KANSAS!!

Kiddos and I are off to Kansas in the morning...Carl's holding down the fort!  It may not be sand and ocean waves but it's still away and will be very nice! 

Happy Spring Everyone!

Today...Spring in CO!

Yesterday was beautiful!  K even had her first soccer practice of the season and it was almost 70 degrees. 

This is today...right now actually!

The daylilies...

The poppies and little statue boy...

I woke up and checked the school website to make sure I had to wake the little people...yep...it's a school day.  My question...if they take them on the bus, they must keep them the entire day, right? 

It's my last alone time before 10 days of spring break.  Very necessary! 

Happy Friday!

Spring has almost sprung but more snow to come and another bag!

More snow! 
Today is in the high 60's maybe even into the 70's...tmr is supposed to be a blizzard, seriously, high in 30's with blowing snow...r u kidding me?! 
So here are some spring in Colorado pics taken just this weekend...at least we had it for a couple days and to remind me that we are oh so close!


The poppies are popping!

It's only 60 but the kids are barefoot w/ their summer clothes...Zander at least still has his pants...I did too!
A little karyoki...

(snow shovels haven't been put away yet...we know CO all too well and that is my water wand that she is using for a microphone)

The daylilies have made their debut too! 

Happy Spring!  Off to Kansas next week...can't wait!!

I have been working on another messenger bag for a friend.  It turned out great and she loved it...thank goodness (I always worry).  This is the same bag that my mom uses and seems to be the one most people buy.  I added a magnetic closure to this one though and love it.  It was so simple and easy to add too...I had put it off. Something new...god forbid!
Anyways...here it is!

 Very Fun!!

Thoughtless....

No big thoughts today.  I guess I will fill you in on what I have been up to...

-I finished a bag for a friend (no Shana, not you)
-working on some embroidery projects to do in KS
-finishing a Maggie Bag for etsy site
-laundry (a bazillion loads)
-procrastinating about figuring out what's for dinner
-sending kiddos outside to play...inside to do homework all too soon

-7 days till we go to Kansas!!!  Yay!
-a book I recently finished and loved...

Next book...Second Chances by Jane Green
Just another Monday!

"There's no place like Home"

It's almost time...almost time to say goodbye to Kansas.  I didn't live there long and I haven't even lived there for 18 years.  But now, Mom and Dad have sold their house in Kansas.  Home base is no more...it's always hard to say goodbye but this one is a bit harder than I expected.  When Carl and I married 18 1/2 years ago, I didn't think too much about leaving, I was excited to be married, in Colorado and on our own.  Mom, Dad and Shana were all still there and I could easily run away when I felt the desire.  It was safe...just like in tag...your safe when your at home base.  I will dearly miss Kansas.  I will miss seeing my kids run all over the place with as much freedom as they ever dreamed.  I will miss those beautiful fields of wheat and sunflowers that just make you smile.  I will miss Manhattan, Call Hall ice cream at KSU, the Wamego park with the kids, Olsburg lunch after church, driving Tuttle Creek dam and remembering the hours and hours spent waterskiing during college, Camp Lost in the Woods with my awesome family, hangin' with my bestie, Shana.
I will actually miss the drive...it may be long but it always lead me to where I wanted to be whichever way I was headed...East or West.  I will miss all those miles and miles of mile-markers.  I could almost tell you all the cities...Colby @ 57, Hays @ 151, Salina @ 250, Manhattan @ 303, give or take a few.

Some wonderful memories...

Camp Lost in the Woods!

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We were all celebrating Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary!!!!

 Grandpa (using his Kansas House of Representative privileges...thanks gramps) talking a security guard into giving us a run around the Kansas Speedway...totally awesome!

Stopping at one of Grandma and Grandpa's friends and riding on the combine...sooooo fun!

  As we were riding the combine, a train passed us by...it's so beautiful!

  My second favorite part of the trip...visiting Shana!  

This is where we will be going from now on...Mom and Dad/Grandma and Grandpa are in the middle of building a new home in Wyoming.  It's truly a beautiful place.  We love that they will be so much closer to us and instead of mile-markers, we count antelope (cantaloupe if you are my kiddos)!!  The house is beautiful and it's such a relaxing place. 

We love Wyoming but Kansas will always be home!

My first official crochet project!!

I decided this was going to be the year to perfect my crocheting skills.  I have ended up making a few things but nothing too expansive...dish clothes, really.  Mom, Donna and Lori were the receivers of wonderful dish clothes but what fun is that really?  To enjoy, you must wash dishes...nice but no fun!

So my wonderful friend Jess, needed a thank you.  This fall she organized  meal deliveries for us for 2 months while I recovered from my seizures and the new meds.  It was AMAZING!  

Here it is...on me!  It turned out so great!  This scarf was the perfect, relatively easy, fast project and she loved it!  She also loved the color which can be difficult with all the choices out there.  I think the color is perfect for me too...hmmm!  Back to work!     

A little reflecting...

This morning while eating breakfast and in our usual rush to get kiddos ready and off to school, I realized what day it was and where we were on March 3 2009.  C, Z and I were waking up at The Children's Hospital in Denver and Z had just undergone brain surgery overnight to drain fluid that had built up on his brain.  This all started with a simple sinus infection that went haywire.  

I hope to never again, in my lifetime, see one of my kiddos fly off in a medical helicopter.  I hope to never have to sit in an operating waiting room while one of them undergoes brain surgery.  

~I am so thankful for all the doctors and nurses who were so amazingly wonderful during the 2 weeks we were in TCH.  

~I am thankful for my Mom and Dad and their love and care of the girls while we stayed in Denver with our sweet boy!  

~I am so thankful for friends and  family who stopped by or sent lots of love to help lift Z's spirits and for all their love and support.  

~I am thankful for these hard times that make us appreciate all the good times we have had and will continue to have for a long time.  

~I am thankful that I was home this morning, fussing with kiddos, making sure they ate all their breakfast and drank all their fresh-squeezed OJ (THANKS BABA!!) and hurrying them out the door to catch the bus in time.  I wouldn't want it any other way!  

Daddy and I love you kiddos more than you will ever know!  

K's fancy, new haircut!!

K turned 11 in January.  She is in 5th grade and will start middle school in August.  She rolls her eyes (yes dad, the tradition has passed on), she is smart and beautiful and full of enthusiasm for life...the perfect pre-teen!  She is a sweet girl!  

She has been bugging me to get a "real" haircut by a "real" stylist for a long time.  We finally were able to and I surprised her with an appt to see my favorite stylist (who I haven't seen in about 7 mos).  

Here is before the "real" haircut...

my sweet little girl!  (again, that is a temporary tattoo on her forehead)

and here is after...

My beautiful 11 yr. old, almost middle school girl!

Wow...what a difference some bangs and layering make.  She loves her cut!  We made sure to tell Mary that we had to have it long enough to still put up in a pony tail and the bangs can still be pinned back with a clip or hair band.  Success!  

I loved watching you get your hair cut K!  You enjoyed every moment and it was fun doing it together!  I love you!