Greg & Tanya Farrell

Maggie's Dance Recital

2010-12-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

For the past four years, Maggie's dance class has done a Christmas recital as a fundraiser for Toys for Tots. This year, the class presented their numbers for the residents at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cameron.

She is not yawning....she is feigning surprise for the camera!!

The beginning of her jazz number.

The freestyle dance part of her gymnastics number.....she's in the middle.

Christmas Cookies

2010-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

It has been a few years since I have made cut out sugar cookies, but I was in the mood to make and decorate them this year and thought that the kids would enjoy the project as well!

Maggie helping me get the dough ready to roll out.

Morgan with his cookies.

Morgan decorating his cookies.

Cheesy grin Marshall!!

Hard at work decorating his cookies!

The finished product!!

Using the icing for the first time!!

Gingerbread House

2010-12-30T11:14:00.000-08:00

This year, the kids and I tackled making a gingerbread house. I had never done one before but bought a kit and I think it turned out pretty good!! We had lots of fun making it, so I'm sure it will be a repeat project next year!!

The back of the finished product.

The front.

The kids adding candy to the house.

All assembled and waiting to dry so that we can decorate it!

I'm piping in icing to hold in the sleigh.

Christmas

2010-12-30T07:45:00.000-08:00

Santa was good to the Farrell children this year.....although I have a few issues with him!! We celebrated our first Christmas in our basement this year since it was finished. As I have mentioned before, the kids wanted to have our Christmas down there, so two trees went up this year!! However, apparently Santa didn't get the 411 on the change in locations and missed out on his cookies and milk!! He left the kids' presents by the upstairs tree with a note asking about his goodies!?! We have decided next year we will either leave the milk and cookies upstairs or leave the big guy a note directing him to them!!

We celebrated Christmas with my dad and his wife on the Sunday before Christmas and had a very relaxed and enjoyable afternoon. The kids got to run around and play with their cousins for a few hours and we had a good food and a great visit. I even learned how to play Bunko with my nieces and nephew!!

Christmas Eve we were at my mom's house with more good food and company. We ate until we were miserable!! We had fun opening our presents and then after a small bit of karaoke, we headed to church for a candlelight service that was wonderful!! After that, it was back to Granny's to change into our new Christmas jammies and then home to go to bed!!

My pictures are in reverse order, but as you can tell the kids were happy with what Santa brought them. Morgan got a new Harry Potter wand. Maggie got a mini Miche bag and Marshall got a .22 rifle (Santa---a gun!?!)

We spent all day at home with most of it in the basement playing with our new toys and spending time together!!

We will celebrate our Christmas with the Pollard and Farrells this weekend. We can't wait to visit with everyone!!

Getting ready to rip into the presents.!!

Mags with her mini Miche bag!

Marshall with his .22 rifle!

Morgan and his new wand!

Look what Santa brought!! Guess we were good this year!!

Winter Update

2010-12-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Alas, I have no pictures to post at this moment, but I do need to update everyone on what is going on in our lives!

Morgan has completed his first-ever junior high basketball season. I'm not sure what the team's record was, but I think they probably broke even on wins/losses. Some of the boys on the team have played together for several years, but were playing with different kids this time and in different positions! They had a great season and lots of opportunities to learn! Morgan did a really good job and had a great time! I am very pleased to say that he has a good attitude and takes it in stride when the team loses as well as wins! He begins a league with a "travel" team tonight in St. Joe for the next several Wednesday nights. I am sure that he will enjoy it as well. He seems to be getting settled in to junior high very well. During the first week of November, he was very sick and missed 3 1/2 days plus a day the week before, but he got caught up in his classes and is working very hard! Last night, at the Winter Concert, the high school band played and they sounded great! I know that he enjoys being in the band and works hard at learning the songs!

Maggie had her Christmas dance recital last weekend and did an outstanding job in both her jazz and gymnastic numbers! She was joined on stage by her dad for a special number! I will post pictures later! He was wearing a tutu over his jeans and white top with a snowflake pinned to his shirt and a snowflake tiara! There were almost 20 dads up on the stage with their daughters! It was a sight to behold! If I can figure out how to load video, I may post it as well!! School is going great for Maggie! However, as usual, her favorite part of most days is spent at the daycare helping take care of the kids. We have a 5-month old that she LOVES to hold and love on! Last night at the Winter concert, she did a great job on the trumpet!!

Marshall is doing well with school and is getting involved in 4-H. In fact, he has his Christmas party tonight! We haven't gotten hogs yet, but will be sometime in the near future! He is very excited to get to show them this summer! He is busy going to open gym and "Rowdies" during the morning before school and hanging with his best friends! At the Winter concert, he did a great job singing his class's songs! He claimed he was so nervous that his palms were "all sweaty", but you couldn't tell it by looking at him. He smiled the entire time!

We have almost completed the basement. All that's left to do is "finish" work: hanging the pocket doors on the stairwell, the baseboard in most of the rooms, and wrapping one of the exposed columns! Greg has done a terrific job and we have a cozy place to hang out. Of course, we had to put two Christmas trees up.....one upstairs and one downstairs. Marshall wanted to know if that meant Santa would leave presents under both trees.....UUUUHHHH NO!

We hosted two Thanksgiving dinners this year. Thursday with some of my side and Saturday with Greg's side. It was a very fun time (but hectic). I think I will be taking next year off and letting someone else host! I enjoyed having everyone at the house, but the preparation wore me out!!

I will try to post some pictures at a later date! See ya later!

Family Photos

2010-11-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

We recently had our family photos taken by our pastor's wife who does an outstanding job and is very budget friendly!! Below are just a few of the many shots she took! Thanks LK!!

Sock Hop

2010-11-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

The last Friday in September, the Elementary StuCo at our school put on a Sock Hop for the elementary students.

Maggie in her poodle skirt.....that is a coffee filter colored black with the center cut out of it.....desperate times call for desperate measures.....she had a felt record from a dance recital, but we couldn't find it!!

Marshall as a greaser......

Aren't they cute!!??!!

Hayride!!

2010-11-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, some of our friends had a hog roast and hayride at their house! It was a beautiful fall evening and our family had a terrific time. Of course, Marshall rode in the tractor with the driver rather than on the hay wagon. Maggie, Morgan and I sang songs and visited along with the other people in the wagon. We had a fun time. It reminded me of the times when I was a kid and we used to have hay rides!! Fun, fun!!

Marshall in the tractor cab with Melvin and Zac......those who know all three of these realize that this is SCARY!!! LOL!

Maggie and Morgan......can you tell it is dark outside, but Mo has on sunglasses!?! hehehe

Halloween 2010

2010-11-08T11:15:00.001-08:00

Halloween 2010 proved to be very interesting! As usual, Halloween turned into a several day celebration.....I have noticed that when you have kids this happens.....every holiday/birthday turns into a multi-day celebration!! Oh well.....they are only little once.....and mine are just about not that little anymore!! :( We started our pre-Halloween celebration on the Thursday before the actual holiday with a Trunk or Treat at our school sponsored by the CharacterPLUS committee. The school board members served a freewill donation chili supper while local organizations and businesses sponsored a Trunk or Treat in the gym. The varsity girls' basketball team set up a haunted stage for kids to go through! It was a fun evening!!

However, the holiday got hijacked later on that evening when Morgan and Marshall began vomitting at 10:45 and 11:30. The boys and I spent most of the night up and down vomitting while I tried to figure out a way to handle the situation. Sick kids in the middle of the night was not going to go well with getting up and being at work at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. My mom wasn't available, so I closed the daycare.....which really spoiled the plans for our Halloween party.....but what can you do....sick kids need their mommy!!

Maggie was fortunate enough to be well, so she got to go to school Friday and celebrate with her classroom party!! Last year, she dressed up as Mommy for Halloween so this year, she decided to go as Daddy! She looked really cute in her carpenter garb!!

By Saturday morning, the boys were doing better and Morgan went deer hunting for the first time ever!! However, he had a crummy weekend and didn't get a deer, but he is waiting for the regular season so that he can try his hand again!! Say a prayer that he gets a deer.....he is really excited!!

Sunday evening, we headed to my brother's family's house for our annual Trick or Treating frolic. We have been trick or treating with them since Morgan was little. We gather at their house and eat supper (usually pizza) and then trick or treat their street and the next street over! The kids have a super time!

Below are some pictures of the kids and one crazy lady in costumes!

Oh look!!! It's Aunt Andi with Alli's stem on her head.....isn't she cute!?!?

Marshall as a Kansas City Royal.

By Sunday night, Maggie had tired of wearing the carpenter's tool belt and was ready to dress up like Mommy again.....

Morgan wasn't feeling well on Sunday night and instead of wearing his Percy Jackson costume which granny worked really hard on for 10 minutes to make he borrowed this Yoda mask to make trick or treating with Alli more fun!!!

Old Threshers

2010-11-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

OK....so here's how I end up doing things. I take, take, take pictures, and then I finally upload everything at one time.....so here is post number one!! Back in September, we headed to Greg's parents' house to attend Old Threshers in Shelbina. Marshall was super excited to go since it involved farming and old tractors! Below are a few pictures of the weekend. As a bonus, we got to see all of Greg's immediate family except for one of his brothers and his wife and oldest son!! That doesn't happen very often since we all live so far apart and have very busy lives!!

Marshall during the pedal tractor pull.....this was his first one ever. He ended up getting upset because he thought he was treated unfairly....he wasn't.....HE just thought he was!!! Typical Marshall.....God love him!

Prior to the pedal tractor pull, they had games for the kids. Here is Marshall in the hay scramble!!! He sneezed lots later on!

They also have rides for the kids. Marshall is here with his cousin Bridgit on a train made of barrells that are painted to look like tractors.....imagine that he is in a John Deere green one!!

Here is little miss Maggie in the tractor barrell ride!!

Daddy and the boys!!

Fall, fall, fall

2010-10-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it is officially fall in Northwest Missouri! The trees are all turning beautiful shades of orange, yellow, and red! Now, if it would just freeze so that allergies would go away!!

The first quarter at school is over and the kids have had a great start to the school year so far! Morgan is adjusting fairly well to junior high, though I think he still is working out some of the kinks! Maggie is loving fifth grade, and Marshall is enjoying being in the second grade! They each have great teachers and are enjoying the school year!

Morgan has started junior high basketball. So far, his team is 2-2. We had our annual junior high tournament at Winston last week and the boys finished fourth. The girls' team received second place. Morgan is doing great so far and has had 7 points in each of 2 of the games! I think he may have already tied my points scored throughout my entire high school career!! (hehehehe!!)

This past Saturday night, Maggie's girl scout troop attended a Vampire Scavenger Hunt! She got to wear her costume (construction worker like Daddy!!!.....last year she was a mommy!!) and then they broke up into groups and had a scavenger hunt around Cameron. Instead of finding items, they had to go to certain places and take pictures on a digital camera....I thought that was pretty neat! She had a blast!!

Marshall has quit Cub Scouts, but is now a 4-H-er. He visited his uncle in Indiana this past summer and has become very interested in showing animals! He has always said that he wants to have a farm when he grows up, so I'm not surprised by this turn of events! He is the child in our house who spends a great deal of time playing with his dad's old farm toys. He has a very precise way that he lines everything up and plays with it. So, Marshall joined 4-H and has picked Swine, Woodworking, and Gardening as his projects for this year. I am not that familiar with 4-H, so I'm sure this is going to be an education for me.....but as long as Marshall enjoys it, I'm all in!

Well, that is all for now! We'll catch you next time!!

School and all the craziness that goes along with it!

2010-09-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids have been back in school now for almost a month! This year, I have a "high schooler"--Morgan. In our small school, the 7th graders are in the high school! It is hard to believe that the little boy I took to preschool 8 years ago is already in the 7th grade! I can't believe that time goes as fast as it does! Maggie is in the 5th grade and is loving her teacher. Her class is back down to 8 students.....big huh? Marshall is in the 2nd grade and has the teacher that Morgan had last year! We're excited to have her again, and I'm sure she is going to see that there are lots of differences in the two Farrell boys!!

Things have been very hectic since the kids went back to school. The boys spent one weekend at Camp Gieger with the Boy Scouts at their 100th anniversary Camporall. Marshall got to go along too and thought that he was big stuff!

We spent Labor Day weekend divided up in about three different directions! Friday night, the kids spent the night at Papaw's house with my nieces and then Saturday we all headed out on the Lake in the boat! It was cool out, but the kids had a blast tubing, swimming in the lake, and "driving" Papaw's boat! Friday night, I met up with my best friend from high school and we visited for about 6 hours! It was 1 a.m. when I got home! I don't think I have stayed up that late in quite a while! Sunday, we headed to Shelbina to Greg's parents for a family reunion on the Farrell side of the family! We had a great time eating and visiting with family that we don't get to see often enough! On Monday, we made our way back home with some very tired children and unpacked ourselves so that we could get ready for the week ahead!

I have pictures of the kids from the first day of school and will try to get them posted sometime soon! Until then, see ya!

A Chance Meeting

2010-08-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well....he is home!!! After 13 loooooong days, my son is finally back in the company of our family! He had a great time and has all kinds of stories, but he is glad to be home and we are glad to have him here!

His troop flew into and out of Baltimore airport and on the day that he was flying home, my brother, his family, and my mother were heading to Niagara Falls via Baltimore for vacation and they happened to be in the same airport, flying on the same airline at the same time as Morgan! They got to surprise him as he was coming through security! My brother said his face got bright red and my niece Allison gave him about a hundred hugs!

I was very happy to hear that Morgan got to see some familiar faces before heading home! We had just realized the previous night that they were going to be in the same place at the same time! God engineers the greatest coincidences!

Thirteen Days is FOREVER!!!!

2010-08-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 11 of Morgan's trip! It seems like ages ago that we left him at the airport to head to D.C. However, he will be home in about 49 hours!! WOOHOO!! Momma is happy about that!

I have talked to him about once daily since he left except for a couple of days when I didn't get a phone call!! That has been VERY hard! I sent a cell phone with him and imagined that I could just call him a few times a day to check out what was going on and to make sure that he wasn't getting homesick (not that I could do anything about that, but hey, moms just need to know this stuff!). However, I didn't realize that once he got to Jamboree, he wouldn't have cell signal!!!!! Therefore, we have had to rely on him using other people's phones! Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful that he has had a wonderful tentmate and scoutmaster who have let him use their phones, but I thought I would be able to talk to him at will!! Guess I was wrong. What a lesson in self control I have learned!! AND, believe it or not, he has been FINE without me calling to check on him periodically throughout the day!! I know, I'm shocked too, but I guess he is growing up and is more independent than I realized!

He had a wonderful time in D.C., and has been having great experiences at the Jamboree. Every night he tells me of the different activities that he has participated in for the day. I know the memories he makes on this trip will last him a lifetime! I also know that when he gets home, he will probably talk nonstop for about 2 weeks.....wonder where he gets that? Today is the last full day at Jamboree. They will pack up and load the trailer tonight and then just use their cots and sleeping bags tonight! Then, tomorrow they will head back to D.C. for a few more tourist stops and the night and then Thursday, HE WILL BE HOME!!

Maggie REALLY misses her big brother and I'm sure Marshall does too, but not in the same way. One night last week, when Maggie got home from Bible school and found out that Morgan had called, she got upset because she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him. That's when I tracked down the cell number to his tent mate and called so that she could talk to him!

I asked Marshall last night if he missed Mo, and he said "I guess so." I know he does because he wants to go everywhere and do everything that Morgan does, but he just isn't going to show that type of emotion.....he is a man after all!

Well, I'm sure I will post more about his trip later. One of his scoutmasters has been keeping a blog, (it hasn't been updated in a few days), but you can see posts for their first six days. The address is: jamboreetroop1122.blogspot.com

Talk to you later!

Morgan's Trip to National Jamboree

2010-07-25T09:59:00.001-07:00

Morgan left early yesterday morning for the first leg of his trip to the 2010 Boy Scout National Jamboree. The Jamboree is actually at Fort A.P. Hill in Bowling Green, VA, but the troop that he went with is spending the first two days in Washington D.C. touring our national treasures. On July 26, they will head to Virginia for the 10 days of the Jamboree. At the conclusion of the Jamboree, the boys will head back to Washington for another night and then they will fly back home on August 5! The troop that he went to Jamboree with has spent over a year preparing for this event. It will be a fantastic trip for him that will carry a lifetime of memories!

The troop is keeping a blog of their daily activities. You can check out the site at: jamboreetroop1122.blogspot.com.

Finishing the Basement

2010-06-21T06:13:00.001-07:00

We are working hard to get our basement finished so that we can have more space to spread out in the house! Here are some pictures of Morgan helping with he wiring. I was anxious when I first discovered that he was helping out with this, but of course, his dad was perfectly capable of keeping him safe while teaching him the art of wiring! He also helped drop in ceiling tile. Maggie is Greg's constant companion in the basement. She is always down there watching what he is doing!

Morgan's Room!

2010-06-21T05:49:00.001-07:00

We have lived in our house for almost 6 years now, and during the entire time, finishing the basement has been in the back of our minds.....well, now it is getting completed. Morgan's room is the first finished room in our basement and he is finally able to have his own space! Below are pictures of his room from each of the angles! He is very excited to have his own room. I wondered initially if he would be uncomfortable sleeping in the basement all by himself, but he loves it. The first night I felt like I was abandoning him when I told him good night and then went back upstairs, but he is fine with it!

Marshall's Cub Scout Day Camp

2010-06-21T05:34:00.001-07:00

Marshall had Cub Scout Day Camp on June 11 & 12. The theme for this year was "CSI: Cub Scouts Invesigate". At each of the 14 stations, the Scouts were doing fun activities, like learning about different aspects of nature, shooting BB guns, bow & arrows, throwing tomahawks, making wallets, making flags for signalling, and much more. Friday was a beautiful, but hot day and the boys went through all of their stations. Friday afternoon, Marshall and his friend Jakub got to retire the flag! Saturday, however, was stormy and the day was cut short. The boys did get to throw tomahawks on Saturday, so Marshall was excited about that! Below are some pictures from the two days!

Morgan Pitching

2010-06-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

Morgan's team has had a fantastic season so far this year. Here are some pictures of him pitching. He is not one of the regular pitchers for the team, but the coach tries to give him an opportunity to pitch whenever he can. He doesn't pitch with the same speed as some of the other boys, but the teams hit off him, which means he's doing okay!

Maggie's Dance Recital

2010-06-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

Maggie's dance recital was Sunday, June 13. The theme for this year's recital was "Welcome to the Jungle". Below are some pictures from the recital. Maggie performed a tap, jazz, and gymnastics routine!

This is a picture of their jazz routine to "Jungle Love" by the Steve Miller Band. She's holding an inflatable guitar.

This is Maggie and both of my nieces! Aren't they all beautiful!

Summer runnin'

2010-06-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last several weeks running from Morgan's baseball games to Marshall's baseball games. Both boys have had good ball seasons so far and next week will be the last week of regular season play for Morgan. His batting has improved much this year thanks to a private batting lesson! The coach told him the same thing that Greg and I have been saying for 2 years, "Watch the ball all the way from the pitcher to the catcher", but apparently this time it stuck with him, because he has been hitting well since the practice!

Marshall had Cub Scout Day Camp this past weekend at the local state park. We had a great day on Friday and looked forward to Saturday's activities. However, on Saturday, it started raining about the time we got to camp and continued to do so for the next several hours. It rained the camp out, but we stayed until 12:30 so we were good and wet to travel home!

Maggie's dance recital was this past Sunday and as usual, she did terrific! She hada tap routine, a jazz routine, and a gymnastics routine! She looked so pretty in all her costumes and did very well with all three routines!

Morgan travelled to basketball camp two days this week at Northwest. He had a great time each day and learned a lot at the camp. When he returned on the second day, he immediately went to the Boy Scout camp to have a Mic-O-Say dance practice to get ready for National Jamboree which is at the end of July!

We have good news to celebrate as well. Greg is back to work!!! Yay!! He got called Saturday to go to work as a carpenter on a bridge crew in Liberty! We are all very excited!

I have stopped my job search for a teaching position next fall and will be working at the daycare solo as my business partner found a position as a school secretary in a local school district. I am excited that our daycare kiddos will still have one of us to stay here with. I'm sure God has a plan for me, but He knows what it is and I don't!

I will post pictures and more updates later!!

Run, run, run....

2010-05-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

That's what we have been doing lately.....running. But, then again, that's what we do all the time....at least for now. In a few short years (fewer than I realize) this part of our life will be over and we will wonder what to do with ourselves.

The school year is winding down and the kids are looking forward to their summer break! Maggie and Marshall are not the least bit interested in summer school and did not want to sign up. Morgan, who has the busiest schedule of all, did sign up but I'm not sure if he will follow through!

Morgan was supposed to have his first baseball game tonight, but it has been rained out, so it will be next Tuesday night for him! He has been very busy this last past month with baseball practice and Boy Scouts. He has spent three of the last four weekends on Boy Scout campouts! This past Saturday, after I picked him up, he said he just wanted to go home and stay there! I completely understood! He received his First-Class Scouting badge this past Saturday and has to complete one more merit badge in order to be a Star Scout! He works very hard!

Maggie's dance year is winding down with the recital in mid-June! She had her Girl Scout bridging ceremony last Monday night and is done for the year with that. She will start back again in the fall. She has really enjoyed scouts!

Marshall has been busy with baseball practice and Cub Scouts. He bridged to the Wolf Den on the last Saturday in April and will get to go to Cub Scout Day Camp and possibly Resident Camp this summer. He is also playing Machine Pitch baseball this summer! He is very excited about that!

We are headed to Vandalia this weekend for Greg's nephew Mason's graduation from high school! It doesn't seem like that long ago that he started kindergarten! AAAGGGHHH!!! I know what this means for my own kids! Morgan will be in 7th grade next year! I can't believe that I will have a junior high student!

Playing Catch....up!

2010-04-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I got on here and updated things! The busier we get, the less I write!

Greg goes back to the doctor next week and will hopefully be released to return to work without restrictions. It has been a LONG 7 months! However, his back feels great, so it has been very much worth it!

Morgan is still playing basketball, but summer baseball practice has begun now. He goes to Camp Geiger this weekend for a campout with the troop that is going to National Jamboree. That seemed so far away this fall, but it is creeping closer and closer! That is going to be a long 12 days without him!

Maggie is dancing and getting ready for her recital in June, which is getting closer! She was not interested in playing softball this summer. When I asked her if she wanted to, she replied "Heck no! Have you seen how they throw that ball?" She is at the age where she would play fastpitch softball and isn't the least bit interested in getting hit with a ball thrown windmill style! ;) Smart girl! She did get to play basketball a couple of times with a travelling team that the girls' coach at school has. She did pretty good, but isn't as interested in it as her brothers! She is getting to do lots of fun things in Girl Scouts! I'm glad that she decided to join!

Marshall is gearing up for summer ball and is busy finishing up his Tiger Cub requirements for this year! He got to play in one of Morgan's ball games this past weekend and scored 4 points! He was ecstatic! He wants so badly to be big like his brother and dad! I want so badly for him to stay my "baby".....ha, ha, he's never been a baby!

I'm still on the job search. I have put applications in at several schools, but with my certification currently expired and looking in a different content area, I'm not sure that I'm going to find anything. It just may not be my time to go back yet! I'm good with that. I'm not really sure I want to leave my kiddos at daycare yet! God will take me where He wants me!

Well, that's all for now! I'll post more later!

Shedding the Winter "Coat"

2010-03-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

BeforeAfter

Morgan's hair has been the topic of quite a few conversations recently. For the last few years, throughout the Winter, he likes to keep his hair longer, and then he gets it cut shorter when the weather warms up. Well, this year, his hair has gotten quite long. This weekend, he went to Columbia to the MSHSAA Final Four with some friends of ours and they were giving him a hard time about his longer hair. In fact, they all sent me texts saying they were getting his hair cut. Good for them, I thought. However, they were just giving me a hard time. However, last night, I went to cut Marshall's hair (he likes his kept short) and Morgan decided it was time to go short! Below is a before and after picture of him. I sure hope he doesn't regret having his head shaved this early! BBBBRRRR.....it's colder today than yesterday and I'm sure we haven't seen our last snow yet........

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

2010-03-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about weather.....although that could be an interesting conversation. I'm talking about our family's schedule. It seems like we are in the roaring lion mode right now! This past week has been the Elementary 5th and 6th grade basketball tournament at Pattonsburg. One of the two tournaments that our school basketball teams play in. Morgan's team played on Monday, Friday, and Saturday. They won the tournament! They were super excited!

Maggie had a Girl Scout sleepover at the movie theater and skating rink in Cameron on Friday night. Granny was gracious enough to take her at 11 p.m. and pick her up at 7 a.m. as I was scheduled to take my Middle School Math Praxis in St. Joe on Saturday morning and needed to get good sleep! Greg had to get Morgan to his game on Saturday morning and then they were off to a Boy Scout Merit Badge college in Trenton, so that he could earn a Merit Badge that he needs in order to advance to Star Scout. After the Merit Badge college, Morgan was to return to his friend Austin's house for his birthday party for a few hours and then attend a Boy Scout District Dinner to run a game, "Are You Smarter Than a Boy Scout". Following the dinner he went back to Austin's house for a sleepover, where he stayed up until 3:30 a.m.--new time!!! Guess who's tired today!?!

The Middle school Praxis test was HARD! I will get my scores mid-April, but right now I'm just glad that it is OVER! I'm not signing up for anymore until I find out if I have a teaching job for next year or not. With all the cuts schools are having to make, I'm not holding my breath!

While I was testing and Greg was running Morgan around, Granny had Mags and Marsh along with my nieces! They got to spend a day at granny's which is equivalent to having your heart's desire! How fun for them!

Needless to say, Sunday was a crash and burn day for us. I spent it cleaning house, doing laundry, paying bills.....you know, all the fun mom things while the kids played, rested, and watched TV.....oh, and argued!

Hopefully, we are going to have more of a lamb-like schedule coming up.......doubt it, but I can wish can't I!?!

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet

2010-03-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was Marshall's Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts! Marshall is super excited to be involved with Cub Scouts. He sees all of the neat opportunities Morgan has for Boy Scouts and wants to be part of it too!

We had a barbecue style dinner for the banquet so each family brought some type of dish that would be eaten at a barbecue!

Marshall earned his Tiger badge and was awarded a Super Duper Scout award for participating in all but one of the Pack's activities since he has been involved!

We are very proud of our Tiger Cub!

Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance

2010-03-08T11:14:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, Maggie and Greg got to attend their first ever Father/Daughter dance hosted by the Girl Scouts! Below are some pictures of them dressed up and ready to go.

This is a picture of them taken right before they left. Greg was excited to go, but was frustrated at me. They had their coats on and were ready to go when I remembered that I needed to snap a picture. He was grumpy with me!

This is a picture taken of them at the dance.

Another picture from the dance!

When they left the house, I was bummed because I wasn't going to get to see them at the dance. However, they hadn't been gone 5 minutes, when Greg called to tell me that I had forgotten to put in the special pair of earrings that Maggie was going to get to wear! So, Marshall and I hopped in the car and took the earrings to her! Then, we waved them off to have a good time at the dance! When they got home, Maggie was giggling about how she took her shoes off at the dance and stood on daddy's feet to dance! They had such a great time! What special memories she will have of this time with her daddy!

Snow, snow, and more snow

2010-02-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

I know that most of us are sharing the same thoughts this winter about the weather.......enough snow already! Last weekend's snowfall prevented Maggie from having her Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance and both Morgan and Maggie from playing in a basketbal tournament with their travel teams. Maggie was super excited to get to play with her travel team for the first time. Since they don't have that many games, she was very disappointed that she didn't get to go! Morgan's Boy Scout Troop was supposed to bowl in a tournament on Sunday, but that too got cancelled along with church!

Tonight is the reschedule of the Father/Daughter dance and Maggie is very excited. I will be heading home after work to get her all dolled up to go with her dad! She has a wrist corsage ready to go in the fridge and they will be getting their pictures taken at the dance! I think it is neat that she is getting this opportunity to do this with her dad. I'm sure there won't be too many years left that she will want him hanging around!

We have more ballgames this weekend. Marshall and Maggie have their last games tomorrow at their Gallatin League and Morgan is playing in a tournament in Osborn with his travel team. Sunday is Marshall's Blue and Gold Banquet for his Cub Scout troop. We have plenty going on! I'll try to post dance pictures later on!

Miscellaneous Update

2010-02-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have updated the blog. I have had a plan many a time to get on and post something, but always manage to find something else to do. We have spent most of our time lately running to basketball games for all three kids. Maggie and Marshall are playing in a Saturday morning learning league sponsored by the Gallatin Theater League in Gallatin. They are in different age divisions and their games are normally at least an hour apart. So, we go for Marshall's game and then have to kill time until Maggie's game. They are both doing great, though, and learning a lot!

Morgan's travel team is playing in tournaments almost every weekend. We sponsored one at Winston at the end of January. His team won both of their games! Marshall actually got to play a practice game in that one! He did really well! The next weekend, Greg and Morgan went to Klondike, which is the Boy Scouts annual Winter Campout. They have a lot of fun and get to sleep in a tent heated with a wood stove! Doesn't sound like too much fun to me, but they both enjoy it! This past weekend, Morgan played in a tournament in King City and his team took 1st place!

Other than that, we just keep battling the Winter weather along with everyone else! It seems like we only get a few good days between the snow storms! AAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

The first Sunday in February was Scout Sunday for the boys, so we went to the Methodist Church in Winston, which is our local troop's chartering organization. Morgan did the scripture reading for the service since he is the troop's Chaplain Aide. He did a very good job. Following the service, Marshall's cub scout den took a walk around town (in the snow) to fulfill one of their Tiger Cub requirements!

Maggie has a father/daughter dance coming up this Friday night and her dad will be attending with her as her "date". We are heading shopping tonight to find her something to wear! She is growing up so fast! It is hard to believe that she will be 10 this summer!

Marshall is finally getting in one of his two front teeth. If you will remember, he lost them three years ago after a head-on collision (his mouth/her head) with my business partner's daughter! He finally lost a tooth last month (on the bottom) so I though he would be getting close, but now the top tooth is showing through the gum! Yeah! I have forgotten what he looks like with front teeth!

I am also looking toward a change! Since Greg has been out of work for so long, I am looking to returning to teaching, just to give our family a little income boost. The doctor is planning on releasing him for full-time work in April, but it has been a long winter! I am hoping to find a teaching job for next school year! I go in March to take the Praxis test in an attempt to add Math to my certification! It has been 10 years since I was in a classroom teaching! I am somewhat nervous about the entire process, but excited to return to teaching at the same time!

As I just mentioned, Greg is recouperating well, and the doctor is planning to release him for full-time work on April 1. As I'm sure you can guess, he is more than ready to make his way back to a full-time job. Since his weight limit was raised to 25 lbs. he has been working on finishing the basement. He is doing pretty well, but at times, he must watch it because he tires and gets sore easily!

Well, that's all for now, I'll post more later!

Maggie's Girl Scout Sleepover

2010-01-18T05:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend Maggie attended her first Girl Scout sleepover. It was from 7-7 Friday night at a local church. The theme was High School Musical, which was exciting for her. I dropped her off at 7 pm and said goodbye. I was pretty sure that she we do okay, but you never know. She really likes to be with her mommy! So, I was prepared for a middle-of-the-night phone call, but one never came. I went down Saturday morning to pick her up and her leader said that she had fallen asleep around 2:30 and that they couldn't get her up! I woke her up and we went on home. She had ball practice at 9:30, so going back to sleep wasn't an option until after that! She had a wonderful time at the sleepover and didn't get homesick one time. I am so proud of her!!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

We rang out 2009 at our house with a group of our good friends. We had a combo birthday/New Year's party. Greg's birthday is on New Year's Eve, so we had a birthday cake to help him celebrate.

The kids spent the night splitting their time between playing the Wii and playing basketball (a constant in our life) in the basement! The adults spent their time playing games, visiting, and watching a movie!

We rang in the 2010 with a toast, and shortly after, the party dispersed. Party animals aren't we??

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

2010-01-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning after Christmas, we headed to Greg's mom and dad's house in Shelbina for Christmas with his family. Unfortunately, due to the winter storm, Greg's sister and aunt weren't able to make it to town so Greg's grandma postponed her Christmas until the next weekend. We had Christmas at Greg's parents house with his two brothers and their families. When we left our house, we had to travel north on our gravel road in order to travel back south because our road was drifted full to the south of our house! As we got further east, we saw less and less snow, but by the time we got to Shelbina, it was snowing there! We had a great time visiting with the family. Greg's cousin and her kids as well as his aunt and uncle came to visit, so we got some good talking in. We also spent several hours Saturday afternoon playing Phase 10. The first game, Marshall sat and watched. The second game he wanted to play! He did a great job! In fact, Sunday morning, he wanted to play and was trying to teach Maggie!

Sunday afternoon before we left, we went to Greg's aunt and uncle's house and visited with their youngest son, his wife, and their baby. We hadn't seen him since he was born in June! It was great to finally get to meet the little guy! He is a cutie! We couldn't visit long because Morgan was supposed to have a ballgame in St. Joe later that day. However, shortly after we left, we got a message saying that his ballgame had been cancelled. So, we got to come home and hunker down for the night!

Maggie anxiously waiting to open presents!

Morgan acting goofy!

Marshall with Mason after opening one of his presents!

Grandpa opening one the presents the kids bought for him.

Grandma with one of the gifts the kids bought for her!

Christmas Day at the Farrell House

2010-01-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning began at 6 a.m. in the Farrell house! We got up and opened presents and then set to playing with everything. Since there was a snowstorm going on outside, we weren't going anywhere and no one was going to come to us! The kids got lots of new clothes, toys, and games so we spent the day trying on stuff and learning the new games! Both boys got Lego sets, so there was a time set aside for putting them together! I prepared a turkey dinner for that evening, and we sat down and ate together and wrapped up the night getting ready for our trip to Shelbina on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with Greg's family.

The kids in front of the tree prior to opening presents.

Morgan with one of his new Star Wars action figures.

Marshall with a new book behind his fort of presents!

Maggie with her new Nintendo DS.

All three kids with their new Nintendo DS game systems and games.

Christmas at Granny's

2010-01-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve afternoon we went to my mom's house (Granny) to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. Both of my brothers, their wives, and their children were there, along with my Aunt Gayle and her guy, Uncle Randy. My sister-in-law's parents stopped by later on in the evening. We ate finger foods, played games, opened presents, and had a GREAT time! Unfortunately, when the storm hit, we had to break things up and head home. Everyone except for us was unsure of if they had power at home or not, as some power in Cameron went out during the evening due to the winter storm.

Aubrey, Emma, and the corner of Johnathan dancing to Taylor Swift. You just can't capture the excitement with a still picture!

Our family prior to opening presents!

The grandkids!

Snow Storm

2010-01-11T04:50:00.000-08:00

Well......this morning was the first time I have been out of my house since Thursday afternoon. I came to work Thursday morning after it had snowed on Wednesday. When I left home, I had to travel north in order to travel back again south. During my trip to town, I was thinking that I would be lucky if I made it back home again Thursday after getting off work. After a quick "business" meeting with my partner later in the day, we decided that we should close early Thursday and all day Friday. We left the daycare at 1:00 to head home. Needless to say, I think I got home as late as I possibly could and still make it to the house. Our road was drifted full! We spent the rest of the day Thursday and all day Friday at home together. Both nights we played Phase 10. Let me just say that Marshall Farrell is probably going to be a card shark! He LOVES that game! We had so much fun playing together!

We didn't see the road grader go by until Friday during the night! On Saturday, Maggie and Marshall both had basketball practice in Gallatin. But, because it was so cold, only Greg got out to take them. Their practices were two hours apart, so they each went separately and Greg came back to pick Maggie up when he brought Marshall home. We spent the rest of the day at home! How cozy!

Sunday morning, we had planned to get out and go to church. However, the thought of braving the bitter cold (though it wasn't as bitter as it had been) just didn't sit well, so we ended up staying home again all day. Morgan had two ballgames (one makeup and one regularly scheduled) in St. Joseph and since they were in the evening, only he and Greg went. Maggie, Marshall, and I stayed at home!

This morning when I came to work, I was amazed at how much snow there is! The state highway coming to town is virtually one lane because the west lane is filled with drifts! When this snow begins to melt, we are going to have one big sloppy mess!

I do have Christmas pictures to post, but our internet connection at home is slow so I keep putting it off! I will get to it sometime!!! ;)

Hanging Basketball Goals

2009-12-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago when Greg was working on a rec center, he was fortunate enough to be given some discarded retractable basketball goals. Our school district became the proud recipients of the regifted basketball goals. On Wednesday and Thursday, a work crew was able to installl the goals! Below are pictures of the process.

Getting a ladder extended to the rafters.

Another shot, showing the ladder braced on a piece of lumbe sitting on the bleachers
A picture of the backboard hanging down.

The work crew admiring a part of their work!

Another shot of the work crew and the gym.

School Christmas Parties

2009-12-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Tuesday the kids got out of school at 12:45 for Christmas Break. On Monday and Tuesday, the kids had fun days at school. All day Monday, the kids did Christmas/Winter themed crafts and games and on Tuesday, they got to watch Christmas movies and then had their classroom parties. Below is a picture of Morgan.

Morgan in his classroom. The sixth grade had a primo party with pizza, pop, hot chocolate and karaoke. I almost busted into song myself!!!

Christmas at Papaw's House

2009-12-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, December 21, we had Christmas with my dad and his wife, Lori. We were there with my brothers, Chris and Cory, and there families. We had a great time. Below are pictures from the day!

The look-alike cousins, Maggie and Aubrey!

Morgan with his brain-teaser puzzle.

Dad, meticulously opening one of his presents. He will not tear the wrapping paper!

The grandkids, the daughter and daughters-in-law got Snuggie blankets! Don't we look warm!

Marshall's Cub Scout Pack Meeting

2009-12-13T14:06:00.001-08:00

Today, Morgan's Cub Scout Pack had a pack meeting. They have pack meetings one Sunday every two months. At the pack meetings, all of the dens are present and they present the boys with the achievement awards they have earned since the previous pack meeting. We start the meeting with a carry-in dinner and then proceed to the Pack meeting. It is a fun time to visit with each other and see the boys recognized for their hard work!

Maggie and I before the meeting started!

After the presentation of colors, the boys lined up and presented a poem of HOLIDAY using an acrostic! Here they are holding up the letter they represented. Marshall was "O".
The Tigers sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" The extra guy is a younger sibling of one of the boys....he wanted to sing too!

In this picture, Marshall is pinning me with my mother's pin for his Bobcat achievement!

This is a picture of the whole pack.

This is a goofy face picture of the whole Pack.

The three Tigers getting their achievement beads.

School Christmas Concert

2009-12-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

The kids had their Christmas concert at school on Friday afternoon. It was supposed to have been on Tuesday night, but with the snow storm and school being cancelled for three days, it was rescheduled for Friday afternoon. Our school is small enough that we have the elementary and high school concerts together. The kids looked really nice.....especially since they had worn their dress clothes to school that morning. I was very nervous that they would have stains and wrinkles all over them, but all three looked very nice!!

Morgan with his clarinet and the 6th grade band. During one song, he was the only one who kept playing. He said the rest of the band got lost.

Morgan with a group of kids singing a special part in "Winter Wonderland"
Morgan singing with the 4th through 6th grades.

Maggie singing with the 4th through 6th grades.

Marshall singing with the 1st through 3rd grades.

Morgan's Ballgame

2009-12-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday mornings, Morgan plays in a basketball league in Albany, which is about 45 minutes north of our home. This Saturday morning, he played a team from Albany and won 54-6. He also plays in a league in St. Joe on Thursday nights. They have played on the past two Thursdays and have won both of those games as well. Below are some pictures of him playing. He is number 11 on the black team.

Setting up on offense. He is on the far side of the lane.

The coach talking with the boys at half time.Getting ready to fast break to the other end after a defensive rebound.

Morgan playing defense.

Family Field Day

2009-12-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

In September, our school's Parent Teacher Organization has sponsored a Family Field Day for the past two years. During the Saturday afternoon, we have field games available for all ages and then we form teams and play volleyball and kickball with all ages together, including parents. It has been very fun the past two years, and hopefully will continue in the future!

A group playing tug of war.

The three legged races.
Bowling....in the softball dugout!

Trike races!

Rope a steer!

More Halloween Pics

2009-12-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

Again, this is mass blogging, and the events are out of order! These are pictures of our actual Halloween night festivities

On the way home, Marshall was so exhausted, he fell asleep with his head resting on his hand!

This is a picture of our trick or treating group after trick or treating.
Who is that Southern Belle? Oh, it's Aunt Andi!

The trick or treaters hard at work!

Marshall turned in to the Headless Horseman!

The trick or treaters dressed and ready to go!

The Farrell kids prior to departure!

Marshall as Mutt Williams! (Shia LeBouf in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Morgan as Indiana Jones--cool beard huh?

Maggie as a mommy!

Morgan's Tenderfoot Advancement

2009-12-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

In August, Morgan had his first weekend campout as a Boy Scout. At the end of the weekend, they had a Court of Honor to present the boys with the Merit Badges and any rank advancements they had earned since the last Court of Honor. During this particular Court of Honor, Morgan was awarded his rank advancement to Tenderfoot Scout. He was very proud of his accomplishment!

Morgan pinning my mother's pin on my to signify his advancement to Tenderfoot Scout.

Over the weekend, Morgan had learned how to tie a flying figure eight knot. During the ceremony, he was asked to demostrate it! These next two pictures in reverse order show the process!

Morgan taking an oath.

First Day of School

2009-12-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it was in August, but I am finally taking time to download a bunch of pictures from my camera to the computer at work! So, now is when you are getting to see them!

The three stair-step Farrell kids prior to their first day of school 2009-10.

Maggie on her first day of 4th grade!
Morgan on his first day of 6th grade. I do not want to think about next year! :(

Marshall on his first day of 1st grade! Watch out Mrs. Nelson!

Finished Maggie.

Just woke up Maggie!! Scary isn't it!?! I'm not sure what she does when she's sleeping, but I suspect it may be the gymnastics that she does during her waking hours!

Decorating for Christmas!

2009-12-09T08:38:00.001-08:00

One day I will get the hang of adding pictures to my post......my pictures are always in reverse order! Oh well, they're still there!

I always try to decorate for Christmas on the weekend after Thanksgiving if at all possible. I can't do it before, because I am a one task woman. But, I don't want to wait too long because I like to see the decorations. However, this year, I just wasn't looking forward to the work. Well, that wasn't an issue because the kids did it for me! Below are pictures of the process. After the tree was decorated, we took the kids' picture for our annual Christmas card and the kids decided we needed a photo shoot! So, we took every possible combination of pictures that we could take. I think they all turned out pretty good, except for the ones with me in them. I hate to look at pictures of myself!

The finished Christmas tree. It is really skinny, but fits well in our living room....plus it's pre-lit, which I love!

Me and the kids! Don't I look lovely? AGGGHHH!
Greg and the kids! Aren't they a beautiful group!?!?

The three kiddos together! I wanted to use this for the cards, but couldn't get it to upload properly!

The kids wanted to have the cats in the picture. The cats wanted no part of it...I snapped this just before the cats jumped from the boys' arms!

The kids decorating the tree. Notice the bulbs sorted out by colors. Marshall separated them out and gave everyone a certain color to use. Wonder where he gets that from?

Morgan hanging on ornaments.

Maggie decorating.

Marshall hanging on ornaments.

It's amazing that three kids who spend most of their time arguing can actually pull together and work for a common goal. I guess they don't really dislike each other all that much now do they?

Marshall's Exhaustion!

2009-12-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

We all know how much Marshall wants to be just like his dad and every other manly man, but you can't run with the big dogs if you don't get off the porch! On the last day of hunting season, Marshall and Morgan went with Greg and our friend Mike to walk the brush....or something like that. Morgan went with Greg and Marshall went with Mike. I think that Mike is probably Marshall's best friend.....Mike is 41 and married to my business partner Angie. Anyhow.....Marshall wasn't home very long before he was sawing some logs! I guess he is still a little boy!!

He looks so sweet when he is sleeping!!

Sacked out in the middle of the living room and all the chaos that goes on there!

Maggie's Christmas Dance Recital

2009-12-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was Maggie's Christmas recital for dance and gymnastics. For the last three years, the dance studio has done a Christmas recital to benefit Toys for Tots. It has been very successful! Her class did a jazz number and then a gymnastics number! She did great with her jazz routine and when it got to her gymnastics number, she did an awesome front handspring! The theme for the show was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" My brother and sister-in-law were the narrators! My oldest niece Aubrey is in the same class as Maggie and this year my youngest niece's Alli's first year in dance. All three girls did great!

Maggie and I after the show.

Cory and Andi as the narrators.

My nieces, Alli and Aubrey, with Maggie.

Maggie before the show. They used the same skirt in their spring recital....we just changed the applique to a Christmas tree from a record!

Our Trip to the Royals Game

2009-12-09T07:45:00.001-08:00

In late September, we traveled to the Royals game with our friends Allen and Angel and their kids Abby and Austin. This was our first visit to the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium. They had added a whole new area for kids which was like a little amusement park. The kids got to play a little while, but we had not allowed enough time to fully enjoy the experience.

The evening was not a huge success. The team lost, we got rained on and at one point during the game during a contest for t-shirts a grown man fell on Maggie! :( This was the last home game of the season and our only opportunity to visit this year. Hopefully next year, we'll have more success at going to games!

Maggie and Abby in front of one of the fountains in the outfield!

Marshall and Morgan playing miniature golf.
Getting ready to play mini golf.

Maggie riding the carousel.

Marshall is a Cub Scout!

2009-12-09T07:26:00.001-08:00

The weekend before Halloween, Marshall's Cub Scout Pack had their first official Pack Meeting. At the meeting, he was officially inducted as a Tiger Cub! He was very excited as he has waited a long time to be able to be involved in Scouts like his big brother! In fact, instead of opting to wear his costume, he chose to wear his Cub Scout uniform!

Marshall and the other two Tiger Cubs in his den.

Marshall and the Tiger Cubs presenting a skit.

The entire Cub Scout Pack.
Marshall, Greg, and I being inducted.

Halloween

2009-12-09T04:20:00.000-08:00

I am posting several posts right now and am probably not going in chronological order, so bear with me.....we're jumping around.

Every year we celebrate Halloween by going to my brother's house in Cameron. We trick or treat up and down the street he lives on. We have pizza and hang out at his house handing out candy. This year, we also trick or treated the street over from his house and then we visited some "scary" houses in town. Turns out my kids like to be scared as much as I do......not at all. They ended up sitting in the car with me while others trick or treated the scary houses.

This year, Morgan was Indiana Jones, Marshall was Mutt Williams (Indy's son), and Maggie was a mommy. I am posting their classroom party pictures as well as some of our Halloween pictures below!

On Friday, I went up to the school to see the costume parade and attend the classroom parties.

Maggie and one of her classmates at their party. Their class decided to watch a movie rather than have a "traditional" classroom party.

Marshall during the costume parade.

Morgan at his desk during his classroom party.

Marshall dancing during his classroom party.

Morgan as Indiana Jones during the costume parade.

Maggie with her baby during the costume parade.

Fall, Fall, Fall

2009-11-20T04:20:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving! It doesn't feel like it should be that late in the year yet! Oh well, I guess time marches on! Everything in our life is busy as usual, but we are enjoying ourselves running from activity to activity!

Greg is doing well in his surgery recovery. His pain from before surgery is completely gone and he is walking more upright than I have ever seen him walk before! He will be off work until at least February 1 and in the meantime, he is using every opportunity of good weather to take a walk outside!

Morgan has started playing basketball in two basketball leagues for the Fall. One plays on Saturdays and the other plays on Thursday or Sunday nights. So far, his team is playing really well. He is also staying busy with Boy Scouts. He had his first overnight "shakedown" with the boys who will be going to the National Jamboree in August. They spent the weekend at Camp Gieiger going through Project COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Encounter) and just getting to know each other. He will be gone for two weeks this summer to the National Jamboree in Viriginia. I sure hope that he has fun!!! It is going to be the longest two weeks of my life!! 2010 is the 100th anniversary of scouting, so I know that it will be a super experience for him, but I know the four of us are going to miss him!

Maggie is plugging along in school, dance, and Girl Scouts! About a month ago, she decided she wanted to join Girl Scouts, so she joined a troop in Cameron, since Winston doesn't have their own troop. On the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, she goes to her meeting and then gets to spend the night with Granny! She thinks that is pretty special. Last Saturday she got to go with her troop to Build-A-Bear workshop! Each girl was allowed to spend $25 to build the animal of their choice and purchase an outfit. It was part of earning their Moneysense patch! It was also her first outing without me going along and she had a blast! She has her annual Christmas recital on December 6, so they are busy getting ready for that in dance class. She really LOVES the gymnastic part of her dance class!

Marshall is about to legitimately lose his first tooth! I say legitimately because he got his two front teeth pulled out three years ago after he bumped into my friend's daughter and they started to turn gray! He is very excited to finally lose one! He is busy with his Cub Scouts. He is a Tiger Cub and is working toward earning his Bobcat badge! He meets with his Den every other Monday and then has pack meetings or activities once a month! Wednesday night, the Pack went and tourned the Bell Tower in the Daviess County courthouse! He was excited because he got to write his name somewhere in the Bell Tower so that some day when he brings his son he can show him that he came when he was a kid! Marshall is also playing basketball, but just at the school in the mornings. He will start in a league after the first of the year! I'm not sure if any of us are ready for him on the basketball court!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is about getting together with family and enjoying their company. There is no tie to shopping or gift giving, it is just okay to sit around with family and be content with being together! I hope that each and every one of you has a Happy Thanksgiving and we hope to see you on our next trip!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Halloween, but this past week was the buildup to Halloween. Every year, I think that it isn't going to be so busy, but every year I am proven wrong.

This year at school, a committee that I participate in hosted a Trunk or Treat and Chili Supper on Friday night. This, added to the general chaos of getting ready for the kids' classroom parties and getting ready for the daycare party, just increased the hecticness (is that really a word?) of the week! Except for the shopping, Halloween rivals Christmas for the amount of work it takes to pull off!

Needless to say, the school parties, the Trunk or Treat and Chili Supper, and the daycare parties went off without a hitch and were very fun for the children!

On Saturday evening, we headed to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Cameron to trick or treat. This is an annual tradition for our family. We gather at their house and trick or treat up and down their street. We eat supper together, which is usually pizza (this year it was leftover chili from Friday night) and then we take the kids to some "scary" haunts in town. We stuck to the same agenda this year and had a blast as usual! When we went to the "scary" houses, I learned that my kids are pretty much chickens like their mom and dad! Neither one of us cares too much for scariness!

Morgan dressed as Indiana Jones, Marshall was Mutt (from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Maggie was a mommy!

The Fall Rush

2009-10-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have gotten on and posted, so I should update evryone on the status of our family.

Greg is recovering very well from his surgery. He hasn't had any type of pain medicine since the Wednesday after his surger on Friday! He is getting around really well, and I think the biggest problem for him now is going to be getting through the rest of his recovery without going stir crazy. He went back to the doctor last week and he will be off until at least February 1!!! That is a long time for a guy who likes to stay busy!

Morgan is doing well. He starts one of his basketball leagues on the first Saturday in November, so we will soon be running to ball games again! He is going to go the Boy Scout National Jamboree this summer for two weeks (gasp!) in Virginia! This weekend he has an overnight stay at Camp Geiger (our local Boy Scout camp) to get to know the other boys who are going from our Council. He likes his teacher this year and enjoys his school work as much as a kid can!

Maggie joined Girl Scouts last week and is excited to get to do that! She still does her dance and gymnastics, but was wanting to get involved in Scouts as well. So, she joined a Troop in Cameron. I'm sure that is going to add quite a bit of activity to our life! She is doing well in school this year, and has a super teacher!

Marshall, too, has started Scouts: Cub Scouts. It has been a long time coming for him since he wants to be just like his older brother! He also goes up to the school almost every morning early to play/practice basketball! He enjoys school and I am just thankful that he doesn't cause trouble. His teacher called the other day with a funny: They were talking about ribs and Marshall raised up his shirt and sucked in his belly to show her his ribs. Then, he said, "I look hot when I take off my shirt!"........She began laughing and as he was walking away, he looked over his shoulder and said, "What? I really do!" Arrogant little fellow isn't he?

As for me, I am just busy chasing everyone around. That's standard operating procedure for us!

Take care!!

Greg's Recovery

2009-10-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Greg is doing well since his surger last Friday. We had our first outing today to Wal-Mart to find tape for his bandage! He was released from the hospital on Sunday morning and we went home. His mom, dad, and brother Mark were waiting at our house for us with dinner warmed up! After searching for a chair that Greg could actually sit in and get out of, I went back to Wal-Mart to pick up his pain medicines. He did great on Sunday and even went outside to walk around.

Earlier this week, he was battling some nasty side effects of oxycodone. The medicine was making him miserably nauseaous, but he has had no pain medicine since Wednesday and has reported that the nauseaousness has passed!

He is walking without the aid of the walker most of the time, but does use it to get out of bed first thing in the morning. The kids have been great with helping and are really on their best behavior....I'm sure that will pass some time in the next few days!

We are spending this weekend pretty much at home with a quick interruption Saturday night for the kids to go bowling with Granny!

Greg's surgery

2009-10-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I am currently sitting in a chair in Greg's hospital room updating this blog. Greg's surgery was at 7:30 a.m. this morning and took less than 2 hours to complete, which was less than the time they had told me to expect.

The doctor was able to relieve the compresion of his vertebrae, release the nerves, fuse the bone together, and place a cage in between the L3 and L4 vertebrae. The doctor said the surgery went as well as it could have gone. Now, we are just waiting for the anesthesia to wear out of his system. He is really sleeping hard at times and says he feels "loopy" when he is awake!

Well, that is all for now! The kids are with Granny this weekend and I don't think they even realize what is going on with their dad.

Life

2009-09-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything, so I guess we are just ready for an update. School is back in session and all three kids are doing very well. Morgan is in 6th grade and has adjusted to the increase in homework well. Maggie is in 4th grade and she is loving it. Marshall is in 1st grade and loves to do his math homework! Every year I worry that he will show his argumentative side to his teacher, but so far he has managed to keep that personality trait in check at school. His teacher called the other night to say that he is doing well and she has no concerns!

The kids have already started their school year activities. Morgan and Marshall go to school by 7 a.m. everyday for either open gym or "Rowdy Redbirds" basketball fundamentals. Maggie has her tap/jazz/gymnastic class on Monday nights. She loves her class! This will be her 7th year at Meri's Dance Studio. It just seems like yesterday that she began! Morgan is busy in Boy Scouts and Marshall finally got to join Cub Scouts. We haven't really started activities yet, but he is proud to be a Scout like his brother!

Greg is going to have spinal fusion surgery on October 2, so please pray for his speedy recovery! His back pain has been pretty bad for a couple of years and he was getting epidural shots for them, but they had stopped working, so we went to see a surgeon and surgery is the only way to get his pain under control at this point. So, we are very hopeful that this is going to help him and that he will be pain free following surgery!

Other than that, just regular stuff going on. We have a Parent/Teacher Organization Family Fund Day tomorrow and it looks as if the weather is going to be beautiful for it!

That is all for now!

The Summer Wrap Up

2009-08-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well...it seems as though the summer has flown by! We have been so terribly busy this summer, that it feels like May was just last week....and the kids go back to school next week! Marshall had his 7th birthday at the beginning of the month! It is hard to believe that my baby is now 7 years old. For some reason, seven just seems like such a grown up age, and we all know that Marshall is like a grown up little man anyhow!

Marshall had our friends', the Lewises, boys over for his birthday. They played together that afternoon at daycare and then headed to our house for pizza and the Wii. They had a blast! Our birthday parties are never very preplanned! Normally, the spur of the moment is how they come about! The next day, my friend Deanna and her three boys went with me and the kids to see G-Force and eat at Burger King. One of her sons' birthday was that day! Marshall had been dying to see the movie ever since the previews began playing on TV.

The Saturday after Marshall's birthday, Greg and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 12th anniversary, which was a couple of weeks earlier, with our friends the McFees! We headed to Texas Roadhouse, which is one of our favorite spots to eat out. All four of us were miserably full by the time we left!

Next Wednesday is the kids' first day of school! I think that Morgan is at least ready to go back, but Marshall and Maggie both claim they are not! They will be fine once they get there, they are just not ready to admit to it!

Adult softball will wrap up in two weeks which will be nice since the kids will already be in school! I'm not liking the fact that I will have to play softball on "school" nights, but just a couple of weeks and we will be done! I do enjoy playing, but am not sure that I am going to have time in the schedule for it next year!

We are ready to return to the "normal" life we have the other nine months of the year right now. This summer, it feels like we have just not been home very much! The homebody in me is ready to be in my house!

Adult softball

2009-08-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

This marks the third year that I have played in an adult co-ed slow pitch softball league and the second for Greg, although he has just played one game so far this summer and it looks like he is done since he hurt his back! We are having a good time and winning some games, but the average age of most of the teams that we play is much younger than the average age of our team and at this stage of life, that has a huge impact on the outcome of the game! Oh well, we do have fun and I love to play softball. That is what counts!

ASA National Softball Tournament

2009-08-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the summer, Morgan's basketball coach invited him to play in the ASA (Amateur Softball Association) National Tournament on a 10 & under team in Mankato, MN the first weekend of August. So, this past weekend, the kids and I headed north to the tournament with the team! Greg wasn't able to go since he is currently finishing up an elementary school that will be used this school year. This is his BUSY time!

Morgan left with our friends Alan and Angel on Thursday afternoon and then Maggie and Marshall and I headed up Friday morning. His first game was on Friday at 1:30. We got there in the middle of the first game, which they won 15-0 against a team from MN. He got a hit his first time at bat! Then, the team played at 3:30. They won that game 9-0.

When we got to the hotel, the kids were quite excited to get to the pool and hot tub. They spent a couple of hours swimming, then we headed to get something to eat and to bed since Morgan had to play ball the next morning.

On Saturday, Morgan's team won their first game 9-0 and their second game 12-0. That put them in the championship game of the tournament on Sunday morning. Saturday evening, we spent swimming in the hotel pool and washing Morgan's ball uniform for Sunday morning. We ordered Domino's pizza and went to bed EXHAUSTED! Swimming sure does wear kids out!

Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the ball field for the championship game. The championship game proved to be the toughest game for the team of the tournament. There were some awesome plays made by the boys and we won 12-2. The NW Royals (the team) won the tournament and we headed home!

We got home Sunday night at 8:00 pm. We had a great time and enjoyed our trip to MN!

Maggie's self portrait!

Marshall hanging out behind the team dugout

Morgan in the "ready" position in left field

The boys in the dugout giving Jacob chest bumps.....

Maggie and Morgan with Austin and Abby in the pool.

Marshall playing with the boys in the pool.

Maggie pausing for a poolside shot!

Morgan playing with the boys.

The team huddle after their Saturday afternoon win.

Maggie's picture of me Saturday afternoon......notice that we are dressed in sweatshirts for Saturday. It was COLD!

Maggie lounging at the game Saturday afternoon. Abby is in the background asleep under a blanket!

Marshall watching the game from a picnic table. Doesn't he look cool!

Morgan on 2nd base ready for the "steal".

Ready to go Saturday morning. Notice the long sleeves. It looked beautiful, but was rather chilly!

Getting instructions from coach after the games on Friday!

Down and ready to play!

At bat Friday afternoon.

Getting ready to run on first base!

The weenie roast

2009-08-04T04:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, we headed to our friends', Eric and Deanna, house for a night of campfire and weenie roast. While the adults visited around the campfire, the kids ran around playing, riding bikes and just generally playing. We roasted hot dogs and later on marshmallows for s'mores. Yummy!

The Farrell, Lewis, Rhoades, and Hisel kids at our campfire/weenie roast.

Princess--the new kitten

2009-08-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, as I headed out to mow, I heard a "mewing" sound. After a little bit of investigation, I discovered a kitten in a tube of PVC pipe out by our shed. I brought the kitten in (we have a dog that kills cats) and put her in the garage. Very quickly, the kids decided that we needed the kitten, whom Marshall named Princess and quickly claimed as his own, in the house to play with our other cat Hershey. Greg wasn't hip on the idea and neither was Hershey, but in the time since, both have come to tolerate if not love the little kitten! Below are some pictures!

Marshall and I holding Princess after her bath.....she was loving being wrapped in the towel and held!

My princess holding Princess!

Princess' "daddy". He is quite proud to be a pet owner and is doing a good job of taking care of her!

Jesse James Days

2009-07-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was our town's annual Jesse James Days celebration. Yes, Jesse James was a thief and murderer, but in our area, where he is from, he is celebrated...go figure. I have read that he is compared to Robin Hood...so, yes I guess he is a hero....somewhat!

Anyway, every year, our local historical society, who is in charge of preserving the old train depot we have in town, puts on a weekend long celebration. Saturday is the day where most of the action takes place. The day started with the Boy Scouts raising the flag, a baby show,a parade, then the Boy Scout Tribe of Mic-O-Say dancers. The day wraps up with a country music show presented by local talent. It really is a fun day and a neat time to live in a small community.

Posted below are some pictures of the kids. Marshall took third place in the Little Mister Winston Show. The boys rode their four-wheelers in the parade!

Morgan and Marshall lining up for the parade.

Marshall with the 1st and 2nd place winners for Little Mister Winston!

The Boy Scouts during the flag raising ceremony.

Morgan's Basketball

2009-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Morgan has been busy playing, practicing and attending basketball camps this summer....he still has one left. However, the team has done very well. Both Winston teams played in a summer league in Bethany and they were 2 of the 3 tri-league champs! In late June, he attended the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat Basketball Day Camp (go Bearcats). This is his final year to go to the elementary daycamp as he will be going into 7th grade next summer (gasp!?!) I went with him the final day and took a trip down memory lane on campus....though a lot has changed since I graduated! This week, the boys have been going to camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joe. Today, he received a plaque for the Most Improved in his age division! Morgan puts a lot of time into basketball and loves playing. Even though he has been busy this summer with basketball, he is still enjoying it!

His dad and I are pleased that enjoys playing and puts his best effort forward every time he steps onto the court! Good job Mo!

Boy Scout Float Trip

2009-07-16T11:59:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we ventured to Lebanon, Missouri for a Boy Scout family float trip. We took all five of us plus my mom along too! There was a total of 7 families who went along. This was our first official campout and float trip as a family. I am not a camper, but did enjoy the weekend.....as long as I had my air mattress and fan!

We got to the campground late Friday night and set up our tent in the dark. Needless to say, the kids were very tired, but super excited to be at the campground. Getting to sleep was hard!

Saturday started out rainy and I was kind of scared for what kind of day we were in for, but eventually it cleared off. It was done raining by the time they put our canoes in the water and it stayed dry the rest of the day except for a few minutes in the early afternoon. Most of the day was cloudy until after lunch and then the sun came out! The river was PACKED! At some places, it was difficult just to navigate around the other canoes and rafts and move along. My mom, Maggie, and I shared a canoe and at one point, Maggie tumbled from the front of the canoe into some REALLY COLD water! Other than the shock of it, she was just fine, but she was not impressed about going into the water! Later on in the day, we almost had a flip-over accident, but managed to save ourselves; however the canoe behind us went over!

All in all, it was a pretty nice trip down the river. Once we returned to camp, we spent a couple of hours swimming in the pool at the campground. Since Saturday was Maggie's birthday, we finished out the day with dinner and birthday cake! It was a very relaxing, fun-filled day.

On Sunday, we broke camp and headed home through Warsaw to go to the Truman Dam Visitors Center. We ate lunch there and then took the kids to see the fish below the dam. It was very fun, but we were all worn out from the previous day!

This is Maggie and Rachel at Truman Dam

All three kids pictured at Truman Dam

All three of the kids feeding fish at the Bennett Springs fishery!

The birthday girl and some of her presents!

Sunday morning sleeping.....she fell off the air mattress onto the ground and didn't even wake up.....that's one tired kid!

This cake travelled four hours and looked great....only to get knocked over by one brother to be destroyed......we did the best repair job we could do in a campground!! All the cake was devoured!!

The canoers prior to departure!

The boys Saturday morning!

We were responsible for the grocery shopping and the food prep prior to departure....this is Maggie's solution to crying while chopping onions....pretty ingenius, huh?

2009-07-03T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've been TAGGED by Megan to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy.

1. Riding four wheelers with the kids and Greg!

2. Naps!

3. Watching General Hospital!

4. Turning up the radio and singing in the car!

5. Karaoke!

6. Going to the movies!

Tags go to:
Angie
Julie

Summer update

2009-07-03T05:07:00.000-07:00

Well.....last night Greg went and picked up another "little" four wheeler for Morgan. We got a smaller one last year for the kids to share, but as it always goes....one is not enough. So, we sold one of our big four wheelers and Greg found another small four wheeler for the kids. Actually, it is just the boys because Maggie doesn't care to drive....she just likes to ride with Mom and Dad. So, now each of the boys has a four wheeler that they can drive and is their size. Posted below are pictures of the boys on the four wheelers. Notice that Marshall's is very muddy. I'm sure it is no stretch of the imagination to know that he LOVES to find mudholes and go through them!! I know.....it is VERY unlike him to get dirty...... I also posted a few pictures of Maggie and my niece Aubrey from their dance recital. They did a gymnastics number, a tap number, and a jazz number. This was Maggie's sixth year in dance.....time does fly! We have FINALLY finished baseball season. Morgan has one more summer basketball game next Wednesday and then I start softball! I play on a slow pitch team and enjoy it as my summer winds down. Last year Greg played, but since his back is bothering him and he is working to get the school finished, I doubt he will play this year. The kids enjoy going to the games and playing and kidding me about my stellar athletic abilities!

Time flies....

2009-06-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

This week Morgan is at Camp Geiger which is north of St. Joseph, Missouri. It is his first time ever to be away at a camp. He has gone there before for overnight campouts, but Greg or I were with him. He left last Sunday morning and I will go pick him up tomorror (Saturday) morning! I was very nervous about him being gone for that long, but he seems to be doing well.

We went Wednesday night for Family Night and last night for a ceremony, so we have at least gotten to see him, but I am ready to have him back in the house! I think both Maggie and Marshall are ready to have him back as well!

Marshall and Morgan will both be wrapping up their baseball seasons in the next couple of weeks with their league tournaments. Morgan is also playing in a summer basketball league and that too will be over in early July. Maggie's dance was done at the beginning of June, so we are almost to a spot where we have (gasp!) no activities! That will only last a few weeks, but it will give us a much-needed breather!

Greg is working lots of overtime as the school he is working on is set to open up for school this year! I think he has said that they lost 60+ days for bad weather, so that is time they will be trying to make up for now!

I'm just plugging along working and running with the kids! Catch you later!

Update

2009-06-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I got on here and posted the happenings of our life. Well, I'm sure that it will be a shock to hear that we have been busy! I know....it's hard to believe!

The kids got out of school on May 21! They all had a great school year and are looking forward to a great summer! Morgan and Marshall are playing baseball this summer and have been having about 2 games a week. Maggie said she would just watch ball this summer! That's fine with me....a few less games a week! Maggie's dance recital will be this weekend and that will wrap up dance until the fall!

Morgan and Marshall started summer school on Monday and will be going until next Friday, then it is out. Maggie decided she would sit out this year and spend some one-on-one time with mommy! We have a great time together!

We have several new little kids at daycare so we are having fun getting to know them! Maggie is a great help at the daycare!

Over the last weekend of May we headed to Indiana to see Greg's nephew Brock graduate from high school. It was a great time with all the family together! I wish we could do it more often.

Well....that's pretty much the high points. Maybe this weekend I'll get some pictures posted......no promises though!

Powerplay pictures

2009-05-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

Marshall's Baseball

2009-05-21T04:41:00.000-07:00

Marshall had his first baseball game on Monday night of this week! They played the other team from our town and lost, but they had a good time and Marshall had a really good hit! He only got to bat one time because we only played 4 innings and he is the last batter. He played catcher and did a great job! Last night we had our 2nd game and it started out with him getting hit in the thigh by the ball. He plays machine pitch, so the ball was coming in at a pretty good speed. He has a knot and a bruise on his thigh. He wanted to be moved immediately, so he spent the rest of the night in center field. He recovered and had two good hits! I love the summer time and baseball season!

Maggie is not playing ball this summer. She said she would just watch this summer....which is code for, she will just spend the summer playing at the various playgrounds during ballgames this summer!

Today is the last day of school, so the kids are super excited! The big school-is-almost-out extravaganza is over today and I'm glad! This time of year is SUPER busy, but things slow down a little when school finally lets out!

Morgan's First Baseball Game

2009-05-12T04:50:00.001-07:00

Well, it's official, baseball season has begun! Last night, we travelled to Braymer for Morgan's first ballgame of the season. They lost 6-5, but they were behind up until the top of the last inning and tied it, but then the other team scored the winning run. They played a really good game and I think they will have a good season! Next week, Marshall has his first game and I'm sure it too will be exciting. But, for this week, we are just busy running to Morgan's ballgames!

Our first Royals game this season...

2009-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

On the Friday before Morgan's birthday, we headed out with a group of 3 other families to take in our first Royal's game of the season. We generally get to the stadium about 2 times a year as a group. It was $1 night and Friday night fireworks, plus it was just a beautiful day. Morgan had planned to have some boys over to play, but we ended up taking that party on the road to Kauffman stadium. However, when we got there, the game was sold out! Talk about having some disappointed kids! So....amid much discussion, we headed to an indoor adventure park called Power Play. It's kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids! (Ha! Ha!) They have all kinds of video games as well as a play area for younger kids, miniature golf, bowling, and go karts! It was an awesome place! The kids had a blast and the night was pretty much redeemed!

I have pictures and will post them later. I can't seem to get my camera and my camera cord in the same location and the same time!

Easter Weekend and Spring Break

2009-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wow! What an exciting week and weekend we had! For the last week, the kids have been on Spring Break! My business partner and I also worked it so each of us could have our own Spring Break. So, for the first three days of Spring Break, I was off work and she got the last three days off! It worked out really well. All together, we got a 5 day stretch of time off! Wooohooo!

For most of the time, the kids and I were home and while I had planned to do some "spring" cleaning, I ended up sick in bed with a terrible sinus infection. My nieces came up and spent a couple of days with the kids which is always fun! The first day, they went outside and played and manged to find mud (they always do), but the second day was rainy, so they were stuck inside. However, they played knockout on the basketball goal in the basement, hid Easter eggs, played Star Wars, and played on the Wii Fit! Friday night, I took the kids to "Monsters vs. Aliens". This was our first family visit to the movie theater since the time we took Marshall and he rolled down the aisle during the movie! He was much better behaved this time!

Saturday morning I spent doing laundry and cleaning and then Saturday afternoon Greg's parents arrived. We took them, along with my mom and our family to eat at the Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse, which is a Hibachi style restaraunt where they cook the food on the grill in front of you! I have wanted to take the kids for a while, but it has just never happened. My mom and Greg's parents were a little leary since it was Japanese food and they didn't know what to expect, but everyone had a blast! Marshall even tried to catch a shrimp in his mouth!

Sunday was Easter and we all went to church where the kids got baptized along with my niece. I am so happy that all three of them got baptized at the same time! I think that is really special! After church, we had a multi-family get together at my brother's mother and father-in-law's house. We had a great time visiting and watching the kids play!

Today the kids went back to school and we are on the trail of another busy week! I'll post more later!

Allison, Morgan, and Marshall playing Star Wars. I'm not sure what the scenario was, I'm just the photographer!

Morgan was very excited to get to use chopsticks!

All three of the kids at the steakhouse!The Farrells in their Sunday best!The kids are racing bunnies to see who has the fastest. Morgan's was a quick start, but Maggie's slow and steady won the race!

This is our crazy face picture! Everyone likes bunny ears, right?

Ever notice how once you have kids, there are no pictures of you, just them. Well, here is one of just Greg and I!

Kids' Baptisms

2009-04-13T14:23:00.001-07:00

This was a very exciting Easter for our family since all three kids were baptized! Our pastor had announced a few weeks back that he was going to do baptisms on Easter Sunday . I was very excited to hear this since Morgan and Maggie had both talked about baptism for quite some time. However, our church baptismal flooded the last time it was used and caused water damage in the basement of our church.

So, when the pastor announced that they were going to be baptisms, we jumped on it. When I discussed it with the kids, all three of them were ready to be baptized.

Below are the pictures of all three kids, as well as my niece, being baptized. What a wonderful day for our family!

April 3-5, 2009

2009-04-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend! We started out on Friday night at the school at a fundraiser for Morgan's traveling basketball team.

The kindergarten and preschool classes opened up the evening by playing a little bit of basketball against each other! Marshall had a blast playing with his good friends Brian and Jakub. They actually got to wear their jerseys, which match their older brothers who are on Morgan's traveling team.

Later on in the evening, Morgan's team played two games and won both of them. Morgan played really well and had some awesome layups! He is working very hard and having a lot of fun playing basketball.

Saturday morning Greg and Morgan headed out to a Boy Scout clean up day at our local Boy Scout camping area. Then, later that evening, we had a carry-in dinner and awards ceremony at the Methodist church. Morgan earned his first merit badge and his Boy Scout patch, which is the first rank he can earn as a Boy Scout. He was very excited! We had to immediately sew on his patches so that he could wear his full, official uniform to his Sunday night meeting!

Maggie played in a basketball tournament for the first time Saturday. The girls' coach had invited her to play and I was a little leary because she can be a drama queen if she gets injured. However, she played two games and only got knocked down one time. I was impressed because she didn't even cry! She did a really good job even though she doesn't pay much attention to her brother's games!

Sunday was my nieces' combined birthday party at the skating rink in Cameron. I think it is safe to say that all three of the Farrell kids had a great time! They skated the entire time with just a few breaks!

Marshall playing in his big game!

Morgan in his official Boy Scout uniform!

Maggie playing basketball.

This past weekend!

2009-03-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well....I must first begin by saying "What kind of weather are we having?" It snowed, sleeted, and rained on Saturday, but was in the 50s yesterday! WOW! Missouri is the place to live if you are interested in extreme weather!

Morgan played in two basketball tournaments this weekend! Including the games played on Saturday, we had 9 ballgames in 6 days! Friday night his team played in Eagleville (almost Iowa) in a 5th grade tournament and Saturday afternoon his team played there in a 6th grade tournament. We were the only school to have virtually the same team in both tournaments and our boys placed 1st in the 5th grade tournament and 2nd in the 6th grade tournament! Not too bad for a group of mainly 4th and 5th graders (and one 6th and 2nd grader!)

I've posted pictures below of the two teams. Notice that most of the players are the same. We had a 6th grader for the 6th grade games, and some of our 4th graders played only in the 5th grade games!

Maggie managed to wiggle her way into a sleepover with her papaw and cousin Aubrey Friday night. My dad and his wife were at the games and had my niece for the night and Maggie managed to invite herself to spend the night as well! The girls had a blast together!

Well, that is all for now. This will be a much slower week as Elementary basketball is over! What will we do with the time we have? I'm sure we'll find something!

The 1st place team in the 5th grade tournament!

The 2nd place team in the 6th grade tournament. Marshall and his friend Jakub (both little brothers of players) managed to wiggle into the picture as "managers" of the team! They are both future basketball players in training! Notice the long faces, they played a good game, but were discouraged at the loss. No one was real excited about me having to take the picture!

Basketball, basketball and.......more basketball

2009-03-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

The last 3-4 weeks have centered around "official" elementary basketball season. Morgan has played with a traveling basketball team since November, but the school-affiliated basketball started in early March. The first week of March they played in the Pattonsburg tournament where they placed 3rd. The Winston Shootout has been going on for the past two weeks with him playing two games, two nights a week. Their team has played very well and Morgan has enjoyed the season.

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures of him playing ball throughout the past few months.

Update for the Past Two Weeks

2009-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

NO.....my computer is not broke! I have just been BUSY! The last two weeks have flown by and while I have meant to get online and update the blog, I haven't been able to get it done!

Morgan has played in ball tournaments for the past couple of weekends. The first one was a round robin style tournament with 3 other teams. His team lost one game to their "arch rivals", Stanberry, so I guess that means that they would have won 2nd place. This past weekend, he played in one in Bethany and they did place 2nd. Yesterday, he got sent home from school with a fever, and he is home again today. Hopefully tomorrow he will be well enough to go back!

A couple of weeks ago, Maggie participated in a cheer camp with the Varsity cheerleaders. On Friday night, the girls who participated got to do a cheer and the dance that the cheerleaders taught them! She did great and was very excited! Right now, basketball is not her thing! She also got her wire on her braces a couple of weeks ago. She was very excited about that!

Last week was Homecoming week at school (courtwarming for those who have football...which we don't). The kids had fun dressing up for Spirit Week, although the days were some of the craziest spirit days I had ever heard of!

Other than that, things are just plugging along! We are trying to avoid the sickness as much as possible. A lot of the kids at daycare have been out with one thing or another! Greg had the flu last week and I'm pretty sure that is what Morgan is dealing with now. Maybe just a few more weeks of this nasty weather and we can get to Spring!

Valentine's Week

2009-02-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

Valentine's week was fun with the daycare party and classroom parties on Friday! It got quite hectic at daycare handing out all the kids' valentine's! I was a co-planner for Marshall's kindergarden classroom party. I ordered 2 dozen cookies from a bakery in Maysville that I just learned about. They were picture-perfect Valentine cookies and delicious! I was also in charge of games (which I don't like), but we only had time for one and Marshall deemed that it was "really fun"! So, I guess that's all that matters!

Morgan played in a basketball tournament on Saturday and his team got consolation! Unfortunately, the first game they played was against their "arch-rivals" from Stanberry. They played a good game, but those boys are a little stouter than our little guys and we just couldn't pull off a win. However, in the second game of the tournament, we were really ahead and the coach put in Marshall and another of the boy's younger brother! Marshall made a "buzzer beater" shot. He actually thinks it was the winning shot! The boys did a really good job of getting him the ball so that he had an opportunity to play! Needless to say, Marshall is still talking about making that shot. The third game proved to be a challenge, but in the end, we pulled off a win! The boys were really excited!

Following the tournament on Saturday, we headed to Gilman City to watch the Varsity Girls' Team play in our conference tournament championship game. They won 1st place. The last time our school won the tournament was in 1991! That's when I was sitting on the bench with the team! (I was on the team, but played only when a loss or win was assured...if you get my drift!)

My kids pretty much spent the weekend nights with Granny! My brother and his wife were in Las Vegas for Valentine's Day, so Granny had 5 of the grandkids spend the night with her! She assures me that she is getting good sleep and enjoying them. I did take Marshall and Maggie home with me Sunday after church so that they could get a nap and be recharged. I've mentioned before that a tired Maggie is not good! ;)

Today I am at daycare with 3 kids! It is President's Day and school is out, so attendance is minimal! We have been playing and I have GAC on for some background noise....like we need it!

A House Full of People

2009-02-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

Friday night Morgan had a basketball game at Stewartsville prior to their Varsity Homecoming. Our team beat them "22" to 5, but they stopped giving us points about 5 minutes into the first half at our coaches's request. Maggie swears that we had at least 40 points. I don't know, but the boys played really well!

After the game, three of the players and their families came to our house for pizza and Wii and visiting. Maggie had a friend from her class spend the night and the house was full of action!

On Saturday, Morgan went with the Varsity Boys' Basketball team to their first game of the HDC Conference Tournament. Our friends', Eric and Deanna, three boys came and spent the night on Saturday night so that they could go to the city for a special night out! The kids had a good time playing outside, shooting baskets in the basement and playing Mario Super Sluggers on the Wii.

On Sunday morning, we skipped church (bad on us) and Maggie and I went and got groceries. After the Lewis' boys were picked up, we took naps and just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon watching TV!

The past two days have been BEAUTIFUL and we have enjoyed having outside time at the daycare! This is the time of year when "cabin fever" starts! Tomorrow is supposed to be cold again, but at least we had a couple of good days to get us going!

January 26-February 1, 2009

2009-02-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

The week began on the sad note with the news that Greg's cousin Denice Mefford had lost her battle with ovarian cancer. She was a wonderful lady who waged the battle bravely, but unfortunately couldn't beat the monster of cancer. We attended her visitation on Wednesday night and her funeral on Thursday. It was nice to get to see all of Greg's family, but I wish it could have been under better circumstances.

Morgan played in 2 ballgames on Saturday and both of them were "nailbiters". They won both games in overtime by 1 point! The last game was won by a freethrow which was a result of an end of game foul! The clock ran out at the same moment that our shooter was fouled! The poor kid had a lot of pressure on him, but he made the 2nd of two foul shots! The boys were ecstatic!

My mom had all of the grandkids with her on Saturday at the ballgame so they all ran around outside and had a good time in between games. Maggie got to go home and spend the night with Granny. Morgan had a sleep over at his friend Domenic's house and Marshall chose to stay with Greg and I and go to our friends the Lewis' house after the ball tournament. Morgan said that he and Domenic stayed up until 4 a.m.!

On Sunday, we headed to our friend Allen and Angel's annual Super Bowl party! The kids had a blast running around while the women played games upstairs and the men played games downstairs! We left their house shortly after the first quarter so that the kids could get home and get ready for bed and school. It is never good to start out the week with a sleep deprived Maggie! It can get UGLY when she is TIRED!

Klondike

2009-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Greg and Morgan camped out this weekend with the Boy Scouts! Isn't that CRAZY!?! This weekend was the annual winter weather campout known as Klondike. I believe the high temperature yesterday was in the 20s! His troop had a large army tent with 2 stoves for heating it. Morgan says that he was warm while sleeping last night. Greg said he wasn't cold, but wasn't necessarily warm. Needless to say, they were both glad to be back home in the warmth of the house today.

While they were at Klondike, they got to learn how to use a bucksaw, shoot with a black powder, pitch a tent while blindfolded, build a fire, search and rescue, and throw tomahawks. Their troop got 2nd in bucksaw, and 1st in the dessert making contest (golden syrup dumplings).

While Greg and Mo were gone, Maggie, Marshall, and I had a day out. We started by going to my friend's daughter Emily's basketball games. They played 2 JV games at a neighboring school against 2 other teams in a round robin style tournament. They won both of their games, so it was a good morning. Following the games, we went to St. Joe to exchange some Christmas presents of Mags. We went to the mall and then to a different outdoor shopping center. After that, we picked up my niece, Aubrey, for an overnight stay! When we got home, all three kids had a blast playing around the house!

Today our friends', Eric and Deanna, boys are here for a few hours! Marshall and their middle son, Jacob, have been planning a play date forever! They are very excited to be here and play the Wii! Maggie, Aubrey, and I baked some cookies this morning, and I am going to make Greg his favorite cold weather soup this evening (Loaded Baked Potato Soup)! We got snow last night....I'm not sure how much, but I would guess 2 inches!

Update

2009-01-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

This has been a good week for the Farrell family. I think since returning to life post Christmas vacation, this has been the first week that things have felt like they are normal. Maggie was well again and back at school all week long. I think that she even managed to go to school everyday without tears in the morning. We struggle from time to time with her not wanting to go to school because she is away from me too long! It can be very frustrating!

Morgan played a couple of basketball games on Monday night. In the first game, his basketball team "Rowdy Redbirds" played a group of 4th and 5th graders from the school whose girls were playing our varsity girls. They beat the team hands down with a 20 point lead easily. Then the varsity girls played their game. Because the school didn't have a varisty boys team (yes, we live in a conference where schools are THAT small), our coach scheduled our "Rowdy Redbirds" to play a 5th grade team from Cameron. Morgan scored 9 points in the game and we won. It was a good experience for the boys! The refs from the varsity game stayed and reffed the game for us and the high school cheerleaders even stuck around for the first half of the game and cheered for the boys! It was really exciting for the boys to have that kind of attention!

Tuesday night Maggie returned to dance class after her absence last week and had a blast! I was watching the routines that the class is working on for this summer's recital and for the first time ever, the class is doing some "bigger girl" stuff with AT-TI-TUDE. She was really having fun with it. Her cousin Aubrey was taking Tae Kwon Do this fall, but has since returned to dance and gymnastics! That makes Maggie even happier about dance class! She missed Aubrey!

Marshall has been full of himself this week. He has started going in to open gym and "Rowdy Redbird" practice with Morgan of a morning. He thinks he is really BIG stuff! During the first game on Monday night, the coach would have put him in during the last minute, but Marshall had left the bench to get a drink from the cafeteria! I bet he will never leave the bench again! His friend Jakub got to play and he didn't!

Morgan and Greg are headed to a campout this weekend! BRRRRR! It is his first official activity as a Boy Scout! They are going to layer on the clothes and sleep in a heated tent! There is no way in the world I would camp in this weather!

This week!

2009-01-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Although I thought the week was going to start off peaceful with a day at home for the whole family....but, I was wrong. It turned out that Maggie woke up sick on Sunday with a fever! She hadn't been acting like herself all week, but I had figured she was just tired from getting back into the swing of things. Our pediatrician sees kids at any time, so I figured I would take her in to get her started on some antibiotics so she would feel better to go to school on Monday. Well.....long story short, we ended up at Children's Mercy making sure that she was not REALLY sick and in need of hospitalization. They sent her home with a diagnosis of viral infection (nothing to be done but wait it out). She missed three days of school, but got to spend some quality time with Granny, Aunt Gayle, and Papaw, as it was impossible for me to be away from the daycare :(, but she is now all better and back to her smiling self.....with a lot of homework to make up!

Morgan played his last ballgame in his Albany league yesterday. This has been a hard league for his team as it is 5th and 6th graders and 2 of the boys on his team are younger than that. There were only 3 teams in the league and they only won 2 games, but they learned a lot about playing good ball. They won their game yesterday which was a great way to end the season! From here on out, he will have a few tournaments on weekends to play in, but no set schedule like it has been. It will be nice to have our Saturdays back! We have been going to Albany (about 40 miles away) since the beginning of November!

Greg spent yesterday working...got to get in the good days while he has them, but today we are all at home enjoying being in the house together for once! Maggie is working on her load of homework and Greg and the boys are playing the Wii. Me? I'm catching up on housework, Facebook, the blog, e-mail and getting ready for next week's events!

Take care!!

Back to the Real World

2009-01-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

What a crazy week! The kids jumped back into school on Monday! Maggie spent 3 hours doing homework on Monday and Wednesday night! She is now starting to learn multiplication--ARGHHH! By Thursday night, I was sick of 3rd grade myself! On Saturday, Morgan had a basketball game and unfortunately his team lost. For the first time, they had a certified referee and he was calling all kinds of fouls! They needed it, but the whistle was blowing all the time. Afterwards, we had a carry-in-dinner and a Cub Scout meeting where Morgan and 4 other boys bridged over to the Boy Scout troop. So, now Morgan is an official Boy Scout! He and Greg are at their first Troop meeting right now planning their winter campout, Klondike. They will be attending the weekend of January 23-25, 2009. Camping is freezing temperatures is not something I would consider fun, but Greg is the one who gets to go!

Morgan and the 4 other boys who bridged to the Boy Scout Troop.

Morgan, Greg, and I as he is getting ready to bridge. The Boy Scout gave him his Boy Scout neckerchief and removed his Cub Scout neckerchief.

Marshall and the 2 other "prescouts" . They will get to join Cub Scouts after they are finished with kindgergarden.

There's No Place Like Home!

2009-01-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

We are back to our home!! We had a great trip, but we were happy to see our own house and sleep in our own beds!

As usual, we jumped back in to the busy-ness that we call our life! We stopped in Columbia on the way home and met with some friends to watch a local high school team play in a basketball tournament. We spent the night at the hotel and let the kids play in the pool there! We had a fun time, but I could tell that our whole family was dragging after being away from home for a week!

We got home at 11:30 on Sunday morning and then attended a birthday party at the skating rink for one of our children at the daycare! It was fun! I'm not sure that Marshall had ever been on skates before, but he caught on pretty quick. Maggie and Morgan did a good job as well. I skated too and was just thinking how good I was doing, when I lost my balance and fell! We all know how graceful I am!!

After the birthday party, we came home a crashed for the evening--after getting ready for our first day back to school on Monday! We are currently without a washing machine as it broke right before our trip, so I will be making a trip to the laundromat at some point this week! YIPPEE!!

The group at Mizzou arena prior to the game!

It's been a long time....

2009-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

No, my computer is not broke....but I have been busy and I do have dial-up internet connection. We are going to work on that, so maybe I will be able to keep this more current. I am updating this right now from my sister and brother-in-law's computer in Tennessee!

We have had a wonderful Christmas week....really that is about how long it has lasted. We had Christmas with my dad and his wife on the Sunday before Christmas. The kids got to see their cousins from Cameron and Kansas City. Although we see the cousins from Cameron all the time, it had been a while since we had spent time with my other brother and his kids. It was a good time.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's and had Christmas with the Browns, the Gibsons, Aunt Gayle, Uncle Randy and Granny! As usual, it was a blast! We took our time opening presents and then played a round of Taboo! We also had a lot of fun with some Hannah Montana wigs (thank you Judy) and some microphones! Then it was home by 10:00 to get ready for bed and Santa's visit.

On Christmas morning, Morgan woke up about 4:00 a.m., but chose to watch a little TV before waking up the rest of the family. At about 5:30 a.m., I head giggling coming from the living room and we got up to open presents. Santa was good to the Farrell kids bringing them all new MP3 players and some Wal-mart music download gift cards as well as a travel game. Greg and I finally broke down and entered into the world of video-gaming. We bought the kids a Wii for Christmas and we spent most of the day getting acquainted with playing it and downloading music onto the MP3 players! The rest of the gifts were mostly clothes and not that exciting, but hey we got to dress!

On Friday afternoon, we headed to Greg's mom and dad's house for our Christmas with the Farrell side of the family. We got to see all the cousins and aunts and uncles! It was a blast. On Saturday, we had Christmas with the Pollard (Greg's grandma) side of the family. It is always great to get to see and visit with them as we only get together 1-2 times a year anymore!

Saturday evening, we had the Farrell Christmas. Again, it was great to take our time opening presents and see what everyone got! We had a great time eating and visiting and playing with our new finds! Maggie and her cousing played Webkinz on the Internet and Morgan utilized a computer to watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!

Sunday we left around 3:30 and began our Christmas Vacation to Tennessee. It is much easier for Greg to take off time in the winter than it is in the summer, so we are taking a trip to Tennessee to see my sister and her family.

We took two days to make the 13 hour trip. We spent Sunday night in Louisville Kentucky and finished driving in to Johnson City on Monday. The weather was great for the drive and I can't tell you how many times the question "Are we in Tennessee yet?" was answered. Once we were in Tennessee, it was "Are we in Johnson City yet?" We love them!

We are having a wonderful time visiting my sister, brother-in-law and niece. My nephew is in Pasadena, California, marching in the Rose Bowl parade, so we are sad that we haven't got to see him. But we did see him marching in the parade this morning.

We are headed back to MO tomorrow with a pit stop in Columbia for a basketball game on Saturday. Then it is back home and back to the grind. My resolution for this year, is to stay more electronically connected to those who live far away. Be sure to check out the blog and e-mail me if I am falling behind!

Talk to you later!
The Farrell kids prior to opening Christmas presents on Christmas morning!

Happy New Year from the Farrells.....the kids have sparkling apple juice!

Royals, Fishing, and Four Wheelers

2008-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

We began our weekend by attending a Royals game on Friday night with 3 other families. Greg, the boys, and I went, while Maggie spent the night with Papaw so that she could go fishing with him Saturday morning. The Royals lost, be we all had a good time eating $1 hot dogs and peanuts, and drinking $1 soft drinks! It was also Fireworks Friday, so we got to enjoy beautiful fireworks after the game! It was fun!

Maggie stayed all day with her Papaw on Saturday and caught 3 fish. The biggest was 18 inches long! She even swam for about an hour and a half. I think that it was too cold to swim, but she is a water girl and was bound and determined to swim! Later on in the day, she beat her Papaw at a game of Sorry! Needless to say, she was a tired little girl on Saturday night!

Sunday afternoon, Greg and his friend Mike took the kids four wheeling. I think that found some mud because Marshall was covered with mud splatters! He was very happy about that! He is 100% boy!

School is in full swing. Maggie and Morgan are learning that this year is different from last year. 3rd and 5th grade have a LOT more homework than they have been used to in the past! Marshall brought home his "Dick and Jane" book last week and takes great pride in reading to the family every night. We should have the book memorized by Christmas! Morgan joined 5th grade band and is playing the clarinet! That is the same instrument I played from 5th grade through college, so I'm excited that he chose it!

Maggie's dance and tumbling class begins Tuesday night this week and she is ready. She has done tap and jazz for the last 5 years. This year the dance studio is adding tumbling. If you have ever seen her cartwheel around, you will understand that she is very ready to add tumbling to her repertoire!

Pictures

2008-09-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what I'm doing, so here are some general pictures!

Here is Morgan, Maggie, and Marshall on the night of their Spring Concert at the end of last school year! Aren't they cute!!

Actually, that is all for now. I'm having trouble and need to figure this out!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on the road!! Greg's brother that lives in Indiana was home for the weekend, so we went to Greg's parents in Shelbina, Missouri, to visit with his side of the family. We left Friday night after Greg got home from work and got to Shelbina about 9:15 that night. As usual, about 30 minutes into the 2 hour trip, the kids began asking "Are we almost there?". We spent Friday and Saturday visiting with Greg's mom and dad, his brother and his friend that traveled with him. Greg and his dad installed a garage door that Greg had salvaged on a shed that his dad had. The kids spent most of their day riding bikes, walking back and forth to Orscheln's and jumping rope. Nobody was safe from turning the jump rope!

Saturday night, Greg's parents took us up to Heartland Ministries, which is north of Shelbina, and showed us their goat and cattle milking facilities. Marshall was absolutely mesmerized by the entire experience. He says that when he grows up, he is going to have cows and goats too! On the Heartland Campus they also have a Ford museum that has Ford cars from 1906 to 2007!

Sunday, Greg's other brother and his family came up for dinner and to visit. Maggie was very excited because that meant she had someone to play with...her cousin. In the afternoon, we went out to the Shelbina Lake and had cake and ice cream to help Greg's family celebrate his cousins' 25th Wedding Anniversary! Congratulations Allen and Cheryl!!

By Monday, Greg and I were ready for our own beds and the kids were adequately tired out from their weekend of visiting and playing at Grandma and Grandpa's!

School's Back In Session!!

2008-08-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, school started last Wednesday, August 20, 2008, and the Farrell kids (and Mom) were ready! Morgan is in 5th grade this year, Maggie is in 3rd grade, and Marshall started Kindergarten! It was really hard to watch him walk out the door on his first day, but I know that he is loving being able to go to school with his big brother and sister.

Everybody is getting back into the "school" routine, including the kids at the daycare. By Friday, we had some very cranky kids who were just not used to this routine! Having a couple months off in the summer really messes with everyone's schedule!

This past weekend, we did nothing big but stay at HOME!! I think that this was only the 2nd weekend since May that we have been able to do that. On Friday night, we all went on a four-wheeler ride with our friends, the McFee's. It was the maiden voyage for the little four-wheeler that Greg just got the kids. Morgan and Marshall took turns riding it alone. Maggie isn't too interested in it. She would rather just ride with someone else in the buddy seat of a big four-wheeler. Needless to say, Marshall Farrell thinks he is big stuff driving the four-wheeler "alone". Saturday night we went to our friends, the Lewis' and had a weenie roast and made s'mores around a campfire. The kids played baseball and rode bikes (even in the dark). I think everyone had a great time! Then on Sunday, we had the most excitement of the entire weekend....we cleaned house and finished our back deck! What a way to wrap up the weekend!

Busy Weekend

2008-08-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend we have just had! Saturday, our newly formed Parent Teacher Organization hosted an adult co-ed slow pitch softball tournament, so Greg and I were up at the school's ball field from 7:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. playing ball and operating the concession stand. The kids stayed with another couple's kids and and my business partner's daughter at the daycare. They would take walks and come up and see us. Our team played four games and unfortunately lost every single one of them, but we had a good fun time with all the other people hanging around for the tournament.

On Sunday, my dad invited us to his house to boat, tube, and swim. We headed out in the boat and quickly got the kids in the tube. They all three rode at the same time and had a blast, especially when we would cross over the waves other boats were causing, because then they would go airborn! Greg and I took a turn riding too! After spending the day boating, we headed to a night swim party for the kids! They had fun, but the water was just too cold to stay in for too long. However, on the way home, I think we had three very sleepy kids!

Only two days of summer vacation left!

Last couple of weeks

2008-08-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been busy ones for us. On the weekend of August 1-3, Morgan and I attended Cub Scout Resident Camp at Camp Geiger outside of St. Joseph, Missouri. Boy, was it HOT!! The camp was for all Cub Scouts and had various stations and activities for the boys to participate in. There was an obstacle course, slingshots, trivia, a giant waterslide, craft activities, tomahawk throwing, BB gun shooting, archery, swimming, and games. We both had a blast, though the accommodations were a little bit more primitive than I am used to.....I am not a camper! However, we both made it through!

While we were at Resident Camp, Maggie and Marshall got to spend the weekend with Granny swimming at Uncle Cory and Aunt Andi's pool and playing with their cousins, Aubrey and Allison. They, too, had a good time. Greg, bless his heart, was at home working on our back deck!! We now have a back deck and a front deck! Our house actually looks almost complete from the outside! I will try to post pictures later!

The week after camp, Greg and I played in our softball team's end of season tournament. We actually won our first game!! However, the win just kept us in the tournament an extra night as we lost the next game and were out of it then! Oh well, we have had a fun time playing ball this summer!!

Marshall's birthday was on August 5 and we had a joint swim party for him and his friend Brian (August 6 birthday) and Uncle Cory and Aunt Andi's pool. We all had a good time hanging out by the pool and swimming!

On August 8-10, Greg and Morgan attended Webelos Weekend (cub scouts) at Camp Geiger. Greg got much better weather than I did. He actually had to wear a sweatshirt to bed one night!! Again, there were lots of activities for the boys to work on. This time, he was working on earning some of his Cub Scout patches.

While they were gone, Marshall, Maggie, and I went to Gallatin to play in another softball tournament. Again, we lost 2 and won 1, but we had a great time. This weekend our school's new parent teacher organization is hosting a softball tournament and we are playing in it!

School starts in less than a week and the kids are excited. We went school shopping the other day and got all of the necessities. The back packs are packed and ready to go! We have a back to school dinner on Monday night and we will take them then!

Well...I had hoped to post pictures with this post, but I am on a dial up connection and it would take forever! Maybe next time!!

Slow Pitch Softball and VBS!

2008-07-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

Greg and I are continuing our season playing slow pitch softball. It is a good thing we are having fun doing it, because I don't think our team has won a game yet! I pulled a muscle in my leg during a double-header Sunday and I wasn't sure how I was going to be moving the next day, but I am recuperating fine! It is terrible to get older!! :)

The kids and I are doing vacation bible school this week at our church! We are having a blast! The theme is Hawaiian and so we are having a lot of fun dressing as if we are headed to a luau!

It is only a couple of weeks until school starts! This is the first year that all the Farrell kids will be in school for all day! That is definitely going to be different for me at the daycare! I don't know what I will do without Marshall to argue with! He is looking very forward to going to kindergarten and Morgan is looking forward to fifth grade. Maggie says she is not ready for school to start, but I know that she will be excited to see her friends when the time comes!

Well...that is all for now! I will post more later!

Summer!

2008-07-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy summer for our family. All three kids played baseball: Morgan on a 9-10 kid pitch team; Maggie on a machine pitch team; and Marshall on a tee ball team. Morgan's team finished out the season 6-2-2, but wound up getting fourth in the end of season tournament. Maggie's team lost all of their games :( however, she thinks they won them (after a 6-0 loss, she told someone they had won by one run!). Marshall's team did well for a tee ball team and Marshall slid across home plate every opportunity he could get! Ball season was very fun, but it had us going 3-5 nights a week for about 6 weeks! WHEW....we breathed a sigh of relief when it was over!

About the time baseball ended, Morgan's summer basketball began. His team wound up with a 3-3 record, which isn't too bad considering his team consists of 2-2nd graders, 3-4th graders, and 4-5th graders and they were playing 5th and 6th graders!

Greg and I began playing on a slow pitch softball team last week and we are having a lot of fun with that. We have other married couple friends and are enjoying spending that time together with them as well as having the kids tag along! Lots of fun for the whole family.

School is just a month away and I'm not sure the kids are ready to return yet. However, I know I am ready to get back to the school routine! I will post more later!