Still Alone -- Post 3 of 3

Of course, as these get read on the blog, these posts are showing up in reverse order, but so be it.

On Monday, we went to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead with MOMS Club. Only 3 moms and 4 kids were there, but it was really a fun place. James had been there with Larry and Debbie, but this was my first time. It was a really educational place, in addition to having all of the slides and things to climb on. James got to see how to milk a cow, was fascinated by the chickens, and took his job of feeding the goats very seriously. And I learned about turtle shells always having 13 scales, which Native Americans used to count the full moons of the year. It was a very enjoyable day, until James left our group to climb up on a tractor, after being told not to. So, mean mom had to stick with the discipline and we left (after James apologized to his friends for making them wait for him to get off the tractor). To be honest, we were probably on our way out, anyway, because we were getting tired and hungry.

I have tried twice to upload pictures, but keep getting error messages. I give up. Trust me, they're adorable.

This concludes post 3 of 3, and now I think it is time for a nap.

Still alone -- post 2 of 3

On the train, with a real train going by in the background

Not really much of a "maze"

Blake is about to lose his shirt to these goats!

We kept a good eye on James.

So, last Saturday, we went to Carolyn's Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch. We got up bright and early, because the first 100 people there that day got free tickets to the Renaissance Festival. Tickets for that are $15.50 each, in advance (free for James), and it only cost us $16 to get into the Pumpkin Patch. James should have paid, but they said he was little enough to get in for free. (Ok, there's one advantage of my short genes!) So we got a bargain!

This place was so fun! It was all set up for kids, with animals to pet, a tricycle racing track, a train, a little kid sized corn maze, and SO MANY things for kids to climb and slide on. It was really a neat place.

That night, we played James' new Chutes and Ladders game again, as well as a modified game of Bandu.

Chutes and Ladders and Guinness. How do YOU spend a Saturday night?

All Alone -- Post 1 of 3

James is still playing with the toys that came on his Dora cake

Does he look happy?

The kids (and Shane)

Larry helped carry everything out to the car

Blake had a cold for about a week, and I managed to avoid it until about Wednesday. So now, James and Blake are visiting Danielle and her family for the K-State family weekend, and I am home alone. Blake pretty much convinced me that would be best, because my whiny, sluggish self would keep them from having as much fun. I agree, since I remember how Blake's whiny, sluggish self put a damper on our fun last weekend. So, I watched the debates and yelled at the tv by myself last night, slept in today (getting up only for a few minutes to turn off Blake's alarm at 6am (!)), and am basically just taking it easy. And, what could be easier than updating the blog?

So, as Mom pointed out to me -- I hadn't yet posted birthday party pics. We had a really good time at Waldo Pizza. The have different party food packages you can get, and we got the 20 people one for the 13 people who were there. It worked out great, because there were several kids having birthday parties there, and we seemed to be the only one getting the package, which sort of justified the number of tables we took over.

James really likes Dora and Diego, so we got a Dora cake and balloons, and many of his gifts were Diego-themed. As soon as I took the lid off the cake, James took a swipe at it. Blake seemed rather alarmed by that, but I thought it was pretty funny, and definitely a 3-year-old thing to do.

James had a lot of fun running around in there "playing" the video games. He really enjoyed opening his presents, although it was pretty funny when people would tell him to press the buttons on the toys to hear them -- it was so loud in there that you really couldn't hear much of anything.

We had the cake and ice cream at Larry and Debbie's. It was a much calmer, quieter environment, and gave us all a chance to talk. JAmes managed to stay awake until we got home. We didn't get home until 10:45, but fortunately the DVR had SNL on it, even though we forgot to record it. We watched a little of that, then collapsed. Or, more accurately, we were watching it, then woke up and realized it was time to go to bed.

It was a fun day!

Update

Blogger isn't being very consistent with me when I try to see what I updated on my earlier post. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong, like when it doesn't do my paragraphs, but . . .

The story aired in the second hour of Morning Edition, but I wasn't among the few comments used. So, at least I didn't say anything stupid on national radio!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94748578

My fun experience -- aka I hope I didn't say anything stupid

At Mom's Club yesterday, Ina Jaffe from NPR (in the back on the left) was there to interview stay at home moms about their thoughts on the election. She chose the Lee's Summit group because McCain and Palin were in town last week. The person she called to set it up had never even heard of NPR, leading me to worry that I might be the only liberal there. Well, the first group she spoke to consisted of voters who had committed to a candidate. 6 of us volunteered for that group, and fortunately 3 were for Obama/Biden and 3 for McCain/Palin. It was interesting how polarizing Palin is for our group -- the 3 who support the McCain ticket were swayed to that side by her. Two of the 3 for Obama had already decided on him, and the third decided on him for sure after the Palin pick.

The interview was interesting. It was just her, a microphone (actually 2 because the first stopped working), recorder, and headset. There were plenty of background noises, as we were in a gym and there were kids running and yelling everywhere. She said this was a first for her.

I don't know when/if it will air, but I'll keep looking for it.

(I'll post about the birthday party later, but that one will take a little more time!)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94748578

Gotta Catch Up Quick!

Because we have some fun going on this weekend! James' 3rd birthday is tomorrow, and his party is this evening. We are all pretty excited for it. After about 6 months of James saying he is 3 whenever asked, he finally will be. Except that he has finally learned to say that he is 2.

Look who's turning 3!

Last weekend, we went to a Green Fair down the street. It was very small, but hopefully will grow. At least we got a CFL bulb and some information about a new recycling center opening, that I am happy about. And, the highlight was the performance of EcoElvis. All of his songs were about the environment. And, if you were under the age of 5, the music was pretty fun to dance to.

See those tents behind me? That's the Green Fair. All of it. Cost us $10 to get in!

Movin' to the sounds of Eco Elvis.

Then we went to the Greek Food Festival, which we really enjoyed. There was a bounce house for James, and fun Greek music and food for all of us. We loved the food, except for the dolmas. So now we know.

As the sticker says, we were all Greek For A Day!

The week has been pretty lousy. James has had a stomach bug, and between that and the almost constant rain (and nearby tornadoes last night), we haven't done much. As a result, it was great excitement when Blake locked his keys in the car the other day, so James and I went to rescue him and then eat out. And this morning all going to the store to pick up the birthday cake and balloons. The little things have been our entertainment!

Labor Day Weekend

We "worked" hard all weekend to have lots of fun (I know, it's corny). I'm not sure at this point I even remember all that we did.

On Saturday, we went to the KC Irish Fest at Crown Center. The first thing we noticed was that the fountains (except for the one the kids play in) were dyed green. They also had a couple of kids' areas. James made a bracelet and a crown. Later he really had fun in the bounce area. We listened to part of a talk about how James Joyce changed the English language. We were on our way to some fun music, but they stopped for a break as we got there. I ran into someone from MOMS Club with her family. We also ran into David and Theresa, friends of mine (David was my first OT boss!) from Columbia and had a nice time talking to them. It's always fun to see people you know at a crowded place, and I don't have that experience as much as I used to (believe it or not, Lori). The festival was fun, but considering how expensive everything was, and that you had to pay to get in, we expected maybe a little more. However, once we got a stout to drink, we miraculously started having a great time. It must be noted that it was a Boulevard Stout, as there was NO GUINNESS anywhere at the Irish festival. Apparently Boulevard and Miller had the beer contracts. We ended with James playing in the (non-green) fountain.

Nice action shot!

Should the woman running the kids' bounce house be smoking?

Not Guinness, but good enough

On Sunday, we went to SantaCaliGon Days in Independence. It is to celebrate the Santa Fe, etc. Trails. It was so different from the Irish Fest. One day we drive a short way and are at a big crowded festival in the middle of the city, and the next day we drive a short way and are at a festival that has a small town feel to it (in a good way!). We liked the carnival there, but decided that James would probably not respond well to the rides once they started moving. So we walked around a lot, ate carnival food (and felt lousy later), and just relaxed.

There was a booth selling subscriptions to the KC Star, with a very high pressure salesperson. He acted like he had the best deal you would find anywhere, tried to write down our names immediately, and then acted offended that we'd seen a better price elsewhere. His best price was $7.95/month for Sunday delivery. Considering that the paper is only $1.25, I'm failing to see the bargain there. But, he did give us a reprinting of the very first issue of the Star from 120 years ago. Yikes. Two big things I noticed about this paper. They were pretty graphic in those days. There was a VERY descriptive story about a woman who died and her alcoholic husband, as well as one about 5 children trampled by a team of horses (which also trampled a dog "deader than a doornail"). The other thing I noticed was that the print was very small. I have the benefit of yearly eye exams and good contacts, and I found myself squinting. How did people read this 120 years ago?

That evening, we went to the coffee shop for a cheese plate (yummy!), a beer for Blake, and wine for me. It was really, really good, and then we walked around the area to the fountain. It was a beautiful night.

Monday, Blake went golfing, James went out with Larry and Debbie, and I ran a couple of errands. Then Blake met me at Starbucks for a bit. I then went to Archiver's and have now started on our Save the Date cards. I love them and can't wait to get them sent out! That evening, Blake and James went swimming and I relaxed at home.



Since then, it has been raining, so we are staying in, and I am back to being a tv junkie, watching the Republican Convention. It is a much different experience than the Democratic one. I'm not going to start discussing all of my opinions on everything here, because once I start, I just may not be able to stop, and this post is already long enough!