Cardinal Game Pictures

As I said in my last post, we went to the Cardinal game on Sunday. Here we are inside the Bank of America Box.

This is Kay and Jim, who treated us to the tickets.

Here is a view of the stadium from our seats. I think that living so close to St. Louis, we tend to take advantage of the scenery. The Gateway Arch goes unnoticed every time we drive across the river, whereas if we were first-time visitors to St. Louis, we would be "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" when we saw it!

The RED in the stands is pretty evident, isn't it?

Here is one view of the food we got to eat!

And here is the another!

Yeah, I took this picture.

For the games we have attended, we are 2-0 on the season! We'll see how we do on Friday night when we go watch our Cards play the Chicago Little Bears.

Party, Feet, and Baseball

B2 is having her birthday slumber party as I type this post. She invited 5 friends to stay. Four of them are here. The other had a dance recital this weekend in Peoria. B1 has one friend staying tonight. Why is it that B1 wants to dictate everything that happens at the party? Does she not realize that she is 3 years older than her sister and it's really her sister's party? She so needs to act her age and stop trying to run the show! It this what all girls do or just what our girls do? Gees.

I found out this week that I have Plantar Fasciitis in my right heel. It began hurting 2.5 months ago when we were in Vegas (Was it really that long ago that we were there? Seems like only a couple of weeks!). I woke up on the second morning and my foot hurt. I figured it was just "Vegas feet" because of all of the walking we had been doing. Not so. My foot still hurts. The doc gave me inserts to wear in my shoes for the next few weeks. This is not the time of year that I want to be wearing inserts, however. They don't work with flip flops! It's spring and I want to be wearing flip flops! I do have a pair of Sketchers shoes that I like though. They are a cross between tennis shoes and sandles. I also got a prescription of cortisone. It's one of those deals where you take 6 pills the first day, 5 the next day, etc. I will start that tomorrow. If things aren't better in 3-4 weeks, I have to go back. He did say that if it begins to feel better after wearing the inserts for awhile, I could wear flip flops and sandles again. It's always something, isn't it?

We are going to the Cardinal game on Sunday and we get to sit in the Bank of America box and have all the free food and drink we want! Too bad we only drink soda at ball games. But we will probably put away a good bit of food! We are going with an older couple who are friends of ours. Whenever it snows, Hubby makes sure to shovel their driveway after he shovels ours. This is their way of thanking us (him), and we think it is pretty nice of them.

I only have 18 days left to work this school year.............YIPPPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Busy Week

I am sorry I've been neglecting my blog here lately. Life has been incredibly BUSY. Just this week.....

Monday night I had "Personal Choice Awards" at school at 7pm. This is where each teacher is given the opportunity to award a student who they believe deserves to be noticed. We are encouraged to give our award to someone who may not be noticed as often as other students. I always enjoy this evening and seeing the look on the face of the student I selected.

Tuesday, B1 and her 5th grade class along with the 5th grade class in a neighboring town got to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at the Cardinal game in the 7th inning. They were on the scoreboard too so it was pretty cool! Lots of parents and teachers went along to support the kids. We were pretty cold at the game but had a good time anyway. Hubby and B2 had to miss her softball practice to go to the game.

Wednesday, B2 has gymnastics after school. While B2 was there, B1 and I grabbed some dinner. Then we ran through McD's drive-thru for B2 on the way home to B1's softball practice. I had a meeting at church that B2 attended with me (she played in the kid's room) until Hubby and B1 could pick her up after practice was over.

Thursday was B2's 8th birthday. I picked them both up immediately after school and we went SHOPPING!!! Hubby met us and we all 4 got some shoes. B1 and B2 got some shorts and summer shirts as well. We ate at the food court at the mall (B2's choice for her birthday!) and eventually, we got home about 8:30pm.

Friday, B1 had piano lessons after school. Hubby was umpiring in Highland but got rained out in the 3rd or 4th inning after getting drenched. He met us at the Mexican place for supper. Then we headed back home and to the elementary school for a celebration where B1 got her trophy for this past season of basketball. Then the parents played a game against the kids.

Saturday I did manage to get quite a bit done around the house. B2 went to Brownie camp at 8:15am, Hubby and B1 first went to her softball practice from 12-2 and then conducted B2's softball practice (even though several girls were at Brownie camp) from 2-3:30. Last evening, Hubby and I went to a retirement dinner for a fellow math teacher and friend of mine. We went to Popeye's Chop House in St. Rose, IL. It was yummy!

Today, we went to church, then Wal-Mart to do our weekly shopping, and this afternoon went to Red Lobster to celebrate my mom's birthday, which was yesterday.

Whew! And tomorrow it all starts again..............

43 And Hoping For 50 Someday

I am pretty proud of the fact that I have been to 43 states and driven into every one of them, not flown over them. I was lucky growing up that I had parents who took us on a nice vacation every summer. We are trying to do the same for our kids. I think it is important for them to see the country we live in. B1 has been in 24 states (at 11 years old) and B2 has been in 22 states (at 8 years old). We won't add any new ones this summer but we will add Nassau to our list.

Little funny story: in 2003, while we were driving from Minnesota to Kansas City down I-29 on the far western side of Iowa, we were this close to Omaha, Nebraska. I asked Hubby to please drive into Nebraska, just so the girls and I could mark it off our lists. Hubby could really care less, but he did so to appease me! We drove into Omaha on I-480, took the first or second exit, turned around, and then drove right back into Iowa! But hey, we got to check another one off! I didn't think we'd be back to Nebraska anytime soon for a vacation or anything, so while we were right there, we needed to take care of it!

The 7 states I am missing:

Alaska
Hawaii
Idaho
Montana
North Dakota
Oregon
Washington

My mom says Oregon and Washington are 2 of the prettiest states she has visited. I look forward to going there one day. B1 wants to go on an Alaskan cruise. I want to go to Hawaii!

Suggestions

Anyone out there who's been on a Disney Cruise, let us know some "must-do's"! Our girls are 11 and 8. While on Nassau and Castaway Cay, we play to swim with the dolphins, go parasailing, do the stingray interactive adventure, and possibly snorkel. We also want to shop and spend some time at the beach. While on the ship, we plan to eat dinner at Palo one night (just me and Hubby) and do the family trivia contest. Other than that, we are open to suggestions.....let us know what you did that you really liked!

11 Things That Upset Me / Make Me Mad / Tick Me Off

1. When B1 is doing homework and says "I don't get it" and I try to explain something to her but she already has in her mind that she's not going to get it and so her mind is closed and she doesn't even TRY to understand what I am saying.....

2. When Shinza has muddy paws that must be cleaned before she can enter the house.....

3. When I step in water (even just a little drop) with socks on.....

4. When a waiter or waitress doesn't write down your order. Come on people, write it down. I would rather you bring me the correct order than be impressed with your memory skills!

5. Ooohhh.....this one really gets me fired up: when people assume that the Triad School District consists of only people from Troy.....Hello??? What do you think 'triad' means?

6. People who eat what they want, don't exercise, and don't gain weight.....

7. When B2 cries over the dumbest things, and when she speaks in her baby voice.....

8. People who are loud but really have nothing to say and only want to be the center of attention.....

9. When Hubby knows that B1 is pouting or unhappy about something and instead of just blowing it off or letting it go, he continues to badger her and poke at her about it.....

10. When you are in another state on vacation and you tell someone you're from Illinois and they automatically assume that you live somewhere around Chicago! Augh!!!!! NO, people, there really is life south of Chicago! I have now begun responding with "Illinois, but NOWHERE NEAR Chicago"

11. When you have worked on a concept in class for over a month and a student still looks at you like you are speaking in a foreign language when you are working a problem that they should know easily by now! (Um, yeah, if you would just DO YOUR HOMEWORK, we wouldn't have this issue!) AUGH!!!!!!!