Hello Again!

I'm back!!!! Wow, I've been neglecting this blog for the last couple weeks. Ugh! It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, and unfortunately life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes. As much as I love blogging, even if I have some down time at the end of the day, sometimes blogging just isn't what I want to do. I don't even know if I remember what I've done over the past couple weeks. It seems like everything has all run together. A lot of it has been with my Uppercase Living. Unfortunately UL sort of took a back seat over the past six months or so (especially over the summer). I had been trying an trying to promote it, and just wasn't getting anywhere. Such a bummer because I really love the stuff and think UL makes beautiful expressions. Then our new catalog came out and in September UL launched their new jewelry line Blume. There were lots of changes in the company, and with all that I decided I was going to try to get my UL going again. I created my own UL Facebook page. Slowly, but surely it's picked up a little. Because of my UL Facebook page I got two parties booked. One gal searched Facebook for UL and she found my page and emailed me. Yay! I was so excited! I got the two parties booked, but had to wait patiently because they weren't until November. Those parties finally took place over the last couple weeks, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting back into UL! I had two fantastic parties and even got three parties booked from them. Yay again! I'm still not where I want to be with UL, but I'm not giving up and still working hard to promote it. It's not widely known around Michigan as it is in some other parts of the country, but I think if people just "check it out" they will fall in love with it too. There's so much you can do with UL, the possibilities are endless. I encourage you to visit my website sometime and just take a peek and see what UL offers if you're not familiar. http://lisakohuth.uppercaseliving.net Also, check out my UL Facebook page and if you're not a fan, "like" my page to keep up to date on UL. Sometimes I even do giveaways on there! Invite your friends, family, co-workers to "like" my page as well and to visit my website. If you ever decide you want to order anything you can always order from my website or contact me and I will help you. I'm always looking for hostesses to have a party. I'd love to share UL with you. I even travel within about an hour so don't let distance keep you from hostessing. With all that said, on top of my two UL parties I decided to try out a vendor fair. Other UL demonstrators say it's a way to "get your name out there." We'll see if anything comes of it.

In other news over the last couple weeks, it's been day to day "stuff" around here. Dance continues to keep us busy a couple nights a week, as does homework, housework, laundry, and kids, all the time! I can't even believe Thanksgiving came and went as fast as it did. The fact that Christmas is less than a month away is a little scary! We ended up staying around here for Thanksgiving this year. I really didn't feel like being on the road. It was nice to have a low key long weekend and sort of relax. We went to Greg's mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was delicious, and of course we ate too much turkey and fixings. I made my sweet potato casserole which Em requested and loved! I also made green bean casserole which Evan fell in love with, and is already asking me to make again soon! I skipped late night/early morning black Friday shopping this year. I ended up going out about 7:30am to Target & Ulta. Picked up a couple things and that was about it. Eastwood Towne Center (the mall right by us) was passing out 100 grab bags at 10am with free gift cards in them ranging from $10-$50. I wanted to go there, but didn't want to stand in line forever. I ended up getting there about 8:45am. The line was only about 30 deep so that wasn't bad. I got in line and then awhile later Greg and the kids, and his mom met me over there. I ended up getting a $25 gift card, Greg, $15, and his mom $20 so that wasn't too bad. We did pretty good! We saw the Muppet movie on Friday which we enjoyed. Saturday was football day, and then I finally decided it was time to tackle the basement mess. I spent a good chunk of the day down there, reorganizing, cleaning, and getting rid of stuff. It's time some of the toys go! What a project! It's a lot better down there, but still not completely done. Sunday we had a birthday party to go to for my friend Marie's kids. It was nice to see them and hang out for awhile. I did manage to get the tree up yesterday morning as well. It still needs to be decorated, but at least it's up. That's my project for this week.

That pretty much brings us to today. Time to get back into a routine after a long holiday weekend. I'm gonna really work hard to try and not neglect this blog again. I'm gonna be more realistic and shoot for three posts a week for now instead of trying to get to it everyday. I've still got a few "old news" items I want to share with you so bare with me as I try to get caught up here over the next week or so.

Iceman 2011 Traverse City

Last Friday we headed to Traverse City for the Iceman bike race. It was a short trip only staying one night and coming back Saturday because Evan had his last football game on Sunday. We lucked out again this year, and the weather was pretty decent. The morning was chilly, but by mid-day the sun was out and it was almost 60. I'll take it! Greg did the 30 mile trek from Kalkaska to Traverse City. It was his eighth year racing in the Iceman. He wasn't well prepared this year, as he had been sick with cough & cold for two weeks prior. Plus he didn't ride much before the race. He was quite congested on Saturday for the race, but he still managed to finish. It's more than I could ever do. We're still proud of him. Riding through the woods, with big hills, and mud for 30 miles isn't my idea of a fun time. He enjoys it though. He's determined to be well trained for next years race. Here he is nearing the finish line.
This year both kids wanted to race! This was Em's first year racing, and Evan's third year racing. Emmaline was so excited to get the chance to race finally. She couldn't wait to get on the bike. She did the little kids short version, about a half mile. She did such a great job. That little girl of mine pedaled that bike until the finish line, and then still didn't stop. She didn't get off her bike at all and she finished with a big smile on her face. She was so proud of herself, as were we. She was wearing her medal all night long. She even tried to wear it to bed. Silly girl. Here is Em crossing the finish line! Such a great moment!
Evan did the longer version which was like a mile and a half. Because both races started one right after the other, I wasn't able to watch either take off at the starting line. Greg ran along side Emme in case she were to fall over or something, but she didn't really need daddy. I had to get over to the finish line so I could get both kids coming in. Evan was a big boy and handled it well that neither of us could see his take off. He said he could handle it by himself. It definitely was a proud momma moment when I saw him cross that finish line. He climbed the big hill at the end still on his bike. He didn't get off once to walk the bike up hills. He was pretty excited that as he was finishing he was racing with some of the "big" guys who were also finishing. (These were the first timers that took extra long riding the 30 mile big race & finished 4 hours later from their start time. Hey, at least they finished!) Here's my not so little guy anymore crossing the finish line!
It was a fun afternoon, and I even ran into my old college roommate who I haven't seen in probably 10 years. What a nice surprise it was to run into Becky and her husband Phil. It was nice to catch up and we're hoping to meet up again next year in Traverse City (she lives in Cadillac) or maybe she and her family will come to E.Lansing for a visit. Here's a few more pics from our day at the bike race!

My two little bike racers!

With their medals after the race!

Sunday Funday

Before I tell you about this past weekend I have to back up and get you caught up on the previous weekend. If you remember we had the hockey game on Saturday and Evan's football game on Sunday. We also went to the MSU basketball game on Sunday. Every now and then Greg's office gets tickets to sit in the president's box at Breslin. Unfortunately only employees get a ticket and there's not any for spouses. There's usually a drawing among the employees to see who gets the tickets. His name got drawn so he asked if we had plans for Sunday. We didn't so he was planning to go. Then he found out that not everybody in his office that were offered tickets could go. So there were a few extra and they drew names to see who would get the extras. He got picked for one so lucky me I got to go!!! It was only an exhibition game, but since we don't have season b-ball tickets and rarely ever go to a game, it was still fun! It was nice to have a little "date" kid free and be able to actually enjoy a full sporting event!

Let me tell you folks, this is definitely the way to go to a sporting event. The "Royal" treatment all the way. Nice seats for the game, and whatever food and drinks you wanted. They give you a menu and you order the items you want and when you want them- start of game or halftime. It really was a nice experience. I could totally get used to it, but the likely hood of it happening again anytime again soon probably is slim to none so I'm thankful for the experience. Mark it off the bucket list! Here's some photos from our afternoon.

The view from the door inside the president's box!

Another view

A few munchies pre-game

The MSU basketball team

The one and only "Dancing Bear," Draymond Green at the free throw line! He's our favorite player!

Looking up into the president's box from the "regular" seats. LOL

School Halloween Parties & More

I'm gonna try to give you the quick overview of the kids' school Halloween parties. Evan's party was on Friday. I'm not sure why. I guess they didn't want the kids all hyped up on Monday, but c'mon it's Halloween. The kids are bound to be hyped up. Anyhow, I had volunteered to make cupcakes for the party. I went with some that I had seen on Pinterest. I just used a box mix because well it's 1st grade and they really don't appreciate made from scratch. LOL. I thought they turned out pretty cute with the pumpkins on top!

Evan's party was only for about an hour. Not the whole morning like last year in kindergarten. They had Halloween themed centers to go to. The kids had a good time. Here's a couple pics from the party. The whole class was cute in their orange & black and Halloween shirts.

Here's Evan working on his "Dem Bones" graphing.

Emmaline's party was on Monday. She got to wear her costume to school. It was cute to see all the little one's in their costumes. Here's her class all dressed up. Even her teachers wore costumes! Here they all are.

They all got to parade around the neighborhood by her school and show off their costumes. It was too cute. Em's teacher Miss Shirley had her dog lead the kids. Too funny!

I was the party planner mom for Em's class, and I had volunteered to bring snack. I found these adorable Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats on Pinterest and thought they'd be perfect for her party. These were pretty sticky to make into pumpkin shapes, but with the help of my wonderful husband, we got them done. They turned out pretty cute!

And, one more Halloween thing to share. Saturday we took the kids to their first hockey game. I got an email that the Jr. Spartan Club kids got two free tickets to the game with their membership card. I figured this was a great opportunity to take them to a game. Ev's been saying he wanted to go to a hockey game. So we went, and it was also trick-or-treat night with Sparty there so the kids got to wear their costumes. Here they are with Sparty.

Hey Sparty, "Trick-or-Treat" Sparty has such big hands that he gave big handfuls of candy!