My trio

Sean and AJ giving Shelby his Christmas spanking.... PRICELESS!

a very HOCKEY Christmas to you !!!

For the past several weeks, both Sean and AJ have been asking to go to a hockey game. Well....one of Jeff's friends at work gave him 4 tickets and we all went today. Knowing that Sean does not like loud noises and big crowds of people we were hoping to make it through 1 period. and we made it through TWO!!! Both of them LOVED it and we had a wonderful time. The headband things are called YOWIES and they wore them yesterday in anticipation of going today and both of them wore them at the Prairie Thunder game today, too. We ate nachos and got snowcones ....it was BIG FUN!!! thanks, Parker, for taking care of us!

This may be my last blog post before Friday so I want to take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!! I had sworn I was going to do cards this year but then thought nah....a link to my blog is the card that just keeps on giving. I try to update every Sunday so come back soon for updates on the happenings of Jeff, Laura, Shelby, Sean and AJ :)

Sean's Christmas program

Yesterday was Sean's Christmas program at his school. His class had a 'social story' which was showing how they have grown since they have been attending school this year. Sean's lines were"I yell" and "I will sit calmly" The program was very cute and Sean really enjoyed the whole thing. It is always very emotional for all parents and caregivers because it really does give you a glimpse into all the ways the kids are developing. I tried to upload a video and it wouldn't work :(

A vist to Santa

Saturday was the annual State Farm Santa visit. Sean and AJ have been excited about it for DAYS AND DAYS. As you can see the first big thrill was the gigantic Christmas tree!!! Both of them did an outstanding job waiting in line for 20 plus minutes to get a quick chat in with Santa. AJ wants a "Jessie doll" which is a character from the movie Toy Story. Sean wants Power Ranger figurines. 5 of them. Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow and ....well, I guess I better figure out what the 5 colors are.

We did get one CHEESE for the camera and then we whisked off to pick up gifts. Next Christmas event is the arrival of Granny and PawPaw Jim on Wednesday followed by Uncle Craig, Aunt Lisa and family on Friday. Chance of snow all week.....let the holiday fun BEGIN!!!!

P.S. I think Santa has both of these yahoos figured out :)

Carmi bound....gobble gobble

hang on AJ and let me sit on your lap....

OUTSIDE FUN!!!

CHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!

We are Carmi bound tomorrow to have some hometown Thanksgiving time. While I am looking forward to a few days off work, I know that it will be difficult celebrating the holiday without my dad. I have kept so busy these past few weeks with work, kid activities and the daily grind and I know the 'down time' will be difficult. However, I have spent 40 plus years in Carmi for Thanksgiving with all the Botsch's and cousins and I know if I were to stay away, that would be more difficult.

We did enjoy a time warm spell a few days ago so I captured some pictures knowing I wanted to start writing on my blog again. I hope you enjoy them and I promise to start back with my weekly updates of the happenings of our lives.

Many blessings this holiday season,

Laura, Jeff, Shelby, Sean and AJ

baby bull

I am pleased to announce the birth of a new baby calf born to owners Brent and Nikki Edwards. The bull was born on 10/17/2009 and has been affectionately named Glenard .... may baby bull Glenard live a long and prosperous life as a stud :)

Weekend was fun but it's all kind of a blur...

Random Pictures/Random thoughts

so it's been 2 weeks since I posted anything....mostly because I was lazy last Sunday when I typically update my blog. I don't even know what pictures I am going to add tonight so I will just provide a quick update on what we've been up to:

• Broken toe event---Laura


• Scratches, bruises, splinters, climbing trees, muddy feet, squirrel feeding---Sean


• Guitar Hero---Jeff and boys


• Miscellaneous mischief---AJ

Enjoying Fall weather....ALL :)

Beautiful Colorado....AHHHHHH

We have been in Montrose Colorado since Wednesday visiting Jeff's parents. About a year ago we decided to have a Fall trip with the adult Wyrick's so Craig/Lisa and Yvonne/Chuck trekked here too and we had a long family weekend together.

I am personally quite fond of the Wyrick margarita so the first chance I got, I had me one. a BIG one. and then I chugged another. About 8:30 that night, I had to be put to bed.....but it sure was FUN!!!!

We journeyed to Ridgway and Ouray during the day time enjoying Jeep rides and beautiful weather.

On Friday night we got a big rain storm and Saturday morning we woke up to find snow on the mountains. This view is from Jim and Paula's front porch.

This is the view toward Montrose out their back yard. Good times, good food....and great family memories :)

BaCk FrOm ThE dEaD

ok so my post from like 20 minutes ago where I said R.I.P. camera.......I found a new way to make it work. However, I can't retrieve the pictures I took today :( Maybe Santa will get me a new camera for Christmas.....

Sean and AJ had a fun day today with friends Anna and Daniel. We had a jump house/picnic and playtime party. Thanks friends for making our Sunday special!!!

(insert mental images with 4 fun kids bouncing, eating and playing )

I knew it was coming....

I took the most amazing pictures today........and can't find a way to get them off my camera because it has officially broken beyond repair. R.I.P. 6 year old wonderful camera....thank you for nearly 9000 pictures/videos!!!

how did it get cool already???????

yes it is August ....we check the calendar EVERY DAY so it is still August. But it has been cool here this weekend and we have been wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts. It's crazy!!! (Sean has actually worn Sponge Bob pajamas most of the weekend!!!)

it was great to be outside though. Lots of playing on the playset----we even had lunch and dinner in the playhouse yesterday.

Today we made a video just for Granny and Pawpaw Jim. Enjoy :)

Will I always be this short, Mom Part 2

AJ carries a stool around with him because......he is short. And as you can see from my post 2 weeks ago, he will climb and do anything with his stool. Here's how I caught him this morning......

The one thing my kids love to share......GERMS

so in my Sunday blog post, I mentioned Sean was sick.....yup, AJ now has it too only worse. His fever has hovered at 103 since about 4:30 a.m. today. Doc says he is having ear, nose and throat issues.... Just to show they are both still super cute, I got on my real camera for a good shot of both of them since they got their hair cut on Sunday. (PS I need a new camera but I don't know what I want and until I do, I am going to keep monkeying with my broken one....the pictures you see are number 8442 and 8446----I think I got my money's worth!!!!)

Gaminee and Sandip

We attended the wedding of Gaminee and Sandip on Saturday. Sandip is the son of our neighbors, Suresh and Gita. It was an amazing experience and we feel so blessed that we were asked to celebrate with them. The first picture is of Sandip, his sister Ketki and her daughters, Arya and Meekha. As always, double chick to enlarge photos.

This next shot is of the processional to the wedding ceremony. There was music and dancing and singing and it lasted for about an hour. Once we arrived at the wedding entrance, there were a lot of tradional mini ceremonies.

I wish I had a better photo of Gaminee's wedding saree. It was beautiful and she is beautiful!!! She was escorted into the wedding ceremony by her Uncles which is traditional.

A family who sat behind us helped explain some of the parts of the wedding so we'd get the full effect. The most surprising parts........

A) between the processional and the wedding, everyone stopped and picked up a drink (Mango juice or a cola called Thumbs Up) People took the drinks INTO the wedding!

B) the ceremony was formal yet everyone in the "crowd" was talking. I LOVED it since I always have a problem being quiet at weddings anyway!!!

C) about 30 minutes into the ceremony, servers came around with individual tubs of vanilla ice cream. So I got a drink AND and a treat all while I was watching the service! ICE CREAM in the middle of a wedding! It was awesome!!!!

D) After the section where the bride and groom walk around the fire 4 times, they announced over the microphone that the grooms side could all be served lunch. So the ceremony continued and half the crowd left and ate.

Our night was ended short by a sick one at home....Sean had 102 fever so our festivities did not include the reception. However, what we were able to attend was beautiful and traditional and we wish Gaminee and Sandip a lifetime of love....

Will I always be short, Mommy???

T.G.F.A.H.D.

.....which stands for "thank goodness for a hot day"!!! We've had the strangest summer....cool and rainy and such and most weekends have not been that great. But we've had a high temps here the last 2 days.....yesterday we spent time at State Farm Pool (along with about 15, ooo other State Farm families) and pool time with friends Anna and Daniel. Today we had back yard fun. The kids all had a blast !!!!

Kentucky Lake

I spent the weekend at Kentucky Lake with some of my Carmi friends....Chris, Sandi, Donna, Rhonda, Kathy, Melody and Jessica. Girls weekend 2009! All of us hadn't been to to the lake together since 1996 .... so we had some catching up to do! The photo is the sun setting on Saturday night while we enjoyed a boat ride. Thanks for a fun time girls....it was FABULOUS!

BUNK

When it was time for Sean to move from a toddler bed to a twin, my friend Mary trekked with me to IKEA in Chicago to purchase a fun convertible bunk bed for him. At the time, he wasn't old enough to be on the top bunk, so we left it flipped so that it was like a twin bed with canopy railings. Thursday night, Jeff and I pulled everything off it, put the ladder on it, purchased another twin mattress and bedding and FLIPPED it over. Sean now calls it BUNK....not bunk beds....just BUNK.

You can see the smile and the finished product in the photos I have included. Sean and AJ think it is the coolest thing EVER! (note: Shelby had a bunk bed when he was the same age but he continuously fell out of it so much we had to force him to sleep on the bottom bed)

Fond memories of Cindy...

This week has been very emotional. My lifelong friend Nikki lost her mom Cindy to cancer on Thursday. The death of a parent never comes easy whether it be a long fight or quick loss and the sting of Cindy's unexpected death is hard to describe.

I really struggled when I left Carmi today after the funeral...feeling I wish I could stay and do more. On my long, solo ride home, I had a lot of time to reflect on some of the fun memories. Some of the details may be a little fuzzy and skewed to my view of the stories but I had to share.

• Nikki's mom was one of the cool mom's. I never even thought about it until today but now I realize it was because she was younger than lots of the other mom's. WAY younger than my mom...18 years younger. No wonder I thought she was cool!
• Cindy always let us do fun stuff. Slumber parties with like 50 girls with prank calls and bra feezing events. Chaperoning all night skate parties at The Roller Kingdom when all the other parents were fast asleep. Being the concert taxi mom and taking us in her fancy Buick Riviera which I remember calling the Rivvie.
• She took a load of us to Newburgh to see the movie Purple Rain. I remember my mom telling me "you can go to the movie with Cindy as long as you don't go see that Prince movie" ----oopsie.
• Laura Beth. 99% of people from Carmi either go by first and middle name OR have a nickname. Laura Beth, Jimmy Chuck, Danny Wayne, Nikki Sue, Spareribs, Pixie, Gravy, The Brother. I could go ON and ON. Cindy, Mimi, my Aunt Norma and Barb Childress were about the only people who continued to call me Laura Beth into adulthood. And when any of the 4 of them did it, it didn't seem odd in any way but when anyone else calls me that, it feels weird.
• She took is to Baynum's shoe shopping and to see the monkey purchasing Famolare dress shoes and Nike tennis shoes (red, white and blue ones!)
• Once during a motorcycle trip to Gatlinburg, all other 20 or so people took their Suzuki Calvalcade's but once again, Cindy loaded some of us up in the Rivvie and took us for a long week-end of fun. She let us listen to cassette tapes REALLY LOUD and talk on the CB radio.
• Sherri, Nikki and I went to St. Louis with Cindy for a summer trip and she let us order Strawberry Daquiri's. We were about 15 at the time and we swore the waiter added rum into them because he thought we were 21. We all three had braces on our teeth (compliments of Dr. Willis) so I am guessing there was no rum but Cindy let us go on thinking it like we were hot stuff!

Today, as we said our good-byes and sat quietly listening to Father Steve give her eulogy, he asked God to forgive Cindy of her sins. And I quietly leaned over to Donna Pabst and said "we wouldn't want to do that---the sins were what made Cindy FUN!"

Rest in peace Cindy ----and thank you for being the cool mom...

BOOM BOOM POW

We enjoyed the fireworks in Towanda, IL (population 550) tonight despite the rain and cold temps. Jeff's birthday is today so we've had a fun filled day topped with lots of fireworks and fun.

AJ loved to watch the fireworks.....from the inside of the van. He wasn't scared of the fireworks and really enjoyed them, but when we'd ask him to come out of van he would say NO! However, he did scream BOOM BOOM POW (insert Black Eyed Peas music here) every time one of the big ones hit the sky.

And Sean loved all the action too but just couldn't quite keep his eyes open on the way home. Note his left leg is pushed up against the driver's seat, his right leg is crossed over his left and he is all smushed down in his car seat sound asleep. BOOM BOOM POW it was a fun day!!!

Big G on vacay....

We just returned from vacation with my dad...13 adults at a resort off Pensacola, Florida. We had a ton of fun! Thanks Big G for a great trip!

Paper party!!!

Since Sean was about 3 he has been obsessed with unrolling paper towel and toilet paper rolls. Over time we have collected the "paper party" after effects into a trash bag. The funny shot of just Sean is him at age 3 tossing toilet paper in the air. And the picture from today where my living room looks like a "paper party" bomb went off, is the full trash bag dumped all over my living room---combined with toys and bodies. Double click photos for full effect....

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADDY....are you on clean up duty???!?!??!

our mid-life crisis...

we went to test drive cars today.....and made a purchase. Shelby says we've had some weird form of mid-life crisis. We bought a van---2009 Honda Odyssey. And to Sandi and Ashley who made fun of me....I will just share the features that swayed my decision.

• Sean and AJ have power slider doors that with 2 button pushes I have hands free door opening for small children to jump inside the vehicle. Sean calls them 'magic doors'


• on my key fob, I can push a button and as I am walking to my car on a hot day, my windows roll down---even the slider door windows roll down. And I have a power rear gate too which I can open with my key fob.


• 15 cup holders. 15. who needs 15 but just in case, I have 15.


• in the "way back" as we call it, I have little hook thingamabobs so that when you put groceries in, you can hook them onto them so the groceries don't spill.


• tray table between the driver/passenger seat that also collapses for easy walk access from front row seats to 2nd row seats. Same type of feature from 2nd to 3rd row


• back up camera


• 2nd row seats do all kinds of tricks like slide forward and backward and when you remove the jump seat in between the bucket seats, you can even push Sean's side over to AJ's side to make it more of a bench seat. Not sure why any parent would ever do that because then you are just begging for bloodshed but hey it's a feature.


• iPod input jack so I can run it through my stereo


• XM radio


• 2nd row integrated sunshades to keep the sun out of my babies eyes


• peek-a-boo mirror so I can quickly see what is going on in the back seat. it's almost like the "eyes in the back of my head" feature that my mom came with.

Beach ball mania

for his birthday in February, AJ's Bree got him a splashin' beach ball....and it was a little chilly to use it then! but we broke it in last night and the kids had a blast!!! THANK YOU BREE!!!

Cool vs. Useful

so the 2003 Honda Pilot is 'retiring' from our family. Now the big decision....is the new vehicle a 2009 Honda Pilot or a 2009 Honda Odyssey. I never thought I would drive a van. The Pilot is a MACHINE and I love mine and would get another one in a heartbeat. But with a 2 and 5 year old in the house, a van might be more useful...

Cool vs. Useful. Machine vs. Mom van. Hip vs. NOT HIP. Pilot vs. Odyssey.

May: the final countdown

with just a few hours remaining in May, I thought it would be appropriate to share random stories of our final week:

• AJ flushed a toothbrush down the toilet and yes he was going potty at the time WHILE brushing his teeth. we are multi-taskers at the Wyrick house. after trying to fish out the toothbrush myself, I spent 80 bucks for the plumber to remove the toothbrush only to have to call the plumbing service back 15 minutes after the dude left because the toilet water wouldn't quit running. back Joe came...(yes his name was Joe the plumber) and replaced the flapper thingy. Now every time the toilet is flushed it makes an awful noise. I think I should have left the toothbrush lodged.
• My 2003 Honda Pilot was making a screeching sound so I took it in mid week. They de-glazed some belt thing and said the noise was fixed. When I drove it two days later, the noise is louder than before. (yes Granny you are probably right that it is time for a new car!!!!)
• Shelby purchased my mom's 1991 Chevrolet Blazer from my Dad for 200 bucks recently. On Friday, while he was here visiting, he needed to change the car insurance, title and plates over to his name and his new powder blue ride. Now I am slamming my own job when I say this but it took abour 3 hours to get his insurance crap all straightened out only to go to the License branch and they NEVER asked to see his insurance. Why do we have insurance laws if you don't have to show proof to register and license a vehicle???
• I purchased tic-tacs for Sean and AJ this morning....and AJ polished his whole treat in about 15 seconds. An hour or so later, Sean was still working on his and left them on the coffee table and of course, AJ scooped up a handfull and shoved them in his mouth. Sean then screamed OH DAMMIT AJ to which AJ replied loudly OH DAMMIT BUBBA. And I stood back secretly smiling because after the outburst they both walked away with no more fighting.
• and the finale, I have searched for weeks trying to figure out what kind of pool to buy for the kids this year. Something both of them would enjoy. I finally settled for this blow up whale that has a slide that goes down in the pool and the whale has a fountain squirter on top. It was 80 here today, we airpumped the pool up and within 15 minutes it was already leaking air. And I mean leaking so much that I am taking it back. ARGH!!!!

so our final week was also full of bumped noggins, scraped knees and more candy, cookies and monkey fruit snacks than any kids should be able to stomach BUT we enjoyed our time with Granny and Pawpaw/Shelby and Bobbi and we celebrated Shelby's birthday with fun dinner compliments of YUMMY Wyrick cooking. Cajun pork loin with chipotle aioli, sweet potato casserole, grilled asparagus, edamame and pea salad with strawberry cake and cream cheese icing. and wine. lots of good wine. :)

Happy Birthday Shelby!!!

Shelby turned 22 on May 29 and to celebrate, Sean and AJ made him a chocolate cake (with a lot of help from Shelby and Bobbi) Happy Birthday Shelbs!!!!

52 years and counting!

May 15, 1957 Glenard took a new job...selling insurance. Happy 52nd State Farm anniversary Glenard. Big Ed Rust, Chairman and CEO, is PROUD and so are we !!!!