Hello from Kansas!!  I promised Aunt Sue we would update the blog and do not want to disappoint!  We have had a busy year so far and it's only February!  Ellie has been playing basketball and that keeps us busy every Saturday.  This is her first year playing and she is getting better every game.  I got roped into coaching her team but it has been a lot of fun!  Her last game is next weekend.  Kaitlyn loves to go to the games so we hope she is another athlete.  Santa brought the girls a basketball goal for Christmas so they play every day when the weather is nice enough. 
After Ellie's game today, we went to I-Hop with Tricia for breakfast. Ellie ordered bacon with her pancakes and eggs and wanted us to tell Aunt Sue that the bacon was certainly not as good as Goldman's at the lake!! Kaitlyn then chimed in saying that hers was not crispy enough.We had Ellie's parent/teacher conference Thursday night and she is doing excellent.  She is reading at a 4th grade level (she is in 1st grade) and is also among the best in her class in math and spelling. She must get all of those attributes from John since I am not good at any of those subjects!  The girls were so excited for their Valentine's Day parties with their schools.  Kaitlyn kept trying to eat the heart shaped suckers instead of taping them to the cards.
Tricia comes over every few weeks to see the girls.  She is still working at KU Med in KC and is a nurse in the Army Reserves.  The girls stayed with her for 4 days while we were in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl.  We met some friends there and had a great time climbing mountains and seeing the sights.  Of course we visited a few breweries and  and stopped at the casino too.  I think everyone was ready to see us when we got back.  Everyone was sick and Tricia was ready to have some time to herself. 
We went to the Hearn's for Christmas and saw Debbie, Cathey, Sandy and their families and Grandma. It's always nice to see everyone.  We took our dog, Rosie, and she was able to visit with her mom and brother.  Ellie of course had to dress up all the dogs.  We are doing the Warrior Dash in April and tried to get Sandy to do it with us but she declined.  It's a 5K obstacle course in the mud and water.  They say finishing the race is more about being mentally tough vs. physically in shape.  Wish us luck! 
Our jobs at Sprint and Hallmark are going well.  Ellie comes to work and visits sometimes when she doesn't have school.  Let me know if anyone wants to switch to Sprint - yes, we have the I-Phone now, Aunt Rose!!  And the I-Pad and the I-Pad mini.  John pays $40/month for unlimited everything - we had to stand in line outside of the Sprint store on campus on Black Friday so he could get the latest phone super cheap.  We hadn't slept for almost 30 hours so I went into one of our other buildings on campus and took a nap until the doors opened!  It's only a matter of time until Ellie is going to want a phone - she already monopolizes ours!
We are anxious to watch the K-State basketball game tonight.  We lost our last game so are hoping to do better.  The girls love K-State and have already resided to the fact that they will be going to college there too.  We hope to take them to the Spring football game and spend a day in Manhattan if the weather is nice.  It's been cold here but only snowed enough to make a snowman once.  The girls and John made one then Ellie and Kaitlyn made one on their own in the backyard.  It of course, was a KSU snowman.  They made bird feeders a few weeks ago so have been watching for birds to some eat the seed.  I'm starting to think we bought the wrong seed as we haven't seen a single bird on any of the 3 feeders!  The girls want to play games now so I've been summoned!