Kansas Bound

It sure is quiet around here this morning. Let me set the stage for you....Friday night Sarah and two of her friends and I attended the Switchfoot concert at The Underground. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. You might be asking yourself how and why would I be going to a Switchfoot concert? Long story short, a very dear friend what we have know since he was a "little boy" is working with Switchfoot. He called last week to say that the group was going to be in our area and asked if we wanted to come to the concert. Heck Yea! So we are there...7PM standing in line with a few hundred others for the sold out concert. We stood outside in 30 degree weather for over an hour. While we were at the concert, Mark, Kate, Sarah Beth and Jeremy came for the night. You see Emmy, Sarah Beth and Michael are taking an airplane field trip to Kansas for a week while Trevor is in Mexico with his youth group on a mission trip. I have to share just one of the really cool things that Chris was able to do for us. After the concert, we were given special access to Switchfoot...you know up close and personal. Sarah has a very best friend in WI that adores one of the members of the band. Sarah got her on the phone and she was able to talk to her favorite band member. How cool is that!

Saturday morning I wake up to a house full of people, which is the greatest thing in the whole world! Some of you know what that means...monkey bread for breakfast. Aunt Kate has packed Michael a little goodie bag for the plane ride. All of his favorite things, M&M's, crackers, cookies, goldfish, a coloring book, crayons, a cool light up pen, and two cans of "17"...know as Sprite to the rest of the world...We tried to explain to him that we don't think that he will be able to take the "17" on the plane with him. But we assure him that they will give him something to drink. We drove to Indy to board the plane. The last 45 minutes were the longest for Michael...and the rest of us come to think of it. He was asking every few minutes if we were there yet. Sarah Beth had had enough with the whining and made a deal with him. If he would stop asking she would give him all her change for the Kansas train. It worked...he got every cent! We get to the airport, park and go in to check-in and get boarding passes. He is proudly pulling his suitcase with his special snack bag tightly secured to the top. He was cracking us up! He was so excited that he could stand still. He informed Emmy and he was sitting by the window with Sarah Beth. I guess now Emmy is chopped liver. I have no pictures to share...I forgot the camera in the car. Emmy and Sarah Beth both promise to take tons of pictures. I have informed Emmy that she will writing the blog upon her return. Cassie promises to email pictures from the week also.

I have already talked to them today. Ellis was playing the drums and singing. Michael was playing the harmonica and eating waffles for breakfast. The plan for Sunday was for Michael and Ellis to wear their conductor hats and pants. So far that wasn't going over. Michael had on his dirty camo's for the plane ride yesterday and a red train shirt. Can't wait to see that picture.

You might be wondering what Sarah was doing all this time....after the Switchfoot concert I dropped her off at the school ...1:30AM...for a 24 hour relay track fundraiser. This is were the track team gets sponsors because they will be taking turns running around the track all night. A relay for 24 hours. Just imagine if you will Friday morning Sarah getting up at 6:30AM to get ready for school...school all day until 2:30PM...concert excitement from the day I told her we were going until 1:30AM Saturday morning...participating in the 24 hour relay...calling twice to get me to pick her up early...coming home at 4:30PM...waking up at 9AM this morning. And did I tell you that she is not a happy person when she is tired?

I, on the other hand, am that happy morning person. I have my week planned out...sleep in every morning, if the weather is anywhere near warm I plan to work in the yard all day until I have to pick Sarah up at school, and then quilt at night after the sun goes down, in between all this time if there is any I guess that I should clean and do a little laundry. I might even have time to finish a book I have been reading forever. A friend in our Bible Study let me borrow the book. It is about a lady that was raised in an extravagant lifestyle in Cincinnati. She later worked in retail and continued the extravagant lifestyle. One day she just got tired of it all...gave it all up...and joined the Peace Corp. It is really funny!

Mark will have a few items on his Honey-Do list for his days off this week. I am sure that the week will go by quicker than I realize. I am doubly sure that Ms. Westerman, Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Galbraith will enjoy the quiet classroom minus one Michael. They all seemed too excited for him to be taking a week off...just kidding. But I did see a little gleam in their eyes when we left on Thursday.