Picture(s) #30

Well, here it is.....St. Jacob Elementary when it was still standing one week ago.....The process began on Tuesday, June 24.

Some colorful lockers in the rubble.

This was the newest section of the building.

One wing gone.

And now for the original school. Notice the huge holes in the front of the building. Above these doors used to hang large stone/marble plates that read "Grade School" and "High School" (from the days before 1959 when Triad opened). Apparantly, if you were in grade school, you better not even think about going through the door marked for high school students! Anyway, the construction company took these out in pieces. I am not sure what the plans are for them yet but hopefully they will put them somewhere in the new building, as well as the cornerstone from this old building.

See the crack in the top?

Here's the cornerstone, which was damaged upon removal. It appears that there might be a time capsule inside it. I saw it myself. There is definitely something inside it that isn't brick or concrete or stone.

This is a view of what used to be the gymnasium. The doorway in the lower left-hand corner of the picture went into the cafeteria.

Pretty sad looking.....the entire front now torn off.

Another view of the front.

Then only one doorway standing (and the stairwell above it).

And finally.....nothing. That's the new school you see behind the rubble.

So yeah, we are kinda sad. We have several bricks that we picked up from the rubble as well as a couple pieces of gym floor. What we're going to do with those, we have no idea yet! I do plan to put a brick in my classroom at the high school next year though.

On another note, this is the end of my "picture a day" endeavor for June. I have enjoyed it and may try to continue for the next couple weeks. I don't promise anything though and I won't feel bad if I don't get something posted each day. But this wasn't as difficult or time-consuming as I anticipated it would be. Happy July!

Picture #29

This is where Hubby and I went on a date last night. We didn't win. My balloon is a bit deflated because the last several times I have gone to a gambling establishment, I have come out with more $$$ than I went in with. Not much more, but some. Not this time. Neither of us won anything. Oh well. We did have an awesome dinner at The Kitchen. It was seafood night and all-you-can-eat crab legs, which are one of my favorites. Yum!

Picture #28

I am posting early today because we have a full day ahead of us. Here is B2 and her best friend, who actually goes to a different school than she. They met in day care when they were only 2 years old. We had a sleepover last night with a lot of giggling! Today, both girls have ball games. I am going to miss B1's game to go to a baby shower in Ballwin, MO. The shower is for my friend Donna's daughter Stephanie, who got married last September. The baby is due this September. I should be back in time to see B2's game since it doesn't start until later in the afternoon. After her game, Hubby and I are going to deliver the girls to my parents who plan to take them to a local homecoming and out to eat. Hubby and I are then headed to Lumiere Place for dinner and gaming! I don't know what time we will get home so I thought I better post early as to get it done before midnight. Happy Saturday!

Picture #27

'Nuff said.

Picture(s) #26

This week and next the girls have swimming lessons. These pictures were taken through the fence but they still look pretty good. Tomorrow, B2 gets to take a test to see if she passes to the next level. Either way, they will both get "progress reports" to let them know how they are doing.

Picture #25

B1 decided a couple days ago that she wanted to prepare dinner for our family. She looked through a kids cookbook and also online to find a few recipes. She decided to make French bread pizza for the main dish, trail mix for a side dish, and cookie pops for dessert. Everything turned out great, especially the pizza! B2 helped out as well, but B1 was mainly in charge. She even served it to us and then helped with the dishes.

Picture(s) #24

Tonight was girl's night out. Here I am (from left to right) with Patti, Katie, and Heather. We had dinner at Lorenzo's Trattoria on the Hill in St. Louis. The food was good and the company even better. I think it's important that every so often, we put aside the busy-ness of life and do something relaxing with friends.

This is a picture of my appetizer, the bruschetta. I can't remember the specific name of it, but it was definitely good!

I ordered the caesar salad. I love anchovy-based caesar dressing and this one did not disappoint. Notice the "bowl"? It sort of looks like a tortilla bowl you would find at a Mexican restaurant. However, it was actually made of baked parmesan cheese. Kind of chewy, but yummy! And different.Dummy me forgot to take a picture of her main course, which was the talapia on special. It was good and was served with couscous and red pepper with zucchini. I had enough to bring home because I did not want to stuff myself too much since.........

We were going to Ted Drewes for dessert! Look at the people here. This is the norm on any given night during the summer in St. Louis. They are fast though.....they have several lines open and it only took about 5 minutes to get up to the window. YUM!

Picture #23

I used to own a LOT of trolls. Russ trolls. When I worked in Florissant (in the early 90's), there was a little shop next door to my office called "Grins." It was a gift shop sort of place with weird stuff that you didn't find just anywhere. The store carried lots of trolls. My friend Donna and I somehow convinced our boss to buy trolls for us and I think I had close to 50 of them. I used to have them displayed in my bedroom when I lived at home but then when Hubby and I got married, they went into a box (for one reason, because Hubby wasn't happy that I was displaying the gifts of another guy! Ha ha!). But anyway, I have recently begun selling the trolls on ebay. I know I will never display them again and they are just taking up space in my small house. Here are two that I am currently selling. The one that has brought the most $$$ so far was a girl troll dressed in a bath robe with white cream all over her face and rollers in her hair. I believe she brought $40! I have a HUGE troll in my classroom at school which was also a gift from the same guy. This one is probably 18 inches tall and some of my students tell me that his eyes freak them out. So of course then I have to take the troll and set him right next to said students during a test! Ha ha!

Picture(s) #22

Today is my parents' 45th wedding anniversary! We celebrated with them last night and treated them to dinner at Red Lobster. I think anniversaries should be celebrated big these days because so many people don't make their marriages work for years upon years. Forty-five years is something to be proud of. They set a great example for us!

Picture #21

Yesterday was Shinza's 5th birthday. We didn't get a chance to "celebrate" yesterday because the 4 of us were never all home at the same time. So today she got a little Hostess angel food cake with 5 candles. She doesn't know what to think about the fire, as you can see here. So after we sing, the girls blow out the candles for her and she eats her cake. Last year (the first year we actually had her), we gave her a Twinkie. I don't think it really matters though, she likes it all!

Picture(s) #20

These are old license plates hanging in our garage:

NFF 26: This was Hubby's father's initials and the year he was born. I remember when we moved into our house, I found this old plate and I myself nailed it up in the garage. I thought it was a good reminder of him.

MH 4576: This plate was on Hubby's first car, a navy blue Ford Thunderbird (probably a late 70's model). Then it was transferred to his new car, a 1990 red Pontiac Sunbird.

XX 7670: No, this wasn't a movie rating, it was the first plate on my very first car, purchased about two months after I graduated from college. The car was a 1991 white Chevrolet Cavalier. It was a stick shift too so I could feel like I was "really" driving!

BAF 93: These are our initials (all of ours) and the year that Hubby and I got married. This plate has always been on our van, which is 10 years old this year.

BAF X 2: When it was only the two of us, my math mind came up with BAF "times" 2. It was first on a royal blue Ford Contour.

BAF X 3: When B1 was born, we had to change to this one, which was on the Contour as well.

BAF X 4: When B2 was born, we switched again. This plate was on the Contour and is now on Hubby's Ford Escape. The number will not be going any higher than 4!

The Frank's sign: (Yes, I realize this is grammatically incorrect) Was given to us as a wedding gift and hung above our garage door for many years. It is showing its wear now though but since it was a wedding gift, we didn't want to get rid of it so Hubby thought this was a good spot for it.

Picture #19

Here is another picture of St. Jacob Elementary School. I first posted about it here. This picture was taken yesterday but as of tonight, the building was still standing. Apparantly, there was a problem with the permit and so the tearing down process is taking a little longer than expected. Therefore, they started by tearing out all the shrubbery and trees, etc. as well as the sidewalks. I will post a picture again when it completely gone and then you will be able to see the new building. I will still miss this one though.

Picture #18

Here is the dress I bought on Tuesday to wear to Palo on the Disney cruise. I am not a dress sort of person, but I bought two of them that day. The other I will also wear to dinner one night, but that will be a night when the four of us eat together. At Palo, it will be only Hubby and me. I am not a sleeveless kind of person either but I really liked the way this one looked on me for a change! I am excited to wear it. Hubby says "Gees, this vacation is costing more and more every day!" Well, you know, we only live once! Ha ha!

Picture #17

First of all, I need to ask for your help by saying a few prayers for one of my students from this past semester. I found out tonight that he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, stage 3. He had a bone marrow test done which came back as cancer and he is also having some problems with his kidneys and heart. This is the student who I gave my "Personal Choice Award" to this year (which I blogged about). Even with this news, the outlook is supposedly pretty bright and from what I understand, his family has a very positive outlook on things, which I know helps. Still, please send some good thoughts his way. This is a wonderful 16-year old boy who has a lot to offer to the world and a lot of living left to do. You can see a picture of him with his award here. This picture was posted by his family on a website where people are allowed to leave messages for him and the family.


Today I bought my new camera, a Pentax K200. I can't say much about it as I haven't gotten to know it very well yet. I did, however, take some pics of B1 playing ball tonight and I had set the shutter speed so I could take several pictures with hardly any delay. It's pretty cool looking at those pics.....it looks like a flip book!

Picture #16

I took this picture from the car last week when we went to the Amish Country. I attended college at EIU and am proud of it. When I was in college, I had this "thing" with taking picture of road signs. I guess I still sort of have it. Anyway, I had pictures in my dorm room that I had taken of various road signs.....signs that represented places that I was fond of. Weird I know!

Picture(s) #15

Here are the pictures I took today, at our 3rd annual Father's Day BBQ/family gathering. This is a picture of two mother/child combos: My cousin Matthew with his mom, my Aunt Sokun; my Aunt Linda with her daughter, my cousin Carma.

Gathering in the garage: My Uncle Lloyd, Grandma Lila, brother Darren, and my dad

Watching TV in the sunroom: My cousin's husband Marc and my mom

In the back yard: my niece-in-law Shandra, great niece Elley, and sister-in-law Debbie.Trying to stay in the shade are Hubby and my nephew Robby.

Getting ready to go down the slide, this is my second cousin Evan.

Here is B1 "babysitting" her 3rd cousin (and my 2nd) Lawson.

B2 getting ready to slide.

This is my Goddaughter (and also second cousin) Elise playing in the pool

Nephew Ryan catching his daughter Chloe coming off the slide.

My niece-in-law Jenny posing pretty for a picture with her daughter Elley.

Hubby and me (yep, that's a Kenny Chesney T-shirt I have on).

And finally, a close-up pic of the hydrangea bush in our back yard.

I believe a good time was had by everyone, and the rain and hail that hit part of our area managed to stay away from our house so we were able to remain outside all day. The pool definitely felt good but by later in the afternoon, the heat did subside some. Happy Father's Day!

Picture #14

This is a picture of B1 and Taylor Swift, taken outside the Ryman Auditorium. Hubby and B1 went to the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, TN last weekend. B1 isn't very happy with the way her hair blew in front of her face for this picture and apparantly, Taylor Swift was in a hurry so they didn't ask for another shot. But B1 is still happy she got to have her picture taken with Taylor. We've already had it made into an 8x10 photo which is hanging on the wall in B1's room!

Picture #13

Here is how I (in pink) spent today: with Gina (in black) and Michelle (in red) scrapbooking. We decided yesterday to spend today at Archiver's. It's nice to get away from home for several hours and spend time doing something I love with friends who are great to talk to! Thanks guys for always inviting me!

Picture #12

We have a Father's Day picnic at our house each year. Today, B1, B2, and I went strawberry picking because one of the dishes we are going to offer this year is strawberry shortcake. I used to go pick strawberries with my Grandma Philipine when I was young. She loved strawberries. I remember riding out into the field on some type of wagon with her. We didn't have a wagon ride today as the picking spot was close enough to the shed where we picked up our boxes. It didn't take us very long (maybe 20 minutes or so) to pick these strawberries since we worked together. They aren't very big in size but there were plenty of them. Yum!

Picture(s) #11

Last July, I posted about visiting Illinois Amish Country. Today, the four of us took my mother-in-law for her Mother's Day "mystery trip," and we did indeed visit the Amish Country. Things were pretty much the same as they were last year. We stopped at one of the same stores I was at last year and a couple different ones. B1 and B2 thought it was interesting to see the horses and buggies as well as some of the children riding their bicycles and wearing their Amish clothing. The first picture was taken in the town of Arthur. There is an area about a block off of the main street for people to hitch their horses while they shop. The second is a picture of one of the Amish homes. It was taken outside a dry goods store (See the hitching post for the horses?). Their houses are all white (I don't know why this is) and they seem to all be HUGE. I believe this is because they don't use birth control and therefore, their families continue to grow and grow. As the family grows, it is necessary to add onto their houses again and again and again.....