Mama On The Move

Last night, after everyone had gone to bed, Kerry and I were discussing the possibility of making pancakes for breakfast. That made us hungry. We both talked about wanting to get up, go downstairs, and eat something, but we try not to eat late at night so we each said several times, "I'm a little hungry, but I'm fine, I'm not going to eat anything." We were both really craving pancakes by that time.  One of us (I don't remember who) said, "We should go to IHOP sometime for breakfast.  We haven't been there in ages." "I'd go to IHOP right now if you wanted to." We joked about it a few minutes, both of us knowing we would never do it. The next thing I know, Kerry popped out of bed and said, "I'm going to see if the girls want to go." I didn't even get out of bed.  I wasn't really sure he was serious, and I also thought the girls might say no.  They like their sleep and will usually ch

Emily has been sick a lot lately - headaches, losing weight, nausea.  We've been to the doctor and she's had lots of tests done trying to pinpoint the problem.   While we haven't yet pinpointed the cause of her illness, we did discover that her milk allergy has reduced markedly.    The allergist told her she could definitely start eating foods that are baked with milk ingredients in them.  Cakes, cookies, donuts - look out! She'll have to go back at a later date to actually drink a glass of milk while they observe her to see if she reacts.   We promptly headed out to Olive Garden so Emily could have a breadstick. Her joy knew no bounds! After which, she promptly felt sick.

This is another post I just never got around to finishing.  Unfortunately, I didn't write anything on the pictures at the time and I don't remember much about it.  Ben was with us, so this was clearly a looooooong time ago.  And we're all wearing jackets and closed toed shoes, so it wasn't a summer visit.  I have no idea what we were doing going to the zoo on a cold day. Anyway, here are some old pictures of the zoo...... WebRep currentVote noRating noWeight

Last summer, while Ben and Emily were in Hawaii, Kerry and I took Katie to Grant's Farm in St Louis.  I got sidetracked with information overload and never finished this post.  Fortunately, I had uploaded all the photos and written headers for them with the basic details of the day.  It was when I was trying to pad it with additional details scrounged from the internet that I frizzled myself wondering how much to include in a blog post.  Just recently, I was looking back through blog posts and found six or seven that I started but never finished.  This is one of those: Something you just don't expect to find in the middle of a city as big as St Louis is a 281-acre farm with a wildlife preserve, an acrobatic elephant, Clydesdales, a llama (which can end up figuring prominently in your visit), a mini-zoo,  and some of the best bratwursts to ever meet a pretzel bun. But that's what you'll find at Grant's Farm - named for Ulysses S Grant who at one time owned

I caught Ringo snuggling up with a friend....

Kerry has a new phone.  It's a snazzy, high-speed, touch-screen, voice-activated, magical, bibbidy-bobbidy-boo kind of a phone. He's having fun playing with it and figuring out all that it can do.  Frankly, we're all playing with it a little bit.  I'm fascinated with the camera.  It takes really good shots.  I've had an iPhone for a few years, and I'm pretty good with technology.  I can usually figure out how any new gizmo works, and I know how to read instructions. The kids say that watching Kerry try to figure out technology is like watching a fish flop around in a boat.  (He uses two fingers to type at the computer, and one finger to type a text - I'm serious.) So Kerry was fiddling around with his phone yesterday trying to look up an address.  He was griping about how aggravating it was  to try to look up something on his phone. "Well," I replied with some sass, "You could go in there to the computer and look it up a lot faster,

This past weekend, we went out searching for eagles. Oddly enough, Alton, IL is one of the best areas in the country to spot American Bald Eagles as they migrate. If I were any sort of bird, and I could fly anywhere I wanted, Illinois would not be where I headed - just saying.  But I'm glad they do, because we are here and we got to see them! Our first stop was the Treehouse Wildlife Center in Dow, IL.  This center rescues and rehabilitates wild animals.  Those that can not be rehabilitated enough to be released back in to the wild are given a home for life. And it's free .  We gave a donation, but there is no cost for stopping by and seeing the animals if you need a cheap date. We got to meet a woodpecker who was rat-a-tat-tatting away on the wood in his cage. Snakes.  I don't remember what type these were.  If Kerry were here, I could ask him.  He would totally know.  All snakes are just 'snakes' to me but that man of mine treats them l