Bee Season

This new, little Beehive of ours won the Tonica Grade School Spelling Bee last night!!  We are very proud of her, and she is very proud that all that studying and hard work payed off!!  There has been a lot of quizzing going on, as well as sleepless nights spent worrying about the big day...but she did great!

The Spelling Bee process is that each class has a bee in their individual rooms (K-8), then the top 3 winners from each class compete against each other in the school-wide bee.  So essentially she was up against 7th and 8th graders too!  She will receive two trophies (1 for her class, and 1 for the All-School), and gets to compete in our County Bee coming up this Spring.  :) 

Congratulations to Maryn!!

The Eagles Have Landed

...in Starved Rock, Illinois!  The lady who visit teaches me gave me a great tip for something to do this weekend.  Apparently there is a huge Bald Eagle festival at our local lock and dam.  She said that bald eagles migrate to this part of the Illinois River from the north (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Canada) for the winter because they like to have access to the dams for fishing and nesting.  This is as far south as they like to go because their natural habitat is only in North America. They start migration as early as Oct/Nov, but usually settle here between Dec/Jan.  

So as of right now, they are here in droves for only a very small window of time during Jan/Feb, but by the first of March they will be gone...back to their northern homelands.  A few of them stick around year round, but are harder to spot consistently.  But today, it was like they were having an Eagle party!!  At least 2 or 3 in most of the tallest trees on an island in the middle of the river.  It was breathtaking!  What a memorable experience!  Eagles are such powerful, majestic birds.  Did you know they average about 3 feet in height with an 8-10 ft. wing span? That's about as tall as Parker, but a whole heck of a lot wider!!  Wow!

Starved Rock does a festival at 3 of their locations; the Lodge, the Lock and Dam, and the Visitor's Center in the Park.  A trolley transports you between them so you can enjoy the activities.  There are Raptor shows, children's activities, and lookout spots aplenty.  We probably spotted 10 bald eagles on our tour.  It was so cool!!

The girls enjoyed it; each of them got their face painted and brought home a suet birdfeeder to hang in our trees.  Maybe the eagles will come over for some dinner!?!

Some Time Off and Projex

I'm not sure if I have officially let the word out that I am NOT teaching this semester, so in case you didn't know...I'm not teaching this semester.  Fall was a bear, and kind of stressed me out physically and mentally, so I decided to take some time off this go-around.  I'm so glad I did.  It will be tough financially speaking, but the payoff in terms of my sanity, and our families organization and well-being is worth a few months of sacrifice.  Basically my plan is to work a few hours in the writing center on campus (because we do need to buy groceries after all), but besides that it's back to tightening the old belt-loops, stop eating out as much, sell more of our crap online...I can make it work. 

You see, one of the other reasons that made the decision easier to make was that this is the last semester that it will be just Parker and I at home alone during the day.  Summer is here before you know it, with older sisters invading our territory vying for my time, and she will start Preschool in the Fall.  So this is the last stretch of her baby/toddler-hood, and I want to enjoy it with minimal interferences.  I want to get back to basics with her in terms of having a schedule, working on projex together, and teaching her fundamentals...all the foundational stuff that should come before you turn them over to the "public school system".  Anyway, I've got some fun ideas swimming around in my head, and am trying to carve out some concrete ways to go about this whole thing.


Today, I started with the basement.  I want a place that we can go to that is a retreat from our upstairs world.  I want it to be part play, part education, part craft space, part jungle gym...you get the idea?  So I started moving some stuff around, and trying to get my creative juices flowing.  They are trickling right now friends, so I need some of your help and advice...please?

Our basement is really big, but it's also really ugly.  I need to figure out a cheap fix that will brighten it up, and make it more cozy.  Any ideas?

I also want to designate areas for the tasks that I listed above.  How would you go about accomplishing this?  Imagine a big rectangle, and that's our basement's layout right now.  The only things that are static are the fireplace and TV/couch/sitting area.  In the front corner I have my craft station, but it's not really friendly to Parker at the moment.  On the back wall are two shelves with books that are cast-offs from the upstairs, as well as some old knick-knacks that I love, but don't fit in anywhere else in the house.  On the side wall is Parker's play kitchen, a toy shelf, and her dollhouse.  She also has a play tent/tunnel, and a couple trikes (we have laminate flooring).  Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention we keep our picnic table downstairs in the winter, so that's down there too.  It's just kind of cluttered, and there is little interest or inspiration down there. 

It needs help.  The ball is rolling, but I need to make a plan of action too.  Am I crazy to consider painting, or flooring?  Should I just stick to layout only?  Eeesh!!  Help me out!

Thanks!!

Field Members, Part 2: The Peoria Riverfront Museum Edition

 For the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we took a trip south to the Peoria Riverfront museum. This is a brand new museum with some new, fun exhibits.  The exhibit on display was for the Illinois Rivers and waterways.  Avery chillaxing in a kayak.

Maryn opening and closing the waterways for the toy boats to navigate.  Parker and her could have stayed there all day if we'd let them.

 This was in the entrance to the museum, and you can't tell from the picture but it was really cool because the airflow in the room made the strips of paper flutter and the whole mechanism turn. 

 Parker pressing on the buttons for the different animals found in an Illinois river.

The girls in front of the Planetarium.  They were doing a laser light show to Led Zepelin.  Sorry but I couldn't do it.  I couldn't stand butt-rock before, and I still can't...even if it is to a laser light show.

Butterflies!  Can you imagine the patience to collect them all, and then to preserve them all in such a manner?!?  Wow!

They also had a cool exhibit for Caterpillar, which is a Peoria-born company.  A whole room with different car pieces to build your own car, and then a race track to race them on.  Also a huge bin of recycled plastic "sand" and tons of dump trucks and Caterpillar shovels to scoop with...Parker was in heaven!!

After the museum, we caught a late afternoon matinee of Wreck it Ralph.  We all loved it, but I don't think the older two appreciated having to pose in front of the movie display.  They are getting too old for this kind of stuff...but it's cute!!  Ha ha!

Birthday Boy

I posted this picture to Facebook on Mark's actual birthday this year.  I am sure both Dennis and Laurie are wishing him a happy 39th this year as well.  I would assume this picture was taken probably in the late winter months of 1974.  Mark was clearly just a few months old.  I love this picture of Laurie with her two little ones.  Mark says he still remembers that couch. :)

 

Look out 40, here he comes!!!

This is what I get when I say "SMILE" for a picture now...gotta love it I guess.  That chocolate cake was seriously problematic for me.  You can kind of see the toothpick reinforcements.  Blah!!  My cake stand is already lopsided, and when I started icing the cake, it was so unbalanced that it started sliding right off!  Well in any event, it tasted amazing!  I made it from scratch, which for me is the ultimate act of love because I do not like to bake.  I didn't have a cake mix at home (my usual), so I used a recipe from Hershey's.  Seriously, what have we been doing all our lives?!?  It's both good and bad, because we all were dying at the delicious-ness, but now everyone is going to expect one!!

Here is the gift that Avery made for Mark.  It's an "Awesome Dad" jetpack...you know, for when he has to fight crime and stuff. LOL!

Field Members

One thing we have loved about living in the greater Chicago area is the multitude of museums that are available.  The Field Museum quickly became our most favorite, and so we have been members for about 3 years now.  As part of being members, we are able to visit other participating museums that are not within a 90 mile radius of the Field for free.  This has made day outings an easy choice for our family.  When we have a free day, we usually head out to a new museum...it's free, it's interesting/educational, and it has something for everyone (with our varied ages and interests). 

We took a trip to the Field during our Christmas break.  They have a hands-on/kids area on the lower level.  We always spend a lot of time down there. 

 

Parker in the forest animals exhibit soaking it all in.

Avery and Maryn looking at bug specimens with a giant microscope.  At one point I'm pretty sure I saw them sticking their hands and clothes under that scope...didn't we all do that at some point?!?

Parker sitting in the footprint of a dinosaur...kind of puts it into an eery perspective, doesn't it? 

Stay tuned for Part 2...the Peoria Riverfront Museum outing on MLK Jr. Day.

What New Years Looks Like

Our entire Christmas season was pretty quiet and peace-loving, and New Year's definitely didn't deviate from that theme. When you don't have tons of family close-by, or an abundance of friends, I suppose that tends to be the case. That's fine with us, we enjoyed the day regardless.  I took some snapshots of what each of us was up to on the first day of 2013.  Enjoy!

I made our traditional lunch of Hoppin' John, which for those of you who maybe aren't familiar is scrumptious!  It's a savory concoction of bacon, rice, and black-eyed peas.  It is simple, but flavorful and filling.  Along with that I made homemade chicken strips with different dipping sauces. It was yummy.

Parker took a nap for one of the first times in her 3 year old life. It must have been the hangover she had from our Ward New Year's Eve party the night before. She didn't get to bed until 11:30, so I knew it was either going to be a heck of a day, or that she would crash. Thankfully, the latter occurred.

Mark and Maryn had a little bonfire in the backyard.  Mark had spent some time earlier in the break to go through our monstrous file cabinet, and since we don't have a shredder, and our neighbor has banned us from his burn pit (another story for another day), they made a bonfire of it. Maryn has a bit of a pyro streak in her, so she was happy to feed the fire as Dad poked and prodded the ashes.  It smelled wonderful.

Avery read Gone with the Wind.  When I think back to Christmas 2012, this is what I'll remember most.  Avery reading 1500 pages of a classic American novel.  Ha ha!!  She was bound and determined to maintain her lead for the school and class title in AR this year, and knowing that Gone with the Wind was worth 72 points, she figured that would give her plenty of wiggle room.  Day after day, she would retreat to her bedroom, or the basement and command us to give her some privacy because she was "READING!!"  I think at times it made her miserable, but she was so determined to do it that she persevered.  One of the first things she said when she finished (a few days after the new year) was, "I need to call Grandma!" and "I can't wait to tell Brian (the classmate that was a narrow margin away from her)."  I'm actually really impressed with her diligence and willful spirit.  I would've given up eons ago, but she stuck with it.  Every now and then Mark and I would ask her what was going on in the story or give her little quizzes, and she passed them every time, so we knew she was being legit.  Later, when we rented the movie from the library, she was whooping and hollering over how many things were different, and how the movie just didn't do the story justice!!  Once again, she cracks me up.  Ya just gotta love that girl.  

I made Mark go out to the Tonica Methodist Church, and take this picture of their Nativity.  This has become a holiday icon for me that just represents our time here.  In an odd way, I sort of love it.  (Even though I'm secretly hoping this is the last year we will see it. Ha ha!)  It's worn by weather and time, eclectic, vintage-y, simple, and homemade looking.  I love how the pieces don't match, and how the stable is just some old boards nailed together.  Don't ask me why, but that's Tonica right there. 

I have a good feeling about 2013.  Call it intuition, or whatever I just feel like big changes are in store for us.  I feel like we're ready for it too. 

I wish all of you the best that 2013 has to offer: health, happiness, and joy in all that you do.