ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

I actually hate Wizard of Oz references but we are going to Kansas for the next week starting Saturday morning. Our first stop will be to Bob and Nicki's house to stay w/them and their 3 children on Saturday night. I'm going to make a big effort to get some pics of them since I forgot last time. It'll be nice to chat w/them and Andy hasn't seen the kids in a while so that will be good too. After that, we're off to Hutchinson, KS, for two nights to stay at a hotel that has a waterpark inside of it plus visit the Cosmosphere. Then, on Tuesday, we're headed for Tonganoxie, KS, to see the rest of the family. I should have Internet the whole week so I plan to blog while we're away. Next time I post will be from Bob and Nicki's house...peace y'all.

We celebrated Blake's birthday w/the 4 of us (although he did take some small gifts to his museum school class today to celebrate as well). Blake took a nap and when he woke up, we had his gifts set out, decorations up and the candles on his cake were lit.


Blowing out all 5 candles (notice the new haircut?)


Blake opened cards from Aunt Jo and Felix, Dan & fam, and Uncle Mark. Then he opened some gifts...

Gifts from Grandma and Poppy




And then lots of small packages from us, including an envelope saying that we'd be staying at a hotel this weekend for two nights (Blake loves hotels!) that has a waterpark inside.


Then Payton had a basket of some of her own things that he likes and she gave him that as she always does....he really loves it.


Then it was off to IHOP. We aren't sure why Blake chose IHOP but he had been saying for days that it's where he wanted to eat for his birthday so we went.



Then we were off to Target per Mr. Blake's request to do a little browsing. He said "I just want to look at stuff but I don't want to spend all of my money right now." Pretty self-disciplined for a four year old....I mean five year old. Then he requested we head for QuickTrip for a Slurpee (sound like somebody else you know?) and then it was home to eat some cake and play w/some new toys.

I still can't believe he's 5 and I don't think he can either. While eating dinner, he dazed off for a bit and said "but I don't feel like a 5 year old." I've heard him refer to himself as a 5 year old several times throughout the day as well. "Blake, do you need some help?" and he'll say "No, I can do it because I'm a 5 year old."

Some pics of his first five years...

A couple of years ago, Andy took some old projector films taken of his family between 1968 and 1976 and converted them into digital format and then compiled the individual clips into a DVD for all of his siblings and parents to have. I've taken each of the clips and converted them for online use and they are now posted on YouTube.com. Non-family members probably won't care much about the clips but I think it'll be a good way to share w/family members that weren't able to get a DVD copy for themselves (of course, non-family members are invited to view as well but I'm just not promising it'll mean much to you!).

1968 - St. Louis Arch & Stadium
1970 - Fourth of July
1972 - Wichita
1972 - David & Dan
1973 - St. Louis Flood
1973 - St. Louis Vacation
1974 - Park City Park
1974 - Denver Mountains
1974 - Boys/Denver House
1974 - Denver/Royal Gorge
1975 - Denver Pool
1975 - Christmas/Andy Crawls
1976 - The Farm

Amanda, Suzanne and Cindy came over tonight and I fixed an early Thanksgiving dinner for all of us. I forgot to snap pics but we had turkey*, dressing**, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, homemade pumpkin pies*** and they brought raw veggies, deviled eggs, paper goods, and wine. It was soo good and we had so much fun talking and laughing hysterically at the DVD we watched afterward. I miss workin w/the girls but it's fun to get together occasionally and catch up.

*add more veggies and wine than the recipe calls for
**reduce chicken soup to one can and only use enough chicken broth to make it moist
***double the spices shown in the recipe