Springfield Trip - Lincoln Museum & Our Hotel

After eating lunch and visiting the Old State Capital building, we walked up a few blocks to the new Lincoln Museum. It was very impressive. I've never seen something so true to life before. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the really good stuff due to copyright laws, but trust me - they were amazing. In the Early Years exhibit, there was a replica of a general tearing slave parents away from their child. In the White House Years, there was a room set up as their child's bedroom. Inside the room, Mary Todd Lincoln was sitting on her son's bedside the night he passed away while Lincoln himself was standing in the doorway. Another room was set up as the White House after Lincoln's assassination when his coffin was lying in state before it's journey back to Springfield. It truly felt like we were there. I highly recommend visiting this museum!

The kids hanging out with the Lincoln's.

The entrance to the White House Year's exhibit.

The entrance to the Early Years exhibit. You enter through the cabin where Lincoln grew up in as a boy. You see him reading by the fire while one of his parent's are lying in bed.

Me, taking a break while Ryan plays in Mary Todd's Attic.

Ryan playing with a true to life replica of Lincoln's home.

One of Ryan's favorite part of the Museum - the soldiers in front of the White House.

For the life of me, I can't remember who this was behind Ashley.

The kids outside of the Museum before heading to our hotel.

Our hotel. I've never slept in a more comfortable hotel bed before in my life. The pool was a lot of fun, too.

Ryan reenacting the Civil War with his souvenir toy from the Museum.

Still at it the next morning before check out.

Up next - the new State Capital Building and Lincoln's Tomb.

Am I boring you yet?

Springfield Trip - Old State Capital Building

After leaving Lincoln's home, we found a place to eat lunch and then walked over to the Old State Capital building. It was really sunny outside, so not many of our outdoor pictures turned out well.

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Here are the kids in front of the Old State Capital building...

...and again on the staircase inside the building.

We walked around a little bit, admiring how beautiful the building is. I had never been in there before.

Kind of a little guy, wasn't he?

When we were done looking around the Old State Capital Buidling, we walked a few blocks up to the new Lincoln Museum.

More on that later...

I realize this may be a bit boring and way too detailed for some of you, and I do apologize, but I'm doing this more to preserve the memory of a great weekend spent with my family. (Which means I better figure out a way to back this blog up to a disc or something!)

Springfield Trip - Lincoln's Home

Last Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to get an early start on our little weekend away in Springfield, IL. Ryan has been learing all about the presidents in school and has been asking endless questions about Abe Lincoln, so we decided a trip to the land of Lincoln was in order. Our first stop in Springfield was to Lincoln's Home, where he lived for seventeen years until he was elected President. (Didn't know you'd be getting a little history lesson here, did you?)

Us, standing in front of Lincoln's home.

The kids in front of Lincoln's home.

Bret, Ryan and Ashley standing in front of the doorway to Lincoln's living room.

Ashley in Lincoln's Bedroom.

This was Mary Todd Lincoln's bedroom. We were told that since they didn't have indoor bathrooms, she had a room of her own where she could go for privacy. The decor in here was so visually disturbing that I began getting really dizzy and thought I might pass out. Seriously. I couldn't get out of that room fast enough. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Once the inside tour was over, we headed out to the backyard where the kids got to see the outdoor bathroom. Ryan was amazed that he was looking at the toilet where Abe Lincoln sat many years ago.

You know what's coming don't you? Of course you do! How can you go to Lincoln's home and not take a picture of the pot he sat on?



Which brings us to Ryan. What happens everytime you take him somewhere that doesn't have a bathroom? Yes, he tells you he has to go potty. Bret had to take him around back to the ally behind the house so he could relieve himself. So there you have it. Ryan peed behind Lincoln's house.

After visiting Lincoln's home, we wandered around the preserved neighborhood looking at other houses and taking lots of pictures. Here's one of the kids standing in the middle of the street.

Up next... the Old State Capital building and the new Lincoln Museum.

A Little Pushy, Are We?

"And still waiting....what have you been doing all day?"

Yes, I realize I've neglected this blog this week. I've been pretty busy with the PTO fundraiser and now that it seems to have slowed down a bit until after Christmas, I'm trying to get my life and house back in order. You all know how I am about that.

So what has taken me so long to get pictures of our weekend in Springfield up? The fact that we took over 400 pictures! Of what, I'm not sure - but I just haven't had time to sit down and go through them and figure out which ones I want to post and then resize them.

I also want everyone to know that I really tried my hardest to wait until after Thanksgiving to put my fall decorations away, but I couldn't hold out any longer. Everyone always teases me because I always have my Fall & Christmas stuff out way early and then have it packed away the day after Halloween and Christmas. My house was screaming, "I'm cluttered!" and I just wanted some normalcy before the Christmas stuff comes out. I will try to hold out until after Thanksgiving this year to put up the tree in hopes of being able to wait until New Year's to take it down, like most normal people. We'll see...

Until then, here's a picture of the kids in Springfield to tide you over. I promise to get more up tomorrow.

Coming Up...

Pictures from our weekend in Springfield. Ryan has been on a Abe Lincoln kick, so what perfect timing, right?

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But first I have to get through running my first PTO meeting tonight for the school's carnival that's in February. I am so ready to start the delagating process of this! How about you, Teri?

Dragging

We're all dragging over here this morning. It could be the over abundance of sugar consumed last night or just the pure exhaustion of the whole night. Or both. After my last post last night, Bret and the kids came home after trick or treating the whole entire neighborhood and we headed out to do our trick or treating to family and friends. Our last stop before taking Danielle home was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. By the time we left, Ashley and Danielle were bouncing off the walls and Ryan was almost comatose. Good times, though it's hard to believe Halloween is over.

Halloween 2007

Halloween just may be the most stressful holiday yet. I'm just saying. Seriously, though. Anyone who tells you that getting their kids and husband dressed up in their costumes, fed dinner, their meeting time with the neighbor established, pictures taken and then finally out the door isn't the least bit stressful - is lying. However, when you see how excited they are and how cute they look (especially when wearing an authentic jersey), it all becomes worth it. That and the silence they leave behind in the house once they're on their merry way.

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Bret and Ryan waiting for the girls to finish getting ready.

Ashley, Danielle and Ryan posing for an obligatory photo (or 15).

Have to have a photo they can put in their lockers. (I told you their costumes were pretty good.)

All set and ready to go.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Today is probably the day the kids look forward to at school the most (aside from the last day of the year, of course). All of them at Ryan's school got to put their costumes on and parade around the gym for all of their parents to see.

We had quite the drama here at home this morning before the bus even came, though. I had found a complete Chicago Bear's uniform that came with the football pants, helmet and jersey. The jersey wasn't very impressive, but I figured we already had a real one that he could wear instead. Well, guess who decided to be bullheaded before school this morning! Ryan insisted that he had to wear the one that came with the helmet and pants. I was horrified. I immediately started getting stressed out about how our pictures would end up looking and went back and forth with him, trying to get him to change his mind. He wouldn't budge. I guess I'm not the only stubborn one in this family. So I did what any normal sane person would do. I told him that he could wear the one he wanted to school, but that he WAS GOING TO WEAR THE REAL ONE FOR PICTURES AND TRICK OR TREATING, dam*#t! He wasn't thrilled, but agreed - probably because he had gotten tired of arguing with me.

So here he is in the gym at school, sitting next to his friend Mitchell - who is dressed as a Packer's player. I'm sensing this friendship could be doomed in the future.

And then there's Chloe who was thrilled to be there. She couldn't take it all in fast enough. She wanted the camera pretty badly, but I wasn't going there after I gave her my car keys to play with this morning at CVS and she set my car alarm off. I'm still not sure how I got it turned off. Ironically, she's dressing up as a devil this evening. Fitting, is it not? LoL.

After the parade, it was on to his classroom party for snacks, games and crafts.


You'll never guess in a million years what Ashley and her friend, Danielle are dressing up as. It's a pretty funny sight. (Can you believe I've kept it a secret this long?) (Yes, I know that some of you already know, but don't ruin it for everyone else in the comments section.) More later...

Pumpkin Patch

We headed out to Apple Blossom Farm today in a last minute frenzy to find some pumpkins since Halloween is in 3 days. Luckily, we found some nice ones and the kids are busy carving away right now.

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The annual picture of the kids in front of the big apple.

Bret and the kids on a hayrack ride.

Me and the kids heading out to find the great big pumpkin. We ended up with 3 average ones.

Me and my little man.

Fall Family Pictures 2007

Earlier this week we got our family together with Bret's brother's family for fall pictures up on Grand View Drive. Bret's brother is amazing when it comes to taking pictures and he did an outstanding job! I am so pleased with the way they turned out...

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Ashley, Bret, Me & Ryan

Cousins: Ryan, Ashley, Brooke & Mitchell

Ashley & Ryan

Ashley & Ryan (Going to need to break out the stain stick after this.)

To see more, go to Flickr.

But I'm Only 30!

You're in a mid life crisis

Your ears aren't what they once were and you have resorted to doing online hearing tests. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 12kHz

Find out which ringtones you can hear!

So according to the above results (an idea from Crazy Busy and Lovin It), my suspicions have been confirmed. My son is not the only one who can't hear.

How is your hearing?

Poof

I was all set to sit down and post some really cute pictures from Ryan Cub Scout field trip this morning when, Poof!, they just disapeared. I downloaded them from my camera and when I went to look at them, the folder was empty. Then I went back to my camera and found that Picasa had deleted them from there, too. What's even worse is that I had taken a picture for another mom of her son holding the American flag during their opening ceremony and now I have no picture to email to her. So now what you get is some serious ranting of the problem with some parents these days...

Last night I spent three hours shooting out emails to everyone that had signed up to help out with the carnival for Ryan's school that Teri and I are chairing. I must have sent out emails to a couple of hundred parents and can you believe that I've only gotten responses from 3 parents so far? Sad. I hope they don't think we're giving up easily, because they will get a phone call - or maybe a few hundred phone calls. Hopefully the responses will start flooding in once the weekend is over.

On a totally different subject, the kids have their Halloween costumes all picked out and ready to go. They are really excited. Ryan is going to be a Chicago Bears football player and Ashley and her friend, Danielle are going as ketchup and mustard. It was quite hilarious watching them try them on in the store bathroom last week. The costumes are bigger than they are. Now if we could just find the time to head over to Apple Blossom Farm to get our pumpkins.

Well, I'm off to finish cleaning my house. Break's over.

Whirlwind

Sometimes, you just need to have a day that flies by. Today has been like that. This morning I had three little ones here to keep me busy - Chloe, Katelyn (22 mo, who my friend Jennie usually watches) and Luke (who is now almost 3 months old and growing like a weed).

Luke has now been picked up and it's just me and the girls. Days like today remind me of why I miss Cecelia so much. Her and Chloe use to have so much fun together and it kept me on somewhat of a schedule during the day. How is it possible to get more accomplished on a day where you have 3 kids versus a day with just one? Granted I pretty much fall into bed and am instantly asleep at the end of the day - sometimes just barely staying awake until my own kids are in bed.

So, now it's my mission to find one more full time little girl like Katelyn so Chloe can have a playmate during the day. (Would also mean extra money in my pocket, too.)

Taking It To Another Level

Ryan's baseball craze is now being taken to the next level. This morning, Bret and his dad headed out for some guy time - fixing snowblowers, shopping, lunch, etc. They came back with a box of this year's baseball cards for Ryan, who is thrilled and has been going through and organizing them by team ever since. Bret finally has someone to pass down years of baseball card collecting to. (They can stay in his parents' basement for now though!)

Mathematically Challenged

Ryan never ceases to make me laugh. Tonight when I was putting him to bed, he went on a tangent about what he wants Santa to bring him for Christmas this year. He said that he's "been wanting a Chicago Bear's football helmet just like the one (his friend) Aizik has for a long, long, long, long, super long time now. Ever since I was six years old!" He's seven right now. I'm still laughing.

Um, Uh Oh?

I washed the kitchen floor today. Got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed it by hand. Looks pretty good, if I say so myself. But then I made a huge mistake. When I went to dump the bucket of dirty water down the toilet, the wash rag that I used to clean the floor went down the toilet, too. Um, is that really bad?

Tooting My Own Horn

I've never been one to toot my own horn (those of you that know me can stop laughing now), but I'm quite the genius. This toy has been sitting in a shopping bag in the storage closet downstairs for a couple of years ever since we lost the instructions on how to put it together. Ryan decided he wanted to play with it and so with dread, I found an (unfortunately small) picture of it assembled on the internet and managed to put it together. And it only took me an hour and a half. I still have yet to figure out how to get it out of the living room in one piece before the toddlers I'm watching get here in the morning. Pure genius, right?

Leggings

"Living in a material world....And I am a material girl...You know that we are living in a material world...And I am a material girl."



I knew the 80's would come back to haunt me someday.

Jury's Still Out

Ryan woke up this morning with a horrible headache and stomach ache that I'm pretty sure is due to sinuses and the sudden drop in temperature. I gave in and let him stay home from school, figuring that if I did send him, he'd for sure be home by lunchtime with a fever. Well, by 9:30am he was fine and I was kicking myself and my mommy intuition. He sure looks pretty sick, doesn't he?

A Crying Shame

Ryan is seriously bummed, as is Bret I'm sure.

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I feel your pain, man.

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Up Next...

One crazy night in Iowa with Emily and friends tonight. Be back in the morning.

Star-Spangled Banner

I was upstairs cooking dinner just now when I heard this coming from Ryan in the bedroom downstairs. I'm still cracking up. He is so going to kill me someday when he learns how to read and navigate the internet!

Score Card

Number of cute babies who were insanely well behaved at the car dealership this morning: 1

Hours spent waiting for an oil change, tire rotation and DVD player problem at said car dealership: 2 and a half

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Number of tractors stuck behind on the way home just today alone (in a no passing zone too, of course): 3

Number of corn stalks surrounding our neighborhood: too many to count

Idiots using the camera on their cell phone while driving: 1

I guess that's what you get when you move out to a neighborhood in the middle of farm country.

A Little Quick On The Noodle Trigger

This is why I serve frozen, canned and take out for meals. I tried to make Cat's chicken noodle soup since Ashley isn't feeling well today and when I poured in the amount of noodles that she told me to, I thought they looked awfully small and that it couldn't possibly be enough. So I poured in the other half of the box and then because that wasn't bad enough, I poured in half a box of elbow macaroni from my pantry and ended up with this. Way too much pasta in my chicken soup. Maybe next time I'll get it right. Now if only I had three more packages of chicken thighs to even out the pasta.