307/365

Hot Toy for Christmas 2009
I hit the jackpot with the Hot Christmas Toy for this year!! A few months back the boys saw the TV ad for the Zhu-Zhu pet and of course they wanted one. I had forgotten about them until an on-line friend started talking about this little electronic hamsters. Of course I find out at the same time that they are VERY hard to find and people are already paying more than double for them on Ebay! When I stopped in Target this morning to pick up a few things, I decided to just look and see if they happened to have any. JACKPOT!!! They actually had a bunch of the hamsters and a good amount of the accessories as well :) Not wanting to be a hog, I picked up one set of the 4 hamsters and then 2 additional hamsters just in case I heard of someone needing them. I also picked up a couple of the balls, and the car/garage. I went along with my shopping and got to thinking I should have picked up a couple more of the little $8 hamsters so I headed back to pick up a couple more. On my way there, I saw a business man (could tell by the way he was dressed) rushing away from the aisle with his arms piled with the little hamsters. Of course when I got there they were all gone, he had cleaned them out. I later found out that every other store limits you to one or two of the hamsters! I was then at Wal-Mart the next day and found the rest of the accessories I was needing! WOOHOO!! I didn't even end up having to pay above market price for any of the pieces :) And I was able to help some friends avoid that as well.

**As of the beginning of December, the hamsters were selling on Ebay for $30+ and there have even been fights at stores over the crazy little things!!

306/365

Setting Up My New Laptop
I spent a good part of today trying to get things moved over from my old laptop to my new one. Man I sure do love my speedy new one :)

305/365

1st Night of Cubbies
In an attempt to encourage Zach to start using the potty all the time, the Cubbie directors said he was welcome to start coming to Cubbies. Zach was SO excited to go to the "big boy" class and is doing SO well at learning his Bible verses. If only it would encourage him to use the potty!! *sigh*

304/365

Happy Halloween!
Our evening started off with yummy homemade pizza at the Walker's house, followed by us all treking back over in the direction of our house (to the 1st Phase of our neighborhood) for all 4 of the kiddos to do some trick-or-treating. Zach only lasted about 10 houses before he just wanted to sit and eat his candy - lol. So John left Drew with the Walkers to finish up the area and drove Zach & I back home.

*Drew was an X-wing fighter pilot (Luke Skywalker X-wing fighter according to him) and Zach was Larry Boy (VeggieTails)

303/365

Pumpkin Carving
It seems that every year we get so busy that we don't get our pumpkin's carved until right before Halloween. This year was no exception. Here just the evening before Halloween, John is busy cutting them out. He carved a Lightning McQueen on the smaller of the 2 pumpkins, and the Mizzou tiger head logo on the other. Both were very neat looking!!

302/365

A New Laptop!!
I have been having all sorts of problems with my laptop over the last few months and the power connection issue that John thought he had fixed, has been happening again. So he surprised me with my Christmas present a couple months early...a new 17" Dell Vostro 1720!!! And it's not just a plan ol' gray or black one...nope...it's a ruby red one ;) and I'm LOVING IT!! Yes, I'm spoiled. :)

301/365

Fall Party
This afternoon was the Fall Party for Drew's class. The kids played pin-the-nose on the jack-o-lantern and bean bag toss into the haunted house. They created handprint bats and decorated fall leaves with jewels. Then they wrapped the party up with enjoying some jack-o-lantern shaped Krispy Kremes and juicey-juice.

300/365

Pumpkin Carving Day at School
This afternoon, I had the chance to help in Drew's class with the pumpkin carving they did. With just me, Mrs. France, Mrs. Sly and the boyfriend of one of the little girl's mom, we were kept very busy with out groups!

299/365

New X-Large Fluff Chair
The boys are LOVING the x-large fluff chair I purchased from Target on-line. I have been searching for a beanbag chair for Drew to use (per his OT's suggestion), but the only ones I could find on-line were pretty pricey. So for just a little more, I was able to purchase this huge chair that both the boys can even fit on together. It is SO comfy!!

298/265

Sick Day
There has been junk going around and it finally caught up with me. I spent the day trying to sleep off a low grade fever, a major headache and aches all over. I'm very thankful it was Sunday and John was home and able to take care of the boys!

297/365

Girls Day at the Spa!
I spent the morning with Erin Williams, Angela Walker & Amanda Clark at Nu Essence Day Spa in Springfield. The three of them enjoyed a massage while I had a facial and then Amanda and I also indulged in pedicures. :) What a relaxing morning with some great gals!

296/365

Bye-Bye Baby Gate
We have been using a baby gate to help keep Zach in his room at night so we don't have to worry about him running around the house and getting into something that could hurt him. Well, that no longer works. He has figured out how to open it, so we have had to just set it to the side. Now we have to keep putting him back in there OVER and OVER again.

295/365

Puzzles
Drew still has a great love of puzzles. This is one he and Daddy have been working on. It is a little too difficult for him to do by himself and he becomes frustrated, but he is making progress.

294/365

Brother's Help
Drew loves helping do things for Zach whenever he can... and whenever Zach will allow it. This evening I walked in to brush Zach's teeth to find Drew already doing it.

293/365

Potty Training
The potty training is still going VERY slowly with Zach. It has become a control thing whenever we try to force it more, but we made slight progress today! He actually let me know when he needed to go #2 for the 1st time!! WOOHOO!! I know, great topic ;)

292/365

Fall Colors
The fall colors are in full burst around here and I am LOVING it!! With all the rain we are having, it has been difficult to get pictures of it all. But today was a nice sunny day and I couldn't resist snapping a quick shot of the gorgeous tree I parked next to at church this morning when I arrived for Bible study. I know I've said it before, but I LOVE FALL!!

291/365

1st Frost of the Season
It is certainly getting chillier in the mornings around here! This morning we even woke to a light frost covering everything.

290/365

Curtains!
Another thing we are finally able to do now that we have our other house sold it to start decorating our new home!! 1st up is curtains. Marcy Fraker has been kind enough to lend her decorating skills and meet me at JcPenney Home Store more than once to look through what they had to offer. Finding ones for the dining room actually happened pretty quickly, and since they were on closeout, at a much better price than we had planned! Now to just find something for the living room and basement.

289/365

2nd Annual Ionwave Bonfire/Hayride
We spent this chilly evening with the group from Ionwave (John's office) and their families out at Campbell Farms. It was suppose to be last weekend, but all the rain put a damper on those plans and we had to reschedule. We roasted hot dogs & marshmallows....even took an evening hayride out to their pumpkin patch. Even though it was colder than last year, we still had a lot of fun!

288/365

Swimming
Zach continues to really enjoy his swimming lessons. He really likes his instructor, Dillon Brown, and he is progressing in his floating on his back and putting his face fully in the water.

287/365

Pantry Shelves
I'm SO excited to have pantry shelves now!! When we moved in the house, it had no shelving in any of the closets. This was nice so we could pick out exactly how we want it, but it is also a LOT of work! Of course the bedroom closets were 1st priority. But now that we have our other house sold, we are able to move on to the other closets.

286/365

Boat Building
Drew was so proud of the boat he and Daddy built for his school project in honor of Columbus Day. He took it into school today for the float test.

285/365

PJ Day
Since Drew was off school for Columbus, Day, the boys declared it at PJ Day! We spent the day bumming around the house watching movies, coloring and just generally enjoying a day with nothing to do.

284/365

Sparks Awards
Drew was very excited to have earned his Sparks HangGlider (1st Book) patch and his "wings tonight in Awana at church.

283/365

Visit from Cousin Jake
...and Aunt Rebecca & Uncle Evan. ;) On their way from Oklahoma to St. Louis for a wedding, they spent the night at our house. It was a short visit, but still nice to see them all.

282/365

Alexander Ave.
The boys were so excited to see that there is an Alexander Ave. here in Republic. We noticed it on our way hoem from Sonic awhile back and every time we pass it, they make sure to point it out.

281/365

Flooding
I was amazed at how high the water came up into our backyard with the rain we have been getting! It actually ended coming farther up (to about a foot in front of the straight slide). It was also a flowing pretty fast on the other side. In fact, some high school age boys brought out a large piece of plywood and were using it as a boogie board in the area just to the right of this picture. It was pretty humorous to watch and I even videoed some of it ;)

280/365

New Slippers
While at Wal-Mart this morning, Zach saw these adorable Lightning McQueen slippers and went nuts! Since he has outgrown his ones from last year, we picked them up ...and some camo ones for Drew. They haven't left his feet much every since. In fact he wanted to wear them into school to pick up Drew this afternoon (mean mom wouldn't let him though).

279/365

1st OT Therapy Session
The boys quietly played video games while waiting for us to meet with the OT regarding the results of his tests and for his therapy to begin.

When we saw Michelle, she said she feels that Drew has a few areas where he has sensory problems and believes that with a few months of therapy we will see great improvements. We sure hope so!! To start us off in home activities to use with him, we are to try wrapping him in a heavy blanket and then rolling a large workout ball up and down him, stopping to apply pressure especially at joints. She said she will add more things during the weeks ahead. Sure hope this helps him out!!

278/365

Working Out
Let the torture begin!! This morning was the 1st day at the gym and man I felt it! :)

277/365

Tree Shopping
This afternoon, on our way home from church, we stopped by a local nursery to check out their trees. As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, Drew spot these pumpkins and begged for me to take their picture with them. lol

276/365

Republic Pumpkin Daze
This morning I worked the PTO Scarecrow contest table at the Republic Pumpkin Daze during the check-in time. I was amazed at all the create entries their were...and even MORE shocked to find out later in the afternoon that our class scarecrow won for the PreK/K division!! After helping out at the PTO booth, I spent a little time checking out the event. Then I went home and John & I brought the boys up to look around for awhile. It was PACKED by that time!

275/365

Fun Pedicure!
Last Saturday morning, Erin Williams and I made our monthly Girl Time getting pedicures. I really like the fun iridescent color and the happy little flower with jewel. Even though I am not a foot person, every time I look at my toes it makes me smile :)

274/365

EC Garden Club
Each week on Thursday after school, Drew's teacher is holding a Garden Club for any EC students and their parents that wish to attend. Today was the 1st meeting. The kids learned about the different areas on the garden and then spent time collecting seeds for their own gardens at home and then pulled some weeds in the EC Garden. To Drew's excitement, Mrs. Sly used him as her helper for pointing out the different areas of the garden. Since their class had already visited the garden every Friday since the beginning of the school year, he was very familiar with the area and was very proud to show it off to the other kids.

273/365

Field Trip
Today was Drew's 1st field trip as a kindergartner and it just happened to be to the same place we went last weekend with the Walkers...the Marionville Pumpkin Patch! Zach and I tagged along for the trip, this time clothed in jeans!! ;) We had a beautiful afternoon for our visits and the kids seemed to really enjoy the hayride, hay mazes and picking out their very own little pumpkin off the vine.

272/365

Took the Plunge!
We finally broke down and joined the local fitness center, which just happens to be about 3 blocks from our house. The plan is for me to stop in the mornings after dropping Drew at school (they have a childcare area during this time for Zach), and John will go in the evenings after the boys are in bed.

271/365

Class Scarecrow
Drew's class scarecrow is finally all put together and waiting for Pumpkin Daze this weekend! It will compete with the other preschool & kindergarten class entries on Saturday. The winning class will receive a DQ ice cream cake!! YUM!


***Update 10/3: We actually won 1st place with our scarecrow!!! This means Drew's class will get to enjoy a DQ ice cream cake!! Wooohoo!!

270/365

Walking Stick
You just never know what you might find hanging around our house. ;) The boys were both very excited to have this visitor sunning itself on our front dinning room window.

269/365

Pumpkins!!!
This afternoon we went with the Walker family out to the Marionville Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin Patch. This was our 1st year out picking our pumpkin right off the vine. We learned our lesson to wear pants, NOT shorts! The leaves of the pumpkin vine are very prickly and the straw on the hayride is scratchy!! We still had a really fun time and look forward to visiting again next year.

268/365

Apple Day
This morning was Apple Day in Drew's class. We did all sorts of things with apples...made personal little apple pies, applesauce, counted apples, smelled & tasted apples, and much more.

267/365

Taste of Home Cooking School
This evening Erin Williams and I were able to attend the Taste of Home Cooking School at the Springfield Expo Center. What a fun evening with a great friend!!

266/365

School Picture Day!

265/365

"Look Mommy....
they're giving each other piggyback rides" - just want you want to hear come out of your 6 year olds mouth ;)

264/365

Occupational Therapy (OT) Testing
After discussing the problems we have been having with Drew with his teacher and his pediatrician, we felt it would be worth having him evaluated by an OT in the area of sensory issues. Since he was off school today it worked out perfectly to take him for the testing. After testing him, and before sore the tests, the OT could tell there were some areas he could use help with. So for the next few months we will be going to see Mrs. Michelle every Tuesday afternoon to see if she can work with him on this things as well as give us ways to help Drew out.

263/365

The Fruit of the Spirit
Pastor Phil began a new series on the Fruit of the Spirit this week. Each week the bulletins are scented with a particular fruit (today was apple) and then he "picks" that fruit of a big tree on the stage. The very talented Scott Lieb has created some outstanding HUGE fruit were Pastor Phil pulls out the name of the particular Fruit of the Spirit we are studying that Sunday.

262/365

Apple Picking!
Last year I searched all over for a local orchard that allowed you to come pick your own apples. Last fall Drew's preschool class from DLC visited an orchard just east of Springfield and I signed up for their email list. I was SO excited when they sent me an email saying they would have one Saturday this year they would allow people to come PYO! I was even more excited when (because of our old house closing yesterday) we weren't able to travel to visit my parents and visit an orchard up there. Then when the Saturday arrived, it was raining!! I could have cried!! It ended up letting up around noon, so we decided to drive out there and see if they were still having it. We arrived a couple hours before the end of the time and picked a small 1/2 peck. The boys seemed to have fun despite the weather and the small number they were able to pick. Next year I hope to pick many more!