Big changes

Lots of big decisions this week.  It's been emotional as a mom, and I like to be honest here, so here goes.  Signing day was this week for high school football.  We have had Andrew play football up until this point mainly to stay in shape since he is a bigger kiddo, but also because we felt like of all the sports, this one fit him as he is strong as an ox.  We had high hopes that high school football would be a different experience than the other years.  While club football was tough, the coaches cared about him and tried to teach him and treated him well for the most part.  When we got to middle school, the coaches didn't even know his name and barely got him in at all, even in practice.  Of course, also in middle school, Andrew found his love for music with both the trumpet and the guitar/bass plus choir, and he decided he really wanted to focus on music.  Now it's true, in our town you can do both football and marching band, but it's hard and I was dreading it honestly. I think high school is going to be a huge adjustment for him and to add in both football AND marching band with a field show and plays to memorize was going to be a lot.  We let him make the final decision and he decided to not continue with sports in high school.  This may also include wrestling but one sport at a time at this point.  To be continued.  We are sad because while it's so awesome to see him find his way and chose music (former band nerd here over the moon), we were both athletes and we know it's in there that he could turn it around and be great when he gets his body figured out.  It's tough when you have an idea of what you kid will be like and love and they go a complete opposite direction, but we are also both so excited for his musical journey that it makes the sadness a little less.  Dad of course is struggling the most BUT he's been very careful with his words and for that, I am proud.  We are NOT disappointed with him in any way, just sad he is giving up on sports.   

We had three runs and two work outs this week.  Tried to shift things around to miss the rain but Sunday morning started with rain and yuck and we had to get in our run in before the festival.  Avoided the mud and muck by running at the rec complex and then of course stepped in a huge mud puddle right in front of the house and got covered.

We had lots of rain all week which made puddle pig very happy.  

Let's end on things that brought me joy this week.  Watching this guy jam out playing not only Pink Floyd but also Metallica!  Watching him grow in his talent has been a super fun ride.

National beer day courtesy of Manhattan Brewing Company!

Salad bars are making a comeback in our little town!  The grocery store opened up a new salad bar, and I was first in line.  I LOVE a good salad bar with protein options and cottage cheese!  Bonus, Tony's company did the electrical for the salad bar.  We love serving our community and are glad that more and more local businesses are choosing to use us locally.  We believe in shopping locally and using our local partners even if it's more expensive and we hope that other local businesses feel the same.  We don't want to lose some of these establishments as we would have to drive a ways to get the same goods and services and be in a different community.  We want our money to stay here.

Speaking of local, local festivals are the BEST!  Tulip festival in Wamego means live music, lots of arts and crafts vendors, and BEER at the beer garden.  This year we got to walk around the whole grounds with our beers which I LOVED!

We bought a few things, mainly for the dogs but we had fun walking around and saying hi to all of our neighbors.  We love this little community SO much!

I think this hat is totally true for me right?

I also got this to keep stella with me at all times.  

To end I will show you the power of social media.  I met Jodie on a Facebook running group years ago.  We both had aussies so of course we immediately bonded.  Then bonus, we became friends outside of the group and we found out we share a birthday.  When she asked me for my address the other day, I wondered what she was up to.  When the box came, I just knew it was something special and I called my mom to be on the phone when I unboxed it.  

She took pictures of Stella and I and somehow put them on this aussie cut out.  It's perfect and I bawled and my mom bawled and I immediately got it hung up in my bedroom next to my bed.  I've been wanting to make a wall of Stella, and this is the perfect first addition.

It's crazy how social media can be such a good thing and then such a bad thing all at the same time.  I've made some pretty special friends through dog running groups and Facebook in general, many of whom I may never met in person.  This is the good part of social media for sure.  They cheer me on from afar, let me cry in their DMs, and like and love my pictures not only of my dogs but also my kiddo.  

Have a great week y'all!