Dear Platinum,

{The dance team I coach is competing at the State Competition today, so I'm just writing my heart to them}

Dear Platinum Beauties -

Today is it.  The single day we have had our sights on since April.  This year our goal was simple, leave State with no regrets.  Whether we win or lose today - I think we've accomplished that goal.  I believe we will be able to look back on the past 8 months and say every single one of us has done everything we could do to prepare for this day.

This season has been full of really amazing moments

And some really hilarious moments

Lots of moments when lots of people were watching you

And I love being your coach during all of those times.  But the times when I am most proud to be your coach are the times like in this picture

The times when nobody is watching you.  The times you're sweating in the studio, or busting your butts in the weight room, or watching videos and critiquing them late at night or early in the morning.  Those are the moments that make me the most proud of you because those are the moments that make all the big moments when lots of people are watching even more sweet.

When you look back on this season (and more importantly, your time on Platinum in general), I hope you remember all of these moments.  Not just the really big ones, but the little day-to-day ones where your relationships with each other grow, or where you become a better dancer, or more importantly where you become a better person.

More than all of that, I hope you always look back on your time with this program and know that I could not possibly love you more.  You are so much more to me than dancers I coach.  I have known many of you since long before you were in high school.  The relationship I have with each of you is so far past the relationship most coaches have with their athletes.  You were among the first to know about Kamdyn - even before some of our family.  :)

You make me laugh when I'm having a horrible day, you make me smile when you get something you've been working on forever, and you make me proud of the young women you've become.  I tell you all the time how honored I am to be your coach - but I'm going to tell you again.  The simple fact that I get to be a part of such an incredible part of your high school career is something I cannot possibly say enough thanks for.  I am honored to be your coach, but more than that, I am honored to be your mentor, listening ear, second mom, and friend.  I hope you never forget that your biggest cheerleader is me.

I believe in you always -

20 Weeks - HALFWAY!

Here is the 20 week BUMPdate: 12/4/13 -

And the side-by-side from last week:

I wonder if looking at these pictures each week will ever become less fascinating to me?  I literally cannot believe that this amazing woman has a child inside of her that she is going to give to Kevin & I to keep forever.  Simply amazing.

Kamdyn is about the size of a banana this week:

She is about 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, or about 10 inches from head to heel.  Beginning at 20 weeks, the length measurement will be from head to heel.  Before 20 weeks, the measurements are from head to bottom because their limbs are all curled up and hard to measure.  Most of the rest of her development this week is disgusting and has to do with either swallowing her own urine or her bowls making meconium (dark by product of digestion) which she is kindly going to save for her first diaper.  Excellent.

Anyway, in other news - we are officially at our halfway point!  The iconic downhill slide that every other mother has been telling me about for the past 20 weeks.  Everyone says time is about to begin flying.  I'm not sad about that.  :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful week -

So What Wednesday

This week I'm saying SO WHAT if:

• I still don't have gifts wrapped and under my tree - even though I got my stuff organized over the weekend.
• There are 3 alarms set {2 on my phone and 1 on my alarm clock} and I still can't really stand waking up.
• I'm kind of stalking my baby registries because I like to add little things each day.  :)
• Cee Lo Green cracks me up.  The ensembles he puts together are something else most days.
• Leaving for State tomorrow and haven't packed a single thing.
• I love the look of loose curls in hair, but am too lazy to do it myself.
• if I were rich, the first thing I would hire done is my hair every morning.  That's not a joke.
• The fact that there's only 2.5 weeks of school before break both excites me and terrifies me all at the same time.
• The adorable Merry Christmas sign on my front door was driving me insane because it was scraping the door every time we opened or shut the door - so I scotch taped it.
• The above bullet didn't work.  On to Plan B.
• I really want to buy Kamdyn a pair of baby Sperry's even though I know that's a ridiculous waste of money.  But they're so darn adorable I might have to do it anyway.  Or maybe I'll just ask my mom.  :)

That's it for this week.  Hop on over to see Shannon at Life After "I Dew" (link on my right sidebar) to tell her what you're saying SO WHAT to.

Happy Hump Day -

Operation: Kamdyn Takeover - Part 1

"Dad!  Seriously, Dad!  What on EARTH is going on in my room?!  Where did my kennel go?!"

  "What is all this baby stuff taking over this room?!"

  

"Seriously?  This is only the beginning?  Aw, come on!"

We spent a large part of our weekend cleaning, organizing, and rearranging.  My first baby shower is this weekend, so we figured we'd better make some room.  Our spare bedroom is currently housing our extra bed set {which I usually sleep in at some point every night because it's more comfy}, all of my clothes, and Riley's kennel.  This is the room we've decided to make into the nursery - so we have some rearranging to do.  We decided to start with moving Riley's kennel to the other bedroom - so she's SUPER confused.  Every time we tell her to go to her kennel, she goes to the wrong room.  Poor girl.  The big box in the pictures is the glider my awesome parents got me for Christmas - can't wait to put that sucker together.  :)  And the rest of the stuff piled on the box is the other various things we have accumulated since we found out Baby K was on the way.  

While I am soaking in the holiday season, a little part of me is excited for January because that's the month Kevin has agreed to let me begin working on the nursery for real!  {He told me starting in September was unreasonable - March is more his speed…so January it is.  We're good at compromising.}

Yes, Riley - there is a new chief in town.  Her name is Kamdyn and she is the new boss around here.  :)

Monday Morning Musings

This weekend was so perfect in every way.  Our Thanksgiving was wonderful.  We really tried to keep things low key - which was awesome.  To be honest, all 9 of us in my family aren't together in the same room very often - so we soaked it all up.

Friday we went to Dubuque to spend some time with Kevin's family - which we are all in the same house approximately once or twice per year, so that's always a fun time to catch up and spend some time together.

Saturday, my mom, Kim, Maicey and I enjoyed the new Disney movie Frozen.  If you haven't seen it - GO!  It is absolutely adorable.  I will own it once it comes out on DVD.  It's so cute!

This girl spent quite a bit of time during the movie on my lap because there were a few scary parts.  But, overall, she loved this movie!  By the way, I'm not sure she could be much cuter.  Seriously.

After the movie, Kevin and I had a very rare weekend day together without work or Kaitlyn.  While we missed Kaitlyn being here this weekend, it was really nice to spend time relaxing just the two of us.  We didn't really do anything exciting - just hung out.  We did some shopping, some Christmas decorating, some wrapping, and LOTS of cleaning.  There is nothing quite like coming home to a clean, picked up home.  It puts me in my happy place.  :)

On Sunday, after church, we put the finishing touches on our tree.

Pretty darn perfect.  I absolutely love it.

After a day of cleaning, we went out to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant.  We did quick work on these delicious fajitas.  Holy YUM.

Once we settled our bellies, we got some Starbucks and drove around to look at Christmas lights.  It's one of our most favorite things to do during the month of December - we love to pick out our favorite houses, dream about our future home, and just take it all in.

And this is how I spent the rest of my night last night - PERFECTION.

All in all, it was a perfect long weekend.  Now we go back to school for only THREE weeks until it's Holiday break!  I'm sure it will FLY by.  :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week -

Finally {Black} Friday

This week has been SO awesome, because it went by so quickly.  In fact, if this weekend could slow down just a little, that'd be awesome!  :)

Our Thanksgiving was very low key - actually, we didn't even eat turkey.  Nobody in my family really loves turkey, so we decided to have an Italian Thanksgiving.

To be quite honest, I could eat hot dogs on Thanksgiving as long as I am spending it with the people I love.

We are headed to spend time with Kevin's family today - can't wait to see them all.

I will leave you with some pictures from our day yesterday.

Shopping the ads before lunch.

This girl cracks me up.  I'm so thankful for her.

Sam & Uncle Kevin were enjoying football.  Uncle Kevin wasn't so much enjoying football because his darn Packers couldn't get themselves together.

Maicey was hot - she didn't have any shorts at Oma & Opa's house, so Rob problem solved and made shorts out of Sam's old pants.  With the leftover fabric, he made them both hats.  Very handy.  :)

Gosh, I love them.  :)

We were the first group of people to get into Toys R Us last night.  I got a great deal on my nephew Aiden's Christmas gift.  And had fun with my family!

This man was such a trooper.  We are in line at Kohl's in this picture and he had a huge arm load of stuff  because we determined that a cart would only inhibit our ability to move through the store.  :)  It was wonderful quality time together.

Enjoy your weekend, Friends!

19 Weeks & Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is the 19 Week BUMPdate - 11/27/13:

Every Wednesday I just get SO excited every time Julie texts me.  Well tonight, when I opened my text to see the new belly pic, this is what was there:

That's funny stuff, guys.  Admit it.  They crack me up.

Ok, here's the real BUMPdate:

And the side-by-side from last week:

I think she looks higher - Julie says she feels higher.  :)  She weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and is about the size of an heirloom tomato

Her brain is designating specialized places for her various senses and she is beginning to be able to recognize sounds.  Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her head is beginning to sprout.

Because it's Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to give THANKS.
{Thanks to Kelly from Kelly's Korner for the idea!  :)}

This Thanksgiving, I want to give THANKS for...

Traditions.  I am a sucker for holiday traditions with family.  I ADORE nothing more than going over to my parents house and spending time with the people I love.  We don't have to do anything special - just be in the same place.  I love it.

Having enough.  We are certainly not wealthy.  But we have enough.  We have a beautiful apartment that we've made into a home.  We make enough money to have all the things we need and many of the things we want.  We have enough and I'm thankful for that.

All of YOU.  I cannot really tell you the ways this blog has changed my life in the past 5 months.  What started out as a simple and easy way for me to document our life has turned into an amazing creative outlet for me that others have come to look forward to as a part of their daily routine.  I am so thankful that people are interested in our story and care about us enough to read each day.

The K's in my life.  Kevin, who I would be lost without. He lets me dream bigger and keeps me grounded all at the same time.  Kaitlyn, who has broken me in to this job of being a mom.  Our Kangaroo and her family, who have restored my faith in humanity and become such a blessing to our lives in friendship and support and who are giving us the most obvious K I'm thankful for this year.  Kamdyn Murphy, I am SO thankful for you.  I haven't even met you and you have changed my life.  The sheer fact that I get to be your mommy is without a doubt my biggest reason for giving thanks this year.

School.  I am thankful for my education, but more than that, I am thankful that I go to work each day with a dedicated faculty of some of my closest friends.  And I am so thankful for my Students who are absolutely some of the sweetest and most incredible kids I know.  I tell them all the time that they are going to change the world, and I can't wait to watch.




And one more adorable BUMP picture!  Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey

I genuinely hope each of you has an incredible holiday with the people you love.  Thank you for making The Rokusek Family Blog a part of your Thanksgiving.

Lots of Love -