Grant's final junior year show, War of the Roses. It's visually stunning and sounds great, too. They were grand champions this past weekend at Western Illinois in Macomb.
When you think of how many hours of practice all these kids have put in since JUNE, it blows your mind but look at the end product! Very proud of my contra player--his physical ability, his musical ability, and his level of commitment.
Sam and I went to a Halloween party in the old neighborhood. It was tons of fun seeing old neighbors and beating on that piñata.
The Halloween costume that finally came together. He free-form made this wrench out of Legos. He probably is a true engineer.
A 3-day motorcycle training course at SIU•E. Sam and I popped by just in time to watch him taking his license test. He's the lead bike in the line.
We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Gills after the Effingham evening and took a couple quick pictures in the morning before they drove Jack back to SIU•C and Sam and I returned home.
Gary's childhood hard hat for Sam's Halloween costume: check!
The Grandmas, Aunt Karen, Jack and I kept up the tradition of going to the marching band competition in Effingham. It was different for Jack to be a spectator but really nice for him to hang out with us. Grant did great as always, and EHS won as usual.
Sam got to experience a little of college life in Carbondale. He and I went down to get Jack and stayed the night in a vacant dorm room. It was pretty cool!
Take a $5 two-lap camel ride with your best friend!
Skyler and Caroline
One of my duties these days is Activities Coordinator for the troop. We had never had an outing to Silver Lake in nearby Highland, but it was beautiful and a nice set up for the scouts. The 5 mile hike was not the boys' favorite part, but the teeter-totters and sand volleyball might have been. We had cowboy casserole in a Dutch oven for supper.
I was planning on staying one night there but Grant both broke his glasses and got sick so he and I came back home. Gary and Sam had a good time, though.
A throwback to past days, Sam asked if we could pick up Wendy's and eat it at the park. Of course! It's just so different to see him as one of the big kids there when he was always the littlest, not that long ago.
This was the last cheer of the last game, a victory one. But never fear, basketball season is almost here.
He told me he wanted:
Beef in the form of steak
Baked twice potatoes
Beans
Brownies
Breyers
No problem!
Too bad this is my only picture from the day/evening. Well, next year is a big one for him. Many pictures for sure then!
This was my Grandpa Harrell with hunting dogs in front of the barn where my dad lived as a teenager. I would guess it was taken in mid to late 1960s.
My dad was the youngest of the seven siblings. Seeing this picture makes me think of him for sure. Like they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree. It also reminds me of my Uncle Cliff who was the oldest of the siblings, twenty years older than my dad.
I saw this picture for the first time recently and was shocked to find out it was my grandpa Burl Harrell as an infant. He died in 1970 so I was just a little thing and have only a couple memories of him. I of course only knew him as an old man so to invasive him as a baby had never entered my mind.
Very visible capillaries on his full cheeks is one of my main memories, I guess because of him holding me up high right there at his face when I was 2 to 3 years old. In my own mind, I called them turkey cheeks, I think because they were almost like a dot-to-dot picture and that's what I saw.
I was happy to see this picture at my Aunt JoAnn's. She told me it had been damaged over the years and she had it restored. Something in that process went a little weird in the fingers. He didn't have any extra in real life.
I have so many fun childhood memories with these girls and ladies. We got together often and all the cousins played and I'm sure the sister-in-laws talked. These days with everyone living away, I miss having the big extended family closeness so rare times like these feel great. Stories start pouring out and only get better with age.
I was the 25th grandchild so yep, it was a big family.
My mom turned 70 and my aunts and cousins planned s get together for a surprise party for her. Fun day!
Whew, this was a hot day in Flora! Was cool though that Sam crossed a monkey bridge with help from his dad's scout master George from way back in the day.
Karen, Ross, Jack, Caroline, Sam and I enjoyed our walking tacos and apple dumplings, but then was ready to head out to somewhere a little less baking than the school pavement. Our fall 2016 has been a warm one for sure.
Grant and I spent a hot weekend at the Gateway Racetrack as ticket scanners for a band fundraiser. He's planning on going with the band to Disney World at the end of May and is trying to earn money for it anyway he can. This was actually a really fun job for both of us and we had a great time at the hot rod races. It was mind blowing to see (and hear!) dragsters going 300+ mph in 3 seconds.
Here it is November tomorrow and I am not even up-to-date with end of September happenings. This will be my catch up day!
The dang stink bugs are back. We wouldn't want to ever forget that. Ha
And this is the suspenders with athletic shorts look that he wore to school on his birthday. Caroline was thisclose to ending his life over it.
