Happy Birthday Ginny!

Exotic Vacation Spots

This week is vacation week. No, I'm not sitting on a nice sandy beach while typing this. I'm sitting in the dining room like normal. B and I celebrate our 5th anniversary in November. It's a not so good time to try to get out of town due to Thanksgiving services and the upcoming Christmas season. We decided that we would take a 5th anniversary vacation in summer instead. Well, we look at cruises, Florida, DC, Colorado, LA; everything is so expensive when you add up all the costs along the way. It just wasn't going to work to head out on a nice anniversary vacation. (Maybe in another 5 years it'll work.) We made up our minds that B would still take the week off, and we would just do things around here. N got picked up by his grandpa yesterday afternoon and will spend the next couple of days down at the farm. That allowed B and I to have a date night last night. We started off by going to see Harry Potter 5 and then headed to Barnes and Noble to pick up HP7. After that we headed over to Roja ( http://www.rojagrill.com/ ) for $1.99 Margarita Monday. After a short walk around the adjacent shopping center we headed home. We found a very thorough synopsis of HP6 ( http://www.harrypotterfacts.com/ ) and began to refresh our memories. I'll tell you about todays adventures once they're done.

so annoying

Here are a few of the things that we have determined are pet peeves for N:

• bed covers covering up over the shoulders - he gets to come to our bed every morning (so I can stay there longer), but he can't stand for the covers to be all the way covering us; he's continually pulling them off me as I try to pull them up
• food needing to be cooked - he might be cut out for the military or nasa so that he can enjoy some mre's; he can't stand waiting for something to cook
• also on the food topic, food being in the wrong plate section - you can't let a vegetable cross into the meat section of the plate; this could be a result of watching Monk with his dad or the beginnings of his mom's issues with different foods touching
• shoes lying around the house - if he sees a pair of shoes they must go on a pair of feet; he know's which are his and which are ours (I'll post a picture related to this in a bit)
• falling on his bottom - how many times do you have to fall before you naturally learn to balance

my chicken's so going to beat your chicken

Okay, so, Worlds of Fun was just as it's name implies. I had a lot of fun riding all of the coasters. I must be older than when I last went to an amusement park though. I was much more leery of certain rides and ached more than I thought I would. I did manage to get completely drenched on a ride since I was the person who least wanted to get wet. Go figure.

Anways, I was at Walmart doing the weekly grocery trip. I was heading from one side of the store to the other and happened to walk down the toy aisle. I feel it's my duty as a mom to know what new toys are out there. I'm not sure if this is new or not, but I had never seen it before. The pictures are of a Fisher-Price game/toy called Chicken Chase. If you know anything about my mom's love of most things chicken, this should make you smile. I could just picture her getting all excited about this. It comes complete with clucking and banjo music. All this fun can be yours for only $15!!!! http://www.fisher-price.com/us/products/product.asp?id=38614

On another kid-related note for all you parents out there. I discovered Nick Jr. Radio http://www.nickjr.com/playtime/cats/radio/index.jhtml yesterday. I went to find out what type of Backyardigans activities they had. (I'm in love with the Backyardigans.) The radio play about an hour of songs from the show you choose before repeating. N had the greatest time listening to it yesterday. I bookmarked it and turned it on this morning; N got excited as soon as it started.

Can we just skip Monday?

Having a good Monday? Mines been so-so. Yesterday was pretty good, and tomorrow should be great though.

This weekend was Student Edge weekend at church. This means that B and his staff were in charge of the service on Sunday. Normally when B preaches that's about all he's in charge of. Since it was SE weekend that was different. It was an amazing worship service, and I don't just say this because my husband had a hand in it. Everything about it, other than N trying to wander all over, was extremely worshipful for me. I loved the songs, the band, the front setup, the darkness, the energy that seemed to be coming from everyone; I loved it all! I would love to be able to worship in that way every Sunday! (I would of course expect a Mtn. Dew on my seat each week, just like yesterday.)

Tomorrow is Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun day in Kansas City with SE. I've never been before and am quite excited. I've driven past it a million times when traveling through KC. I tend to really enjoy going to amusement parks. I would love for it to be 15 degrees cooler tomorrow, but not much I can do about that. I'll be sure to try to tell you all about it afterwards. N isn't going, but he'll have a great time spending the day with a friend.

Good Sunday. Good Tuesday. Monday????

Uncle Who??

B, N, and I had a great weekend. We decided we would head to Illinois for the annual family reunion for my mom's side of the family. It seemed like a good idea since my parents and my sister, brother-in-law, and niece would be there also.

We drove to St. Louis last Friday and met up with the parents, sister, and my aunt's family. After a tasty lunch on the Hill and a drive past our old house, we headed to the zoo. It was a ton of fun but a bit on the hot side. After several hours there, we decided we were to worn out for another meal on the Hill. (What can I say, my family LOVES Italian food!) We headed out of town and on to Decatur. We were able to stay in Decatur where B did his internship a few years ago. It's only about 40 minutes from where the reunion is.

Saturday, we spent the bulk of the day in Decatur. We were able to run into our old pastor and did some shopping and eating in downtown. In the evening we headed to Nokomis for dinner at the fair and to watch the parade. It was as good as always to see family that is seldom seen. N didn't seem too impressed with the parade, but Camryn loved everyone throwing candy at her.

Sunday we went to church in Decatur and saw a ton of people. We headed back to Nokomis for the official reunion as soon as church was done. It was a day of eating, playing, visiting, and picture taking. We spent the evening back in Decatur hanging out with some of B's closest guy friends. I was exausted at the end of such a long and busy day (and weekend).

I was sad for the weekend to be over. I miss getting to be around my family more, but I'm also very lucky to see them as often as I do. Hopefully I'll find a way to see them again before Christmas!

Family Reunion Pictures

Recent Picture Update

Animal Crackers

Happy belated 4th of July. We've had quite the busy week, and I didn't get around to posting on the 4th. We went a couple of different places and eventually ended up sitting on the driveway watching everyone else shoot of fireworks. N sure didn't seem to impressed with all the fireworks. That might be very different next year.

We also have seen quite the number of wild animals in the past week. We saw a fox on Monday as we were driving to pick N up from Patty's (our most lovable babysitter) house and then saw a deer on our way home. Thursday, we had two different bunnies run out in front of us, had a most unfortunate encounter with a black bird, slowed down for a wild turkey crossing the road, and watch a buck jump a fence. The next day we saw another turkey with several babies. I wonder if we'll see a giraffe walking down the interstate next?!?!

Help Please!

Oh the joys of parenthood. Yesterday evening was one of those times that you just hope and wish as a parent would never occur. We had our small groups over for Bible study and were getting close to wrapping things up. N had been downstairs with B and the boys for most of the evening. He finally decided to come join me upstairs with the girls. He got really whiney and cuddly suddenly. The girls had just gotten done ooohhhing and aaawwwing over how sweetly he was cuddling up to me. I was also thinking how sweet and assuming he might just fall asleep on me. Then out of no where came breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner all over me. I was in complete shock as I sat there with grossness all over me (and him). Other than not being really interested in lunch or dinner, he had shown no signs of not feeling well. Luckily, the furnitured was spared thanks to me using myself to catch everything. He's doing much better this morning. You wouldn't even know he hadn't felt well. I'm wanting him to take it slow today, but there no way to tell a one-year-old to slow down. If only there was a way to avoid moments like that as a parent.

Boom

Good Morning!

It's about 9:30 a.m., and N just woke up. Why does he never choose to sleep in on a morning that B and I would also be able to sleep in? It's like he knows. Part of the reason he slept in could be the fact that he absolutely refused to take a nap yesterday afternoon. He screamed his head off in protest. (I was ready to scream also after listening to him scream for a while.) It also could be the fact that everyone around here thinks that the 4th of July is a several week long celebration. Every evening about the time that we try to put N to bed, the entire neighborhood and those all around decide it's time to start setting off fireworks and they go until at least 11:00. We're not talking about dinky little snaps and pops; we're talking enormous sometimes rattling booms and bangs. I'm sick of it. It ends up waking N up several times. We finally put a fan in his room last night just to create some noise that would help muffle the fireworks. I don't mind having to get him out of bed and rock him back to sleep, but I want him to be able to sleep restfully. Oh well, they have to run out of supplies sooner or later. (I've never been a big fan of fireworks.)