Bowling

I got two strikes and I bowled with my best friend named Will and his dad. And, I bowled with Rion and Rion was pretty good. He got one spare. I got pretty much five spares I think, so if you say six, you might be right. And, it was for our school. And that’s done. – Owen

Pool

There is a local pool next to the Owen’s baseball diamonds. Rion asked to go to it at every game, so I finally got around to taking him there. There is something nice about leaving work early to sit in the sun by the pool! - N

The water was SO cold when we went to the pool. We got to go under this mushroom thingy and we also went on a slide. There was a playground there and that’s why we went on the slide. So, do you think I should write anything else? Ok. Done. – Owen

We got to go in the mom’s pool right by the blue waterslide and I could touch in there, but I had to stand on my tippy toes. And, we got to go in the baby pool that I could touch in. And, I didn’t have to stand on my tippy tools. And, we went in the mushroom and the water was super duper cold. Done. - Rion

The Chocolate Factory

Owen’s field trip to the chocolate factory led to lots of good desserts!

Owen's Birthday

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Owen’s birthday party and we had lots of fun. We played tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of games. Isn’t that a lot of games we played? And, I got to play a shooting game. I raced with Matthew five times. Done. – Owen

Rion: We went to Chuck E cheese and we played on lots of game And there was this game I liked so much. And you know what I got to ride in? I got to ride in a race car. And, it was so much fun. I wanted to go on the slide and I didn’t even see my mom. The end. And, we got Batman cake. That’s pretty much it. And we got cheese pizza, and a bread stick, and a cheese stick.

Mommy: Whose party was it?

Rion: Owen, not my brother

Mommy: Where does he live?

Rion: He lives in Jelbiun. I don’t know where he lives.
Mommy: Is it by here?
Rion: No, it’s far from here, far from where we live.
Mommy: Who was there?
Rion: I don’t know. Owen, their mom and their dad, and their grandma and their grandpa, his sister. And, he’s a brother. And he has two brothers. So, there is three brothers and one sister.

After spending a great weekend spending time with friends at a Halloween in July party and having Grandpa and Nick here, we headed back to Peoria (our fourth trip down in four weeks) to see Carrie, Cedric, their kids and her parents. My mom and Carrie’s mom taught together, so we grew up together. I remember meeting them at Showbiz when we were little. The place has a new name and new characters, but our kids have just as much fun as we had! They have four kids, and we are amazed how they handle it all, and that they fly here from Begium (not Jelbiun) with all four. I won’t take our two on a trip further than three hours. J

A Fun Sunday

Sword fights (yes, that’s baskets on their heads), outside fun, and a visit from Uncle Nick and Grandpa Florida.

Our Halloween in July Party

Rion: We got dessert after dinner and we got a brownie and liquor, licorice. And, before dinner I tried all of the food. And, after dinner, when Joshua and Alyssa were leaving I got salami with cheese. That’s pretty much it.
Mommy: Why did you have…

Rion: Because I was still hungry.
Mommy: No, why did you have a Halloween party in July?
Rion: Cause we decided to have Halloween not once in a year.
Mommy: What did you dress up as?
Rion: A Power Ranger
Mommy: What else?
Rion: A spider man vest, batman, a football player. That’s it. The end.

Owen: At our Halloween party we got to eat a piece of candy after dinner, we had hot dogs, we had four friends over and their names were Nate, Sammy, Joshua, and Alyssa. And we played a lot. And, Joshua jumped on our trampoline. Done.

The Eye Doctor

We went to the eye doctor and I used all of the machines but I couldn’t see through all of the machines. I got to get a test. I looked at pictures, I got eye drops, and I got sunglasses that are still in here, but I don’t know where they are. - Rion

Today was Rion's first trip to the eye doctor. His vision is perfect. Apparently, he just likes looking at things up close. Now that he knows the doctor gives out sunglasses, I'm sure he'll want to go every three months with Owen. - N

Our Weekend Away

I don’t know who had more fun on our weekend away, us or the boys. Owen and Rion went to Kameron’s house, where they not only had a playmate, but also had Wes and Kacie to help entertain them. Every time they are there they come home wanting an older sister like Kacie! And, for Rion, it was a chance to spend an entire weekend with his Gary. I’ll let them tell you more about their weekends. Since both kids were sick last week, it was a hard decision on whether we should go away or not. But, Kamie and Gary are wonderful and took great care of our sick kids, so Mike and I headed to Vegas. We were able to see the sights, eat some great food, shop, and enjoy adult only time with Donita and Leonard. And, we highly recommend the Garth Brooks show! However, I can’t truly recommend Vegas in July. It was hot! - N  

On Saturday I went to my cousin’s house. His name is Kameron. He has a brother and a sister. His brother is named Wessy and his sister is named Kacie. Me and my cousin played on DS a lot, because we love playing our DS’s. And, if you know what a DS is, just tell me. A DSi is just a DS with a camera. So, do you want to hear two movies me and my cousin watched? That is X-man, one of me and my cousin’s favorite movies. Fly to the Moon we watched, Scooby Doo, and Home Alone. And, I watched Super Mario Bros. That’s pretty much all of the movies I watched. So, this is the other stuff that I did. I went in my cousin’s pool. It was like so fun I was going to scream since it was so fun. We got to have these two desserts, these really good desserts. They had better desserts than my mom. And, that is pretty much the ending of me and my cousin. – Owen

I was sick, but now I’m not. And, I was at Wessy’s house, and Kamie, and Gary, and Kameron, and Kacie, and Toby’s. And, I played in the basement with a Nerf gun. They had Nerf guns there. And, I played some bowling. And, I went to Wessy’s play. And, Wessy sang lots of songs and Wessy was singing with a different name. And, that’s it. The end. And, we watched three movies in one day, and one movie the day our mom came back. Done. I got to pee in their shower. And, do you know what they had in their shower? They had Transformers soap. The end. - Rion

The Spray Ground

Owen's Robot

Owen’s moving on from Legos to building robots. This one was made at daycare as part of science week.

Rion's Legos

Rion built his first Lego model all by himself.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

The Farm

I went to my dads ants house. Uncle Marvin let me and my brother ride his four-wheeler to see the cows. I played with my cusins and her dog his name is Bud. – Owen

I went to the farm. And you know who’s farm it was? It was Aunt Gayla’s farm. And we went on the four wheeler by the woods. And we took a trip to see the cows. Now, I’m sick. I can’t talk. Popsicles will make me healthier. The end. – Rion Stufflebeam

We went to central Illinois this weekend to celebrate Aunt Gayla and Uncle Marvin’s 50^th wedding anniversary! The boys loved being on their farm and playing with their cousins. Unfortunately, Rion’s home sick today. His allergies just can’t take all of that fresh air. I think he’s a true city boy. We woke up this morning with a fever, horrible cough, sore throat, and a hoarse voice. It’s cute to hear him talk, but it freaked him out a bit at 5am this morning. The nurse told him that popsicles would help make the throat feel better. That’s thrown him a little. He was expecting medicine, not a prescription for sugar. Also, Owen typed this himself. He was able to sound out all of the words, and only had one red squiggly line and two green ones. He’s doing a great job! All of his reading is definitely paying off. However, it’s killing him that I’m posting this with errors. He’s worried that no one will understand what he’s trying to communicate. - N

Chinatown

We had dim sum and I had rice there and dumplings and that’s probably it. And, I had egg drop soup at Triple Crown. They didn’t have the donuts. And, um, we got sports panda bear cookies that have chocolate in them. – Rion

I’d never been to Chinatown, so we ventured out this weekend. (Two trips to Chicago this month! I think that’s a post-kids record.) We had dim sum, which was very good. Owen ate an entire order of shrimp dumplings, but they didn’t have Rion’s two favorites – donuts or steamed bread. I wasn’t all that impressed with the area, but the food is worth going back for. - N

Owen's T-ball Awards

The highlight of the t-ball season – a trophy! We was disappointed to hear that they don’t have all star games for his age bracket. In his head, he’s an all star.

Rion's Fudgesicle

One more summer to do list item down. So far, Rion’s been to the park and had a fudgesicle. We still need to go to the museum. Owen’s been to the Chicago Fire game. We go to Wrigley in August and US Cellular in September.

Our 4th of July Weekend

Happy 4^th of July! I hope everyone was able to spend time with family and friends, see some fireworks, and have a lemonade shake-up!

We had originally planned to spend the weekend in St. Louis and Peoria, but our St. Louis trip fell through. We wanted to take Rion to Grant’s Farm to feed the elephants, but they shut down the experience for the rest of the year. I’m not sure what happened. So, we spent a day in Chicago instead. The boys had never been to Lincoln Park Zoo or Millennium Park, so we ventured downtown. It was a beautiful day and those part so the city weren’t too packed. And, as Owen mentions below, you can never go wrong with R.J. Grunts for lunch. When I was little, a trip to Chicago was never complete without visits to R.J. Grunts, Fannie May, and Georgia Nut. I’m not sure why, but they were always on the itinerary. It’s nice to be able to share a little of our pasts with them. On Sunday, we went to Peoria to see our families, the fireworks show, and miniature golfing for Owen. He saw every animal at Lincoln Park Zoo, so I figured that we owed him something. - N

The 4^th of July we went miniature golfing, and we saw fireworks, and we went to Grandma Michael’s house, and we went to Grandma Mary’s house, and we came back to our house. We went to a fountains. I liked the fountains. The end. – Rion

Rion’s favorite activities: Fountains and Fireworks

The first day of the 4^th of July weekend was on Friday. Saturday, we went to Chicago and saw the bean and went to the fountains. We also went to the zoo and R.J. Grunts. I didn’t know that, I never knew what restaurant, but we went to R.J. Grunts. Remember that, so you can go to that in Chicago. The next day, that would be Sunday, we saw our grandma named Grandma Rick, Grandpa Florida also, and we saw our Grandpa Rick. If your name is Grandma Rick, Grandpa Rick, or Grandpa Florida, you are on my blog. After that, we went to the Mark Twain Hotel and we saw the fireworks and we went to bed and we watched Shrek. The next day is today, Monday, on Monday we ate breakfast at the Mark Twain Hotel and if your name is Grandma or Grandpa Rick or Grandma Michael, you should have known, because you knew we went there. After we ate breakfast, we went to our Grandpa Florida’s house to throw rocks. His river is up like 6 inches. Then we went to Grandma Michael’s house, which we fed her fishies and I threw some fishy food and I threw it on accident and it hit a frog. So, he jumped onto another lily pad and Grandma tried to touch him. Then we went inside and played with her toys. Then, we went to Sonic to have lunch and then we went miniature golfing and Mommy got 2 holes in one and Grandma got one. I got one, Rion got one, and Daddy got one. Then, we are at home eating and that’s the end. - Owen

Owen’s favorite activities: Mini Golfing and the Bean

My Favorite Month

What is your favorite month and why?

Rion: December because, um, my brother’s birthday is on it.

Owen: (No response. He got in trouble for lying.)

Daddy: July, the 4^th of July

Mommy: June because it’s the first month of really nice, summer weather. You can get outside and enjoy activities before it becomes really hot.

Asleep at the Table

This was Rion’s turn to be in trouble for not eating. He’ll eat the fish, but refused to eat scallops. He protested for a long time, and then everything went silent. When I went to check on him, this is what I found.