The end is near...No, I'm not talking about the hype of the "end" like how the Mayan Calendar says that the world will end on December 21, 2012. (Which happens to be one day before Kammie's 8th birthday. C'mon, let the girl have her birthday!) I'm talking about the end of summer.
The heat is slowly leaving us and the air is turning crisp. Mmmmm...I can smell the Autumnness (sp?) (Oh wait, is Autumnness really a word? Probably not, but I'm still using it).
I've been lighting pumpkin and apple cinnamon candles all week. They smell great but somehow I can still smell "kid" in my house. I don't want to smell kid. I want to smell more Fall.
So, what's been going on at Casa de Schanz? Well, you know, the usual stuff. Craziness. Here's the run down:
School started on August 13th. Kenna is in 8th, Koen in 5th, Kammie in 2nd and KJ is doing Pre-K with me. Yep. You read that one right. I'm homeschooling him for Pre-K. It's going great so far. The other three kids are loving their new teachers and classes. Everyone seems to be a good fit.
Kenna has a lot of homework between school and Confirmation class. Plus, she is on the middle school volleyball team. So, practice everyday and games on Thursdays. And her final year of confirmation class started after Labor Day. Basically she's busy.
Koen is playing tackle football with his friends. He plays offense and defense and also kicks the ball for kickoffs. He is in H-E-A-V-E-N!!! Football is his one true love. He likes school okay. But mostly he just wants to hang out with his friends. (He's a clone of me).
Kammie is playing flag football for the third year. She loves it. She loves school. She loves her friends and teacher. There's not much she doesn't love. Well, she doesn't love cleaning her room. But who does?!?!
KJ is hanging out with me everyday. We do "school" 3 days a week using a homeschool program. He seems to be doing great so far. No sports for KJ yet, in the spring he will get to play soccer. It will be his first attempt at team sports.
So that's what's going on right now.
What about the summer?
Let me take a moment to reflect...
I think we actually did everything we wanted to do this summer. Let's see, Jed and I went to Jamaica while the 4Leaf Clovers stayed with grandparents. Grandma took them to the Sedgwick Co. Zoo, Exploration Place, swimming, shopping, on a graveyard scavenger hunt (I know what you're thinking, morbid, right?!?!), swimming again, Grandma's house, our house, softball games, swimming at another pool, and out to eat at nearly every restaurant around.
All the while Jed and I basked in the Jamaican sand and sun. Well, we also climbed Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios, Zip Lined in the Jamaican Jungle, visited Rick's Cafe in Negril (where I jumped off the infamous cliff), and walked the 7 mile white sand beach of Negril. We stayed at The Royal DeCameron in Montego Bay, Jamaica and had an amazing time. But after a week, like every vacation, we were ready to come home. There's nothing like your own bed, in your own home, with your own kids. Love.
What else did we fill our moving-way-to-fast-summer with? Oh yeah, baseball and softball.
Kammie played softball on the Smurfettes with the Mulvane Recreation Commission. She liked it of course, but if you ask Jed and I, it's like watching paint dry. Don't get me wrong, we love watching her play sports, but machine pitch 6, 7 & 8 year old softball is b-o-r-i-n-g!!!! Next year we are getting on a competitive team in Derby. I hope!
Koen played baseball with the Mulvane Wildcats at Southwest Boys Club. Games for his season started way back in March, so I can't really say it is a summer sport, but they play way into July, so, I guess it belongs in the summer category.
Koen had a few tournaments that were nothing but HOT!!! One tournament was in Augusta, KS. His team played two games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. All in 100+ degree temperatures. Yikes! They were able to take 2nd place though! Go wildcats!
The Wildcats played in the state tournament in July. It was our first experience with state baseball and I can say overall (even though, it too was 100+ degrees) we enjoyed it.
Baseball is a great sport, but I have to say, I am always happy when it ends for three reasons. 1) Baseball season is so dang long. 2) It means we have a 2-3 week break before the next sport begins. And 3) Football is that next sport!
More fun the 4Leaf Clovers had this summer:
Tubing on Lake Murray in Ardmore, OK.
Koen experienced Worlds of Fun for a friends birthday.
We went to a pool/beach house party with swimming, tubing, canoeing, surf paddling and other outdoor fun stuff.
Koen went to Wyoming and Montanna with Jed's parents. (Yep, you read that one right too.) I let my 10 year old son take a 17 day trip with his grandparents and 8 year old cousin, Hunter. It ended a few days early because they were ready to come home. (The grandparents were ready, not the boys!)
And that, my friends, was The Schanz Family 6's summer and beginning to Autumn.
Like I always say, I'll try to update more often than I am. But truthfully, I'm just too busy living life!
God Bless,
Melissa
Friday, August 10, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Olympics London 2012
We at the Schanz household have been so excited for the olympics to begin this year.
Maybe it's because we're competitive people, maybe it's because we love sports.....or maybe, just maybe it's because The Hunger Games movie came out this past March and the fight to the death theme has carried over into the olympics?!?
Well, we like to think it has.
Not to the death really, but fight like you will die if you don't get the gold.
Americans have always been proud supporters of the athletes we send to the olympics like I'm sure most countries are, but Americans pretty go overboard on the proud thing. Not that I'd complain. We should be proud of our hardworking athletes representing the good ol' U.S. of A. I myself am watching the swimming heats as I type and have already watched the Mens road race. (Not all 10 hours of it though).
So, bringing it back to The Hunger Games, which in my opinion, is a great book and a A-movie. I'd like to think that our young athletes are competeting to the death. Well, in their eyes and hearts anyway. If all of the athletes had read the book prior to the games, maybe, just maybe, they would have more depth to their competitive nature. I'd like to think that I would be more motivated to run faster in any track event if Tracker Jackers were chasing me. Or if Cato were trying to hunt me down.
I'm sure the athletes don't need any more motivation in fulfilling their lifelong dreams of being an olympian or olympic gold medalist, but hey, I'm a dreamer and books/stories have always filled my mind with amazing fantasies.
And now one of those fantasies is for at least one olympian to be motivated by The Hunger Games correlation to the olympic games....Please?!?!
Friday, March 9, 2012
February.....Oh wait, it's March now!
I'm going to have to learn that if I ever want to be a real blogger, that I have to actually take the time to blog...Lol.
What has happened since my last blog??? Too much to list, but I will try. Here goes:
Kenna played on the 7A volleyball team. It was a good season. The Mulvane 7th graders came in 2nd in the Pioneer league. Kenna was a starter in the beginning of the season but I guess she either lost some of her skill or the other girls got better as the season went on. She still played, but not as well as in the begining. In the off season Jed and I have encouraged her to work on her skills and physical abilities. She has chosen to do her own thing. Go figure. She has always been a girl with her "own mind." Hahaha! Hopefully here in the spring she will feel the need to get back to working on volleyball skills. She really loves the sport so I hate to see her not pushing herself.
Kenna has been doing great in school. She has all A's except for a B+ in Math. I checked out her math recently and decided I would be getting an F, so a B+ sounds good. Kenna is in her 2nd year of confirmation class at our church. She will graduate and be confirmed in May of 2013.
It was a big birthday for Kenna on January 27th. 13 years old!! Finally a teen! I took Kenna and 2 friends shopping on her birthday then we went to stay in a hotel where they ate pizza, cake, candy, went swimming and watched Breaking Dawn part 1. The next morning they ate some breakfast and did a little more shopping and then we all went home. Kenna enjoyed it and I think her friends did too!
Koen played offense and defense on the 4th grade Mulvane Wildcat football team. He enjoyed it so much this year. Koen was a beast on the field. He played fullback on offense so he carried the ball ever-so-often. I think he made a touchdown and extra point during the season. On defense, I'm not sure of his position, he was not on the scrimmage line but more behind it. In the backfield? I think that's what it is called anyway. I'm sure my husband will correct me on this. Anyway, Koen's team had this award each week that was called "The Stick Of The Week" and basically it meant if you had the best tackling that week you got to take home the "Stick" which was a wooden baseball bat. Every kid that received the "stick of the week" got to write their name on it. Whoever had their name on it the most at the end of the season, got to keep it. Koen had his name on it 3 times throughout the season and I believe he got the award one time in their bowl game at the end of the season. So, needless to say, Koen earned the "stick" to keep.
What else has Koen been doing? Oh yeah, he is currently playing competitive basketball. The practices for basketball started before football practice and games ever ended. Yay, for overlapping sports! Not. Now if you really know Jed and I, then you know that neither one of us are any good at basketball. Actually we both despise it. Basketball is an indoor sport. We love outdoor sports. But, becasue our son has decided this year he would take on this challenge of basketball, we have become great spectators. I will not say I love watching it, but I do love supporting Koen. Basketball and baseball also have overlapping schedules. Basketball will be done here this weekend, March 10th, and baseball practice has already begun. So for now he has practice Sun, Mon, Wed, Sat and playing in a tournament on Saturday. Koen ran the 5K Reindeer Run in Mulvane this past December. It was his first 5K, and first race over 1 mile. He did really well. His time was 28 minutes and some odds seconds. I'm sorry, I really should remember the seconds. I'm his mother and I'm failing if I can't remember every single detail. I'm going to look it up on my camera. I was video taping him running in to the finish and captured the clock. :)
Koen does really well in school too. All A's and two B's in Science and Spelling.
Koen also had a big birthday this year. He turned 10 on January 23rd. Koen invited 10 friends to play paintball at Frog Holler in Derby, KS. The boys seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed watching them too. I got some video footage of them and also some still pics. They look like they are militia!!!
Kammie played a great season of flag football and again was the only girl playing. What's wrong with girls these days?!?!? She has been enjoying 1st grade. She has lost her two front teeth and looks ever-so-cute without them! Kammie loves school and really loves her teacher too! Which is no surprise. She was Koens' 1st grade teacher, and I liked her lots then. I am Kammies' room parent. I'm not sure I'm very good at it, but I am good at planning things so the Halloween, Christmas and Valentines parties have all gone on without problems. Kammie is not as organized with her school things as Kenna and Koen are, but I guess that's what makes them all different individuals!
Kammie played rec league basketball this year. She says she had fun, but I'm not sure she'll play again. There was one game that she never even touched the basketball!
She is still so in love with Justin Bieber. Says she will marry him someday. We'll see. Hahaha!
Kammie had her 7th birthday on Dec. 22nd. She had a Mulvane Wildcat birthday party. I really enjoyed watching the young girls learn cheers and play games with the high school cheerleaders. We made green and white pompoms and the cheerleaders did some face painting on the girls too! Kammie and her friends said they had a great time.
Kampman has just been hanging with me. Going everywhere I go. Fun, fun. We have been working on our letters, numbers and shapes. It is going okay I guess. KJ is one of those kids that believes he already knows everything. Lord help the teacher that has him in class someday!
KJ's just recently discovered that he can play the Ninetendo DS. He likes to play the Mario World and Diego games the best. He is going to turn 4 in April, so he is asking for a Mario Kart DS game and dinosaurs. He's a regular mini Koen!
Jed has been working and running, mostly. He coached the offense of Koens' football team in the fall. The dry erase board was still thrown when a play didn't workout the right way...lol. By the end of the season, there were several jokes about buying or duct taping up Jed's poor white board. In the end, the board made it through the season and so did Jed.
Jed also coached a new program with the Mulvane recreation commission. It was called: Ready, Set, Run! He coached the kids aged 8-13 on how to run a 5K. The program lasted for 12 weeks and when the kids finished training they were able to participate in the 5K Reindeer Run in Mulvane. Since the class began in October and football was not over yet, all of the practices were going on at the same time. So Jed basically worked all day and then went to practice Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs and games on Saturdays. Let's just say it was a very busy fall.
I recovered from my concussion, eventually. I think December 5th was when I was finally cleared to be released completely of work comp and a doctors care. I would suggest for everyone in the future to NOT hurt themself at work. Work Comp has to be the worst experience for any employee to go through. In no way do they make it easy to get paid or get care for your injuries. But it is over and done with, so I just pray that I never hurt myself at work again!
I have been pretty busy with work and running kids to and from practices, games and confirmation class. But, of course, I love it! I didn't do very good over the winter exercising, but have started walking again, so hopefully that will get me back on the right track. I discovered pinterest.com sometime this past fall and now I don't know how I ever lived without it. Pinterest is my new hobby!
Jed, Koen, Kammie and I went to a Kansas State football game in the early fall. It was KSU's season opener. This was Kammie's first college football game and I'm pretty sure Jed and I have succeeded in passing on our love of live football games to her. I sat with her in some friends season ticket seats and Jed and Koen sat in some seats in the endzone. Koen had already been to a PSU game and a national championship game in which Ft. Scott played. Koen was still in awe of the enormity of it all and has decided he is definately going to college. Well, with the whole tailgaiting thing and all, it was pretty appealling. :)
In December, Jed, Kenna, Koen and I were able to attend a Pittsburg State University playoff game. It was majorly cold. Kammie and KJ stayed at Grandma Candy and Pappa Ray's house for the evening. They got to play with their cousins for awhile too. In the end PSU won and went on to play in the National Championship game. Which they won. WooHoo! National Champs! Kenna and Koen had a great experience with a very cold weather football game and enjoyed it. Again, here we are passing on our love of live football games. That's what life is about, right?
And speaking of live football games...Jed and I went to Kansas City in December to take in yet another NFL game, Green Bay vs Chiefs. Unfortunately it was not a great end result for our beloved Packers, but still a great experience. Not even freezing. Which is great for December and outdoor football. We tailgated with some friends and we got to do breakfast, which is my favorite to tailgate!!
So, what's in store for the Schanz family this spring? Well, Kenna doesn't have much on her plate besides school and confirmation class. Koen has baseball practice and games. Kammie will start soccer practice next week. Games will begin the first weekend of April. Kampman will have a birthday on April 9th. He'll be 4 years old and right now we are planning a dinosaur bowling party at the local bowling alley. He would probably love to play soccer this year, but then we'd have to fudge his birthyear on the form. (He's supposed to be 5 by August 31, 2012 to play this spring.) We're not going to do it. He can wait the extra year to play, the other kids did anyway. He's just anxious to start playing a team sport. Jed, I think, is training for the Johnston's Half Marathon on April 29th. I was training to race walk it, but have since changed my workouts to just concentrating on lowereing my resting heart rate. I guess, at 90 bpm, it's way too high!
Jed and I will celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary on May 24th. We have a trip booked to Montego Bay, Jamaica for May 26th to June 1st. We are both extremely excited to go out of the country, to the beach and have a week to ourselves. I've been counting down the days til we leave. As of today, only 77 left. Yay!!!
We'll, that's pretty much the last 7 months in a nutshell. I'll try to get some new pictures on here soon. Don't cross your fingers!!! Hahaha!
God Bless,
Melissa
What has happened since my last blog??? Too much to list, but I will try. Here goes:
Kenna played on the 7A volleyball team. It was a good season. The Mulvane 7th graders came in 2nd in the Pioneer league. Kenna was a starter in the beginning of the season but I guess she either lost some of her skill or the other girls got better as the season went on. She still played, but not as well as in the begining. In the off season Jed and I have encouraged her to work on her skills and physical abilities. She has chosen to do her own thing. Go figure. She has always been a girl with her "own mind." Hahaha! Hopefully here in the spring she will feel the need to get back to working on volleyball skills. She really loves the sport so I hate to see her not pushing herself.
Kenna has been doing great in school. She has all A's except for a B+ in Math. I checked out her math recently and decided I would be getting an F, so a B+ sounds good. Kenna is in her 2nd year of confirmation class at our church. She will graduate and be confirmed in May of 2013.
It was a big birthday for Kenna on January 27th. 13 years old!! Finally a teen! I took Kenna and 2 friends shopping on her birthday then we went to stay in a hotel where they ate pizza, cake, candy, went swimming and watched Breaking Dawn part 1. The next morning they ate some breakfast and did a little more shopping and then we all went home. Kenna enjoyed it and I think her friends did too!
Koen played offense and defense on the 4th grade Mulvane Wildcat football team. He enjoyed it so much this year. Koen was a beast on the field. He played fullback on offense so he carried the ball ever-so-often. I think he made a touchdown and extra point during the season. On defense, I'm not sure of his position, he was not on the scrimmage line but more behind it. In the backfield? I think that's what it is called anyway. I'm sure my husband will correct me on this. Anyway, Koen's team had this award each week that was called "The Stick Of The Week" and basically it meant if you had the best tackling that week you got to take home the "Stick" which was a wooden baseball bat. Every kid that received the "stick of the week" got to write their name on it. Whoever had their name on it the most at the end of the season, got to keep it. Koen had his name on it 3 times throughout the season and I believe he got the award one time in their bowl game at the end of the season. So, needless to say, Koen earned the "stick" to keep.
What else has Koen been doing? Oh yeah, he is currently playing competitive basketball. The practices for basketball started before football practice and games ever ended. Yay, for overlapping sports! Not. Now if you really know Jed and I, then you know that neither one of us are any good at basketball. Actually we both despise it. Basketball is an indoor sport. We love outdoor sports. But, becasue our son has decided this year he would take on this challenge of basketball, we have become great spectators. I will not say I love watching it, but I do love supporting Koen. Basketball and baseball also have overlapping schedules. Basketball will be done here this weekend, March 10th, and baseball practice has already begun. So for now he has practice Sun, Mon, Wed, Sat and playing in a tournament on Saturday. Koen ran the 5K Reindeer Run in Mulvane this past December. It was his first 5K, and first race over 1 mile. He did really well. His time was 28 minutes and some odds seconds. I'm sorry, I really should remember the seconds. I'm his mother and I'm failing if I can't remember every single detail. I'm going to look it up on my camera. I was video taping him running in to the finish and captured the clock. :)
Koen does really well in school too. All A's and two B's in Science and Spelling.
Koen also had a big birthday this year. He turned 10 on January 23rd. Koen invited 10 friends to play paintball at Frog Holler in Derby, KS. The boys seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed watching them too. I got some video footage of them and also some still pics. They look like they are militia!!!
Kammie played a great season of flag football and again was the only girl playing. What's wrong with girls these days?!?!? She has been enjoying 1st grade. She has lost her two front teeth and looks ever-so-cute without them! Kammie loves school and really loves her teacher too! Which is no surprise. She was Koens' 1st grade teacher, and I liked her lots then. I am Kammies' room parent. I'm not sure I'm very good at it, but I am good at planning things so the Halloween, Christmas and Valentines parties have all gone on without problems. Kammie is not as organized with her school things as Kenna and Koen are, but I guess that's what makes them all different individuals!
Kammie played rec league basketball this year. She says she had fun, but I'm not sure she'll play again. There was one game that she never even touched the basketball!
She is still so in love with Justin Bieber. Says she will marry him someday. We'll see. Hahaha!
Kammie had her 7th birthday on Dec. 22nd. She had a Mulvane Wildcat birthday party. I really enjoyed watching the young girls learn cheers and play games with the high school cheerleaders. We made green and white pompoms and the cheerleaders did some face painting on the girls too! Kammie and her friends said they had a great time.
Kampman has just been hanging with me. Going everywhere I go. Fun, fun. We have been working on our letters, numbers and shapes. It is going okay I guess. KJ is one of those kids that believes he already knows everything. Lord help the teacher that has him in class someday!
KJ's just recently discovered that he can play the Ninetendo DS. He likes to play the Mario World and Diego games the best. He is going to turn 4 in April, so he is asking for a Mario Kart DS game and dinosaurs. He's a regular mini Koen!
Jed has been working and running, mostly. He coached the offense of Koens' football team in the fall. The dry erase board was still thrown when a play didn't workout the right way...lol. By the end of the season, there were several jokes about buying or duct taping up Jed's poor white board. In the end, the board made it through the season and so did Jed.
Jed also coached a new program with the Mulvane recreation commission. It was called: Ready, Set, Run! He coached the kids aged 8-13 on how to run a 5K. The program lasted for 12 weeks and when the kids finished training they were able to participate in the 5K Reindeer Run in Mulvane. Since the class began in October and football was not over yet, all of the practices were going on at the same time. So Jed basically worked all day and then went to practice Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs and games on Saturdays. Let's just say it was a very busy fall.
I recovered from my concussion, eventually. I think December 5th was when I was finally cleared to be released completely of work comp and a doctors care. I would suggest for everyone in the future to NOT hurt themself at work. Work Comp has to be the worst experience for any employee to go through. In no way do they make it easy to get paid or get care for your injuries. But it is over and done with, so I just pray that I never hurt myself at work again!
I have been pretty busy with work and running kids to and from practices, games and confirmation class. But, of course, I love it! I didn't do very good over the winter exercising, but have started walking again, so hopefully that will get me back on the right track. I discovered pinterest.com sometime this past fall and now I don't know how I ever lived without it. Pinterest is my new hobby!
Jed, Koen, Kammie and I went to a Kansas State football game in the early fall. It was KSU's season opener. This was Kammie's first college football game and I'm pretty sure Jed and I have succeeded in passing on our love of live football games to her. I sat with her in some friends season ticket seats and Jed and Koen sat in some seats in the endzone. Koen had already been to a PSU game and a national championship game in which Ft. Scott played. Koen was still in awe of the enormity of it all and has decided he is definately going to college. Well, with the whole tailgaiting thing and all, it was pretty appealling. :)
In December, Jed, Kenna, Koen and I were able to attend a Pittsburg State University playoff game. It was majorly cold. Kammie and KJ stayed at Grandma Candy and Pappa Ray's house for the evening. They got to play with their cousins for awhile too. In the end PSU won and went on to play in the National Championship game. Which they won. WooHoo! National Champs! Kenna and Koen had a great experience with a very cold weather football game and enjoyed it. Again, here we are passing on our love of live football games. That's what life is about, right?
And speaking of live football games...Jed and I went to Kansas City in December to take in yet another NFL game, Green Bay vs Chiefs. Unfortunately it was not a great end result for our beloved Packers, but still a great experience. Not even freezing. Which is great for December and outdoor football. We tailgated with some friends and we got to do breakfast, which is my favorite to tailgate!!
So, what's in store for the Schanz family this spring? Well, Kenna doesn't have much on her plate besides school and confirmation class. Koen has baseball practice and games. Kammie will start soccer practice next week. Games will begin the first weekend of April. Kampman will have a birthday on April 9th. He'll be 4 years old and right now we are planning a dinosaur bowling party at the local bowling alley. He would probably love to play soccer this year, but then we'd have to fudge his birthyear on the form. (He's supposed to be 5 by August 31, 2012 to play this spring.) We're not going to do it. He can wait the extra year to play, the other kids did anyway. He's just anxious to start playing a team sport. Jed, I think, is training for the Johnston's Half Marathon on April 29th. I was training to race walk it, but have since changed my workouts to just concentrating on lowereing my resting heart rate. I guess, at 90 bpm, it's way too high!
Jed and I will celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary on May 24th. We have a trip booked to Montego Bay, Jamaica for May 26th to June 1st. We are both extremely excited to go out of the country, to the beach and have a week to ourselves. I've been counting down the days til we leave. As of today, only 77 left. Yay!!!
We'll, that's pretty much the last 7 months in a nutshell. I'll try to get some new pictures on here soon. Don't cross your fingers!!! Hahaha!
God Bless,
Melissa
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