Ball game

With John and Jeff out of town this past weekend- it was up to the girls and I to represent the Kellys at the Lincoln branch Kelly Supply party. We tailgated at the KSC building and then headed over to the ball park to watch the Huskers in their last game of the regular season (and it was Senior day!). Over 6500 fans packed Hawk's field and the weather was a-mazing! You seriously couldn't have asked for a better day!

We had to leave during the 5th (Corynn and her social calendar...ugh!) with a score of 3-1 Huskers down. But just as we were walking out the Huskers hit a home run! The game tied up at 4-4 in the 7th and went on to 11 innings before the Huskers pulled out the win! Pretty sweet!

It was great being with the employees and their families. I don't get to see these guys much...let alone their families, so I really enjoyed the day!

Here's a photo recap:

John O's daughter

Adrian and Cody

Ken and his wife

Pat and his wife

kiddos

grillmaster Pat

Cody and his lady

Corey and I

Adrian and his family

John O and his family

Rick and his wife

Jan and her hubby

Curtis and fam

more kiddos

We had a wonderful time and couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! Hopefully next time John and Jeff can make it...but if not, the girls and I have got it covered! :)

Tornado Season

Living in Nebraska, you learn at a young age that tornado watches and warnings are part of the spring/summer season.

The city's sirens are tested each Wednesday at 11am along with the emergency broadcast system.  In my hometown they are tested on the 1st and 15th of every month. Schools have tornado drills every quarter so that the children are prepared.

With technology today, tornadoes just don't spring up. We usually know that storms are coming a few days in advance. And once the storms start to approach and develop, we are notified and kept up to date via the news and radar. We know to take severe thunderstorms seriously and cautiously. We can usually tell if the weather feels 'stormy'. The perfect mixture of humidity, wind and temps...a true Nebraskan can tell!

Last night we kicked off the 2014 tornado season. It actually started months ago but last night was the first set of storms to approach our city. We had tornadoes north of town and south west of town. Luckily they missed the city. Tornadoes weren't the only concern with these storms. 90 mile an hour winds, tennis ball sized hail and intense lighting. Power outages and trees uprooted, knocked over and stripped bare. Roofs ripped off of houses, awnings torn off of store fronts and signs broken and bent. Some small towns around our state were hit hard last night. One even reported 90% of the town with heavy damage.

Another part of tornado season is preparedness. Weather radios, flashlights, blankets etc. Every family has a plan of what to do. We typically have a tote with batteries, a couple of flashlights and blankets. Each child knows to grab a pair of shoes and a jacket before heading to the basement. I grab snacks and Evie's diaper bag. John grabs the tote and weather radio (although our phones seem more beneficial these days)

Because of advanced technology we knew of the storms and could follow them up to an hour in advance. The news is able to estimate the time they will hit based on direction and speed. While we were waiting to see if the storm cell would continue north or turn south, the girls had extra time to gather a few more things. It was interesting to see how each girl reacted to the situation. McKynna gathered her text books (so we wouldn't have to pay replacement costs...so funny), her grandpa's army jacket and heirlooms from her grandma. Kwynn didn't really do anything. She took a shower, messed around on her laptop and acted oblivious to the whole situation. Corynn packed a bag with extra clothes, stuffed animals, her iPod, iPad, and a pillow. Evie followed us around- not really knowing what to think. John and I pulled plants in and alternated between watching the storm from the porch and watching it on the radar.

Luckily we never had to go into the basement and we didn't lose power. The storms missed us on both sides. The twins and Corynn headed to bed. The lightening and thunder continued well into the night and spooked Evie, so I slept with her...making it a long night for me.

 In June of 1980, seven tornadoes devastated our hometown nearly wiping it off the map. I was only 6 months old so I don't have any memories of it, but I grew up hearing all the stories. The end of May and early June is prime tornado season for us. So I have a feeling this was just the beginning.

Doing it herself

Evie is getting to the "I can do it myself!" stage of toddlerhood. 

Just another indicator that my baby is growing up. Some days I think a little too fast. What hits even harder is that the twins are looking at colleges and will be taking college tours this fall. Complete craziness! 

Jobs

The twins are debating summer jobs. Whether to get one, where to apply, schedules etc. All of this got me thinking of my work history as a teen.

I started detasseling when I was 12 and did that for 5 weeks every summer for 4 years. If you aren't familiar with detasseling - it's where you walk rows of corn and pull the top tassel out of the stalk so that it doesn't self pollinate. It's dirty, muddy, wet, painful work. Corn cuts are like paper cuts that cover your forearms and legs. Which are caked in mud by the end of the day so you have to scrub them clean- which is no fun. Walking through spider webs...so gross. Losing your shoe in the muddy rows...happened several times. Not fun work. But earning a hefty paycheck (at least for 12 year old) every week was pretty darn awesome!

I also worked at TCBY for a summer, waitressed at a few diners for a year, lifeguarded at the local water park and worked at Walmart. Usually these jobs overlapped, I took work when I had time to spare.Sporadically in the middle of these of jobs, I helped clean offices on the weekends for a family friend.

The craziest job: Cleaning rooms at the interstate Holiday Inn. Not that the job itself was crazy, but how I got the job. I wasn't even looking for work. I stayed the night at a friend's house. She worked out there and had to be to work at 7:30 the next day. She asked if I wanted to go help her. I didn't have much going on, so sure- why not. I get there and the manager says I have to fill out these papers if I'm going to help her. So I do. I help her clean ten or so rooms. And at the end of the day the manager tells me I'm on the schedule for next weekend and if I could come back tomorrow that would be really helpful. I was like "huh!?" And that's how I worked for maid service for a few months. It lasted a few months because I wasn't sure how to quit the job, since I hadn't really applied. It was really weird. But it taught me a few things, helped hone my cleaning skills and I got free lunch every day I worked. So it wasn't all that bad. :)

Best job: My favorite job was lifeguarding at the water park. Not the actual life guarding part because that was basically just babysitting and telling kids to walk. But as lifeguards we were also in charge of teaching the city swim lessons. I loved teaching swim lessons! The 4-5 year olds were always so eager and the older kids loved to race and challenge me. Little did they know I had been swimming competitively since I was 6...so they didn't have a chance. :)

Worst job: Waitressing. Ugh... I hated it. The part I didn't like was that someone would come in with a pissy attitude and absolutely nothing would make them happy. Not perfect service, smiles or kindness. And it would ruin my day. Put me in a funk. I didn't like it. I also didn't like that diner food made my hair and clothes stink. YUCK...so gross! Plus the family I worked for had serious issues with the drugs and crazy stuff...so I didn't last long there.

Most tolerable job: Walmart. Believe it or not...I kind of liked it. I worked in the toy department with assistant coverage in the Pet department, Garden Center and Sporting Goods. So I was never bored. Holidays were always crazy, but still fun. I would occasionally get called to cashier. But mostly stocking shelves and picking my department. Not bad. Not a lot of work. No pressure or stress. Just work and go home. Plus they were really good about getting highschoolers out by 9 even though they closed at 10.

So that's my work history.

Part of me thinks- Jeez, these girls need to get a job! And the other part is like- eh, focus on school and you can work next summer. Good thing it's their decision! :)

Have you ever had a day....

Evie is having a day. A day where she is cranky, bossy and needy. Which is pretty much a typical day for any 2 year old, but today seems to rank pretty high on the terrible two scale.  But I'm guessing it's probably because she's been up since 5:45am. And naps on Tuesdays are rare, because of the girls' schedules. The twins get out early...smack dab in the middle of nap time. So then I'm faced with the dilemma of do I put her down for a 30 minute nap (some sleep is better than no sleep) or just skip it or try to put her down for a bit once everyone is picked up around 3:30? Which even then she'll only get an hours worth of a nap before I wake her up. Because I don't want her oversleeping which will put her bed time off even later. UGH...I really hate Tuesdays!

And today Corynn, Evie and I are going to the zoo after school. Awesome planning there, Audra.

My advice for the day...

I'm seriously hoping she outgrows it soon and the 'threes' aren't so bad!

Fingers crossed, folks!

Corynn's sleepover

Corynn wanted to have some friends sleep over at Davey for her party this year. Since she is gearing up for middle school- I'm thinking this is her last birthday party. It was also nice because these girls have been friends since kindergarten and they are splitting up next year with different middle schools.   Corynn will have to have a get together this summer before school starts. They are such sweet kids!

So six 11 year olds, Evie and I set out for Camp Davey.

It was pretty fun. Low key. The girls explored and played outside until dark, then came inside and giggled and talked until 3am. Crazy kids.


Evie and I hung out- jumping on the trampoline, watching cartoons and swinging.


Corynn had fun...and really that's what counts. :0)

Corynn sported a faux hawk...such a little hipster!

Corynn was a good big sister- she let Evie help! Evie carried that gift all the way out to Davey and then sat patiently with it for another hour until it was time to open it. She really has a thing for wrapped gifts!