Cookie Party and B&V Christmas Party 2010

December means two things in KC, cold weather and Debbie Vesel's annual Christmas Cookie Exchange.  I have been participating in the cookie party for roughly 22 years and always seem to have some mishap while making my 12 dozen cookies.  The first year saw me making Walnut Crescents using a recipe that my father-in-law Tom gave me.  He swore one batch made 8 dozen so I thought I could double it and be golden.  However, when I started cooking it quickly became evident that one batch made about 2 dozen.  After multiple trips to the store (and who knows how much money), I ended up with 12 dozen cookies and swore I would NEVER do it again.  The next year saw me attempt Stained Glass Cookies - they ended up looking great but tasting awful (even the dogs wouldn't eat them although they did have a blast chasing the candy balls as they rolled off the cookie sheet).  I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea.  So this year, I decided early to make Mint Brownie Bites (I found the recipe while at the eye doctor).  They looked festive (which is important) and how could you go wrong with brownies, right?  Well, this year it quickly became evident that these were the cookies for me.  From start to finish, I knocked out 14 dozen in roughly 3 hours.  I decided that I am going to make them every year regardless of how they taste!  I was rocking to Brenton's playlist (it felt a little odd to be singing Sexy Chick instead of Silver Bells, but whatever works). They actually tasted good too!  Score!

Mine are the ones with the white icing and peppermints on top

December also marks the time for the Black & Veatch Christmas Party.  I haven't been in years as it was always downtown and I wanted it to be closer to home.  Well, this year they decided to have it at the Sheraton right across the street from work (no excuse to miss it).  The last B&V Christmas party I attended was the night before Brenton and I flew to Nashville to watch the Chiefs and the Titans mix it up on Monday Night football Brenton's freshman year of high school (yes, high school).  I drank way too much that night as the band wouldn't let me play the cow bell (which for some reason upset me).  I can distinctly remember the plane ride leaning my head against Brenton's shoulder saying "I don't feel so good."  This year was much different.  I had no desire to play the cowbell and only had one glass of wine.  The food was quite good and tons of people showed up.  I actually won a centerpiece too (technically, my friend Debbie won it but as she got one for being on the planning committee, she gave it to me).  We had a great night and certainly hope they have it there again next year.  It was nice to get home in less than 10 minutes!


Debbie, Me, and Emily in front of the centerpieces



Emily and I in front of one of the Christmas Trees



Thanksgiving 2010

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner at my childhood home for the last time as my parents are downsizing and moving to a condo December 16th.  Cady and Brenton made it to town and Mom did all the cooking (amidst packing) - she is amazing.  It was a wonderful dinner (although we all ate way too much).

The Bird

Cady and Brenton

Tim carving

The table

Cady, Shelby, and Brenton

The feast



Braves Season Ends

Between work, football, marching band, and life in general, I was remiss in updating the blog once again so will have to play catch up.  The Ottawa Braves ended the regular season with a sweet victory over hated rival Friends University 54-21.  Our own Brenton was sidelined with a torn MCL, but was on top of the press box calling in plays.  The Anderson brothers had big games which was also sweet as Friends didn't recruit them as they were determined to be too small (they are local Wichita boys).  We tailgated after the game as usual and fed the boys as they were starving (as usual).

Brenton at work calling in plays

One of Clarence Anderson's many scores of the day

Having ended the season with a 9-1 record, the Braves hosted the first round playoff game against the Marian Knights.  It was a tale of two halves with Ottawa leading at halftime, but then doing absolutely nothing in the second half.  They lost 20-35.  It was a disappointment but with Brenton still nursing his injury, rather glad we didn't have to plan a trip to North Dakota in December.  They introduced the active roster at the beginning of the game which was sweet and my sister Martha made it to town (to help the Creators with moving decisions) and got to see the game.  Overall, it was a great season.  Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Brenton and Coach Kessinger

Brenton being introduced pre-game



End of the Line

The Festival of Champions Marching Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri marked the last performances of the Rompin, Stompin, Raider Band Jekyll and Hyde show.  The kids did a great job but were disappointed in their 6th place finish.  They did move up one spot from the preliminaries (they were the only band to do so).  I have postponed blogging about it as I found it rather hard to deal with the fact that I will not have any more marching band events to attend.  I never understood (or agreed with) the scoring and judging for these things and found it rather annoying having to sit through really bad performances only to find those bands score higher than ours.  Why don't they have a degree of difficulty score (we always had more marching and playing at the same time than any other band).  Now that I don't have to go any more, I am slightly saddened. While there was a lot I didn't like about them (musicality is not looked on as a must for a marching band), watching Shelby perform (and talking to her for hours afterwards) was a delight.  King Kong (which won this competition Shelby's sophomore year, Fantasmic (which was all Disney tunes), and Jekyll and Hyde were great shows - much more complicated than what other bands were doing and the Raiders did a fantastic job.  It's the end of marching but now we get to gear up for bowling.  Here as some shots of the last performance. 



The Rompin, Stompin, Raider Band

 

The Drum Majors



How many shows have dueling cymbal players?



The Show

Our Shelby

Senior Night at SMS District Stadium

Last night was the last home game of the season for the Raiders (only 3 this year) and it was also Senior Night.  The senior football players were announced with their parents before the game.  It was then time for the last pregame show.  I must admit to getting a tad emotional when listening to that southern classic "Robert E. Lee."  (I am pretty sure the band played that pregame when I went there).  I stood and sang the school song and the fight song (remembering doing that after Brenton scored) and the game began.  Brenton and Cady made a fast dash from Ottawa after football practice and made it to the stadium at the end of the 1st quarter (South was only down by 7 - shocking). Brenton hadn't been to a South game for years and he remembered a lot of those boys as freshmen his senior year.  They looked very small to him (of course he was very small when he was a Raider too).  Brenton and Cady wore their conference championship rings (which prompted the man behind me to comment to his wife that "those two have matching super bowl rings" - very odd).  Halftime came and the senior pacesetter, drill team, and band members lined up on the track.  Shelby was 6th in line (they were alphabetical) and when they called her name she stepped forward, put her right arm out to the side, and nodded. (Insert mom in stands almost in tears).  Brenton went out on the track and gave her a bouquet of flowers (green and yellow daisies) and gave his little sister a big hug (insert mom in tears).  After all the names were called, the parents in the stands released balloons symbolizing letting our children go.  Okay, now I didn't think that much about it until my boss made the following comments "Is Brenton going to have to hold you down and pry that string out of your hands? I'll have to check to make sure you have all of your fingers on Monday in case he has to cut one off to get you to let go." I can honestly say I have all my fingers and no one had to pry the balloon out of my hand, although it was very hard to watch that dumb yellow balloon fly away.  We then watched the final half-time show (which was awesome).  I learned that Brenton and his friends used to gamble during pep assemblies and that he once made $15 betting how many times the drill team girls dropped their flags.  He was a bit disappointed in the show because no one dropped anything (he felt the show lacked a high degree of difficulty and that "daredevil feel" with no high tosses).  It was a very special night for Shelby and even though the Raiders lost (West is not the powerhouse they once were but we desperately needed Clarence, Jake, and the OU O-line), she had a great time.  My only regret was not getting someone to take a picture of me with her.  Will have to wait until Senior Night at the bowling alley (ok - no balloons thank goodness, but that one will be really hard).  Congrats, Shelby - you were (and are always) amazing!

 Shelby - Pregame show

 Shelby Byrnes - Percussion

 Shelby hates this picture, but I love it.  That is the expression of joy!

 What great kids we have...

 Awwwww

 The end of the halftime show

 The matching "Super Bowl" rings

Brenton, Cady, and Shelby

Heart of America Marching Festival, Ottawa Football and Raider Homecoming

Shelby was quick to point out that I am woefully behind on my blogging so must pack a lot into this one.  First of all, the Rompin, Stompin, Raider Band went to KU last weekend to perform at the Heart of America Marching Festival.  If you have been following this blog since it's inception, you will remember that I always called this one the tone-deaf music festival as I felt the judges were tone-deaf as the teams that placed were always substandard in the musicality department.  I can honestly say that this year was a surprise - I actually agreed with the results.  Our Raiders placed 3rd in their division with their Jekyll and Hyde show.  It was the first time they had performed the entire show as they had just gotten the 3rd section earlier in the week.  They did an awesome job - had a few miscues - but all in all, were pretty darn good.  Lawrence and Papillion-La Vista South High (from Nebraska) Schools beat them and just looked a bit more polished with a louder sound than our Raiders.  Our show was more complicated than theirs though but we never seem to get extra credit for degree of difficulty.  Next up is the Warrensburg competition at the end of the month.  Should be a good one.

Next up was some Ottawa Brave Football.  After a horrible game at McPherson, our Braves got their act back together and defeated Sterling, Southwestern, and Tabor College.  Brenton got to play in the Southwestern game because of course, I wasn't there (I was at the KU Marching Festival).  Alas.  Anyway, he has played in all the JV games and had a great one against Baker.  Cady and some of the softball girls came to the game and Cady helped me take some picture of the action.  The Braves are now 5-1.  They get next week off - Brenton is heading to Oklahoma that weekend to attend the "other" OU game with Cady and her parents.

 Last and certainly not least our Shelby attended the Homecoming Dance with Gerry Kraai (fellow band member).  Our Raiders actually won their Homecoming game and the dance with the next night.  Shelby looked quite lovely and I must admit, I got a little choked up when she came down the stairs and Gerry said "She looks so beautiful!"  I thought I refrained from making them pose for an excessive amount of pictures but did take some (go figure).

Overland Park Parade 2010

The Rompin, Stompin, Raider Band marched in the Overland Park Parade last weekend.  It was Shelby's last parade and the weather was beautiful.  Tim's dad, Tom, also was in the parade - riding a fire truck with the retire firefighters.  The morning couldn't have gone better!

Tom is in the blue shirt

Ottawa 62 Bethel 23

Great football last weekend when the Ottawa Braves beat up on the Bethel Threshers (I was amazed to discover that the mascot is not a bird, but a piece of farm equipment - odd).  I watched Brenton's girlfriend, Cady, play softball in Ottawa, and then made the trek to Newton, KS (yes, the van did make it there - surprise).  Poor Cady played 25 innings of softball and then drove to Newton, making it right after half-time.  The Braves scored so fast (and so often) the outcome was never in doubt.  Next up - McPherson - pumped after a huge win over Friends.  Should be a very tough game.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Kickoff

Brenton getting advice from the coach

Brenton congratulating suite-mate, Matt Gross on an awesome play

First Band Performance of 2010

The Rompin, Stompin, Raider Band took to the field for their first performance of this season's half-time show, Jekyll & Hyde.  The weather was very wet with a steady mist throughout, but the band sounded great. Shelby is the section leader for the "pit" and they were of course wonderful.  My P.E.O. sister, Michelle Wilson's daugher, Emma, is the co-captain of the Pacesetter dance team and it was great seeing her perform as well.  The show looks very complex so it will be interesting to see how they do at competition (I NEVER agree with the judges - except for the year we won it all).  Will keep you posted.

Shelby - pregame

Emma Wilson - 2nd from right

The Pit

1st Down Classic - Ottawa 24, Baker 14

What a great game last night in Ottawa, KS where our own Ottawa Braves defeated bitter (and bumbling) rival Baker Wildcats.  Ottawa took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and the Braves never looked back, taking the season opener 24-14 in the Victory Sports Network First Down Classic. It was OU's second straight win in the First Down Classic.  We had an awesome tailgating experience before and after the game (had to feed the victorious boys).  Cady received her championship ring at half-time and the weather was perfect!  After watching Baker and Ottawa play 7 on 7 this summer, I thought Baker had a better team.  However, throw in superior linemen and pressure the quarterback and what once looked good, completely falls apart.  Next up is Bethel (get to drive to Newton, KS for that one).  Go Braves!

Shelby and Kalie

Me, Brenton, and Shelby

Don't knock it, it obviously works

Cady getting her ring

You know the ring is big when you can see it from a distance

Dee Dee

No, Brenton is NOT smoking on the field (but get whatever that is out of your mouth)