Doornail and the flakes

Grant shared  his breakfast with a certain dog-friend the other morning.

They took turns taking bites.

Since Doornail lacks an opposable thumb, Grant was gracious enough to help him with the spoon.

This little scene didn't grow old until well after breakfast was over.

Grant was very serious about helping Doornail get ready to go that morning.

Not to be outdone by her little brother, Grace, of course, had to go grab Miley share a few flakes with her as well.

Never a dull moment here folks.

Never.

Happy Trails

It is still raining, raining, raining here in the Bluegrass....

as I'm sure it is most everywhere in the midwest too.

I am tired of rain.

Not so much because I don't like the rain, but more so because I was already tired of being cooped up in the house during the winter and I'm ready to be outside with the kids.  Soon enough it will be hot and humid and nasty outside.  These should be the weeks of enjoying the outdoors.

No such luck this year I guess.

So what do kids do when they are once again stuck inside after months of already being stuck inside?

They disappear upstairs for several hours playing nicely with each other leaving their mother to get tons of things marked off her never ending 'to do' list.

I was so excited.

That is, I was excited, until......

I walked upstairs and my eyes beheld this sight......

I KNEW I was in trouble.

The plush pillow path went on

and on.....

AND on!

Please disregard the laundry baskets and piles of clothes in our bedroom.  They were clean.  They were  begging me all week to be folded, but it was Saturday before I got the job done.

Rather than interrupt the fun, I quietly turned around and went back downstairs to see how much more I could get done while they destroyed my upstairs played so nicely.

I sort of forgot about the mess until I went upstairs much later in the evening to get them ready for bed.

This is what I found.....

every stuffed animal they could find was resting peacefully on its own pillow.

Kind of a sweet thing to find....

if you overlook the fact that I got the lucky job of cleaning it all up after they were in bed.

FYI

This is as technical as I will ever get......

I just registered the domain   www.theshupevillezoo.com


You can now click directly to that address instead of clicking to the following address...

www.theshupevillezoo.blogspot.com

There is absolutely no difference where you end up no matter which address you click on.  If you click the blogspot address it will automatically send you to the new address without you even knowing.  Isn't that nice if it to do that for you?


If none of this makes sense, don't worry.  Just keep clicking to this blog the way you've done for the past eighteen months now.  It will still work as usual.

Hard to believe it's been eighteen months since I started this.  I saw the counter at the bottom of the page is closing in on 12,000 visits.

Unbelievable.

I figured I'd get about two clicks a day from two sets of grandparents.

I average about 30 a day now from places as far away as Australia and Europe.  Pretty cool how small the world is with today's technology.

Blogging is a valid income for some people.  I've been curious what thirty clicks a day would translate to in dollar amounts.  I'm guessing somewhere in the thirty cents per day category.

Totally not worth it.

A little weird too.

I'm just happy someone out there cares enough to visit us and read my ramblings!

Just a little therapy......

These are emails from a parent of John's teammate.   I might be mistaken, but it seems a little presumptuous to assign work times without at least letting people look at the times available and letting them pick a time to volunteer. 

Greetings cub parents!

 Coach C asked me to put together our consession stand duty list, so this is what i came up with. If you cannot make your shift, then please find someone within our team to take over your shift. Everyone was not included as i just went down from the top of our roster. Each shift needs 2 adult workers at all times. Workers only are permitted in the concession stand. No workers under age 14, under state law. Please limit teen workers to no more than 2 at a time. Please wear hair restraints for long hair- ballcaps will do fine.

Thanking you,

Anita

  Date                          Time                          Parents     

Saturday, 4-16      2:45-5:00pm            The M family and the B family 

Tuesday, 4-19       5:45-8:15pm             The O and the H families

Tuesday, 4-19       8:15-10:30pm          The D and P families

Saturday, 4-30      11-1:15 pm               The P family and the S family

From: Anita
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 7:37 PM
To:

Subject: baseball

Dear Shupe Family,

Hope you all are well! This just came out and coach asked me to assign. Thank you all!

Our new concession schedule has come out, and you have been scheduled to work on Tuesday, May 10th at 8:00pm till 10:30pm along with the D family. Any questions may be addressed to the concession manager.

Thanking you for supporting our team!!

Sincerely,

Anita

Dear Mrs. P, 

Yes, we are well! Thanks for asking. This email just arrived explaining how the coach wanted  you to assign concession duties. I see I have been scheduled to work Tuesday, May 10^th from 8:00 pm till 10:30 pm along with the D family.

I wanted to let you know I have been put in charge of finding child care for my children. You have been assigned to babysit my children on Tuesday, May 10^th from 8:00 pm till 10:30 pm. You might want to arrive early seeing as how I need to get to the ball field to work concessions. They are good kids, but you might want to bring help. It takes at least two people to watch them. If you are unable to cover your shift, there is a list of babysitters on the website for sitters service that are willing to work for roughly $15 an hour. You can call them, but do so early! 

Thanking you for supporting my family!!

Sincerely,

Angie Shupe

A person can dream can’t they???? I would LOVE to hit SEND on this one!!

OK, I feel better now!

Gnashing of Teeth

or alternately titled "Noshing of Corn"

I couldn't resist last week when I saw such beautiful ears of corn at Kroger.

I had to buy some to start the outdoor cooking season!



It didn't hurt that it was eighty degrees and sunny (a rarity these days).

This guy went after it like a pro....

but what you see on the deck floor is the mess he left behind when he finished.

They had some great strawberries too!

I love fresh produce.

So do my kids apparently based on the lip smacking, finger licking, and empty plates when we were done.

Cut It Out!!!

Grant - check

Dad - check

Mom - check

Emily - check

John - check

Grace - uncheck

Grace and Grant have done this funny thing lately.  They will make lists of lots of names and then check them off one by one.

They will tape their lists to walls or doors or carry them around as a prop in their pretend play.

I am a list maker, but THIS kind of immitation is not the highest form of flattery.

It has been a cute thing to watch them do together, until......

the other day when Grace did something that Grant didn't like.

He proceeded to 'UN-check' her from his list!

That jagged spot would be where he quite angrily grabbed the scissors and proceeded to cut Grace's name right off of his list.

Poor Grace!!

See???

He went to bed pretty angry with her, but by morning everything was right with the world once again.

He made a new list and added Grace to it once again.  It is now taped securely to his bedroom door......

until next time!

Easter

Springtime is wonderful

I love the holiday with all of the fun and candy and bunnies.

I love the crafts that occasionally I have to gently inquire as to WHAT EXACTLY it is supposed to be.

(a sheep if you're still wondering)

But there is so much more to love about this time of year.

Praise God.

Just checking....

sometimes we slide a little mirror under their noses to verify they are still breathing.

exhausted after a long day napping......

wishing David would get the camera out of his face..

and hers too...

This look says "get lost you Bozo!"

it's time for his early-evening-need-to-rest-up-for-bed nap

This is about as much energy as they can muster most of the time.

Right now, Remington would probably LOVE to be out lying around the house.  We've had him locked up for a week now letting his hip rest and heal.  The vet said he needed time without activity to get better.  Good thing he's not a high energy dog.  Twenty-three hours in a kennel would drive most pups of his breed to insanity...not him though.  Doesn't seem to bother him at all.

If you're reading Uncle John, it's good to have you back in the states.  I hope we get over that way before you fly off to far away lands again!  Glad to hear your trip has met with success at what you came home to accomplish!

To those in West Salem and surrounding areas.... hope you still have walls and a roof.  It sound like you had an exciting evening yesterday.  We spent the better part of a half hour in the basement with four sleeping kids watching the TV before deciding they were making a fuss about nothing by the time it got to our area.  We headed back to bed pretty quickly after checking the radar.

Not much to post tonight.  John had batting practice. Emily enjoys the evenings without John here when he has baseball.  Grace and Grant are alternating their attentions between improving their bike riding skills and jumping on the neighbor's trampoline.  Fun times at the Shupe home.  We like to keep it exciting.

Good night.  I'm going to bed early tonight.

Be it ever so humble....

there's NO PLACE like home!

Especially if it's a home you lived in as a young married couple.

Grandma and I took a detour through the country while I was in West Salem for spring break.

We drove past the house they lived in when they returned from Idaho to Illinois.

I'm quite certain someone has probably pointed the house out to me before now, but I don't remember ever seeing it. 

The barn out back of the house looks a little more time worn than the house does.

I thought the house looked great!

Then we took one more little trip down memory lane.

This is the house in Olney that Grandma Simms lived in as a little girl before moving to the country.

I'm just sad that I didn't ever stop and take a picture of it before it was recently resided.

I remember what it looked like then, but don't have a picture of it in its original condition.

I know there are many memories evoked simply by driving past this little place in spite of the many cosmetic changes it has seen through the past twenty years.

Yeah, the boat brings memories too...

loud

scary

fast

memories...

I'm too old for all that stuff now.  That thing just looks like an invitation to a disaster where I could be the guest of honor!

No thanks.