Thankfill

Thanksgiving was at the Pandemonium ranch this year and my family all came to help us celebrate one last Turkey Day on the Prairie. It was super nice to have everyone.

Mom and dad actually came out a few weeks early to help me manage the ruckus while Andrea was in Ecuador. And it was a great help. I had a few jobs for dad to do, but I think he mostly enjoyed spending time reading with his granddaughter. And Anya enjoyed having someone to read to.

Mom did what she does best - cooking, tidying, spoiling her grand kids. And spending time reading with her granddaughter.

Am I detecting a trend here?

The rest of the family showed up during the week of Thanksgiving and then we really did have a house full. Everyone graciously tucked in to whatever flat spot we had available for sleeping and managed to find a bathroom to use. We relaxed, played a little football, explored the tree house, jumped on the trampoline, relaxed some more.

Turkey Day is always a much anticipated event for my foodie family, and this year was no exception. Nor were we disappointed. The setting, pre-bird.

The spread.

After the dishes were cleaned up and leftovers put away we gathered our sleepy selves into the living room and played a Thankful game, pulling a paper feather out of a hat and trying to guess who had written the message of thanks that was on it. Then we pinned the paper feather on the paper turkey, created courtesy of Auntie Sally and her crafty minions.

We have much to be thankful for.

Mom took advantage of having another willing ear in the house to read a story or two. Or maybe it was Dorian who had the advantage.

It really does seem like there's a common theme here, but not sure I'm putting my finger on it...

We took the opportunity to have a double 16th birthday celebration for Kenrick and Mia. It's a little early for Kenrick, a little late for Mia, but nobody complained too much.

What kind of 16th birthday party would it be without a pinata? Everyone got a whack with the blindfold, but then since it was a little cold we just let the birthday kids have at it. Kenrick connects, but doesn't get it to split.

And Mia finished the job with a fine flying swing.

Our babies are grown. You can tell these two are related, can't you?

One last group hug, I mean picture, before it's time to go home. What a nice looking bunch.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out! We really enjoyed it.

The house seemed kind of empty last week.

Like Weeds

When Kenrick hit his teenage growth spurt a couple of years ago I was kind of kicking myself that I hadn't been keeping track of the kid's heights. It would have been fun to have a record of how quickly Kenrick stretched.

Well, Anthony wasn't too far behind, so about this time last year I started making marks on the door every month or so for each one of the kids. Sure enough, Anthony started growing like a weed, but what surprised us was that both Paxton and Anya started shooting up too! Must be something in the water.

Since last November, Paxton has grown 2-3/4 inches, Anya has grown 3-1/4 inches, and Anthony has grown 4-1/4 inches! Kenrick seems to have slowed down for the time being, but still gained a little more than an inch.

The engineer in me just had to make a couple of charts

(Also, the engineer in me measured the heights in millimeters, sorry. There are roughly 25 mm per inch)

Marching Man

Kenrick the Marching Band Man played his last show of the season and his last in the Sages purple and gold a couple of weekends ago in St Louis. The competition was impressive - big schools and big money - but the little Monticello band held their own. They sounded good, looked sharp, and should be proud of what they accomplished this year. Go Sages!

Practically Sitting in the Stadium

After 108 years and a come-from-behind, seven game series with the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago Cubs have finally won it all. We'll be able to tell our grand kids that we were living in Illinois when it happened. In fact, I think I heard the cheering. Way to go Cubs.

New Horses

The month of October saw the addition of a few new horses to the family, all corralled in a shiny blue Civic Si.

Who says commuting shouldn't be fun?

Who Are You and What Have You Done With My Kids?

Halloween, 2016.

The I's Have It

In preparation for her trip to Ecuador, Andrea has been taking a conversational Spanish class at a local community college. We were all sitting around the supper table the other night trying to wrap our tongues around the rolling "r" that is so characteristic of the language.

"Burrrrrrrrrrrrito."

"Señorrrrrrrrrrrita"

Paxton wasn't having much luck. He sat quietly for a couple of minutes, then announced proudly that he couldn't roll his "r's", but "I can roll my eyes. I can even make them shake back and forth!"

Hello Again

It's been so long since my last post I feel like I need to introduce myself again.

Hello, my name is Rob and I live in the middle of the Midwest with my beautiful wife and my four little chaos makers, ages teenager, teenager, imp, and princess.

I starting this blog a few years ago as a way to capture a little bit of what goes on around here - partly to give far-away parents and far-away friends some pictures and stories that they wouldn't otherwise get and partly to just to have a record of our crazy life. It seems that blogging is a bit out of fashion now days, and some of what I used to post has found its way to the family on WhatsApp, but social media in general just doesn't appeal to me. I don't twit or like or link or swipe and I'm perfectly happy not knowing every detail of even my best friends lives. I have enjoyed the few comments I've gotten on this blog over the years, but I never wrote for comments or attention, nor to vent political frustrations or ponder social injustice, so I'm not sad when months pass without a peep from beyond these pages. In fact, I've found that I've enjoyed going back through my posts and just recalling the milestones, the vacations, the simple activities that have all contributed to the Pandemonium on the Prairie. My motivations seems to be just to write stuff down. So I'll try to keep writing.

One reason why there haven't been many posts this summer is that my (not so little) chaos makers have been ricocheting around in all different directions and while that makes for lots of memorable activities, it doesn't leave much time or energy for recording those activities. The prospect of trying to catch up with the entire summer is a bit daunting, so I don't think I'll try. Hopefully I can sprinkle in a few pictures and fill in a few gaps over the next month or so and maybe it won't matter that everything isn't in perfect chronological order. No promises.

Oh, and we don't have any pets, so if you are looking for cat videos you will have to go elsewhere.

Sore Feet in Indiana

A couple of weekends ago the two teenagers and I met up with a friend in Indianapolis and his two oldest kids to go hiking. We packed our tents and sleeping gear into the woods somewhere in the middle of Indiana and spent the night, then finished the rest of the 10 mile loop early the next morning before the thunderstorms hit.

The hikers, loaded up and still chipper at the trail head.

The packs  really weren't that heavy. Most of the weight in mine was my old tent, a sleeping pad (it wasn't thick enough) and some water. Kenrick had the food and some more water. We put a couple of rocks in Anthony's pack just to keep him from feeling left out.

We found a well used 'back-country' site and settled in. Someone broke out the Uno cards.

We shared the hillside that evening with a couple of nice size King snakes who were patrolling the area for tasty morsels.  This one slid past a very quiet frog who hunkered down in the leaves, then army-crawled in the opposite direction just as soon as it could. It was fun to watch. Half of us were rooting for the frog.

Typical of central Indiana, the trail wound up and down through the heavy forest, along well worn stream beds, then back to more sparsely covered ridges. It was a fun trail and a nice time of year to be out.

The hikers all did fine, even the one guy trudging along at the end of the line complaining that his feet hurt.

New Driver

In my last post I mentioned that Kenrick is driving. Doesn't seem possible, I know, but it's true.

Learner's permit and good to go!

Mother's Day in Missouri

Missouri, not misery.

For Mother's Day weekend this year we packed the chillen's into the van and set off for the big city of St Louis to take in the sights. Well, one sight in particular. It had been a few years since we'd been to the Missouri Botanical Garden and thought it would be a nice time to see it (them?) again.

Kenrick drove. Most of the way - he's still a little shaky in traffic, so he got us within spittin' distance before giving up the wheel.

The entrance. If you squint you can see Paxton leaning against the second floor rail just above the entrance doors.

Naturally, the first thing we did was go to the cafe for lunch. The garden salad is highly recommended. The name of the cafe reminded me of my sister. The little girl in the picture also reminds me of my sister.

The gardens include plants from lots of different habitats, including some nice cacti from the arid southwest. Better get used to the pokey plants kids!

The yellow swirlies are glass sculptures from a 2006 Chihuly installation. Mom, do your remember seeing these when you were here with us?

Can't go to a botanical garden without taking a picture of a rose or two.

Andrea in the jungle.

The kids and I walk the planks in the Japanese garden.

It was a nice day, but hot enough that a little spray from the fountain felt good. Anya and Anthony try to get just wet enough.

I guess since this is a Mother's Day post, I should include a Mother's Day picture. Paxton says it for all of us.

Another Year, In the Books

First day of school, August 2015...

Last day of school, nine months later...

Wow.

Birthday Pics

Anya

Anthony

Foreseeable Changes

So, during the twelve years that we lived in Peoria I think we always had it in the back of our minds that my job might take us to a different location. When the opportunity arose to move to Aurora to join the newly formed Mining Shovel group, we felt like formation of that new product group would ensure we'd be in Northern Illinois for a number of years. Sadly, that stay turned out to be only a few months before a strange set of circumstances caused the group to be dissolved and we had to begin looking for another spot to land. We found our spot here in Monticello. Halfway between my new job in Decatur and the university scene in Champaign, with excellent schools and a welcoming community, Monticello has been everything you could ask for in a small town. So with stability in the Large Truck product line and a bit of room to grow in my new group our foreseeable future seemed pretty well defined.

Until last week.

We've known for a few months that our (very) large and relatively scattered division has been considering a centralized location to consolidate the support and engineering groups for the products that fall under its umbrella. That location was going to be in one of four southwestern cities, with the selection process ongoing. Last week it was announced that the new regional headquarters, and our new home, would be in Tucson, Arizona.

We've got very mixed feelings.

On the one hand we're excited for a new adventure. We'll be closer to our families and I'm sure will come to value new friends as much was we've grown to love our friends here. But we will have to leave Monticello. And Illinois. Bummer.

The city of Tucson and the state of Arizona seem to be fairly excited: link

Moving 600 jobs doesn't happen overnight of course, and we're still somewhat in the planning phases with individual conversations about if and when and how. The transition will continue for a number of years, but it looks like our group will likely be one of the first to go. Right now the best estimate we have is summer of 2017.

So, one more very busy year here before saying our goodbye's. I've got a lump in my throat already.

Teenager 2

Anthony turned 13 last month. Two teenagers in the house! Who could have imagined?

It's kind of fun.

The party wasn't a huge affair, just a couple of good buddies and a chocolate cake.

One of the big changes this year for Anthony was the addition of some specs to clear up some fuzzy peepers. He seems to have inherited his parents eyeballs. We all think he looks good in glasses.

We don't seem to have too many pictures recently of Anthony, but he's certainly been active. He wrestled this winter, played trumpet in the middle school band and ran track this spring. Then broke his arm in track and had to learn how to play the trumpet one-handed. It's all good.

Happy Birthday Anthony!

Anya Birthday

Anya's sixth birthday was a Hello Kitty theme. With lots of pink, of course.

This year she got to invite some friends for a party. So she invited all the girls in her kindergarten class. They all came.

It was fun. The girls ate cupcakes, made headbands, smashed a pinata, chased each other around with Nerf guns and generally had a (high pitched) good time. Opening presents was a group activity.

Thank you Grandma for the pretty dress!

The Birthday Girl and her buddies. Happy birthday Anya!

Fuzzy Math

"Dad, guess what?" Paxton said this morning, "I did 27 times 3 and it's 41!"

"I did it in my head!"

Good job Paxton, you'll make a great accountant some day.

Fifteen

Kenrick next. He turned 15 this year.

No, that's not a pizza with candles! It's a peanut butter ice cream pie with a Nutter Butter crust and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top. Kenrick's invention. It was quite delicious.

The official pic. What a good looking kid!

Birthday's for a fifteen year old aren't as big a deal as they used to be. Presents can be opened on a different day than cake (he needed the shoes for track practice), and yes, the box is wrapped in the Sunday comics.

Tomorrow our little bug starts Driver's Ed. Wow.

Eight

Birthday time again. Seems to happen every year.

Paxton first. Eight years old.

Lego's continue to be our go-to gift. No complaints from any of the kids so far.

The official pic. Keep smiling Pax!