The week of August 31st-September 5th.

Well, September is here and it's been a busy week. Sunday started with a family reunion in Griggsville, IL for Grandma Pearlie's side of the family (McDonald). The weather was beautiful and the food was good. We had several of our family go. My brother, Steve, and his wife Opal were visiting for the Labor Day weekend from Indiana. They drove Mom there, along with my oldest brother, Loyd, who drove down from Peoria, IL for the reunion. My brother, Wayne, and his wife Linda attended, as well as myself, Jeff and Shiloh. (Isaac and Hannah were with their dad for the weekend.) I posted a photo of our family that was there. Shiloh decided to keep grabbing my earring and pulling while we were posing for the picture....ouch! You can see her reaching for it in the picture.



Labor Day was hot and sunny, so I took advantage of that for a end of summer outing. I took Isaac and Hannah to a local water park in Jacksonville, IL for the afternoon. We picked up lunchables and sodas (pop, coke, pepsi, whatever you call it whereever you're from) and we had a fun time. This waterpark is free and is called the Play For All Park. It is designed to be 100 % handicapped accessible. The water part if all kinds of water spraying, water showering, water spitting, spinning and spurting toys the kids can run through, around, over and stand under. I attached a picture of Isaac standing under a bucket that fills with water and as it fills it dumps the water down on whoever is under it. The picture turned out so cool as the water looks like it it stopped in mid-air to pose for the photo. It sort of has a Matrix-slow motion-feel when you look at it. I have no idea how I timed taking the picture like that. I tried several attempts to get Hannah like that and it was impossible to take the photo at the same moment. Anyway, the waterpark also has a big toy that has wide ramp approaches to it, so anyone in a wheelchair or on crutches has plenty of room to climb and enjoy. The kids love running to the big toy and going down the slide when they are wet.......they get a much faster slide that way. On the way home Isaac made my day when he said, "Mom, this is the best day ever!" I was able to give them 100% of my attention as Shiloh stayed home with Jeff and Bethany. It was some great one-on-one time for Bethany, who is 14, to have spent with Shiloh. Jeff did some small projects both inside and outside the house and Bethany did great at taking care of her baby sister.



Tuesday was back to school for everyone (Momma says "Yeah, Baby!") Fall machine-pitch baseball started for Isaac. It was such an exciting game because Isaac's third hit of the game went past the 3rd baseman and shortstop, bounced and kept going all the way to the fence! He hit his first triple! I'm sure if he was a faster runner it would have been a home run, but he ran his best and was so excited. I was a proud mom cheering, whooping and whistling for him!



The rest of the week has gone by quickly. Mom, Shiloh and I spent some time together today (Friday) going to Springfield for her doctor's appointment. Tonight Jeff, Shiloh, Mom and I went to the Arenzville Burgoo. If you don't know what that is, well.........burgoo basically a meaty, vegetable soup cooked outside in 100 gallon kettles over fire. It is soooooo yummy. There are, of course, jokes about what all they secretly put in the soup, but I don't care.....it's too good to not eat. Burgoo is the soup, but it also the name of the event. You can eat burgoo, and you can go to The Burgoo. There are carnival rides, country music entertainment, flea market type venders, bingo, food venders and a great place to run into old friends and family you haven't seen in a while. We were sitting and eating and Loyd showed up. He drove down from Peoria for the weekend. Also, some friends of the McDannald family that live in Missouri, Larry Smith and his wife, were there. We enjoyed spending time visiting and catching up with them. We'll be going back to The Burgoo Saturday evening as Hannah will be doing her cheer dance and cheers demonstration that she learned at cheer camp in early August. Then we will take Hannah and Isaac for the carnival rides, cotton candy and all the rest of the fun we didn't partake of tonight. We rounded out our evening by dropping Shiloh and Grandma off at her house and going to the last 1/2 of the local high school football game (Go Triopia Trojans!) See, if you go after halftime, you don't have to pay admission........and you get to see the best part of the game. Triopia blew away the Pleasant Hill team 51-11. The field was so muddy from the rain that Hurricane Gustuv sent us the last two days that the guys were just covered in wet, muddy uniforms. The team equipment/uniform manager has his work cut out for him this weekend!



I know this is a pretty detailed description of my week, but this is what I do.....mom stuff, daughter stuff and then more family stuff. God has blessed me with the opportunity to be at home so far for this first year of Shiloh's life. There have been so many places to be that I could NOT have possibly been at them all if I were still working outside the home. Mom has needed some extra help getting to doctor's appointments since January due to a nerve problem in her face, the kids have needed me more with getting used to a new baby sister and, unfortunately, the aftermath of all the hostility and issues that surround divorce. I am so bad at being a full-time housekeeper here at home, but I do my best work with the kids. Thank goodness they won't remember the pile of laundry overflowing out of the hamper, the bathroom mirror that needs cleaned or floor that needs swept and mopped. Thankfully, they will remember the smiles and hugs and me cheering at Isaac's games or whooping it up at Hannah's cheer camp demo (which I have already seen performed 3 times!), and the last day of summer at the waterpark....for "the best day ever."



God bless you as you go throughout the next week. Pray for us as we are all feeling the affects of Autumn allergy symptoms. I have been writing this through the haze of Sudafed. If something doesn't make sense....we'll blame the medication.