Beautiful Music

I felt the need to share some beautiful music on this gray morning.

It All Started with One... Bravo!

Unsuspecting Shoppers

xo

5 Bits of Goodness

It's time to write about something good.  Something positive.  Good things have been happening to Annie and I don't want all the other stuff to negate all the goodness that is surrounding her.

#1  Annie join NAHS (National Art Honor Society).  It's exciting to have her join an extra curricular activity.

#2  We received the following email from Annie's photography teacher and it's too good not to share;

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Diemer, 

I wanted to take a minute and just let you know that Annie is doing a fabulous job in photography right now.  She really understands composition, lighting, and how it all works together.  Already after only 10 weeks she is one of my top photo students and her work really stands out.  She is very creative but also possesses the knowledge, patience, maturity and ability to follow through on those ideas to create very solid work.  I am not sure of Annie's plans for the future, I know she is still young and probably excels in many areas, but I do hope that art is a part of her plans.  Based on the work I have seen her do last year and this year, I feel I would not be doing my job well if I didn't relay to you that Annie has a special gift and talent in art.  She effortlessly comes up with ideas, solves problems as they arise and seems to find such joy in the process of creating the art she makes.  She is a natural and is very successful in her ideas and output.  I believe every student who loves or enjoys art should continue to keep it in their life, but there are only a few students who I honestly believe could go on to successfully make art their career.  Annie is one of those students that if she chose an art career I could see her being very successful based on the skills she has shown already.  I'm not sure if that is even a consideration or interest in her mind, but as her teacher I just thought I'd put forth my observations.  I believe Annie is very talented and has the necessary skills, mind set, and creative ability to do very well in the art world if she would ever choose. She is a pleasure to work with and you have done a great job raising a wonderful and well rounded young lady. You should be very proud of her. 

Aimee Price

We are indeed proud of our girl and it will be exciting to see how art influences her future.  

#3 Annie is taking art classes on Tuesday afternoon with a couple friends.  They go to a woman's home for an hour and a half and create.  Their options are truly limitless.  It is an extraordinary opportunity and Annie is loving it.

Their first class they took a walk,

sat in the grass and Annie drew this.

#4  Annie was selected for EKL (East Kansas League) art competition in Gardner in the spring.  This year each teacher selected two students rather than the Art Department selecting students.  Annie was chosen by her photography teacher.  It's a big honor and Annie is excited. 

#5  And finally, you may or may not have heard... Annie has a boyfriend.  His name is Jordan.  I've been lucky enough to get to know him over the last six months or more of driving them to youth group in Olathe and many, many concerts.  He's a good kid and I like him.  

Hoping to report more goodness soon...

xo

Saying goodbye is never easy

It's eerily quiet around our house today... 

Rest Peacefully Sweet Suzy Q

2001-2014

Yesterday, we said goodbye to the best furkid we could ever have asked for.  Suzy Q had been sick and slipping away the last month.  We took her to St. Louis with us for Jake's band competition in mid-September.  At the time she had allergies but still enjoyed walks around the Gateway Arch.  We found out about two weeks ago that she had a heart murmur and had probably had a cardiac event at some point.  We took her to the vet and made several phone calls.  We changed her diet.  We tried to keep her comfortable.  The last few days she spent most of her time sitting up, as it was the best way to breath.  She frequently passed out or fainted and would fall over.  It was hard to watch.

Jack had the kids say their goodbyes the night before last.  He just didn't think she'd survive another night.  She did.  Yesterday morning I found it terribly hard to leave her, but it would have been miserable to stay home and sit with her.  Jack called the vet and made an appointment.  They were so lovely to Jack and I... it was quick and peaceful.  It was definitely the right thing to do.  We never wanted her to suffer.

I don't know if the kids remember life before her but I know they remember the day she joined our family.  The situation was not ideal, I had promised the family I would not get a dog without them.  But it was love at first sight for me and there was no way I could leave her.  She was a pitiful little thing in heat and had mange.  It didn't take long at all for her to fit right in.  

It's been therapeutic to go through old pictures today.  I had a very hard time choosing so I hope these bring a smile to your face.

We got a DOG!

2003

I'm home.

 

 

She was a great watch dog and lover of sunshine.

 

Post surgery

2008

 

On another adventure...

always ready to go for a walk...

family pictures

2010

St Louis

2013

In her happy place on Jack's blanket

sleeping with her back feet in the air.

on our way home from the dog park

ears flapping

relaxing in the front yard

always hungry...

sometimes naughty...

smile and relax

sharing a special moment with Addy Bea

happiest when we were together

with family and friends...

 good ole dog

Father's Day gift 

2013

Painted by my friend Jewelee Lukowski.

  

always ready to go...

anywhere but the vet

Yesterday morning she was miserable.

You all know she was more than just a pet.  She was one of the kids.  It will be difficult when we take our next adventure and not see her sitting in the backseat between the kids.  

She was one in a million, our little dachs-ador-gle.  

xo

St. Louis Super Regionals

Here are some pictures from the band performance in St. Louis.  The show was hard and it seemed like it was always changing from one week to the next.  Just because the judges didn't see all the hard work and progress doesn't mean it wasn't amazing.  I am constantly amazed at how excited Jake is about marching band - even when he's exhausted.  He gives it 100% - every day.  We are so proud of him.

Edward Jones Dome is a bit intimidating...

Evan, Patrick and Jake

Mom, is this reminiscent of me wearing a visor when I played softball?

I laughed when I saw it.

TUBA POWER!

(Jake is on the far right)

Our fearless Drum Majors

Nick, Billy and Abi

What a fun weekend!  I am looking forward to seeing the show again in San Antonio!!

xo

213,164

You may be wondering - what's the significance of 213,164... as of yesterday, it's the number of steps I have taken since October 1st.  I am participating in Walktober at school.  All the schools in our district had staff sign up, passed out pedometers and logging their steps each day.   My goal was to walk over 10,000 steps each day.  I have had three days that fell short of that.  But yesterday, in St. Louis, I walked 19,659 steps!  Isn't that crazy!?  We parked our car on Friday and it didn't leave it's spot until this morning.  I walked 8.93 miles in one day around the downtown St. Louis area.  It felt great but boy did my feet hurt when I crawled into bed.  

Here are a few pictures from our weekend in St. Louis.  I have many more band pictures to add.

We found a new car for Jake on Friday.

It's a 1997 Infiniti i30.

We picked it up today and I think we made a grown man cry 

when we took his car.

He had had it for 14 years and loved it dearly.

Jack said he took a picture of it as they drove away.

  

Our hotel was near the Arch.

And Suzy loves the park between the Arch and the Old Courthouse.

We ventured over near the Arch a few times.

There is lots of construction going on.

I will be excited to see the expansion next year.

It's just so beautiful!

With lots of green space to walk Suzy.

And enjoy the changing colors of Autumn.

Oh and we enjoyed watching Jake and the 

BVW Red and Silver Brigade perform

at the Bands of America Super Regional Competition.

Isn't this view amazing?

They didn't make finals.

But we are so proud of all their hard work.

The band headed home but we stayed the night.

And enjoyed dinner with friends.

And Jake had a little fun on the way back to our hotel...

it was harder than it looked but he had fun.

I have said this many times and I apologize for my blog neglect.  I have lots of pictures and adventures to share.  Stay tuned.

xo  

August 27th

School is... going.  The preschoolers are adjusting, slowly.  I am adjusting... to a new building, new people.  Jake and Annie are adjusting.  We have had some bumps in the road. And more drama (with Jake and Annie) than I can remember at the beginning of any school year.  We've had some tough days.  TOUGH!  We've had disappointment and tears. BUT,  I hope we've gotten it out of the way.  Hope.  Pray.  

Today was a better day.  And I'll take it!

I guess our biggest news is Jake decided on a college he wants to visit.  Surprisingly, it's not K-State. It's Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.  We won't schedule a visit until Spring but it's exciting that he's thinking about it.  :-)  

Jack thought his golf league might be rained out tonight, but that was not the case.  He was glad.  He had hoped to shoot less than 40 for the first time in ages.  That was not the case. He lost a ball on each of the first two holes.  He ended up with a 43, his average.  Friday is his last schedule day off to play golf. The forecast is rainy.  Finger's crossed he gets to play Firekeeper Golf Course, North of Topeka.  It's supposed to be one of the nicest public courses in the state!  I do hope he gets to play.

Just in case anyone is wanting to see Jake and the Red and Silver Brigade perform here are a list of dates and times:

Football games at the DAC ~District Activity Center (135th St./Switzer)

Sept. 4th @ 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 19th @ 7:00 p.m.

Oct. 9th @ 7:00 p.m.

Oct. 25th @ 7:00 p.m.

Other performances:

Sept. 29th @ 7:00 p.m. Blue Valley School District Marching Exhibition (@ the DAC)

Oct. 4th - Blue Springs Invitational (time: TBD)

Oct. 11th - Lee's Summit North Marching Competition (time: TBD)

      

We would love to have you join us.  Just let me know so we can save you a seat.

xo

She's 15!

I can't believe today is Annie's 15th birthday!  

  

It's exciting and scary and positively unreal.

What did she get for her birthday?  An easel, a pair of shoes, an organizer, a purse, some clothes, money and a fish in a fishbowl with a "sleeping leaf" and a snail (the fish is a Beta named Juniper and the snail is named Charlie) from Jake.  The cupcakes are cooling right now.  White cake with strawberry frosting was this years request.  And sliced strawberries on the side.  

I made dinner for youth group tonight.  Annie chose beef and vegetable lasagna with salad, bread, fruit and cupcakes.  It was a good group and they ate all the salad and bread.  I had bought two loaves but didn't think the kids would eat that much so left one at home.  I should have known.  

I hope this is just the beginning of an amazing year for her.  She already has plans to attend three concerts in September and October.  I get to join her, Jake and a couple friends for at least one.  Yay!  (No sarcasm intended.)

  

---

OK, going backwards a bit to bring you all up to speed on the last month.

It seems like we were caught in a whirlwind of busy since mid July but we got to see lots of family and friends.  

Al and Paula came to visit.  I don't think we checked everything off their to-do list but it was a beautiful day.  

We went to Sophie's first birthday party and Manhattan.  Annie got to go with us this time but Jake had to work.  We stopped in Topeka and picked up my folks.  

 

I went up to the new school a couple times and helped Katie unpack our classroom.  We have since found a place for everything and are looking forward to our first full day with kids tomorrow.  We have a full class and the afternoon in particular will be LOUD and crazy with our class of mostly rambunctious 4 and 5 year old boys.  We only have three girls and they are all quite shy.

We geared up for marching band season.  Jake had a very successful two week band camp and he is very excited about their show.  I will post their show schedule soon in case anyone can come watch a performance.  They have TWO local competitions and TWO Bands of America (BOA) competitions this year which I am very excited about.  The BOA competitions are in St. Louis and San Antonio and a BIG deal.  

I really do love having company and we've had a bunch but I was bad about taking pictures.
:-(

Our friends, Jenn and Gavin Wickham were in town visiting from Tanzania.  We hosted a dinner and Jack smoked a brisket and burnt ends.  Jenn's request was chewable meat.  She was delighted.   

Annie's friend Grace from Maryland was with us for a week.  The girls were busy.  We (yes, I went too) went to an all day concert on Thursday.  All day.  I thought there were about 60 bands... I was wrong.  There were over 120!  Actually, I left for several hours and went to The Legends.  If I had to limit my description to just a few words they would be LOUD and great people watching.  It was called Warped Tour.  Annie is already planning to go again next year.  I told her I would be happy to take her, drop her off and pick her up at 9 p.m.  The girls went to the mall, had a sleepover with three other girls, went to dinner with a group of about 9 other friends, went to Schlitterbahn, (but didn't get to ride Verruckt -click on it, if you want more info) and Grace spent the night with another friend.  They had so much fun.  We've all really missed Grace and it's nice to have her here with us! 

   

 

I took a trip to Colorado to visit Sarah, Matt and Addy Bea.  This visit we spent one afternoon in the mountains riding the Georgetown Loop Railroad.  Sarah and I did a little shopping at the outlet mall, had lunch at the local French bakery, Dream Pastries and perusing The Barn, which is a collection of antique and specialty shops on day.  I got to watch Addy Bea's swimming lesson and the last few minutes of class we stood poolside so she could show her stuff.  She is doing GREAT!  I'm so proud of her!  Then we drove down to Colorado Spring and ate lunch at a cute little diner and, although we intended to spend the afternoon at the zoo, we went to Garden of the Gods. With all the rain the area has had this year the park was lush and green and oh so beautiful!  I don't fly very often and had delays going and coming home.  Thankfully neither were too long.  Never the less, it is always good to see them.   

Had a flight delay going out...

Taking a ride on the historic Georgetown Loop Railroad

I really love the mountains.

Trip back up the mountain.

We got our tickets punch.

Addy, Matt, me and Sarah

We explored Georgetown, Colorado.

Dream Pastries

 

Sarah and I split this little piece of deliciousness!

  

The Barn has some hidden treasures.

This guy almost followed my home.

Look at her go!!

Post swimming happy dance! 

Lots of rain during my visit!

Ice cream on bacon.

YUM!

We crawled around on the rocks at

Garden of the Gods.

Addy had fun sticking her head out the sunroof at screaming,

"I'm FREE!"

at a pull off at Garden of the Gods.

And a flight delay coming home.

At least I had a seat with a view...

too bad I couldn't see the mountains through the haze.

I had planned the trip to Colorado before I realized I was supposed to work that Friday, August 8th, it was an honest mistake since I don't normally work on Fridays.  I didn't want to start the new year off on the wrong foot in a new building, with a new principal and new teammate but hopefully all has been forgiven and forgotten.  

Last Monday was the Band picnic and the band played/marched the first part of their show. All I can say is WOW!  I've already mentioned how excited Jake is and now we can understand why!

This is the best picture I got of Jake next to his tuba.

Don't worry, there will be many more band pictures in the coming months.

Most of you may have read that there was a change in leadership at Sprint.  There was an All Hands meeting on Thursday and Jack thought the new CEO's plan will focusing on growing the business.  I have to say I like the sound of that!  Jack still likes his job.  It's keeping him busy and on his toes.  Good stuff.  He's taken Friday's off for most of the summer and has been playing golf.  It's been a great way to use up his nearly month of vacation that hasn't always gotten used.  His game hasn't been his best, but he has enjoyed it.  That's what counts, right?  

I've been back at work a week... the building is beautiful.  Katie put in many long hours getting the room ready and it's amazing!  We had a sneak peak and met with some of the students / parents.  We have big classes.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous.  We've got some tough new kids, add to the new building, new people, new principal... yep, there's just a little anxiety running through me.  One thing I LOVE is that it's on 8/10 of a mile from our door to the front door of the school.  I'm excited about that!

I hope you are doing well!

xo