English Emma Blooms

Joel's birthday party pinata action... Joel beheaded the donkey on the second round.

Unwrapping present from Nana, Grandad, Leon, Colin and Andrea... Oswald the Bear.

Today is the day before Joel's fourth birthday! they celebrated his birthday at school and tomorrow is the party at home. I have made the cake, bought the decorations and prizes. Joel and I have been plotting for a couple of months now. I don't know who is more wound up about it... Aaron, Joel or me!

The first of many stops on our two hour trip to U of I was the gas station. Second was the all-you-can-eat Brunch at Big Boy in Danville, Illinois. now one of Joel's favorite restaurants. Like his Great-Oma, he is a fan of buffets. We broke things up for Joel's sake as he HATES long car journeys. He said that next time we go to Chicago he plans on flying He and his dad look just alike when they eat. Third stop was Kickapoo State Park. Aaron and I have been there before and Daisy went there once without either of us! Carrie, Charlie, and Zurich took her there when we were all at U of I. I once went on a canoeing adventure with Judy so I wanted to try it again. We thought the paddle boats were less likely to tip over than a canoe with Joel in it. It felt like 20 minutes but we were really out for an hour and a half. They way my legs feel now, I believe it! We shared some french fries before we hit the road again.

We just had to go to the South Farms before we headed back to Naptown. The cow with the big cone in her side was gone. We did find horses though. I have a similar picture of Leon at age 2 looking at the cows on the south farms. I will have to dig it up. I remember taking Ken Fosnot out to the farms and telling him that one of the horses was mine. I made up an elaborate story. Did he believe me? I don't know! The house I shared with Brett, Carrie, Charlie, Jen and Lisa (alpha)was still there, but the fence that Charlie built for Daisy, Zurich and Snoodles was gone. I said that it looked run down and Aaron said that it had always looked run down! The Alma Mater looked the same, as do we!

it was surreal! The union and Foellinger Auditorium. Did I spell that right? Here is the view out of our hotel window: We stayed in the Union Hotel in a suite. That meant we had a living room and a bedroom - not as fancy as it sounds. We stayed one night.

First stop at U of I was the Spurlock museum where, according to Joel, we saw "dead Jesus and his sad mummy" statues. We also made a quick detour to ancient Egypt, Saw a Pulla from Botswana and a mac with a spice girls CD. Made us feel older than the pyramids.... until we saw the current U of I students... to be continued..

By just a couple of days, we missed BJ Novak from THE OFFICE coming to campus to do stand up. I think he is one of the writers for the show. Joel thought that the Union Hotel was Awesome because of the bowling alley in the basement. I WON , even though I did not talke advantage of the kiddie bumpers like that cheating cheater Aaron did. We went for an indian dinner a the BASMATI grill . This was the first place Aaron ever had Indian food. I introduced the two of them. We went there on Valentine's Day 1996 and we argued over who would pay. I went to get Joel's food from the buffet. As I approached the table, Aaron made a grand gesture and knocked the plate out of my hand, throwing curry all over the room. The food was not as good as we remembered and the new owners were surprising unfriendly. This is the White Horse Inn on Green Street. It was closed down, the windows smashed, but the salt and pepper shakers were still on the table. It was from here that Jonath

are your words to my taste! They are sweeter than honey to my mouth." PSALM 119:103

Celebration, Dawn Schuler, Creative Activities Before I was a mom, I worked in the communications field and fancied myself somewhat of a writer. Now, as I sit here trying to write something on the topic “Celebration” for our MOPS newsletter, I am completely at a loss for words. Seriously. I have Googled the word celebration looking for something—anything—that would spark some creative thought on this topic. Nothing. I did find a nice quote from Maya Angelou. “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes.” I ruminated an embarrassing amount of time for a way to expound upon that thought. Nothing. I looked for scripture that would inspire me and you, my group of fellow moms. I couldn’t find just the right words. Plus, I don’t know about you, but there are days when I find virtually nothing to celebrate about the preceding 12 hours anyway. Whining – nothing to celebrate. Tantrums – nope. Yes, I could go on, but that’s not uplifting. We all have

After sitting next to Mira in church, Joel could not believe it when he was invited to Mira's house for lunch! Mummy and Daddy were invited too Saying goodbye was far too hard.Saying goodbye was far too hard.Saying goodbye was far too hard. .