Kirby Derby

Last Fall, our office changed health insurance carriers. Shortly after, representatives came in to talk to us about their wellness program. Quite interesting! I’d never heard of a carrier doing something like this. There are several ways that you can earn points to “buy” products such as MP3 players, digital cameras, movies, gift certificates, etc. – all just by participating in various things.

I know that may sound confusing, but basically, you earn points for having a yearly physical, donating blood, getting certified in CPR & First Aid, etc. – you get the picture. Another way to earn points is by participating in a public fitness event, so we signed up to participate in the 1st Annual Kirby Derby in Monticello – the 5K “Walk” (or 3.1 miles - of course there was no use trying to convince myself I could do the Run). Mom and Aunt Cheryl even agreed to join us.

The race starts and ends in at Forest Preserve Park and runs through scenic State Street and downtown Monticello, IL. It was a very beautiful, brisk morning, but I was still excited about participating – just the feeling that I was doing something healthy for myself.

It’s 08:00 – “Runners get ready….” Seriously, the walkers get to start about 5 minutes later.
Well...I finished. Actually we all finished in about 53:01.9 minutes. That may not seem like a great endeavor given I can usually walk 2 miles in about 30 minutes, BUT I was pulling about 50-60 pounds in wagon and child behind me. At one point, I even caught PJ putting his feet on the tires, dragging them, so it was slowing me down. Uuuggghh!

Mom didn’t actually get to “finish” the race, but she was with us in spirit. We were returning just as the Kids Races were starting, so she darted off with PJ so he could participate.

By the time Aunt Cheryl & I crossed the “official” finish line for the 5K Walk, PJ was already done running his race and scrambling to find me in the crowd to show me the medal he won. He was so proud. He practically took it everywhere with him the first week he had it.

PJ Visits His New School

PJ will be attending Preschool this fall. We are so excited! He’s been talking about it every since we took him to an open house there a year ago & now the time has come.

Today Grandma & I took him to “visit” his new classroom. We met Mrs. Davis & Mrs. Lane.

I think the best part for PJ was the baby chicks. The class had been tracking the development of baby chicks and actually got to have them in the classroom once they had hatched.

Mrs. Lane lets PJ holds his first chick – Hashbrown.

He also participated during Music time, checked out the chicks again, then took in some of the other features in his room.

The school was also having their annual plant sale, so we had to stop and pick up some flowers for Mommy’s gardens before we left.

Bacon And Eggs

For quite some time now, if Daddy is here in the morning when PJ gets up, they make bacon and eggs together. Unfortunately, since Mommy doesn’t really eat eggs that much, I never really learned to cook them – which puts me in quite the pickle when asked to make them for PJ. Whenever he asks, I just tell him “I don’t know how to make bacon and eggs” to which he always replies “I’ll teach you Mommy.”

Well….this morning, he woke up just as Ron was leaving. He asked me if Daddy was still here and I informed him that he’d just left for work. I don’t know what it was…the tone of his voice, the extent of his disappointment, or what…but I found myself saying, “come on, you can show me how to make bacon and eggs.”

Whoa! Has he been paying attention to Daddy. I knew as soon as he said “now first Daddy says we have to cook the bacon,” that I was in for it and I’d better get the camera and a notebook. Too bad the video camera wasn’t charged & ready because photos just don’t do the whole process any justice.

He was very meticulous, some might call it anal-retentive or possibly obsessive-compulsive, but then again…he is my son. “FIRST, Daddy says we have to cook the bacon….we need 1, 2, 3 pieces of bacon.”

At one point I tried to move the spatula out of his way & he told me that it had to stay right there, “like this.”

“This is where Daddy keeps ALL the eggs.”

“If Daddy changes his mind, he scoots the bacon over and adds one more piece.”

“Next you lay the bacon on a plate.”

“Now I got to break my egg & after it gets warm, you have to scrape it.”

Of course, I kept trying to reinforce with him that he is NOT allowed to do this without Daddy or myself being with him – eek!

Once he was done cooking, he sat down at the table, took the first bite and said “Hey Mommy, this is not bad, I think you did a good job with me!”

Finally...Our Veggie Tales Arrive!

A couple years ago a client told me about a hobby she'd heard about called Letterboxing. Since then, I've gotten several members of our family involved and we've had a great time doing it.

What is Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks. (For more info, check out http://www.atlasquest.com/ or http://www.letterboxing.org/)

Throughout the year, many "Letterboxers" participate in Postal Rings, which is where a group of people sign up for a "theme" ring, then they each make a stamp and logbook. These items are then mailed to each person on the list. PJ and I signed up for a Veggie Tales ring and after MANY months (of course, there were several participants for this one), we finally got the last stamps we were waiting for. Here PJ is coloring a stamp we received so that he can stamp it into his logbook. Ask him to see his logbook some time, he has LOTS of stamps.

Bird's Eye View

As you can see, with the weather “slightly” cooperating, the new playroom addition is coming along. PJ again gets to go up & help Mr. David during construction.

He even gets to go up on the roof.

The Circus Comes To Town

The last time the Circus came to town, PJ was just an infant and I went with Tara and my two grandsons, Austin & Bryce. This time it was PJ’s turn. Before the official "show" started, they had a period of time where kids could come down to the main floor and check out different aspects of the circus. They got to see some of the costumes, jump rope, try to juggle and so on.Of course, you HAVE to pay for the expensive circus toy item that your child cannot live without - it wouldn't be a kids show if you didn't.

I'm not sure what part PJ liked the most, the little dogs doing tricks, the elephants, the tigers, or what. I think one of my favorites was the main Clown that came out in between every act - he was a riot. I was bummed to see that most of my pictures didn't turn out very well from the show.

After the circus we headed out to dinner at Olive Garden. We had a great time just hanging out for the afternoon – quality family time!

GO! DIEGO GO!

My friend Darci knew that I was interested in taking Parker to see Go! Diego Go! at the Assembly Hall, but hadn't really found out about it until it was really too late to get decent tickets and frankly, it just wasn't the right time money-wise either.

The week before the show, she told me that one of the radio stations was giving a 4-pack of tickets away, so I needed to listen to that station. I was very religious about it. Tried everytime they announced it, but nothing.

Then....on the last day they were giving them away, I heard another co-worker, Linda, yelling "She got them, she got them Susi." I went up front to see what they were talking about and Darci had managed to get through on the phone and win the tickets for me! I was so excited.

That day, even though we were getting dumped on with snow, I drove to the radio station on my lunch hour to get the tickets & I surprised PJ with them when I got home.

Daddy wasn't going to be able to go with us, and some of PJ's friends were already going, so we invited Saydra to go. After dinner at Monicals Pizza, we went to the show.

We had LOTS of fun - it was a great time!