Christmas 2021

 The dust has settled a bit on our family Christmas celebration! We got to play host this year and our family came to us. Couldn't do it without grandma, she does half the preparation and more than half of the cooking! I'm amazed at my lack of pictures. Oops.

Love seeing my nieces and nephews and we were only missing one this year. We all figure as the kids get older this will happen from time to time. 

I hope everyone had a good break and I'm just going to keep rolling into this break with a week off of work. I think a road trip is in order! 

Gifts for the boys this year was Kayaks (inflatable), Preston Merch, Chiefs Merch
and cologne and smelly stuff! 

They are cousins but they look like brother and sister!

Santa brought Alex a projector drawing toy. 

Christmas eve was a nice night to walk at Zoo Lights!

On Christmas Eve I also finished my knitted dish towels! 
Yay me! 

Tennis Anyone?!

 Alex got introduced to tennis this summer during summer camp at Genesis. He has good hand eye coordination so he wanted me to sign him up for the tennis drills this fall. He has done three sessions of drills, and Friday got to play kids from another gym. He was so excited! He played two doubles matches and one singles. They play on a smaller court and the youth were calling their own in's and out's and doing their own scoring. 

That is a learning curve for your first tennis matches and he did great! He is going to take a break while he does indoor soccer this winter but he definitely wants to come back to tennis and that makes me happy. Very few head injuries in tennis! 

That was Friday night in Overland Park, KS and the boys went home with dad and Mom and I got to bed late for my standards. Not for her, she goes to bed later than me every night! No real plans this weekend except to get the rest of the holiday gifts wrapped. So it was totally on a whim that I ended up at the KU men's basketball game Saturday night. Tickets were super affordable and it was a great game! I don't remember the last time I was in Allen Fieldhouse so it was a very cool thing to do last minute. :-) 

This was after his first match and they didn't win, so 
it's a pretty forced smile. That's OK had to document anyway! 

Playing doubles! 

There is no bad seat in AFH! 

Just measuring up my size 8 shoes to Raef Lafrentz Size 17!

Feeling that Christmas Spirit

 We are almost halfway through December and it's starting to feel like Christmas. Mom and I actually got the decorations all up last weekend and yesterday I wrapped all the presents! Most years I'm doing that hours before they are going to be unwrapped, a tad stressful. 

  So at this point to have the Christmas cards in the mail I'm feeling pretty good about Christmas 2021. We have even been to a couple of gatherings already! Last week Daryl had his first 4-H Exchange Christmas party and his team won the make a snowman contest. Daryl got to be the snowman. 

Last night we had Potwin Christmas complete with a horse drawn wagon ride to see the lights. The food, friends and lights were amazing. Two weeks to go and the mantra is to enjoy the friends and family and not procrastinating the holiday tasks. We got this! 

Pepe and Lola are ready to party!

On the wagon ride.

In front of the horses! 

Daryl the Snowman!

Goal Update Oct. and Nov!

Had a great Birthday today! Joanne at work made me one of the best Apple Crisps I have ever had and mom took me out to eat some yummy Indian Food tonight! I am so lucky to have so many people in my life who messaged me today, left me a note on Facebook or stopped by my office to give me well wishes. This has been one of the most peaceful birthdays I've had in awhile. (I even ordered some new running shoes as a happy birthday gift to myself!)

I was a little off my game during October and did not get a goal update. So you are getting two months worth of progress in one read! For a couple of busy months I'm proud of what I got done! 

Read 20 Books: 17/20  

In October I finally finished The Stand. For some reason in 2021 a book about a plague is not that scary. So this was just a great drama. And at over 1,100 pages it is like a TV series with two or three seasons. I missed the characters once it was over. 

In November I read The Happiness Project and The Aviator's Wife. I feel extra accomplished when I read a non fiction and a fiction in the same month. I don't know why. 

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin gave me some good inspiration for 2022 goals. For every month of the year she worked on a new area of her life and tried to figure out how to be a happier person in general. I'm going to steal her method of tracking daily habits to improve yourself. Benjamin Franklin did this daily logging to try to constantly improve. I'm just really motivated by checking a box so I'm going to see if I can make and keep some good habits! 

The Aviator's Wife was a novel about being the wife of Charles Lindbergh and living in the shadow of an American Hero/American Enemy circa WWII/Then Hero again. A fiction that felt too real as a woman tries to not loose herself being a wife and then a mother. I would recommend! 

Only three books in December to get this goal done! 

 Run 800 700 miles: 627/700

The past two month I've done mostly 2-3 miles runs with one 10K thrown in. My hip is feeling good and I'm happy to be ending this year with pain free runs. Will I make 700 this year, probably not. Will I stop running in December, Nope! My monthly goal is 53 miles for Dec. Let's end this year on an even number. :-)  

Money Goals: Still trying to get a contractor signed up for my stairs project. The money is saved, just need to get on someone's schedule. 

• Pay Off my Car - Done March
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix the sink in my bathroom Done July 
• Add $2,000 to savings  Done August 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 2/4

I'm still not feeling my sweater project so I started a fancy dish towel. It's the kind that hangs from the oven handle. It only took me a week to knit and I love it! I'm going to make more! 

Before the boys left on Sunday they gave me my gift. 
World's Best Boss! LOL 

Thank you for dinner mom!!

And thank you for my flowers! You have been my 
birthday date since day 1! Back in the 80s!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 The boys, mom and I headed north for Thanksgiving this year. The Stiles family hosted us in South Dakota and there were no blizzards, so we were able to make the trek this year! 

I hardly took any pictures and I think that's because we were all just enjoying being together. We visited, ate, played cards, ate, chased cats, ate, watched football and ate some more! Diane and Asa are incredible hosts and they thought of everything. Diane even made me a birthday cake and my whole family had to sing to me! Sorry, youngest child just gets special treatment no matter how old they get. LOL 

I was happy all the cousins got to spend some time together. We were only missing Canyon, hopefully we will have everyone at Christmas. 

I can't end this post without letting you know I bet my brother on three football games on Thanksgiving. The stakes were high, it was a dollar a game. I WON all three games. Take that Asa! 

Alex expanded his taste palette this year to include
mashed potatoes. His Thanksgiving plate is filling up! 

Daryl at least has something green! 

Cousin picture!

On the way back we had to stop at Falls Park in Sioux Falls.

This is our favorite stop to stretch our legs
the boys get to climb rocks and this time
they were breaking the ice! South Dakota is a tad
colder than Kansas right now! 

4-H Achievement Night and Soccer

Daryl had a big November and I'm still trying to get it all documented. He had three weeks of Middle School Soccer and started varsity. He hasn't played soccer since he was five but there wasn't many experienced players on the team. They did have fun and improved immensely! They didn't win a game, but sometimes you are on an undefeated team (football) and sometimes you are on a defeated team. The boys showed really good sportsmanship every game and still left the pitch smiling and joking around with each other. 

On the 13th Daryl helped lead the Achievement Night program since he was an Events Council Officer last year in 4-H. The event celebrates all that the youth and volunteers have accomplished in 4-H and it really motivated him to do more this year. He is the president of the Shunga Valley 4-H Club and for the first year he is also part of the 4-H Exchange group. They will be hosting a club from Texas this summer and next Summer he will go visit their state. 

I'm glad that he has found things that interest him in 4-H and he is starting to see that he can be a leader and plan things for the club on his own. 

It's not all rainbows, he has his struggles but he is figuring it out. For example, if you normally talk to him by phone, he might have that back on Tuesday after school, or he will have it after Thanksgiving break. Depends on what happens in school this week. 😁

I had a new seat at Achievement Night, the program
was great! I enjoyed being the AV lady! 

Taking pictures of Soccer is really hard! 

I Ran a Race

 I am so behind in posting! But that's ok, I'll catch up! 

My hip  has been feeling pretty good so I was happy to sign up for the 10K distance of Gobbler Grind on Nov. 7th. My Cousin Kayleigh and our other friend Casie did it too! Kayleigh made up shirts and we were team "World's Okayest Runners." It was appropriate. LOL The run was through Cooperate Woods in Kansas City and the weather was perfect!

I've done a 10K before but it was years ago so I don't know what my PR is but I'm pretty sure it was under an hour. I was very happy with my time of 1:00:48, if I had pushed I might have gotten under an hour, but I also might have reinjured my hip. I just enjoyed my race! 

I don't always race with other people, in fact I normally don't but this year all my races have been with friends and I loved it! So who is running TopCity Half with me on April 23rd? You know you wanna!!! 

The Okayest Runners Team!

Casie Finish Line!

My Finish Photo

Kayleigh beat all of us!

Come on girls!!! Let's do a half!!

Happy Halloween!

 I know, I know, I'm  late with the Halloween post. But this week was a busy one for work as I prepared for a meeting last night. It went very well, I might actually be getting the hang of this director thing! 

Ok, the boys had three days of Halloween with school celebrations Friday, a haunted treasure hunt Saturday and trick or treating Sunday. I was so tuckered by the time they went to Kelly's at 5pm, I didn't even turn on my porch light. **Gasp** I worked at the office for about an hour, went home and ate a late dinner, then went to bed! On the positive, I was very rested for Monday and have been kicking this week's butt! 

Here are our Halloween pictures, October Goal Update to come next! 

Designed and Carved by Alex!

Daryl wanted a creepy hand, nailed it!

Daryl went as Bevis!

Alex was Black Panther! I wish I had a better picture
he picked his costume in September and LOVED IT! 

Done with Football (for now)

 On Wednesday night Alex and I bundled up to watch Daryl's football team compete in the City League Championship. It was cooler than I expected, so I was thankful we live close enough to the field to do an emergency run for hats, gloves and more blankets! There were three games that night with the championship last, so we didn't start until 8pm. It made for a late school night, but it was worth it! 

The first half was pretty close, but the second half the Ravens pulled away. The final score was 34-6 and with that Daryl's first season of football was complete! Since Daryl was JV all year we didn't even think he would suit up for this game. But the day before he got the good news that he would be in uniform on the sideline. Then in the last minute of the game Daryl got to go in for a couple of plays. 

All the players got medals and the school got to take home the city league trophy for the year. Daryl told one of his coaches he was going to do push ups all year so he could be varsity next year, the coach said if he works hard in the off season, he should make varsity. From one Youth Development Professional to another, Thank You Coach! You let Daryl know that his future is in his own hands. 

I think Basketball is next, let's see how that goes! 

Run Alex, Run!

 Last Saturday was the annual fun run at Alex's grade school. I was afraid it would get rained out but the weather was actually perfect. 

Last time we did this two years ago it was just a mile, this year the kids could choose to run the lap twice and do two miles. I was so surprised when Alex lined up with the two mile kids! Halfway through he was questioning his decision but he finished strong.

Maybe I will get one runner? Too soon to tell. Bravo to the school, in addition to the run the Topeka High band performed and they had drinks and snacks. Such a fun morning!

Busker Fest and Goals!

Last weekend the boys and I ventured to Lawrence for Busker Fest. I have been a couple of times before but this was their first time. It was a hot day, but still lots of fun. Both of the boys got into a show. Daryl helped the Cowboy Comedian and Alex assisted the pogo stick guy! They were two lucky ducks!  

Read 20 Books: 13/20  

So I'm almost done reading a book that has now taken me two months. It is "The Stand" by Stephen King. It is 1100 pages long. It is VERY good. I don't usually go for King books because I don't need to be anymore scared than I already am! LOL 

However, a book written in the 1990s about a Super Flu that wipes out the earth's population doesn't really read as a horror story anymore...

I have 200 pages to go and no matter how it ends I will miss these characters. I look forward to seeing what they are up to every night. However, my to be read pile is getting large, it is time to wrap this one up. 

Run 800 700 miles: 532/700

I started to feel better this month. Yay! I eased into running again, starting with 1-2 mile runs. I worked all the way up to 3.5 miles ;-). I ended up with 42 miles for the month. I felt like my efforts should not end in a failed miles goal for the year. So, I asked the captain of the ship if I could amend the running goal from 800 miles to 700 miles. She agreed that would still be challenging and it would keep the peasant motivated to get exercise. So she allowed it!  

Money Goals: I saved more money this month, and I called a carpenter about the stairs. It is the next thing on the list. I will keep bugging people to see if I can get on someone's schedule. 

• Pay Off my Car - Done March
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix the sink in my bathroom Done July 
• Add $2,000 to savings  Done August 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 1/4

Still just one more sleeve for knitting project number 2......

The Topeka Paletas guy was a vendor at Busker Fest. 
He is our favorite! 

Alex loves the Strawberry, I prefer the coconut!

Interception!

 Last night Daryl had his first out of town football game. Alex and I headed to Council Grove to cheer on our Raven! PS-never been to Council Grove before, very cool looking. They have a river walk and cute downtown I want to go back and check those out some time. 

Ok, back to football. The visitors bench was facing the sun so it was really hard to get pictures at this one. The Varsity took care of business and won by 20, the closest game they have had this far. Then they played a JV half and Daryl got to play offense and defense. In probably the third to last play of the JV half Daryl got an interception! It was so exciting, Alex and I were jumping up and down. Never thought I would lose my mind at a Middle School JV football game, but here we are. :-) I've actually been smiling all day thinking about it, mostly because Daryl was so happy last night. He has been working hard at practice and he has been cheering and supporting his friends from the sidelines, so when he gets to be a big part of a play, it is pretty cool. 

On Wednesday, the school district hosted their annual family fitness night. This is one we like to attend every year because the kids see their friends outside of school and they just play games. Bonus this year we were also given a bag for each student that had a card game, book, activity book and pop-it. Alex and I tried out the Scrabble Slam card game while we waited for Daryl's game, we are going to get pretty good at it!