Morton Pumpkin Festival

Ever wondered where your can of Libby's pumpkin came from? Welcome to Morton, IL - a small town just outside of Peoria. They host a Pumpkin Festival each year, but we've never made it. This year we went, and it certainly was an experience.

We started the day by waiting an HOUR in line for pumpkin pancakes. You all know what it's like to wait in line with kiddoes...

Wandering Toddler

Empty stroller

The pancakes were fine, but certainly nothing extra special. Overall, I'd say it was a "been there, done that" experience. There's no need to return.

On the other hand, the parade was pretty fun. We saw lots of characters: Star Wars, Elmo, Bob the Builder, Blue, Tigger & Winny the Pooh. Brennan knew all their names, which was super fun. He kept getting so excited.

There were also tons of marching bands (who knew junior highs had marching bands too?), lots of churches, and of course pumpkins and tractors!

 

 

Brennan struggled to beat the bigger kids to the candy though. Luckily, Collin figured it out by the end, and we certainly got plenty of goodies to bring home.

Our favorite part was the "Elk-Mobile." Our friends, who met us there, told us while we ate our pancakes all about a truck they'd followed on the freeway. I doubted their description, until we beheld it for ourselves.

The best (or should I say, most memorable) part is from behind. Looks like he needs some lessons in modesty, eh?

Unfortunately for us, we had the pleasure of following Mr Elk home on the freeway. What a view.

 

Happy Pumpkin Festival!

Scabs out Back

We had a Joliet Reunion Party last weekend for all the guys Ryan befriended while gone and for their families. It made me wish once again that we had known each other while they were gone. Instead, we all suffered silently in incredibly similar struggles. Many women were home alone with their children too. All of us struggled with animal problems (did I ever blog about THAT!?), lawn care and loneliness.

Anyway, we hosted a bonfire with smores and lemonade.

The highlight of the evening was when our scabs burned their favorite (or more accurately their LEAST favorite) tshirt.

Background: While they were gone, the guys had a contest each evening for the best tshirt. Ryan spent a good amount of his free time at Goodwill purchasing shirts with ridiculous slogans...
1 - Drama Queen (with a random high school listed on the front)
2 - A Mustache means Business
3 - I'm Big in Europe
4 - Oscar the Grouch
5 - And the one that was burned (which I have deemed inappropriate for my blog readership)

If you look close, you can read the "inappropriate" shirt.

We had a good turn out and a good time. Welcome home to all you Peoria Scabs.

Life with our Daddy Home

Ryan is home! He's been home a whole week, and it is heaven. Thank you to everyone for your kind words these last four months. I can't believe we survived. We did it! Thanks for your help.

Life is hurrying along at a rip-roaring pace. Here's a little of what we've been up to...

Basement

The basement is coming along. We are working on priming all the walls, and then we'll be able to paint for real. This Labor Day weekend is dedicated to painting.

We are hoping to install the wood floor in the exercise room in the evenings next week. Can't wait to have my craft/exercise space! Mommy-cave, here I come!

Soccer
After a month of swim lessons (did I mention I had to have a sitter for B every Tuesday and Thursday night for FOUR weeks!? It was awful.), Collin started soccer.

It is a class that focuses on skills instead of games, and I love it. They do stories, songs and games while learning ball handling. It's awesome.

Unfortunately, it's been 90 degrees for both practices, and Collin has been a tad bit on the whiny side. Sigh.

And you can't take a picture of Big Brother without taking one of the Littlest One. Here's our Cheeseball. He loves soccer practices and does everything Coach Will asks. Hm, if only he were a year older...

Dairy Farm
I organize the playgroup for the moms at our church, and last Wednesday we headed to the dairy farm. I was hoping by the end of August it would be cooler, but it was still sweltering.

B jumped right into the action wanting to be right with the animals and other kids. He kept trying to climb all the fences.

C, as usual, needed to be held the whole time. His fear this time around? The tiny kittens that "weren't on a leash string or inside a fence!" Silly boy.

I know there's a great talk/lesson waiting for an author inside this photo!

Preschool
After Ryan had been gone for three months, I bit the bullet and registered C for a formal preschool. I couldn't begin to imagine helping teach his co-op. Here's C before the first day (yesterday). Doesn't he look so grown up?

The first day was just an hour with Mom, so we'll see how brave he is on Wednesday when it starts for real. He'll attend for about three hours, twice per week. I can't wait for all the one-on-one time with Brennan. Go Collin!