She Did It!!

Well, Suzanne and I just got home from the Hair Cuttery. This is what she looks like now that she's donated the majority of her hair to Locks of Love. It's called an Alien cut as it's shorter in the back and longer on the sides. I think it's adorable and I think she likes it too!

I'm an Idiot

It's Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race across IOWA not America. Of course my brother went to the blog and now I'm sure he thinks I'm an idiot.....wait he probably already did. Oh well!

RAGBRAI

Caption next to photo in Iowa City Press-Citzen Newspaper read:

William Beckert, of Greenville, Ill., holds his bike over his head after dipping it in the Mississippi River on Saturday in Le Claire after completing the final leg of RAGBRAI.

For those of you unfamiliar RAGBRAI stands for Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across America and this year was the 36th annual. My brother Bill rode in it for the first time and had a blast. I followed along everyday by logging on the Des Moines Register and viewing photos, maps of the route, etc.

Anyone interested in reading the article that accompanied the above picture can do so by visting http://www.press-citizen.com/ then in the search field type RAGBRAI and the name of the article was Bidding RAGBRAI Adieu, dated July 27, 2008. Or try this link which I think will take you right to it

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807270317

Later

Let's see what's been going on here...

Friday was Stamp Camp at Marnies and we made some wonderful cards. Saturday I spent most of the day in the basement scrapping and did these two layouts plus some more pages for the tribute album I started for my Dad. Sunday I signed up for IM on Myspace and I've been chatting with Matthew on it daily since then. It's great as they are 8 hours ahead so he logs on about lunchtime here and it's 8:30 or so over there. He said it's really hot, sandy and boring over there. He keeps adding all kinds of things he'd like us to send to him so I keep trying to keep everyone updated. I've already sent one box but he still hasn't received it. I've got another box I'm filling and will probably send in another week or so.

VBS was cancelled so we've decided to go out of town for a few days and see my family. We are leaving on Monday, August 4th and it just happens to be the week of the Bond County Fair so we are going to go to that. I don't think the kids have ever been to one so hopefully they'll enjoy it. We are also going to take them to the St. Louis Arch. Marc and Katie have been up to the top in the last few years. I haven't been up in it since I was a little girl so I'm looking forward to it. We'll come back home on the 7th and then on the 9th we are leaving to go to Kalamazoo for a quick weekend trip. Marc's brother took a job in North Dakota so this will probably be our last trip there. It happens to be Ribfest that weekend so you can guess what we'll be having for supper on Saturday.

We'll I've got more plans for August but I'll save those for another post in a week or so. Hope every one is well!

So Sorry....

It's been a long time since my last post so I'll try and summarize the last few months...

After a long battle with diabetes and heart problems, my Dad passed away on May 5th so needless to say that pretty much took the wind out of me for a few months. Life does go on and it is getting better everyday. Needless to say I worry about my Mom and am trying to help her out whenever I can. She seems to be doing pretty good however I think the end of the month will be rough as it would have been my Dad's birthday on the 31st of this month.

Matthew came home the weekend of Mother's Day and was here for two weeks. We threw a big BBQ on Memorial Day weekend and invited all his family and friends to come visit him. He shipped out to Kuwait on June 16th. He calls about once every 10 days or so and is doing well. He says it's like being at the beach except there is no water and no pretty girls sunbathing!

School ended the beginning of June and Seth graduated Kindergarten and received a "Wonderful Singer" award from his teacher. He's very excited about the prospect of going to school all day in the fall. Olivia would never go back if I'd let her and Katie is excited about going back as well. Although I do think it's because she wants to see all her friends and not because she can't wait to get back to learning.

Suzanne made the "B" honor roll the second semester and we are all very proud of her. We chipped in some money to help her by an MP3 player that she'd been wanting. She started working as a day camp counselor at the Prospect Heights Park District on the 16th of June and her last day is July 25th. She only works from 8:30 to 12:30 but she seems to enjoy it and I know she's looking forward to getting her paycheck.

Marc, Katie, Olivia, Seth and I went to visit my Mom and brothers the weekend of June 20th and also celebrated my niece Haley's 3rd birthday. The intent was to help my Mom go through some of my Dad's things. We did go through a few things but we really spent most of the weekend swimming and fishing with the kids. We had a great time!

I turned the big "45" last week and on Tuesday my Mom and my niece Chloe showed up on our doorstep to surprise me. They stayed until Friday morning and we all had a great time. The kids were happy to be able to spend time with Chloe and Mom and I were able to go shopping for scrapbooking supplies and spend time together. On Wednesday we went to Marnie's to scrap and all my WONDERFUL friends surprised me and took me to Claim Jumper's for dinner. I'd never been there and the food was really good. While Mom and I were out Marc baked me a cake and hid all the evidence until the next day when I woke up and found a dozen roses on the breakfast counter along with a card and a note that said check the oven. After a wonderful birthday meal of spaghetti I had more wonderful gifts to open and we ate the cake which was delicious. Then on Saturday Marc surprised me again by telling me we were dropping the kids at Marnie's and going out to dinner alone. We went to Red Lobster which is one of our favorite places and had a nice dinner.

Whew! I think that's the highlights from the last several months and hopefully I can get make to trying to post on a weekly basis. Have a great weekend everyone and stay COOL!