And the Home of the . . . Chiefs

A free look at the newly renovated Chiefs stadium AND free parking. Only had to pay for food. Heck, yes, let's go. Of course, when it comes to the Chiefs(as you may recall from an earlier post), the James gang includes Brad's family. So, even though Brad's mom was fighting back horrendous pain from shingles, she managed the car ride to the stadium and the walking all over the new grounds. First, we walked out and actually looked at the stadium. The Hall of Fame names that were placed all over the stadium we're replaced by an LCD screen that wrapped all the way around the stadium.
This was also the first time that Josiah and Taylor had ever been to Arrowhead . . and they probably won't return for a few more years. I'm don't think they are quite ready to have beer spilled all over them in the heat of the moment.
This was the best I could do for a picture together. YOU try getting a two year old and a four year old to look at you and smile at EXACTLY the same time. They don't pay photographers enough for that!

So, after we took a sneak peek at the stadium we headed up to the eighth floor. We weren't allowed on the ninth floor--no press pass. The windows were from floor to ceiling and you could get a perfect view of your fall,er, uh, parking lot. This didn't bother Taylor, Dee, Josiah or Brad at all. On the other hand, Eddie and I being the more "cautious" of the group thought it was better off if we stood behind them while they looked down. I mean, someone would have to grab onto their shirt if they fell through. Right? Right.

After the lovely view, we walked on to get some food. Hard to believe we were walking on carpet the whole time and there were loveseats and couches in place. We felt a little out of place in our jeans and T-shirts, but got some good food. Even though, I didn't get it, but sampled Brad's, I would highly recommend the brisket burger. Yum!

Dinner was followed by a walk through the Hall of Honor otherwise known as the "Taylor, don't touch that!" portion of the evening. Brad finally put him on his shoulders for a much safer and cost-effective tour. I'm sure when it is less crowded, it will be much easier to enjoy.

We finally sat down to watch an open practice of the Chiefs. Unfortunately, this was cut short by a four year old that kept asking, "Let's get ice cream, Dee!" Promises, promises. So, we went back to the food court to look for ice cream which we thought would be easy. Apparently, not. Taylor pretty much had a meltdown because he was prepared for ice cream. So, I asked one of the food court employees and he practically sent us around the entire stadium just for a frosty malt. I believe the oldest grandchild is awfully spoiled.

The other little guy is awfully onery. Look at him trying to sneak in a drink of Dee's water. Those big eyes are going to get him into lots of trouble someday.

The trek around the stadium wasn't all that bad. I looked on the wall beside me and the stadium had put up pictures of last year's high school state champions. So, being as I live in one of those towns(Go Bulldogs!), I noticed a picture of purple and gold football players. I did a double take when I read the name of the school. The lovely people who put the pictures on the wall and had the names printed spelled Kearney- K-E-A-R-N-Y. That's permanent, folks. They spend 325 million on renovations and they don't have time to proofread?! Too bad I didn't get a picture of that.

The Chiefs looked pretty good since they were playing against each other. Too bad that didn't rub off last night against the Eagles. But you know, this family, they just can't get enough of football. It's like seeing a bad car wreck, you just can't help but look. I guess it's time to prepare myself for the season. This means bolting down anything that can be pelted at the TV and reminding my lovely husband that some things you just should not say out loud when little ears are in the room. Oh yeah, and if anyone sees my house catch on fire or the roof cave in, please make sure you ask the authorities to go in and check on my husband. He'll be watching the game and won't notice a thing.

The Weekend that Was

Oops.. overbooked. That's how I would describe the past week. It all started with a little thing called Saddle Ridge Ranch, aka VBS. I was the co-director of the preschool department and ran back and forth between three different classrooms to make sure everything was going according to planned. The first day it was not. This was the the day there were 23 4-5 year olds and about 12 kindergarten students working on crafts with not enough help. Needless to say, that got changed really quick. I'm pretty sure we were all exhausted by Thursday, which was a good thing since that was the last day and the Parent's program. It was Josiah's first program and Taylor's third. Those two are complete opposites when it comes to being on stage. It was fun to watch and I couldn't help but giggle.

Also, during VBS week, Josiah's birthday fell smack dab in the middle of it. So, rather than do his party on his birthday, which would have been way too much, we decided to do it at the park on Saturday. Josiah thanks for being born in the summer so I can have outdoor parties for you, but please remember to tell the weather NOT to be 95 degrees with a horrendous heat index. I would appreciate it if you would lobby for the Kearney pool to open in the very near future.

Oh, no , the fun didn't stop there. On Sunday, Brad and I went to the Chicago/Doobie Brothers concert at Starlight. Pretty sure we were the minority (age wise) in the crowd. We could smell the Geritol and Ben Gay everywhere. Also, pretty sure the encore was the best part of the show when the Doobies and Chicago played together. That is A LOT of instruments crammed onto one stage, but it was amazing.

So, now you think, hey, it's Sunday, the weekend's over. Right? WRONG. Brad took Monday off and we headed to DCI at Staley High School that night with Taylor. Josiah got to stay with Nana and Pa. DCI is a drum corp show and Taylor did pretty well until after intermission. He was so thirsty and kept saying I'm tired. Apparently, I missed the fireworks when I went to go get hot dogs because people were not the most polite when it came to seats. It's a high school sports stadium, folks. Find a piece of the bleachers and GET OVER IT!

We were on our way home at about 10:30 that night when my mom called to tell us that my brother-in-law was going to the ER because he was throwing up and having some major head pain. He stayed in the hospital until today after having a CAT scan, MRI, and CT. They all came back normal. So, finally it is Wednesday and I can't wait for the weekend to get here to do absolutely nothing. . .unless, of course, my sister-in-law decides to have my very first niece this weekend. I'd be okay with that.




P.S. Photobucket and I are having some creative differences, so you'll have to check out Facebook for the pix and video.

Apartment 32, Where Are You?

Unfortunately, the building that apartment 32 occupied has ended up being a sorority house for the William Jewell Greek system. The college wanted to make the space available for "more traditional" students. I totally disagree with how the married housing was taken away. There was a reason it was there. In fact, there was a waiting list. Why would you take something away like that?

5/4. I kept writing that date again and again today. There are some dates you remember vividly like your birthday or anniversary. The events of 9/11. I remember May 4th as the day my life got blown away, literally. May 4th, 2003 the James apartment at William Jewell was destroyed by a tornado along with Brad's Honda Accord.

The day seemed fairly normal. It was the weekend, so it was laundry day which meant we loaded up my Geo Tracker and headed to one of the parent's house for the day. The lucky washer and dryer ended up being Brad's parents house. We kept hearing reports about tornadoes in the area, but we never really thought it would be that close. Brad and my dad had went up to our apartment to deliver a new mattress for our bed. When they were there, sirens were blaring. The tornado was headed for William Jewell. Somehow, my mom had ended up over at Brad's parents house. Brad, Deena, Mom and I were all in the basement watching Katie Horner. Why we left Katie Horner on that day, I will never know. She is definitely not on my faves list of weather forecasters anymore.

Anyway, my mom's a Kansas girl. She knew something was in the air and she wouldn't talk much. The sky was an eerie green and Mom had an idea of what was coming. Lucky for us we were holed up in the basement. It really does sound like a train going by in case you're wondering. The tornado went by in Gladstone and we got the all clear. Unfortunately, our laundry time was cut short because the power had gone out in Gladstone and we were in mid wash. It wasn't coming back on that night.

Then, I get the news. We were eating at Steak and Shake and my mom calls me. "Have you talked to your sister?" she asked. I told her no. "You need to call her. Your apartments are on the news and she's been trying to get hold of you." I called Shannon and she told me that William Jewell married housing has been hit pretty bad and she couldn't tell if it was our row of apartments that were destroyed or not. I told her I would check it out.

So, Brad gets the idea that he needs to go back to our apartment to grab his medicine. If you know Brad, he can think of just about anything to get in the middle of the action without being the center of attention. So, we get in the car and head towards home. Power lines are down everywhere. You have to have proof of residence to get to your house. Lucky for us, we had a bill in the car with our address to give to the nice officer with a shotgun. Yes, I said shotgun. (They were patrolling the streets of Liberty in golf carts with shotguns during this time and while everyone was in clean up stage.)

We get to Jewell and tell one of the maintenance guys that we need to get to our apartment. He takes us for a ride on the golf cart and Brad says "Oh, wow." I look and see a bite taken out of our apartment building along with a pile of cars. I ask Brad, "Which one is your car." He slowly answers. "The one that's upside down." My answer. "Oh." That upside down car made the news and the local papers several times. Its sort of a trademark for the F4 tornado that hit Liberty.

As I waited for Brad to go in carefully to our apartment, but not as carefully as our Highway Patrol man neighbor who was making sure his weapons were secure, the actual tornado devastation hit me. We had no place to live, graduation was in one week, I still had finals, we had one car, and we both had to be at different places at different times. So, I did what any girl would do in the situation. I cried.

Then, I got over it. We ended up staying the night at Brad's parent's house(our temporary home for the week). Brad slept, but I tossed and turned all night. I couldn't stop thinking about what we were going to do. Everytime I tried to sleep, I had awful dreams and I would wake up. So, I figured it was time to have a long talk with the Man upstairs. Apparently, that long talk was helpful, because God provided us a place to live with our Jewell neighbors. William Jewell cancelled finals. He also provided another car. I wasn't picky about the car by any means, but I did joke that a blue Honda CR-V would be really helpful. Notice what I have now? Yep, I'm attached and its paid off. :o) People from our church, our parent's church,the schools we student taught in, our family all came to help us out in one way or another. It is amazing how prayers were answered in a matter of days!

The most outrageous thing that happened was during clean up. I was sitting on the sidewalk taking a break when a man in a black shirt walked by. He just stood and looked around for a minute. I asked if he was looking for someone. He said no and asked if I lived here. Of course, I said yes, and we struck up a conversation. I turn around and there is a boom mic coming at me. We made the national news, folks. I've been on CNN. In fact, that lovely husband of mine decided it would be cute to kiss me on CNN. He's still paying for that by the way.

So, every year May 4th comes around, I remember that tornado and I remember that things could always be worse. I look at it this way, if that tornado hadn't taken our apartment, we might still be living in a one bedroom apartment with no kids and dead end jobs. In fact, we might have never moved 5 times in one year, either.

We may have never ended up in Kearney, "where its normal" as I jokingly say. And we wouldn't want that, now would we?

Snow day . . .AGAIN???

Day 22: Yes, folks. Day 22 of my extended Christmas break. I think I might go crazy. Better yet, I think my children may go crazy. We have been stuck inside because of WAY below freezing temperatures and outside looks like this:

These are things that have amused me so far in the past 3 extra days of staying at home.

1. Playing referee between Hoss and Little Joe (and this time Little Joe is not Josiah).

2. Calling all my teacher friends that go to my church and letting our kids raid the gym for two hours.

3. Take random pictures of my kiddos at home.

I call this "Josiah discovers the invention of the fork."

This one is "Hidden Taylor avoiding naptime."

4. Dance in my living room to the Beatles. Yes, the boys danced with me. (See, I am going crazy. I'm letting everyone know that I dance in my living room. Most people won't admit that.)

5. Made random comments on Facebook and updated my status more times than I do in one month.

6. Blogged. . . .and blogged some more.

7. Watched the news to see if I actually get to go back to work at all this season. My money is on "no."

8. Watched a movie on iTunes that Brad would never watch with me. 17 again isn't that bad and I did laugh a few times.

9. Searched the internet for random recipes. Nothing really sounded that good.

10.Did the laundry, washed dishes, cleaned up the living room and repeat. Everyday. Its a vicious cycle.

11. Reminding myself (and those around me) that I love snow and I'm not going to complain about it. In fact, I even turned off the news this morning because I was tired of listening to people whine about how cold it was outside and how treacherous the roads are. Please find the good news!

Guess what? I have at least one more day of this wonderful stuck inside weather. I think I wouldn't mind so bad if I was a stay at home mom who lived in a bigger house and I did this everyday, but when I have an "escape" to work and I can't go there, it just makes me a wee bit on the loopy side. If you see me anytime soon and my eyes are glazed over and I have a delirious smile on my face, you will know just how stir crazy my house has been in the past 23 days.

I'm sure if you check Facebook you will find out how day 23 went. I'm sure I'll post another status update.

Plans Wrecked

So, I was going to write a birthday blog yesterday. I had the boys down for a nap and my computer up and running and then I get a phone call from Brad. "I've had a slight fender bender, I'll call you with the details later." I wait a few minutes and he calls back. "I can't get my driver's side door open and there's stuff hanging down from underneath. I called the tow truck, you need to come get me." So, like the numbers on the calendar, my plans changed. If you want more details about Brad's slight fender bender ask him. But, for now I'm going to write what I was planning to write yesterday.

The Bucket List(that would have been my original title)

Its the end of the decade, which means I only have one more year before I enter the tridecade(I'm avoiding that dirty thirty word if you couldn't tell) of my existence. There are lots of things that I want to do in my lifetime and if you know me you know I'm all about writing things down. Everything needs a list. So, here are the things that I have done and/or plan to do at some point in my life. Feel free to help me out with any of the following.

1. See Garth Brooks live in concert(DONE! Thanks, Garth, for coming out of retirement and letting me have a floor seat).

2. See a live panda bear in person. (DONE! Memphis Zoo was awesome.)

3. Get my writing published. (The blog doesn't really count for me. I want some of my stories published in books. I want my name on a book on a shelf at Barnes and Noble. So, we will see how that goes.)

4. Live in a four bedroom house with a fireplace, basement, and garage. (Oh, yes, that will happen soon. I'm bound and determined to move into a bigger place.)

5. Loose the rest of my baby fat that seems to be hanging on for dear life everyday. (I would love to squeeze into my "pre-Taylor" clothes at some point in the next year.)

6. Have another baby. At some point. NOT ANY TIME SOON SO DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP! (I'm still trying to figure out how to only be pregant one more time, but have 4 kids. The only thing that I can come up with is twins and that just sounds painful).

7. Find the perfect part time special education position so I can stay home more.

That's it,my bucket list.

Happy New Year. Enjoy your black-eyed peas, if your into that little tradition. I prefer to indulge my other taste buds with Mexican and Italian food.
And, my birthday plans weren't totally wrecked. Brad took me to the Plaza for a movie and dinner. Yes, I said that right, even thought it sounds odd. We saw The Blind Side and then ate at M&S Grill at 9:45. We walked into our house right at the stroke of midnight. So, my birthday wasn't ruined at all, just rearranged.

See you in '10.