S'mores are S'messy!

The pressure is on!
Summer is almost over, but we're not done yet!  There are some things that we haven't gotten to yet!  Wait! 

Quick, somebody get the s'mores!

Ahhhhh .... that's better.  Messy, but better!

This is a Test!

Don't be alarmed.

This is only a test.

If there were actual potty training going on in our house, you would be among the first to know.

Again, this is only a test.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

A Walk in the Park

Today was a beautiful fall day, so we thought it would be a perfect day to explore one of our favorite places in Bloomington:  Ewing Manor.  (note:  Jenna was at school this morning, so the 3rd child in our photos is actually a friend who was spending the day with us : )

The six and a-half acre estate sits on beautiful, hilly, wooded property right across the street from Kara's preschool.  It's a former residence now owned by Illinois State University, and they plant and maintain the most beautiful gardens for every season. 

My favorite season to visit? Fall, of course! When the flowers are still blooming and the leaves are changing color, it's the perfect place to walk, explore, and take lots of pictures!

Last year, we had a photographer take our family photos at Ewing Manor.  I can only imagine that they will be favorites of mine for years to come!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

(photo credit (for photos included in the above Smilebox):  Mallory Teegarden, Mallory Rebekah Photography http://www.maloryrebekahphotography.com/)

Festibal

It's no secret that fall is my favorite season of the year.  One of my favorite things is attending the many festivals that go on at this time of year.  This past weekend was no exception.  We managed to visit 2 festivals in one weekend!

First, on Friday evening, the kids and I drove out to El Paso to pick daddy up from work.  Why?  Well, to attend the El Paso Corn Festival, of course!  I had been teasing Mark about the number of times he has brought up the fact that there is a Corn Festival in the town where he works.  I decided that he must really want to go and check it out.  So check it out we did!

There were extremely overpriced exciting rides ....

food to exchange massive amounts of germs share ...

Baby animals to completely freak you out feed ...

Yep, it was pretty much everything that you would expect from a small-town Corn Festival.  Oh, except for one thing.  Corn.  They didn't have any.  Anywhere.  Go figure!

The next day, we headed to our 2nd festival of the weekend, St. Patrick's Irish Pumpkin Festival.  (don't ask what Irish pumpkin means ... I've been a parishoner at St. Pat's for over a year now, and even volunteer at the festival, and I still have no idea).

And the ironic thing about this Irish Pumpkin Festival?  Yep, you guessed it:  not a pumpkin in sight!

The names might not make any sense, and there might not be corn or pumpkins at the festivals, but one thing is for sure:  the kids LOVE them!  Even Jack enjoys a good "festibal" every now and then.

Kara's First Day

Today is the day I've been waiting for and dreading all summer long.  The first day of preschool for Kara.  Well, the first day of this school year.  You might recall that Kara actually began her academic career last year at the ripe old age of 3.  It was during this initial year of acadamia that Kara researched and studied ways to drive her mommy crazy:  not crying for the first two weeks of drop-off but then causing class-interrupting scenes for the next two months;  telling her teacher that she would stand during story time instead of sitting;  saying that she would listen during music time instead of singing; refusing to have anything to do with paint and/or painting during the entire school year.  Remember that?  Yeah, so do I.  Thus, the dread part.

Well, the day came and Kara was up and dressed and ready to go for her new start time of 8:30am. 

She wore her new outfit, let mommy do her hair, and even posed for some pictures.

She put on her backpack, hugged us goodbye and headed off for her first day of school.

We got there, she jumped right in, and didn't bat an eye.

Now that's what I call a successful start to the school year!  Way to go Kara!

(let's just hope that this year's honeymoon isn't over in another 2 weeks!)