Trivia night!

Once in awhile we will get together with some friends and family for a trivia night. That is what we did Saturday night. There are 10 rounds with 10 questions each. We had rounds like, states, sports, route 66, st. Louis, television, Irish, and Hannah Montana. We actually did better in the Hannah Montana round then we did in others. Usually there is a fair amount of easy and hard questions, well I personally felt they were mostly hard and stupid question, by the end of the night all I was hearing was blah blah blah... Us four young ins were just having our own conversation while the four oldies raddled their brain to get an answer we would still get wrong. Some answers we might have gotten right but of course at times some of us swore we knew the answer and the one who would back down would be the right one!!! At the end of the night we ended with a 61 out of 100, which is pretty bad. The most important part of the evening was the fact we had fun, we had a great time and would do it all over again.

Throughout the night they had different games you could play. The first few rounds they played 50/50, Loni only bought one ticket, thats right only 1 ticket. When they got done reading the number we heard screaming from across the table, it was Loni, she had won!!! She won $169.00. Crazy huh? We tried to make her give us half since we invited them, but she wouldn't.

Then we played a scavenger hunt at our tables. Everyone who wanted to play put a $1 in the pot and stood up at their table. They would call out items you may have in your pocket or purse and what ever table was left won half the pot. And yes our table won, the winning item was breath freshener. We beat a table of 8 girls, who did not have any breath freshener in any of their purses, can you believe that. The 8 of us split $48.00.They also had a drawing you could buy a ticket for a $1 or 6 for $5. And yes Jason won that, he won a $25.00 gift card to Wal-Mart.

My parents won the silent auction they had bid on. They bid on 2 tickets to Silver Dollar City and they won. They got them for about $20 less then what they would have spent on them if they would have bought them there.

And now for the big win!!! They also have door prizes just for showing up. The last call of the door prizes were called, and WE WON! Matt's name was called...he won... 2 adult tickets to the Miniature Museum of St. Louis... yep, the Miniature Museum, like tiny dollhouses and such. And the big kicker, if we take Ry we will have to pay $2.00 for him to get in!

Matt and I have decided that we really like trivia so some time in the fall we think we are going to rent a pavillion at the park or somewhere and have a trivia get together. So everyone look for their invites and study up!

What do you want to be when you grow up!

That is the question that you are most frequently asked when you are growing up. Does one really know, and if so does it change as you get older? I think so. I love my job, I love being a massage therapist, but it has never been my life long dream. I don’t think that is what I am supposed to be doing with my life… I don’t think so anyway. I have been doing this for 7 years now. There is so many more requirements latched onto the license now. The amount of work that I do is just enough, I don’t really want to pick up that many hours, I think it is very important the time that I am home with Ryan. I don’t want to give that up. Plus I don’t know how much more I could due to my babysitter situation. The costs of keeping up my license is what is killing me, all the CE hours I need, the license re-newal fee, and insurance. I don’t know if it is all worth it. Financially with what I make is, except for these fees.

Well now I am having a little tickle in my fancy. I would love to paint. When I think about doing this I am so happy, I have never felt this way before, I get so pumped. To paint murals maybe. For those who have been in Ry’s room,that is what I am talking about. I would love to paint nurserys, pediatrician offices, child care facilities, childrens hospitals, or where ever, it doesn’t have to be baby/kid driven. I just love to paint, I always have. I just don’t know how to promote myself, or to get anyone interested, really interested to where they would pay me. I would like to be able to make kids happy just by paintings in their everyday life. Ryan already loves his in his room, he points to the animals every morning when he gets up, and we have to go through all of them. He is now pointing the right one when you say the name.

So if any one has any suggestions on where to start or how to start, or any one to start with…please please please let me know! If anyone knows anyone who needs or would like this done, I would love to do it for practice and see what we think!

I have attached some pictures of Ry’s room. Let me know what you think, if you like them, if you would pay for them. Or if I am just crazy, and not do this at all! I am really looking for some honest opinions here...

GOOOO GRIZZLIES!!!

We have always loved baseball, its a true past time for us. The Cards for me, the Redsox for Matt. Even though we have 2 different opinions on who is the best, it all boils down to the sport it self...baseball!

Jason tried to get Ry's picture with the Grizzly Bear but just would not turn around. They say never turn your back on a bear. We have never been to a Grizzlies game before, never really thought too much about it. Our friends CJ and Keri called on Friday to see if us and Jason and Loni would all like to go to Saturdays game against the Windy City. Well CJ had a wonderful idea. We all had such a good time. Even though we had to stay completely alert for the whole thing to be aware of foul balls, that came very close a couple of times.

Ya Ya (Loni) holding Ry, doin such a good job helping me keep him happy and busy!
CJ, Keri and Holly

Well this is Jason, should I say more!

We were all so tired we had such a busy weekend already, but we went anyway. Ryan was able to get a good nap in before we went. He was such a good boy, he had so much fun. And yes at the 7th inning stretch they sang his favorite song "take me out to the ballgame"! He clapped and cheered along with everyone else, and danced his little dance with everysong. Since we rented the picnic table we were able to let Ry walk around we had the barred fence in front of us, so with Loni's help we were able to keep him contained. He was so happy and played so well.

We had a such a good time, we think we will be going quite often. Ryan loves the outdoors, and there is not a bad set in the house. Every seat is right up front so Ryan can watch the game right in front of him. And we don't think it was that expensive either...the best part, we could afford it!

Summer is officially here!!!

Tropical Sno...the tasty icy frozen treat everyone loves at any age!

I watched our friends 2 little girls tonight, Annabel (just turned 4) Audrey (14 months, 5 days older than Ry). We played at the house for a bit then we got out their double sided stroller and Annabel's Barbie tricycle. And we just tootled down the alley a few blocks to Tropical Sno (well to Annabel its a snowcone, not a tropical snow, we must keep that straight). With just a little trouble from some rocks that got in the Annabel's way while trying to peddle, we arrived safe and sound!

Well ofcourse every 4 year old girls favorite thing is pink and Barbie, so the 4 of us split a large Barbie Tropical Sno...YUCK! oh sorry snowcone! They all seemed to love it, not me. I had them put it in 4 separate cups, which equals alot of snowcone. Especially for 2 one year olds. We ate our snowcones, Annabel picked flowers and rocks to take home to her mommy and daddy.

I may as well have had them put it in one large cup and not worry about having their separate spoons, Annabel loved giving each of the babies their own bites from her spoon. It was just so sweet, I had to let her to do.

It was a wonderful evening (despite all the stares from everyone thinking they are all mine)! I love when all the kids can get together, they all love each other and play so well, maybe some slaps from each other here and there, but they are all heart felt.

A Day at the Park

Today was a beautiful day, not to hot, not to cold...just right! As many of you know Ry loves the outdoors, anything outside is awesome in his eyes. We walked to LeClair Park today, we have done this many times, and he really enjoys it. Here are some pics from our outing today.

The long awaited haircut

before...

Well, Ryan's hair finally met Frank's sizzors... oh boy!

Frank is a barber in Collinsville, a family barber, in fact the same Frank cut Matt's first haircut, so that can tell ya the age! I finally found Frank, he was no where on line, had no phone # in the phone book. We tried and tried (not to mention fought) on finding Frank. See Frank means alot to Matt. Matt is a very easy going guy, he usually doesn't have much to say on things, but with this he did... he HAD to have Frank cut Ryan's hair, he wanted to have a tradition (did I mention Frank's LONG time business). Well, he thought it was really cool to have Frank cut Ry's hair and have his hair cut too. I thought all this was so cute, I had to honor his wishes.

Well we waited and waited, finally I found Frank, a big white sign that said 'Franks Barber Shop'.

I went into the shop on a Tuesday, he says " bring em' on in" well I couldn't do that since Matt wasn't with me. (he had to be there for this tradition we have going on) So he says he is open on Saturday's, so that Saturday it is! Oh yeah, he remembered who Matt was by me saying he cut my husbands 1st haircut, he knew exactly who Matt was, by looking at ME...well as you may know me and Matt look nothing alike. So all this bothered me a little. Well, that Saturday was Memorial Day and he was closed, good ole' Frank didn't fill me in on that! So poor Ry had to look like a shaggy dog for a couple more weeks.

So on June 14 it happened, Ryan was introduced to Frank...then snip snip snip. NO QUESTIONS on how I wanted it to look. People have asked if I cried, NO I DIDN'T CRY I was so mortified by what he had just done to my baby I was trembling. Matt and I kept trading uneasy glances. Ryan looked like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. We had 2 birthday parties to go that day...oh I was so upset.

I did hint around alot that I wanted his first snippings, well didn't get that. He did say he will put some aside for me on a piece of paper. Well he just kept snipping, and brushing all his hair away on the floor with all the other old men's hair he has previously cut for the day. I wasn't taking home all their hair mixed with my poor little baby's hair. So I grabbed a wad of it on the seat and stuck it on the counter till we left. So no nice clipping, just a wad!!!

Well as it turns out Frank did do a little more shaping with it(definitly seeing Annie for his next cut)! Frank just might not know style. It doesn't look as bad as it did, and maybe in a week or two it will have time to grow a bit (keep your fingers crossed). I want his little curls back that he had in the back :( Frank did okay, and I am happy Matt got to keep up his TRADITION!!!