It seemed like a good idea at the time

"Let's go for a walk" I said.  "It will be a nice family moment" I said.  "Aren't you taking the dog?" Ann said.  "What was I thinking" I said.  And so went our family outing to Mr. Twist.  A dog and an independent 3 year old adds a little stress to the walk.  Especially a certain 3 year old who refuses to sit in his stroller and insists on running the entire way.  

A fun weekend

Saturday night Ken went into work late so we could go to the Jason Aldean Concert.  My favorite new singer Cole Swindell opened for him and was as wonderful as I hoped he would be!  Of course Jason Aldean was awesome!  It was so beautiful outside and we just had the best time.  I think I danced off a couple of pounds!  Ken and I have been going to concerts since we first got together and our love of music makes for some fun times.  

 Cole Swindell getting it started!

Jason Aldean burning it down!

Last week Amy texted me asking me to take a road trip with her to Carbondale to check out some Dungeons and Dragons Park.  Amy is very good and getting me to do the craziest stuff so I really wasn't sure what was going to happen on this trip.  Amy didn't disappoint me!

 A park in memory of Jeremy "Boo" Rochman was built after he was killed in a car crash (see you learn something from this blog) with a Dungeons and Dragons theme because apparently that was his "thing".  It is listed on the Roadside America site as something to see.  And they weren't kidding.  Different is a good term for this park. Today it was crowded which I wasn't expecting.  Beautiful little park and kind of fun.  Just wish I had a better understanding of all the statues.

 Goodness gracious Amy bought a selfie stick!  Since I put up a fight about getting into any pictures with her I thought I would have fun taking pictures of her taking pictures of herself.  She didn't find it as amusing as I did.  Go figure.

 The park really is pretty.  

Me after one too many selfie poses.

After a quick trip to a haunted cemetery, where we didn't see ghosts but saw the grave of the man who is haunting the place, we headed to the SIU campus to check out the other Carbondale Roadside Attraction.  And boy was it kind of stupid.  Its a pyramid that is supposed to be over the grave to honor King Tut the schools first mascot.  The only plus of this side trip was that I got another pic of Amy taking a picture of herself and the football team was starting to get to practice and saw a bunch of ripped guys walking around.  But I could have made this "monument" out of Trevor's Play-Doh.

King Tut is buried here

Trevor spent Saturday at the Illinois State Fair.  It was a Rivenburgh kind of day and he was excited about the biiiiggggg fish he saw.

 Trevor loves his rides

 And his cousins

 When  I saw him today I asked if he saw any horses this weekend.  He told me he didn't.  I showed him this picture as proof that he was wrong.  

 This look is becoming a very common sight.

Trevor Starts School

Trevor is NOT a morning person and I mean AT ALL.  He knew he had school this morning and he did his best to get ready as sssssslllllooooowwwww as possible!  Ann fixed him a bowl of Fruit Loops and this kid sat here until every last loop was eaten.  He never finishes his breakfast!  Then he had to play with his trains.  Then he had to walk around for a bit.  Then after much threatening he finally got dressed.

Ann said he didn't put up a fuss when she dropped him off.  WHOO HOO.  When he came home I asked him what toys he played with but he said he couldn't remember.  Exact words  : /  He did say he read a monster book at it was scarrrryyyyy.  He told the monsters to go away.  No he is just chilling from his big day.  I am sure once he gets comfortable at school it is game on for those poor teachers.

Cody met Ann and the school to drop Trev off.  He said he never cried!

This was sent home today.  He said they didn't have bananas for a snack but he can't remember what he had.  This kids short term memory is seriously lacking.  Maybe next year he will tell us what he had today!

He has his own locker!  Hope nobody locks him in it.  I know many will be tempted!

And I'm back

I can not believe it has been so long since I have blogged.  One would think I was busy!  Since Trevor is starting school I thought this would be a great time to get back into it.

The first day of school at the Early Childhood Center is thankfully just an hour and parents are invited to come.  Ann said Trevor handled it like a champ.  I am 100% sure he has NO IDEA that this will be going on for the next 15 YEARS and I will NOT be the one to tell him  : D   When Ann picked him up from his classroom he was sitting on the aides lap.  I guess one of the kids started crying and that freaked Trev out.  He said he was going to go back so I consider that a win on the first day!

Merry Christmas

Some say Christmas is for children and I have to totally agree.  Because of the excitement that my nieces and nephews exhibited this year I was able to get into the Christmas spirit regardless of some of the missing pieces (aka dad and Jon).  Trevor is too young to understand what is going on but he understands perfectly how to take ornaments off the tree and play with the santas and snowmen.  

Christmas Eve was spent at Jen's house with a house full of family.  It is such a blessing that extended family can get together and enjoy each others company.  I love being a part of the Kamphoefner and Cochran families.  

For some reason that I have yet to figure out Jen and Allan decided to leave the keyboard upstairs and plugged in (however I think this piece of musical equipment was a wonderful addition to their family).  Trevor and Harper entertained us with their horrendous awesome musical talents.   A big shout out to Jen for getting the microphone out for Trevor.  He needs to have his voice amplified.  NOT!

 The kids were pretty excited to see all the gifts but I have NO idea what they got because they tore through them like a tornado rips through a small town.  (sorry Ann)

 For some reason the song "Sisters" from White Christmas just popped in my head but that isn't right because this is more brother and sister.  But there is no song for that so I will just sing "sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters" to myself anyway.

 Trevor got a Caillou doll from Honey.  He also got a stroller to go push him around in.  Stay tuned to see how that turns out.

 Anns look says it all

 Now see this stroller is supposed to be for the doll.  However the nutso had a total meltdown, threw the doll out of the stroller and proceeded to sit in the stroll himself.  Of course he is WAY TO BIG for the stroller but he didn't really care.

 Harper was nice enough to try and push him around but his chunky little booty was just a little big.  Like we Didn't see that coming.

 He's like my cat, always playing in the bags.

 Ken and his step-brother Jake playing name that tune.  I'm glad somebody has musical talent in the family.

After Jen's we headed to mom's for a little bit before we went to the Candlelight Service at St. John's.  I have so many memories of going to this service with my family that it has become one of my favorite traditions.  I will say one of my favorite parts of the day was watching Cate check Santa's progress on the NORAD app.  When she found out he was in New York and her eyes closed and her face scrunched up and the pure look of joy on her face will forever be one of my favorite Christmas memories.

 Christmas Morning Trevor woke up in the basement with Cody where the three of them opened his presents from Santa.  All I heard upstairs was Trevor going "ooohhhhh" every couple of seconds.  He gets so excited over everything, it is so much fun.

 He comes trouble

 Animal magnets were a big hit.

 After we opened gifts we headed to Maw Maws (it was such a long walk to get there, didn't think we were ever going to make it)

 Now I will give a big shout out to my mom for buying Trevor a microphone.  Lucky for me it will be staying at her house.  Here that mom, it STAYS AT YOUR HOUSE!

 Santa brought Cate some very fashionable glasses

 I said earlier that Christmas is for children.  It is also for my mother, who gets great joy out of driving Ben and Brady crazy with her Christmas presents.  This year she got them ice skates but only wrapped one skate.  They opened them and looked at her like there were being punked.  She acted perfect and had them convinced the company only shipped the one skate.  It wasn't till all the other presents were opened that they found the missing skates.  Mom thought she was hysterical, but the boys think she is craaaaazzzzyyyy.  Gotta love my family!

 See that cute cart?  Another Trevor meltdown because for some reason he thinks he can fit in the little bitty car and go for a ride.  He was not happy when he could only get his calf in there.  Looks like grandma will be buying a Cozy Coupe car this spring.

 Finally a book Carter can read

Cate told Uncle Kenny that she wanted a bike for Christmas.  For some reason Ken told her ok and that is what she talked about all month.  Half way through opening gifts (I was the present passer outer so I made sure we went nice and slow and everyone got to see what everyone got) she looked at me and said "I haven't opened a gift from you guys yet".  Now with all the gifts she opened how she could remember who she got what from amazes me.  So Uncle Kenny went and got her bike and we had one happy girl on our hands!

My Christmas was a happy Christmas.  Maybe because I was so busy doing things with my family.  It was terrible not having Jon and dad here (and the smoke coming from the kitchen when the men were making breakfast can attest to that) but I dealt with it ok and knowing Jon was with his friends made it a little easier.  Hopefully next year he will be home where he belongs.