a sudden our driver arrived to take us just as Greg got a text that our flight was cancelled.   We started looking into another flight and if we could stay another night.   They wanted to charge us almost $600 to stay an extra night in a not as nice room.  We called the travel agent who wasn't able to book anything for the day of, but luckily Greg looked online and was able to find a rate about 1/2 the price.   So we booked it and the travel agent booked our transport to the airport - sadly at 3:45am.

I had to tell my boss I wouldn't be back for morning meetings, and we had to wait for our room.  We went back to the bar for some drinks and chips.  About 4 we got to our room, and we headed to the pool for a little while.  We decided to keep it simple and order room service.  We got lobster, paella, tapas and a few other things.  It was pretty good.

Since our flight was at 6:45am and our car was coming at 3:45am we needed to go to bed a bit early anyway.

6/18 - We got up not to early and headed to breakfast again.  I had eggs Benedict with my mimosa and they had croissants today.

After breakfast we headed to the beach.  We found chairs with an umbrella and hung out.  There was an area to swim in the ocean but basically no waves.  We both got in some, but spend most of the time on the beach hanging out with a few drinks.  After that we went to the pool for a while longer - we had burger and fish burger for lunch.   We were close to the pool so we didn't burn our feet.

We hung out there and in the pool for the afternoon.   Then we went to Helios for dinner.  We got to sit on the patio.  I had surf and turf again but it wasn't nearly as good.  Good atmosphere but the food was ok.

We headed in early that night.  I hung out on the patio with music for a while.

6/17 - Day 1 in Cancun.  We slept in a little got up and went to have breakfast.  Mimosas, omletes and migas + breads fruit, cheese and meat.  After that we headed to the room.  Our patio had a swim up pool so we got ourselves a drink and went to hang out in the pool.  It was nice shaded, they had a bluetooth speaker for us and everything.  Of course we listened to Greg's music, but sometimes that's ok.

After the sun started coming into the patio we headed to the pool.  We found a place to sit and found that they were grilling fish and burgers. We had burgers, some cevichi, and fruit.

Then we hung out at the pool, in the water and under our umbrella.   There was a swim up bar.  This place is adult only so it's mainly adults/couples hanging out drinking in the sun.

Later in the afternoon we headed to the room to shower and relax before dinner.  We had reservations at the Argentinian restaurant.  I had surf and turf and veggies and Greg had a steak.  I tried a  manhattan which was interesting.  My food was better than Greg's.  Dessert was small but good.  After dinner we went back to the room for a night swim.  It was really nice.  We had our own bottle service in the room so we had vodka and sprite and whisky.

6/16 - What a day.  We took the kids and dropped them both off at Pinecove.  We had short time frame because we needed to get to the airport.  We got their beds set up and dropped them at their swim test.

We headed to DFW.  There was bad weather in Dallas, and we basically drove into the storm getting to the airport.  We got there in time for our flight, grabbed a quick bite to eat and drink then our flight started getting delayed.  This continued for a few hours.  We finally left and got to the resort in Cancun around 1am.

We had been upgraded on the flight so we got dinner and drinks.   We decided to go have a drink when we arrived.  It was dark, but we could see the beach and water some.  There was no one at the bar.  We went to bed pretty late but didn't have to get up early.

6/15 - after being up til midnight we all spent the day packing.  The kids for pinecove and Greg and I for a short get away to Cancun.

We met the grandparents for dinner at Fishmongers for early fathers day.   Good food and good company.  Fun times.

6/10 - Tonight Landon had to give a speech trying to be elected to ASPL (assistant senior patrol leader).  He was elected and he wants to be ASPL for quarter masters who take care of the equipment for camp outs.

Kasey and I started our week of Twilight Camp.  Every evening from 5:30-10:30 (except Friday we are there til midnight).  I was leader to some brownies going into 3rd grade.  Kasey is a camper.  Very fun week of activities.  The girls get to do rock climbing, walk a high rope between trees, get really wet playing games, do archery, go through a maze and put some things in time order, cook with fire and cut food, learn about audio through the ages, see the moon and stars up close with telescopes, and go swimming.  Lots of fun, and this year the weather was amazing - usually its crazy hot.

6/8 - We had Kasey's recital today.  2 of her friends came to watch the recital.  One of Kasey's other friends was in the dance with her.  Fun to see the girls together.  Kasey did well in her dance.  She also received an award for being at the studio for more than 5 years (7 years actually).  Greg joked that  he should get an award for at least 6 of those years.  She was so excited. She even wore the award to dinner.

We had a good family dinner at Joe's.  Yummy Italian.

6/7 - I took the day off because Kasey's dance dress rehearsal was today.  I got up early to work out.  I had PTA meeting in the morning while everyone else went to walk the dog and take Landon to performance course.

We had lunch then got Kasey ready for her dress rehearsal.   Afterwards we met some friends at the pool and then decided to go to dinner.  We tried a new place Fish City Grill - the food and drinks were good, the patio and bar were really good.  We will be back.

6/4 - Landon flew home tonight.  I went to pick him up at the airport and brought him home.  He had a great time and we are all glad he is home.

6/2 - Today we had end of year party with girl scout friends.   One of our neighbors came to talk to the girls about Bronze, Silver and Gold awards which is fun.  Then we went to the pool.  The girls played all afternoon and the adults got to catch up.  So fun hanging out with the ladies.

6/1 - Kasey sold over 600 boxes of cookies so we got to go to Hawaiian Falls for the day.  We went with the Beach ladies, did some slides, and spent most of the time in the lazy river and the wave pool.  We had yummy burgers for lunch and then let the girls swim some more after.  We stayed from just after 8 til after 2:30pm.    Fun day.

Greg has soccer game that night.  Kasey and I grabbed dinner and went shopping for pool party the next day.

May 2019

5/31 - I flew back from China, and met Greg and Kasey to go to Taste of Addison.  Fun night of food, drinks, some music and a few rides.  Kasey rode the same ride 5 times :)

5/29 - Today Landon took his first solo flight to Tennessee to visit his friend Colin.  They have been friends for a long time and always enjoy hanging out.  They are going to Dollywood for fun amusement park, the lake and hanging out doing some other stuff.  Good times to start the summer.

5/26 - I left for China for the week.  Greg and the kids went to a friends house for a memorial day party.  Landon ended up spending the night and staying up til 3am, and as usual he woke up the next morning early and spent a hour talking to my friend because no one else was awake.   Later that day he ended up sleeping a good bit.

5/25 - Today we mainly hung out.   We got lunch, all 4 of us went shopping.

Landon and I went to get some dinner.  After dinner Kasey asked to go to the pool.  Landon, Kasey and I went to the pool.  We all got in, we swam around, we played marco polo, Landon and I carried Kasey around on our shoulders and back.  Everyone got a long and had a really good time.  So much fun.  Greg and Patch walked to the pool and we all went home together.   Fun night. Sadly I have to leave in the morning for China for the week

5/24 - Last day of school so we now have a  5th grader and 8th grader.  Crazy.   Landon tried to have a few friends over but another friend had invited several kids over but he wasn't invited.  It's hard to see the kids hurting and being left out.  He was ok though.   

Kasey didn't miss the last day of school which was a good thing :)

5/23 - Landon got to go to a friends house after school.  It was the last day of finals they only had a half day of school.

 

5/22 - Kasey had her 4th grade end of year party.   She told me I didn't have to go, she was embarrassed by us but Greg went anyway.  I stayed at work.

I got a picture of Kasey running the really big bounce house to keep some order with a bunch of crazy kids.  That's my girl.

5/19 - We had family birthday for Landon.  We went to Texadelphia and ended having to pay cash for the whole family :)   Cindy and Carlos were here and Nanny was too.  Then we went back to Grandma's house for some dessert.  Greg made chocolate cake with icing and Grandma had several ice creams to go with it.   Good stuff and fun time with family.

5/18 - We didn't do to much during the day, but that evening the boys went to an Eagle Court of honor. After Greg and I went to a wine bar to have a few drinks.  Fun short outing.   

in early May Landon took SAT as a practice.  We got his scores and pretty sure as a 7th grader he scored better than Greg and I :)

5/13 - 5/17 - Monday night I had a work lunch and dinner and everyone else went to Scout BBQ.    I left early (5am early) to catch a flight to Boston for the rest of the week.  We got there and the only car they had was a suburban - Great for Boston roads (not).   I headed up to Manchester for the day to meet with my team up there and have dinner with them.  It was raining a good bit but it all worked out.

I attended a good conference on video.  One of the Keynote speakers was Jade Simmons who is a concert pianist among other things but she had a great story how she went from learning classical music to talking to her audience and creating music in different ways that was enjoyed by her audience.  The keynote was titled How to live like a Maverick.

This week the kids also had STAAR tests which isn't that fun but they got through it.

Friday was Landon's birthday.  I flew back from Boston and worked from home in the afternoon.  Greg did a good job for Landon.   As Landon went to bed he said he had a good day - he got donuts for breakfast, Greg brought him Laynes for lunch at school, we had Mi Cocina for dinner, paciugo for dessert, and  he had a good pretty easy day at school.  We took his picture and both Greg and I posted at 8:02pm that we had a teenager in the house.  

5/12 - We slept in then headed to Abeulos to for lunch with Grandma and Pops.  Yummy food.

5/11 - Kasey had tutoring in the morning and I had Twilight training.   Grammy picked up Kasey from tutoring and we met at Elkes for lunch after.   The special was very yummy - special chicken dish with peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheese.

That afternoon Kasey and I went to the salon to get Mani and Pedis.   That's what I wanted for mothers day :)

That night we met Grammy and Gramps at Wild Salsa for yummy mothers day dinner.   We even went to Braums for some ice cream.  Yum   It was a really fun day.

Friday night it had rained a ton on the boys - so much so that several of their sleeping bags got wet inside the tents.   So they decided after cooking and eating dinner to drive back home.   The good part of that is they got to sleep in their own beds.

5/10 - The boys headed out of town for campout.  Kasey and I headed to Norton Spring Carnival.  It was raining a bit so the bounce houses were inside the gym.   We had In and Out Burger truck for dinner and then the kids ran around.  Kasey was with a few of the boys from her class and I was walking around.  I found some of the girl scouts and they went looking for Kasey and the boys.   They had a lot of fun on bounce houses, getting kona ice and hanging out.   Kasey said she had a lot of fun.

Since the boys were gone, Kasey and patch slept with me & she actually slept in (shhh don't tell Greg :))

5/9 - Tonight Landon was in a football exposition.   3 Allen middle schools played 7 on 7.  Ereckson 7th grade won.  Landon participated in a kettle bell carry.  He was by far the smallest guy out there but he tried.

5/7 - Tonight Landon had end of year band concert.   They played music from different movies which was fun.  Landon was first chair for french horns :)

5/5 - The kids had their piano recital today and did a good job.  Always a fun family activity.  We also get to see some of the kids friends in the recital.  We came home after since we were tired.

5/3 - This weekend the boys stayed home and we took the girl scout troop for a weekend in Fossil Rim.  We stayed at High Hopes Ranch, and worked on our animal habitat and simple meals badges while we were there.   We also went on a safari tour in Fossil Rim which the girls loved.  They  took us through the park in an open bus.  We got to hand feed giraffes, EMUs and throw food out for several other animals.  Sunday morning the cows were all right outside our house which was pretty cool.

The girls spent time prepping food, cooking, cutting, cleaning up.   They did some skits, they hung out, played games, watched part of a movie on ipad (8 girls on a bed watching an ipad because there was no TV) :)

We all enjoyed the time and had great weather except for an early morning storm on Saturday.   Our meals included - Sonic dinner, biscuit/croissant/banana breakfast, crescent roll pigs in a blanket (with chicken or hot dog), fruit salad, chicken and beef taco dinner.  The girls made s'more cake cookies and strawberry shortcake.    Sunday morning we made eggs, bacon and blueberry muffins.

I was kind of a mess overall - I forgot to put hot dogs on the shopping list, I left my wallet in the car during the safari, I accidentally left chicken out overnight, and then Sunday I dumped several of the raw eggs - but it all worked out ok

5/1 - A few of my managers and I hosted a Greek dinner with colleagues that earned money for United way.   We all stood around in the kitchen having wine, enjoying good Greek food and even some dessert.  There was a storm coming in so several people left a little early. A few people stayed and we talked as the storm came through.

This week Landon got first chair which he hasn't really done before.