A Sudden Goodbye...

A week's hiatus after such a promising blogging start... Instead, we spent last Monday saying goodbye to my Grandpa. He passed away suddenly on Thursday, April 15 at his home from an apparent heart attack and last Monday was his funeral. Although the occasion was for a very sad reason, the comfort and joy I got from being part of an impromptu family reunion was wonderful. Just being in the room with all of my mom's family makes me feel so incredibly happy to be part of such a wonderful legacy...

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words."         - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

No, it's not hair-washing day... Yet...  :)  It's my new mantra for getting a rhythm down since I have all of this unstructured time on my hands. Last week felt like a lightning-quick dash to Friday. I don't think I've had a week go that quickly in ages! We got a lot of little things done around the house, but nothing monumental. And that's ok...

Josh is settling in quite nicely with this whole "stay-home day" schedule. We've had a couple of PJ days already and play dates with some pals. Jacob - on the surface - is not quite as fond of his little brother getting to sleep in and ride to school in PJs. But the smile on his face when he gets off the bus and bounds up the porch steps is like the cliche "window to his soul." I think he rather enjoys coming home to familiar faces. :)

The next few weeks are getting us all wound up for the crazy summer we have looming on the horizon. I know this time will be short-lived, so I'm gonna take it one day at a time...

Happy MONDAY!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life...

Here we are. For those of you that don't know, I (Amy) have voluntarily decided to leave my 13-year career at Hallmark to become a stay-at-home mom. Wow. I never in a million years thought that this would be my life, but I am so incredibly excited to begin this next chapter of my life. I will miss my friends at Hallmark (and my discount!), but I have been drifting in this direction since I went back to work after Josh was born. Jamie and I have been blessed in ways too numerous to count that made all of this possible. I honestly felt that saying "no" to this opportunity - as many improbable doors were opened - was being disobedient to God and His will for my life.

So, today is the first day of this new life. No case of the Mondays here! Jacob is actually out of school today for teacher in-service, so I don't think we'll have a true glimpse into the new life until tomorrow. This morning has already been active - thunderstorms rolling through at sunrise (yay!), taking Josh to a soccer class - and this afternoon is a movie date with my boys. Oh, yeah, and it's Opening Day, so we'll grill out for dinner! The sun is shining and the birds are chirping in a Disney-esque way to start the week.

After multiple promises to keep this blog updated, I think I have removed all of my obstacles (um, that would be "excuses" in non-Corporate America speak!). My 2010 objective is to live life to its fullest and spend time rediscovering my boys... Pool passes go on sale in a couple of weeks! :)

Annie said it best... "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Jacob & Josh's Christmas Lists

This will be the shortest blog post because Jamie is posting. The boys made christmas lists today, so try these links to see them. Let me know if you have any problems.

http://www.listideas.com/jldroeg/jacob?bki=fc300c0435069868cc35ddec3b0e4404f2fde2c6

http://www.listideas.com/jldroeg/josh?bki=fc300c0435069868cc35ddec3b0e4404f2fde2c6

Ready or not, here we come!

OK, so I've been really bad and really busy. But let's jump in like you know what's been going on. K? :o)

Only ONE day until our Florida adventure begins! We're headed out tomorrow night after work to Mom & Dad's where we'll celebrate Papa's birthday after we arrive. Boys are excited!

At 5am Wednesday, we'll kiss a sleeping Josh goodbye (he's getting his own adventure at Grammy & Papa's!) and embark on a multi-state whirlwind adventure. We're headed down through Arkansas and across on I-40 for a rendezvous with Memphis at the lunch hour. (Wonder how many Starbucks we'll need to drive through before we get that far?) Then we'll head eastward through Mississippi and Alabama, finally arriving for our first night's destination - Atlanta. We'll spend a quick night there (sorry, Jamie, no Braves game this time) and leave for sunny Orlando bright and early on Thursday morning! With any luck, we'll be in the Sunshine State by noon-ish EDT.

Once in Orlando, we'll be staying near Universal Studios, so we'll of course be hanging out at Universal for a couple of days. Jacob can't wait! Mom, on the other hand, is a little nervous for her stomach. See, Jacob thinks that he's all big stuff and is ready to take on all of the big, bad roller coasters. Of course, he is begging Mom to ride with him. Hmmm... We'll see about that...

Saturday brings the real reason we're making this crazy trip - the World Bible Quiz! He'll start the quiz at 12 noon and should finish by about 3p. We'll post his results on Facebook for sure, so check out that avenue for updates.

Saturday night we'll head out to Jetty Park near Cape Canaveral for a cookout with the rest of the GracePoint quizzers and their families. Looks like an awesome beach!

Sunday brings our return trip, but via another route for some different scenery. We'll be driving to and spending the night in Nashville on Sunday night. Then we'll head home via St. Louis on Monday.

Phew. I'm tired just after typing all of that! I'm sure we'll be going on some adrenaline. Oh, yeah, and some grande non-fat 2-pump mocha lattes from the 'Bucks. ;o) More updates to come as the trip commences... T minus 32 hours!

Happy trails!
J&A&j&j

Ack! One month, no post...

Well, that ends today. So much has happened these last four weeks that we have absolutely lost track of time. We'll blog about the fun stuff (spring break!) in a separate post as soon as I can get some photos added in.

We have had a very whirlwind last two weeks in a very sad way. On March 25, Jamie's grandmother, Alma Droegemeier, left her earthly home for the treasures and kingdom of Heaven. We are sad she is gone, but happy that she has been restored to full health and been reunited with all of the loved ones that have gone before. It was a crazy weekend in Ellsworth, KS, where we got snowed in at our motel, but fun to spend time with all of the Droegemeier family.

A short few days later, we unexpectedly lost Jamie's uncle, Daryl Mehl. We love him and miss him dearly, but know that he has been welcomed into Heaven with open, loving arms... Another trip to Norman, OK, (where we spent spring break) and back near Ellsworth the very next weekend for all of the services. Our hearts are heavy and thoughts are with JoAnn, Derek and Ross.

Now we're back to the daily grind with a renewed perspective on how fleeting this life really is. I know, very heavy for a blog about our two bundles of energy, but it makes the little things that much more special to us. Hope this finds all of you well and enjoying the spring (that never seems like it's going to get here, at least in Kansas!)...

Much love,
J&A&j&j

Florida bound??

Ok, so maybe we're crazy, but we're entitled to a moment of madness once in a while, right?!? Today Jacob competed in his district Bible quizzing meet and qualified to go to the World Quiz in Orlando in late June! We had pretty much ruled it out since it's in Orlando for goodness sake before today even rolled around. But today, after he found out he qualified, he was really excited and all but begged us to go.

So we did some number crunching tonight and said a little prayer that it would all line up. And, boy howdy, did it... First of all Grammy said, "Sure, I'll keep Josh for a few days!" (Thank you, Grammy!!) Then we went on priceline.com and low-balled an offer to the Orlando hotel market. Came back on the first try. $45 a night at the Hyatt across from Universal Studios. Hmmm... Guess we'd better start socking away a little cash for gas money, huh?

He's at a slumber party tonight and has no idea that we've already lined up everything to make this happen. We're going to make sure he signs a "contract" that he'll continue to study for three more months (even though he was just complaining about having to study so much this past week!). To save money, we're going to make the 17-hour drive straight through (at least our plan for now) and hope we don't spend all our money at Starbucks on the way down. :)

So, we'll keep you all posted. Kinda crazy, we know, but this is his only shot at going to the World Quiz as it only comes up every four years. Next time it rolls around he'll be too old... And it's honestly the kind of trip that lifetime memories come from... And we're not missing out on that...

J&A&j&j

Take me to the other side...

...Of Jacob's life as a third-grader. Tonight was the parent/teacher conference for the spring semesters. Jacob is always somehow amazed when we can glean any tidbit of information about his "school life." It's almost like he thinks that's his own world where we are not allowed. And that we never cross paths or exchange email with his teachers... So it makes it fun to learn more about our guy through the eyes of some of the adults he spends most of his time with.

Before we went in to meet with the teachers, I did some sleuthing of my own and rummaged through his locker. A couple of pair of gloves, a water bottle full of musty liquid and a "Musician of the Day" award... From December 4th... Guess that's not a cool thing to be. :)

So, overall the reports are great. He is doing very well this year, as we expected. We absolutely adore his homeroom teacher (and he really fancies her, too, but we're not supposed to know that!). She is so kind and personable and gushes wonderful things about our big guy. Scores are great, behavior is good and third grade seems to be the sweet spot. This is exactly how learning is supposed to be... What a blessed life we lead...

a

Moneyball

I knew it was probably a mistake as it came spurting out my mouth last weekend, but I was quite frustrated at Jacob's lack of intensity on the basketball court. I have given him many visualizations to demonstrate what I wanted out of him, but all were unsuccessful.

"Run your legs off and hustle, hustle, hustle!"

"Think about the ball being like your DS and a bully is taking it!"

"Pretend the other guy is Josh and the ball is your favorite Star Wars ship!"

All falling on deaf ears... But last week, oh, last week, I came across the motivating factor of all factors. Shouldn't surprise me, but I was desperate... Money.

I know, definitely a contradiction considering that he's playing in a Christian-based basketball organization, but I didn't know how to get through to this kid that was all daggers at the dinner table, but fluffy sheep and butterflies on the court... So, the gauntlet was thrown down. For every rebound you get, I'll give you $1. Ha ha ha ha ha ha... The only stipulation I had was that he could not take it from a teammate to make a quick buck. Considering last week he was watching the ball sail out of bounds like a spectator watching a pro tee off at a golf tournament, I thought I'd only give up a buck or two... Oooooh! Ahhhhh! There it goes!

Nope. My boy likes a challenge and proving his mom wrong. In only three periods (yes, I said periods again), he got seven rebounds. He was intense! He moved his feet! He went after missed shots like there was no tomorrow. So, there he was. Confidence in his eyes and the oven mitts removed from his hands... Oh, the team also won 20-9. And Jacob scored a beauty of a bucket... From dowwwwn towwwwn...

After the game, I had to do some quick thinking for next week. So I told him I'm reducing the bounty per rebound. "Just so you work harder," I told him...

And so Mom doesn't go broke. :)

Doctor, Doctor... Gimme the News...

Well, Josh had his four-year doctor visit today. It was officially confirmed that he is a peanut! He weighed in at 32.5 pounds and is 38.25 inches tall. All of that left him squarely in the 10th percentile for both categories. However, his personality definitely makes up for his small size. Think about the chicken hawk that torments Foghorn Leghorn... :) He also got two of the four vaccines needed for kindergarten today. I know, it's still a year and a half until that happens! But they were thinking ahead and offered up two today and two at the five-year visit. That brave little guy didn't even flinch when they stuck him in the arms twice! Of course, I didn't even tell him that it was going to happen (why do that?!?), but he barely noticed the first and only said "Ow!" after the second. He was more excited that he got two suckers for his two shots!

Tonight we went to Bingo Night at Jacob's elementary school. We had a pretty good time and Jacob actually got a bingo and won a prize! He was able to pick from an array of prizes and came back with a $25 gift card. To PetSmart. What?!? Picking that over Moe's (a local Mexican joint), Price Chopper (the grocery store) or other similar choices? Hmmm. Something must be up with that line of reasoning... Of course, it was. He was thinking that $25 would be enough to buy a puppy. Or a frog. Or a hamster. Or any other living thing that we have already turned down in the past. Silly boy... So, we'll have to do some major negotiating over the next couple of days to see what the impulse choice winnings will be spent on.

This weekend we'll be enjoying the beautiful weather and hope for some thunderstorms to close out the weekend. Of course, we'll sprinkle in a Saturday full of basketball, church and more basketball on Sunday afternoon... Looks like we'll be yearning for a weekend from our weekend, too!

Much love to all... J&A&j&j

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Josh was so excited because he turned four yesterday. Not sure how four years of my life have blown by so quickly, but we had a great time celebrating our "baby's" birthday! On Friday, we had some photos taken of him (yearly tradition). I realized that I didn't really have any of the two of us like I had with Jacob at this age, so we had a few shots with just Josh and Mom. Here's my favorite...


We had a great time celebrating with food, family and - of course - presents! One of his favorite gifts was his very own Playstation 2 game of Lego Batman. Jacob always tells him that he has to "ask" if he wants to play with any of the video games because they're all (by default) Jacob's. He's now the proud owner of his own so we had to remind Jacob that the rules work both ways. Right now they're downstairs playing together and still no crying! Woo hoo!

Going to take some much-needed decompression time this afternoon with the boys and just veg out. After all of the activities the last two weeks, it will be much appreciated. But it's not for long... Jacob has basketball practice at 5:15p and we're all headed to a Super Bowl party at church tonight. Go Steelers!

J&A&j&j

Checking in...

Ok, so it's been almost a month and I've already posted four entries! (Now five!) Things are a little hectic in the house as this is Josh's birthday week. I have no idea how four years have passed since my "baby" was born. I can remember maternity leave like it was last summer. Sigh.

This past weekend we had a joint birthday party with our dear friends the Rugensteins as Nathan (Josh's best friend) turned four last week. The boys have all of the same friends, so we thought it would be a nice thing to do for our friends and let them get the party done in one fell swoop. We had the party at the Matt Ross Community Center's indoor aquatic center in Overland Park. The kids had so much fun. It was awesome to be in the pool in January! Once I figure out how to add photos to this blog, I'll be sure to post some of the kids having a great time.

This weekend brings the much-anticipated grandparents' visits. Josh is very excited because he knows that he gets yet another party on Saturday (which is also his actual birthday). Should be a low-key affair that will allow him to be in the spotlight - which he relishes. (Wonder who he gets that from?) ;)

Everything else is going well. Amy's new job is past the honeymoon phase and into "prove yourself" phase which is challenging, but expected. No big deal, really, just need some time to pass and all will be bliss again...

Jacob's basketball career is also going fairly well. Their team hasn't won yet (only two games into the season), but he is really having a great time playing. I think we finally found a sport that captures his love of being in motion every second of the day and mom's love of staying indoors.

Hope you're all well. Look for photos within the next week. (Or two if you really know me!)

Love, J&A&j&j

He shoots, he scores!

Today was the first day of Upward basketball games. For those of you not familiar with the Upward program, it's a Christ-centered sports program that rewards kids for modeling behaviors that are consistent with the church of believers. Our church - GracePoint - is one of the co-sponsors for this program and Jamie is the Boys' Basketball Commissioner (and Jacob's coach). Today was the first day of games and Jacob's first time to play organized basketball! Well, early in the 2nd period (yes, I said period - more in a minute), Jacob found himself open out on the wing and threw up a beauty. It went in and Mom almost started crying tears of joy from seeing his face as he realized what happened. It was awesome! The team played fairly well, but the other team was very good and had two good ball-handlers (one of which is a friend of Jacob's). The final score was a loss of 40-16. They play 6 periods - 3 in each half - to ensure all kids get equal court time.

Josh was so excited about the whole thing that he fell asleep. Dead to the world. Limp limbs and a boat anchor on my lap. He even slept through all of the super-loud buzzers and Mom's cheering and clapping. Must have been a tired boy!

We were there a good part of the day, but Jamie was there longest. As a commissioner, he went up to the school late last night (think after a high school game!) to set up and got home at midnight. He was right back up there this morning at 8am and got home shortly after 6pm. Needless to say, Mom gave the boys a lecture about leaving Daddy alone for a while tonight so he can relax. :)

Funny story of the day... Jacob and I worked in the concession stand for a few hours before his game. Josh was really good and eventually wanted to come back and help us organize the candy. Jacob had some money burning a hole in his pocket and kept begging me to buy candy, drinks, popcorn... You get the picture. At one point after one of Jacob's forlorn looks and pity parties of hunger, Josh looked squarely at me and proudly parroted back, "We're here to work, not to buy." Ah, out of the mouths of babes...

We're looking forward to enjoying the rest of a long weekend as Amy and Jacob are off on holiday on Monday. Poor Jamie - who will spend the weekend "working" basketball games and practices - has to go back to his paying gig. Much love from KC...

J&A&j&j

Sweet Sunday Story...

Just a quickie to share a sweet thing that happened today... At church, there is a point in the service where the children come in from their classes for the "Children's Message." The boys came in with their respective classes and sat down front. Josh usually looks for Jamie or me just for reassurance, but he didn't see us. I saw he was looking for us and tried to move down on the edge of the kids so he'd give us his toothy grin and settle in. Instead, he spotted Jacob before he saw me. Jacob motioned for Josh to come sit near him, then changed his mind and patted his lap. Josh happily sat down on Jacob's lap for the entire message! Jacob wrapped his arms around Josh's little body and I saw them quietly whispering to each other. I sunk into the shadows and just watched with misty eyes. How incredibly sweet...

Thinking about it now almost makes it possible to completely drown out the crying and arguing that's going on as I type this... :)

J&A&j&j

First week of our "new" life...

So as most of you know, we are now on a new family schedule in the Droegemeier house. Amy has decided (her free-will choice) to take a new position at Hallmark in order to acquire an 80% (or part-time) schedule. This means all Fridays off for the foreseeable future. Jacob was pretty happy about this -- until he realized that he has to go to school while Josh and I get to stay home. Poor guy! Josh, on the other hand, is pumped! He said to me tonight that he can't wait to stay home and play Lego Star Wars on the Playstation all day tomorrow. Um, yeah, like I'm going to ruin my new "good mom" status (ha ha!) and let him sit in front of the tube all day... Or maybe I will and not tell anyone... (Oops, just did!) However, I am sure that Josh will most definitely benefit from some house-all-to-himself time while Jacob is at school. Of course, we'll use some of that time to engage in the glamourous tasks of grocery shopping, laundry and toilet-bowl cleaning to break the monotony. :)

Pretty uneventful week here in the Droegemeier house this week. Jacob went back to school on Tuesday and already seems to be back in the swing of things. Josh had fun getting back together with all of his friends at LaPetite. If it wasn't for the toy explosion of new toys all over the house (think "Death Star threw up" and you'd have our Star Wars heaven pictured perfectly!), you'd think the two-week holiday we just came out of never happened. Such is life...

Funniest thing the boys did this week... Jacob figured out last night after church that he was finally big enough to give piggy back rides to smaller kids. Like small as in Josh. So the two of them giggled their way up and down the classroom hallway at church and again around and around the couch at home. Luckily Mom was there to overhear their plotting... "Hey, Josh. Wanna go upstairs?" "Yeah, Jacob! Carry me piggyback!" "OK, let's go!" Keep in mind that there is only about a 20 pound difference between these two and that Josh's legs are way too short to wrap around even Jacob's tiny torso. ACK! Mom stopped that one before it became a not-so-funny story about a trip to the ER. The peals of laughter were enough to carry us through the bickering at the breakfast table and through the rest of the evening... THIS is what it's all about...

J&A&j&j

Resolution #1: Start Blog

Wow! I accomplished step one in only one week! What a great way to start the new year. :) Yes, I have finally decided it's time to start a blog to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in the Droegemeier family. Email hasn't worked, a website hasn't worked, but mostly because they're - well - WORK! So, here I am with another resolution and an effort to keep you all in the loop of the life and times of Jacob and Josh. Wish me luck! I hope to check in once a week (or so) and let you know about all of the little things that we forget to tell you when you call, write or email...

Funny Josh story for today... I (Amy) went to work today before Josh got out of bed. When he got up, he changed into underwear. He came running out of the bathroom yelling, "MOM! MOM!" Jamie didn't know what was going on, so he came over to see what all the fuss was about. Josh apparently was looking for me because he just put on the new Mickey Mouse underwear I bought this weekend. He was very adamant that I know about this. Jamie told him he could tell me tonight when I got home, but he would not wait saying, "I have to tell her NOW!" So, they called me at work and Josh excitedly told me that he was wearing the Mickey underwear. And that no one else was on the underwear. JUST Mickey. Ah, to have the joy of a three-year-old where the simple things mean the world to you.

Hope this finds you well and starting off the new year with a smile on your face. Until next time (which we promise won't be weeks or months on end!)...

J&A&j&j