Southern Illinois Football, Birthdays, and Artwork

These guys went 4-1, winning the Silver Bracket Championship at the SIU 7 on 7 Passing Tournament (18 player maximum) last Saturday. We lost the first game - seemed a little nervous and unsure - and then won 4 in a row. We defeated EFFINGHAM in the 3rd game of the day. Kaid and I were very nervous about that one! The Terrier players and coaches had a really fun day. Apparently it was the first time that they have ever won a game in this tournament!

Jensin - proudly displaying her special birthday crown, created by Miss Baleigh of course.

Krista, Roger, Carissa and Sister J

Some of Bay's SIU Craft Shop artwork. She had the best SIU bear painting - fo' sho'!

Bay's hand - first put in wax, then pulled off of her hand, then filled with porcelain and the wax was peeled off. Pretty cool!

The Art Camp kids made the Museum News. They are supposed to be posted on the SIU website but I haven't seen it yet. I will send the link when the pics are posted.

Baleigh made MaMa this fabulous birthday cookie. She made a rough draft of the decoration on paper, just like she learned from Aunt Lou. Baleigh and I are travelling to Effingham today to celebrate MaMa-The-Great's Birthday!!

Enjoy the 4th Everyone! Be careful Rob Pillers! :)

It's 6:30 am on Friday, June 27th - record-breaking morning - $142/barrel of oil. People are talking about riding horses to work on Fox News. Something's gotta give people, something's gotta give. On a lighter note, today I will be preparing to host Jensin's 17th birthday party, which is tomorrow. Attendees include the Koester 5, cousin Krista, friend Carissa, and boyfriend Roger. By request, we will have hamburgers, hotdogs, green bean casserole, and a DQ ice cream cake - crack me up. I think I will supplement the meal with some corn on the cob and a fruit salad. Also requested are activities such as washers, Foosball, Apples to Apples, Kemps (card game) and a water balloon toss and fight (requested by Baleigh, unknown to the teenagers). I will ask permission to post action photos of the party.


We have many critters who visit us in the Bradford Pear Estates. Our first critter was none other than a groundhog affectionately named Bradford Pear Pierre. Much like LouAnne's experience, I fed him a banana and the next day there were 5! We have even seen them in our FRONT yard. Below is Pierre. I'll have to catch the 5 later.



Another visitor, Snappy the Snapper gave Baleigh a new turtle experience. She felt sorry for it because it looked very dry and he was obviously trying to get back to water as he was headed for the creek in our back yard. So Baleigh brought out a pitcher of water and poured it on him and he jumped at her and hissed. We had warned her to keep her distance of course and now she knows why.


I haven't yet been able to capture the deer in our yard and I am too scared to photograph the black widow spider under our TV hookup thingy in the front yard. I saw the red hour glass on her little abdomen and bolted. Next, I told Baleigh to get her shoes on and never roll around in the grass. Now I know why the neighbor girl always has tennis shoes on and not flip flops. Other critters that I hope to never be able to photograph but that we have been warned about include rattlesnakes, copperheads, and bobcats -oh my!

This is a view from our back yard and of the place where the deer come from.


Baleigh has been a busy bee, attending soccer camp, basketball camp, ceramics, art camp, and softball "open field"(hitting drills on Tuesdays and Thursdays). There is a place called The Craft Shop in the basement of SIU's Student Center where they offer kids activities all summer long. Baleigh has really enjoyed going there. I will post pictures of her work when I found the camera cord.

Out of Isolation!

Whoa! What a tough month! Dan, Baleigh, and I just survived 4 weeks without internet, tv, and phone. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating the whole process of getting back online has been. I guess I will keep this blog clean by sparing you the details and just be thankful that we finally have service.

In the last 4 weeks...we moved, Kaid was promoted to high school, the Fab 5 of us went to Florida, Dan began his first head coaching experience, Baleigh's feet grew to a women's size 9, and we haven't played a single round of golf!

Here we are at The Pier in Cocoa Beach. We had a lot of fun ridin' the waves, playin' frisbee, and laying out. The weather was beautiful all week. The kids were very enjoyable. Dan had so much fun that we are already talking about where to go next year!

Here we are at the Clearwater beach. Baleigh collected many shells and built a huge sand castle. Dan and Kaid found several sand dollars.

And of course we visited the wonderful Magic Kingdom!

Bay took a picture of herself enjoying her first flight.

On the right, the three beach bums played "name that tune" on the way back to the hotel from Cocoa Beach. Kaid was actually having as much fun as the girls. He just has his "Joe Cool" look on.