July...Waaaaaaiiit....don't leave me!

"Hey! I'm not done with summer yet!"

This is it, my final week of summer vacation. Normally I would have 2 weeks left, but I am a new employee whom must attend orientation next week - wah, wah, wah.

What to do on this final week???

1) Organize the disaster in the playroom

2) Take Baleigh to the beach

3) Find and organize all of my work clothes and shoes

4) Find our tennis rackets and play!

5) Take Baleigh (and whoever else will join us) on a road trip to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. I know it sounds exciting, right? lol! I'm thinking Owensboro, Clarksville, and Cape Girardeau. This may have to wait until a 3-day weekend. I'd like to hit a festival week or something.

6) Go canoeing in Missouri with the K5 plus Krista.

So, obviously we can't get to all of this, but it's good to have a list! Baleigh has been soooo bored. Luckily, VBS started last night.

And now, drum roll please.......... I am joining Megan's video club! Check out just how bored Bay is. She drew Spongebob and his pineapple hut, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs and she used her Hannah Montana Kleenex box to put on a show. She did the filming too!

I know most of you don't watch Nickelodeon, but there is a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese commercial starring singer Jordan Pruitt. This commercial was filmed at The Rosebud Theatre in Effingham. Baleigh is in the commercial! She is in the front row holding her hand out. It's dark, so you just have to believe me - that is exactly where Baleigh was standing and I can pick her hand out of the 5 hands that they show. Pretty cool! We are going to try to record it so hopefully I will have it for you on the next post.

Also cool is the fact that I got my first recycling bin!! Carbondale has curbside pick-up of glass, aluminum, plastic, and paper for a measly $1.50 a month. I am so pumped!

Trying to curb Bay's boredom, I bought a fine easel, paints, palettes, and brushes.

Jamming to Miley Cyrus, Bay creates a scene from the underground railroad -I don't know, it just popped into her head.

Sadie is still taking Prednizone, which has drastically increased her appetite. I don't know if you can tell that she is getting tubby. She likes to lay her head on her lamby and nap - all day. She seems to snore and snort more now that she is Puppa Tub.

Week O' Fun, Sweat, and Tears

The Week O' Fun began with Dan's 25th-year class reunion. We spent the weekend with our good friends Ted & Jenny and various other EHS class of '83 chums.

Here are Ted and Jenny at the KC Hall, where we started on Friday night. We were at an 80th birthday party for the Dad of one of the classmates. It was a pretty rockin' fun 80th - well at least one table was havin' fun :)

Sunday morning Dan and I took Jensin and Kaid to Niemerg's for breakfast and then Baleigh and I headed for Kendallville. We arrived at the Pillers' ranch just in time for the DELICIOUS Sunday night supper. People would pay good money for that meal! Fine cuisine I'll tell ya. It's worth the trip up there just to eat off of the Pillers' dinner menu.

Monday began the two-day American Girl camp at theWayne Center One-Room Schoolhouse. Baleigh had so much fun! Here is a picture from the back of the schoolhouse. The school marm (LouAnne) was conducting Show & Tell and I caught Baleigh peaking back at me.

Here the American Girls are learning various napkin folding techniques before their tea party luncheon.

Tuesday after camp, Baleigh and I went shopping in Fort Wayne while LouAnne went to her exciting literature class. We bought every Hannah Montana school supply available :) I guess it's better than some of the other crazy stuff I saw on the shelf.

And on Wednesday, we travelled to Indianapolis to the Stevenson's to enjoy, as most of you have already heard, the sweltering Indianapolis Zoo. Although it was hot, it was great for all of us to be together. There are a lot of miles in between us and it has been difficult to get together, so I choose to only have fond memories of the day :) Here is a pic that maybe you haven't seen yet. The cutest toddler in the world kept saying, "I see walrus". That Landon is one smart cookie and as you can see on Megan's latest video, the tyke knows his aminals!

Thursday night, Baleigh and I travelled to Greenup to get some of the fastest growing trees in the world from John. I would have taken a picture but our camera pooped out on us. We visited with John, Rhonda, Krista and Nikki for awhile and then headed to Ma Ma's to crash for the night. Finally, I headed back to Carbondale to see how Dan and Puppa Sadie made it without me for a week. The weekend flew by. Dan and I started a new landscaping project in the back yard in the extreme heat and humidity. Who needs to work out when you're landscaping in 98 degrees?? There is no better way to sweat out those impurities than working in the southern Illinois humidity. Wooooo Doggies!

On Sunday afternoon, Kaid and Baleigh rode the Amtrak down and we began Kaid's birthday celebration. We ate at Moe's Southwest Grill, had his favorite DQ ice cream cake, and played cards until bedtime. Monday night we grilled out and watched a movie. Today, Kaid's actual birthday, he had to take the algebra proficiency exam so he can get into geometry as a freshman at CCHS. After the 1 1/2-hour test, we had lunch, played tetherball (more on that later), and then Kaid just now got on the Amtrak to go back to the Ham.

Here we are at Moe's. Baleigh is decked out in her new SIU Saluki gear while her doll, Kit is wearing her new Hannah Montana outfit. Yes, it's true.

Kaid gave me permission to post the "thumbs-up to finally turning 14" picture!

I am off to call all of the football players' Mom's to see if we can get the "Football Mom's" program going down here. I cannot believe how close we are to the first kick-off under the helm of "Coack K".