The Kassel Family Project Life 365

Andy and I went to St. Louis this evening to the annual Sid Weber Barbecue for Sigma Chis.  He’s been going for years, but this was my first trip with him.  It really was a great time and I’m glad that I went.  For Andy, it’s an evening to see and talk to some of his fraternity brothers.  I spent the evening chatting with a few of the other sweethearts (women) that were there.  I’ve been attending Sigma Chi functions like these for years now, but I’m still constantly surprised at just how much of a brotherhood there is between these men.  It’s quite a sight to see.  I was shocked when I checked my watch and realized that three hours had gone by and it was time to leave.  I guess that means it was a good evening!  As always, one of the highlights for me was listening to the men sing “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” to the small group of women that were there.  It was sung to me for the first time at our wedding and it still gets me every time.  I’ll be going with Andy again next year provided we can find a babysitter again.  Thanks to Brian, Jenna, and Jeremy for stepping up so Andy and I could go!

…a few months makes!  At the end of May in school, Laura was still largely spelling phonetically, meaning she would spell words like they sound.  I was stunned to see a math paper that came home today with a word problem.  Laura’s response was not only readable, but largely correct in the spelling.  It is truly amazing because in May, she would have written something like this, “Str wt th hol n tk awa th prt u nw.”  Amazing.  AMAZING.  What a difference just a few short months makes.

Today was bittersweet.  It was Laura’s last day with Cheryl Nichols as her daycare provider.  She has been at Cheryl’s daycare since she was three months old.  Here she is with Cheryl, Grandma Sylvia, and Jessica (Cheryl’s daughter) in the background.  Thanks to you all for everything you did for Laura over the past six years!  Laura said that she will miss you all lots!

Note:  Laura didn’t want to smile for the picture until Andy asked her if she wanted to see his butt.  That got *all* of us laughing…  It’s not so easy to take pictures when you are laughing and the camera is moving!  🙂

After turning on “Spy Kids” on the downstairs television this afternoon, I did some cleaning upstairs.  I go downstairs about thirty minutes later to find John sound asleep on the couch.  It’s rough being four.  All that playing really takes it out of a person.

I decided today was “clean out the pantry” day.  I hadn’t done it for probably two years so I figured it was overdue.

I started about 1:30 pm with removing everything from the pantry.  I’ve been asked by people before if I’m a good organizer and I think that I can officially say that I’m pretty good.  I really did not realize just how much stuff I had in that small pantry.  Every surface in my kitchen was covered and a large part of the floor surrounding the kitchen was full as well.

I sorted and purged at the same time.  We had some things in there that we just never use.  I think the scariest thing in there was a bag labeled “Powdered Sugar” that had gotten shoved behind the rest of my baking supplies.  It had turned *GREEN*…  Yes, you read that correctly.  It hit the trash about as fast as I could get it there.  I finished right about 5 pm, and the pantry looks great!  While you can’t really see it in the picture, there is lots of extra space!

Before you ask, I’ll answer.  Yes, I’ll fill it up and probably pretty quickly.  Hey….I made more space!  That means I need more things right?