Miss Kendyl

Miss Kendyl (far right) -- the busiest 7th grader around. Our youngest has got her schedule full of fun...Monday's you will find her on the volleyball court volleying with the A Team. Tuesday's she puts on her cheerleading uniform and cheers at the 8th Grade football games. She has become a quick change artist with school days starting everyday with athletic gear, then regular school clothes, cheer practice clothes, and back to school clothes...then there is that volleyball uniform for game days. I always wondered why the girls from 7th grade on up chose to always sport a ponytail, well with lives this busy who has time to fuss with hair do's!

While Kendyl is making the best of her chosen activities along came her being elected as choir President! What? We made posters for her to run for 7th grade VP and she comes home as President?? And as Pres. one of her duties was to MC the Teacher Talent Show on Friday in front of the whole school. WOW! Her grades have made her a pick for National Junior Society and her big personality got her pulled into Student Council. When I ask her okay don't you think you are filling your plate a bit full her answer was I don't know how to say 'no'. HMMMMM....starts young I guess.

We couldn't be prouder of our baby and her drive to try everything. I just hope her boundless energy will help her keep up with all of it. It exhausts me just thinking about it.

It's Nic

It's Nic...My gamer boy has been busy this summer growing, and growing, and growing! We got together recently with the Texas cousins and Nic could finally put everyone in check on being the tallest...his big prize, he could finally look down at his Aunt Wendy! Everyone got a good laugh at him when he threw down that the only person now to catch was his Uncle Scott...wonder if he will make it?

Remember how Nic was timid to drive the Tahoe? Well because the BMW is still sitting dead in the garage Nic was forced to never drive, or get behind the wheel and master a bigger vehicle. Guess he decided freedom to live was worth conquering his nerves and I must say I love having another driver to run errands and such. It always brings a smile to my face as Nic and Kendyl skip out the door off to get a treat or rent a movie. These two kids have had a long summer being cooped up in the house while Rand and I are off at work. (this is the first summer I have worked since Riehle and Nic were toddlers). I am really proud of these two that they have tried to make the most of it and not much complaining and they haven't killed each other! :)

Nic has found his way back to the soccer ball! His buddy Felipe got him running the ball with his indoor soccer team this summer and Nic is loving it. Nic has been out and about every night with his new group of friends and sounds like they all have a love for soccer in common, the boys and the girls. I am just thrilled to see his bright smile of loving life and having FUN again. He had gone through a rough patch with his previous groupies but I must say this group is awesome. Not the stuffy status climbing wanna be's from before, but kids who are just about laughing and playing and having some FUN! It's hard to watch your child get hurt by childhood friends lose their trust in friendship and shut themselves off from the outside world. I am so thankful that things worked out the way they did and my Nic is very happy again.

Nic will be a JUNIOR in high school this year...and we laugh with him how we can't believe it! This should be a fun year to watch him grow, change, and live life as an upper classman..Time flies with these kids and we better enjoy them being around while we can right?

Riehle Update

I have to confess this is an older picture of Riehle but when I went looking for a pic all I can find is him posing with different girls on his arm...we could make a HUGE scrapbook of Mr. Ladies Man and his millions of girl---friends, they all just love the guy.

Update to Riehle these days is he was promoted to a weekend GM and moved to a new LA Fitness club. He was really sad to leave his other club and all his friends he had there and at first it was a hard change. Further to drive, new people to work with and this club has been struggling for business. But in true Riehle fashion it only took him a few days to dig in his heels set his sight on achieving the best and he got to work challenging himself to make this club the best. Now he is loving where he is at, loves that he has a bigger responsibility and we are watching him grow into quite a manager & salesman and are so proud of him for not giving up or getting down. His old GM asked him just the other night if he requested him back would he come back...but Riehle said he would probably turn him down, he realized it was just too hard to work with someone who had become such a good friend and he still has his eyes set on becoming the youngest GM LA Fitness has ever had so he likes turning his new club around. Crossing our fingers for you Ri!

Another change since the prior posts is Riehle has a new girlfriend. It is really hard as a parent to watch these kids struggle in love...a lot of drama I forgot went on when you are kids. Those high and low emotions that tear at your heart watching your son hurt and wonder if he is making the right choices to move on or not. But we just want Riehle to be happy and looks like he has found that...we all are having a lot of fun watching this new relationship bring smiles to the Riehle's world. And Alyssa has won over the Nic and Kendyl because she is all about spending time being around the family. I am just thrilled they are all having fun together this summer.

Well the words 'move out' are back...Riehle is restless and ready to move on and I think it may happen soon. About a week ago he kept talking about it and how he just needs a change. We tried to talk him into just repainting his room and changing up his space but that isn't going to do it. He came home yesterday telling me he found a roomate and I must say Eric is a good choice and they are talking about saving up some back up money before they take the plunge. We will see how long that lasts...I think they are beyond ready. Riehle asked Rand what color would he be painting his man cave when he leaves, little do they know I am going to leave the room empty and just hang a sign on the wall that says "Riehle was here".

Blog - Blog - Facebook?

Wow, have I been away from the blog for a while...over a month really?? Oh, who really cares...well I guess my kids do :) Seems they check out if mom has been posting anything about them. lol Well I apologize to anyone out there that stops by anymore and please know that I have some pictures and will try to do some posting in the days to come.

But first let me tell you where I have been. I got sucked into Facebook! I KNOW! I did fight it for a long time because Facebook was for the kids...right? Shoot I just got into the Blogging world...I am always one of the last to get on board with the latest craze. And with Facebook the only reason I finally took the plunge was because of work. Aflac created a real buzz within the ranks and my boss decided to set up a FB page for the Region and wanted me to help him maintain it. So I decided I better go figure this thing out for myself first and 'bam' I was nose to the computer having a fun time seeing what this new world was all about. My kids were NOT happy that mom had a facebook page! "All you OLD people getting into our business" -- then the next thing you know my kids are all about showing me how to work FB and then they unleashed the beast! Farm Town! At first I enjoyed that I could play some type of computer game and didn't suck at it, then I loved ticking Nic off as I kept leveling up closer to him. He is so competitive and having anyone be better then him in a video game was NEVER going to happen. So I set out to sneak attack him and in my quest I found that this little game was quite a relaxer for me. I mindlessly lost myself in clicking away at the computer and chillin' after work or early in the morning while I tried to wake up. Since then I have passed up Nic, frustrated him into not playing much anymore, and have everyone teasing me about "farming". I must say I created an awesome looking farm in my relax mode, but will have to look for a new past time. Riehle was teasing me last night that I was addicted to Facebook and quietly stalking people's lives. I will admit I like having friends that I communicate with on my time...and how fun has it been to hear from past friends and see where they ended up.

Bye Bye Flute

Kendyl on her way to her final band concert. In middle school it is a hard choice of what electives to participate in and Kendyl had a really tough time as she wants to do all of them. But after many agonizing days of pondering her future she settled on cheerleading & choir. She was sad to say goodbye to her flute but hated the pressures band brought too. They are extremely competitive in the band world here in Texas even in beginning band. And after asking around to the 7th/8th grader kids and parents we were told that it gets even more intense and to run away now if you can. Her flute teacher kept at Kendyl every day to convince her to stay on in band, even having her try out for the honor band and bashing her pursuit of cheerleader. Well Kendyl made the cut for honor band and got totally turned off by her teachers cheer slams. So she is on to do the two things she loves more than anything...dancing and singing. Go Kendyl you are a very talented girl who can do whatever you put your mind to. And I love your final choices as dancing and singing were my two greatest loves too. Can't wait to watch you at the football games this fall!
Kendyl at her first concert back in the fall. She was a natural from the very start.
That is Kendyl's best friend Kyra sitting behind her in the left corner. They both are not returning to play flute next year. Also, hates the band competitive pressures.

Look At The Cute Babies

This is our Sunday morning fun lately...feeding the geese. When we first moved to this house a small group of geese showed up at the neighborhood pond and everyone thought it was so cool. As the years have gone by the group of geese has grown with each years batch of cute babies. But watch out mommy and daddy come at you with wings full span if you approach to close to their little ones. I couldn't quit laughing at Rand and Nic as they would go running when one of the parents would go after another geese who tried to take babies piece of bread. Kendyl always made sure she was behind her dad or brother to block the attack.

A Week House Sitting Across The Street

The kids with Petey the parrot...noisiest bird in town. This little guy kept ringing his little bell all night long to alert the kids he was under the night cover. He is quite the talker too. After a week with him the kids no longer thought he was cute in any way.

Nic was asked to baby sit the kids across the street for one week while the parents were away to California. He even had to sleep over there! There are three kids...Boomer and Sunny are the two most spoiled labs I have ever come across. These two for after dinner snacks eat 'ice cream sandwiches'. How funny is that? Lucky the kids ended up out of school for the swine flu because Nic and Kendyl slept on the couches over there for the week and at the end of that week were SO EXHAUSTED. The night they returned to their own beds was so funny...they both collapsed and burrowed in saying "I love my bed...I love my bed".

Thank goodness they get these moments because it keeps the wishes for a big dog at my house away that much longer. The kids loved on our "little" Emmett when they came home saying how sweet a little dog was. lol