So, we are taking Logan to Six Flags in the morning for 2 days. We found out that he is actually tall enough to ride some traditional favorites, so we will see if he takes after his mom and LOVES that up-and-down-lose-your-stomach sort of feeling. Janae, Nathan, and the girls are coming too. It should be interesting and a blast! I will take lots of pictures and let you all know how it goes.
Bathroom Marathon :) July 17, 2008
This is why I haven’t been blogging…
We started the summer with tearing out our bathroom. This is actually after about 3 weeks of progress. i didn’t get any real “before”pictures, so this will have to do.
I built the wooden thing above the toilet to support the wall. Apparently, the shower doors that we took out served as support.
While we were working on this, I was taking 2 master’s classes. Needless to say, progress was very slow! I haveno idea how they do it on Extreme Makeover!
We stopped on progress to go on vacation to the Ozarks. I bought batteries and rememberd the camera, but forgot to take pictures while we were there. Sorry 
We had tons of fun and I read 3 books!
After vacation, we came home and worked on the bathroom off and on. We took breaks for the Cardinals! In these pictures, we were in the Champion’s Club. Mom, Butch and Aunt Pat watched the game while we sat in the club, ate and talked! Kelli is cute!
Butch also took Jeremy, Logan and I to the Cubs Cards game! We managed to go to the one where we actually won!
Fourth of July, Logan, Noah (Logan’s Cousin) and Morgan played at Aunt Jeanie’s and Uncle Gary’s. It was REALLY chilly!
Then we paused on the bathroom to pick up our new family members! Meet Pinky and the Brain!
We finally got around to finishing the bathroom. I LOVE it! What do you think?
We still have some odds and ends, but that is pretty much it! I am so excited! I will be spending the rest of my summer cleaning up the rest of the house! I should probably have time to blog now. I am finising up my third master’s course and should have a good 2 weeks left of summer fun constant showers!
I would like to thank those who made this happen:
Jeremy: LIght fixtures, toilet, plumbing assistant, grout specialist
Butch: Re-routing the plumbing (it used to be on the other wall), installing the bathtub
Nathan: helping with thin set 
Janae: helping me shop, hang curtain rod, hang lantern, and hang blinds
Logan: destoying he house daily, and taking care of the bunnies
My Dad: concrete board screw criticism. I love you Dad!
Mom: apoxy grout advice (nasty crap, but worth it in the end!)
The bathroom would still be nasty without you!
Exhausted! June 19, 2008
Well, I haven’t been posting… again. I have a great reason this time. I have been taking 2 2-week masters courses and remodeling the bathroom all in the same time frame. I went to class yeaterday, then got right to work onthe bathroom. We worked a total of 10 hours straight. I am so tired. My arms hurt from cutting/carrying/installing 10+ peices of concrete board into the house last night. I think I might rest a bit today after class and try to get some laundry done. I will have some pictures of the process soon!
Catch-Up June 5, 2008
So, again, it’s been a while. I’ve been wrapping up school and working on some side projects. We’ve done so much since my last blog, so I will take you on another picture journey and hopefully I can stay caught up now that school is out.
We begin with Memorial Day Weekend. Jeremy and I took Logan on his first real camping trip. We went to Mark Twain Lake. When we got there, we set up the tent, then Logan, Daddy, and Uncle Adrian played some baseball.
Logan can hit the ball almost every time.
He can pitch it pretty well too.
That night, Jeremy was going to cook dinner on the campfire, but Adrian talked him into going out to eat. With the wet ground, it wan’t very difficult to do. When we got back to camp, they built a campfire and Logan chased one of Adrian’s friend’s Golden Retriever puppy around the campsite for about an hour. They made a great pair. We sat around the campfire for about 2 hours before Logan begged us to go to bed. (if you have a kid that is a sleep fighter, just set up a tent!) The next morning, Jeremy and Logan went fishing waiting while I watched read a book.
When that didn’t work, Logan decided he might have better luck with the ducks.
No luck… so we decided to go on a hike.
We had a great exhausting time while we navigated got lost on the 2 mile 5 mile trail.
Logan: Is this hike EVER going to be over?
Mommy: Not if Daddy keeps telling us where to go!
Daddy: We need to turn left. That is North.
Mommy: We don’t know which way we started. You just pulled out the compass.
Daddy: Just trust me.
-30 minutes later while Jeremy insists that we go “down this path” and waits 1/4 mile back with Logan-
Mommy: We are lost and are trying to find our van at Buzzard’s Point
Park Ranger: Here is a map. Go up this road (opposite direction of Daddy’s proposed path) and hit the trail here.
Mommy: Thank YOU! JEREMY, THIS WAY!
Daddy: I told you we needed to go this way!
Mommy: Shut-up.
Logan: Carry Me!!!
On Wednesday, we went to Joe’s band’s concert Battle of the Bands at Busch Stadium. Logan and Elle enjoyed hanging out running around while we waited for his band to start. We managed to get them still for a couple seconds to get their first “groupie” picture. Aren’t they cute?
Then, we watched the Cardinal game Logan and Elle loving on each other.
They were being so good, Bean decided it was time for the traditional cotton candy run. That was the end of them sitting still!
Friday night, we had this brilliant idea to go bowling. The kids had fun for about 5 frames, then it was all down hill. It didn’t help that the bowling alley was DISCUSTING, the lanes were uneven, and none of us were bowling well since we were distracted with the kid’s game. Peyton did manage to throw 2 strikes! This picture was taken before the 5th frame.
We went to the Wood River Aquatic Center on Sunday afternoon. The camera was dead, so I didn’t get any pictures, but Logan had an eventful day. He went down the waterslide by himself with no life jacket, then decided he was big enough to jump off the diving board into a 16 ft deep pool. He did it and made it. Infact, he repeated that about 5 times! This was our conversation walking along to the car:
Logan: Mommy, I’m more like a five year old aren’t I?
Mommy: Logan, you are more like a 6 year old after being so brave today!
Logan: I love you Mommy!
Mommy: I love you too, Logan.
Next time I’ll get batteries to get some photo evidence.
Ready for Summer May 19, 2008
Ok, so I’m sitting in my classroom trying to review in my head what my plans are for today. I think I am in that place that I dread the kids getting to. I AM DONE!!! 10 days and counting and I can’t get motivated. Do you think the Admin would care if I showed movies for 70 hours? Just kidding. I cannot seem to get my butt up to get things going. I have 5 more minutes before the kids come back from band/orchestra. I’m thinking some quiet essay writing is in order… Yeah, they will love that. Then maybe some advanced algebra. That will keep them busy. I think I will put an hour ticker on my desktop. Does anyone know where I can find one?
Twilight Zone May 16, 2008
Hey guys… I’m trying to re-learn how to juggle all of this classroom stuff and my family so please give me a break! I think that student teachers should have to stay until the end of the year. Getting back into the groove is hard! When did I find time to grade papers, teach, go to meetings, email, plan lessons, plan field trips, and eat during the school day before? Needless to say, I haven’t had much time to blog lately, so until summer, you will probably only get one once every week and a half.
Let me tell ya, this has been the strangest 24 hours I have had in a long time! I went to sleep very strangely last night. I just had a funny feeling that something wasn’t right. I couldn’t go to sleep do to this wierd feeling of paranoia that I still cannot define. I was finally drifting off and Logan starts screaming uncontrollably. I went in to check on him, but he wouldn’t respond to me. He just kept screaming, which is not like him. I finally realized in my dazed state that he was not responding because he was not awake! He stopped screaming and continued sleeping in silence.
I went back to my bed and as I was getting in, I saw a spider crawling up my bedside table the size of my hand! My heart started racing and I screeched, but when I looked closer, there was nothing there. I looked all around for it, then realized that I had halucinated the whole thing. I drifted off again, but Logan started coughing horribly, so I checked on him again, then drifted off in his bed. I got up, went back to bed, then he started yelling that he had peed his bed. Jeremy checked on him, and he hadn’t. We slept the rest of the night morning after that. I woke up with a stiff neck and a fever, but went to school anyway.
As I was leaving the house, I saw a strange animal in my driveway under the carport. I looked closer, and it was an oppossum sitting right there in front of me. It didn’t move, or play dead or anything, which was weird. (That is what they do according to one of my students who just did a report on oppossums on Monday) Later today, Grandma said that she had to call the police because she found it laying in the front yard struggling to breathe. They sent animal control to haul it away. I thought that he was pretty cute. Here is a picture of when he was still among the living:
When I got home from school, Logan had a sky-high fever. He begged me to hold him (he didn’t need to). That explains the odd night. What explains the odd creature?
Ok… So I finally remembered the camera! May 4, 2008
Well, I am finally on the ball with the picture taking, so I thought I should catch everyone up on the most eventful week I have had in a LONG time! This is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and record these events since I have been so busy (as you will see), so I thought I should take you through a photo journal of the week. Sorry that some of the photos are sideways. I can’t seem to figure out how to edit them!!! Any suggestions?
Saturday: We went to the Hausman’s to have a Rook night. The evening always starts by the kids fighting playing together. This particular time, it included a horsey ride by Jeremy. Don’t they all look like they are having fun??
Sunday: After church, we headed to the gym to run and go swimming. I forgot that there was no childcare, so Logan sat on the floor by the treadmill for 30 minutes watching the Cardinal game on TV. He then got to do his favorite thing: Go swimming! Here are pics of Daddy and Logan in the pool:
Monday: Frog dissections all afternoon (I will spare you the pictures of this 
), then to the Cardinal game to watch Bean’s choir sing. We missed the performance because she didn’t tell us that she was singing in the courtyard. The first time I have ever arrived early enough to hear her choir sing, and I missed it because I was waiting in the wrong place! Well, here is a picture of Logan with the stadium and skyline in the background. 
Tuesday: We took the class to the zoo. Grandma decided to get really sick Monday, so my principal let me take Logan with us. I got some really cute pictures of him. I especially like the one with him next to Beauty. Don’t you think he could pass for a monkey? If not, I will have to upload a picture of him climbing on EVERYTHING here at home.
Wednesday: We sent our student teachers off with a party in the morning, then more frog dissections in the afternoon. I didn’t get any pictures today
Thursday: Another field trip! We went to the Arch and got a tour of Busch Stadium!
At the top of the world! I am 630 ft above the ground!
This is a picture of Busch Stadium from the Arch windows!
The seat section right below the fuzzy Hardee’s sign is where the picture of Logan from “Monday” was taken of the Arch, which I was taking this picture from
This is in the Press Box at Busch on our Tour. (I know you are all jealous!)
This is the Press Box and the big red ball that Mike Shannon sits on to pronounce the game. (he has a bad back )
This is me and Christy in the dugout!
Isn’t this a great picture??
Friday: Jeremy negotiated his buyout from CORE today. He got a fair deal and will now have some time off to spend with us this summer, finish his accounting degree, and pursue his next career venture. I didn’t think that this was a good photo opportunity. BUT… part of the deal was this awesome new laptop that we got to replace the one he bought for the safety company he was building.
Saturday: We went to buy this new computer and I have been busy ALL afternoon trying to get all of the needed programs installed and set up. Who needs the Geek Squad??? If I did, I wouldn’t have this massive mess in my dining room!
So, that is the crazy week we had! I think things will slow down again next week. If not, I will make sure to have my camera handy!
Gift Card April 24, 2008
I have been cleaning my house lately. You know, that kind of cleaning that makes a HUGE mess? Well, I keep going to put something away and finding forgotten dump sites that need to be sorted through, so I make absolutely no noticable progress. Well, one of these ventures carried me into the God-forsaken office/guest room that is also where Jeremy’s closet resides (Yes, I kicked him out of my closet. There just wasn’t room enough for the both of us!). I found my way to the plastic drawer tower to put something away and couldn’t shut the drawer, so I HAD to organize that drawer, which led to the next drawer, and the next. Anyway, I came across a misplaced gift card that Joe and Kelli gave us about 3 years ago to Z Gallerie! I am sooo excited to use it. I thought that I had lost it forever. I must have stuck it in that plastic drawer tower when we moved into grandma’s house. That tells you how often that thing gets organized! It’s been 3 years! Well, thank you Joe and Kelli! I’m finally going to cash in on your gift of decoration.
Writer’s Block… I mean I forgot my camera! April 24, 2008
So, I’ve been trying to think of some really great material to put on here. So much is going on. I have some great stories to tell, but I keep forgetting my camera! For example: I took some pictures of me eating sushi for the first time (Kristi I know you are proud!) I ate raw salmon on a dare and didn’t think to take a picture. I knew that NO ONE would believe it without digital evidence, so I had to eat that nasty crap again! My friend took a picture on her phone, then sent it to mine. The dumb thing will not cooperate and I can’t seem to get them downloaded to use on here! They were really juicy too! I had other stories, but can’t seem to remember them because I didn’t document them… I forgot my camera!
Oh, by the way, when I remember it the batteries are dead.
Spring with a 4-Year Old Boy April 8, 2008
It is finally Spring and this means so many things to a mother of a 4 year old boy. There is the doubling of laundry from 3 changes of clothes per day due to sidewalk chalk EVERYWHERE, dirt from planting flowers, road grime from power wheels adventures, and blood from falling off the bike and scraping knees and falling down rollerblading. There is the desire to stay outside until the last possible minute, and the begging to stay up past the bedtime because the sun is “still awake.” There is the constant allergies and expensive medicine to control them, the begging for a puppy, and the countless trips around the block on whatever the vehicle of choice is for the day.
Some of these things are trying, some are wonderful, but the best part of it all has been the bouquets of weeds that I get from him everytime we venture outside. My baby loves his mommy and he knows how to melt my heart. He makes a point to think of me, even when fun is on his mind, and I could not ask for a better gift!
