Giving Thanks

We have much to be thankful for at Myers house. And any holiday that encourages eating is definitely hip in my book. Jackson started the day with the traditional football game at church. Check out that shiner under his eye. This ain't your grandma's touch football game.

The men of the church get together every Thanksgiving morn to toss that pigskin. Three fields full of men. Having some fun before the big bird.

John cooks our feast with a little help from Erin.

Later in the weekend we took advantage of some amazingly warm sunny weather to hike

some trails. This trail has a real name. But we call it the tick trail. Cause in the summer it's so full of ticks you can't really use it.

The Pioneer Woman Part 2

When a blogger blogs about another blogger does the world collapse like one of those strange optical illusion posters. Monday I met the Pioneer Woman. The inspiration behind 100's of blogs and the face responsible for the documentation of the Myers house for the past two years. 20 years from now families across the country will have her to thank for those pictures of the sixth grade science project, the dog on the night that it hailed so bad that he stood on the back of the couch, and their young nieces on the very day they stuffed Barbie salt and pepper shakers up their noises. Yes, documentation is good.

The big book signing attracted bookoos of women. Ree kept it from getting stuffy by bringing along her two boys. Who kept it real, by being boys. If you look very carefully you can see me in this picture. I'm in that mustardy colored green sweater that is right underneath the women's nose on the right.

When I went to see Oprah last summer my left elbow was featured on the show. This time it's my right boob. I don't know where this is headed.

By the way supper tonight was Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich, a cubed steak sandwich with fried onions (page 88 of the cookbook) that was perfect for this drab, gray rainy Wednesday. The Pioneer Woman Cooks is available on Amazon.

The Pioneer Woman

Deb and I saw Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman at a book signing on the Plaza. (www.pioneerwoman.com) I read her blog religiously every day so it was a real hoot to see her in the flesh. She even brought along Marlboro Man and her two boys.

It's a little strange to know so much about someone, and yet never have meet them. It feels like stalking.

The event sold out. And her new cookbook is a New York Times Best Seller! You go girl.

Birthdays and Milestones

It's been a month of milestones here at Myers House. Jackson had the gall to turn 14. FOURTEEN already! We celebrated by taking the posse to Dave & Busters.

Which is like a casino for teenagers. Featuring every sort of arcade and virtual game imaginable. I tried the virtual boxing, and couldn't raise my arms for 3 days. And I got my face morphed into a cat in one of those photo booths. And for the record I can't imagine why 14 year olds are a tad embarrassed of their mama's. The boys held their own basketball tournament.

Later in the month we celebrated the 4th birthday of pirate Ben. My cousin Angie went all out with a Halloween themed party. It was a riot.

My Mom has turned into a party animal in her retirement. She had the best costume at the party. The kiddos trick or treated throughout the house and Mom was stationed to give out some silly straws. She'd moved the walker so the kids could get through.

But the most memorable milestone in the past month was on the field on a Friday night. Our own Nick dressed out for the last varsity game of the year. I could not have been prouder watching him as a freshman run onto the field.

I'm proud of both these guys. That varsity jersey was earned with an enormous amount of sweat, grit and talent.

Mustang Football

Myers house is focused on football. Lots of football. 7 days a week football. Games. Practices. High school games. Chiefs games. Patriots games. Get the picture? The Myers men are particularly enjoying this season. The lone Myers woman is getting used to it.

A couple weeks ago Jackson won our local punt, pass and kick competition. So we've been practicing. Remember how Lucy pulled the ball away from Charlie Brown every single time. I understand Lucy a lot better these days. Making Jackson's accomplishments even more noteworthy. He's a lineman. Those are not lineman skills. He never touches the ball - except in the case of a fumble when things have went very wrong.

The Mustangs have done very well this season. The team is having fun. (Mustang photos courtesy of team photographer Rhonda Upman)

The Mustangs have quite a fan club. Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, Lauren & Erin. Friends that we've known since the boys were toothless kindergartners. Erin doesn't know about seventy seven, she just knows that her Jackson is the one with the two 7's on his back.

Then most Friday nights we watch high school football. Last night John helped compile stats. They called out numbers and Bill wrote them all down then went home and entered them into a spread sheet which is reported to coaches sometime after midnight. It's all a big deal this football.

a hauntingly good project

Lauren and Erin hung out with me the other night. We did all sorts of fun things. Including making this hauntingly fun craft project. First we painted our feet (in the bathroom with a tub of bubbles waiting for obvious reasons)

Then you make scary footprints on black construction paper. Add a drop of black paint for the eyes and presto instant keepsake.

I did this with Jackson when he was in preschool and we still have those sweet little ghost feet in his keepsake box.

Fore

Jackson has taken a new hobby, and true to it's nature he's hooked. The past few weekends he's been learning to golf. It started innocently enough with a few rounds of miniature golf. Then it progressed to the driving range. Last weekend we played a fun little 'Par 3' course.

The boys have really gotten the hang of it.

Me? I get to move and hold the flag. And keep the score. And laugh when someones very wayward shot nearly whacks Jackson in the head. Then we heard this very soft 'sorry' from some where far away. And laughed even harder.

Huzzah!

We're having lots of fun at Myers house. There's something fun happening every weekend this fall. Friday some of us went to the homecoming parade. There's something exciting about a parade. Especially one that features candy. Some of us had football practice and were running drills instead of watching the parade. But in the interest of some diversion, there was a girls cross country meet that ran around the boys during Thursdays practice. By the way Erin got that new cast at Lauren's physical therapy appointment. Lauren was trying to rig up a cast for Erin using an old rubber band and a tissue. The doc thought she might like some real tape.


This morning we went to the renaissance fair. Or the ren-office as Erin referred to it. The Lords and Ladies had a grand time. Lauren was the official photographer. This was one of 10 pictures of his royal highness the King. Who I read was actually a math teacher from Independence. Which just seems funny to me. I have no idea what Mrs. Dicus was doing with her weekends. But I can nearly assure you it wasn't anything like this.

The problem with this official photographer is that it made some of us very mad. She reckoned it should be a shared proposition. And she had no intentions to smile when it was her turn already.

Something truly wonderful happened. Riding this camel was a real treat. This very kind women offered to not only ride with Lauren and Erin, but to pay for their ride as well. It was an unexpected random kindness that was as sweet as their little smiles.

The boys adventured on their own. I'm sure checking on many the wenched up bosom's along the path. Jackson is better than 'where's waldo' in a crowd. I bet it takes you all of 5 seconds to find him. He's the one right in the middle watching the joust. They fought to the death. On horseback, with swords, with their heavy metal armour. Erin declared very solemnly that "they'd better be careful."

The people watching at the fair was amazing. It's truly an eclectic group. We even came upon this group pulling ferrets in a decorated wagon. The girls liked holding them. Erin was quite taken with the fact that hers had red eyes.

The food at the fair is scrumptious. The girls ate these big old humongous corn dogs. We sat on the bench and contentedly watched the people.

Huzzah!

Labor Day

Gotta love these 3 day weekends. We put ours to good use here at Myers house. I went to the Santa Cala Gon Festival not once but twice. Once to check out all the craft tents. All 8 of them. The second so that 13 year old boys can meet up with their friends.

Some of us picked out our own clothes. Red cow boy boots and a sundress that, well, fit perfectly in April. And she pulled it off beautifully.

Monday the boys sampled some golf at a local family golf park.

Jack won the putt putt by a stroke.

These guys have been friends since the fourth grade. Check out that batman cap and the random foam finger.

And I hope they'll be friends forever. We love ya Nick.

Dawg Days

August has been a whirl here at Myers house. We've managed to squeeze in every last bit of summer while starting a new job, a new school year and a new team.

We loaded up the car and headed to St. Louis for a vacation. We saw the arch, the zoo, Purina Farms, Six Flags, and the City Museum. And sat three steps away from heaven to watch a Cardinals game. I guess I could have cropped out Lauren's crazy face. But I knew you needed a laugh.

This was Erin's first ever major league hot dog. Not that we are sentimental or anything. But it was.

Like every good vacation we chowed down and relaxed.

We also went to the State Fair. And for once it wasn't 101.

We had to drag these girls from the conservation building kicking and screaming. But if we didn't get another corn dog their mama was gonna start kicking and screaming.

Oh and Smokey was there. We love Smokey. Actually we haven't always. Remember the year that Lauren was like 2 and didn't realize that the thing talked. And talked with that low deep voice that nearly scared her to death. I think I still have the scars from when she clawed at my neck to get away. To make amends I gave her a little stuffed Smokey for Christmas.

And we started the eighth grade.

And we started playing football for the middle school team. And some of us started washing the nastiest clothes ever on the planet. It's been a wild August.

Splashin

We spent the day splashin around at Super Splash. Jackson hung out with his friend and fellow teammate Noah.

The girls had a blast. Lauren has had a water-less summer. But now that the cast is off.... canonball!

I caught my rather un-photogenic cat Brady patiently waiting for his supper.

Family

Today we celebrated something very special. It was an occasion 40 years in the making. It's an amazing and wondrous thing when two people fall in love, and an even more rare and amazing when they are still together 40 years later.

Today Dee and Cal hit this milestone. Cal was a young soldier in Vietnam. Dee was given his name as a pen pal. Their letters blossomed into love. And as Dee's sister Vicki toasted "they fell in love before they even laid eyes."

Debbie did a great job hosting the reception. Lots of good food. Two beautiful cakes. Carefully selected pictures that documented their 40 years of life together placed next to beautiful arranged centerpieces.

Mom and Harold shared the hosting duties. They toiled quietly away in the kitchen mixing pitcher after pitcher of punch, stirring meat balls, replenishing pickles and taking care of all the kitchen details. I have the best family. They show up. And they show up willing to roll up their sleeves. Once Harold hopped into a canoe and paddled up brush creek wrangling ducks for the duck derby. My cousin Angie wore a heavy mascot costume in 100 degree weather. And God only knows the number of times that Debbie and Mom saved the day.