This week!

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

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!

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....

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

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

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

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!