Missouri--Day One

We had such an amazing time during our trip to Missouri. It was over much too quickly, and we miss everyone down there already!

Here is a part of our first day in pictures. We headed down to Branson (about 45 minutes away) to see some sites....

Checking out the stuff I couldn't care less about goodies (and tons and tons of real--dead; stuffed; but real--very large animals) at Bass Pro. Actually, despite myself, I did really like this place....there was tons of cool stuff to see. It wasn't all *gasp* hunting and fishing!

The boys loved the fish tank....

.... and enjoyed the ride on the camo 4-wheeler (all except Ethan, who was getting majorly squashed by his brothers)

Cameron by the fish (again)

Then we went to (my kind of place) this really great shopping area called The Landing. There was a lady there who was doing balloon animals for the kids, and the boys were all absolutely enthralled by her!

See?

(I love the finger on the chin move by Cameron....really shows just how hard he was paying attention to "Sugar, the balloon animal clown." *giggle*)
Ethan loved his little RolyPoly....

....and Colin loved his frog. (not pictured: Cameron's "sharp tooth" dinosaur, which he also loved *grin*.) These animals managed to stay alive and well our entire trip, despite many 'unfortunate incidences'....

Our lunch destination...The Fish House. It was wonderful!

Colin and Gram inside the restaurant

Cameron (who was really getting a kick out of something at this moment, but I don't remember what exactly it was) and Mommy

Ethan discovered that my headband enabled him to play a mean game of Peek-A-Boo

Fun at the fountain

The boys enjoyed this little car stroller much better than our normal one....we managed to fit all three of them into a one-seater!
Ethan's seat was especially comfy--the place you keep all the packages held him quite nicely!

Random thoughts for the evening

For Julie and Kara who both wanted to know what a CornJerker was....you were right on the corn husking thing! Hoopeston, our rival for this past Friday's homecoming game, is known as the "sweet corn capital of the world"--no kidding on that one--and their high school mascot is the CornJerker. I know....retarded. I much prefer our Storm.

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By the way, in case anyone was wondering the outcome of the homecoming game....our Storm really did prove to be a nightmare for the CornJerkers. We blasted them: 53 to 12. *giggle*

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Cameron got little confused tonight when Shane told him (during their shower) that he was going to wash his hair with some shampoo. Apparently, Cameron had some water in his ears or something, because he heard something somewhat different. To which, he then asked Shane this question:

"Daddy....why are you going to wash my hair with POO?"

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In the last two days, I have taken my boys on two bike rides. One on Tuesday, and one today. Yesterday, Colin cut right in front of me (seriously, he turned on a dime) and I hit his back wheel. Let me tell you....it wasn't pretty. I went down--HARD.

Yeah, it's funny. 'Till you understand that I had Cameron in a bike seat on the back of my bike, and Ethan in the bike trailer behind me. Now, Ethan's trailer (thank God) stayed upright; he wasn't scathed one little bit. However, just as I went down, Cameron--who was obviously very attached to my bike--went down, too.

The back of my left leg bore the brunt of the fall, however. Cameron managed to escape the whole scenario with just minor road rash on his left arm. Of course, this had to happen right in front of my neighbors' house (little old Mr. and Mrs. Fleming). They are sweet *retired* people who apparently sit and look out their windows a lot, because, not two seconds after I hit the ground, she came running. She was so sweet though; she made Cameron bend his arm so that she knew it wasn't broken *grin* and then we were free to go.

That was Tuesday.

Today, unbelievably, the same thing happened, except a bit of a different scenario--Cameron was on his own bike, and (maybe for spite? Retaliation?) this time it was he who cut me off (with Ethan in the bike seat). I sort of knew what was coming before I actually went down this time though, and managed--with the help of my right leg this time--to catch Ethan before he hit the pavement. Whew. Close one.

Guess where this happened? Yep. Right in front of the Flemings. Again.

My legs are seriously beat up and achy tonight. *sigh*

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Speaking of achy....

My wisdom teeth hurt me for soooooo long after I got them pulled out. Well, to be clear--my left side hurt me terribly badly. My right side was fine. I was convinced that I had an infection or something, but the Doctor kept reassuring me that "after pain is normal for quite some time."

I wasn't so sure, but I trusted what he was telling me.

Everything has been healing up nicely, and for the most part, the pain has gone completely away.

Until the last several days.

That's when I noticed something didn't feel right again on my left side.

And then (because I kept running my tongue over and over that area) I noticed a little bump.

That bump turned into something actually poking through my gum.

Something very sharp and pointy.

That something turned out to be a large piece of wisdom tooth that got left behind.

See, the doctor had told me before I had the procedure that my roots were very close to my nerves; that he was going to use a jackhammer-like device to break up the tooth (I'm sure the tool is called something much more professional sounding--but that is literally how I felt when he was using it to get the tooth out--like a jackhammer was inside my mouth....

jjjjjgggdddttt.....jjjjgggdddttt.....

....and then, he was going to suck out the little tiny pieces with a vacuum-like device.

He warned me that a piece may get left behind. Well, it did.

After much *wiggling* and *digging* around back there last night, I was able to set the (hopefully) last piece free. It-seriously-is huge. About 1/2 the size of my nail on my pinky finger. I figured it was going to be just a little sliver....but it turns out that it left a hole in the back of my mouth that was comparable to the size of the original one left by the whole tooth.

YIKES. So, my mouth hurts a little tonight...

Hopefully, that is THE END in the chapter on my wisdom teeth.

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I am so way behind on blogging. Which, is semi-ridiculous, 'cause I blog nearly every day! I still have yet to post about our trip to Missouri; my beautiful cousin Haley's wedding from this past weekend; and about 4 other things that have been going on around here. I don't know why, but lately I find myself saying--like, twice a day--man, I got to get that on the blog. Mainly, for my memory's sake....if I don't get it down right away, (most of the time) I will forget about it.

Does anyone know where I can find 2 or 3 extra hours in the day?

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We--well, Shane--carved the coolest pumpkin EVER last night. I am totally going to post a picture of that soon. Someone remind me in case I forget to do that. The front of my house is all decked out for fall/Halloween, too. I love it. There is just something about decorating for fall that makes me happy. Happy, happy girl I am. I'll post pics of that too....

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Finally, I am giddy. Deliriously, like a 4-year-old-in-a-toy-store giddy over what I am doing this weekend. For 8 years (nearly) I have been begging Shane to take me to an Illini football game. I grew up going, about once a year, and I love everything about it--the band, the cheerleaders (can't help myself--I could so do that stuff 10 years and 15 pounds ago), the hot chocolate and the crappy nachos and cheese....and of course, the big GAME!!

This weekend, the Illini are hosting their homecoming game against one of our Big Ten rivals, Minnesota--I totally got a wild hair when I heard about it and decided that I sooooooo wanted to go. I got on the U of I website and....the game is sold out.

Thank you StubHub, because.....

I got tickets!

They aren't the most fab seats in the world, but they aren't terrible either--and I am so there. Shane is coming too, but sheer force of my will. He doesn't seem nearly as excited as me (that's putting it mildly) but I know once I get him in the stadium he is going to have a great time. Grandma MJ is going to be holding down the fort here at our house, so we are free to have grown up day at the football field--I am counting the hours 'till kickoff!

Make sure to look for me on ESPN! *giggle*

Have a great night everyone!

Eight techniques of being a soccer goalie

by Cameron Douglas

Block the goal from the front
When that doesn't work....

Block the goal from the side

When that doesn't work....
Block the goal with your cute little *bum*

When that doesn't work...

Get bored, sit down, and just hope the ball doesn't go in

(though, as proven by this goal in progress by Colin--this

technique is generally very uneffective)

When that doesn't work.....

Enlist your little brother to come and help you block shots

When that doesn't work....

Con your little brother into turning the goal upside down

so that no one is physically able to score

When that doesn't work....

Scream at the oncoming scorer, and hope it scares them away from the goal

(also obviously not effective as evidenced by the ball heading inside the net)
And, finally, when this doesn't work...

Go ask Daddy to let you off goalie duty so you can join

in the real fun of the game like everyone else!

The End.

Homecoming Parade

Last Friday, we had our annual homecoming parade here in our little hometown. We didn't go last year, because the parade is at 2:30 in the afternoon and the boys were napping; but this year, we had good reason for keeping everyone up: Colin was a part of the parade! His soccer team had a "float", so the rest of us plopped down on the side of the street to participate in the festivities, and to cheer for Col!

Just like opening night was, this is apparently another really big day for our community. I don't think there was a single person that didn't take the day off of work (or, at least, the afternoon) to be a part of the parade! Everywhere we looked, everyone was out--either in the parade or watching it.

All ready for the parade to start!

Ethan loved the fire trucks

Cameron loved the old cars

Ethan began checking out this yummy looking sucker....
....and then decided to eat it, wrapper and all

This is the side of Cameron that we spent most of the parade staring at.

Can you blame the kid? He was, after all, on a mission.

Here comes Colin's float! Pulled by the Terminix man

(who also happens to be Coach Tom) its...

The Salt Fork Storm U6 Soccer Team!! Whoot whoot!

Colin sitting with his buddy Devin

And there they go....

Ethan, not knowing Mommy is keeping a careful eye from behind, begins contemplating eating yet another piece of candy that is still in the wrapper even though he has been told not to more than a few times

And when I called his name.....he turned around, put the candy down, and gave me this look:
"No, Mommy! Of course I wasn't going to eat that candy. I'm much too innocent and obedient to do something like that. Perish the thought."

Of course, this is an election year, so we had several politicians in the parade. One was handing out nail files (with his name on it, of course) and Cameron picked it up and exclaimed, "But Mommy....this not candy!"

Apparently, the Storm take their floats pretty seriously....

Here is the 'Storm' Freddie Kruger getting ready to attack the poor Hoopeston Cornjerker that fell asleep a little too early on Homecoming evening *giggle*

And another not-quite-as-scary float

Ethan learned very early on in the parade that

a wave to the passing vehicles=CANDY

Ethan with about 3/4 of the 'loot'

Shane and Colin, pulling the stash out of the diaper bag....we got more candy at the Homecoming Parade than on the 4th of July!

Actually, I'd like to call this candy

"What I will be handing out to Trick-or-Treaters".....

The cutest* soccer player in the whole entire world

*a strictly unbiased opinion, of course

(For my memory: Back row, left to right: Cameron, Matthew, Devin, Tyler; Front Row: Dallas, Colton, Brady, Colin)

These are Colin's professional soccer pics from this year. *grin*

I just couldn't stand NOT to post them. He looks like such a big boy, and I love how the pictures turned out (even if that is one of his 'cheesier-than-normal' smiles....)

Seriously, has anyone seen my baby Colin? It seems as though he has completely *sniff* disappeared on me.....

The Letter B

This time, I wised up a little with the letter project.



Instead of making poor Colin leaf through every single remaining page of my Better Homes and Gardens, I went through it first and pulled out about 15 random pages that I spotted had something that began with the letter "B". Big, big time saver there. Plus, by about 130 pages in or so on project "A", his brain, I suspected, has started to shut down....



Poor kid. But I didn't realize before we actually did the project how long it would take, you know? I mean, I've got to give myself a break. I'm new at this whole teaching your child thing....I obviously will learn things along the way too! *giggle*

This time, it was a much quicker project, and one that I thought Colin got a much greater sense of satisfaction from. The fact alone that he didn't sit thumbing through the magazine for forever was big, but he actually did ALL of the finding, cutting, and gluing himself, with just a little "pre-help" from Mommy!

It was funny to listen to him, too....you could hear him say, "buh, buh, bed....yep!" or "buh, buh, flower....nope." He really is starting to get the hang of phonics, which is exciting.

Here is what he came up with:

• bowl
• books
• box
• bear
• bee
• beaver
• bird
• blueberry
• bed (and he wrote the word BED all by himself, too! I only helped him spell it)
• bacon--this one he found and cut out, but somehow it never made it to the page! Must have ended up in the garbage pile, I guess; but I'm giving him credit for it anyway!

Colin actually found the box and the blueberry on the backs of pages that I had given him--and I never even noticed that they were on there. On the front of the pages--what I had seen and torn out for him to use--were the bed and the bear. But Colin turned the pages over and found the other things. He sounded them out, put it together that they started with "B", cut them out, and glued them on all by himself. Imagine how I felt when I saw that! It really is the coolest thing watching something you are trying so hard to get through to them actually click!

Letter "C", up next!

Costume ideas

Thank you so much if you offered a suggestion on Halloween costumes for the boys! I must admit: I loved Julie's idea of the Wizard of Oz theme. I even thought of Shane being the scarecrow and Ethan being Toto! Since I would probably be carrying Ethan most of the time anyway, it would be a good fit!

I still may work on trying my hand at making the Junior costume....I'll have to give that some more thought though, and do a little searching to see if I could find all the right 'ingredients' to make it. I don't want Col and Cameron to look all cute and 'professional' and poor Ethan to look all homely with a generic, terribly-done homemade costume! *giggle*

After searching eBay a little more, I had another idea that I just may go with (cause the costumes were relatively cheap--buying three of them runs up the cost really, really fast!): Three different colors of M&M's.

I thought that would be cute, right?

There were other really great ideas, too, that I will definitely keep in mind for use in future years. Thanks again for pitching your ideas everybody--I really appreciate the input!

What to do?

I am desperately seeking opinions (a.k.a. help) today.

I thought it would be so cute to dress my clan as something that was a 'group' for Halloween. Immediately, Veggies came to mind, because the boys--all three of them--love the Veggies so much.

Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber, and Junior Asparagus

I found these Larry and Bob costumes online.

Larry--tall and skinny, perfect for Colin....

....and Bob, shorter and rounder, perfect for Cameron. *grin*

I was going on a hunt for Junior for Ethan. Ethan, as Junior Asparagus, I thought, was perfect. The little one of the bunch, always wanting to be included in everything that everyone else is doing. "How great is this?!" I thought to myself.

Until I actually started searching, and found that I can not find a Junior costume anywhere.

I have googled. I have yahooed. I have asked.com (yes, I verbed that). I've checked on eBay. Does anyone have any other suggestions for finding this costume?

And, on the off chance that you don't, does anyone have any suggestions for other cute trios or groups of things? I'm not looking to dress them all the same (for once, right?), but rather as a 'group' of something. I'm under the gun--only 30 days left! HELP!! I will appreciate any and all suggestions!