World Series Champions

There are only two sports that I like. One is basketball, and I like it moderately, but I really do love baseball, and I have always been a Cardinals fan. They're just really good AND they're Missouri's winning team. Well, we won the World Series tonight in just five games. Whoooo hoooo!!!! And I'm proud to say that we have fans who are dignified. Remember last year when Boston won? They started rioting and trashed their stadium and stuff. Well, Cardinals fans just cheered and expressed how excited they were. It's so exciting. The last time we won was in 1982. I remember my mom was in labor with my little brother and was watching the World Series in her hospital room. We've been in the World Series, I think, three or four times since then but haven't won until now, so this is really awesome.

All I can say is GO CARDS, and to the "experts" who said the odds were in Detriot's favor, check your stats again 'cause you were WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

Taguchi is my favorite player. Isn't his son adorable?

What a Fun Weekend!

Terry and Shaye Ammons graced our home with a visit this weekend. It was so nice being able to fellowship with some folks our age. It doesn't happen very often for us out here, so we were just thrilled. They are so much fun to be around.

They got here Friday afternoon and we took them out to Amish country (Seymour, MO) that night. We ate at the Amish Country Bed 'n Breakfast there. It was soooo good. They serve smoked meats (ham, brisket, chicken, pork, etc.) with homestyle vegetables and homebaked bread, freshly churned butter, and an Amish-made barbecue sauce that is out of this world. We took a drive out into the country and found that Amish-run general store. The people are so friendly and I really love just being there. Shaye said she'd never seen anything like it and thought it was really neat to see their primitive dwelling and their buggies. She ended up borrowing some of my Beverly Lewis books to take home to read so she can learn a little more about them. We bought Jackson a little hat they sold at the store just like the ones the Amish boys wear. He looks adorable in it.

The next day we went to Branson and just drove around. We went shopping for a little while at the outlet malls where I found some great deals on some fall/winter clothes for Jackson, which he DESPARATELY needed. I even found one new outfit for my self, actually Shaye found it for me. It's really pretty-a brown wool skirt and a pretty lighter brown sweater to go with it. I love it and can't wait until it gets cold enough to wear it. Actually, yes, I can wait until it gets cold ...

We ate at Panera (mmmm.... the new Lemon Chicken Artichoke Pannini is delicious) and looked in some of the novelty shops. None of us bought anything in those, but it was fun just looking around. We spent the most time in the little Christmas shopping village. I love looking at Christmas stuff, but, again, I was good. No purchases, just a lot of dreaming and oohs and aahs. :P Then we took the scenic route home. It was very pretty with the fall colors just beginning to show in the Ozark mountains. Very enjoyable weekend.

Well, gotta' go. :-)

They Grow Up Way Too Fast

I simply don't know if there'd be any entertainment in this house if it weren't for our little Jackson. Oh, my, he's so funny. He's truly got the gift of gab already, and we don't even know what he's saying. He does, though. He just jabbers and gestures and giggles like he's telling a story. And I'm sure he is; I just wish I could speak his language. It's soooo cute. He is starting to say more words now, too. He can say mama, dada, baby, nana (that's what we're calling my mom), apple, bubbles, ball, uh-oh, bye-bye, and a few others. One of our favorite things to do is I'll say "one" and he says "tyu--ree" (that's two and three mixed together, I think). Then I say "four" and he holds out his hand with all five fingers extended and YELLS "yiiiiiiiiiiibe" (for five). It's so funny.

The other day I was talking to him and telling him that we ought to go tickle Daddy and he laughs and then gets serious all of a sudden and says, "Ball?" I took it that he wanted to play with his ball, so we went and got it. That was so funny.

We visited a Japanese garden the other day. It just thrilled him to get to feed the carp that were in the pond there. We bought some of the fish food from the dispenser and let him throw it into the pond. He would just squeal when he saw the fish come up to eat HIS food. Ha. It was great, although he was making me nervous by getting way too close to the edge of that pond. I was able to keep hold of him well enough so that he didn't fall in, though.

Sometimes I can't wait until we can actually have a conversation with him--a real one, you know, and sometimes I know it'll happen all too soon and hope that day never does come. Ahhh, it's truly amazing being a mommy. I love it.

I do know that he understands a great deal of what we tell him, though. Yesterday his babysitter told me that he wasn't sharing with the other little boy she keeps. I had a very stern talk with him last night about being nice to Parker and sharing the toys, and today Linda (the babysitter) told me she didn't know what we did, but he was 100 times better. This time is was Parker that was being ornery. Amazing, isn't it? I mean, I have 11th graders who act like they don't understand my directions sometimes, but my 22-month-old son understands a lecture on sharing. It just befuddles me.

Well, I better get to bed. Terry and Shaye Ammons are coming to visit this weekend. They'll be here tomorrow. We're taking them to see the Amish country here and maybe go to Laura Ingalls Wilders's house in Mansfield, MO, (where she and Almanzo lived shortly after having Rose until they died--it's only about 35 minutes from here), and then we're going to Branson to shop and stuff. Should be lots of fun; we haven't seen them in a while.

Take care, all. Good night.

Fundraising Advice Requested

I am working a fundraiser tomorrow for school. It's going to be at our town's fall festival. We are selling frito pies, nachos, chili, and caramel apples. What would be your advice on how much to charge for each? This is a very small town (pop. around 2,000) so it can't be too high. Most people don't have much money around here.