A Six Flags Kind of Birthday

My big 36th birthday on August 14th nicely fell on a Saturday. Considering I was born at the wrong time of the year, got married at the wrong time of the year & had 2 kids at the wrong time of the year (BASEBALL SEASON), I knew I was free to come up with my own ideas for celebrating. Nate had his Atlanta Braves Try-out camp he organizes annually here in town that day. When I was at Six Flags earlier in the summer with Nate's family, I had seen Third Day was going to be there on my birthday for a concert! I love Third Day and Six Flags too. Luckily for me, so does my sister. So, we made plans and headed for Greenville on Friday via Tuscola and a little outlet mall shopping. We spent the night at Nate's mom's and step-dad's. Grandma was going to take care of the girls on Saturday while we were in St. Louis. As we hit the road and are cruising through the country to get to the interstate, my low tire pressure light was on. We stopped and visually checked the tires right before entering the interstate. They looked fine. On the way home we did put air in the one that was low by the end of the day. On the way home Sunday we did the same. I don't think we went anywhere on Monday so by Tuesday it was pretty much flat. I headed to the gas station down the street to put enough air in it to get across town to have it looked at. Sure enough, there was some kind of metal stuck in the tire. Looking back I was very thankful for the Lord's protection as we traveled so far and at interstate speed with the low tire pressure.

Of course any August day in St. Louis is gonna be nice and toasty and the humidity did not disappoint. Holy cow, it was hot! I thought I might just die in the tunnel approaching the Bat Man ride. Seriously, those engineers did not put much consideration into the St. Louis weather when they built that ride. It was nice being there without children. I only had to listen to myself whine about the sweat running in places I didn't know existed! :) I have no pictures of us at the amusement park since the majority of the rides we went on does not allow you to carry anything on your person. We rode 5 or 6 roller coasters and the swingers twice. We shared a big ole Turkey Leg that tasted like ham. That is one way to feel like a cave man - sit around and gnaw on one of those things! When my body was seriously done, we got us some Cold Stone and headed for the concert area. Considering we are not the only Third Day fans, the only available tickets where on the grass. We sat down about center stage and ate our ice cream. We noted that it would be wise to remember in the future to not purchase tickets on either side of the stage as there were big black cases that blocked the view. Just after we said that, this nice lady came up to a family of 4 sitting next to us. She offered them tickets in the row where she was sitting. The graciously accepted. Then she came over to us. She had 2 more she was giving away. We asked her where the seats were located. Wouldn't you know it was right on the side we just got done talking about. We decided to give it a try. We could always return to the grass. It happened that those lovely, free tickets where in like the 4th or 5th row, but unfortunately, in the center of the row which means the black guitar closet blocked our view of half the stage. Well, it was my birthday and all, so the nice people with the tickets for the rest of the row did not show. When the concert started we moved to the end of the row and had ourselves some pretty sweet seats! This is like the 4th Third Concert my sis and I have gone to together. And they have a new CD coming out the first part of October. Here are a few pics of this great Christian group.



It was a great day despite the heat and those rides confirming my new age! This turned out to be a pretty long post, but as they say, it's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to! :)

Add it to the List!

Over the weekend, I think Morgan experienced her latest injury, a minor concussion. Nate was in TN all of Saturday and Sunday with his ball team. Friday night I started some much needed cleaning and put out the first of some fall decorations. This continued all weekend. On Sunday, the girls and I stayed home from church since it was the annual picnic. I did not have the desire to chase them around on my own and keep them from falling into Comlara Lake where the picnic was held. Instead I continued to clean and started on the hard wood floor. Every time I get into that task I remember why I don't do it often enough! The girls for the most part played nicely together all weekend, allowing me to get a ton of laundry done along with the , cleaning/decorating. On Sunday afternoon while changing a load of laundry, Morgan comes to the basement crying. Shelby had knocked her off of her bed and she hit her head on the side of the dresser. She did have a small goose egg forming when I checked. Soon she was back saying she had a head ache and her stomach hurt and she felt like throwing up. I sent her back upstairs to lay down on the couch while I took some clothes upstairs to put away. When I came back downstairs, I found her kneeling in front of the toilet. I asked her if she wanted a bucket and she said no. 30 seconds later she is sick. The positive side of having a kid who has vomited a lot, they know what is coming. I appreciated her making it to the toilet instead of my clean floor. :) She did feel better after that and acted like her normal crazy self, so we didn't seek any medical assistance. I truly don't think our insurance company wants to see our name on an ER bill any time soon!

Shelby & Soccer

August brought us first grade and our first experience with soccer. It is probably too early to tell, but so far I think she likes it. Not sure if I can say love yet. Shelby's team had 2 practices with a week off for Labor Day before their first game which was on Saturday. If they had goalies and kept score, her team would have been killed! We had a long talk on the way home with me trying to explain to her that the point of the game at this age is to teach them how to play the game. Had they had goalies the other team wouldn't have scored all those goals and her team may not have scored the 2 they had either. I am afraid she inherited my dad's competitive nature which also means a sore loser. She was mad and mumbled something about Ashley being right. Meaning it was stupid. (Ashley doesn't care for the sport). Practice again tonight. We will see how much the team improves over the next month or so. The league she plays in has a fall schedule and then another in the spring. I think she will do great once she understands the concept of the sport.

Here she is at a practice

Dribbling the ball while avoiding the "chain snake"

In action during the first game

Morgan's First Day of Preschool

Hard to believe that my baby is now in preschool! Today was Morgan's first day at Sharing Tree at College Park Christian Church. Sharing Tree is new to us as Shelby attended preschool through the Town of Normal's Parks & Rec department. Unfortunately due to budget cuts, Rising Stars closed at the end of May. Sharing Tree was an easy choice as it is up the street and around the corner from our house, as well as we know others who have sent their kids there and had nothing but good things to say. Next door neighbor Henry is in her class as well as church bud Isaiah who was born the day before her. I didn't really know Isaiah's mom Amberly back in 2006, although we had mutual friends. Our friend Candi was visiting her when she saw Nate in my room right across the hall from Amberly! It is always nice going into something new with a familiar face or two. She said she had fun but did say she missed me, Nate & Shelby. And she was confused and disappointed when daddy & sister where not home when she returned. Here are a few pictures recording this date in Morgan's history! :)

If you read the post on Shelby's first day of school, you saw the going back to school gift opening.

Here she is with the Hello Kitty bag

Time for School, Mouse!

With her pink monkey backpack

before heading out on the first day

At the time of the going back to school gift opening, I only had one book for Morgs. Since I had two for Shelby, I told her I would get her another to open on her first day.

Preparing to open

She said she knew it was a book & had seen

it in the front seat of the van. Snoop!

One Smart Cookie

Bite Size Lessons for the School Years and Beyond

She wasn't thrilled with it but Shelby has a copy and it is a cute book full of important life qualities. With school this morning and Wednesday night church starting tonight, my little school girl was wiped! I am curious to see if she is as excited on Friday.