Guess where we went today
I'll give you a hint, based on my newly aquired knowledge. The first capitol of Missouri was in St. Charles. We went to the second and current capitol. That was a tough clue eh?
I went with 2nd through 6th grade EH students, which basically equates to pretty well behaved children. Most everyone had a parent with them to top it off. The kids were complimented by their tour guide in the governor's mansion for being so well behaived.
We toured the capitol building, the governor's mansion, and Jefferson Landing. I learned a few things about Missouri history that I must of forgotten since my school days. Our tour guide in the capitol almost fell over a balcony. He finished our tour first, then got medical attention. I do believe he is ok, it just startled him a bit. Seems reasonable.
Jonas hardly slept last night, he was so excited. I asked him, if it was as good as he thought it would be, and he told me, it was even better. Hard to top that.
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Finishing School
The above photo is one of my favorite photos of my grandparents. It sums them up so well. Music, laughter, love.
So, for those that don't know, my grandparents moved into an assisted living apartment in October. It wasn't the easiest thing, emotionally for anyone involved, as we watched them move out of their home of 60 some years, but after visiting them, I at least, am much more comfortable. Their apartment is like a miniature version of their house. I would *love* to just move their house onto our land to live in. It's one of my favorite places in the world.
Anyway, that is not the point of this post. My grandparents put together a Christmas card for the staff of their home. The first draft had it addressed "To the staff and students at Hillcrest Finishing School". My grandma thought it was a bit tasteless, I think. Grandpa just laughed and laughed as he told the story.
This past week, Grandpa spent a couple days in the hospital. I went to visit him, and one of my aunts happened to be there. A nurse came in, and Grandpa really went all out, telling story after story.. quick one liners...
Like.. "My wife will never be able to keep up, now that I know how much attention I'm suppose to be getting." And. "My wife's in much better shape then me. She's a lot younger though, just 92. She's just a kid." AND. "I did good on Valentine's Day. I got her a BIG rose, and she was very nice to me for two whole days." The nurse asked.. "what happened after two days?" Grandpa replied "The rose wilted." Finally, he told her "If they believe the lie, it isn't a sin. I think that's Shakespeare, either that or Hillary Clinton."
The nurse then asked where he was living. He told her "Hillcrest Finishing School" My aunt and I started snickering in the background. It took the nurse about a half a second, then the look of shock on her face, as she figured out what Grandpa was saying... It was priceless. Then, Grandpa started laughing so hard, I think I saw tears. My aunt and I laughed a bit harder, and the nurse then cracked up. The look though. If only you could of seen the look.
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Jump Rope
Jonas did Jump Rope for Heart today after school. It's a bit hard for him to talk when he knows all of the attention is on him. But, he asked both sets of grandparents for a donation. It took a couple deep breaths on his part.
Alex was planning on doing it, but never got around to asking people for donations. He learned yesterday that snacks would be served, and instantly wished he was doing it, and even asked me if it was too late. I went with a yes.
So, after school, I stayed, and turned ropes for kids. They jumped several different ways, had lots of snacks and drinks, and listened to loud music. It was quite the good time for all involved, and hey, they raised some money in the process.
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Dead Skunk
One of the favorite songs played at every May family gathering is "Dead Skunk." Here it is, at Stan and Lil's 65th anniversary party.
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Baby pictures
Here are a few more photos that I took at my recent visit to the hospital to meet my neice. I didn't take a ton of photos. I know, shocker.
That's it!
Don't fear. I'll make sure I go and visit them at their house soon, and take 1,000,000 more photos.
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Going green
I came up with the most brilliant idea for how to get people to be more enviornmental. No more trash services.
After moving to the country, we have no trash service. We recycle probably 75% of our things, burn lots of it, then have a very small portion that is neither burnable or recycleable. That stuff kills me. What to do with it.
Now, I look at items, and if I can't burn it, or recycle it, I probably don't need it. I have some lighters that we had for camping, that I've been using to light our fires. I won't be able to recycle OR burn them. Oy. Light bulbs. What to do, what to do?
I use to just throw stuff away, constantly, if I no longer needed it. Now, I find a new use for it, or just keep using it. Much more frugal.
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Welcome to the world
On February 9, Karlie Rayne was born into our wonderful extended family. We made it to the hospital to visit her today, but did not hold her, as she was sleeping so very soundly, I didn't have the heart to disturb her. Kaylee showed us the art of feeding her. Quite the expert.
I look forward to many years of playing with these girls, and getting to know them better and better. Caleb looks forward to teaching them football.
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65th anniversary
Today we went to a big May family gathering, to celebrate the 65th wedding anniversary of Jared's aunt and uncle. We are working hard, on getting together with this side of the family more, and it was wonderful to see everyone.
Jared got to play guitar, and sing for the group. I gracefully declined playing into a microphone, in front of lots and lots of people. Way to many people for me and my stage fright. I have videos, to come later. The boys got to see Hannah again. These kids just get along so well, it's nice to watch.
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He’s back
Caleb has had a bad couple of academic bowl matches. He felt like he was on a losing streak, and he wasn't having as much fun.
But, tonight, they won one game, and only lost by 5 points one game. Also, the most important part, he had fun. He had a smile on his face, he was enjoying the questions. He hardly groaned at all, when they had math questions. He smiled as he got weird history questions correct. At one point, one of his team mates asked "How did you know that?" He replied... "I don't know." Then their coach laughed. It's fun watching him have fun.
Side note... Alex wanted to know why I was taking more photos of the bus. I explained, that I can do a really cool thing in photoshop, where the bus and lines are yellow, while the rest of the photo is black and white ish, and it's fun and easy! Perhaps no one else enjoys this particular look, but I still think it's fun.
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Another stray
Last night, a very adorable fluffy small gray cat arrived at our house. Harry did NOT like this new cat. Ladybug LOVED chasing it up the tree. Harry never runs up the tree when Ladybug charges him. Very boring for Ladybug. Dagny was indifferent to the new creature.
Well, I tried to chase it off last night. Sure, I have a soft heart, but I also have too many pets, and not a big enough salary to feed them all. No, it's not that bad. But, more than enough pets. The cat did not run. It just flopped down, and purred. When I walked, it ran around my feet. It was affectionate. It had a collar, and a bell, so I checked it. Sure enough, a name and phone number.
So, I called Daisy's owner, who lived in Cameron. She suspected the cat was taken and dumped, when it dissappeared a couple days ago, and was pretty happy to hear from me. So, I had to get Daisy down from the tree. AGAIN. Put her in a kennel, to keep her out of the tree until the owner came.
One very happy teenage girl came and got her cute kitten.
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