Thursday, December 27, 2007

This Christmas was a different one for us. We spent the normal Christmas Eve with my family but that was about the only "normal" thing we did. Usually K's family comes up and stays with us and his oldest brother's house for a couple of weeks, but this year his Mom got a new job and couldn't get that much time off work. They were not able to be here for Christmas Day, so when we heard of the community dinner that a couple from church was putting on we decided that we would volunteer there. It was great! We had a large group of volunteers (most of them coming from our church!) and we had the kids sing Christmas carols, one of the boys played his guitar, a few played piano, and a few of us sang. I sang the song that I had sung at our Christmas Eve Service at church. PM picked it out, and I loved it. It was called The Christmas Star and was by the Winans, I believe.
Before the community dinner we had gone out with a couple friends to the Mission in town for breakfast. They had a HUGE breakfast! You could have omlettes, scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, lots and lots of choices. After the dinner we came home to rest a bit and went over to A&A's for dinner. They had a semi traditional Italian Christmas dinner. It was delicious! We had an Olive Garden recipe soup, antipasta, stuffed shells and chicken parmesan, and lots of cookies and candies. I ate way too much! We played some games after wards and talked alot. C's sister and brother in law came in as a surprise from Pennsylvania and they taught us a new domino game, Chickenfoot. We played that for hours! I bought a set of dominos for us on ebay and I got them today and was a bit disappointed. I knew they were used, but the seller put one domino from a non matching set in there to make it a whole set and the tin that they were in was really beat up. Ahh well, guess I just have to go to Wally.
K's parents made it up at about 2:45 on the 28th, and the 29th we had the H family Christmas. It was alot of fun, one of his brothers brought his Wii and we played games almost all afternoon. And of course I took plenty of pictures!
I did ok in the Wii bowling, I took first one game and second in another, but the most fun was one that I am sure not alot of people can say that they had the joy of during their Christmas celebrations.....I got to box my mother in law! Ok so she knocked me out, but I did put up a fight dropping her to the ground first! Gotta love those Wii games!
I found out that my niece and nephew know me well...they got me a digital picture frame for Christmas! We put a 2G card in it and have loved choosing the pictures to go in it and watching them as they change in the frame!
New Years was also different. I didn't have to work New Year's Eve day so I stayed home and did laundry and cleaned up the house a bit. We were just about to head out to take some pictures and check out a couple things at the church when PM called and invited us to their place for food and fun, as well as inviting K to ride along on a trip to Wal Mart. We accepted on both and ate too much that night as well! C had fixed breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, a bunch of dips for chips, and shrimp. Yum! We sat around and talked for awhile. J left early and we tried to get the boys down (PM and C were babysitting their grandsons too) so we could watch a movie. That didn't go as well as we had hoped, so C took the boys back to A&A's and the rest of us headed downstairs to watch some tv. We ended up watching a guy jump the length of a football field on a motorcycle and set a world record. C came home after one and we sat and talked a bit and finally K and I headed home to get some sleep.
New Year's Day I woke up around 8:30 and just could not go back to sleep! I grabbed a shower and headed downstairs to do some ebay shopping and soon after K came down and took me out to get a cappucino. At one we were back at PM and C's for meatball sandwiches. Delicious! We sat around the table and talked some more until L had enough and wanted a story read to him (PM and C had the oldest of the gradsons again, A&A went shopping and he didn't want to go!) so the rest of us went downstairs to watch some football. PM fell asleep, K fell asleep and J headed home for his nap so C and I watched football and talked until the guys woke up. We snacked a bit more and watched the movie "Amazing Grace". I loved it!!! We talked for a bit longer after that and headed home around 9:30 since all four of us had to work in the morning, but C and I first made plans for Thursday as it looks like we both may have the day off.
This year has also brought me a new hobby/collection. PM and Collen have given me a small Precious Moments figurine for the past couple of years and I decided that I loved them and with the money that my Grandparents and my Parents have given me for Christmas I would shop ebay and buy some more. I'm having alot of fun, and it has made for alot of interesting conversations with PM and C!
Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day! Wishing you all a blessed 2008!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

You Are Thanksgiving

You are a bit of a homebody who enjoys being in the company of people you love.
It doesn't take a lot to make you happy. You're enjoying life as it is.
You have many blessings in your life, and you are grateful for each one.
You believe that life is about what you *do* have. You feel like you have enough of the good stuff.

What makes you celebrate: Family, friends, and the changing of the seasons.

At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The host of the party

On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Spend so much energy preparing that it's a full time job

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

You Are 44% Shy

Although you live a pretty normal life, you tend to be a fairly shy person.
Many situations make you feel uncomfortable, and you sometimes find your shyness hindering your life.
You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament

Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace.
You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions.
You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected.

It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional.
You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others.
While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well.

At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything.
You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams.
You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.
You Have Low Self Esteem 64% of the Time

You tend to blame yourself when things go wrong, regardless of whether it's your fault or not.
You're anxious to please others and rely too much on their opinions. Learn to please yourself first, and your confidence will soar.
You Are Blonde Highlights

Men see you as flexible and versatile - you fit in to every situation
You've got the inner glow of a blonde, the intensity of a redhead...
And the wisdom of a brunette.
What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort.

You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds.

You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you.

Your near future is in a very different place (both physically and mentally) from where you are right now.

For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Monday, November 19, 2007

We must be in for a snowstorm or something. The three boys who are normally my sweethearts and so good for me are just ORNERY today! I can't wait for 5:30!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Your Old Fashioned Name Is...

Cecily Raudell
You Are 76% Happy

You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world.
Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up.
You Are 24% Weirdo

You're a little weird, but you'd be even weirder if you didn't have a few quirks.
You are just strange enough to know it, but nobody else seems to notice your weirdness.
That's because, deep down, everyone is a little freaky!
You Belong in Greenwich Village

Avant garde and bohemian, you're quick to adopt new ideas and lifestyles.
And while you're a bit less weird these days, you still have a "live and let live" philosophy.
You Scored an A

You got 9/10 questions correct.

It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors.
If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs.
As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human.
And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

So.very. tired. must. get. caffiene. We had the funfair for Awana last night, we didn't have as many kids as normal, but it was Halloween night, what do we expect. Afterwards we had to put the auditorium back together (we had moved all the chairs out to set up the "booths" for the funfair) and then we had music practice. Actually two music practices. A small group from our group practiced for a song that they are going to do for a Veteran's Banquet coming up on Saturday evening. Then we got to practice. We went through the songs a few times, talked and laughed, and even did a few extra songs just for the fun of it. It was about 11 when we left and 11:30 before I got to bed and I had to get up before 6 for kids to come at 6:30. Naptime can't come soon enough!!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Things I never thought I would say until I started dealing with kiddos....A, get that pig out of your nose!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Ugh crabby kids making me crabby! I can not tell you how many times I have heard the word MINE screamed at the top of someone's lungs!
On the plus side I have finished two big projects. I have at least two more to do yet, but it is sure nice to have two done!

I have gotten back into my goal of Bible reading. My goal is to read at least on chapter a day. I have now read for 31 days in a row, 32 after today. And I have finished the book of Matthew. I am still reading in Psalms and have now started Mark.
We went to an Awana leaders conference near Des Moines on Saturday. We had to get up at 4:15!!! I was so excited (I knew what to expect, I had gone last year) that I could not sleep on the way down and we were all talking and supercharged from the conference that I could not sleep on the way back either! We got home around 8pm and then I got a call to go work on a printer so one of the kids could print something for school and that went quickly, but then I still had Sunday School to work on! I was so tired on Sunday!!!
I have a subject that I want to do a Counsel time on from the conference too, I think it may end up being a two part deal. And we are working on trying to get some of the devotional books that they had at the conference to hand out to the kids when I do my Counsel time.
It was great! Twelve of us went and we all came away from it so excited and pumped and ready for Awana!
It's a busy week with kids...I have the baby four days this week. I am trying to get as much done today as I can. More laundry and some work here on the computer. I just hope the kids don't stage a revolt!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Well, we survived the weekend last weekend and our friend's wedding was beautiful. The only glitch that I know of was my fight with the second video camera....I found out about an hour before the wedding that I was to tape from the back....I think the video camera won. :( Oh well, they had the first, and most important one up front with another friend taping so I don't feel so bad, but still feel bad all the same.
It's been a long week with kids, I'm glad it's almost over! I can't wait for this weekend to be over though. That will have to wait for explanation later.
I am so behind in laundry and house cleaning....that will occupy part of the weekend...and then Tuesday my inlaws are coming up for a working visit. I just hope that mil settles down and is less detail and every second planning oriented than she has been on the phone with us for the last week or I may just be asking to move in with someone else for a while!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Another rainy night last night. Joy. And we lost power for a bit again. I'm really getting tired of all this rain! Awana starts this week too, and we have our big pizza picnic out at the park....hopefully we can still do that.
K is going in for another dr appointment this afternoon with his asthma. He really hasn't had much of a voice for a week now and he is still using the inhaler every four hours so he is going to have things checked out. Part of his problem is that he expected to feel better instantly...well he didn't go in to the dr until he was pretty sick, so I told him it is going to take him a while to feel better too....men.
It's a slow day today daycare wise...just me and little A. The rest of the week picks up a bit. I have the new family the rest of the week, I am just praying that it goes well.

Another post for k8's scrapmonkey contest...if you haven't checked it out yet go over and take a look...it's pretty cool!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I am so SICK of rain! It has been raining for almost a week straight now. The other night we ended up with three inches of water in our basement too. Not a huge deal as there is nothing really stored down there, and what is is on palates, shelves, pegboards, and what not and the room where all my Christmas things are stored didn't even come near getting wet. The floors are cement and we have a floor drain too. This is the first year we have ever had water in the basement and it really was due to the storm drain out in the front getting clogged. It also sent the kids play tent that I had in the front yard way into the back and wrapped it around K's car, the Little Tykes playhouse for the babies and the small merry go round were pushed into the swing set, one of the big rocks from my lily bed as well as some of the smaller rocks I have in it were pushed into the lawn, the basketball was out by the cars, the garage was full of water, and alot of the gravel from the driveway was pushed out toward the alley. You can definately see the path the water took in the grass too, the sticks and leaves debris and the grass is really laying flat in that direction.
No major damage, the thing that was frustrating was K's work. I called him because I wasn't sure what I should do, turn on the dehumidifier that sits down there, does the whole house dehumidifier work and would that be better, do I need to worry about anything that he has plugged in in his workshop down there?...so I called during his break just to check in with him and the RUDE man in the guard shack told me NO if he does not have a phone or any thing like that I CAN NOT transfer you onto the floor any longer. And then silence. I curtly said thank you and hung up and did my best with the daycare kiddos here. I think K is going to put a complaint in with HR today, I mean what are they running over there, a prison?? It's not like I'm calling him 152 times a day telling him that the baby just pooed or this kid or that one said something funny and I just had to tell him, or just talk about nothing...and I called during break time! What if I had been in the er or something....this new company is getting terribly rediculous!
And since I am here posting, why not add another entry for k8's contest over at Three Wild Monkeys?! So here it goes!
H E I D Letters 449

Château de Chenonceau E cInéma d amIr
h_McElman_070718_3051 e i D as in candy I is for litter

Cimetière de Passy e I D I

H e I D i

I saw this over at Mix'd Equally where she had taken their names and played with them. Now since the hubby prefers that I refer to him by his first initial here I really couldn't play with his name much so here are a few of my favorites of mine! Here is the link so you can go and play too!http://metaatem.net/words/

Tuesday, August 21, 2007


Have I mentioned how much I would LOVE to win this contest??? I'm posting this as another entry for the contest. Go check out k8 and her blog at Three Wild Monkeys to check out the details and enter yourself.
Congratulations to Marc and Krystyna from One Snarky Mommy on the birth of little Anastasia!
Also congratulations go out to Aunt Erin, Uncle Tom, and cousins Ben and Simon from Tale of Two Baby Humans!
She is adorable!
Well, here I am again. We had a good Family Camp/ Outdoor Service/ Baptism/ Back to School Picnic two weeks ago. We camped Friday night and spent most of the day Saturday as well as Sunday out at the campground and Nature Center Pavilion. K ended up having a bad time with his allergies and asthma and went in to the dr that Monday. They put him on Prednesone and he was HYPER! He started his meds Monday afternoon and was up until three am talking and then Tuesday he got up at 5:30 and went to work, came home and mowed the lawn~complete with wheelies on the riding lawnmower to impress the kiddos, did the paper route, locked his keys in my car and had to walk two blocks back home to get them, walked the two blocks back to unlock the car, went and picked up his truck that was sitting at church, went to an Elders and Deacons Meeting, came home and midnight and still talked until
3 and then got up at 5:30 the next morning to go to work! I was seriously starting to feel sleep deprived! And of course that was the busiest week all summer with the daycare!
This week is slower. Monster has gone to the daycare center full time as she is going to preschool and I don't do the drive anymore. The big kids started school today and preschool starts on Wednesday at the Catholic school and Thursday at the public school. The Catholic school is three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the public school is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I will also have one in playgroup on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 12:30 to 2:30. And one in the Early Childhood program that meets Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm getting confused just thinking about it! Add to the fact that our school system decided not to do in town bussing so that complicates things a bit more. I am glad that they are back in school though. They were ready to go back too.
Not much more to tell, Awana starts soon, I'm ready for that too. Also the wedding of a good friend in September. I have been trying to sneak some stitching time in here and there. I bought a couple new patterns with the promise that I would finish the wedding sampler for my brother in law and his wife who just celebrated their one year anniversary in July.
I hope that you all are doing well, and I will update more often, the school schedule should allow me a bit more time, but please forgive me if I have a lapse again......it may just be that the kids have finally driven me over the edge lol!
Yay for the first day of school! Going to love this schedule....will write more about that later. Probably tonight. In the meantime check out this cool contest that I would absolutely LOVE to win !

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Daycare kiddos threatening to drive me insane!!! Kids schedules slow down starting tomorrow. Will post more soon!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

I know I have been a terrible blogger and a terrible friend. I am so so so sorry! I promised Holli that I would come and update on Monday at the latest and here it is Thursday and I am just getting to it. Holli, please forgive me!
I am trying to order materials for our Sunday School classes, the operative word being trying. We have promotion Sunday for the kids to move up to their new classes for those who are old enough and trying to get the class lists figured out so I can order the correct amount of materials has been, well.......interesting. I am on my third, and hopefully final, draft of the class lists. I hope to call and order the material this morning and have it done and over with!
We are preparing for our Camping/Outdoor Service/Baptism/Back to School Picnic weekend and there have been some interesting complications along with that too. The Social Committee is supposed to be in charge of getting tables set up out at the park and now we find out last night that the head of this committee might not even be there! We have no idea if she has planned for someone to set tables and things up and with all the sound equipment that we have to load, haul out to the park, set up, and then do sound check before the service....not to mention PM having to be in town to pick up the meat that the church is providing.....we really don't have time to do it. It will get done somehow, but we just hope to avoid the last minute chaos that we have had in the past.
And to top it all off, K came home on Tuesday with his thumb all wrapped up and told me that he got to go and meet the new Dr. in town. I'm not exactly sure how he did it, but he was trying to get a slide out floor or something to work on one of the trailers and got his thumb and ended up with six stitches! My Mom and I did the paper route they normally do and I am going to be there to help load things into the trucks to take out to the park this weekend, but he is supposed to play in a golf tournament this weekend to benefit the mission in town on Saturday! I think he is still going to go, it's a best shot, so even if he just taps the ball around a bit he will get to keep up with the guys and have a good time. It's for a good cause too.
My problem child's last day is Friday, the 17th. Then after one of the Mothers finishes her training (6 weeks) I will start to have some Fridays off. It will be nice, I can make Dr appointments, dentist appointments ( I may still have to have some work done on the tooth next to the one that was pulled), hair appointments, visit some friends that I don't normally get to visit, and be on time for some ballgames! I'm excited!
The neighbors wanted me to take their little guy too, but I don't think it's going to work out with the number of kids I have already, and if I did take him I wouldn't have my Fridays off. The parents work at the same place K does, and if they were on overtime I could have to take the little guy around 4:30 in the morning! Besides that, he is their only child, and it took them a while to conceive him and they are a tad overprotective (not saying it's not justified), but they live RIGHT beside us, I mean their driveway is only about six inches from my computer room window.....we would rather keep them as good friends and neighbors than have something happen and there be hurt feelings or something.
Well, I guess that's all that's new around here.....I must get going and finish the bulletin insert of songs for the service on Sunday so we can make copies, get some laundry done, and try to decide what I am going to take for the picnic.
Hugs!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Why do all the wierdos come out of the woodwork in my area? Not only am I pretty much guaranteed to get a visit from any door to door salesmen that come to town, but now I am starting to get odd phone calls. The phone rang yesterday and it was a collect call company asking if I would accept charges from (insert deep manly voice here) DAVE. I said no, because I didn't recognize the voice so I knew it wasn't the Dave that I know best, and the other Dave I know would have given his last name as well....so I hung up thinking wrong number and no problem whatever....but almost as soon as I had hung up and put the phone down it rings again and it's another company asking if I will accept charges from Dave. UM NO! Now leave me alone lol! Thankfully he didn't call back, but it made me wonder.
With all the warm and humid weather we have been having it crashed the wireless keyboard at church. We got an old corded one from home to put on there for the time being. We may run to Wally to get a new one, Radio Shack here in town really doesn't have much....but we are waiting to hear from C first as she said they may have one to give away from her office.
We have a Missions Conference this weekend at church. I am singing What if Someone Had Not Shared by Bill Butterworth on Saturday night. It's amazing that I am not nervous at all. I am just trying to memorize the spoken part, I have to sing, speak, and then sing again with a key change....and it went pretty well in practice last night, but I think we are going to try to practice one more time before the meeting.
I need to make bars for Saturday night, get my Sunday School lesson done, clean the house, and put some laundry away yet too. One of the boys has a ball game tonight that we would like to go to and K's parents will be in on Monday....starting to feel a bit overwhelmed there, but I am just deciding that they are going to have to be happy with what they get as I am still working and with everything going on (VBS starts the 22 too) I can't be a perfectionist...some things may just not get done. Not that they would have a problem with it, but I hate that feeling you know?! Anyway, kids will be waking up soon so that's all for now.....Big hugs!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Not much exciting going on around here this weekend. Mostly just catching up on things that I had gotten behind on with not feeling well and then having that tooth pulled. Lots of laundry and cleaning with a haircut thrown in for good measure. It was a little interesting when the girl who cut my hair offered to straighten it...I agreed to let her do it but was ready to rush home and wash it when I saw what it looked like when it was finished....it looked like a bad mullet helmet gone wrong! I bought a headband and put that in until I could get home. Thankfully the cut is better than her style! The girl that normally cuts my hair doesn't work there anymore, so I guess now I have to find a new hair stylist too. When it rains it pours huh?!

Thursday, July 05, 2007

I know I went and disappeared again. This time I have a good reason, I promise! On Wednesday or Thursday of last week my mouth began to hurt again and I passed it off as another bout with tmj. It hurt all weekend and I was pretty miserable on Saturday at the wedding that was held at our church and at the reception afterwards all I was able to eat were mashed potatoes and gravy. Saturday night I could only sleep for 20 minutes at a time and was awake for long periods between in terrible pain. When I woke up on Sunday I had a large blister on the side of my gum where the tooth was that hurt. I talked to a friend at church on Sunday and got the name and number of her dentist (we were no longer able to go to the dentist we had been because he changed his policy to you pay now and have insurance reimburse you.....well that is why we have insurance because we just can't afford to pay one big lump sum like that...and after the last round of dental work that I had I was a bit traumatized, nothing he had done wrong, but it was just a bad situation; just before we got married I had a cavity filled. It was a bad cavity and he essentially gave it a root canal and then didn't tell me that it should have a crown. Well the tooth breaks after we are married dentist number two has to cut the gum line down in two places to give the crown something to attatch to and then go through the whole crown process. Dentist number two is a bit, well, gruff, and I do NOT handle pain well and I have a pretty rough time with it all. After all this I am left with almost a phobia of going back to the dentist even for a check up.
Well, I can not carry on like I have been all weekend so K stays home from work on Monday to take me to the dentist. Just before I am to leave we still have not gotten ahold of the three boys' grandmother so instead of him going with me he stays home to watch the boys so I can go. I was having a MAJOR panic attack I tell you! I made it (it was about a 40 min drive) ten minutes late, but I had called from the cell to tell them I was coming, I had just gotten a little lost. They got me right in and decided that I had an abcessed tooth that had to come out. Dentist number 3 said that she could put a crown on it, but it was expensive and with as much infection as I had, where the tooth was (very last tooth on left side bottom jaw) and the fact that it was broken and gum tissue had grown up through where it had broken, she could not promise that it was going to work and she would hate to see me put money into it and then have to pull it anyway. I was all for pulling it, I just wanted relief!
They were so nice! I had my own private tv to watch, they were fitting me in in between patients since I was an emergency appointment and I ended up watching quite a bit of tv! It did help to take my mind off of it all though! They gave me a topical anticeptic, extra shots of novicaine, and gas so I wouldn't feel alot of pain. Dentist number 3 was afraid with the amount of infection that I had that it would work against the numbing agents and I would feel more pain than she and I would like. The assistant asked me to open wide so she could give me the shots and I thought I was doing pretty good until she asked me if that was all the farther I could open and when I said yes, she said "You poor thing!" It must have been pretty bad in there because I heard that a few times as well as "You really did have a bad weekend, didn't you?!" After I was all numbed they came back in to pull the tooth and she pulled three times, the last time it started to hurt and I was getting a bit uncomfortable and then she looked at me and said it was out! I felt a relief of pressure immediately, even under all that numbing! They called perscriptions in to our pharmacy in town and K picked them up so I could start them as soon as I got home. They have me on 800 mg of ibuprofen and 500 mg of amoxicillin 3 times a day. I feel SO much better! They warned me of pain afterwards, but I have had very little. The relief from having that tooth out has been wonderful!!!!! They even sent me home with a bottle of water and a can coozy. And, the dentist called me the next morning to see how I was doing! I had to call K as I started back home again (he was worried and had called to check up on me :) ) and I told him that this was my new dentist and I was no longer afraid to go back! He was pretty happy to hear that too!
Well, baby is getting fussy so I need to go and rock him, will write more about the last couple days and what we did over the 4th later.
Big hugs!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Wow, I have been terrible at updating my blog! It seems like since summer has gotten here I have not had a moment to myself!
K's sister graduated from high school this year and over Memorial Day we made the big nine hour drive to go to his parents' house for her open house. We left the Friday before and came home the Tuesday after. I have slowly been posting pics from that trip onto my Flickr page....I was hoping to do some more uploading this weekend, but I don't know if I will get to that yet or not. We had a good trip. We met his Mom, Dad, sister S, her boyfriend J, his Aunt D, and Uncle R in St Louis at the airport. Well, we tried to anyway. We ended up on the backside of the airport and with four people trying to give us directions over the phone and K trying to drive and get out of there we were all turned around so when we finally found a gas station we stopped and they came to us. We weren't all that far off but poor K had just had enough. We stopped at a Cracker Barrell to eat lunch and then headed back to his parents' house. We had supper and K's middle brother and his wife came and we all caught up and decorated the house. Later we looked at pictures that K's Mom had from way back, pictures that I had brought along, and the scrapbook that K's middle brother's wife had made for S.
Saturday we finished the decorating and hung out together for a while and talked. K's Uncle V and Aunt S came in late the night before and we got to see them in the morning as well as K's oldest brother and his family coming in that morning. The only hitch in the plan was S and J having car trouble with her car while they were picking up the cake. They ended up leaving her car in the Wal Mart parking lot and having J's Mom drive them to the house. S's open house was in the afternoon and she had quite a few people come. It was a good time. We all laughed as she was opening her cards after everyone left that someone had given her a Christmas card with a gift of money and didn't sign it. We joked that they didn't want to be known as the person who gave the Christmas card at a graduation! Everyone sort of scattered after that, a bunch of us went down to the lake and some fished while I took pictures. K's middle brother came down later and took some pics too. The guys grilled out for supper and we ate in the basement of the church. We took some cute family pics and at the end of those I started to not feel so well. I made it through a couple of retakes but ended up making a run for the bathroom quickly afterwards. I went back to the bedroom we were staying in and pretty much just crashed on the bed for the rest of the night.
I woke up feeling better on Sunday and we went to St Louis to take in a few of the sights and take his Uncle R and Aunt D back to the airport. We went to the Arch and looked around a bit. We didn't make it up in the arch as it was Memorial Day weekend and the lines were HUGE. Not to mention the fact that you pretty much have to go through airport security to get in there! We were on a bit of a time crunch with having to get his Aunt and Uncle to the airport too. I had never been there before, we had been by it as we drove to his parents' house before but we never stopped. It was pretty cool. Not what I expected at all. I didn't realize that it was made out of metal and shiney...for some reasin I thought it was made of stone or something. There were some neat sights around it as well. It had a bit of New Orleans flavor along the river with the music playing and the river boats along the shore. There were horse drawn coaches and bikes set up for four people with steering wheels and pedals for all.
After the Arch we took his Aunt and Uncle to the airport and headed for the St Louis Zoo. We got to see quite a few of the animals and then it started to pour! We hid out under some trees for a while and then when it let up a bit we ran to the gift shop. I had to buy a few souvenirs for some back here at home, Mom and Dad kept the dogs so we bought a little Thank You for them and a little something for a few of my kiddos. We went out to Fazoli's for supper and Uncle V, Aunt S, K and I headed to a local Wal Mart to get some pictures made up at one of those instant photo machines, but they had closed it down at like 6pm! Craziness! So no pictures for us, but I did find a really cute top to go with my new pair of khaki capris so all was not lost. We stayed up talking that night after we got home for a while and just hung out.
Monday Uncle V and Aunt S headed out early for the airport and we all slept in since they were driving themselves back with their rent a car. We got up in the morning and K and his Dad went to check out S's car and drove it home. It ended up being the brakes, which were supposed to have been fixed the week before. Ugh! The rest of us didn't do a whole lot, just got dressed and hung around. The area where his parents live had a picnic that afternoon so we all went out for that and then the residents had a meeting while we all went back to the house. K and S's boyfriend went out fishing in the afternoon and S, K's middle brother and his wife and his youngest brother and I went into the next town to do some shopping. I found a purse I had been wanting for cheaper than I had seen it before so I grabbed that as well as a cheap pair of sun glasses, a movie, and some snacks for the ride home.
We ordered pizza for supper that night and then S, J, K's middle brother and his wife, his youngest brother and a few friends went out to the drive in movie theater. We were planning on leaving early the next day so we stuck around his parents' house and went for a walk, checked out S's new laptop, and went to bed early.
We were off and running at about qarter to five Tuesday morning and managed to hit the bypass for St Louis around the time everyone was heading in to work. We would go 80-85 and then stop and go 80-85 and stop. I was SO carsick after that! And after an uneventful nine hour drive North we made it back home again! We were so thankful to sleep in our own bed and be back to our own schedule again!
Wow, I think I will wait for the rest of my update for later....this has gotten really long! Thanks to those who have made it all the way through!

Thursday, May 17, 2007


An Oriole on the feeder in my parents' backyard




Our friendly face tree








A bee on my bleeding hearts, I almost had a better pic of him and then he decided to buzz around my head and I was outta there!





























Blossoms on our crab apple (I think that's what it is) tree