Baseball and Band

 We are ending March with a flurry of activities. 

Last week Daryl had his first baseball game. This season started off rough with him taking a baseball to the eye during tryouts. He had to take 10 days off (doctor’s orders), but the good news is he’s back and ready to play. Definitely a tough way to start the season.

Alex had his first music festival last Thursday, and it was such a fun one to watch. The middle school band headed to Baker University, played two songs, and got rated on their performance. They ended up with an excellent rating. I took the morning off to go watch, and I’m really glad I did, they were so fun to watch!

And then Jeff and I snuck away to see David Byrne. He’s been on Jeff’s bucket list forever, and I was just along for the ride. I have now been converted to a fan! The whole show was so unique. The band marched around the stage with their instruments, every song had visuals, and it just felt completely different from any concert I’ve been to.

My favorite was Psycho Killer, and the crowd absolutely lost it during Burning Down the House.

10/10 would go again.

Celebrating our successful week at a Library themed speakeasy. There was a password to get in! 

Fun at the Theatre!

So we made it through Spring Break, barely! The kids went back to school today, and they are not as thrilled as Jeff and I are. We’re down to the last nine weeks of school, and this is when everything hits.

Lucas had spring break last week, so we had him home for a few days. I think his favorite part was the access to the fridge. I had to restock everything in the pantry after he went back to school, LOL.

Before Spring Break, Aaron was in his middle school musical. It was a really cute production called Frankie Builds Androids. Aaron had a number about flying frisbees, and we were all singing that for a couple of days. It was catchy!

During Spring Break, Aaron participated in the Civic Theatre spring break camp, and Joseph went to zoo camp. At theatre camp, Aaron was cast as Shrek in Shrek Kids. I don’t know how they put together such a good show in five days, but it was awesome. He did a great job!

Now the calendar is going to fill up with baseball, tennis, track, and band. Here we go!

This is how the Meerpohl boys spent most of their days. 

Middle school production.

February Goal Check and Photo Recap

For as long as January was, February was soooo short. It's like I blinked and it was over. The overview of the month was Middle School basketball, friend's 40th birthday weekend, Walking Lola with some regularity and visiting Arizona for the second month is a row with Jeff. Maybe that is why it went so fast, I didn't waste any of it! 

Read 30 Books (up 6 from last year) 4/30

I finished three books in February. 

I started the month with a stinker. I read a lot of it in January and pure stubbornness made me finish it. I obviously was drawn to it by the title but I do not recommend The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. To be fair my friends Jaime and Elise warned me but I read it anyway. Next time, when two very well read friends say "don't bother," I won't! 

My second book was another find I picked up at the Lawrence Library book sale. Stay Up with Hugo Best by Erin Somers was a breath of fresh air after the stinker book. It was Erin's first novel and you can tell it was well thought out. A fiction story about a weird workplace relationship that tempts romance for the entire book kept me intrigued. Would recommend, it falls in beach read territory for me. It won't make the shelf but I found it at a library sale so maybe someone will find it again at the Topeka Library sale! 

The last book I finished was my first non fiction of the year. The Five Resets by Dr. Aditi Nerurkar was some good food for thought on the science of stress on our bodies. It had some stuff I had heard before and some strategies I hadn't. Her book is referenced in the popular Let Them book that I read last year. If you like strategies to help with stress backed up with research, this is your book. Would recommend and will keep on the shelf. The shelf at my office! 

Run 620 miles (down 30 from last year) 93/620

I ran 43 miles in February, a little short of my 50 monthly goal. If I hadn't had molar week I probably would have made the monthly goal. But I am giving myself some grace because last year February almost tanked my entire year. In 2025 in February I was packing up my house and preparing to move and it was also very cold. I only ran 15 miles. For the entire month! So while I missed the 50 miles I can make up 7 miles, no sweat! 

Grow my savings by 60%

Made another savings deposit this in February and I am right on track for my savings goal! 

UFO (unfished objects) to be completed in no particular order 

I did stitch a little on my needlepoint project this month. But not enough to finish it. I also did go through my T-Shirts in the basement and realized I have enough for many quilts. Not changing the goal just preparing for that project! In March I really need to attack the many many pieces of my alpaca quilt that are all cut out and waiting for me......  

    Alpaca Quilt

    T-Shirt Quilt

    2 photo books for Daryl and Alex

    1 knit project from stash

    1 stitched project from stash 

When you invite your running friends to your birthday weekend, we are going to make you run! Dang those Missouri hills! 

Take me back to watching Sail Boats on my long run!

Young, Scrappy & Graduating: 8th Grade Graduation Meets Hamilton

I know we still have a few months of school left, but Hamilton doesn’t tour in Kansas City every day. So a couple of months ago, Jeff and I got tickets for our 8th-grade grads. Alex’s favorite musical is Hamilton, and Aaron loves all things theatre. They were both super excited, and that was enough of a win.

We started with dinner at Blue Sushi, and then we walked to the theatre. It was amazing! I was so happy to be with Alex and Aaron as they experienced Hamilton live for the very first time. Jeff and I saw the show for the first time last summer in Omaha, and we both thought this cast was a little better. But maybe we were just so happy to share it with our graduates!

Innings Music Festival Review

Last weekend Jeff and I headed to Tempe for the Innings Festival. Neither of us had ever been to a music festival before, so we happily checked that one off our travel list together.

I originally found the festival because last year I missed my favorite college band, Bowling for Soup, thanks to another commitment. When I looked them up to see if they were touring again, I stumbled onto Innings. Judging by the sea of 1985 T-shirts in the crowd, we were not the only Sunday ticket holders who showed up specifically for that 3:30 p.m. band.

The surprise of the day was Big Boi, one half of Outkast. I wasn’t sure how much solo material he’d perform, but he rapped almost all of my Outkast favorites. It was such a fun set! I was dancing around like I was back at Colby Community College!

Closing out the main stage were Sublime and Blink-182. We opted for just one day (because we are realistic about our age) and splurged on upgraded tickets with seats. Zero regrets. 

The weather was perfect, I squeezed in two great runs, and I’d absolutely go back. On the flight home, we finally connected the dots on the heavy baseball theme , the festival happens during Major League Baseball spring training. Apparently there were even MLB players signing autographs. Who knew?

All in all, it was a great weekend and I would do a laid back music festival again! 

Last Week was Formidable!

Trying to come up with a word that really described last week was hard. I settled on formidable because it means “difficult to deal with.” Yeah, that’ll do it.

It was a decent work week and a good week for the kids. One of my molars decided it was time for us to be done with each other. So tooth pain on Monday turned into mouth pain on Tuesday and then total head pain on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I had the sucker pulled and started the road to recovery! A week out, and I feel great.

Enough about me. Alex has been keeping busy with his middle school basketball team and tennis clinics, preparing for that season. I’m trying to play it cool, but I can’t wait to see him play this year. He has put in so much work since last season, and I’m ready to watch his 8th-grade season.

He visited Topeka High two weeks ago, and I can’t believe that will be his school next year. He said he and Dad visited three tables: Band, Tennis, and Science. Then they bounced. LOL. That sounds about right.

Aaron visited Topeka High as well, and going from four schools this year to two next year is going to be AMAZING! Aaron checked out the theatre table, and that was good to see. I love that T-High has something for everyone.

You can tell my monthly goals went off track during my Molar Week, but I’m back on track, and Lola and I have gotten our walks in all week. She is still very distracted by EVERYTHING, but we’re working on it. I just wish she didn’t see squirrels as such a threat…

My molar diet consisted of soft foods and ice coffee. Finally got hot food and drinks back on Sunday!

Getting serious about Lola walks!