Our Completely Charmed Life...

Baseball look-alike

2011-10-24T09:16:00.004-05:00

I've never been much of a sports fan. I liked football, mostly because I was always in the marching band... well, Shannon is a sports fan. A BIG sports fan. So I have now watched games in the last six months than I had in my entire life. Now that we're watching the World Series, I've realized that Shannon has a twin in Texas.

This is my sweet husband...

...and this is Mike Maddux, the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers. Except for the beard, I think they look a LOT alike. Nevermind that no one agrees with me. I asked Shannon's daughter, Mallory and she looked at me like I was insane. Shannon doesn't see it, either. Granted, Shannon's face is a little fuller, but there is a huge resemblance, don't you think? So I watch the ball game every night just to see Mike Maddux and laugh. I also think Dave McKay, the first base coach for the Cardinals is hot. He doesn't look so much like Shannon, and not as handsome...but still easy on the eyes. How is it that I know all these sports figures? I could probably name most of the players on both the Cardinals and Rangers. The things we do for love...

Roller skating!

2011-09-14T15:23:00.003-05:00

I won't lie. I never learned to roller skate. Oh, my friends and I loved going to Skateland on Friday nights, I even had a birthday there once. I invited about 10 friends; my mom had a compact car. It was a huge pile of teenaged girls. Mom never forgave me. Anyway... I would go with my friends, and do my best, but I was never very good. I always came home with blisters on my feet... but hey, there were cute boys at the skating rink. I could ice skate better, but I still was not good.

Well, now the time has come for MY children to learn to skate. Here in Jeff, we have Sk8 Zone, and we can skate for 2 hours on Sundays. They've suckered me into taking them a couple of times now. I try to get Shannon to come along, but, no luck. I have visions of him in the 1970's, with his bell bottoms, big hair and funky gold medallions...on roller skates... sorry. I got distracted. Anyway, Libby and Roan are getting to be pretty good skaters!

Libby, lacing up her skates. This girl is determined to be a good skater. I have no doubt that by next summer, she'll be tearing up the rink.

And Roan... he definitely wants to learn to skate, too, but he's a little less tenacious than his sister. He's mostly interested in skating over to the snack bar.

Sweet Libby, skating on her own on the beginners rink. When we went this past Sunday, she got on the "real" rink and went around all by herself. When she sets her mind to something, there's no stopping her!

Our trip to Sk8 Zone is never complete without a game of air hockey. This game, Roan beat Libby and he was SO proud. He walked around like a banty rooster. Last weekend, Libby kicked his tail and he nearly lost his mind. We had a little lesson in sportsmanship that day.

Kids can have their birthday parties here. I took this picture because there is apparently a child named "Thojuree". Seriously? Enough said.

A New School Year!

2011-08-22T14:49:00.004-05:00

Wow, time flies! The kids are growing up so fast! This is our second year at Pioneer Trail Elementary; Roan is in 1st grade and Libby is in 2nd. We had Open House last Wednesday night. Each teacher gives a short presentation, and the kids get to drop off their school supplies.
Libby is so cute. She had to get her desk arranged just right! She's so excited that school has started; she never complains about going to school or doing homework. She does very well with little effort.

Roan is so happy that his best friend, Ryan, is in his class again this year. Most of the summer, he complained about having to go back to school...then suddenly, he said "Mom, I must be growing up. I think maybe I'm excited about school now. When I think about going back, I get all tingly!" He spent several minutes getting his desk organized, too!

First day of school! Ready to conquer the world!! Have a great year, kiddos! XOXO

Welcome Back Breakfast

2011-08-22T14:19:00.003-05:00

I'm a PTA mom... and now the Chairperson of the Hospitality and Staff Appreciation Committee. I'm also a helper on the Apparel Committee. One of the things the Hospitality Committee does every year is coordinate a Welcome Back meal for the teachers the week school starts. I put together a breakfast last Tuesday. Volunteers brought in breakfast casseroles, muffins, fruit and juice.

This is Libby, Roan and their friend, Jordan.

The kids hadn't started school, yet, so they helped me get everything set up. Roan says he's "a good arranger", so he kept busy putting out the plastic ware, cups, etc. Libby helped arrange the casseroles and juices. They thought it was cool.

Here's the spread. Yum! It was hard to leave without stealing a plate!

The Cat With No Name

2011-08-22T13:57:00.004-05:00

Back in May, we got a new kitten. We had been cat-free since February, which made us all sad; except Shannon, that is. He's not really a pet-person. A friend at work had some kittens so she brought the cutest girl to us. There was a huge and ongoing discussion about her name. I liked Peggy -- because of the Capital One commercial: "Hello, Prime Credit, this is Peggy". I laugh every time. Then we thought of "Crystal Gayle" because we love 'Talladega Nights' so much: "I got mauled by a Cougar, my Crystal Gayle shirt got ruined, and I learned nothin' 'bout drivin'!". I laugh every time at that, too. Then, we finally settled on Isabella. It was a name the kids could agree on.

We took her to the vet to have her toenails out and spayed. I got a call from the doctor who told me "Isabella is a boy-a!". Yeah, we apparently had a transgendered cat. So... what to name this kitty now?

Given the 'Talladega Nights' reference, Shannon and Sean wanted to name him 'Ricky Bobby'; in fact, that's pretty much what he was called all summer. Libby wanted to name him 'Frank', which was cute. Roan didn't really care. Now that this poor kitty is half-grown, spoiled and pretty rambunctious, I think we've finally settled on a name.

We call him "Humphrey". It fits him. Right now, he's a teenager, and a little difficult. He likes to attack your leg as you walk by, bite you any and everywhere... but he's also a lover. So, welcome to the family, Humphrey McGowin!

Happy Birthday, Libby!

2011-08-19T14:24:00.004-05:00

Monday, August 15 was Libby's 8th birthday. I just can't believe she's half way to her driver's license! She's really grown up a lot this past year; even her little face has changed since getting her adult teeth. It seems like she ought to still be a toddler with big bouncey curls. We had a party for her at Bonker's on Sunday. Her best friend, Clara was there, along with several family and friends.
This is her with her Hello Kitty cake. She was a little upset with me because she didn't want a cake cake, she wanted a cookie cake. I swear she never said cookie cake, she swears she did. There was drama, but we recovered.

On her actual birthday, I took the day off work and we celebrated. We met Libby's BFF, Clara and her mom (and my BFF), Amy at Chili's for lunch. Because it was her birthday, Clara's birthday 3 days later, and Roan's half-birthday, our sweet server brought them each a chocolate shake and had all the restaurant staff sing 'Happy Birthday'. They all thought that was awesome!

Roan LOVED his shake. He drank it so fast, it gave him a bellyache!

Clara wasn't too sure about whether she wanted her shake... she enjoyed at least a little bit of it!

Some things I don't want to forget about my little Libby:

She loves Carrie Underwood, the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. She's starting to hang out in her room and listen to CDs while she draws or reads.

Right now, she loves to watch 'Shake It Up', 'iCarly', and she's recently started watching 'Pokemon', even though "it's more of a boy show"!

She has an unbelievable vocabulary. If you didn't know better, you'd easily think you were speaking to an adult.

Her favorite color is purple.

She now likes to fix her own hair.

She has become an excellent reader. She is able to read anything you give her now. She loves books in a series (like her mom!) like Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Tree House.

She loves to annoy her brother. After years of him pestering her to death, Roan is finally getting his just desserts.

She's been taking piano lessons since she was about 3 1/2. She has really improved in the last year with her instructor, Ms. Deborah. She can read music easily now; she just needs to develop a better sense of rhythm.

She is so mature for her age. I can trust her to make good choices and to behave. The one thing that is surprising, though, is that she is not good about keeping her room neat. Hopefully, that will come in time!

Happy Birthday, Libby Lu! We love you!

Our Day in Eldon. Chapter 1

2011-08-19T11:48:00.003-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, the kids were with grandparents, so Shannon and I took a little trip to Eldon. It's about 30 minutes from Jeff City, on the way to the Lake. It's a cute little town, but its real appeal is a rockin' little drive-in called Cree-Mee. It's practically a local landmark. You have to walk up to order, then take it with you, or sit at one of the picnic tables they have.

Cree-Mee has absolutely incredible chili dogs. They are so delicious, you want to cry. Shannon always get a chili dog and a shake. Today, it was vanilla, with extra vanilla. Good call. I got chocolate, which was very good, but next time, I'll go with vanilla, extra vanilla.

The call of the chili dog is strong. We were forced to answer.

I also got one. This is mine. What I like about Cree-Mee, that is different from most other places... is that they tuck the chili deliciousness neatly into the bun. You can actually pick this up and eat it. And when you do, you're glad. Very glad.

Cree-Mee also has another glorious creation: Marshmallow Pepsi. Yep. I know it sounds weird and maybe a little gross, but trust me. It will give new meaning to your life. You'll want to have one every day. This was our LARGE marshmallow Pepsi. We were on a sugar high for hours. It made us happy.

This was my chili dog. This was when I was trying not to cry because we were nearing the end of our relationship. I was fighting the desire to order another one.

We made an afternoon of it in Eldon. Stay tuned for Chapter 2.

School supply shopping adventures!

2011-08-19T10:39:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Target for school supplies. There's a giant cement hole right outside the store that intrigues my children to no end. Everytime, they MUST jump through it, lay on it, jump across it... today was no different. A funny story about Libby's shoes in this picture: when she was around 2 years old, my mom and I took her for some new shoes. She saw these flip flops, which were WAY too big for her at the time, but she LOVED them. When I tried to put them back on the shelf, she lost her mind. They were on clearance, so her Nana said "Oh, let's just get them for her!". So, she toddled around in them for months; eventually I put them away for her to wear when she got bigger. Well, they FINALLY fit (6 years later!) and she still loves them!

What can I say? This is my boy. He has his list in hand, and is complaining about carrying his supplies in the shopping basket. "It's so much work!". So we put the basket in a cart... Target was teeming with people that day; it was difficult to shop because so many people were swarming the school supply aisles!

This is the boy modeling his new backpack. I was very surprised he picked green camo. Go figure. Last year (the backpack that bit the dust) was blue with skulls all over it. Big jump from skulls to camo.

Libby will start second grade, and Roan will start first. I just can't believe it!

Feats of Strength

2011-08-19T09:29:00.004-05:00

Several months ago, Shannon bought me a deep fryer. We soon discovered that we make the most fabulous onion rings, french fries and chicken strips... we make these a lot now, so we're forced to buy oil in the "fry for an army" size. We brought the giant tub 'o oil into the kitchen, which incited feats of strength...

Roan thought it was light as a feather...

Shannon giving the boy "the look". What could he be thinking?

...and the showboating begins! It's a little heavier than he thinks!

In feats of strength, the MAN wins!

Welcome to the gun show! Yes, this is how we roll at our house! A typical Tuesday night!

A night of friends and Sushi

2011-08-04T15:46:00.003-05:00

Tuesday night, we had a baby shower for my friend, Ashley. She's expecting a baby girl in October, so all of us from work gathered at Fuji to celebrate. There were probably 15 of us, including Libby and Roan. They weren't about to be left out of the fun! They love going to Gojo's in Kansas City, and Fuji is similar. They've been wanting to go for a while and this was the perfect opportunity.

I love sushi...I could eat it every day. (Thank you to my good friends, Sclie and Danny Murray for introducing me to the goodness!) I don't go crazy with the raw stuff... I like a little crab a little shrimp and maybe, if I'm feeling saucy, I'll have a little smoked salmon. I'm pretty tame -- avocado, cream cheese, cucumber makes me happy. Well, Roan was convinced he was going to try some. He had a piece of one of my rolls...but had a hard time getting past the stickiness of the rice. He wasn't crazy about it, but I was sure proud of him for trying! He can use chopsticks like a champ, but you can see the apprehension on his face!

Both kids love chopsticks and are actually quite good at using them. They got a little goofy while we were waiting on our food...

If you look in the background of the picture, you can see Ashley, momma to be. You can also see Dr. Tang, my friend a co-worker. He throws one heck of a party! We all had a great time eating, opening gifts and singing karaoke! Dr. Tang dubbed it the "First Annual Baby Coming Out Party". Wonder who will be the guest of honor at the Second Annual....?? lol

My funny kid...

2011-08-03T12:04:00.004-05:00

Do all kids go through phases where they write all over themselves? I hope so... because Roan is always coming home with something new drawn or written on his skin. Of course, it's hard to get off, so his camp counselors probably think the child never bathes.

This is Roan's latest body drawing. He calls it "The Human". He moves his thumb to make The Human talk. He thinks it's hilarious. I'm kind of over it... But this morning, when I went in his room to tell him 'Good Morning', I saw a new drawing on his face.

I asked him when, and WHY he drew a picture on his face. He had no idea what I was talking about. We figured out that during the night, he slept with his hand under his face, and The Human transferred to his face. Now that's funny. We scrubbed and scrubbed it... it mostly came off... but I just had to take a picture. Life with my boy is always unexpected and fun!

A Test of My Patience...

2011-08-01T14:38:00.009-05:00

School registration is tomorrow and Wednesday, so I'm trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. I actually know where the kids' birth certificates are...so I probably won't need them. Anyway, ever year, it's a big deal to bring your childrens' vaccination record. Well, of course, we don't vaccinate, so we have no records to bring. Instead, I fill out a 'Religious Immunization Exemption", documenting that my kids will be vaccinated over my dead body. Literally. When we lived in KC, the preschool and the local school district accepted the form if you printed it from an online resource. Easy. Cool. I liked it. When we moved to Jeff City this time last year, I was informed that the public school system here requires a parent to go to the Health Department to get the *same form*, but printed on card stock. Nothing else will do. So last year, I traipsed down there, waited forever... only to be taken to a room with a nurse who tried to lecture me about the dangers of childhood diseases...and to actually tell me that I would be responsible for their deaths should they contract Chicken Pox or Measles. I listened politely, explained that I had researched it for many years, that I was confident that this was the right choice for our family, blah blah blah. She kept after me until, through clenched teeth, I said "I'm a doctor. I don't need to hear your lecture." After which she promptly gave me my exemption cards and let me leave.

So this year, I wondered about our exemption... surely, the exemption forms in their files would stand for this year, right? Right? Any reasonable person would think so. Just to be sure, I called the school, and was informed that I must produce a NEW exemption form every school year. And yes, we are still required to obtain said form from the Health Department.

I'll bet you can guess what I did on my lunch hour. To get these little cards...Off to the Health Department. Did you know that no one there ever gets in a hurry, even if there's a waiting room full of people? And that you have to fill out this long form with all of your previous names, all allergies, social security number, etc. Then I had to give them my driver license. Really? Just for a simple form? I was prepared to go toe-to-toe with the nurse again, but it actually turned out better than I thought. She was more interested in why I hadn't had a Tetanus shot since 1989. "A sweet old man in Southwest Missouri died of Tetanus, you know!" Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So she gave me the speech about how, if there was an outbreak of a communicable disease, my kids would have to stay home..."for their protection". I smiled and nodded. I even chuckled a time or two. I also thought to myself "Eventually, they'll probably start charging us for these forms." Then she said, "I'm supposed to give you a long lecture about the dangers of not vaccinating...but I don't think you need it". I explained to her that no one comes to this decision lightly; I have been researching the topic for over 10 years and have a deep and thorough understanding of all the issues. Finally, I told her that the choice to vaccinate is a basic human right; it is my choice. Then she agreed with me. I was in and out in a flash; I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe because of our meeting today, she'll do a little research of her own, and find out that my decision is based on facts and evidence...and that I'm not some wacked out, lunatic fringe, crunchy granola weirdo. Each one teach one, right?

My Mini-Me

2011-08-01T11:39:00.006-05:00

My sweet Libby is going to be 8 years old in 2 weeks. I just can't believe it. When I picture her in my mind, I still see her like this:

Tiny, with big curls. *sob* She's always looked like me, which I love. Not that I'm terrific to look at, but because I never really looked like anyone in my family. My mom was 5'2"; I'm 5'10". I could go on and on. I found out later that I look like the Mansfield side of the family, who I never knew that well. Anyway, Libby is my Mini-Me. In more ways than one.

I like to think of myself as an organized person. I love planners, calendars, lists... I plan our menu out for the month and make detailed grocery lists. The kids' summer schedule was mapped out in spreadsheet form. As fate would have it, these little quirks of mine turn the Man on. Sorry, TMI. Anyway, Libby likes lists, too!

When I got up yesterday morning, Libby was hard at work making her birthday list. She's obsessed with Moshi Monsters, right now, so she was on that website looking for all her favorite things. She made two lists: one for Mom and one for Nana.
This is my list. Each item was written carefully, with the price next to it. If the item is circled, that means she'd like it for Christmas, rather than her birthday. Isn't it just a hoot?

This is Nana's list. Libby's going to be overrun with Moshi paraphernalia. I'm not sure I'm ready; all these little characters are like a foreign language to me... Oh boy, I'm sounding like my mom! I love that my girl is organized...at least where school work and things like that are concerned. Now if I could just get that to bleed over into her bedroom... it's a mess most of the time!

The Fair...part 2 OR Cotton Candy Nirvana

2011-07-28T16:16:00.004-05:00

The thing the kids were most looking forward to when we went to the fair? Cotton Candy!

To their absolute joy, they got cotton candy bigger than their heads!

We ran into about a hundred people we knew... a happy surprise was running into my friend, Kim. She works with me and we have a good time. She was very happy to have a giant corn dog.

Really happy with her giant corn dog.

The kids got to drive bumper cars for the first time. That's Libby in the car on the left...

Roan having a ball...flirting with a girl, like usual! The fair was a huge hit. It was a great time...and a new annual event!

Cole County Fair...

2011-07-27T15:29:00.003-05:00

Ok, I have to admit it. Shannon and I are awesome parents. We braved the heat wave and the crowds and took our three kids, plus a friend to the fair last night. Help me Rhonda, it was HOT! And to make it worse, our A/C pooped out over the weekend, so we had been suffering for 3 days in hot house, then went for further suffering to the fair. Anyone who knows me knows I HATE to be hot and I HATE to sweat. But, it was actually pretty fun... especially seeing all the sights through the kids' eyes.

Libby and Roan have been to the fair before, but they were much younger. Now, they're big enough to ride practically any ride there. For a 6 and 7 year old, this is big stuff.

Roan standing in front of the sign marking the height requirement for a ride. Walking up to it, he was muttering "I just know I'm gonna be too short...I just know it...dang it!!" Much to his surprise, he was tall enough with several inches to spare! He was shocked and happy!!

Libby was another story. She KNOWS she's tall for her age. She never doubted she could go on the bigger rides....

The games were so tempting...they didn't understand the concept of 'rides first, games last'. They didn't care because they think Mom is the pack-mule. Libby getting ready to show her muscles...she rang the bell the second time she tried!

What can I say? Never a serious moment with the boy. Some days, he reminds me so much of my Grandpa Jones. He never had a serious moment either. Same blue eyes, same big chest, same silliness...sorry, I digress.

The Merry Go Round...this one rocked! It went FAST. You can see Roan hanging on for dear life!

Part of the fun of going to the fair is people watching. I wished all night that my friend, Suzie, was with me...we people watch so well together. I wanted to take some pictures of the more noteworthy specimens of Cole County...but I was afraid they might hurt me. It would appear that the new fashion trend is Daisy Duke shorts with cowboy boots. Don't get me wrong, this can be cute on the right person. The right person didn't come along very often last night. A lot of the girls' shorts were SHORT. Way short. Body parts falling out-short. Wow.

We stayed out til after 10pm. We were sweaty, dirty and tired, but....we came home to a cool house. Yay for Mike, the A/C guy!

Best Friends Forever...

2011-07-18T13:55:00.004-05:00

I'm still friends with my best friend from Kindergarten. Sara and I went all through school together, and although we don't get to see each other often anymore, we always manage to pick up right where we left off. I have lots of friends like that... Karen, Suzie, Michelle, Sharla, Sarah B. I'm so lucky. Libby's pretty lucky, too. She and Clara met when they were 9 months old. I was taking her to swim lessons at the YMCA in Jeff City. Clara was there and I struck up a conversation with her mom, Amy...and friends were born! Clara and Libby were born in the same hospital, 3 days apart. In fact, we figured out that Amy was checking in to have Clara the same time I was checking out with Libby to go home. They went to the same preschool when they were 2. Even when we moved to KC for a few years, the girls kept in touch. It was so cute to listen to them talk on the phone to each other when they were just little.
Clara and Libby at Libby's 5th birthday party. They're so little!

Now that we're back in Jeff City, the girls get to spend a lot of time together. In fact, they've been in summer camps together this month.

This is Libby and Clara now. They were in Art Camp together last week, and this was taken at their Art Show on Friday. Can you believe how they've grown? It's hard to see, but they both have on Hello Kitty shirts. They're such good buddies; I hope they stay friends for the rest of their lives!!

Life Lessons at Camp TLC

2011-07-15T11:10:00.007-05:00

I waited a really long time to have kids... I was never sure I had it in me to love someone like that. Turns out, I do have it in me.
Remember the movie "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"? I love the scene where Rebecca DeMornay goes to the little girl's school playground and has a come-to-Jesus meeting with the school bully. I did that once...and I'm not ashamed to admit it. There was a little boy at preschool who pushed Libby head-first down the slide. I saw it happen and nearly lost my mind. I don't know what came over me, but I guarantee that little boy never bothered my daughter again. I had another moment like that one the other day. This summer, Roan has been attending "Camp TLC" at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Jeff City. He's loved it so far, and never complains about going. (If you know my boy, you know that complaining comes easy...). The other night, he mentioned that two boys were ugly to him at Camp. He said they were painting pictures and these boys messed his up. I asked him more about it, but honestly didn't think it was a big deal. The next morning, one of the teachers approached me and told me more about the situation. I guess these boys were taunting Roan, ruining his picture and calling him names. I just couldn't believe it. If those boys had been in front of me, I might have pulled the Rebecca DeMornay move again...but I restrained myself. I work very hard to teach my kids to be kind to others, not to use ugly words, not to tease, etc... It kills me when other kids are mean to mine. It breaks my heart...and I hurt for them. I know it's part of growing up, but I don't like it.

So instead of losing my mind on two little boys, and instead of crying, I gave my sweet boy some extra lovin'. I hope it helped... and I hope this doesn't happen again. 'Cuz if it does, Rebecca may have to rear her head again. And believe me, nobody wants that.

One lucky girl... me!

2011-07-13T09:26:00.007-05:00

The Man is on my mind, so I decided today's blog post would be about him... I've known the McGowin family since about 1988. Sharla and I were roommates, and she's still one of my best friends, today. When Sharla, Michelle and I shared a townhouse, Shannon brought his kids, Jay and Mallory, up to us to babysit. I remember seeing him for the first time and thinking "Wow!". Then I remembered he was married with two small children. And that I was 19 and he was 29. I probably cried. I don't remember. So, over the years, we've been at various McGowin family functions. I'd get verklempt, and tell Sharla "He's so handsome...I don't think I can stand to be in the same room with him!" She'd say "Oh, Sonia...he's my BROTHER!". She can't talk about how hunky her brother is. So, in the interim, I got married, had kids, got divorced... and I never forgot about him. In February 2009, Michelle and Sharla came to KC for my birthday. We were sitting in a hot tub and Sharla mentioned that her brother was single. I told her that I'd long ago given up on him... to which she uttered six fateful words: "Just give it one more try." So, I emailed him. I had just gotten divorced and needed some advice about how to file my taxes. Who better to ask than a CPA? (Which he is!) So, we emailed chatted intermittently for a few months. Then, I finally got the nerve to ask him on a date. My BFF Suzie always goes to a super-awesome Halloween party and she suggested I ask Shannon. So I did. And he said YES. And I thought I was gonna hurl. So, he came to KC and the rest is history. I am so totally in love with him, for lots of reasons:
He took me to Memphis on a vacation last year. He took me to Graceland and fed me good food. This is a picture of my two favorite men.

He likes my cooking. When something is really good, he closes his eyes during the first bite...and shakes his head a little bit. That makes me happy. And every night after dinner, he stands up and gives me a kiss. That's my little 'thank you' for whipping up something yummy. Then he does the dishes. Who wouldn't love that? Oh yeah, and he can grill and make great french fries and onion rings from scratch. And the kids insist that HE make the macaroni and cheese...

He is my rock. He is the same every day. Some say 'predictable' is a bad thing. I love it. I always know what to expect. And there's no drama. There's no going out with the boys. He's happy at home with us...

He is a good and generous provider, even to kids who aren't his. He's great at teaching them how to do stuff like fold paper airplanes, kick a football and turn out the lights when they leave a room. The kids say he's a little strict sometimes, but I think that's a good thing. And, he never fusses if I spend $10 on another snowman or another flower.

We're a good team. We cook together, we built a room together, we travel well together. We talk and laugh and have so much fun every day. He has taught me how to relax, and how to sleep late on Sunday mornings. And along with him comes a terrific family. I get to have lots of people over for dinners, which makes me happy. How did I get so lucky? I guess it's good that I was patient. It only took 20 years!

Nap time

2011-07-12T11:27:00.003-05:00

One of the best things I ever did as a parent was to make a very strict routine at bed time. Every since they were babies, we had the same routine and the same bed time. Wow, has it paid off. Even Shannon is impressed with the lack of drama in the evenings.
I was also pretty strict about nap time when the kids were younger. When 1:00 pm came, pretty much everything stopped and it was time for sleep... the few times when our schedule wasn't working, for whatever reason, I paid for it in VERY unhappy kids. I found, especially with Roan, the better his nap during the day, the better he slept at night. Bad nap = restless night. I love this picture. They're napping on Nana's bed. Roan's wearing a Cheerleader's Halloween costume. The dresses were always a struggle at that age.

Roan dressed as a cheerleader... and Libby is naked. Again. I love how they're touching hands in their sleep. My advice to new parents... set a firm bed time and stick to it. Establish a routine and do it every night. Even tiny kids can learn to anticipate a routine. Trust me, it will pay you big rewards. There are some nights Roan will get in bed on his own and is asleep without me realizing it. There's no fussing, no begging for a drink or a snack... it's wonderful! I'm glad I did something right!

Renaissance Festival 2007

2011-07-12T11:15:00.003-05:00

I laughed out loud when I saw these pictures... the kids were 4 and 2 1/2. We ventured out to the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City...one of my all-time favorite things to do. My friend, Michelle Brockhouse went with us... she doesn't have kids, but got a good dose of mine that day. Libby and Roan thought the murals with the face cut-outs were a hoot. Secretly, I did, too!

I think this one is hilarious!

Doesn't she look thrilled?

I hope we can manage to make it back to the Ren Fest this year. The kids are old enough now that they can do a lot more stuff. The Fall is always such a crazy time for our family, but maybe we can work it out!

Memory Lane

2011-07-12T09:53:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling nostalgic lately, for a few reasons:

I've been unpacking some boxes (finally!) and I found a big box of pictures. They are mostly of the kids when they were babies. I love to look at them, but then I feel sad because... well, just because, and then I have to feel guilty that all these pictures are not in albums yet. At least they're sorted...right?

Libby is heading for a birthday. She'll be 8 next month. How can this be?

The kids are getting ready to start school again in a few weeks. First and second grade. WHAT?

So in the midst of my nostalgia, I run across a file of pictures in my computer that were saved in the wrong place. So, so funny. These are from Christmas 2006. This was my attempt to take a picture suitable for our Christmas card. I had just started Chiropractic College. Libby was 3 1/2 and Roan was not quite 2. Wow, how they've changed!

Roan was so tiny! He is wearing the dress I got for Libby to wear to her preschool Christmas program. When he saw it, he HAD to put it on. When he had to take it off, he had a complete meltdown. Today, he swears he NEVER wore Libby's dresses. I have proof. And I'll use it...someday.

OMG, I love this picture. It was totally spontaneous. Today, Libby probably wouldn't kiss her brother voluntarily if I paid her!

Look at Libby's curls! Drives me crazy that the reds in their outfits don't match... oh well.

Silly little girl. She has such a baby face in this picture... I can't believe how much she's grown.

This is the picture I finally ended up using for our card. I love it... Roan was just so tiny. Where did the time go?

Basement remodel -- part 2

2011-06-28T10:41:00.003-05:00

Drywall. Wow... did we ever hang some drywall. I think we'll be seeing drywall dust in our dreams. If you know Shannon, you know he is precise. Exact. Perfectionist. You should have seen his mad drywall cutting skills. He measured the cuts for the outlets and switches like a pro. I like that in a man. I found out that I'm quite good at mudding and taping the seams. I have mad drywall skills, too.Shannon likes that in a woman.

Wall number one... I think I said "I can't believe I did that" about a thousand times.

Second wall taped and mudded. It's starting to take shape...

This is the closet. It spans the length of one wall and has two doors. And a light. Wow, look at us!

This is the first wall of my sewing room! Now that it's done and full of my craft stuff, it's amazing to look back and see how it started...

More to come!

The Basement Remodel...part 1

2011-06-28T10:08:00.003-05:00

We had an unfinished room in the basement that served as kind of a catch-all, storage room. We decided we should finish it and make a new bedroom for Shannon's son, Sean. So, back in May, we started our construction project... after we cleaned everything out, we got started on building...

The newly-emptied room -- and a hot shirtless man. Move on, Sonia.

There were really nice shelves along one wall; we tore all those out...

This picture is kind of fuzzy, but this is the A/C unit, water heater area.

Our super-handy construction guru and nephew, Josh McGowin came over and helped us frame the walls. (Thanks, Josh!) Once we got the framing done, we installed the insulation.

Shannon finishing one wall of the insulation. On the right is the area that became a huge closet. There had been a door there leading out to the garage, but we sealed that up to finish the closet. As we were planning this room, we decided to build a sewing room for me... I'm so thrilled. Just wait until you see it! More pictures to come...

Libby's Art Show

2011-06-28T09:57:00.003-05:00

During summer break, Libby and Roan have been attending several different camps. Last week, Libby was able to attend 'Visual Arts Academy" -- she LOVED it. They worked with several types of media, including clay, paper, paint, textiles and pencil. At the end of the week, each student put together an art show.

This was the mask the decorated.

This was part of her display -- the picture on the right was really cool. Her instructor took each child's picture, then printed only half of it. The child then completed the other half of their picture. Libby did a great job!

This was the front of her display. The picture of the rooster is so good. She drew it, then used water colors. She has clay figurines on her fingers...

Here's a better shot of her self portrait. She had such a good time. She was one of the youngest students in the camp, but she did a terrific job. Roan, of course, was SO jealous that wasn't old enough to attend. The instructor of the camp gives art classes, so he's hoping to participate in the fall.

Donations for Joplin

2011-06-28T09:48:00.003-05:00

After the devastating tornado in Joplin in May, Libby and Roan's school held a donation drive for "Grab & Go" items that might be helpful to the folks in the area. They encouraged families to donate shelf stable food, bottled water, granola bars, toilet paper, paper towels, baby wipes, etc. The kids were eager to help. Luckily, mom is something of a pack rat -- so we had a lot to choose from.

This is Roan with his bag of paper towels, napkins and granola bars. I guess it takes big muscles to carry all his stuff... what a goof ball!

Libby Lu with her bag of goodies to donate...

I included this picture, purely for its future blackmail potential.

I was really proud of the kids for wanting to help. They don't really understand what a tornado is, or just how much destruction it brought, but they do understand how much their donations might help ...

The Man on the Roof

2011-05-19T09:38:00.004-05:00

I have a man who likes things clean...including the gutters. I respect that in a man, but I'm very uncomfortable with his insistence on getting on the roof to do it. I have nightmares of him crashing to an untimely death, so I insist that he take his cell phone up there with him and only do it when I'm home.

Here's the ascent. Can you feel my panic?

Clearing the brush and limbs off the roof.

He's proud of himself, despite me, on the ground, in a nervous heap.

Using the blower to clean the leaves out of the gutters. He finished the job safe and sound... we're getting a new roof soon. I'm hoping I can talk him out of getting up there with the roofers... lol.

Nerd Day

2011-05-19T09:27:00.003-05:00

During Spirit Week for the kids' school, they had "Nerd Day".
Here's my little nerd. If he had dark hair, he would remind me of Alfalfa... Libby dressed up too, but it's a little harder to capture true nerdiness with a girl. At least it was for us!

Girl Scouts...

2011-05-19T09:02:00.003-05:00

Libby has been in Girl Scouts this past school year. She's a Daisy, and thinks it's awesome. A couple of weeks ago, we got up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and went to earn her "Wearable Art" badge. I actually thought it was a bridging ceremony, but I was wrong. So I showed up in slacks and everybody looked at me like I was an alien. Anyway...

This is Libby decorating a tote bag. This type of activity is SO up her alley. She LOVES crafts. And can you believe how grown up she is? It seems like just yesterday she was born.

Here she is getting ready to make a Mardi Gras mask. Note her intent listening. This girl follows the rules. The rest of the girls are wiggling and squawking and running around like wildcats, and little Lu is right on task.

The best part of the morning... getting to tie dye a shirt. Hers turned out really great. She wore it to school this week and was so proud! Her troop had their bridging ceremony last night, so she's now officially a Brownie!

Easter Gift Bags

2011-05-18T16:37:00.003-05:00

This year, Roan was obsessed with being the Easter Bunny. He used his own money to buy a set of bunny ears at Target and was obsessed that this was his new career path. In the midst of the Easter Bunny obsession, he started thinking about kids who might not get Easter baskets... and it made him cry. He asked me to figure out how he could bring Easter treats to some kids. So I called my friend, Debbie, at Special Learning Center. They are a local school, specializing in kids with special needs such as autism, cerebral palsy, blindness and mental retardation. Debbie said they would LOVE to have us bring over some treat bags! So we got busy... Roan working on writing a special message on each bag.

Libby is working on preparing her bags...

Sorry for the blur... these are some of the completed bags.

Libby and Roan with all of their treat bags, ready to go into the Special Learning Center. It was a great experience for them. They got to tour the school, which has a lot of special equipment. They were interested in the wheelchairs, the adaptive equipment for kids with visual impairments and the Snoezelen Room. I've spent my entire career working with people with special needs, so I figured the kids would do really well interacting with the students there. Roan loved the kids, and even helped one child approach the visiting Easter Bunny. Libby was much more apprehensive. She needed to stay close to mom and check everything out first. It was interesting seeing each of their reactions. It definitely made them both stop and appreciate their abilities and talents!

I'm really proud of them both, but especially that Roan took the time to think about others. I've got a couple of really good kids!

Kindergarten Writer's Celebration

2011-05-18T16:21:00.004-05:00

Roan's class has been working on writing their own books. (Wow, has kindergarten changed since 1973!) They based the structure of their stories on the book series "If You Give A Pig A Pancake". The kids wrote their own story, illustrated it, then they laminated laminated and bound. The books, not the kids. The parents were then invited to a Writer's Celebration in the classroom.

This is Roan reading his book to me. We were lounging on beanbags. I refuse to think about how I looked peeling myself up off the beanbag.

Roan was very proud of his work, and happy that his mom was able to come to his celebration. He's good at composing stories, but even better at illustrating. He can draw with amazing detail. We also had cookies, and they were wonderful!

Princess & Papa dance

2011-05-18T16:12:00.004-05:00

Our school district hosted a "Princess & Papa" dance several weeks ago. Luckily, Libby's Baba Jack lives here in town and he was happy to take her!

She picked out her dress and I made her hairbob. Isn't she just so cute? And grown up? Where did the time go?

Baba Jack bought Libby a wrist corsage... this is her opening it. She was thrilled with her first corsage!

Getting ready to leave for the dance with Baba Jack. She's so lucky to have two incredible granddads. They had a great time! They danced, did a few crafts and had their photo taken. She can't wait to go again next year!

Tummy Troubles

2011-03-29T14:44:00.003-05:00

Roan is a bug-magnet. And I don't mean insects. It seems whenever something is going around, he catches it. He had a bellyache at Nana's on Sunday, but we thought he got over it. I got a call this morning from the school nurse telling me he wasn't feeling well and needed to come home. When I got there, he was using the bathroom. I went in to see if he needed some help... I said "Oh buddy, you have a bellyache?"

He looked at me, in total seriousness and said "Get real, Mom. It's explosive diarrhea." He has spent the day lounging on the couch, watching Disney Channel, wishing he could eat. I wish I could be sick for him...

Home Improvement...McGowin Style

2011-03-29T14:33:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, the kids were with Dad, so Shannon and I decided to lay new ceramic tile in the bathroom. We've had this planned for months; we bought the tile in the fall. It's been waiting patiently in the garage since then... I include this only because it shows the Man in kitchen gloves. I think it's cute. And handsome.

We pulled up the carpet and discovered this... it was actually in really good shape. But it was too ugly for words.

Our first row of tile...this after laying down concrete backer board. In case you don't do much tiling, backer board is some heavy, messy stuff.

First, please note the near-perfect circle around the toilet drain. When you put Mr. Meticulous and Mrs. Picky together, you get a perfectly cut circle. Second, I am the Grout Queen. It's my lot in life. I grouted the whole floor...and greatly impressed the Man with my mad grout skills.

The finished job. It is magnificent. Please note the off-set pattern. Yeah, we rock. After this, we put in a brand new toilet. It flushes and it doesn't leak...and we didn't need professional help. Again, yes, we rock. A couple of days ago, Nephew Josh came up and helped us install a new sink/vanity and fixtures. We officially have a beautiful "new" bathroom!

Small Smiles

2011-03-29T14:27:00.003-05:00

We go to a great dental practice here in Jeff City called Small Smiles. They're terrific with kids. Dr. Ganz did an amazing job fixing Libby's broken teeth. They also make routine care lots of fun! Libby getting a cleaning. She's my thorough, conscientious girl. She carefully brushes her teeth every day, taking her time and doing a good job.

This boy, on the other hand... well, he's not quite as interested in his dental health. Despite this, he only had one cavity... and Libby had 3!

He wasn't crazy about having his teeth cleaned. You can't flirt with the hygienist when her hands are in your mouth. He was super excited about his new toothbrush and goody bag, though! Thanks to Ashlyn and Dr. Ganz for taking such good care of us! If you live in the area and need a fabulous dentist, head over to Small Smiles!

Princess & Papa Dance

2011-03-29T14:21:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday, Libby had a super-special day! The Jefferson City School District hosted a "Princess & Papa Dance". Her "Baba" O'Donnell was kind enough to take her, and they had a big time!

Baba bought her a wrist corsage in pink and purple...her favorite colors! Isn't she cute? And so grown up? She looked so cute in her polka dots!

Libby and Baba, ready to go! They got to have their nails painted (Baba opted out of that), write letters to each other and have their picture taken...and of course, dance a little bit. I'm so glad she had the opportunity to go and have a great time with her Baba.

Tooth trauma

2011-03-28T14:36:00.004-05:00

Two weeks ago, we were all working outside in the yard. Shannon told the kids that they could earn extra allowance by picking up sticks and limbs and carrying them to the burn pile in the back yard. Libby starting trucking it down the driveway -- she was running too fast and lost her balance. I'm on the front porch hanging a new flag when I hear a thud, then a blood-curdling scream. I RAN to the lower driveway and found Libby face down on the concrete. She was bleeding, screaming, and basically in an overall state of hysteria. She had scraped up her forehead, palms and knees, and worst of all, broken her teeth. Quite a picture, I know... but you can see her left top tooth broken in half, and the right one chipped significantly. Btw, this was two days after it happened...

This is the brave girl in the dentist's chair, waiting to have her teeth repaired. Luckily, we have a very talented dentist who rebuilt her teeth in less than two hours! You would never know by looking at her that she'd had such an accident!

Bedtime...

2011-03-22T11:18:00.004-05:00

All kids do this, I know, but I think it's so cute. Every night, Roan arranges all his favorite toys in bed with him. It's quite a process...
The Dalmation on the left is Dexter. Nana got that for him when he was 2 or 3. Roan has been dragging Dexter around for half his life. In the front is an owl puppet and another dog. The most important thing is his baby doll, Riley. Usually, he dresses Riley for bed, then changes his clothes again in the morning. He holds on to that doll all night long. He is very attached to Riley, but he's beginning to be more conscious of what other people think of him. Instead of taking the doll into the store, or to a family dinner, he chooses to leave him in the car. It's interesting to see Roan change. There was a day he didn't care what anyone thought of what he wore or what he played with!

In the picture, you can see his blue sheets. They're flannel with snowflakes on them. Since he transitioned into a big boy bed at 14 months, these have been his favorite sheets. Not just favorite...the ONLY sheets he would sleep on. When he was tiny, if I used different sheets, he just refused to go to bed. This weekend, I washed his sheets, but forgot they were in the dryer until it was time to go to bed. They were still damp, so I pulled out some different sheets, made is bed and crossed my fingers. He got into bed and commented that the sheets were different.... he said he thought he might be able to make it one night. He had a little trouble adjusting, but made it! He woke up the next morning and asked nicely if he could have his blue sheets back. He felt the percale sheets were "just too hot" and just weren't as comfortable. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but really, it is to me. He's growing up, becoming less rigid, becoming more aware of other people. It's a good thing!

Roan's 6th Birthday

2011-03-22T11:06:00.003-05:00

My baby is 6 years old! It's amazing how time flies! He decided very early on (back around Libby's birthday!) that he wanted his party to be at Bonker's and he wanted a 'dog' theme. Bonker's is a place along the lines of Chuck E. Cheese's, but much less obnoxious, with better food and better games. They have party rooms you can use, and you're assigned a party host who helps you coordinate the party.

This was his cake. The gal at the bakery is terrific! She copied the design from his invitation, and did a great job. He was thrilled with it!

Roan in his new Scooby Doo shirt from Aunt Ida and Uncle David. That's Ryan, his best friend.

Ryan's gift... a big, loud truck! He was so excited!

Getting ready to blow out his candles!

Me with my sweet boy!

Snow Ice Cream

2011-03-10T18:33:00.003-06:00

During the Great Snowpocalypse of 2011, the kids got a little bored. So, we decided to make snow ice cream.

Roan adding the snow to the eggs and vanilla...

Libby stirring away...

We decided that snow ice cream is THE BOMB! I could have eaten the whole bowl! Shannon didn't want any. He didn't trust that I scooped "clean" snow. As if. lol.

Spirit Week at Pioneer Trail

2011-03-10T17:50:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, the kids' school had spirit week. Monday was "Mismatch Day".

This is Libby in hairbobs that don't match, pants and shirt thtat clash and mismatched socks. About the only thing that matched were her shoes!

It's harder to see Roan...he's in a striped Izod with a wild Hawaiian shirt over it.

Wednesday was Hippie Day... I made the kids each a peace sign head band and a peace sign necklace. Roan had a tie dye shirt left from last Spring at preschool. He's soooo cool!

Libby had a shirt that said "Peace" and here, she's putting on her peace sign earrings.

Straight out of the 1960's, huh? lol!

The Leprechaun Trap!

2011-03-07T10:35:00.003-06:00

Every month, Roan's teacher sends home a "Family Project" assignment. This month, the kids had a choice: they could decorate a rainbow, or build a Leprechaun trap. Roan chose to build a trap. I was proud of him, because it would have been a lot less work to decorate a rainbow. The assignment explained that the trap shouldn't be much bigger than a shoe box, that it had to have at least one moving part and that the child had to explain how it worked to his classmates. It went on to explain that Leprechauns are tricky! They love shiny, colorful things and that they disobey rules and signs.

So, Roan, Libby, Shannon and I put our heads together, went to Menard's and Hobby Lobby, and started building a trap! This is Roan paining a small wooden chest...just to prove that he did most of the work!

Here's the finished project. A glittery gold path will lead the Leprechaun past several signs warning him to "stay away" and "no Leprechauns allowed"! There's a big pot of gold inside the chest. When he dives, for the gold, the lid comes down and will trap the tricky Leprechaun!

Ok, I did some of it...

This is the pot of gold inside the trap. That's a toothpick holding the door open...

Roan with his finished Leprechaun trap. We took it to school this morning...and it arrived in one piece! He was sure proud of his project! He told me "Thank you for helping me with my project...it means a lot to me!" What a nice kid!

Roan and Taekwondo

2011-03-07T10:12:00.004-06:00

Roan has been asking for a while to take Taekwondo. As it turns out, one of the doctors I work with has a good friend who owns a Taekwondo studio here in town. Dr Tang highly recommended Master Howard, so we went last week for our free initial lesson. Roan was so excited to go, he could hardly sit still! Master Howard asked me what goals I would like to see Roan achieve through TKD. I said he has a little trouble with bilateral integration -- he's not great at riding a bike yet. I also said I'd like for him to work on coordination, balance, focus and concentration.
He's so cute, I can hardly stand it!

During Roan's first lesson, he did a great job paying attention and following directions. Master Howard taught him how to punch, which Roan thought was awesome. Then he taught Roan to kick. Believe it or not, the boy can kick as high as his head! When he did that, Master Howard said "I think we may want to place him in the older class!" I sure was proud of the little squirt! So instead of being in "Tiny Tigers", he's in "Tigers BBC". This is a big deal when you're 6! He gets to go to class twice a week. Exciting for him, but a scheduling nightmare for mom!

This is Roan's first class last Wednesday. That's him in front. Look how much bigger the other boys are! There are a couple smaller kids, too. He paid attention and did everything the instructors asked. He was given a stripe on his belt; when they get three stripes, they get to move up to the next belt.

Look at the passion and concentration! He really loves this. In fact, after his first class, he said "Mom, I really think I was born for this!". In order to earn the privilege of TKD classes, he's committed to completing a checklist of responsibilities every day, such as making his bed, setting the table and putting his clothes in the hamper. He also is required to say "Yes, sir" and "No sir" during class; he decided it would be good to say it outside of class, too.

Now, of course, Libby wants to take Taekwondo, too!! I'm going to go broke on lessons!

Happy Birthday, Roan!

2011-03-04T12:12:00.004-06:00

Can you guess who this little cutie is? Those big blue eyes give it away, don't they?

This is Roan when he was 4 months old. My friend, Amy Knollmeyer took these pictures for us.

I guess because Roan turned 6 last week, I'm feeling a little reminiscent. He's grown up so much, it's unbelievable. When I look at these pictures, I marvel at what we've been through. It was just a few weeks after this that he stopped sleeping. It was a year after these pictures that we moved to KC and I started chiropractic college.

The look on his face cracks me up! Look at those chubby legs!

We've been through speech therapy, occupational therapy, milk and wheat allergies and being obsessed with dresses. Now, he's a big boy, excelling in Kindergarten, doing great in Taekwondo and being a whiz on the computer.

Look at little Libby! She's not even 2! I love her curls!

Some things about Roan I don't want to forget:

Right now, he's in love with "Riley", his bitty baby doll. He dresses him every day, feeds him imaginary food and sleeps with him every night.
He had his first Taekwondo lesson this week. He's very good at it! He said "Mom, I think I was born for this!"
He has a crush on one of my co-workers, named Adrienne. He is convinced he will marry her!
He has a terrific teacher named Krista Merk. She totally "gets" him and appreciates his personality and sense of humor. Not everyone does, so I really appreciate her a lot. She has made Kindergarten a great experience for him.
He loves to watch iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Shake It Up. He can quote most episodes of iCarly verbatim. He still loves to watch Scooby Doo, too!
Right now, he is obsessed with Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas.
At night, he still says "Goodnight, my sweet mommy."
He claims to be "an early riser". He typically is up well before anyone else! I don't mind because he actually lets me sleep!

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

I'm a total blogging failure

2011-02-08T16:32:00.006-06:00

Wow, I can't believe how time flies...and what a blogging failure I am! I haven't posted since Halloween. That's pathetic.

A lot of things have happened... I was offered a job at Health Quest Physicians Group in Jefferson City. This is the practice where I did an Extended Preceptorship (chiropractic version of a residency) after graduation. Of course, I was thrilled and jumped on the opportunity! HQPG is a large, busy practice right in the middle of town. There are 3 other doctors, a Physical Therapist, a PT Assistant, a Massage Therapist and 3 CA's, and we're hopping all the time! These are the other docs I work with:

In case you don't recognize me, I'm the one on the left :) Next to me is Dr. Roger Owens; he owns the practice and hired me. I've learned a lot about adjusting and the real-life side of chiropractic from him. Then there's Dr. Roger Dixon and Dr. Tang. Yep, I'm the only female, which seems to be an advantage so far.

This is the front door of the practice. This is where I come every day...

Right now, I'm seeing a lot of kids with autism, which is exactly my goal. I'll be attending the Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) Physician Training next month. This is so exciting for me because my whole goal of going to Chiropractic college was to become a DAN! doctor. We're set up to do all the lab work associated with the biomedical treatment of autism, including blood work, stool samples and saliva testing. I love it; it's surreal!

I've also started a new part of the practice, specializing in Natural Hormone Balancing. I do saliva and bloodspot testing to help, especially women, with issues surrounding menopause, difficult menstruation and thyroid problems.

As for the rest of life... the kids have settled in really well. Libby has gotten all A's on her report cards, and is reading as well as many adults. Roan isn't graded on the A-F scale yet, but he's doing just great, too. They have lots of friends and enjoy school. Libby is still in piano lessons. We take from Deborah McAlexander who lives just down the street. She has brought Libby a long way! She is able to sight-read extremely well and is making progress with rhythm. Roan tried drum lessons for a while, but we didn't have a good fit with the instructor. We'll try that again in a few months. For now, he's starting Tae Kwan Do. He did so well at his initial private lesson that his instructor decided to put him in the group with the older kids. He's thrilled. Tonight is his first official lesson. He told me the other night "Mom, I think I was born for this!"

So, life in Jeff City is idyllic. We're busy, but happy! Now, in my idyllic world, I promise to start blogging regularly again!

Trick-or-Treating!

2010-11-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

We are so happy to be back in Jefferson City!! We got to meet up with our good friends, the Knollmeyers, to go trick-or-treating this year! I usually start their costumes in late August, but I got kind of a late start this year. I was sewing feverishly up until the last minute!

Roan, Libby, Clara and Chloe, ready to head out for candy!

Libby decided to be Cleopatra this year. I thought she looked so cute in her wig and eyeliner!

Roan wanted to be a ghost and wear spooky make up!

I think this is such a fun picture! I love Libby's "Frankenstein smile" and her little belly sticking out. I love the way Roan is standing with his chest out... he looks exactly like my Grandpa Jones when he does that! And he was sure to grab his "camping flashlight", even though it was still daylight! They sure had a great time!

Halloween Party, part 2

2010-11-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

So last Saturday, Libby and Roan each invited two little friends over for a Halloween party.

Here's Libby with the mummy dogs she made.

And the "bugs" we made from little smokies...

...and the monster cookies.

...and VERY happy children having a great time! They thought drinking hot chocolate from wine glasses was so cool! To Libby's right is her best friend, Clara. They met at swim lessons when they were 9 months old!

Here's Roan and his best friend, Ryan.

The O'Donnell-McGowin household survived the Halloween party of 2010! I was worn out by the time it was over, but the kids had great time!

Halloween Party... OR... Let's torture mom!

2010-11-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

The kids begged and begged me to let them have a little Halloween party this year. I love to give parties, and I love my children...but the thought of a bunch of Kindergarten and first graders overtaking my house was almost too much to fathom. So, we compromised. I let each kid invite two friends over...and for only a couple of hours.

They made their own invitations...

Libby working hard on her spider invitations. She is incredibly focused and meticulous. Her invitations were so cute!

Roan's invitations had bats on them. He worked hard, too, but needed a little more help from mom!

Of course, Libby planned the menu. We had mummy dogs, smokey bugs, hot chocolate and monster cookies...

Roan helped make the mummy dogs, too!

Mummy dogs, ready for the oven!

Party pics to follow!

It's no Gojo's but...

2010-11-04T17:40:00.000-05:00

Jefferson City is a-buzz about the new restaurant in town... Fuji offers hibachi-style cuisine as well as sushi, and is similar to Gojo's in Kansas City. Anyone who has read this blog knows I'm crazy about Gojo's... On our first anniversary weekend, Shannon and I decided to give it a try.

The chef was very entertaining, and did a lot more knife work than the chefs at Gojo's. However there was no shrimp appetizer or dessert, and it was a bit more expensive. And alas, there was no yellow sauce, and no green sauce. They did have something very tasty that Shannon and I dubbed 'yum yum sauce'. It got us through. You can see the yum-yum in the ramekin on the right, below...

This was my dinner... a tasty chicken stir fry. Maybe I can pay the Gojo's people to ship me some yellow and green sauce.

And this was my dessert! Shannon surprised me that night with an amazing engagement ring! Oh, my completely charmed life.... and by the way... I said yes. As if there was any doubt!!

Roan's Detox Foot Bath

2010-11-04T17:27:00.000-05:00

At my office, we offer Detox Foot Baths... it's an amazing process. The ionized water pulls toxins out of the body via the feet. The color of the water and the particulates tell the doctor what issues the person has... liver issues, candida, joint problems, cigarette toxins, etc.

Roan has always struggled with eczema and candida, despite never being vaccinated and never being on antibiotics. So... I decided to see what the foot bath would do for him. He thought the whole process was super cool!
This is Roan's water after less than one minute!

Yes, it looks gross. This was after 10 minutes or so.

And it kept getting darker and thicker...

This was the water when he was finished (after 30 minutes). Very dark orange/brown and sludgey. (is that even a word?)

It's hard to see, but there were a lot of solid particulates at the bottom of the pan. I was shocked to see that they were mostly heavy metals. And this in an unvaccinated kid!! Heavy metals can enter the body many ways, I know, but I was still very surprised.

The day after his detox, he woke up crying in the night, saying that his skin itched terribly. He was frantic from the itching and pain. It took an hour and every remedy I had to calm him and his skin down enough for him to go back to sleep. When he got up the next morning, every bit of eczema was GONE! Amazing!

Seussical Auditions

2010-11-04T17:18:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, the kids auditioned for 'Seussical the Musical'. We found out on a Thursday night that the auditions were on Saturday. The kids were expected to memorize a song and perform it at the audition. Luckily, Libby's piano instructor worked with them both on the song, and what to expect at the audition. Then we practiced over and over....

Saturday morning came and they were both so excited!! We went to the Miller Performing Arts Center and saw LOTS of kids waiting to audition. They called the kids up by age group and practiced the song with small groups.

Libby and Roan got to go up together to practice with the accompanist. Of course, that's Libby in the foreground; Roan is the third boy from the right. They marched right up on stage and didn't seem nervous at all!

The kids were also shown a dance routine and were expected to learn and perform it right away. They both did great! I was more nervous than they were. After they practiced, they were called to the stage one at a time to sing the song. Roan volunteered to go first. He got a little lost in the song, but he stuck it out and did his best. Libby also got a little lost in the song, but continued to sing to the end. I was really proud of them both for having the courage to stand on that huge stage in front of all those people. Although neither of them got a part, they had a great time and learned a lot!

Pumpkin carving!

2010-11-04T16:54:00.000-05:00

Libby and Roan absolutely LOVE to carve pumpkins! We had a great time this year...

Libby is very good at carving. She does her best to clean out her pumpkin, too. Mom really appreciates that!

I don't know what's up with the smile... but don't let the picture fool you. He had very little to do with cleaning out his pumpkin! He worked pretty hard at carving, though.

This is Libby's masterpiece! She did every bit of it herself!

This is Roan's jack-o-lantern. He had a little help, but worked pretty hard at it! Cute, huh?

My little musicians

2010-11-04T16:40:00.001-05:00

When I was in school, I absolutely loved being in band. In fact, I met my two best friends from college when I joined Marching Mizzou. We won't talk about how long ago that was...

Both Libby and Roan have always seemed musically inclined since they were little. Libby started piano lessons when she was 4. When we got to Jefferson City, we were lucky enough to find a piano instructor who lives about 8 houses down from us! Libby goes to her lesson once a week, and to a group lesson once a week.

This is a shot of the kids at group lesson. That's Libby sitting at the piano, playing a piece for the grup. They love it. Roan goes, too...he's the "drum captain".

We also found "Class of Rock" that offers all types of music lessons. Roan has been taking drum lessons since August. He says that "drummers get all the chicks". Yes, he's 5. Yes, I know I'm in for it as he gets older...

So, my hope is that both kids are talented musicians, and that music will be a big part of their lives... so far, it's been worth all the hours of practice and shuttling them to lessons!

Oh, our Justin Bieber phase...

2010-10-12T18:43:00.001-05:00

This summer, Roan went through a Justin Bieber phase. He listened to his CD constantly, watched him on TV... then decided he wanted the "Justin Beaver haircut". Oh boy... so we let his usually short hair grow out. A couple of days before school started, we took off to the salon. He brought the CD just to make sure the stylist knew exactly what haircut he wanted.

When the stylist asked why he liked Justin's haircut, he told her "boys with a Justin Beaver haircut get all the chicks!" The whole salon burst out laughing!

This is actually kind of a poignant picture for me. There was a day when Roan absolutely could not tolerate a haircut. He would hold his ears and scream... we sure have come a long way.

As it turns out, "The Beaver" only lasted about a month. He decided it was WAAAYY too high maintenance... it got messy during recess...and that's not how a man gets the chicks. Yes, that's the wisdom of a 5 year old!

Life has CHANGED!... graduation

2010-10-05T16:46:00.000-05:00

First, the caveat. My friend, Suzie was the appointed graduation photographer. She's in the process of sending me those pictures, but for now, here's proof that it really happened! I graduated! That's a fake diploma in my hand...and me trying not to completely faint dead over. It was quite a day. Surreal is a good word. The night before commencement, the graduates are invited to the President's Dinner. We had dinner, received awards, and reminisced about our time at Cleveland. Shannon and I survived the blistering heat...and met my BFF Suzie and her husband, Chris there. We had a terrific time! I was convinced I would cry the whole night, but I did ok. The next day, Shannon and I had a nice lunch, tried not to sweat to death in the August heat, then headed to the school. So many of my friends came to share this amazing occasion. Shannon. A whole car load came from Columbia MO... Michelle, Sharla, Sarah. My best friend from Kindergarten. My kids. My parents. It was just amazing to stand at the completion of a goal I set for myself so long ago. After the commencement, we hosted a dinner reception for more friends and family. What a great time! Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a special day!

Life has CHANGED... our move to Jefferson City

2010-10-05T16:27:00.000-05:00

August 6 was the big day. We decided to move the week before graduation because the kids were scheduled to start school just a couple of days later. I thought it was be an easier transition for them if we had a little time to unpack and settle before they started at their new school.

Thank God for the man with some muscle! We took off from Mid-Missouri with the moving truck on August 6...

...and arrived in Peculiar later that afternoon to start the torture. We got the major things loaded in about 4 hours, and headed back to Jeff City. The truck was full of furniture and the cab was full of 2 howling cats. Stella and Sadie were NOT very happy about the trip.

We got back to Jeff about 1am, slept in, then started unloading. Shannon's daughter Mallory and her husband, Seth came over to help us unload. Funny how much faster it goes with a little extra help!

The kids spent the week of the move with their Meme and Baba O'Donnell. When they came home...to their new home, their rooms were completely unpacked. Prior to that, they'd only seen the walls and empty floor space... this is Libby seeing her new room for the first time! She was SO excited!

This was Roan's reaction! He immediately dove onto his bed and giggled. So far, they've adjusted really well to a new home, new school and a new routine. It's so nice to be back in Jefferson City!

Life has CHANGED!... Part 1

2010-10-05T16:13:00.001-05:00

This has been a crazy summer! That's my excuse for ignoring my blog for so long!We spent most of July getting ready to move to Jefferson City. We had lots of fun picking out new paint colors for the kids' new bedrooms, new comforters, and curtains.
This is Libby working on painting her new room. Yes, it's pink. Very pink. She's a pretty amazing painter. No messes... better than most adults could do!

Libby's room with the edges cut in... wow I've painted a LOT in the last couple of months!

The kids working on Roan's new room. His room is khaki... it's a jungle theme. He's still waiting on his mom to paint some monkeys on the wall.

Roan helping paint his sissy's room. They thought it was really fun to be included in the projects.

Beale Street, Memphis

2010-06-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

We were so lucky to be in Memphis during the Memphis in May Music Festival. Downtown was buzzing with people and activity. We spent the whole afternoon and evening people watching and site seeing. It was amazing! We really were there!!

My two favorite men...

Just a glimpse of the crowd as we entered Beale St. There were thousands of people! Most of the restaurants and shops had carts on the sidewalk selling souvenirs, food, beer, etc.

We got a kick out of this. I can't tell you the joke we made about it, but we still laugh amongst ourselves.

Toward the end of the day, the crowd began heading toward the riverfront. The concert was held in a dome right on the river -- the throng of people you see parallel to the river was the line to get into the concert! Shannon and I walked down through the crowd down the river. We sat and watched the boats, birds and people. It was wonderful...hot but wonderful! We've decided that we need to go back to Memphis every year on vacation!

The boot mystery...solved

2010-06-24T09:44:00.000-05:00

Who knew that the great rainboot mystery would be solved while eating the world's best BBQ? We got a recommendation for a restaurant from a nice lady selling pralines just off Beale St. She told us "The Rendezvous" was the best BBQ in town...she couldn't tell us exactly where it was, but that it wouldn't be hard to find. Well, we walked a bit...not really realizing that the restaurant's storefront was in an alley. But, it's a fairly well-known place, so we eventually got good directions and made it there. This is us at The Rendezvous, trying to decide what to eat. Little did we know we were about to enter taste bud heaven.

This was our waiter...and the one who solved our boot mystery. First of all, he was a terrific waiter; we had great food and great service. When we saw MORE women in the restaurant sporting the boots, we finally just asked him. He explained that for the last 9 out of 10 years, it has rained during the Music Festival at the riverfront. So now, women come prepared to get wet... hence the rainboots!! Just as predicted, it DID rain on the music festival. In fact, there were such fierce storms, they had to evacuate the concert on Friday night. Shannon and I had friends and family calling and texting us to make sure we were safe. The storms were so bad, they made the news in Missouri!

Ok, back to the Rendezvous. The food was UNBELIEVABLE!! Shannon had ribs. You can see by the bare bones that he enjoyed every bite! You don't have a choice in side dishes...all they serve are beans and cole slaw...but oh my GOSH, they were so good, you don't care to have anything else. I'm not a big slaw fan, but theirs is amazing.

Memphis has the best sweet tea, hands down. One of the things I loved about the Rendezvous was that the waiter brings an entire pitcher of tea and leaves it on the table. Yes, I drank the entire pitcher. If I could have taken it home with me, I would have!

I had the brisket. It was probably the best brisket I've ever had...as you can see, I also enjoyed every bite. I seriously considered the ribs, but I still haven't quite gotten past my 'can't eat off the bone' food rule.

If you're ever in Memphis, you HAVE to stop in at The Rendezvous! We were so glad we did!

Boots on Beale Street!

2010-06-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

Shannon and I took a trip to Memphis in April... we luckily, though unwittingly, were there during the Memphis in May Music Festival downtown. On our second day there (after Graceland, of course!), we went to the Civil Rights Museum, then downtown to Beale St. Wow! What an experience! We saw people of every type, heard great music and tasted some amazing food. We ran into a group of bikers; one of them had a cool shirt on, so I asked to take his picture... Notice his buddy laughing in the background. I think they were surprised that I wanted their picture! They looked a little intimidating and I'm rather vanilla... but they were really nice guys.

Soon, we discovered that a mystery was afoot. (Yes, that's foreshadowing). It seemed everywhere we looked, we saw women wearing rainboots. It didn't seem to matter what they were wearing...dresses, shorts, skirts...they all had on rainboots. We thought maybe it was a Memphis fashion statement that hadn't made it to Missouri yet... Anyway, I started taking pictures...

We saw rainboots in every color and pattern...

Even plaid...

One store had quite a promotion on rainboots...

A dress, leggings and rainboots... seriously, we saw probably a hundred women dressed like this. Finally, we gave up and asked "What's up with the boots?" The answer surprised us... stay tuned.

How we've changed!

2010-06-23T14:19:00.000-05:00

I recently (finally!) got a new phone... I found some pictures on the old phone that I had forgotten about. They're so funny...it's amazing how much the kids have grown and changed. This is Roan in 2007...back in the days when he would only sleep in Libby's princess nightgowns. He doesn't do this anymore!!!! Hallelujah!

Libby and Roan... look how little they were!

Oh my... this was one of Roan's first haircuts. There was a day when haircuts were a torturous ordeal...screaming, crying, holding him down... he doesn't do this anymore!!! He sits in the chair like a big boy and flirts with the stylist. Sometimes I wonder how I survived those days.

This is the famous "Snow White dress"...complete with the "tewawa" (tiara). He was so tiny! He wore this dress to shreds, literally. And again, he doesn't wear dresses anymore!!!

Look at Libby! Her hair was so short and curly...and she was so little! She would have been 3 here...younger than Roan is now.

We've all grown so much since we moved to KC in 2006! It's amazing that this chapter in our lives is almost over!

Library Summer Reading Program

2010-06-23T14:12:00.000-05:00

Every year, the kids look forward to participating in the Library's Summer Reading Program. Every Monday night, they host a family program. A couple of weeks ago, they had a Magician / Ventriloquist. The kids LOVED it! He called Libby up to participate with the ventriloquist dummy... He called her "Hannah Montana" and she was thrilled!!

Afterward, Roan was really disappointed that he didn't get called up in front of the audience like sister did, so the guy was kind enough to pull out his dummies and let him see them.

He let Roan hold the gorilla...you can tell by his face that he wasn't too sure how he felt about it! They had so much fun, they're still talking about it!

Roan the preschool playboy!

2010-06-23T14:03:00.001-05:00

It's no secret that Roan is a charmer. He's the kid everyone knows. I was at the Redbox kiosk the other day and the lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said "You're Roan's mom, aren't you? He just cracks me up!" I had NO IDEA who this woman was! Roan has always had several girls chasing him at once. He's had one girlfriend for several months, now. Her name is Shaylin and they've been in the same class at preschool since last year. It's so funny to hear his stories about her. He calls her his "woman" and tells me how she pulls him around the corner by the bathroom and kisses him in the hallway. "She kisses me on the MOUTH, mom!" She came to his birthday party in February...and according to him, that means they're getting married! So cute. Unfortunately, Shaylin's last day at preschool was last week. Here's a picture of them together: They're pretty good buddies and he's going to miss her a lot...even though he says she's pretty bossy! He ought to like bossy women...he lives with two of them!

This little girl has a crush on Roan...so she made her way into the picture, too. Surrounded by women at age 5...how will I handle this when he's 16?

Preschool Graduation

2010-05-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

My baby boy graduated from preschool last week! I can't believe it! He has gone to Kids First Preschool since December 2006, so the staff there are like family. They helped me through Roan's dress-wearing phase, and through his speech problems. He's learned a lot there!

Here he is after getting his diploma! On the left is Ms. Karen. Roan LOVES her. On the right is Ms. Betty Jo. She makes him "do hard work".

On his way back to his seat with his diploma and "Jesus Loves Me" coloring book.

Is he the cutest kid ever? I should have gotten a picture of his outfit... plaid Bermuda shorts, a yellow polo shirt with a navy sweater vest. Too handsome! He's pretty proud of finishing preschool...but he's having a hard time understanding that Kindergarten doesn't start until August!

Is it wrong to love a shower head?

2010-05-25T13:32:00.001-05:00

On our trip to Memphis, we were lucky to find a wonderful hotel! It was a Holiday Inn and Suites on the East side of the city. It was clean, the staff were friendly and the room was AMAZING.
We were in Room 121...betcha couldn't guess! ha

This was the room. You can't see everything, but we had a fold-out couch, a kitchenette with a fridge/freezer and a jacuzzi tub. I never knew how much I would love a jacuzzi tub. The bed was absolutely fantastic. It was incredibly comfortable and they had GREAT linens. I'm kind of a bed linen weirdo, anyway. More on that below.

Here is the best part of our room. The shower head. No kidding. I don't have the words to describe the fantabulousness of this shower. The water pressure was perfect; and the actual flow of the water nearly made us melt. This shower was so amazing, the first shower I had when I got home just made me mad. Shannon and I are now on a quest to find one just like this to install in his bathroom!

I travel with pillows. I always have. Now, I've converted Shannon. This is our pile of 4 pillows we took along with us. What's funny is that the pillows on the hotel bed were so awesome, we could have slept on them alone and been fine. Yes, I'm picky about my bed. Certain sheets, made a certain way; certain pillows arranged just so. I love having "the perfect pillow moment" and that happened a lot on our trip. Luckily, Shannon is patient with me.

We will definitely stay at this hotel again when we go back to Memphis in May!

Hunka hunka burnin' love

2010-05-10T09:08:00.001-05:00

When I was a little kid, I'd listen to the song "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love" and sing like crazy into my hairbrush. Hey, I was an only child. I had to entertain myself somehow, right? I like to joke and call Shannon my "hunka hunka"....well, because he is. While we were at Graceland, we strolled through the gift shop. They have all the standard tourist-y items, but if you go on through, they have kind of an alcove that has higher end items. Guitars, art, jewelry, etc... Shannon found this.....

A black leather jacket in his size. Of course we had to try it on. Of course, I nearly came unglued. We thought seriously about buying it until we saw the higher end price tag. Gulp...it was $500. Yikes! So I just took pictures of him wearing the jacket at every conceivable angle. Maybe I'll wall paper my room in them... lol.

More Graceland...

2010-05-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

After we toured the inside of the house, we moved along to an outbuilding that once housed Vernon Presley's office. Once we passed through there, we came to a room that had once been an original smokehouse...Elvis and his friends used it for target practice... Actual bullets recovered from the floor and walls...
The target they used...

This was a replica of the house in Tupelo MS where Elvis was born. Very cool.

This was taken from the backyard where the horses are kept. It still amazes me that Elvis LIVED HERE. Wow.

Muffins with Mom

2010-05-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

Roan's preschool hosts "Muffins with Mom" on the Friday prior to Mother's Day. It's so cute! They decorate the lobby and serve muffins, fruit and juice. Today was Muffins with Mom! No one could ever dispute that this boy belongs to me, huh? We had blueberry muffins and water (Roan won't drink OJ); Roan filled my cup, carried it to the table, then announced that I am "the best mommy [he's] ever had!" That's my sweet boy!

Remoulade and special seasoning...

2010-05-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my first blog post dedicated to remoulade. How silly is that?Like I mentioned in the last post, Shannon's meal came with a remoulade sauce. I think it was the best thing I've ever tasted. I'm kind of a dipper when I eat, anyway, so this was right up my alley. Usually, I'm a ranch dressing dipper, but this sauce was the cat's meow!! I thought about asking for a quart to go. I even tried to talk the recipe out of the waitress. No luck. Saturday, we met a guy whose wife works at the Half Shell. I tried to talk him into getting the recipe for me. Again, no luck. So, it's now my mission in life to perfect this recipe.

The other awesome part of this restaurant was their special seasoning blend. I think you can guess which one it is. It was so good, I almost cried. It's kind of like Lawrey's Seasoned Salt with a MAJOR spicy kick...oh and about a thousand times tastier. I considered sliding the whole shaker in my purse, but figured that would be frowned upon at the least. I was actually afraid they'd chase me out to the car. So, I put on my best charm and asked the waitress about it...and guess what she did?

She brought me a little container of it to take home!! We decided it wasn't full enough, so we poured a little extra in from the shaker on the table!! Hey, I have to make it last until we can get down to Memphis again!

The Half Shell...

2010-05-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is a little out of order...but I realize that maybe not EVERYONE cares about photos of Graceland as much as I do... so I'll break it up a little :-)

After our gloriously wonderful day at Graceland, we decided to eat at a little place called "The Half Shell". The sweet lady at the hotel's front desk recommended it to us. Wow, was it GOOD! I don't mean 'adequate' or 'ok'. I mean slap-your-momma-good.
This was their menu. Oh, and Shannon's hand. lol It was primarily a seafood restaurant, but the menu was a little different than we expected. Shannon got the Half Shell Combo (I think was the name...). It had grilled fish, crab cakes, and shrimp. Yum!

Here is his magnificent dinner. I'm not kidding when I say magnificent. Oh, and please note the sauce on the upper right corner of the picture. This was remoulade. I've never been a big fan of remoulade...that is until I tasted this. I almost licked the ramekin. I think it deserves its own blog post. Stay tuned.

...and this is what was left of Shannon's meal! Even the crab cakes were to die for. We agreed that they had an odd seasoning that was a little overpowering after a few bites, but we won't hold that against them. Please note that the remoulade is conspicuously absent...

This was my dinner. Yes, it's a Reuben. And yes, I know we were at a seafood restaurant... The thing is, I was all ready for seafood, but there was really nothing that yanked my chain in the seafood genre... and I didn't want to be disappointed in my meal. Did I ever make a good choice. Now, I've had my share of reubens, given that it's my favorite sandwich on the face of the planet, and I can say without a doubt, this is the BEST one I've EVER had. I almost cried it was so good. And when I slathered it with Shannon's remoulade, I nearly fell over dead with pleasure.

Here's a picture of the outside of the restaurant. It was a beautiful night, our tummies were full and happy...so we just stood outside by the car and reveled in it. What an amazing day!

Graceland...part 2. The TV room and pool room

2010-05-06T12:27:00.000-05:00

This is the TV room . It's decorated in bright yellow and navy blue. You can't see it, but the pillows are a couple of shades of yellow and covered in sequins and other glittery things. There were three televisions going, each showing something different. Evidently, EP liked to stay updated... One of the weirdest things in the room was the creepy monkey on the coffee table. It had weird possessed eyes. Elvis had bad taste, but I love him anyway.

This is downstairs in Elvis' pool room. The room's walls and ceiling were covered in hundreds of yards of fabric. It was amazing! The pool table still has a rip in the felt where one of his friends missed a shot. Again, no flash photography was allowed; sorry for the poor quality.

This was a shot of the ceiling of the pool room. That's fabric!

This was the rack filled with pool cues. Evidently, Elvis was a big pool player. It was amazing how small the house was, and especially, how low the ceilings were in the basement! It was all I could do not to bust through the velvet ropes and... oh, sorry. I lost control there for a minute. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have gotten visit... amazing!

Graceland... the Jungle Room

2010-05-06T12:08:00.001-05:00

I have the most amazing man in the world. He took me to Graceland last week. It was almost more than I could stand! I've loved Elvis since I was a little kid. I had a pretty cool mom; she took me to my first concert (ELVIS!) when I was in second grade. In fact, we still have the ticket stubs and program stored in her attic somewhere. We saw him in the Spring, just before he died that Summer. I remember sobbing when I heard he passed away...

Shannon bought the VIP tour, which allowed us to tour the grounds at our own pace (rather than being herded in a tour group), see the car museum, the airplanes, and allowed us to return to the mansion as many times as we wanted. (and yes, we did return!) It also allowed the staff to treat us like royalty, which was pretty awesome, too! This is the sign as you drive into the parking lot. I almost had a panic attack when I saw this. I think my exact words were "I can't believe we're here...I can't believe we're here..."

Of course, we saw the Jungle Room. Honestly, it wasn't quite as gaudy as I anticipated. This was an arm of one of the chairs...kind of neat, really.

One of the fur chairs... we weren't allowed to use flash photography, so the pictures didn't turn out quite as sharp as I would have liked... to the left of this chair was a water fountain. Very cool.

The couch... again, sorry for the blur. It totally freaks me out that Elvis butt was on this couch.

The far end of the room... you can see the bar and barstools. The carpet was very green shag; the same carpet was on the ceiling!

Stay tuned for the kitchen, TV room and pool room...

Memphis!!

2010-05-06T09:52:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday, the Man and I headed to Memphis. We've been planning this trip since December, and happily, it went off without a hitch! Shannon getting the trunk arranged. He was amazed at what a light packer I am! It took us about 7 hours to get there from Jeff City; that included stopping to eat and one pit stop. We got to travel through the bootheel of Missouri...my old stomping ground. I was the Director of the Southeast MO Autism Project back in the 1990's, so it was fun driving through some of the cities I used to go to.
This was one of the first sites we saw as we came into Tennessee. I nearly fainted. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Elvis fan. That's the reason Shannon suggested we go to Memphis... We got a little turned around trying to get to our hotel, but all in all, the trip down was wonderful! After we got settled in, we went to a place called "Buckley's" for dinner. We each got a filet; they were so good, we almost cried. On Thursday, we went to Graceland.... stay tuned!

More Pictures from Gojo's!

2010-04-21T12:45:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in the last post about going to Gojo's Saturday night to celebrate Cynthia's graduation...here are some great pictures Cynthia took!

Sean, Shannon and I, waiting (not-so-patiently) for dinner to start!

Is this maximum cute-ness or what? They almost look like twins!

Roan always wants the chef to flip the shrimp to him...he tries hard to catch it! This is Libby and Roan watching the shrimp fly by!

Libby actually eating a SHRIMP! Can you see the excitement on mom's face??

Can we just take a picture without acting like goof balls? Apparently not!

Baby time!

2010-04-19T13:58:00.000-05:00

My best friend, Michelle became a grandma ... er...Mimi ... last week! Her daughter, Mariah, had baby Isaiah last Saturday morning! Luckily, we were in town when he was born, so we stopped by to meet sweet baby Isaiah...

Roan holding Isaiah. He wasn't too sure about how to hold him, but he did fine!

Roan with Isaiah and Aunt Lala. She and I aren't "Great" aunts... we're too young for all that. We'll stick to being just plain "Aunt LaLa" and "Aunt WeeWee"!

Gojo's...Again! OR Shrimp Time!

2010-04-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

My dear friend, Cynthia, graduated from Chiropractic College on Friday. To celebrate, we joined her and some other friends for dinner at Gojo's Saturday night. I've written before about what picky eaters Libby and Roan can be... well, they do love Gojo's, primarily for the rice and the soup. Roan always wants the chef to flip the shrimp in his mouth...but doesn't want to EAT the shrimp. I've never minded that they don't eat the shrimp appetizer, because that just means MORE for ME!!

Well, Saturday night both kids decided it was time to try shrimp. We stared at it, licked it, we took a tiny bite... then Roan took the plunge! and he LIKED it!!

Libby tried it too! It took her a minute to talk herself into taking a bite, then she chased it with a chopstick full of rice... she liked it too!

Oh, and Libby decided to take our picture. She caught Shannon mid-chew...but we still look kinda cute!

We had a great time with Cynthia, her mom Lou, Leslie and Linda. Great job on a huge academic accomplishment, Cynthia!

Roan's Kindergarten Registration

2010-04-13T09:15:00.000-05:00

Last week, Roan and I took a little road trip to Jefferson City for his Kindergarten Registration! This was a VERY exciting day for him. On our way, we stopped in Columbia and saw Aunt 'Chelle and some friends from Judevine where I used to work. After that, we stopped at Central Dairy, the mecca of all ice cream shops, then on to Shannon's. After changing clothes and combing his hair, we headed around the corner to Pioneer Trail Elementary! Isn't he too cute? Standing at the entrance of his new school. We had to have a long talk about the difference between 'registration' and 'attendance'. He thought that registration meant he could start going to kindergarten NOW!

Touring one of the classrooms. He was enchanted by the magnetic dry erase board!

Looking out the window onto the playground.

This is the classroom he hopes he gets. He walked around in awe... "I'll be such a lucky boy to go to school here!" He's VERY excited! ...and he met his first friend. Ironically, his new friend, Drew, his the son of an old friend of mine. Mamie and I took some classes together in Cape Girardeau back in 1995! Now they live in Jeff City and the boys are friends. What a small world! I'll take Libby on August 2 for her registration. Wow...life is changing FAST!!

Easter Dinner at the Barn

2010-04-13T08:12:00.000-05:00

The McGowins have the coolest "barn" ever! It's the site of most family celebrations. We had Easter dinner there last weekend...
Roan and his new best buddy. He loves anything with four legs and fur. Cute pooch...Roan loved the grey hair on his beard.

Shannon slicing the ham. By the way, I love the grey in his beard, too.

Shannon's daughter, Mallory, prepping the buffet. That's niece, Jennie, in the background.

My BFF, Sharla and Shannon. Otherwise known as the twins...born 9 years apart!

It was the windiest day EVER! Libby IS about to blow away! I think Buster and Momo's qualifies as "Magic Land, version 2". When it was time to leave, Libby and Roan cried... "we don't want to leave...we LOVE it at Momo's!!!"

John Deere Green...

2010-04-13T07:57:00.000-05:00

We spent Easter Sunday at Shannon's family's home in Ulman MO. The kids were in Heaven... lots of animals, a trampoline, lots of room to run...and the John Deere. Sheldon, Shannon's brother took the kids for a ride, and even let them drive. He's now the king of Roan's double-wide trailer.

Roan driving ... along with Sheldon, Sean and my BFF, Sharla's son Jarel.

Libby got in on the action, but didn't get to drive. She's still a little peeved about that. And please know that her hair was beautiful at some point that day. She had a hairbob that matched her dress, but after about 30 minutes on the trampoline, it was all over. For the rest of the day, she looked like Medusa.

How many kids can fit on a John Deere? They had a great time, but Libby vows next time, she's the first to drive!

Easter Egg Hunt at Church

2010-04-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning, we headed to Ulman for church and dinner at Buster & Momo's. After the service, the kids got to participate in an Easter egg hunt.

Libby in hot pursuit of Easter eggs!

Roan showing off his favorite egg.

How cute are they? You can see that Libby's bucket is FULL! There were lots of eggs to gather!

Roan and Shannon...and my new lily! Each family got to take an Easter lily from the church. Happy me!

Easter Bunny Time

2010-04-08T14:05:00.000-05:00

The Easter Bunny came bright and early Easter morning. The kids had so much fun!

Discovering what the Easter Bunny left for them...

Inspecting everything a little closer...and trying to keep Silas out of the candy!

Sean ... he doesn't look too sure about the chocolate bunny!

They had a great time hunting Easter eggs and eating too much candy!

Easter: The Coloring of the Eggs

2010-04-08T13:56:00.000-05:00

Coloring Easter Eggs is exciting stuff! The kids waited patiently all day until after dinner when it was FINALLY time to color the eggs. 3 dozen!

Despite my best efforts, Libby did not want to put her hair up. As you can imagine, she had some beautifully colored spots in her hair!

36 eggs, 6 colors, and 3 kids... it worked out just right!

Admiring the finished product!

The kids did a great job! We loaded up the eggs and took them to the Egg Hunt at church the next day...

How Could We Mess Up a Trip to the Park?

2010-04-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, the kids campaigned to go to the park. I needed to make a cake and get dinner started, but it became the "please, PUHLEEEEZ" thing. They were so badly wanting to go to the park, Sean agreed to give up having the BEST chocolate sheet cake ever. Well, we all piled in the van and headed out. We started out at Binder Park, but "it was boring!"...and Roan fell in the mud and got covered in slime. So we went across town to Memorial Park. You would have though we would have had fun! Wrong! The park was crowded, muddy...a breeding ground for disaster.

Roan deeply contemplating the meaning of life, I guess...

This is where part of our trouble began... the stick. Maybe more aptly called THE LIMB. He carried the limb around, put it in puddles, pretended it was a person, etc. All was well until he started toting the limb amongst crowds of people. He eventually poked a girl in the back...so he had to sit in time out. This made him VERY unhappy.

Libby loves to swing, but there was a huge puddle of standing water under every swing. It made life wet and difficult. She had fun until she kicked Sean while she was swinging. It made him cry and made her feel very guilty...

Well, we tried. As you can see, no one looks very happy. We got hurt, wet, muddy and in trouble. And the dog was mad that he had to stay in the car. Maybe it'll be more fun next time! Oh, and the pictures are a little hazy because "someone" spilled water and got my camera wet. hhmmm...wonder who? We may never know!

Planting Flowers...

2010-04-02T12:48:00.001-05:00

We decided to clean out one of Shannon's flower beds last weekend. It was a family affair...

We had to take a little break in the middle of cleaning. You can't tell, but that's a worm Roan is so saucily posing with.

Busy helping clean out dead leaves...

This was the flower bed before we started on it... somehow, I forgot to take a picture after we finished and planted new flowers. Sometimes I'm a little forgetful!

Magic Land, Part 2

2010-04-02T12:37:00.000-05:00

We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner last Saturday night. We also had mac & cheese and my "magical" potato salad. Yum-O.

Magic in motion...

In the past, if a hot dog was grilled, and had any hint of a grill mark on it, Libby and Roan would refuse to eat it because it was "burnt". So, when Shannon headed to the deck to grill the hot dogs, I told him about the "hot dog rule". Well, you pretty much can't avoid grill marks; I thought to myself "they will NEVER eat those!"

Guess what? In Magic Land, we eat hot dogs with grill marks.

And they ate them without even a single comment on grill marks. What? We play with worms, eat at the table, eat what everybody else eats... wow. I'm convinced Magic Land is real!

Magic Land...Part 1

2010-04-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Shannon and I have started calling his house "Magic Land". For some reason, the kids will do things there that they won't seem to do anywhere else...

Case in point:

I've described the "Old Roan" in previous posts. You remember, dresses, high heels, feather boas, etc... Here's a reminder:

He's slowly come around, thank God! Well, when we were in Magic Land last weekend, Libby, Shannon and I were cleaning out a flower bed. As I was tearing out some weeds, Roan saw a worm. He said "Mommy! A worm!!" Honestly, I braced myself for the screaming and running away. Much to my amazement, that didn't happen! He said "Can I touch it? Can I pick it up?" I said "Sure, buddy!" while attempting to conceal my complete flabbergasted-ness!

He found several worms, held them, let them crawl all over his hands...and then he named each one!

Yes, this is MY SON, holding a worm and loving it! The next day, Roan bounced upstairs and said "Mom, I'm bored. Can I go outside and dig for worms?" Yes, Shannon and I both nearly fainted. He spent over 30 minutes outside, on his own, digging in the dirt. Yes, I do believe Magic Land is real!

How Life Has Changed...

2010-03-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken on Mother's Day 2008, I think. Wow, how life has changed!

I love this picture...for several reasons. Can you tell this boy loves his mom? I also like this because it reminds me of how much life has changed...and how much I have changed. I was smiling, but I was VERY sad and overwhelmed. I was separated from Ted and going through a lot of drama due to his illness. I was figuring out how to be a single mom. I was a full-time student in a very challenging program, I was missing my friends in mid-MO...on and on. Life was feeling very hard and unhappy at that time. Now? Wow, could life get any better? Since then, I've worked on raising these two terrific kids, I've become an intern, I'm practically done with school, my heart has healed, I've discovered that I'm much stronger than I ever fathomed... I'm so glad I didn't throw in the towel! Believe me, I was tempted!

I love this picture! The kids had spent the afternoon jumping on the trampoline...or as Roan calls it, the "bounce-oline". Note their very dirty feet. They had a blast!

This was Roan's favorite dress..."The Belle Dress". OMG, he wore it until it fell apart. He no longer cares about the Belle Dress. He's five, and he's a boy. Dresses are off limits! Thank You, God!

Look how much they've changed! Yes, their hair was a mess...but they were having fun!

I can't wait for the next phase of our lives to start! In just a few weeks, life will change again. Moving to Jefferson City, starting work as a doctor, spending every day with Shannon... wow, am I blessed!

The Growing Grocery Bill

2010-03-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how much kids eat! Especially when we FINALLY all eat the same things. Now, my friend Suzie has 7 people in her family; when she shops, it looks like she's buying enough food for an army. Our family of 5 pales in comparison, but it's a culture and budget shock for me!

A couple Sundays ago, we had biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs for breakfast. Roan has always loved B&G. This is a new love for Libby. She eats gravy like a champ! As it turns out, Sean is a B&G fan too.

Libby loved it so much, she scraped the bowl, then licked the spatula! Note the very clean plate! This breakfast consisted of: 8 eggs, 12 biscuits, about 3 gallons of gravy. There was 1/2 of a biscuit left. What? I was afraid Shannon would fuss at me for cooking TOO MUCH!! There's such a sweet satisfaction in seeing your family around the table, laughing and scraping their plates!

Fun Day: Part 3... The Impossible Ladder

2010-03-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

Another favorite activity at Fun Day is the rope ladder. It's difficult to see in the pictures, but this ladder spins around. The challenge is to balance your weight, make it to the top of the ladder and ring the bell. It looks easy...until you get on it!

Poor Roan tried so hard! He made it up about 2 rungs and it flipped him right off.

Sean had better luck. It's good to be older! He was pretty confident that he would make it to the top in a snap...No such luck!

Libby did pretty well, too! She made it about half-way, then lost it!

The kids can't wait for Fun Day 2011!!

Ignore the flame lounge pants...

2010-03-18T09:51:00.001-05:00

I learned something new about my man this weekend. Just when you think you know everything!...

He can stand on his head!

I find this amazing, since I could never even do a cartwheel! The kids were pretty impressed, too! And yes, those are PJ pants covered in flames. It's a Sunday morning fashion statement!

Fun Day Part 2: The Dress Up Station

2010-03-18T09:25:00.000-05:00

One of the new features at Fun Day this year was a dress up station. I admit, I cringed a little, thinking maybe Roan would regress and insist on a princess dress or mermaid outfit. I held my breath...and thankfully, he chose a pirate costume. I was SO happy!

Roan is a charmer... he had the parent helper totally smitten. She helped him put his outfit on, choose his accessories...all the while, he's telling her some long story about how pirates' girlfriends are called "wenches", etc.

Libby chose a very fancy princess dress...all the while telling Roan to cool it with the long stories...

Aargh... the cutest pirate on the Seven Seas!

The pirate and his wench...this is serious business! Of course, Sean was definitely NOT interested in dressing up! Roan was sorely disappointed that he couldn't keep the costume and take it home. Thank God he couldn't! He would have worn it day and night for weeks!

Fun Day: The Saga Begins.

2010-03-16T08:48:00.000-05:00

Every year, the kids and I go to Columbia for "Fun Day". It's a fundraiser for Ridgeway Elementary School, where my best friends' kids attend school. They transform the school into an indoor carnival...and the kids LOVE IT. Each classroom is set up with games and activities like Plinko, Ring Toss, Golf, Wheel of Fortune and Face Painting. The even use giant boxes to set up a maze for the kids to crawl through, using flashlights to find their way. It's VERY crowded, but lots of fun. This year, Sean (Shannon's son) came with us. Keeping track of three munchkins in a super-crowded place was a bit of a challenge, but we had a great time!

One of the new activities this year was hair painting. Of course, our three were all about getting their hair done!
After careful deliberation, Libby decided on pink and purple polka dots.

Roan decided on rainbow stripes. I wish you could have seen his face! He's puckered up like someone is torturing him! ...but he sacrificed his body for fashion.

Originally, Sean wanted his hair painted black. They had no black, so he settled on blue...and boy, was it bright! The whole rest of the day, he said "I wonder what dad's gonna say about my hair?!?"

A picture of the finished products... it's a little hard to get the full effect, but they were thrilled! Later, Libby got her face painted like a cat. Of course, the boys were too cool for face painting! (It thrills me to death to say that about Roan!) After we left, we stopped at the grocery store...they got lots of comments! Luckily, the hair paint is washable, because the head rests in my van are now multi-colored!

We also love going to Fun Day because we get to see our favorite people... Aunt 'Chelle, Aunt LaLa, Aunt Lisa, Lindsey, Jared, Jarel... it was great! We were pooped when we got home!! Can't wait for next year!!

Our Three Stooges

2010-03-16T08:28:00.000-05:00

On Friday night, the kids got a little squirrely...

It was time to put on PJs. Amazingly, Roan was the first to do what he was supposed to. In the middle of getting ready for bed, Libby, Sean and Roan put their heads together, and this is what happened...

Of course, the dog is in the middle of the antics... Shannon and I both grabbed cameras right away. Once the kids knew we were taking pictures, things really got crazy...

It was nearly a 'See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil' moment! We're really lucky...they have a great time together!

Football Fun!

2010-03-09T09:21:00.001-06:00

Roan has declared that now that he's 5, he won't be playing with "girl toys" anymore. Wow! How long have we been waiting for this? I guess he doesn't view his American Girl Bitty Twin dolls as "girl toys"...but that's ok! Shannon did his part to support Roan's new "boy toy" rule...he got Roan a football for his birthday. On Sunday afternoon, he took Roan out to show him how to kick.

His first kick...he did pretty well, and he was very excited!

Watch out! This boy can kick! I love the intense look of concentration on his face. He was working hard!

The men bonding over football. You know Roan is really paying attention by seeing that hand on his hip!

It was really sweet watching Shannon and Roan spending time doing "boy things"... it's a little thing, but it really means a lot!

Roan's Birthday Party

2010-03-09T09:09:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Roan's 5th birthday with a party at Pappi's Pizza on Saturday. The kids LOVE going to Pappi's (it's in Lee's Summit MO)... it's almost as good as Chuck E. Cheese's! They have fun games, and great pizza. I remember my mom taking me to Pappi's when I was a little kid; I thought it was awesome, too!

Libby in the Flintstone's car. I never did convince her that she was a little too TALL to ride!

Roan chose SpongeBob as his theme (again!). Here's his cake and gift table... we had cupcakes and ice cream...and he got a car load of gifts!

Roan's sweetheart came to his party. They had a great time togther! Roan told me that day that when a boy and a girl go to each other's birthday parties, that means they will get married! They go to preschool together. They kiss in the hallway. Yes, this freaks me out!

Nana got Roan "exactly what [he] wanted!", so she got LOTS of hugs!

We had a great time with family and friends, celebrating Roan's birthday. Thanks to everyone who came!

Yes, we love Gojo's!

2010-03-08T10:34:00.000-06:00

This past Friday, some friends met Libby, Roan and I at Gojo's to celebrate my birthday (and Roan's), a little late. Any excuse for the yellow sauce! We had a terrific time!

From left to right, this is: Amanda, Cynthia, Leslie and Linda. All friends I've made via Cleveland Chiropractic College.

Please remember that this is my child, Libby, who until recently, ate nothing but pasta, fruit and Little Smokies. She'e eating rice!...and vegetables (gasp!!) ... and CHICKEN! What? And she LOVED the soup! She loved it so much, she saved most of it to take home and eat later. Oh yeah, and she rocks the chopsticks! She ate every bite of her meal with them!

Roan LOVED the rice, too. He used the chopsticks rigged with a rubber band for kids and did really well. I have to admit (again) that I lie to my children on a regular basis. When I asked him if he wanted chicken or beef, he asked "Is it fried chicken?". You see, he's obsessed with fried chicken. He's never really eaten it, but Sam on iCarly loves it...so therefore, Roan loves it. So, I replied "Yes, it's fried chicken." ...and, he ate it!

So, it was another great dinner at Gojo's, spent with dear friends! Only a couple of people were missing... Suzie and Shannon! That would have made it complete!

Lost in the '50's

2010-03-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

Libby's school had spirit week this week. Wednesday was '50's day. Although Libby doesn't really understand very well what the 50's were, she was really excited to make her fashion statement! Although we only had about 48 hours notice (ggrrr!), we managed to make a poodle skirt, and an "L" for her sweater; we even found saddle oxfords in her size!

Does she have the pose down, or what? She was so incredibly cute in this outfit! For her second Halloween when she was just 15 months, she wore a poodle skirt. It's still hanging in her closet. It's amazing how much she has grown!

Best Friends...

2010-03-01T09:34:00.000-06:00

I am so lucky to have the friends I have. Michelle, Suzie, Sharla, Sonya, Sarah...all more like sisters to me than friends.

This is my friend, Michelle. We met in 1986 on the first day of Marching Mizzou Drumline auditions. I was 18 and she was 19...just babies, really. We were wearing the exact same shirt; we knew the minute we saw each other that we would be friends. How can that have been 24 years (and maybe 10 pounds- lol) ago? People have always thought we were sisters, despite the fact that I'm about 2 feet taller than her! We were inseparable through college. We were on drumline together, worked at Woodhaven together, were roommates and later worked at Judevine Center together. She went with me to every OB appointment with me when I was pregnant with Libby, and was with me when both kids were born. She is Roan's Godmother and is the kids' beloved "Aunt 'Chelle". She's always been my biggest cheerleader, has picked me up when I was down and believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.

I got to see her this weekend and it made me VERY happy! Love you MDB!!

Fried Chicken Happiness

2010-03-01T09:16:00.000-06:00

I am in love. Know how I can tell? Fried chicken.

I have several food rules. I have so many, in fact, you would think I'd be skinny! One of my rules is that I do not to eat meat off the bone. Especially chicken. I'm not crazy about handling raw chicken, either. Well, Shannon LOVES fried chicken. I've been promising him for weeks that I would make some for him. This is not something I do on a regular basis. I know how to do it, in fact I'm pretty good at it, but given the rules mentioned above, I just don't tend to make fried chicken.

We had a night to ourselves this weekend, so I suggested a little fried chicken for dinner...so I packed up a bird, my electric skillet and headed to Jeff City.

Here are the breasts, waiting to be fried. You see, the breading has to reach a certain "doughy-ness" before I put it in the grease. They weren't quite ready...

Look at all that golden goodness... If you look at the top left corner, you'll see one of the boneless, skinless breasts I slipped in there for myself!

Shannon's plate, ready to go. Notice the mashed potatoes; Shannon is a master potato maker. He took care of that. And those are the magical green beans. If I told you what makes them magical, I'd have to kill you.

A nearly empty plate... is this a happy man, or what?

I think I've learned to relax a bit. In fact, I may retire the "I don't like to touch raw chicken" food rule. I didn't mind making this meal at all; in fact, I think it will be a regular on our monthly menu. If it makes the man happy, it makes me happy! Now, that's love!

My Precious Boy

2010-02-24T10:56:00.000-06:00

Today is my baby's 5th birthday. How can this be? It seems like only yesterday, he was born! I often say that if Roan had been the first, he'd have been the only! He has been an interesting boy to raise, but our family would not have been complete without him!

Some things about my little guy that I love &/or don't want to forget:

He nearly killed me when he was born. He was huge and was presenting forehead first. We ended up with a c-section, which was NOT part of the plan! We found out later that his chest was almost an inch bigger around than his head...he never would have come out the 'right' way!
When he was born, he had bright ORANGE hair and blue eyes. I remember thinking "Please Lord, let his hair change!"
Ted and I liked the names Riley, Evan and Roan. We chose Roan for a couple of reasons. Ted has a long-ago grandfather named Roanoke. My family came from Europe and settled in Roane County TN. He was born with bright red hair and the word 'roan' is Celtic for red. So, we knew immediately that Roan was the name for him. I do wish we had avoided the Celtic spelling and spelled it 'Rowan'; it gets mispronounced and misspelled a lot.
He has two middle names... Roan James Michael. James after several family members, namely, my Grandpa, Claude James Jones. Roan is Grandpa Jones dead over, so it fits him well!
He rolled over at 3 days old. No kidding. He sat up at around 4 months, crawled at 5 months, walked at 9 months. He was a handful to keep up with, to say the least.
On Libby's second birthday, he stopped sleeping. He never slept more than an hour at at time for an entire year. I thought I would die.
Libby didn't talk until she was past 2; she signed instead. Because of this, I didn't teach Roan much sign. He spoke on time, but had serious articulation errors. Until this last year or so, no one could understand him, but me. Thank God for speech therapy!
Roan is, and always has been, a momma's boy. Part of me loves it, part of me doesn't...he can be a little overwhelming!
He is a recovering dress-lover. See previous posts for incriminating pictures.
He is a ladies' man. He currently has two girlfriends, and a crush another "older woman" who won't give him the time of day!
Roan has the sweetest spirit. He is incredibly empathic for such a small child. He cries when he sees homeless people and worries if he sees stray animals in the neighborhood.
Although life with him hasn't always been easy, I love this boy with my whole soul. I hope I raise him to be a loving, Godly, respectful, strong man.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

A Tale of One Meal...OR ...The Challenge of Toothlessness!

2010-02-24T10:29:00.001-06:00

Libby was born a picky eater. What she chose to eat was very healthy, which was a blessing, but...it's limited. Since she could eat table food, she has pretty much only eaten fruit and pasta. Her Auntie Sarah convinced her to eat a Little Smokie when she was a toddler and that opened the meat door...but still only hot dogs and Little Smokies. I know I'm the parent and should have insisted she eat what the rest of the family was eating, but I didn't... I always made her a separate meal. If we went anywhere (to a friends' house, to a restaurant), I just packed Libby's cooler with what she liked. No big deal.

When Roan came along, he ate most anything. So, for all these years, dinner consisted of two meals...what Roan and I have and what Libby has. When people learn this, they look at me like I'm crazy. I've never really thought that much about it...until recently. The kids spent the night at Aunt Suzie's house...so I packed the famous cooler with what the kids liked. Suzie laughed when she told me that both kids ate what she cooked. hhmmm. This got me thinking... Then, when we started visiting Shannon's, I brought the cooler. He thinks I'm nuts. And suddenly, here's Libby eating what he makes for breakfast. Things like bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. With no fussing. What I'm figuring out is that I'm a sucker for these kids!

So last night, Roan and I stopped at Hy-Vee to pick up the cake we ordered for his classroom party. (Yes, I know, I'm a horrible mom for not making it myself. Usually I do...but...). Walking by the produce aisle, he saw corn on the cob and begged me for it. So we bought 4 ears. Then he saw broccoli (which he LOVES) and begged for that too. A 5 year old begging for vegetables? Like I could say no to that!? We headed home with our Ben 10 cake and veggies. Roan tells Libby what we got at the store and she says...hang on now... "I want that for dinner, too!". So, both of my children ate the same meal: steamed broccoli and corn on the cob. Nothing else. I nearly fainted. So, I think the days of separate meals are over! Gee, it only took 5 years. I needed to get a clue, seriously.

As you know, Libby has no front teeth at the moment. I thought this would stop her from eating her corn on the cob, but no....
she devoured it. It took a little longer, but she got it done!

And of course, Roan ate his like crazy. Please ignore the fact that the cob holders are two paring knives. We ate so much corn this summer that all of our cob holders bit the dust, except one pair which Libby quickly claimed. Being the oldest and being toothless affords one certain privileges, I guess.

So, that's the tale of ONE dinner last night. Let me tell you, it was exciting! Suzie and Shannon will be so proud of us! lol