Header image

Sore Throat

Posted on by Erica

Laura woke up this morning complaining of a sore throat and headache.  I looked at her throat and it wasn’t any bigger than it usually is, but it was a little red.  Thinking that it was largely nothing, I gave her some ibuprofen and sent her to school.  When I picked her up that afternoon, her teacher came to tell me that Laura had started crying about 3:00 pm and said that her throat hurt.  I took a look at her throat and then felt her forehead.  Sure enough, she had a fever and her throat was huge.  You could also here in her voice that her throat was swollen.  So, I immediately called the doctor and we have an appointment for tomorrow.  When we got home, I gave Laura some more ibuprofen and put her in her “Snuggle Bunny” pajamas and put her in bed.  She went right to sleep.  She slept most of the evening away and I never even bothered to try to put her in the bathtub.  Poor kiddo….

Fifteen Years…

Posted on by Erica

November 2, 1996, was the day that Andy and I got married.  Fifteen years have passed and what a time it has been.  Two apartments, a house, varying cars, two dogs, two cats, two kids, work, love, arguments, fun, friendship, highs, lows, life.  I would trade none of it.  We’ve certainly had our share of struggles.  We’ve had some really high, great times and some really low, awful times (I generally refer to it as “14 years of great and 1 year of crap.”).  Andy said to me the other day, “There is no way we are ever splitting up.  I think we’ve been through it all and we are both still here.”  He’s right.  I think we have been through it all, but even in those really low, awful times when I was so angry I couldn’t see straight, it never occurred to me that we wouldn’t make it through.  You just put your head down and slog on through because good times are around the corner.  He is my best friend, my rock, and my center.  When I’m down, he picks me up.  When he’s down, I pick him up.  We are together.  There simply is no other way.  I love you Andrew Kassel.  What a Wonderful World we have.

New Tires

Posted on by Erica

Today’s big deal is new tires on our truck.  The old Cooper tires were in very bad shape and desperately needed to be replaced.  It was good to get the new tires and they look great on the truck, but it was still frustrating.  The old tires were 60,000 mile tires and they lasted about half of that.  The tire place said that it was most likely because the truck was out of alignment.  Well, the Firestone shop checked the alignment yesterday and it was nearly perfect.  The old tires just wore out and very quickly.  No more Cooper truck tires for us.

Halloween!

Posted on by Erica

What a great day!  Laura had her first school party and enjoyed that a lot.  John had a pretty normal day at daycare, but was excited to come home when I told him that Kathryn, Kyler, and Alia were coming over.  It was a truly great evening filled with friends, fun, food, and Great Pumpkin Ale!

The Lowerys, Dothages, Tamara and Kyler, and Uncle Jeremy came to enjoy the evening with us.

The adults enjoyed some great chili and Great Pumpkin Ale (FOUR Growlers full of it actually).

Everyone said the chili was GREAT!

After dinner, it was off to put on costumes and head for trick or treating.  Mommy had a FEW issues getting John’s costume on him, but I was eventually successful.  Laura was a sparkly good witch and John was Buzz Lightyear.

On the way out, we stopped to pick up Maddie, our neighbor and good friend of Laura’s.  Us adults had to heard some cats, err….kids.  Uncle Jeremy stayed at our house to pass out candy.  The kids had a great time trick or treating (even if they all got a little tired toward the end).  The candy haul was pretty good considering everything.

All in all, it was a really fun evening!  Thanks to everyone for coming and helping us celebrate!  Treat, Chili, and Beer Fest is on again for next year!

WF & P

Posted on by Erica

We returned to Glencoe, MO, to ride the Wabash, Frisco, and Pacific Railroad, which is a 12-inch gauge live Steam Railroad.  We had gone last year with Dad and Marilyn and decided it was definitely something to do again this year.

It was a beautiful fall day and a ton of fun!  The kids were so excited because they remembered it from last year.  It’s really a unique experience.  Each train ride lasts about 30 minutes.  This year, we rode the train twice.  On both trips, we had the diesel engine, which made Andy sad, but John LOVES the diesel engine.  The kids took it all in and just looked everywhere.  In between the beautiful scenery and watching the kids, I did manage to take a few good pictures.

On a sad note, our camera is having some issues.  Some research shows that the error is pretty standard on all Canon Powershots.  Hopefully, Andy managed to fix it.  Otherwise, it will be phone pictures for a while.  🙁

Jack-o’-lanterns!

Posted on by Erica

Today was pumpkin-carving day!  We have steps to pumpkin carving in this house.

Step 1 – Andy cuts the hole in the top.

Step 2 – I clean out the insides.  This year, we had a very strange pumpkin.  The insides came out looking like spaghetti.  I think it was crossbred with a spaghetti squash!

Step 3 – Plan the faces.  Laura had distinct plans for the face of her pumpkin.  She insisted on triangles for the eyes and nose and three pointy teeth for the mouth.  She even drew a picture for Andy.  The face of John’s pumpkin was inspired by many, many six packs of O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer.

Step 4 – Andy carves the pumpkins.

Step 5 – Place the jack-o’-lanterns outside for all to enjoy!

Carpet Cleaning

Posted on by Erica

As many of you know, Andy can be a *little* picky about our carpets.  Since we are having our 15th Anniversary party here at the house next weekend, he decided it was time to clean them again.  He took today off and spent the day with the steam cleaner.   The carpets look great even if they are still a little wet.  Thanks Andy!