Prayer Request

Please pray for a friend of ours, Mike O'Connor, and his family as Mike suffered from a seizure in the middle of the night last night. He is back home and resting, and the ER docs didn't find anything on any of the tests that they did. He has a couple of doctors appointments early this week to run some more tests, and this is where the prayer request comes in:

Please pray that the tests come out clear and free from anything horrible and that they can give the O'Connors an answer as to why he may have had the seizure.

1st V-I-C-T-O-R-Y with a score of 52-42

Mizzou pulled off their first victory against Illinois...there were some scary and not so good looking moments but in they end they pulled it off! Since the game was in St. Louis and so late several of us decided it would be best to watch the game from the comforts of our home. We all had a really great time (the win helped) and plenty of great food to eat. Also, the Spicci's spent the night which was fun ("Argg Matey"...Aimee you know what I'm talking about)!

Here are some photos of the evening:Liv & Bella Pre-game (aren't they so cute):

Aimee & I pre-game:

Aimee & I being silly:

Ang & I:

A little table decor and Chili Relleno that Aimee made (they don't look very good in the picture but they were AWESOME):
Beef Enchiladas that I made and homemade Tortillas that Aimee made (all very delicious):




Cupcakes that Bail & I made (yummy) and Adriene, Wes, Liv, Me & Aimee watching the game:




Kathy ("KK") & Jana and Bailey with her head in the chip & dip helmet:
Poor Don is still sleeping as he didn't get home until around 5:30-6:00am! Once he wakes he'll have to go back to work to unload the truck and then he can come home for "Victory Sunday Dinner"! The whole family is excited to be able to celebrate this evening with our first victory Sunday Dinner (Chicken Parmesan)...we hope for a whole season of these!!

*Next match-up is Saturday 9/6/08 vs Southeast Missouri State in "the Zou"!

Tigers 1st Game for 2008

Make sure you all tune in tomorrow to cheer our Tigers on to a victory against The Fighting Illini in the "Arch Rivalry" game in St. Louis!

The game will be on ESPN @ 7:30PM (CST)!

GO TIGERS!!!

M-I-Z...

Back Update

I still have a lot of pain...my condolences to those of you who suffer chronic back pain!!

Thanks for those who have emailed me and made comments about ideas to make this situation better...I hope they work because this is for the birds! What really drives me crazy is the fact that I can't get anything done around the house and I have people coming over to watch the game tomorrow (pray that this gets better fast so I can clean my dump)!

Tagged - "6 Most Interesting Quirks"

So little miss Adriene tagged me...aren't you so sweet...to come up with "6 Most Interesting Quirks" about myself. This is going to be hard because I'm just out right quirky to begin with! So her they are:

1. I hate the word "moist". It is just a disgusting word...I can't give you an explanation as to why I hate it so much but I just do!

2. I too am not a big fan of feet, not so much with people touching mine but of them touching me with their feet...GROSS!!

3. When I go to bed at night, it doesn't matter where I am, I have to look under the covers and under my pillow before I can go to bed...I won't even put my feet down in the bed until I've checked it out. I have a fear of a bug or something lurking their waiting to get me! It drives Don crazy!

4. I am terrified of heights and not only for myself but others too! If I were to see you walk close to the edge of say a cliff, I start to feel panicky & sweat.

5. This kind of goes with #4...I hate driving over bridges! I have had this fear LONG before the collapse of the 35W bridge in Minnesota (BTW for those of you that don't know me very well...I have been crossing that bridge my whole life and have to cross it when I go back home to get to my dad's house...he lives about 5 minutes from it)! I find myself white knuckled and sweaty!

6. I get motion sickness and have all of my life!

That's me...the nut in a nutshell!! :)

Okay, so I tag Tony, Neisha, Brooke & Carrie (she has her blog private)! Go to it friends!! :)

Day 4 of Preschool

Today Miss Bella woke up the same as Tuesday, "I don't want to go to school!", but drop off did go much better because daddy came with. She was excited to be able to ride in daddy's car to school, walk him in, show him where to sign her in, where her classroom is, where her cubbie is, show him her teacher and all of her friends! Then she went and sat at the table with no fussing!

So what kind of tricks am I going to use next week...this better get better because my trick bag is running low!

Sciatic Nerve is a PAIN!!

So for the last week or so I have been having some lower back pain that has been coming and going...when it's "coming" it typically starts around the lower back dimples, then resonates through the buttocks, to the hip and down the leg. I have been annoyed by it but have been dealing with it and going on (also taking "vitamin I", as my dad calls it, to try to alleviate the discomfort).

On Tuesday I figure that maybe it would be a good idea to walk thinking this may help work out whatever kink is going on...while walking it felt pretty good (despite the mountainous neighborhood I live in) and then that evening I was sore but not to bad.

So Wednesday night rolls around and the kids & I head over to the complex for dinner with Don, talk with one of our trainers, Casey, and he confirms what I thought that it probably was, and then at around 8pm we decide to walk over to the stadium to check out the pep rally. The walk goes fine I'm feeling relatively good so we hang out at Don's office to help him get ready for the game this weekend (go Tigers!). The kids and I get home around 9pm and it hits me...the pain ensues!! I find that I can't bend over for fear if I do that I won't be able to get up again, and it just keeps getting worse. I get the kids to bed (forget bath time, that's hell on a good back), come downstairs and find a home on the couch. Don gets home and we decide to head on up to bed around 10:30pm to watch a movie, but I can hardly get up the stairs. I get up their, Don has to help me into bed and then halfway through the movie I need to go to the bathroom (of course right) but I can't get out of bed! My poor husband has to help me out of bed, to the bathroom, on the toilet, off the toilet and back into bed! Needless to say I did not get a very good night of sleep.

Today I could get out of bed but with pain and took a shower (boy that was fun trying to get over the tub & into the shower, and my poor legs are like a forest cuz I couldn't even bend down or bring them up to me to shave). After Don & I dropped Bella off at school I headed on over to see Casey again and he had me get in the whirlpool for about 20 mins which helped loosen it for about an hour.

Anyway, still in pain but not as bad as last night...I would have traded that pain for another c-section any day (at least you get rewarded after that)!!!

So that's my whine for the day!

God's Beauty Captured by Me

I was going through my photos and found this one that I took in Pensecola, FL in March '04. I think it's a beautiful photo and wanted to share it with all of you! The cross just happened to be on the beach when we got there and was gone the next day (a think the tide took it away), and that is Don & Liv sitting on the beach!

Holy Posts Batman...

today I reached my 200th post and now I'm at 204 (well I guess 205 once I publish this)! That's not to bad for a girl who got off to a rough start a year ago!

Welcome Shannon April!!

One of my very best friends, Elizabeth, delivered her 3 daughter on August 22 @ 1:07am. She weighed 9lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long! She is so adorable with lots of dark hair! Elizabeth and Shannon are doing great, but the new mommy is shocked at the size of her new bundle of joy as her other two beauties were in the 7lb range (as a mom of big babies: 9 8, 8 13.5, 8 7, 8 9...big babies are great)!

Congratulations J, E, A, M & S!!!

The First Family Photo as Five:

We love you all, miss you, are so happy for you, and can't wait to see you all & meet Miss Shannon!!

*Sorry this is a little delayed...I wanted to post this right away but was waiting on pictures and then when I got them I was dealing with the dog & had company!

Don's Celebrity Collage

Boy he lucked out with mostly hotties...I knew I picked a good, but Travis Tritt & William H Macy not so much. I could deal with Don looking like Edmund Stoiber when he gets up there in age...I've seen worse!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Adriene I had to to steal your idea and do this because yours was hysterical...oh & love the whole Kurt Russell bit...I guess he should take that as a compliment!

So here is mine...

At least they don't have me looking like the fat Ricki Lake. Most of the rest are beautiful except Kate Beckinscale (not this photo anyway) and who the hellzabaloo is P. Ramlee...um I don't think so but nice try! Also, Lisa Marie is a bit edgy for me but still pretty in this photo!

I guess I still got it goin' on...yea baby!!!

Let me know if you all do one cuz I'd love to see them!

Preschool Day 3

As I suspected would happen, they novelty of school has wore off some for miss Bella. This morning before we even left she was saying that she didn't want to go, so I knew tat I had my work cut out for me. From the moment those words came out of her mouth and all the way to school (a whole 3 minutes) I spent trying to hype it up! Oh it's going to be so much fun, ooh what's for snack today...let's check when we get there, what's your teachers name, you get to see your friends & friend "E", etc... Then we had a mini conversation that went:

M "I wish I had a school"
B "You could be a teacher!"
M "Ooh then I would have a school wouldn't I"
B "But then we wouldn't have a mommy"
B "Mrs Spicci could be our teacher"
M "But she's Nico's teacher"
At this point we went off on a different tangent and only two seconds from school.

So we pull up to school and the I don't want to go to school cries begins (not tear crying). We go sign in, check the snack list - pudding (white soup), head to the classroom, and mom starts talking everything up again. I let the teacher know of her apprehension, the director just happens to be in there too & helps me, we look at the new fish (which I think for sure will help me but not), meet a new little girl by the name of Harper so I point out that it's just like her other friend Harper, finally her teacher & I had to pull her off and I said goodbye! Makes me sad but I know she's fine!

I'll let you know how Thursday goes!

Chloe Update

Chloe is home now and doing great! She was so excited to get out of that place...maybe she learned her lesson by this (oh who am I kidding, she'll go back to her old self in no time). Anyway, the damage of her mini vacation was...drum roll please....$448.50! Not as bad as we thought but still painful....thanks Grandma Wilma for picking up the tab!

Pictures

This is what was waiting for me on the morning of our anniversary from my sweetie:

Balloon Illumination...this 1st photo I took from my phone as Liv & I were just getting there:

The Monkey "Gordo" was the kids and my favorite...there was a guy dressed as a banana (of course nobody took a pic of him) handing out cards about this balloon.
"Gordo's" stats: 2005 Lindstrand 77A, 63 feet tall, envelope weight (I have no idea what this means) is 250lbs, and his smile is 4 panels wide....

Aimee and Bella...

Aimee, Bella & Grandma Wilma (sorry it's a bit blurry)...

Eventful Weekend

Overall we had a great weekend!

Friday: The kids got out of school @ 1PM...every year on the 1st week of school they get to get out early. Nicholas had an overnight birthday party to go to so he left for that right after school and the girls, Grandma Wilma and I went shopping at the mall and Michael's. With Wilma being in town Don and I were able to get away for the evening to celebrate our anniversary (the B&B stay in July was also to celebrate our anniversary). He and I went out to dinner at CC City Broiler which is a very nice restaurant here in town and had a GREAT meal (we also ended up running into several couples there that we knew). After dinner we had some time to kill so we went to Barnes & Noble (EVERY time we go out Don drags us over there), and then we went to see the movie The Dark Knight...AWESOME movie!!
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Saturday: I picked Nico up from his party at 8:30 am, we headed home to get Grandma & Liv (the other two were still sleeping) and headed over to football practice. After practice we came home and I took a much needed nap. Then at 6pm I brought Liv to a pool birthday party and the others went to our pool. We all then met up with the Spicci's at about 8pm to watch the Hot Air Balloon Illumination out at Corporate Lake which is really neat to see. After the balloons we headed to the Spicci's house to roast marshmallow and make S'mores (I LOVE roasted marshmallow...YUM-O)!! We got home about 11pm and thought the evening was over but not so much!

Someone in our family (not going to mention any names but you know who you are) thought it would be alright to leave Chloe out of her kennel for the 3 hours that we were gone but not so. Now if you don't know this dog let me give you a little bit of info: she eats anything...this dog eats her meals like it's the only meal she has had or will have for weeks! So we get home from our fun evening and there is dog poop in the living room and an empty rice krispie treat wrapper next to it. Don immediately gets mad at her, puts her outside, and then puts her in her kennel as punishment. When he puts her in her kennel he notices some empty baggies and an empty 100 calorie Oreo bag as well....to which he gets really mad.

At this point I'm somewhat angry at the dog for what she did but knowing her past for scrounging I'm sticking up for her...she should have never been left out. I also know exactly where she got all of this contraband stuff from...our guest's suitcase! Now I'm not blaming her but did notice the dog sniffing it out earlier in the week when it was sitting on the floor and said it would be necessary for it to be zipped and stored up on the table. Not only did the dog feast on all of her snacks in the bag but also on some of her meds that where in a baggie in there as well. Which came out to be about: 15 Diuretics, 6 BP meds, 6 Cholesterol, 6 Multi-Vitamins, and 5 Calcium pills.

The next step was to call the vet which the message then directed me to the University Vet Hospital and they told me that Chloe needed to come in. So Wilma & I brought her in (holy cow this place is big...like a normal hospital and they even have a drive up emergency entrance like a regular ER). They made her throw up to which they were amazed at the volume in her stomach for a 15lb dog...I wasn't at all surprised because like I said before she eats anything! They told us that they wanted to keep her to observe her, to give her charcoal to absorb the left over contents in her stomach that possibly didn't come out with the vomit and to then push fluids until Monday morning. We were told that the bill will be around $600-$800 *GASP* and that they usually give high estimates so it may be less but still *GASP*. I know some of you are like "um she's just a dog and I would have said forget and let whatever happen happen", but to those of you thinking that...the dog is only 2 years old (she still has plenty of life in her) and when you have 6 people 4 of which are children that love her, that isn't an option.

Anyway, we will be picking her up this afternoon and I'll let you know the damage. Oh and we didn't get home from the hospital until 2am...they said it was one of the busiest nights that they had seen in a long time, we were animal #12 and #13 came in before we left!
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Sunday: Fortunately it was pretty low key. I mowed the lawn, Don had practice & the kids hung out with Grandma.

*I will post pics on a post of there own because this post is so long!

Mizzou TV Spot

This commercial will air when we play on national TV...check it out here!

GO TIGERS!!!

Don's Training Camp Hours:

Sun, 8/3/08: 7:00am-7:00pm 12
Mon, 8/4: 6:00am-11:45pm 17:45
Tues, 8/5: 5:20am-7:30pm 14:10
Wed, 8/6: 5:30am-5:45pm 12:15
Thurs, 8/7: 5:30am-6:30pm 13:00

Fri, 8/8: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30

Sat, 8/9: 6:15am-11:00pm 16:45
Sun, 8/10: 5:30am-6:15pm 12:45
Mon, 8/11: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Tues, 8/12: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Wed, 8/13: 5:30am-10:30pm 17:00
Thurs, 8/14: 6:30am-6:00pm (but he also had to somewhat work a function at Pinkel's house that we both attended til 9:30pm) 12:00
Fri, 8/15: 5:30am-9:00pm 15:30
Sat, 8/16: 6:45am-1:00pm 5:15
Sun, 8/17: 3pm-6pm (Awesome short day...Don loved the sleeping in!!!) 3
Mon, 8/18: 5:30am-10:15pm 16:45
Tues, 8/19: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Wed, 8/20: 5:30am-6:45pm 13:15
Thurs, 8/21: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
TRAINING CAMP IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!

Here is the final total of hours: 240:45

Welcome Don's New Love & Baby

"We promised more details on the new semi-trailer that rolled into town yesterday, and here they are, straight from Director of Equipment Operations Don "El Guapo" Barnes...

The new trailer was purchased by the Athletic Department from Kentucky Trailers out of Louisville, Ky. for $40,000. The "van," as it is known in the industry, is a 53-foot Kentucky Electronics Van with an Air Ride shock system, which makes it a smooth enough ride that this type of trailer can be used to transport flat screen TVs. Barnes said that while the team doesn't transport anything as fragile as that, it still is reassuring knowing that all of the equipment - especially the $95,000 headphone system it lugs around to each game - will be safe and secure. The new trailer replaces the old trailer that MU had been using since 2000 when it was purchased used from Frito-Lay for $7,000 - the old trailer was used to transport Doritos, among other Frito-Lay products, before it became Mizzou's.

Barnes said the new trailer was purchased as a stock white unit, and was taken to St. Louis, Mo., where it was customized and remodeled by Craftsmen Industries, with much help from company president Joe Helmsing. Helmsing's company painted the trailer black and applied the decals that can be seen all over, and the decal system allows for the flexibility to add other information in an efficient manner. The new trailer has hardwood floors on the inside, a translucent ceiling which allows for more light which is helpful for loading purposes, and has the ability to add moveable floor sections around, as well as straps to secure items - something the old truck wouldn't support.

Speaking of the old truck, plans call to house the old one in the parking lot just behind the south endzone stands at Faurot Field, where various items will be stored there throughout the year. In case you were wondering, the old truck was depreciated down to a worth of exactly zero dollars by University adjusters!" -excerpt written by Chad Moller on the Mizzou Footblog

Notice the Belly boxes on the side, those allow us to store ramps and other items under the truck for quick access...

The floors is so clean and shiny you could eat off of it.
I almost don't want to roll any trunks in it..

5 feet longer than the old one, that makes for a full 53 feet of love...

We also had a roll-up door added to the back, the swing doors were cut off, this allows us to back up to any dock and be able to unload...

Notice the E-Track on the inside walls, it allows to straps down the trunks and also add the extra layers you see inside, we can put boxes, coolers etc in them...

The door up on the front lip will allow us to all the travel bags there and get to them easily and quickly...

*note this is Don's 2nd post (forced by me his wife only because I have been hearing about this truck/his love forever and only thought it fitting for him to blog about it)!

15 Years...Holy Cow!!!

Happy 15th Wedding Anniversary Baby!!!

I can't believe that we have been married 15 years already! Where has the time gone? I want to thank you Don for the most amazing 15 years of my life!
Four beautiful children and three states later I couldn't ask for a better life then the one you & I have built together!
You are such a wonderful, kind hearted, hard working, compassionate & loving person and an amazing father!
I Love you so much and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together!

15 Years Ago Today:

Here are some photos of photos of our wedding day
(wow I look like a linebacker in that dress but that was the style):

Now:

My how we have changed...in so many ways:

Out of the Mouths of Babes # 13

Oh yes another one and completely my fault!

I had a glass of water on my night stand and Liv accidentally knocked it over onto my alarm clock - not friends with water, my bible & some books - not friends with water, and on the hardwood floors - also not friends with water. So of course, what comes out of my mouth, because water is not friends with any of that, but "ah son of b!%(&"!

So I'm sure can you guess what happened next?! Out of Bella's mouth comes"ah son of a b!%(&"

Oops my bad!!

(oh don't criticize me cuz you would've done it too)!

Mizzou Gangstas in Da House...

Don saw this style shirt on a popular reality show on MTV and thought it would be cool to have something similar made up with "MU" bling on them. Don's staff wore these today & of course the players went crazy wanting them and Coach thought it was great and said "make sure there is one in my locker" (there already was)!

To get your very own head on over to the campus book store on Friday (sorry but they won't have kids sizes)!

Awesome & Bad Olympic News

1) Awesome news is Shawn Johnson finally got her gold medal on the beam...YEAH!!! :) She will go home with: 1 Gold & 3 Silver!

2) Bad news is Ben Askren pinned his first guy and lost to his second guy so he is out! :(

School Update

Well in true kid fashion I didn't get too much information out of the kids, but I did learn that they all had great days, love their teachers, and all had friends in class. Oh, and they all complained about lunch (they changed the lunch times around)...Bail said hers was too early, Nico said his was too late, and Liv said hers was too short!

Bella loved preschool and did a great job (no tears & no accidents)!! I asked about her friends and she said with sympathy that her friend "E" cried and that she couldn't remember any of their names but the the teacher knew them. I told her that next time "E" cries that she should tell her that it will be ok.

After I picked Bella up from school she and I headed home, got in our suits, grabbed our lunch that we made the night before in her new lunch box (she wanted one because the older girls got ones) and then headed to the pool for some mommy & Bella time! Grandma Wilma is in town but didn't go with us because she had to make a trip to St. Louis with Don (more on this trip later)!

Here we are at the pool getting ready to eat lunch:

So that's all for today!

First Day of School

Well it's 9am and I'm sitting here in a very quiet house, and I'm second guessing my previous post. Although my children have been wearing my patience thin I really do miss them (I know by tomorrow it will all be better & I'll be back to the feelings of the previous post)! What is also really sad is that even though this is only the first day it will fly by so fast and the last day of school will feel like we just left today, and then my babies will be another whole year older.

Drop off for all of them went very well...the older three were excited to get on with their days, to see who's in their classes and get to know their new teachers. Little miss was so excited to get to her school...the whole time we were dropping the big ones off she was asking when we could go to her school. When we finally got there she did such I great job...I'm so proud of her and all of them! She was fine when I left but I wasn't! I made it to the car but had the biggest lump in my throat, and once I was in the car I had tears (not a lot but they were present). It's just so hard to think that my baby is old enough for preschool...this sweet little girl (ok not all the time) has been home with me since the day she was born! I must stop now or the water works are going to start and I'm afraid they won't stop!

Here are some photos from this morning:
I'll let you know tonight how each of their days went!