Baseball, food, trampoline & friends!

Thursday night, our friends Gabe & Aubrey came to watch Kabe play baseball and then came over to our house. Aubrey & Kabe spent some time on the trampoline and we grilled burgers.

 

And my personal favorite….. :)

We love you Aubrey & Gabe! What are we gonna do without you?

I'm Thinkin'

Times might be changing.

Remember this?
Just last summer, Kabe made a fort and proclaimed it his domain, marking "The monster hideout this place is awsome girls are not alloud or toys. Kabe is only aloud."





Our neighborhood is full of boys, all ranging in age from 8-11. On any given day, you can find them roaming the block from stop sign to stop sign or riding their bikes, skate boards or of course, their pocket rockets (Kabe is so deprived, he's the only boy who doesn't have one...luckily, one kid has two and is willing to share...sometimes).


There are also a few girls on the end of the block who we don't see much, and then there's Michelle (the one in the pink cast) across the street.






Michelle's best friend is Isabella, who happens to be in the same section as Kabe at school, and every time she stays over at Michelle's (quite regularly), we get a knock on our door or they're happen to be outside when Kabe is to see if he'll play.




And what do you know, he leaves the guys, and tag, or the nerf game, or basketball, or whatever and hangs with the girls.

I think I'm in trouble.

Back in Business

Last weekend our friends came for dinner. The boys all *love* to jump on the trampoline, but the net had gotten ripped up and we hadn't gotten it replaced yet. For safety reasons we haven't been letting Kabe jump in it, but we did let the four boys jump for a few minutes...very carefully.




The net came this week. Thankfully.







Adam & his trusty helper promptly put it on over the weekend. ***For the record, I know this net doesn't keep a child on the tramp, but it does give a visual boundary, which makes me more comfortable.







Now my pictures aren't as good, but my little man can jump to the moon. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! Has it been an enjoyable day for you? It always interests me to see how others spend this day. I understand the thought behind moms being celebrated and get that one would want to be pampered for the day...I love a good pampering. :)



I can even appreciate the thought of taking mom out to eat on this special day, but that isn't really a treat for me. Adam & I don't appreciate waiting in crowded restaurants for hours on end when really, we tend to eat out pretty regularly as it just makes life simpler with our schedule. But to each his own, right? So what do we do? We go to Jimmy Johns.






We get my favorite brand of sandwiches to-go and then head to the park for a leisurely picnic, where we fly our kites, relax, play, talk, and today, we even hit a few baseballs.








This year, we invited our friends to join us. This little cutie is Audrey. She thinks Kabe is pretty neat. Kabe is pretty good about playing with her & watching out for her.





Kabe always enjoys flying kites, but really, nothing beats baseball and hanging out with his friends. Kites, baseball AND being with his best bud, Ben made today 'AWESOME'.





This slugger is Ben. We're sorry Ben's dad is out of the country on a business trip right now, but we're thankful we got to spend the day with all of you.






I hope that whatever it is you chose to do today, whether you're a mom or not, your day was enjoyable and spent with those you love!

Musings

Today after church we had lunch at our friend's house, the Smith family. Kabe spent some time with Aubrey watching some TV and playing on the computer. There was a large group of us there for lunch and Aubrey's organizational skills were discussed...she's very tidy. Fast forward to tonight when I was putting Kabe to bed. I commented to him that his room is a disaster and maybe he should try to make it a little more organized like Aubrey's room. He quickly informed me there was a problem with that because he just didn't like to be tidy like that and plus, "I'm just an 8-year-old and Aubrey is almost a grown-up, I mean, she's about old enough to be a mom (she's 27). "

Gotta love how this 8-year-old's mind works.

President's Day

Today was a fun day. Kabe didn't have school so I took a vacation day and we ended up having an impromptu stay over and play day.

We spent some time outside at a park running around and playing catch. Even little Audrey had a good time.


Kabe had a blast!


From there we went to Skateland and played some laser tag. This was a first for Kabe and he thoroughly enjoyed it.


A fun-filled day was had by all!

A Good Night!

Adam & I don't usually go out for Valentines Day, but this year, we made arrangements for Kabe to hang out with our friend Aubrey and we went to see Taken at the theater. Kabe got to hang out with Aubrey and her friends Adam & Angie, along with the triplets and a couple other kids. He had a blast! His favorite part of the evening was hanging out with Adam, who documented the evening with his webcam.

Aubrey - I don't know what we're going to do without you!

Retro-Post

A few weeks ago after an Illini Game, we got together with some friends and headed to a nearby town to an authentic German Restaurant, Bayern Stube. We've heard about this place for some time now and finally decided to try it out.




About half of our group have been before some only only once and some repeatedly.





Not only is the food authentic German, but once you walk in the door, you feel like you've stepped into another country. This place was all decked out...Wall-to-Wall, even the bathroom signs were German.




Of course, beer steins everywhere. And being German, they serve ale's by the pint. No stinkin' bottle for them. ;)









Having a selective palet, I chose to be a little safe and ordered the Rahmschnitzel, Tender sautéed cutlets of pork topped with a creamy white wine and fresh mushroom sauce,for sides, I chose German fries, Spätzle. What is Spätzle, you ask? German Egg Noodles....what more could a girl ask for?!?



Here's our gang. As you can see, we're pretty orange. It was a great day...an Illini win AND great food & fellowship! We did try the desserts as well. Adam & I shared the German Chocolate Cake..YUM, but I'm told the Strudel, Lemon Cake, are wonderful as well. A great group event!

Special Friend

Do you have one of those people in your life that you've known forever, a special friend, someone who's always lookin' out for you?

Someone who makes you smile?

Kabe has a special friend.

They've known each other since he was born. Although they live pretty close, schedules don't permit that they see other as often as they'd like.

But when they're together, they talk & laugh and at this time of year, they even exchange Christmas presents!

Kabe is so lucky to have a special friend like Miss Candis.

Dinner, Presents and a Camel!

**Warning**
This post is long. Seriously. No, I mean, You know those Christmas letters you get that talk about each person in the family. Yep, the one with a paragraph about each member. A looonnnngggg paragraph. Now you're with me.

On Saturday our small group had it's annual Christmas Progressive Dinner. This year we started with appetizer's at Wayne's.
This is Ling & Karen. Doesn't Karen have a great smile?


Next we were at Judy's for salad.


And then on to Lynne & Dick's for the main course.
Here's Lynne showing us she is a cook and here's a shot of Dick too.

Aren't Scott & Stacey cute? Connie & Diane took some time to warm by the fire and catch up.



Next, it was on to our house for dessert and the white elephant gift exchange. For those of you who've been in our home, you'll be surprised to know there were 19...YES, 19 people in the living room Saturday night. Yep, we're a pretty close-knit group. As you can see, we filled every knook & cranny. ;)


White elephant gift exchanges can mean different things to different people, but 'round these parts, it means, wrap up the nastiest junk you possess or want to get rid of, something partially used, don't like, ugly, don't want or whatever....pretty much anything goes. It's good for getting rid of junk, but of course, you'll get some sort of junk in return.
Here are Lynne & Dick obtaining a 'pretty' brass apple...with a face.

Lots of laughter....always a good time.

Deb will now be tranquil and Jay...he's in BIG. TROUBLE. He left this lovely carrot pitcher at our house when he left for the evening. Paybacks Jay. Paybacks.



Here's Adam with his gift....an oreo gift pack. Now don't go gettin' all excited for us. It's Six Year's Old. See....anything goes. We ditched the oreos & kept the mugs.

Wayne won the Seraphim Award for the night. First, he drew the pretty little ditty on top, but then someone stole it from him so then he chose and unwrapped the gorgeous number on the bottom. Now, what more does one bachelor need?

Kevin got a rubber ducky & a load of bath supplies...how appropriate. =)

Thanks to Judy for hauling everyone around!


Oh yeah...here's something you don't see in Illinois everyday. This was just around the corner from Dick & Lynne's...

Luke 2:8-14 (New International Version)

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

** See... I told you it was long! =) A+ If you're still reading this!