Go Tigers! 1-0!

For Bobby's birthday, I bought him tickets to the big MU/Illinois football game at the Edward Jones dome in St. Louis. We headed out Saturday morning, after dropping the girls off at Mom and Dad's(thanks for watching them!) We checked into our hotel, a beautiful restored hotel in downtown St. Louis, just a couple blocks from the dome, that we got for a heck of a deal on such a big game weekend. We just walked around St. Louis in the afternoon, people watching and enjoying the beautiful weather. Couldn't go into the Arch, because "weapons are strictly prohibited," and Bobby had his pocket knife.

Headed out to the game around 6:30, and joined the throng of people walking over to the dome. It was the largest crowd ever: completely sold out at 66,000. For some insane reason, we decided to skip the escalators and walk. By the time we got to the top, my thighs were burning big time! Then we had to walk up the final steps to our seats. I told Bobby I wasn't leaving our seat until it was time to go!! Our seats were 4 rows from the top of the dome, but they were great seats nonetheless. We could see the entire field, and I could even see the numbers on the back of the jerseys, even with my bad eyesight. (I did mistake #94 for #84 once, but Bobby assured me he was so big that it squashed the 9 into looking like an 8.)

It was a fantastic game, and we had a wonderful time. The second half really began dragging, thanks to all the tv timeouts and scoring. We did not play all that well in the second half, which contributed to my lack of interest. MU held off Illinois, and we went home happy but tired.

We enjoyed watching all the drunk people around us. One college boy in the row in front of us (we called him Plaid Pants Boy) pretty much passed out in his seat and slept through the second half. Another one in front of us we called Annoying Drunk Boy, and that summed him up pretty well.

The man sitting next to me left at halftime, and shortly after, the guy in front of me asked if that was Art Holliday sitting next to me. I replied I had no idea who he was, and he replied by rolling his eyes, I guess in disgust that I was so dumb. I googled him when we got back to the hotel, and apparently he played for the Chiefs and now is an anchor for a sports show in St. Louis. He whacked me in the head with his elbow during an exciting part of the game and apologized, so he is a nice guy in my book.

There was a row of college girls behind me who got on my nerves. Bobby was tuning them out, but I was having trouble doing that. I won't claim to know everything about football, but I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the game, perhaps above average for a girl. I understand how the game works, penalties, etc. I can't tell you what a certain play was called, but understand how the game goes and can carry on a conversation about the plays. I can thank my dad for patiently explaining the game to me in high school. These girls behind us had no knowledge of football, and spent the night talking about anything but football. Occasionally, I'd hear "oh, so close!" and occasionally they'd cheer when someones name was announced, but that was it. They left early, to go hang out at the bar with friends. They should have just skipped the game altogether and saved their parents some money.

I didn't take my camera, so I have no pictures to show. But if I did, they'd look as good as these do, from the Columbia Tribune.

Here's my boy Chase Daniel, running for more yardage.


And here's my other boy Tommy Saunders, whose grandparents live around the corner from us. He scored two touchdowns.

Fun, fun, fun weekend! Bobby has big shoes to fill for my birthday in November.

Splash Day!

Kaylin's preschool had a splash day today on their playground. Her teacher just sent me this picture of Kaylin and her buddies. She's holding her BFF Shelby's arm, and her other BFF Jericho is at the top of the teeter totter in the tye dye swimsuit.

I think it's cute!

The horror...

Kaylin's preschool teacher made her wear this. Unbelievable. I think she needs to change preschools.

Oh, to be 4...

I'm working at Kaylin's preschool after school today. There are only 7 of them left, and all of them can scratch their head with their foot. I can't. Can anyone else scratch their head with their foot? What about lick their toes? That's another prize accomplishment for a 4-year-old boy.

Seriously, how is she so big?

Today Kaylin had a birthday party around lunchtime, so I dropped her off and Macy and I went to lunch together. I feel like I don't get any one-on-one time with her ever. Kaylin goes to school with me, so we have about 15 minutes each way together. I miss that time with Macy.

So after dragging her away from the party, we went to lunch. As soon as we got in the car, floodgates opened and she talked non-stop. [Motormouth nickname again?] We got to the restaurant, and she wanted to sit by me instead of across from me. Again, non-stop talking. I kept reminding her to eat! We journeyed to the gas station to fuel up the car, and then back to the birthday party. It was only about an hour, but oh, it felt so good to talk with her alone. No Bobby, No Kaylin. Just us two.

I learned she likes first grade, but wishes there were two recesses. I learned she loves the lockers, and wants more magnets. I learned she is excited about her jazz class, and very excited about her new tap shoes. I learned she can't wait for basketball, and wants Bobby to coach her again. I learned she loves to dribble the basketball. I learned she doesn't like spicy food. I learned her feelings get hurt when someone won't play with her. I learned she wants a bowling or gymnastics or High School Musical birthday party. I learned she loves her birthday being so close to Christmas b/c she gets tons of presents. I learned she doesn't want to get married.

And I learned she is growing up so fast. She's funny and quirky--she has a wonderfully soft full-size bed in her room, and she sleeps on the floor. She breaks into tears at the drop of a hat (hmmm, wonder where she gets that from?) She's a good friend, even when those friends are mean to her. She doesn't like french fries. She would ride the tallest roller coaster, but hates water slides. Chicken patty day in the cafeteria is her favorite. She didn't complain one time about spending the entire summer in a cast. And I can't wait to see the young woman she grows up to be.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Kaylin has been obsessed with heaven lately. Not sure why this is coming out now, but it's cute to listen to her. Last night, on the way home, she said "Shae-Shae and i are going to sleep next to each other in heaven." I said, ok. Where are you going to sleep? "On a big fluffy cloud. She can have 1 cloud and I can have the other."

Then this morning she was talking about Gabriella from High School Musical (her other current obsession) and said, "I'm going to give Gabriella a big hug when I see her in heaven." Again, I said ok. When will you see her in heaven? "I don't know, but we'll be there together and we can sing and dance together." Yes, you sure can, Kaylin!

When Macy was little little, she lost a balloon. To keep her from crying, I told her it was going to Jesus in heaven and he keeps all the balloons until we get there. This was about 4 years ago, and they still believe very truly that Jesus has a collection of balloons for us when we get there. A couple weeks ago, we went to Red RObin and they got balloons. When we got home, they let them go in the driveway, and as they said, "Jesus needs 2 more ballons up there with him!" Macy then was worried that she wouldn't get that particular pink balloon from Red Robin, and I said Jesus would make sure she gets that pink balloon.

Too cute...

My first day

Our students returned today, and at least there weren't any major issues like last year (kids in the wrong room and no lunch, as those of you who were with me last August might remember). It was hard to read my kids today--I think it might be a difficult year. I do have 2 kids who have seizures, one with Asperger's, and another going through chemo for a brain tumor. Yikes!

Some of you may remember last October when one of my students stole a car and was kicked out. Well, he's back. And in my class again. I kind of made an off hand comment in class today about stealing cars TOTALLY forgetting he was in my room. A few others started chuckling, and then I remembered. I felt horrible. He laughed it off, and in fact gave a little lecture to the others about how horrible his life is now, and he wished he'd never done it. It turned out okay, but I felt bad for making that reference!

Macy's First Day Part II

On the way to school, Macy commented that she was glad I was taking her to school. She was not embarrassed by me this morning. Apparently that same attitude DOES NOT apply to me taking her picture after school! She was not happy that I was there with a camera! You can kinda see in the second picture she was kind of growling at me in anger. I guess the morning is fair game, but not after school.

She had a great day, but her new shoes rubbed blisters on her heel so she wasn't happy about that. She had music and art, but couldn't remember what she did in either.



Kaylin and I had fun waiting for Macy; the bus was later than normal, I guess since kids were just getting the hang of things. The second one, with our feet, Kaylin took herself. That's the beauty of a digital camera; I let her take about 20 pictures then just deleted them.

Macy's First Day!

My beautiful girl started first grade today! She was so excited. I so hope that enthusiam continues as she gets older. Here is her outfit that she picked out herself--remember, she won't let me pick it out.

Notice too that she doesn't have a backpack--but rather a "messenger bag." She thought they looked cooler. More evidence of how she is growing up.



Her new school has lockers, which she finds very cool. Yesterday we bought magnets to decorate her locker. She put them up when we got there, and then I noticed no one else was putting up magnets. All the little girls were huddled around Macy, and the looks on their faces was obvious: they wanted magnets. I imagine that's the first thing those girls will be asking for when they get off the bus tonight!

She started to get a little sad when I got ready to go, but then covered it up by asking where her crayons were. I showed her, then snuck out. Kaylin got REALLY upset at that point; she wanted to stay, and didn't understand why she couldn't stay with Macy. I imagine dropping her off at kindergarten next year will be a breeze.

Ever wondered about a 6-year old sleepover?

Tally for Macy's sleepover last night:

7 girls
19 Juice boxes
16 cinnamon rolls
1 bag of Doritos
1/2 bag of Cheeto's
7 bags of microwave popcorn
16 popsicles
3 sets of tears (2 for boo-boo's, 1 for a mom)
50 Hawaiian tattoos
8 chocolate cupcakes
11:30-first one asleep
1:30-everyone else asleep
8:00-everyone awake
8:45-first girl picked up
11:30-last girl picked up
7 borrowed stuffed animals to sleep with
1 movie
1 dance party

Here's the crew, minue one who hadn't arrived yet. We had Macy, Chloe, Jessica, Kaylee, Paige, Gillian and Mallory. All will be first graders this fall. Chloe, Jessica, Kaylee and Macy will be in the same class. Kaylin went to her good friend Madelyn's house for tne night.

These next pictures are a couple ones I liked from the girls jumping on the trampoline. I liked the action shots!




And now...naps are in order for this afternoon, along with putting our house back togehter. Every pillow, blanket, stuffed animal and dress-up outfit we own are in the living room, along with the contents of Macy's closet.

Christmas for teachers

In cleaning out a closet today, another teacher found a box from a dance she'd sponsored about 6 years ago. It was full of lei's, grass skirts, tiki torches, etc. We had so much fun playing with all the stuff,and decorating our rooms. Then we got to the bottom of the box and we hit the teacher Christmas jackpot: scissors, glue, pens, markers, pencils, 2 tape dispensers, a stapler. It was like kids on Christmas morning!

Kaylin's First Day

Kaylin went back to school today! She was so excited.She wouldn't go to sleep last night until we made her lunch to put in her new Hannah Montana lunchbox. When I went to wake her up this morning, she was asleep with a smile on her face. She jabbered the whole way to school, and we had the smoothest drop off ever! Of course, I forgot her breakfast, so Mrs. D had to scrounge around and find some cookies for her to eat. Hey, I can't remember everything! :)

She is, OF COURSE, wearing a skirt. She is our skirt-wearing fool. And her shoes light up. Here's a bunch of pictures, in no particular order:








I was a little sad dropping her off; I've had a child at BJJ for 4 1/2 years, and this will be my last drop off at BJJ. Next year she will be in kindergarten, and I do not want to think about that.

Oh, the last days of summer...

We enjoyed our last Saturday before school starts...at least for Kaylin and me. Macy has one more Saturday. We went to the zoo, and I have never seen it that dead. The weather was wonderful, no crowds at all, and the animals were active. It was a great trip!

Here's Macy on Truman the tiger on the carousel...

Kaylin on the red panda...

Then we headed over to the bird feeding. Those of you who have been with me for a year might remember my very first post, about my dad at the bird feeding. The girls were pretty scared last year; Macy wouldn't do it at all. Today they were so excited.


Yes, Macy has her face painted. We went to an open house for a local gym in the morning, and she had a mask painted around her eyes. BTW, we won a free month's tuition!

Last year the birds flocked to Dad, and this year, it was Bobby. The birds loved his black Missouri Tiger shirt!

They loved it so much they wanted to eat it...

Proof of how far Macy has come from last year; she let this bird sit on her head!

I won't bore you with the pictures I took of the animals, but this guy was too cute. He was sucking his thumb! And when Macy or I would put our hand on the glass, he'd run down, "slap" our hand, and run away. He was super cute!

After the zoo, we headed out to Legends to try the dinosaur restuarant out there. We discovered quickly why no one was at the zoo: they were all at Legends! It was insanely busy everywhere, and there was a 2 hour wait at the dinosaur restaurant. We ended up eating dinner outside at a resturant right across from it, so we could see the dinosaurs as we ate. We had wanted to do some shopping, but forget it! Too many people. We ate and left.

Kaylin and I go back to school on Tuesday. She is very, very, very excited. I'm not.

Waves and darkness...

After many trips to Oceans of Fun, the girls finally conquered the wave pool today. On previous trips they wouldn't even put a toe in the water. Suddenly today they were jumping into the waves, and having a ball. No idea what brought about the change, but I'm excited. It will make our beach trip easier next year!

Our power went out last night from 2 am until about 4:30 am. I realized I read WAY too many murder mystery novels when I was worried that someone had cut our power lines to come in and attack us in some way. I walked carefully throught the house using my cell phone as a flashlight (a trick I learned from my high school students) and finally determined the entire block lost power, not just our house from some crazy lunatic.

Kaylin-isms

Last night at dinner, Kaylin looked up at me and said, "This chicken is a chicken." Huh? I just looked at her. She repeated it. "This chicken is a chicken. You know, this chicken I'm eating is a bawk-bawk (arm movements galore) chicken." Right--the chicken you are eating is a chicken. Got it.

Kaylin, as I've blogged before, desperately wants to be tall enough to ride the rides Macy can. Everytime we go to Worlds of Fun, she makes me measure her on the rides to see if she's grown. Last night Bobby and Macy were riding the Fury of the Nile, and Kaylin and I were waiting at the exit. I measured her, as usual. She's about 2 inches too short. I got us some cups of water, and Kaylin drank about half of hers. Then she wanted me to measure her again. "After I drink this water, will I be tall enough now?" No, honey, you won't be tall enough until next year. "But if I drink ALL this water, will I grow tall enough to ride it?" No, honey, I'm sorry.

Dentist time!

Tonight the girls set up a "dentist shop" in the living room. Macy comes flying into the kitchen: "Mom.I.found.a.cavity.in.Kaylin's.mouth!!"and drags me over to the dentist shop. She sticks a spoon in Kaylin's mouth to show me the "cavity." I said, "I don't think it is a cavity girls. What else could it be?" Macy ponders this question. Kaylin gets a big grin on her face and says, "I just ate an Oreo!" Bingo! No cavity, just a little Oreo action on the back tooth.

Here's the "dentist shop":



They played so perfectly all day today. It gives me hope. And we went a full 24 hours without watching cartoons. That must be a record of some sort for us!

Back to reguarly scheduled programming

We just got back from a get away for a couple days. Rode go-carts, went swimming in the hotel pool, did some tax-free back to school shopping. It was a much needed break.

And I had a glimpse of what the next fifteen years will be like. Normally I just pick out the girls back to school outfit. Not this year! Macy had a definate idea of what she wanted, and wouldn't budge from it. Eventually we found what she wanted. Anything I suggested wasn't good enough. I knew this day would come, but I was hoping it was a few years away. Kaylin, of course, couldn't make up her mind. She is extremely indecisive with everything. I picked three outfits and let her pick from those, and that worked.

And I created fitting room monsters. Neither girl had ever tried anything on in a fitting room. I always hold things up to them and say, that'll fit. The first store Macy and I were in, she and I went in the fitting room with a couple outfits. She absolutely loved it. Then Kaylin got in the act. It wasn't such a big deal, except the stores were crowded, and they wanted to go in the fitting room with one shirt. I finally got them to understand you pick several things, and make one trip to the fiting room, not 8 trips.

Let the record stand that school starts in two weeks, and both girls have their back to school outfits, their backpacks, and all school supplies. Usually I'm still shopping the day before. We are all set to go!