New High Score in Bowling

Improvement, that is all one can ask! We have another prized bowling trophy!

Super Bowl Sunday

Ellery went downstairs and came back up chanting "I'm a football player" wearing a football helmet. Not the correct ball choice, but still I got a kick out of it!

Rob is working all day and all night. I am secretly celebrating that we don't have to go to a super bowl party. I can watch the game for what I watch it for, the commercials. At the party everyone watches the games and talks during commercials and I treat it opposite, so I don't think anyone missed me either!

After School Bowling

Oh, how we loved after school bowling and we fell in love with it more when we got a trophy at the end. I can't remember if I mentioned this program or not, but it is slick. Our bowling alley partnered with our school and picks the kids up on a bus, takes them to go bowl, and then brings them back to the school for pick up! Once I get all 3 kids in school and in the after school bowling program, I am planning happy hour for 8 weeks for Rob and me!

The trophy is a prized possession in our house.

I have to say I was impressed as well. They are really neat and something to be cherished for a bit.

It is engraved and says:

Spring Ridge After School 2011

Mason Chaplin

High Game-75

I am thinking about starting a wall of like they did in meet the fockers. This would be the first trophy to go up! I will hold off for now, but it is a serious consideration. For now it is in Mason's room and moved frequently so it in just the right spot for display.

Nebraska vs Ohio

I am sad to report that my brother and his wife missed our yearly tradition to go to a Nebraska football game. If it was up to me I would have skipped the event without them, but then my husband reminded me that he would like to go. So we kept the tickets we got for all of us and invited our friends to go with us to the Big 10 home opener game against Ohio. Hello, these are my brother's two favorite teams and I could careless who won! I refused to wear red, so I went with white! We did enjoy some yummy tail gate food provided by the Keith family and then headed out to explore. We thought we were cute taking a picture on the "r" for Rob!
It did rain during the game and I amazed at the fans. I would have preferred to go back to the car and enjoy some adult beverages rather than sit in the cold rain, but the atmosphere was good. Rob was prepared and bought us disposable ponchos so all was taken care of! We did have a great time, but I did miss my brother. Thank goodness for cell phones and texting!
I was talked into kicking a field goal by my loving husband and strangers. I didn't realize he recorded it. The funny thing is my friend Corey recorded it from a different angle. Rob kept the camera on me and my reaction for actually getting it through the goal, while Corey proved that it went through the goal! Enjoy making fun of me, but I did have a good time in case my reaction didn't give it away!

Game Day

This post is for my brother. I know he will more than likely not see it, but it gave us a great chuckle and we only did it to poke fun at him. His 4 year old daughter knows all about football and game day blah blah blah. She is brain washed into being a NE fan. We live here and people are crazy fans, and we still resist it! The first Big 10 game for NE is coming up and Mason isn't cheering for the Huskers! Go WI Badgers!

More Soccer

I don't know what I am going to do when I have 3 kids in extra curricular activities, but we are enjoying soccer at the moment!

The Daisies and the Titans

We are enjoying some fall soccer. Mason is on team Titan and Ellery is on team Daisy. They both are enjoying the sport and making Rob proud!

Storm Chasers

We got 4 free tickets to a Storm Chasers baseball game though our library summer reading program. It was hotter out than what we thought, so we hung out in the shade, ate ballpark dogs, watched baseball, posed with the mascot, played

in the children's area, ate some ice cream, and ran the bases after the game!

I am a "mean" mom. My kids wanted ice cream cones, but the ice cream melts too fast and it makes a huge mess for all. I told them they could get a sundae in the cool tiny baseball hats. At first they were reluctant that it was a good idea, but I think they enjoyed them in the end. I have fond memories of getting tiny baseball hats as a child and only want them to have them as well!

CWS

We got offered tickets to the CWS day game and decided since we are on staycation to get a sitter and go for it. We enjoyed walking around the new ballpark, ate ballpark food, and enjoyed watching the game. It wasn't date night, but day date!

We have date nights planned for Tues, Wed, and Thurs. With a family outing to watch fireworks Friday night!

Kids Bowl Free

If you haven't discovered The Kids Bowl Free program, I highly recommend it. These bowlers were tuckered out from our two free games. The kids really enjoy going!

Soccer Players

We signed Mason up for soccer for the summer and forgot to include Ellery until 2 days before it started. We have no idea why we didn't think to include her? She doesn't know we forgot about her, and is loving the game. It makes Rob proud. In getting her ready for soccer we learned that she doesn't own any kind of athletic wear. This doesn't bother me, but it does Rob. He doesn't think one should wear a dress, skirt, or khakis to play the game of soccer.

On a different note, we finally got Bryson in the grass without freaking out! He was very unsure of the tickling green stuff! Still not a fan, but tolerating it!

Golf Pros

Rob's golf clubs were stolen a few years ago and he has slowly been replacing them, but I guess it takes time to find the "right" club. Rob went to a golf club outing and came home with a new club for himself along with a set of clubs for Mason. Oh, Mason was thrilled to see a "real" set of clubs just his size. It was no surprise to us on his great hand eye coordination.

Tennis Pros

Uncle Tom and Aunt Laurie came to town and finally delivered Ellery's birthday present. It was an adorable pink tennis racket. Ellery was excited to finally get a racket like Mason, but she was more interested in wearing it around the house on her back in the carrying case. Rumor has it that Uncle Tom is going to start a Tom's Tennis camp in the summers for all the little loves of his life!

KU Watch Party

We have been hitting the KU watch parties here and taking the kids with us. We are not above taking our kids out to the bar! The last watch party they had a raffle, since we brought 5 members of our family we got 5 tickets! I was excited because I am usually very lucky and I knew we were going to win. They called out the numbers and we were off by 1 number. We congratulated the winner of the signed KU football by Turner Gill. The winner had been an assistant football coach at KU back in the 70's and his wife was laughing because she told him not to get a ticket because he wasn't bringing home another signed football. She said the had a whole wall of them and she didn't want anymore. I thought it was funny and then he motioned to Mason and said I think I am going to give it to that little guy. We were very grateful and Mason thanked him for the football and then wanted to play with it. He couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him play with it!

Triathlon Champion

Rob headed down to Florida to have some fun in the sun. I think he had the fun, but the fun in the sun wasn't all it was cracked up to be. They get more serious every year, they even held a draft for picking the teams for golf. Rob states he was drafted pretty high, but refuses to tell me how high. They had to delay tee times some mornings due to frost. It warmed up eventually for him but, I sent him a text one morning telling him my car thermometer read 0 deg and he told me it was only 45 deg for him. I am sure people in Florida were all bundled up while Rob was in shorts on the golf course. I think fun was had by all. This year the men decided to have a triathlon the last day of operation fun in the sun. The triathlon consisted of golf, tennis, and bowling. They split in teams of two and took on the sports. I married a stud! He was crowned triathlon champion with his partner Tony. We are ohhhh so proud of him!

KU Basketball

We headed out to the Qwest center to watch a KU women's basketball game against Creighton. Grandma Ellen came into town and was able to join us for the big event. Bryson enjoyed some snuggle time with her while Mason and Ellery kept asking where the Jayhawk was. The Creighton Bluejay came over to give us high fives. Ellery thought the Bluejay was a Jayhawk, but Mason kept correcting her. We all had a good time at the game, but I think the real highlight came with the gigantic escalator ride. If you don't remember Mason and I got stuck in an airport for multiple days when he was younger and rode the regular escalators for at least 45 min. He must have some deep seated memory of it because he spotted these escalators and instantly requested a ride.

KU vs Nebraska Football Game

We headed to our yearly game at Memorial Stadium. I am so sad that they are leaving the Big 12 because we won't be able to watch our team as easily. We know our team doesn't excel in football, but we are faithful fans. We did have good company at the game and fun was had by all. I was impressed that Jill handled the cold so gracefully being from Alabama. It wasn't as cold as we thought it was going to be. It felt like someone turned up the ac a little too high, cold but bearable. My team lost, but we wore our blue with pride and we were easily to find when separated from the group. On our walk in an old man asked me if I was going to college at KU. I immediately gave him a "Bless You" for thinking I looked like a college student and told him I was old enough to have 3 small children at home and was done with college. Old men have always loved me and I think he was hitting on me or he was just a foolish Nebraska fan.
On a crazy note: When we came to the game last year we saw people wearing the white hat modeled above by my brother Todd. We looked and looked for them, but were unable to find the vendor and settled for a different white fleecy hat. I have peeked for them over the past year, but not very hard. We spotted a man wearing one off in the distance. I joked with my brother and told him we could scout him out and offer to buy it off his head. He laughed and joked with me about it, but when I went to the bathroom I went and scouted the man out and bought it literally off his head for $20. He wanted $25, but I got it for $20. I had to remind him that it was "used".

Soccer

Mason is back to playing soccer.

Bowling

If you haven't discovered kidsbowlfree.com, I highly recommend it. It is officially hot here and I prefer indoor outings these days since I am almost due and feel like I am going to melt when I am outside without a water source for very long. We went bowling for the first time and the kids loved it. I even bowled a game hoping it would put me in labor.

White Sox

Here is the trading card for T-Balls White Sox Player:

Mason Chaplin
DOB: 7-12-2006
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Movie: Toy Story
Favorite Color: Blue
Hobbies: Fishing, reading, riding bikes, trains, and playing with cars.