Ash is (was) DOUBLE DIGITS! (yesterday)...crazy bday day...but so fun!

I totally ran out of time to post yesterday in the midst of double digit melee.  But boy did our bday girl have fun...especially at our last minute boat bday bash with her friends at the lake/pool.  Yikes, those girls were crazy and I got very little sleep on the floor of the boat with Loggy.  Can't believe my baby girl is 10!  Woohoo!  It's become a bday weekend now...today we celebrated more and tomorrow we celebrate even more...never even had her flamingo cake yet.  Love you, Bday Ash!  You rock!

last day of single digits for Ash!

Hailey's first German performance!

Her first day on stage with Semperoper is in the books.  Will have to post pics another day!

Double XC, Sleepover, Soccer, Scout Shooterie and a belated anniversary dinner

Busy, busy, busy....our weekends just keep getting busier...

Up at the crack of dawn to get Shelb to her XC bus...off to Terre Haute...I joined her soon after.  It stinks driving to a faraway meet by myself!  But I loved watching her room.  She did great, but her time was way up thanks to her hip issues and IT band...but her team WON the conference!  YAY!

Dyl had his big meet in Nashville canceled, but rescheduled at the Speedway....he ran varsity...and did great.  Of course his team is pretty awesome so of the 10 varsity runners he was the last...but he's a great runner for not being a true runner.

Ash had fun at her bestie's bday sleepover...making slime and watching movies.

Loggy had an awesome Upwards soccer game and I made it in time to see his goal!  YAY, Lo!  Then he raced off the Maumee camp and did the cub scout Shooterie.  He loved it...fishing, shooting, all boy stuff with daddy.

Dylan had soccer....he is one busy athletic guy lately.

We had a "romantic" sunroom belated anniversary dinner (takeout from Texas Roadhouse...thanks, Nina and Pops for the gift card!).  Ash served us, Shelb played us violin serenades, and all of them danced for us.  Only thing missing was Hailey....wish I was in Germany now...she dances her first performance in just a few hours.  I will hopefully post pics soon.  And it's almost bday week for Ash!  Woop Woop!

Ashley--the Horsback Rider

Busy days/late nights/tired family

Our wonderful middle school runner!

will post tomorrow...just got back from meeting...so tired.

Our monsoon weekend

LOL...first off, thanks, Mom...I wish a blank post meant a blank weekend.  But honestly this kind of weekend was as blank as it gets thanks to the tropical storm weather that hit Indiana.  Sometimes God sends small miracles in the way of weather :)

And every once in awhile I will be able to update my blog posts....sadly, not as often as I like thanks to a new job and new commitments. :(

 This kind of sums up the weekend. lol :)  Poor Loggy forced to go to an XC meet in Nashville, IN with daddy bc mommy had a work class to take.  And, yes, Shelby's XC is hard core.  I think they'd run IN a hurricane just so it meant they wouldn't cancel a meet!
                                              
 These pics are all out of order, but that just is a good reflection of our lives these days...a hot mess. :)  My sweet baby boy is now part of cub scouts!  We resisted a little getting him in so early (Dylan wasn't allowed to join til he was a 1st grader), but alas now Kindergartners can join and they needed daddy's help, so here he is...the newest Lion scout of the Steg home.  Seriously...the absolutely cutest scout.  How could Kroger-goers NOT buy popcorn from this guy!  You have to see the video of him selling. It's hilarious. He is loud and in charge and when people tell him "no"...he says "oh, man!" and sits on the ground with his arms crossed.  I seriously could not stop laughing.  As much I hate selling stuff, this boy does not mind at all!

 Too cute for words...first popcorn sale at our old Kroger Sunday!  He did awesome!

 Backtracking to the Saturday XC meet.  LOL!  Talk about a muddy mess!  The front wasn't awful! (and thank goodness for a fellow xc friend who let her borrow her spikes!)  Bravo to Shelb for never falling in the mud.  I wasn't able to go to the meet due to my class, but the videos were hilarious of girls falling all over the place.

 LOL...hilarious back shot!

 And while we are stuck in the gloom of Indiana...Hailey was off on the train to Prague, Czech Republic.  She stole the idea from us...we had planned to go there on our 20th anniversary, but were just too tired to travel and instead slept half the German day away.  So grateful she gets these world adventures!

 YAY for a 3 day vacay....this is after working 8-9 hour days dancing in Germany.  These 3 New Yorkers are ready for a break!

 Choo Choo...ready to board the train!  I recognize that train station well and am not sure I ever want to grace it with my presence again. The train was NOT our friend in Europe!

 Awww...cute selfie of the 4 world travelers!

 Such a beautiful city. She said it reminds her of Paris.  I agree.  Except the money is an issue.  Never had to deal with kronas....euros were confusing enough.

 such a cute bunch of ballerinas :)

 a nice view from the train, I assume.

 Back to the rainy meet on Saturday....daddy and Lo were hard core fans.  Ash and Dyl got to stay home all day and watch tv and do chores. 

 And some Friday pics...thumbs up for 1st annual preschool Bugfest being over. I was in charge of all the bug hats.  I was tired of bug eyes and antennas by Friday...but grateful to my Ash and Kev for helping cut so much paper and hot glue so many puff balls!  Being a preschool teacher is exhausting somedays...and I only work 2 days a week....though have been subbing once a week.  Working 3 days a week comes with more exhaustion than I thought.  This mama is tired!  And I was sick too...so I was grateful for a more restful weekend than I anticipated.

 Ash and I had to waste some time on Friday in between XC pick-ups....so we hit Target in hopes of making a bday list.  Can't believe she is almost 10!  And good grief...really...is the new hit a pillow called a "Poopicorn"?  Toys are going downhill!

 She is super excited about these oorb bubble things.  They do look cool.

 And the girl LOVES her SB white choc. frap.  She uses her gift cards as much as she can!

 Love this girl.  It's still weird for me to see her in blue and pink braces....bottom braces go on right before her bday!  oh joy

 Picking this goofball up from her XC dinner.  The team eats dinner together every Friday night.  She made us wait tonight bc she was playing Just Dance.  She likes to make people wait.

 And Saturday morn...bright and early.  You should know this is against her beliefs to get up before the sun or before 11am. She is like her mama and values sleep, but being a part of XC means not only do you run 4-8 miles even on weekends...it means you get up early sometimes before 6am to go to Saturday meets.  It's rough. But she's doing it. I'm proud of her.  She is improving so much.         

 Best pic I could get of her in action via video in the rain.  It was truly a miracle more runners didn't face plant.  Way to go, Shelb! I think she got another personal record of 26mins flat.  Proud of her...for a girl who doesn't like running, she's doing great!

 Daddy surprised us and hit square donuts on the way home.  Someone was extra happy :) 

 I was off bright and early to take care of these people at the YMCA :)

 LOL!  Scary!  I haven't taken a CPR class in over a decade. It was weird to be back.  But I missed the mass preschool one they had while I was in Germany so needed this to be an official teacher. I passed!  Phew!

 I was sad I missed this girl's meet, but I was right there when she got home...she looks a little cleaner....a little. (side note....might be time to take down grad stuff...lol...yes, we have been THAT busy!) :(

 mud from head to toe!

 the grayness that is often Indiana from now til April.  But the rain did allow us to shower early and get in bed and take a nap!  Hurrah!  This sick mama needed that!

 Time to call Hays before she left for Prague!  Yes, she is sitting on facetime while they do rock, paper, scissors to determine who talks to her first!

 Pretty excited about Monroe County Pizza. We always get Pizza X so this is a splurge.  Love the BBQ! 

 What was left of the XC snacks I sent in from their cookout. Don't ask me how you cookout in a monsoon, but they apparently did.  Shelb was mad she didn't get anything at the race bc she was the last race to run. 

 LOL...someday I wonder what he will do as an occupation. I think it will be some type of construction or engineering possibly with ribbon or rope.  He always takes all my spare ribbon and rope and string and makes/ties stuff with it.  You can imagine what his shoe laces look like :)

 Snuggling up on Saturday night and watching Hailey's fav. show...The Great British Baking Show.  I had never seen it.  Pretty good!  Lo just didn't want to go to bed so he was my closest bud :)

 Sunday morn...shenanigans at church! lol :)  Ash was thrilled to finally be taking the Joining God's Family class about baptism.  She has been begging for like a year.  Dylan decided to join us too.  We had some good laughs :)

 And in case you wonder why I don't post many pics anymore...this is why...

 I get a lot of hands over faces and on-purpose backsides.  It makes photos challenging.  Tweens!

 Dylan's perplexion over sin...and if he commits any :) :)

 Seriously, when did this little boy get so big?!  I adore him.  But he needs to stop growing up! He and daddy were hard core scouters yesterday going around the neighborhood selling popcorn in the rain.

 Ash spent her weekend crafting for her bestie who's bday was this weekend.  She made her a pillow among other things.

 How one gets her geometry done.  Not her most fav. class.

 He was super stoked over his church core group time at Laser Lite (laser tag) and Brusters ice cream. A great group of boys he hangs with and a wonderful mentor.

 Ash and I wasted time at Barnes and Noble...her fav. place.  We found a cool ballet book and did a little reading on La Bayadere.  Weird to think Hailey learned this ballet at IU many years ago and now will be performing it on a European stage this month.  Wish I was there!

 SB pretzels...reminded me of Hailey...and the great food in Germany!

 Ash got her fav. drink and her new fav. series book...a free one from the BN summer reading program that I forgot about. They thankfully let her get the free book after the deadline. Thanks Barnes and Noble!

 Wandering the party store looking for party supplies. 

 Very sad she can no longer have gummy stuff thanks to the braces :( :( :(

 She is going to have a tropical theme and use all Hailey's FL graduation Luau stuff.  We might mix in some seashell/mermaid stuff. 

 LOL...we always find a fun mask in Party City!  I know this is scary, but honeztly I loved IT when it came out long ago. I am a sucker for scary movies. It's one vice I have.  No, Ash has not seen it nor will.  And even the mask freaks me out.

 The violinist after her Sunday lesson.  She's in master class now. 

 Off to Sam's to get preschool stuff and had to stop by and order a cookie cake...our fav. bday dessert...and we went with the tropical theme, of course. The girl loves beaches as much as her mama!

 And cheeseballs...I let her get some as an early bday snack.

 Seriously...the standing water around Bloomy is amazing.  This whole baseball field arena was under water. I think we got 5 inches or more. Pools were overflowing, which never happens here.

 All laser tagged out and full of ice cream.  One happy camper :)

 I came home to them putting together a puzzle...Loggy's fav. pastime.

 And out to sell more popcorn in the gloom.  LOL...love the boy on the scooter way ahead of his daddy. He never slows down.

 And this is how they came back...daddy trying to beat him :)

 How can anyone not buy popcorn from this little Lion :)

 A happy dinner...both boys did not like my cooking.  Dyl hates rice...but I was so proud of my Lo...he tried everything on his plate for the first time...in order to get a treat.  This is progress.

Still crafting....she's my artsy girl!

That was our weekend...oh so exciting.