vacation photo for jerry

well, we've just returned from a wonderful week in new orleans for spring break. after years of paying for mission trips for kids and other people, we went on a mission trip ourselves -- a first for both of us. our church went to new orleans to help rebuild homes after hurricane katrina. it was a great experience and we had lots of fun!

on our afternoon off, our group went to the french quarter. since jerry is still recovering from knee replacement surgery, he didn't want to just walk around and shop so we went to the aquarium. it was a fantastic time and we had this picture taken. i didn't really want to, but jerry talked me into it and it turned out great -- i'm so glad we did it.

we later "lost" the picture as we left it behind in the restaurant where we had dinner and didn't realize it until almost 2 hours later. that meant a walk back down to the other end of the french quarter to retrieve our prize and we were lucky that the waitress had found it and set it back for us. we were so excited to show it to our grandchildren, as they all love to watch shrek when they come to visit.

i was SO homesick for the little ones that i couldn't wait to see them when i got back. that is the longest that i have gone w/o seeing them and it really hurt. they were waiting here at the house when we got home that night and spent the next 2 hours climbing all over memaw and grandpa. thank God for cell phones and keeping in touch. i even got an "i love you" on voicemail from riahna that i'll be saving!

the biggest party yet

amazing as it may seem, we're planning the biggest party yet to happen at our house. it seems that so many parties end up here and we LOVE having people over and spending time w/ family and friends. we've had thanksgiving, christmas, superbowl, father's day, mother's day, and 4th of july plus just "come over and have some food and fun" get-togethers. but now, we're hosting the elliott family reunion for 2008.

that's right. the nebraska reunion is now going to be in missouri! we're probably going to have a hundred or more people here and we're so excited! we've got 3 days of fun and activities planned for all ages . . . including the elliott reunion auction. top secret word has it that evelyn is making one of her quilts for the auction. super-top-secret word is that the "missouri bunch" is pooling their money to make sure that no one from nebraska can take that quilt home w/ them!!! sounds like some excitement building there!

about 2 weeks ago, we sent out an invitation letter and a reminder of the reunion activities and dates. we're also collecting recipes for an elliott family cookbook to be distributed at the reunion, so everyone needs to get recipes collected and turned in to cindy to be included in the book. we've already heard from several people in the family and know that we're having family come from coast to coast -- even people we were so surprised to hear were making the trip.

we included this great group shot of the family, taken at the 2006 reunion when we went to nebraska and took evelyn w/ us. we had a great time on that trip, taking some time to do a couple tourist stops along the way, and i met many great people from jerry's family. after doing all the pictures from evelyn's 80th bday party, i knew these people from pictures and now i could meet them in real life. it was a great trip and provided the invitation to everyone there to visit us in missouri in 2008.

we are so excited for this event and the fun times, memories, and great pictures that we'll have. oh yeah, and hopefully and beautiful new quilt, too!!! it'll be a great june and a wonderful summer!

3 little gorillas

here are the 3 little boys that we are so proud of and enjoy spending time w/ doing special activities and having them out to the house. they are so much fun that we can't wait to see them again the next time! as soon as the weather gets nicer, we'll have even more fun things to do w/ them when we can be outside.

holiday letdown

while others are preparing for their thanksgiving holiday coming up, it feels to me as if the holiday is already over. we had our big thanksgiving dinner on sunday, 11/18, with all of jerry's family here and most of my family here. overall, we had about 30 people for dinner and to spend most of the day. it was great fun, but for some reason i didn't get many pictures taken.

we had jerry's mother, brother, 3 sisters and families, nephew and family, neice and child, son and family. on my side, we had my mother and husband, my son and girlfriend, and my daughter w/ her hubby and 2 little girls. there was SO much food here, i didn't even see it all.

we had a great dinner, lots of time to spend together as a family, beautiful weather so the kids could play outside, and a wonderful time to spend together being thankful for all that we have. after everyone left but our kids, we started the movie shrek the third for our evening. we snuggled down in our comfy seats w/ our blankets (at least raven and i did!) and watched the movie -- it was a great ending to a wonderful day.

i left jerry in charge of taking pictures that day -- we have 5 pictures and all of the same people doing the same thing. bad judgment mistake on my part, i guess, to give the camera to someone still on pain pills and recovering from surgery and say, "here, you take the pictures for today." i'll know better next time!

raven's preschool portrait

this is raven, one of my little princesses, last year at preschool just after she had turned 3 years old. she has always loved going to miss lorie's "prettyschool", which is how she says "preschool" when she's in a hurry. now it's just a habit and i think she thinks of it as "pretty school". she loves going SO much that even when she's sick, she thinks she needs to go to school.

here is her current picture, taken just after she turned 4. it was amazing to see the change in her, as i guess i don't notice the overall changes when i see her so often. she told me she had pictures taken and i asked her how she posed. she said, "he told me to put my foot out." i couldn't quite figure out what she was talking about, but she was excited about it so i didn't push for more info. after seeing the picture, now i know what she meant!

i was floored when i saw what a little lady she looked like in this picture -- so young and yet so grown up looking. i guess that's one of the best parts of parenting is that we can just sit back and watch them grow up. she's certainly going to run her parents around the block a time or two, and i'm sure i'm going to enjoy the show.

raven, memaw and grandpa are so proud of you and think you have a wonderful and bright future ahead of you!

jerry's "captain morgan" machine

well, now that knee replacement surgery is over, the fun part starts -- physical therapy! for the first 2 weeks at home, we had a home health care physical therapist who came to the house 5 days a week. now, we have 3 trips a week to physical therapy in town at the hospital.

based on the recommendations of the home health physical therapist, jerry got a knee bending machine. i'm not sure of the technical name for this equipment, but scott refers to it as "the captain morgan machine". i think scott feels rather safe giving jerry quite a bit of hassle, as he knows that jerry can't get up and do much about it. after all, he just has to stay out of cane-striking distance!

so between a list of exercises to do each day, walking around the house/porch or down the lane, and spending time in the "captain morgan machine," jerry also has plenty of time to play games on the computer, read, watch television, make work phone calls, sort the mail, and overall just go stir-crazy in the house. since his surgery, he's added the sports package to our cable, watched pay-per-views, downloaded the full games on the internet, and purchased more books online! at this rate, we can't afford for him to be house-bound much longer!

he rooked me into a trip to walmart the other day (i despise going to walmart) and he even rode to parsons w/ me when i went to teach class the other day. just getting out of the house was a huge treat for him. saturday, 11/10, was opening day of deer season, and it was tough for him to be stuck in the house while the boys were hunting. after all, last year, jerry got his deer right after season opened.

we were going to make a trip out somewhere, driving around and exploring, but just didn't get to it with everything else going on. maybe tomorrow will bring a day that has time for these little pleasures in life.

riahna checking the pumpkin

just part of the fun in going out to check "the great pumpkin" is seeing the looks on the kids' faces when they see how much it has grown or how much it has changed -- or even "hey, there's someone i know!" and pose for the camera!

"hey, peek-a-boo! look at me!! i'm looking at you!!!"

the joy(s) of a 17-month old!

pumpkin volunteer

i feel rather like charlie brown waiting on the great pumpkin to appear . . . but this is what we have. we tried to raise pumpkins in our garden this year, but after saving them from drowning in our terribly wet spring/summer -- they all died in the humid heat of early to mid-august. i was so disappointed, too, because we had several pumpkins that were all about basketball size. i was hoping to have at least 1 pumpkin for each of our 5 grandchildren.

but, no such luck.

last spring, in our front flower garden, we noticed a viney looking plant growing on the east end near the rose bush. we knew it was something from the garden, but we weren't sure what it was. well, as the plant grew and matured, we figured out that it was a pumpkin plant. a volunteer plant from the pumpkins that we had left sitting on our front porch last fall/winter.

somehow, a seed from one of those pumpkins was planted in our flower garden, and it survived! so, we tried to raise pumpkins and failed -- but we were given a pumpkin that we didn't plant! we've been eagerly watching and waiting for the day when this pumpkin is ready to pick. it's getting close now, and this hardy pumpkin will be the only pumpkin to grace our front porch.

each time the girls come out to visit, they have to go out and check on the pumpkin and see how big it is and how it's doing. it's about basketball size now and the vine is dying off. i assume that means it's about ready to pick, but i'm waiting on the stem to start to show that it's ready.

soon, very soon, "the great pumpkin" will be on our front porch for all to see! a very happy halloween to all!!!

a surprise visit to nevada

well, today was quite a surprise for several people. first off, it's the first post i've made to this blog in quite some time. second, jerry was out and about visiting people for the first time since his surgery! third, i'm actually getting this posted in a timely manner -- so i better get some positive comments from "those people" who have been fussing at me!

for those of you who didn't know, jerry's mother had back surgery on 10/04 in kansas city for some pinched nerves and terrible back pain that she was having. then on 10/09, jerry had knee replacement surgery on his right knee at st. johns hospital in joplin. that means evelyn is now walking w/ a cane and jerry is walking w/ a walker.

this last couple weeks have been very stressful and extremely exhausting for me, taking care of jerry since his surgery and starting back to work after fall break. scott, who still lives at home, has been invaluable in helping w/ jerry, and jacob has been wonderful to come out and visit and/or help, too.

we have rearranged the house to make it more accommodating for jerry, plus we moved ALL the toys to the little front room to insure that he doesn't step on a little toy piece while he's up walking around. he has a great physical therapist (by coincidence, my step-sister-in-law!) who comes to the house 5 days a week for the first 2 weeks that he's home. she has been wonderful to work with, too.

anyway, today we got jerry out of the house. i knew that evelyn had been worried about him and would "rest easier" if she could see for herself that he was doing well. so we loaded him up in the car (plus a pain pill) and headed toward nevada for our surprise visit. we had called ahead to make sure they would be home, and since there was a chiefs game on -- we knew they would still be there.

boy, they were surprised to see us walk in the door. we stayed and chatted for about 45 minutes, and then we figured it was time to get jerry back on his way home. jeff and evelyn walked us to the front doors and then evelyn decided to go ahead for a little walk outside.

it was a great trip and a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. jerry just got his 20 staples out this last friday, and he still has quite a bit of physical therapy to do -- but he'll get there. we have lots of plans for our future and the list of things that we want to do is growing all the time.

hope to see most all of you very soon. if not before, then we'll definitely see you at our house for thanksgiving! amazing how quickly the holidays are coming!!!

new buggy

well, i thought my days of driving a mini-van were over . . . but i guess not! i was so excited at the prospect of having "outgrown" a minivan, or maybe i should say that i had "ungrown" a minivan and no longer needed all that room to haul other people. i could actually choose a car based on what i wanted and what i needed now.

i had been needing a new car for a while, but jerry and i recently went car shopping to see what was out there and what we liked. we were kind of leaning toward a kia sportage for several reasons -- warranty, price, size, 4WD (important to jerry), sits up tall (important to jill), and we have friends/family who have these and were very happy w/ them.

we didn't go to buy -- we just went to look and shop. jerry had been in touch w/ a salesman at roper kia in joplin through email and requested some different prices and stuff. once we got there, we were so impressed w/ the salesman, the dealership, the car, the package, the financing, the rebates and pricing, we ended up just choosing our vehicle and making our deal.

only problem was, the longer i looked at non-minivans, the more i realized that the days of traveling together w/ my family were over. a sportage would only carry 5 people and that wouldn't be comfortable for a long trip. a sedona would easily carry 7, the typical number for a minivan. right now, that's nice because that fits everyone in my family OR everyone in jacob's family along w/ us. that makes traveling together somewhere so much easier and so much more fun.

we've had the new van now for 2 month and already we have been on several trips -- canoeing at elk river, branson to silver dollar city, kansas city, and more. we didn't wait to start "breaking it in" -- although we haven't done some of the things we planned to this fall, we'll just keep chipping away at the lists of things to get done!

before christmas, we need to get back down to silver dollar city, up to kansas city for the thanksgiving weekend and plaza lighting, numerous shopping trips, to oakton to the live nativity scene, to carthage to see the precious moments chapel and lights at the college, and more. i can tell already that we'll have many great memories w/ this vehicle -- just like the previous mini-vans. i can't wait!!!