Fencing Expo

This weekend the girl scouts were having some sort of sports expo, and Kiersten's fencing club was invited to attend. She was very excited to go and to show off her foil skills. Ben and his friend drove the girls down town while I took Kara to her basketball practice, and Evie to her soccer game. They were really good about getting some pictures. 

She said she had a lot of fun. Ben said he was not impressed. I guess she just needs to keep practicing so he will be the next time. 

After fencing was over, Ben brought her to Evie's soccer game, which luckily was also where Kiersten's soccer game was right after. It was really cold, but she was amped up to get in the goal. Both teams were blue, so her team wore the red tanktop things. Kiersten wore yellow to play goalie. 

They were down 0-1 until the last 10 seconds when Twin Oaks came back and tied the game with no play time left. They were happy to take a tie instead of a loss, and even more happy to get out of the cold. 

As much as they love playing, I just want soccer to be over now that I have to sit in the cold to watch. Basketball practices have begun, and with Kara and Kiersten both playing for 2 teams, I guess my weekends are about to switch to sitting in gyms instead of fields. I can't complain about that. 

When Mommy's Away

I went to Utah to spend some time with my Mom before she started her radiation therapy for breast cancer. I thought it would be nice to go after she was recovered from surgery, but before the treatments were making her feel tired and yucky. Since I was apparently having too much fun visiting to remember to take any pictures, I'll share a few from the kids' fun day at six flags while I was gone. 

They really enjoy fright fest, but we haven't yet taken them at dark when things get substantially more scary. Maybe one of these years. When I spoke to them on the phone to say goodnight, they were eager to tell me that Daddy had bought soda, candy, ice cream, and brownies. I was glad not to be there to be tempted by all that. 

I did get a picture on the airplane, not much else to do, haha. My flight was more exciting than normal because a passenger let his 2 cats out of their boxes to run crazily around scratching, biting, and hissing. They found some good hiding spots, but were eventually wrangled and re-crated. Their owner was trying to insist that they were service animals, and he was allowed to have them out. The flight attendants would not allow it, and eventually he gave up and sat back down. 

My sister, Shelly was in Utah a few weeks before me for Mom's surgery. We all got matching necklaces to wear. 

I was sad that I couldn't make it out for the surgery, but glad that it got scheduled and taken care of so quickly. I wore my necklace to match with my sisters and Mom. this is a really weird picture of me. I wonder if I accidentally had my phone in mirror mode or something. Hmmm. I think that's it, because my hair is parted on the wrong side. 

Luckily Jackie took a picture with me and Chris. Thanks for sharing!

Ben sent me this picture of Kara's whiteboard. You'd think she would write this when I was actually home to seem more realistic.

I accidentally got the girls to dance class really early a few weeks ago, and Evie was so happy to play with the toys in the lobby. I try to get there right on the dot, because the waiting room is so small, and there is not usually anywhere to stand or sit with the class before theirs being so full. 

Mom finished up her treatments this past week, and is feeling better and doing great. Let's hope that we've seen the last of it! I'm truly glad that she caught it so early, has a good prognosis. 

Shryock's Farm

We wanted to make sure that we stopped at Shryock's farm and corn maze on our way to Kansas City at least once this year. We lucked out to be there on a nice day this year. 

Rope swingin in the barn is always fun. 

And who wouldn't want to play in a giant box of corn. I heard another parent repeatedly telling his son not to eat it. He said it was just so good, though. 

It was a hot day (in October!) and everyone was sweaty. 

Kiersten specifically wore her most cowgirl/farmer outfit. She really wanted Ben to send a picture to Papa so he would see how cute her outfit was. 

This is the point I should have remembered to make everyone go to the bathroom before we entered the corn maze. 

But in we went, full bladders and all. 

We split up quite a bit, and found each other pretty easily. Ben got a handle on the map, and so did Kara, so we just made sure Evie, Kiersten, and I stayed with one of them at all times, and no one got lost. 

We only found 2 of 8 checkpoints to get our maps punched before everyone needed to find their way out and to a bathroom. They opted not to go back in afterward, since it was so hot out there. 

Back in the barn we played with the corn some more. 

The slide looks pretty fun, and adults are actually allowed, though I've yet to try it. 

We let the girls get gumballs from this huge Rube Goldberg machine. They tried to keep an eye on their gumball as it went all around the rafters and made it's way back down. Kiersten's rolled over the edge, and crashed to the ground, so she was given a new quarter to try again. 

KC Chiefs Sideline Photos

Because Ben got so many cool pictures when he and Kiersten were on the sideline before the game, they get their own post. I think this is a better time to get to be on the field than at halftime or after the game. They had so much fun!

Pretty fun to get to see this guy in action so close up!

I took a few more of his pictures from the other games. They're always better than mine. 

During the Crucial Catch cancer awareness game, every seat had a card and a sharpie to write down the name of the person they cheer for. It turns out that grandmas are pretty popular with our group.