Catching Up

It's been forever since my last post. I have great excuses explaining my absence, though.

In an attempt to catch up, I present my latest Top 10 List . . . "Reasons I've Been MIA."

In no particular order (except to try and document the last 2+ months chronologically), here it is:

10 . . . Spring Break. We didn't travel anywhere, but thanks to Gregg's employer, we did get to enjoy a date night and catch a Bulls game at the same time. Fun!


9 . . . Spring game with the family in mid-April. AWESOME!!!!! Go Big Red, people!



8-7 . . . Preparing for AND executing the annual "Friday Night Live" event at Cassidy's school. (This one deserves TWO numbers, as it required a "little" more doing than many of the other items on this list!) I co-chaired the event and had a blast doing it. Our top secret theme for the evening was "UP," with a few twists. In these photos, you will see a replica of the house from the movie. Gregg spent lots of hours building it and his hard work paid off. We also participated in the skits that took place throughout the night-hence the gray hair you see on Gregg, although underneath the fake gray, there might be a few "real" ones after completing that house!!!



6 . . . Preschool graduation for Mackenzie-what a fast three years of preschool. Wow!



5-4 . . . Studio performance!!!! (Again, note the fact that this one earned TWO numbers on my list!) This is a photo with cast members. It was a family event . . . in addition to all of the behind-the-scenes work, Mom and Papa Dean danced, Gregg ran lights, Darci and her girls danced, Happi and Jerry sang, Cody played violin, and us three girls danced. "The Triplets" (Mackenzie, Alaina and Chloe) also made their studio debut all together. So much fun!!


3 . . . Field Day at Cassidy's school. I helped out again this year and had a lot of fun along with the kids.


2 . . . Fifth Grade Graduation. Not only were the fifth graders bidding the school farewell, but also both the teachers . . . one to retirement and one (Cassidy's teacher in the photo) to play professional volleyball in Europe!


1 . . . Strawberry Season!! We've never picked our own strawberries before now. We celebrated the first day of summer by heading out to choose our own berries for the annual "making of the jam." We had so much fun that we invited cousins along to repeat the trip the next day. Chloe was in HEAVEN!

I did mention that we did a repeat of this trip the next day with the cousins, right? 5 buckets later, I did MANY batches of jam and still have 2 buckets remaining. That's my cue to close this post and go figure out more uses for strawberries!