A Spaghetti Discovery

Slurp.....slurp.....

Hmmm, that stringy white stuff looks pretty good. I should probably try it.

Apparently, if you make food look fun, kids will try it. Novel idea, I know. Caleb ate his first plate of spaghetti tonight for dinner. As well as an entire chicken breast. Only after he made it quite clear that he was a big boy and did not need his chicken cut up into pieces. Rather, he wanted to eat the whole thing still intact.

And so, the evidence that indeed, spaghetti is yet fun and satisfying:

Caleb had another discovery planned for me that I was not aware of. One ended in great delight as we've been having grand food wars on the Myers' front; the other enacted my greatest gag reflex.

As you can imagine, a bath was necessary after an unplanned encounter with spaghetti. So off to the tub we went. We were having the greatest of times, when I heard....

"...grunt...grunt..."

Oh dear.

Yep, you guessed it. I tried my best not to look too horrified while trying to figure out the best plan of action to remove my new problem. Oh, how far I have come. I remember babysitting back when I was 14 and I was charged with giving the kids a bath. One of the little angel children pooped in the bathtub. In my 14-year-old wisdom I removed the child from the poop-infested waters and promptly left the poop for their mother. I was no one's hero, and wasn't about to become one that day.

And so back to tonight....with every bit of mother's love, I reached in grabbed the culprit(s), flushed and washed....thoroughly, over and over and over.

Giggles

Here's a quick video. Hope it makes you smile as much as it made me smile.

Easter Travels

We've had a busy couple of weekends visiting family for Palm Sunday and Easter. Here are some pics from our festivities:

Easter in Highland:

Caleb got to ride on the tractor with Grandpa. He loved it and was kind of upset when it was Ryan's turn.

Just enjoying the weather together!

All dressed up for Easter!

Isn't he so cute? Our little man is growing up! And you gotta love the hat!

Easter in Danville:

His first Easter basket! He got a bunny that sings and hops, a great bouncy ball and eggs filled with Trix, Kix, and Goldfish.

Checking out the squirrels before church with Grandpa

Hey, when you look this good in an outfit, you gotta wear it twice!

Four generations

My Boys

My boys, all dressed up and ready for church. I meant to share this picture sooner, but forgot. Don't I have a good lookin' family?

Grandma's House, Chicago & Public Transportation

Gabe was on Spring Break this week, so if you've been wondering where I've been, I've been relaxing and staying miles away from my computer (and my email, and everything else that requires my attention on any other normal day).

We just got back from a short trip up to Chicago. Just me and Gabe. And frankly, it was great! I am NOT saying that I didn't miss my little munchkin terribly, but I was glad that we were able to get away and invest a little time in our marriage. (Which, if you're not doing, you should!)

Caleb went to Grandma and Grandpa Myers' house on Thursday and stayed the night with them while Gabe and I went up to Chicago. According to the grandparents, all went well - I'm pretty sure there was fun had by all.

Here's a few shots from our trip. And a shout-out to my friend Jennie, whom without her Chicago travel advice, we would have been lost (or at least really broke). Jen, it went great, we had a blast, thanks for checking on us farm folk from the country. :)

Getting ready to ride the el - don't I look Chicago savvy?

I promised Gabe we could stop at Wrigley - he had never been (it was a sacrafice for the sake of our marriage)
We took the el and a trolly to Navy Pier and walked the whole thing. Gabe claims that if we had looked at how long Navy Pier was when we first got there, there was no way we would have walked the whole thing (we were a little tired).

The Bean! After Navy Pier we stopped at Millenium Park (via city bus). We were a little out of season, but the bean is still a sight to see!

The artsy side of me hit while we were walking around Millenium Park.

After Millenium Park we stopped for dinner to get some great Chicago stuffed-crust pizza. Then on to a comedy club for some evening entertainment. We had a great time! And in case you weren't counting, that was 4 different modes of transportation (car, el, trolley, and bus). The only thing we didn't take was a cab, and after the last cab ride I took in Chicago with my ISU roommates, I didn't mind skipping that option. It's a wonder we're alive!

Walker Reunion (Take 2)

We had a busy weekend again this weekend. All of the roommates from ISU converged on the Myers' household on Saturday to take a second try for a reunion. Last time the weather was just too crummy to get everyone here. But not this time! With the exception of Ben, everyone was here! We lucked out that the weather was nice enough to take the kids to ISU to run around. The men stayed home to hold down the fort and make sure that no NCAA madness was missed (I'm in third place by the way - but there's still more basketball next weekend). Here are a couple pics from the weekend:

You would think we would be able to save up enough $$$ to fix this. Here are the boys stretching their legs by Stevenson Hall.

Jennie and Caleb

The kids

The girls

Funny, I didn't take any pictures of the guys. They must have been holed up in the basement watching basketball. :) Gabe claims that the guys just had to take the pictures, so that's why they're not in any of them.

Extra Birthday Madness!

Let the madness begin! For those of you in the midst of all of this NCAA basketball hoopla, you'll know what I'm talking about. As of tonight, March Madness officially begins. The teams have all been ranked...let the games begin! Now I'm sure you're wondering why in the world I would care about watching a bunch of teams I don't know anything about play games for the next couple of weeks. Well, I'll tell you. There is an extra birthday on the line here.
So here's the scoop. A couple of years ago, Gabe suggested that we fill out a bracket together. Now I can assure you that I had no idea what I was going to do when I needed to fill out a bracket. I follow Illinois basketball, and that's the extent. However, there was a twist. We weren't going to fill out the bracket in the traditional way.
Here are the rules:
1. Each player gets to pick 8 teams
2. You earn points according to each team's ranking. Therefore, if you pick a #1 seeded team, you only get 1 point for every game they win. If you pick a #10 seed, you get 10 points for every game you win. If you pick #1's you probably won't get as many points, but they'll play more games. But if you pick higher numbers, you might get a lot of points out of a team that only plays 2 games in the whole tournament. Make sense?
3. At the end of the tournament, whoever has the most points, wins!

And the prize is....an extra birthday! You get dinner out, cake, and presents. Oh sweet!

So needless to say, my bracket is filled out! And I'm in it to win it! Gabe's parents thought this was such a good idea, that they join us in the festivities every year. Right before Thursday night, we all pick our 8 teams (in separate rooms, of course...we don't want our opponents knowing what teams we're picking) and then reveal our picks and strategies before the games begin. I'll keep you posted! And I'll be sure to let you know where I went to eat when I win my extra birthday!