Pancake Night & Paigey

Jace and I have had a Wednesday night tradition for the last couple of years - pancake night.  One of my favorite things for many years has been breakfast for dinner - cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, eggs and more.  So, since he especially loves pancakes, we've turned that into our weekly treat.  For awhile he wanted to help me, then he wanted to be the one to make them for both of us (a treat for Mom!).  But the novelty has worn off, and now I'm back to pancake duties - he does, however, get to do the dishes afterwards.

Tonight we had a special treat, in addition to pancakes - Paige came over for a visit, now that she's home from Jewell for the summer.  It was great to see her and catch up; she's done with her research project and working at Andy's again until she leaves for Oxford in September.   I know she and I will keep in touch, even though Dave and I aren't together - she's such a special young woman, and I so look forward to remaining a part of her life. 

Preparing fruit to put on top of the pancakes

Dinner is served!

After dinner, Paige helped me finish planting the perennials I bought last week.  It has been so hot, I've been watering them each day but needed to get them in the ground, soon.   She is going to be here over the weekend while I'm gone to Kansas City; the doggies will love to have her keeping them company while I'm gone!

Speaking of Kansas City, this is a weekend I've been looking forward to for the last couple of months.  I'm heading to KC early Saturday morning with friend Laura, and we are meeting my sis Tara and BIL Luke at Geather's house around noon.  Then we'll head to Arrowhead Stadium mid-afternoon for the Zac Brown Band & Kenny Chesney concert - how cool is that!?   Haven't seen Garry and Heather for a few months, so it will be great to spend a little time with them, before and after the concert - hopefully they'll join us for a little tailgating.  Jana is also going to be there with a friend, and I have a couple other Springfield friends that we'll also hang out with, have seats near us.

As for the concert itself, we have some awesome seats, we're in Section 123, Row 9:

And I couldn't ask for better company than Laura, Tara and Luke.  I saw Kenny Chesney in concert with Tara & Luke in STL a couple of years ago, and we had a blast.  Now to see ZBB and Kenny will be even better!   It has been a little bittersweet, knowing that Dave and I love both of these groups and had planned to go together, and there will be a few songs that will be hard to hear without thinking of him (I may have to excuse myself and head to the bathroom during "Colder Weather").  But truly, I'm just excited to be going with TT & Luke, and now Laura. 

I will hate to miss Jace's tryouts for the Tribe baseball team on Saturday, but I know his dad will be there, and I'll be checking in with him to see how Jace is doing.  In the meantime, I'm still on the hunt for a cowboy hat (think beach-style) for the concert, and cannot find one anywhere!  Luke suggested I check with Dad, since he has a couple of straw hats he wears out on the tractor when he's mowing (thanks, Luke).

I'm excited to take my new camera to the concert, although I have already realized that I need a longer lens - my point-and-shoot didn't take near as clear of pics, but it did have a longer zoom than the 18-55 lens that came with my SLR.  But the longer lens is another $200, so will have to wait for awhile on that... maybe a Christmas present to myself.

Time to close, and finish up some laundry before heading to bed.