Halloween news

Here I am again. I blogged a super fascinating account of our festive Halloween activities, but I lost it all trying to put a picture on here. So I'll try to be clever and interesting again, but it's a 1/2 hour later and I've been a bit busy today, yesterday and Sat. So here goes.

We had a lovely evening out tonight. The weather was crisp, but not cold. The rain ended at noon as predicted, couldn't have been nicer. Kat, Abby and Em were enthusiastic trick or treaters. Kat got a big kick out of the grown-ups who enjoyed her costume. She was dressed as "Miss Diagnosed", a beauty queen who shouldn't have been given the crown. She had 1/2 her hair in a fancy updo and 1/2 in curlers, lots of makeup, pink crown, velvet dress, converse tennies and yellowed pirate teeth with her arm in a sling. The kids we saw didn't "get" Kat's costume, but all the adults we saw did and Kat enjoyed that so much, cracked me up.

Em was a princess--again. Hope the girls don't tell her that you can be something different. She looked totally adorable and heard every word who told her how pretty she was. :) Abby was a cheerleader and didn't know any cheers and got tired of her pompons quickly. Luckily I know lots of cheers and helped her out.

We did get properly scared as one should on Halloween. There a guy on our back street that wears stilts and has a monster outfit on. Em didn't want to go by him, but I walked her by safely, but he followed us a little way, until I scared him away. Then I teased him with my flashlight from across the street, that freaked Em out when he started to chase us. Then we went into a homemade garage haunted house with jumping monster guys. She wanted to go in, then I couldn't get her out b/c she was frozen and screaming. Then I had to go in with all the "chicken kids" and screamed with them. Don't know how those teenage boys managed to scare everyone after I left with all my added "fear factor" screaming. LOL Luckily for Em we were almost home. We just had to get our Capri Sun from our neighbor and we were home. Em wouldn't even go in the van to the girls' first grade teacher whom she loves. They were all tired and asleep by the time I got up to kiss them after being in bed 5 min.

It was a busy holiday weekend. H marched in the Halloween parade around the square. We did trick or treating before the parade. So cool to be a drummer, you get to play the whole parade. She LOVED it!! The costume for H had it's own drama---argh!! We went to the Enchanted Forest on Sat night with our neighbors and some extra kids. It was a lovely night to walk the nature trails and see some skits by costumed nursery characters. The girls really enjoyed it. We got to go on a hayride around the lake, so nice. It was worth the hour wait, which was a long time for us. On Sunday we had a Halloween parade thru our subdivision with snack and a costume contest at the end. Ab and Em both won their categories, but didn't get the prizes. Who judges these things? How could anyone be cuter than Abby or prettier than Princess Em? Oh, well, they all got candy so that works. :)

We had parties at school today. I helped in Abby's class. The 2nd graders don't know that parties are wild times so they were very calm and nice. I checked on Kat's party. She was playing a game and the mom in charge was on her cell phone with a class full of 4th graders just sitting there. Yay!! If you complain about these things, they put you in charge. So I quietly walked away, Kat said it was all ok and I believed her. lol

Had a nice visit with Jess this evening. She got to hook up with the JC kids at Homecoming. I was glad to hear about that. She continues to do well, is wise beyond her years and learning so much about herself, others, her faith etc..... what a cool kid!!

So there you have it. I won't try to post a picture here, but may try tomorrow. Fire me an email if you didn't get one there and I'll send you one, if this doesn't work. Joy K got pix on, maybe I can too. All for now. This tired holiday mom is headed to bed.

Apple Dumplings

Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans cresent rolls
2 sticks butter
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
12 oz. Mountain Dew (or Sprite)

Peel and slice apples into eighths. Wrap each roll around apple slice. Place in greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls, then pour butter over the top. Pour Mt. Dew over the top. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min or until golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream. (Better yet, go to Cold Stone and get some cinnamon ice cream.) Serve with caution, these are so good you will want to eat too many!!

Kristin Stinnett

More ado about nothing

Hope the Seinfeld people don't try to sue me for claiming that this site is about "nothing" like they used to say their show was about. If any of my fellow bloggers know how to make this print bigger when posting, please comment, b/c I can hardly see my typing errors.

Not much time for interesting antedotes today. I'm on my way to take Abby to an endodontist in Lees' Summit. Her bottom 2 PERMANENT teeth got broken off in softball practice last spring. Our dentist wants her checked out to see if she needs not one, but 2 ROOT CANALS!! Bless her heart and ours. I am now wishing that I had filed an accident report with the league just in case this turned out to be the treatment. One of the moms told me they have insurance just for these things and since it was the coach who accidentally hit her, hmmm seems like a good idea now. Too late, but a good idea. So that is the big event of today.

We weathered the weekend of Em's b-day. She is a "whole hand" now, she says with her right hand. Her left hand is for "making the ten". We loved our visit from our college pals! So fun to enjoy your friends from 25 years ago and still think they are wonderful only better!! We got rained out of the Enchanted Forest, but may go this Fri. We hosted our fellowship group here on Sun pm for chili. A lovely time! I made the Apple Turnover's that Mark's mom makes. They are too good and too dangerous to have around. That is why I polished the rest of them off, one at a time. I'll post the recipe if anyone is brave enough to make them. So good.

All for now. No comments on baseball this week. I went to sleep on the game and was happy that I missed it. Sorry, Pattie B. Hang in there, Stros.

10/22/2000

Five years ago right now I was on my way to Boone Hospital to have Emily. I won't relive every gruesome moment, but a short summary. We got there on Sat nite about 10 pm and she waited unti 11 am to meet us. Then she waited until 1:30 pm to go to the NICU. We didn't bring her home until she was a week old. Mark was working here in Indep and I was in JC waiting on the house to sell, then add a newborn in the NICU! Crazy! Seems like it was forever ago and a minute all at once.

Anyway we have started a grand weekend of celebrating. The school girls were home today so we went to Build-A-Bear. Em has never gotten to be the lucky one that brings home the box of Bear paraphaliea. She has always been "the watcher". So she was thrilled to get to have the whole B-A-B experience. She and Abby (and Kat, too) played all the rest of today with their bears, trading clothes and taking turns in the stroller. :) So sweet.

Tomorow she wants to go to Big Biscuit, a mom and pop restaurant that she has been to w/Jess and me. The biscuits are as big as the plates. Not sure if that will happen, since she always orders the pancakes and her mom makes the world's greatest buttermilk pancakes, just like her gramma used to make. Special times make me miss mom and dad---we took them to the nursing home 4 years ago tomorrow, on Em's 1st b-day. Bless all our hearts.

Another highlight of tomorrow will also be the visit from my old college friends, Steve and Sandee (Wood) Holloway. They live in St Louis and are on their way home from vacationing in Colorado with their 4 kids. They have stopped by the last 2 years. So fun to share old HU stories. :) We will have a Cardinals Pity Party, to be sure.

I'm hoping that it will be a nice night so we can go the Enchanted Forest to see Halloween critters, hear spooky stories, have a hay ride etc. We'll see. I try to live each day to the fullest.

We are hosting our fellowhip group here on Sun nite. May as well, while the house is clean. Lol. Just chili and stuff. Will be a nice time.

So I'll try to learn how to post some pictures on Monday. I took some at the Mall, so sweet. Happy Birthday to our Sweet Em!!

Woe, Woe, Woe

We enjoyed the ride while it lasted. Kudos to the Astros!! Hope you guys enjoy your trip to the Windy City and home again. About a year ago we were excited about going to Boston. The ghosts of Shoeless Joe and his boys can't be any scarier than the curse of the Bambino. At least the White Sox have a new field, so the ghosts will have transferred to new homes. Maybe some Cubs fans will camp out and root for the Astros. That will doom them for sure, catching fair balls, talk about GOATS!!!

Enough rambling, we watched what was on after church. Sad ending to a GREAT season. But hey, like I previously blogged, we're used to high hopes and dashed dreams. There's more where that came from, Mizzou could still win the Big 12 N division. Chiefs may or may not make the play-offs. Then there's a winter full of Mizzou basketball and all the pondering over Quin and his bad boys vs KU and their drama---one might wonder why we even care or continue to tune in. Don't have a good answer for that, but it sure is fun when the team pulls (or PUJOLS) it together. I crack myself up!!! So have fun, Pattie and all the good Stros fans. The banter was fun! Enjoy the good times. One team will be really sad 7 or so games from now. :)

Oh, the 3 B's---Biggio, Bagwell, and Bell. I heard it tonight.

If anyone has seen my college kid, check her pulse. I think she's AWOL and I miss her.

RED BIRDS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!

As you might guess, I feel the urge to blog some sporting excitement!! What other blog can take you from Alice to baseball and more? First I must preface my comments with a short background on the mindset of many MO sports fans. We have been conditioned to get our hopes up (prob by listening to the media hype--which is usually WRONG) about whatever ball team that is in the current season. So we get all hopeful for a great season, then we hope for a good season, then hope that things will turn around and our team will do better, then we hope that we won't be too embarrassed to drive with MO plates, then we hope for a better season NEXT YEAR.

So in short we keep HOPING!!! We still tune in and watch. We stay up late, hoping that our team could possibly pull out something miraculous. We have seen great plays before, and we continue to hope for another. Last night was a great example of this. Mark and I watched the first of the Card/Astros game. Cards led 2-1 for a long time. It was safe to turn back and forth from CSI:Miami (where was Horatio? He's the best part of the show.) Then there was the Astros 7th inning homer. Our Cards looked doomed, but we still had hope or resignation. Then the 9th inning was too much!! To be down to the last strike on Eckstein and he gets a hit--WOW!!! Then to walk Edmonds--ok with us! Then our own Independence Pujols (technically I think he's from way South of Independence--lol) becomes the hero with a 3 run homer!!!! The astros pitcher Lidge is such an amazing closer---makes it even better. We were beside ourselves!!!

Of course we KNOW that there are 2 more games and the Astros still have only 1 to win, and we have 2, but still---back in Busch Stadium!! The last 2 games in Busch leading to World Series play---sounds like a movie script. Where is Robert Redford? Guess that one has been done. :)

So as faithful MO sports fans, we know in the back of our minds that one of the teams that was happy last night (both teams were celebrating--only one was in the 8th inning and one was in the 9th) will be sad again. And one of the 2 teams that are happy to be in the Series will be crying in the end. There are faithful fans all over the country who ALWAYS expect their team to win (like Yankee fans---blech). The local Cards fans here don't EXPECT World Series Champion t-shirts yet, but we are loving the dream today.

Here is the other side of the dream. The Cards make it to the Series. They play the White Sox who haven't won since 1917. I saw a stat last night at the odds of two teams winning back to back series in 1917 and 1918 (White Sox and Red Sox) and not winning again until 2004 (like Boston did) and 2005--1 in 18 million. Since the Cards got swept last year by the underdogs, then wouldn't it be typical MO sports for the Cards to be the goat again? Argh! Hopefully that is just the idea on an unknown pessimist armchair sports critic who will quit thinking and go back her real job--laundry!! lol

In closing, GO CARDS!!!!!!! We just got new Chiefs t-shirts this fall. Thanks to Uncle Davy the girls have appropriate Red Friday attire. If our Cards make some more magic in SL we will be having some other RED tshirt to wear in this ROYAL blue town. If Pujols isn't the big news, the local paper doesn't mention the Cards during the reg season. ARGH!!


Yes, it is a sign of a boring life to be this excited about one homerun. But we'll take it today. Tune in to the rest of the week. If the KC Star hasn't signed me for their new SportsMom columnist. I think I'll keep my day job. Oh, yeah I just heard the washer calling. LATER!! GO BIRDS!!! K

Where is Alice?

The kids all whine and blow off steam in their blogs, about their trials and each other. I'll only blow about myself here. But what I want to know is "Where is Alice?'. I doubt if Carol Brady could have wrangled all the closets and changing of the seasons without Alice. How could I be a stay at home mom for so many years and still be inept at the girls closets??? We are trying to get "the room formerly known as Jess's" ready for its new resident. So we had to go thru H's closet and then go Abby's old junk out while we were there, then clean up the floor, b/c who knows what treasures have been "lost" there. Yikes!! As of right now, I have huge lawn trash bag full of rejects to take to Goodwill and I haven't finished in Kat/Em's room.

So for the record, I want to state here and now that my dear husband has been right, yes, RIGHT for all these years. "The girls have too much stuff." If it doesn't bother them to "let go" of years and years of stuffed animals, then why should I be sad. We are binging and purging. It may just go with my current hormonal swing, but we are going to use it!! It's always good to clean before the Xmas shopping. I can't think of one thing that I want to add to these rooms. I don't want to think about the "American Girl" catalog that we got last week, tho. lol

So if any of you blog readers have young children and can listen to a wise old sage (like Mark) :), then don't save your kids clothes for more than 2 years, don't save every toy they ever got, and 3 toys that they love are way better than a room full of unused junk. Now that I've blogged this, then I can look back and remind myself of these truths.

BTW, I'm pretty safe admitting that JMS is RIGHT--I doubt if he reads this. Hope it hasn't been too whiny. Will go look for some cheese to go along with this whine. Stay tuned and if you see Alice, send her over to KC!! :)

Fall fun

We had quite a weekend. It started out as a simple day at Silver Dollar City and ended up 3x that and more. We left Thurs nite after Mark got home and packed. By the time we got to Kimberling City to Joy and Wayne's, the car was overheating and making a terrible noise. So, on Friday, on our way to SDC, we dropped off the car only to find out later that the clutch had gone out and couldn't be fixed until Monday. The broken serpentine belt was small potatoes at this point. Well, Joy did the "dance of joy" all over SDC all day! She was so happy that we were held captive in their care and cars. :)

We had lovely weather, beautiful fall decorations and a small crowd on Friday. We rode rides without waiting too long in line. Mark and I tried something new. We walked around the park BY OURSELVES!! We rode first and last on both big roller coasters, looked around, so fun. We talked to Tonyia in Pure Heart and her hubby, Wade Benson Landry. Joy told them our van saga and Tonyia whipped out free passes to their morning show in Branson with Buck Trent. So nice!!! We enjoyed the night time show at the park--a bit chilly, but we had blankets. We talked to Cassandre Haygood--she's SO NICE!! Tim Haygood is having surgery tomorrow, bless his heart (or hernia---we guess).

We got to the crowded park on Sat am. We immediately saw Adam and Amanda Bledsoe--our KC kids now moved to Conway, AR. Adam is the girls' "boy toy". They climb on him and he carries them around. We enjoyed hearing New Reign from OCU. Then here comes Buzz and Lanette Ball, Mark's college pals (I was still in high school when they graduated from HU), and our NE MO/Quincy IL friends, then Central MO pals, now living in Neosho. We went to the congregational singing with them and made Buzz ride Powder Keg with Mark. So fun!! Adam rode with Hannah, and Amanda with Abby---a big time for everyone.

On Sunday, we worshipped at the park, a special experience. We wandered around, saw the Homestead Pickers--our new favorites--thanks to Wayne, saw Free Indeed--really good, rode some rides, let the little girls ride and ride, and climb around and just enjoyed the park on a LOVELY Sunday afternoon.

We got up early to get to Branson to Buck Trent's show yesterday am. Buck played banjo for Porter Waggonner and Dolly Parton and was on Hee Haw. After we saw pictures of him when he was younger, we remembered him. It was a really good show. Buck is very personable and a super entertainer. Wade and Tonyia were amazing as usual. Such a treat to get to go to a show all together!!

The van got finished about 3 pm and we headed home after that. Our house looked really good after a long weekend, but it was so fun to get away. Mark enjoyed his time off, the girls were good, Joy and Wayne run the best B & B in the Ozarks!! It makes the laundry and hub bub of normal life easier to wrangle with such good memories of the weekend.

Haven't talked to Jess, hope she is ok. No news from the nursing home is always good news. I did call Pat and check on Mom that way. Lots of this and that to deal with today. Will try to post some pictures later. I think I know how, just have to download the camera. All for now. Love, Kris

College girls and more

Just a few notes on this big weekend. We waited up Wed nite for Jess and Angela to get here. When she came in, she grabbed me and hugged me so hard and wouldn't let me go so I could kiss her. I LOVED it!! Hannah got the same greeting, except Jess wrapped her legs around her. Mark got plenty of hugs as did the other girls in the am. It has been so fun to hear all the stories about this guy, this new friend, this class, this time when we did.......so many "he's really cute"s and lots of wild laughing. I treasure my life long HU pals and am so happy for Jess to be making some. Angela is a wonderful, Chrisitan girl---so fun and such a good influnence on Jess. Makes is all worth every penny.

We have been out to eat, to a parade, a ball game, the mall. the Mormon "Angel shoppe", Costco, the eye dr. Jess has an ulcer on her cornea--a bacterial infection. She needs eye drops every hour today, tonight and tomorrow. Luckily we got her in the dr today. We have an eye dr friend in Searcy who will see her this week to check on her. So it's been busy. The girls have spent hours on the computer, doing "Facebook". They put their personal info in a database that links then to their college friends and allows them to look for high school friends, and more . Then they can comment on each others "wall". Jess found some friends from Jeff City that she hadn't talked to since 8th grade. Very fun. They are addicted to it, but will have to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, especially if Jess has to get up every hour for an eye drop. Yikes!

I am already sad about their leaving tomorrow, altho they are ready to get back to their college life. I knew it was meant to be this way. I knew that once Jess went to college, she would always be ready to "go back somewhere". It's all part of the deal, but I don't have to like it yet. My pity party is short-lived tho, as it was when I took her. I can't be too sad for my beautiful, healthy daughter to continue on her college path. My life long friend in Washington DC lost her 7 year old to complications after a bone marrow transplant this week. Clare had a successful transplant from her sister, but couldn't recover from pneumonia and died on Thurs. We are heartbroken for all the family. It certainly does make one hold their own a little closer. Bless their hearts. If you have a minute, a prayer for Karen, Benno and Phoebe Schmidt would be appreciated. They have been through a lot and many hard days to come.

I know this is way too long. Will try to do better later. Lots of lightning out tonight. Am waiting for the college girls to get home, this feels familiar. :) Take care. Until later. K