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First Day of School & Ali at 11 weeks (both a bit late)

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Robert Wilkie, 6th grade

Amazing…Rob seems to have undergone this metamorphasis this summer taking him from boy to well, I don’t know…he’s not a man, but he’s not a boy…is this what they refer to as “man-boy”? His voice hasn’t changed, but his demeanor has. He’s beginning to think before speaking, not always mind you, but the occassional act of courtesy is much appreciated. He offers to help (sometimes) instead of grudgingly agreeing after ignoring simple requests. It’s as if he’s beginning to realize we’re all in this together. These are great milestones which make a parent’s heart proud, however, it also tugs at a mommy’s heartstrings.

Here’s a Rob funny to let you in on his growing personality…He & I took Ben & Ali to join Chris at North Fulton’s football game last Friday night. (Tom & Jac were livin’ it up at a sleepover.) Rob headed to the concession stand, so I asked him to get some popcorn for Ben. When he hadn’t returned in a considerable amount of time, I wandered over to check in on him. He was around the corner at the door – it was taking too long at the windows 🙂 (You seriously wouldn’t believe the line unless you’d been there!) I joined him there just before his popcorn arrived. Much to my pleasure, he was being complimented on his patience. About that time Pam (Chris’ coworker) delivered his popcorn & laughed saying, “Jody, I didn’t know he was yours. I told him I appreciated his patience & he said, ‘That’s okay, it takes me 15 minutes just to ask if I can watch tv – there’s 5 of us kids in our family!’ ” and that’s our oldest boy…

Thomas Garrison, 2nd grade

Jaclyn AnnMarie, 2nd grade

Benton Alfred, 21 months
I almost felt like I must have been running my own preschool for one just trying to keep Ben entertained while the big 3 were gone that first day & it was only until 11:30! And to make matters worse, they had play practice that night so they were off without him again…poor guy! Enter color wonder paints & sidewalk chalk!!

3
monkeys in a tree, what you don’t see is the 4th one reaching up & laughing hysterically

traditional 1st day of school cake – yep, graffiti – nope, Jac didn’t get it…

And now for Ali at 11 weeks …

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Another Successful & Very Fun Steer Show

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Where to begin?? The kids have always enjoyed making cakes & getting creative with numerous art entries, which is great considering we have no animals…oh how we’d love to someday have a few cattle if for nothing more than giving the kids the experience of showing. But they do so enjoy the excitement of getting ready for “the fair” as they call it, not to mention participating in the scrambles & tractor rodeo and checking out all the rides. This year was no exception. As we packed up to take the cakes to town, I told Rob if we were all still doing this when he’s 17 & Ali’s 6 (youngest cake division), he’d have to drive just to help me haul cakes in!

Rob made his debut in the scratch division of the cake contest with a white cake & marshmallow fluff icing – he said he never knew how much it hurt to use a mixer, especially for that long…I actually wondered which would go first, him or the motor, as it took a really long time to get to that peaks stage for the icing. Not sure we’ll be doing that one again, but he did win 2nd place. Tom & Jac both stuck with the decorated contest. Tom made a white cake & decorated it to look like an OREO cookie, while Jac made a strawberry cake to honor her favorite kind of shoe: the flip flop – it was really cute! Can’t see it too well in this picture, but the flip-flops are on a graham cracker/brown sugar sandy beach. Special thanks to McGrew Feed Lot, Jim & Sally Lock, and Ludlum’s Food Mart/Batson’s Ace Hardware for purchasing their cakes. These three brought in nearly $600 to help support the Avon Fat Steer Show.

Rob has reached that pinnacle of being too old to participate in the scrambles & the tractor rodeo, but he was great help in keeping Ben calm while mom was in the ring taking pictures. Tom & Jac moved up to the pig division of the scrambles this year. Neither one caught it, but both gave a good run. Jac did come close, laying hands on it a couple of times…quite a surprise as she’s the one who just last year said, “I ain’t chasin’ no pig!”

All three of the big kids did a fantastic job in the art/photography show, earning several 1st, 2nd, & 3rd placings. Jaclyn even won the Sweepstakes award for having the highest point total in the a/p show. This was only the second year for that award & Rob won it last year. Perhaps next year it will be Tom’s turn…

And then there’s little Ben & Ali. Ali did very well & slept through much of the excitement, but the cool night air made it perfect sleeping weather & it really didn’t even seem to effect her much at night. She won the title of 2009 Most Patriotic in the baby photo show with the picture of her in her stars & stripes from the weekend of the 4th of July.

Ben was a real trooper & sat in his stroller almost the whole time we were at the rides with the big kids. Each of the kids received 4 tickets as a gift from a friend when Ali received her baby gift. Not knowing how Ben would take to it, I purposely held his until towards the end of Saturday night. OH MY WORD – GOOD THING!!!! He went on the cars with our friends Zane & Ella and did seem to enjoy that, but WOW-WOW! The big slide was SO FUN!!! He started giggling about 1/2 way down & didn’t stop until he was standing at the bottom. Less than a second after getting up he was showing his “happy feet’ (this unbelieveably cute little dance) and saying and signing MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was just too cute. He was so disappointed when the tickets ran out, but quickly distracted with the promise of popcorn, which -sadly- wasn’t being sold that night, so chips had to do the trick. Those of you who know Ben know that was little to no sacrifice. 🙂

Steers sold very well again this year & a good time was had by everyone in attendance. All in all, another successful steer show.
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10 weeks & weekend fun!

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What a great way to spend a day…zoo, picnic at a park & perusing the Lincoln Museum. Living so far apart, we don’t get to see our extended family near as much as we would like, so we really treasure the time we are together – even if just for a day as was the case on Sunday. We met Dad, Linda & Bailey at Henson Robinson Zoo near Springfield – what a treat! Nice & clean, made it through in a couple of hours. Plus, there’s a coupel of nice picnic/park spots right across the road. Such a treat to spend some time with them!


Here she is at 10 weeks already!

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more pictures…

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Two months old already!!!
August 9, 2009

Hard to believe she’s already past the two month mark! She hit that on Sunday. Had her check-up on Monday & she’s weighing in at 12 pounds 2.5 ounces. I didn’t catch how long she measured that day…she was ready to eat & didn’t care if mom knew how long she was!
The striped dress is from cousin Bailey – he wanted me to make sure & get pictures of her in it since it was too cold for such a dress when he was here. 🙂 She’s 9 weeks in this picture.
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Starting catcher for the Fairview League All-Star team…

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THOMAS JANSSEN!

It is traditional practice in the summer league the kids play in each summer, for the team that wins the tournament to face an all-star team made up of two players from each of the other teams. This year Thomas got chosen to represent his team and he was the starting catcher! He has really come to enjoy and look forward to catching this year. I have to say he is quite a hustler this year and has learned a lot. He came very close to catching some foul balls (and even one in the All-Star game). Jaclyn was a little disappointed that Thomas was chosen and she wasn’t, but spent the day at the fair, so she was content with that.

During the game, Thomas started as catcher as when they asked if there were any catchers, he about jumped out of his skin. Perhaps even the bigger story of the night was his plate performance as he went 3 for 3 from the plate including a double his first time at bat. The best comment from Thomas all night was on the way home he said “I never knew winning a baseball game could be so much fun!” You see, they did end up winning that night and their team had not won a game all season, so it was overall a great night for Thomas.