Well, I'm on the way to the airport, heading to Japan. Always nerve racking wondering what I forgot. Today it was cash. What have you forgotten on a trip?

Rend Lake

All 25 of us spent three nights in southern Illinois at Rend Lake. We stayed in two condominiums side by side at Seasons Lodge. It was a fun and memorable time! We just got back this afternoon.

Julia and Jesse, both two, enjoyed the sand while the others were in the water. Carol (and Perry)

Royalty?

Michelle and I never thought of ourselves as the "Toddlers and Tiaras" type so were a little surprised when Grace said she wanted to be in our town's pageant.  But we bought her a couple of pretty dresses and tried to manage her expectations.  After all, she was on the younger end of the "Junior" group - several girls are in the 10th grade and they have several years of pageant experience (Grace is entering 7th) .  Of course, we thought she could do well - she's pretty easy going and has performed in a couple of park district plays.

Then the day of the pageant came.  And she absolutely blew everybody away (mostly me and Michelle).  She even spoke a few sentences in Spanish during her prepared speech - something she will never do for us at home.  Strangers came up to us afterward and said they knew she would win a few seconds into her speech.  And her poise and personality really showed in the pop question - she handled it like a pro.

And the result?  She won!  Her first event will be the 4th parade this weekend and starts a year that sounds like a lot of work and a lot of fun.  (Not sure what she's got us into!)

Here's Junior Miss Vernon Hills 2011:

Southern Knobloch Update - Spring/Summer 2011

Well, been a while since I've posted on the blog. It's been a crazy wild spring and summer. I'm going to give my updates in pictures, so this may be a long ...... post. I think I'll be making up for not posting over past few months all at one time. Hopefully you won't feel like this.


Our most recent project has been shingling our roof. We actually finished TODAY and as you can tell by the pictures, it was a family affair. We were blessed because it started to sprinkle when we had 3 shingles left to put down. It was pouring by the time we were finished cleaning up. The project is finally finished. We started Memorial Day weekend and have worked on it on and off over the weeks between.


Retta and I hosted "Food Fear Factor" for the youth group at the end of April. We had several "games" that involved food challenges. Most, if not all, were disgusting. We had several kids puke and everybody was covered in food substance. The games included, eating chocolate pudding mixed with corn & Mt. Dew from a diaper, drinking a blended Happy Meal, eating pigs feet, spam, etc. The point of our lesson was that sin is always a bad thing, regardless of the fact that sometimes it seems fun or harmless. Just as some food is obviously no good, so are some sins. However, some of the foods we ate are good, but when eaten to excess or in a different way than normal, they make you sick. So it is with sin. It may seem okay or harmless or even tolerable, but it will always make you sin sick and impact our relationship with God.
Egg pass. Passing a dozen broken eggs through each person and seeing how much they could collect at the end of the line.
Racing to finish a jalapeno hot dog covered in hot sauce.
Giving Egg pass instructions.

This spring, Retta & the kids went to Inner City Mission in Springfield and help do cleaning, arrangement of a clothing closet and other things. They had a great time.

We've always got some kids around our house. It's either the boyfriends, Retta's friends, the youth group, neighbor kids, who ever. Retta loves to have a "full house", the more the merrier. This picture was taken during a recent youth night at our house.


Chris and I attended a "No Girls Allowed" weekend retreat with the Jr High and High Schools boys in youth group. The camp had a "ropes course" and we did several of the activities where the kids had to work together as a team to accomplish the task.
Here they are trying to figure out how to get everybody through the openings in the ropes without touching the ropes or more than one person going through any one hole.
Here they are all trying to get onto a tree log that is suspended by two chains.

At the end of May we had a talent show at church. Chris participated in a "dramatic presentation" of Elijah and the prophets of Baal making a sacrifice. In the picture, Christian is in yellow and is dancing around the alter meant for Baal.


The kids participated in Mission Olney the first week of June. Mission Olney was started by our Youth Pastor 3 years ago. Several churches in town partner together and have the youth conduct community service projects all week in town. They paint/clean city property, businesses and homes of people who need help, work at the local food pantry, and they go to the nursing homes and play games with the residents. Chris got his picture in the print version of local newspaper. Retta did a good job of hiding from the camera, but was captured in one picture.



Adrian has a summer babysitting job. Drew spends every weekday with Adrian while his mom works at the local hospital. It's not a difficult job as you can see below.


We've (Retta & Kids & friends) have spent a lot of time in the pool this summer. So far, it's been a lot easier to keep clean this year. We discovered at the end of the season last year that our pump was not working in it's optimum condition. So far the only issue we've had this year has been "Chlorine Lock" due to the heat and rain. We had to over Chlorinate to get the water to start reacting to chlorine properly.


Amber's boyfriend James and his family have become fixtures at our house. We joke that we don't know who is dating James. It's either Amber or Chris because they both spend about the same amount of time with him.


Of course, Adrian and George are together each and every weekend. George goes to school in Ohio during the week & is home on weekends. For his parents, it must be as if he doesn't come home from school, because they can't see him much during waking hours.

Retta and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on May 16th. We went out to eat and saw a movie in Effingham. During our anniversary reflection, we commented that we've had a few good years, a few not so good years and a bunch of years that were just OK. I praise God that the good years have been the recent ones! We're targeting at least 51 more years of marriage, Lord willing.
Picture taken the night we were re-engaged.

My life is pretty much consumed by work. Even with the manufacturing supply issues caused by the Tsunami and nucular events in Japan, we have been working many hours. We did have limited production for a month, but as of June 6th are back in full swing. I normally leave for work around 6:05 and get back in the house in the evening between 7:00 ~ 9:00. I am my father's son.
My "little buddy" Okada-San. Okada is my Japanese coordinator and is both the cause of and solution to most of my problems. Here he is concerned that all this material is sitting behind a sign that clearly says not to put it there. He called me out of a meeting to show me this and explain to me that he could not understand the "American Mind". How could they ignore the sign?

New temporary employees going through our "training dojo". This was a project I worked on for about 2 weeks, developing a training program to be used to increase the knowledge of new employees quickly. We cover Safety, Quality and TPS (Toyota Production System). While developing this project, I discovered that the Toyota Production System, which is the benchmark of worldwide manufacturing, is actually based on Piggly Wiggly's soda supply method. Back in the early days of manufacturing, some Toyota executives visited a Ford plant and met with Henry Ford to understand how he was making cars at a low price. They were not impressed. That night, they went to the grocery store to get food supplies. They observed how a new Coke bottle would slide into place at the front of the line each time the front bottle was removed. This observation at a Piggly Wiggly was the inspiration of TPS.


Manufacturing Team Member meeting with one of my QC Team members explaining a defect we shipped to the customer and what actions should be taken to prevent it from happening again.

I will be leaving for Japan on June 30th, returning on July 7th. I have a week long meeting to study the new Toyota Highlander seats that will go into production in October of 2013. That's right, we are already working very hard on this project that is 2 years away. If you notice the dates, we will actually start our meeting on Sunday and finish on Wednesday, working every day in between. Due to the fact that 2 of the power plants are off line the manufacturing plants have all been assigned days that they can run production. Toyota is on a Sunday to Thursday schedule.

I've been practicing my chop sticks. Actually, I haven't. I normally use chop sticks at the Chinese restaurant anyway.

We also have a mission trip to the Tuscaloosa Alabama area scheduled. Retta, the kids, and several others from church will be traveling to Tuscaloosa on July 6th, staying through July 13th. I hope to join them when I return from Japan. Our current church is partnering with our old Alabama church to assist in the continuing cleanup activities in the area. Our house in Alabama was located between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. The path of the tornado was about 4 miles north of our home (which we still own, have rented out, but also for sale *prayer request*). We collected home goods and canned goods last month at church and a couple from church drove them down (van & trailer load) to Tuscaloosa a week ago. They took video of the damage in Tuscaloosa. I couldn't believe what I saw in the video, utter destruction for blocks and blocks. We know several people who lost everything in the storm. It just makes us thankful for the protecting hand of God upon us thus far.
Well, I think I'll let y'all go for now. I've enjoyed reading what everyone else has posted, even if I haven't made any myself. I'll try not to go as long between next time. EDK

They don't call it a "paint job" for nothing...

Well, it is past time to do some painting in our house. Some walls really need a good covering up, and some rooms just need freshening.

No problem. I love to paint...except when:

the cheap paint bubbles on the wall,
the cheap rollers leave fuzzies on the wall,
the new expensive paint and rollers also leave bubbles and fuzzies on the wall,
paint gets on the woodwork,
paint splatters on the hardwood floor,
the clean-up is just as much work as the painting,
and when I get all done,

I don't really like the color I've just spent hours putting on.

Jeffrey K.'s Baseball Tournament

Got this email from Molly about Jeffrey's tournament and thought I'd pass it on. Sounds like that boy is quite a ballplayer! He's the third one on the front row.

Hi Ann,

I know you like to put things on the blog. If you’re interested, Jeff’s team won a baseball tournament in Panama City Beach last weekend.

Here’s the link to the article and I’ll send a photo from my phone.

Molly

GONE PICKING!!

We drove to Le Claire, Iowa, to visit the American Pickers Antique Archeology place. Hard to describe this place, but if you ever watch the show, you will enjoy these pictures.



Now sure what Jerry's looking at here . . . ? We actually saw Mike talking to some people on main street, but he wasn't at the shop when we were there. We'll probably stop by in the morning to see if he's in. Hoping to have a good German dinner at BierSteub next door.

Uh-Oh!

I had Mom to the doctor today for a 6-month check-up. She got a glowing report and is physically doing very well. Then here comes the memory test. It was her first one ever. She had a hard time hearing and understanding the questions, but in the end her answers were mostly correct. When it came to "Repeat these three words after me," the doctor had to repeat them several times until Mom could even hear what she was saying. "Apple, table, penny."

After several more questions, she asked Mom, "Can you repeat the words I said earlier?" Mom couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do, so after more instructions, the doctor finally said, "Do you remember...apple...??" Mom was blank. Then, dread the thought, the doctor looked at me and said, "Can you remember them?"

Mom and I both got 26 out of 30 on the memory test.

STORMS IN GRIDLEY

About 10 minutes ago, I looked out the front door and there was a very large, BLACK cloud. I had to take a picture. This picture is from our driveway looking south. As Jerry and I were standing in the drive, he said to me "listen" - and we heard the raindrops in the cornfield across the street towards Meiss's house. We hurried to go in - we can't really "run" anymore - and barely got in the front door when it began pouring. Didn't last long, but it was one of several rains in the last couple hours - and maybe more to come.


The next picture is two quilts that I put together in Florida a couple years ago and last year had the ladies quilt them for me. I finally finished the binding on them. I'd say the little one is a little girl's doll/play blanket and the larger one might fit a jr-size or twin bed, but is probably just good as a picnic or beach blanket.

The next blanket is finished and ready for a lady in Pontiac who is a regular "client" of ours. This is called the Tree of Life. It turned out very nice. It is the first one that I completed the binding on the sewing machine instead of by hand. Sure was a lot easier and faster and I think it looks good.

And, last but not least, is Ann's garage sale quilt. Sorry it took me so long Ann. I actually think it turned out looking pretty good. The picture is kinda dark so a little hard to see, but I used a tan border that kinda brought all the colors together. If you want it, I'll send it to you. If not, I'll probably keep it for awhile and eventually give it to World Relief.

Wetzel-Celis Update

Well...I had a cleverly written post done the other night, but I lost it. Am just getting the nerve to try again, but am not feeling as whitty. Here's what we're all up to:

Heather moved into an apartment on Grove Street, so for the past couple weeks we've been cleaning, painting, moving, etc. to get her all set up. It's a very cute, 2-story apartment in the back of a house. Four other units are in the front of the house. She has a brick patio, which is totally shaded by huge trees. Just this weekend, we furnished the living room. Here's a pic:



Kelsie is working at State Farm this summer, so most days we ride together. She's working on a special project in the HR department, where they are transferring a ton of paper files to electronic files. I went to Corporate South to have lunch with her last week, and we caused quite a scene when a huge spider showed up. I took off my shoe and smacked it, and a glob of guts flew across the table onto her arm. We both screamed, and nearly cried too. Needless to say, we went inside to finish eating our salad, but neither of us felt too good about it, always wondering if it was Ceasar dressing or spider guts that we were eating.

Heater is home for the summer and terribly bored. She will be a Senior this fall, and is ready to just get it going. She's a great help around the house, and especially with Nathan. Those two can play video games and do sidewalk chalk for hours. She will probably spend some time with her mom's family this summer, although we have not scheduled it yet.

Nathan's going to Summer Camp at his daycare center, so he's in with the "big kids." They have been busy with field trips, water gun fights, taking care of a dog at the humane society, holding a bake sale, etc. He will be in Kindergarten this fall -- in Hudson. Here are the Sunflowers we planted that will let us know when it's time to start school by blooming:




Jerry's driving every day to Springfield to work for the State of Illinois. I'm still at State Farm, but am selling 31 in my "free time." We just celebrated our 10th anniversary with a nice weekend in Rock Island where we attended the Gumbo Ya Ya, a Cajun music festival.

All in all, life's good on our boat! We hope to see some of you at the second annual K5K!

Glasses!

This picture was supposed to be last, but I have uploaded three times and cannot get it where I want it! Anyway, the kiddos have been enjoying our pool very much. I must admit swimming is much less relaxing/enjoyable as a mother than it was as a kid! But it is a great energy outlet for them, and gives them good exercise. Anna and Timon are both little fishes, and Timon seems to spend 75% of his time UNDER water! He is often seen diving to the bottom of the 8ft to retrieve a pair of goggles that sunk down.

Since Ann asked, the big news in our family is our two oldest getting glasses! They both got their first pair within the last two weeks. They are amazed at how different things look!.... I'm so glad for them that they can see clearly now, even though they didn't no any different before and thought the world they saw was normal.

Here's an updated snapshot off all four....Jesse, Alice, Anna, Timon. Actually pretty amazing to get Alice to sit still on Anna's lap AND smile for a picture!

I Want to Know--

--How is Perry II doing by now with his recovery?

--Are there any new stories about any of the kiddos? Surely Shelley, Staci, Maria, Angela, or someone else has a good story to tell.

--How does Casey and Jamie's house look by now? Never saw a finished picture--

--Jen, are your girls gaining any weight?

--Drake, how are your children doing with their musical instruments? We haven't gotten a video for awhile.

--Whatever happened with all the baby birds?

--How are all of the 2nd generation doing (EJK and Anna being the 1st)?

--Ada - how are you doing? Any better?

--Anyone not mentioned by name (sorry, not intentional!!) - what is happening of interest? (I do know that we have a wedding tomorrow - Jaimie Medlen is getting married in Birmingham, and I hope Mom, Mary, or Rhoda will have pictures after the event.)

--Eric, what was the "Mission Olney" I saw on Facebook?

--And finally - Nog Blog, surely you have something entertaining up your sleeve!!

UPDATE

Well - I've been diagnosed with pleurisy! Must be wrong because I'm pretty sure that's an old people's disease! Dr. told me to continue the medicine until it's gone and by then I should be better. Unfortunately the antibiotic makes me sick, but I'll just have to "deal with it". And since the news was better than I thought it might be, I'll not complain anymore, but just be thankful.

NIGHT IN THE ER

Good Morning - well, "afternoon" actually. Yesterday afternoon, I had some mild discomfort in the left side of my chest that lasted for an hour or so then went away. Then about 9 0'clock, it came back but was much worse. In fact it was very painful with any little move I made. I tried to lay down, but couldn't. I figured it was one of two things - heart attack or a failure of some sort of my reconstructed breast. We finally decided about 10:30 to go to the emergency room at St. Joe's.

They were very busy so I had to sit in triage for about an hour when a nurse called me and took my information and gave me an EKG which, thankfully, was fine as were all other vitals. So I went back to the waiting room to wait for a doctor - another hour or so! Went through the routine of blood tests, x-ray, inserting an IV line (which was never used) etc. I had to lay very still as any movement was quite painful. The finally determined that I had a "breast inflammation".

Well, we waited, waited, waited - finally got a little impatient and got somewhat upset with the nurse and told them to do what they could and let me go home! She got an order of vicodan from the dr. which immediately put me in "lala land". The dr. came in and explained that she had been busy with an accident victim with a two broken knees and a broken neck and other injuries.

Finally at 4:30 we left, stopped at Walgreens to pick up vicodan and an antibiotic, and got home at 5:30. I tried to lay in bed, but couldn't so I slept in the recliner. I've been sleeping most of the time since then. That vicodan is good stuff!! I have an appointment at 3:30 tomorrow with Dr. Allen - the plastic surgeon who did the reconstruction 12 years ago. In the meantime, I'll be fairly comfortable with my little pills and will update you when I know more.

Summer Reading

We went to the library this week to sign up for the summer reading program. While the boys were making their book selections I went upstairs to find something for myself, but didn't see anything that really caught my eye. So I came home and pulled one off my own bookshelf - an easy read. Last summer I read a lot of Jane Austen novels and also checked out several books from my Mom's basement library. I know we have had posts on this before, so I thought I would ask again. What books are on your summer reading list? Any good recommendations?

Google comes through again!

Usually I have four different types of flour in my cupboard: all-purpose, self-rising, bread, and whole wheat. Since I now do little baking, the flour lasts a long time. Yesterday Ann requested a buttermilk chocolate cake for Mary Lee's birthday. No problem, except one container was unlabeled--was it the self rising I needed? Usually I keep the containers well labeled but something went awry. What could I do but go to Google about the dilemma. The suggestion was to take a teaspoon of the suspected flour and mix with a little vinegar. Bubbles should emerge from the vinegar reacting with the baking powder in self-rising. The flour WAS self-rising flour and the cake turned out great. What did I ever do without Google for my questions.

Cousins on TV

You will recognize several of the children in this video. As Ada said on Facebook (paraphrased) - they picked the cutest and smartest ones there to interview. :-)

Picnic at Gloria's

Lots of pictures were taken today at an RDK picnic at Gloria's house. The weather was hot, the food was good, and the conversations were many.


The kids played with the hose while the adults gathered under the canopy. It was the old-fashioned way to beat the heat.


The kids found a shady spot to eat.


Mom enjoying watching all the activity.


A four generation picture.


Most of the "girls" who were there. Notice Kalyn, one of Jake's, with the white parrot on her shoulder.


We finally got smart and put the kids to work!


I couldn't resist posting this cute picture of my granddaughters, Kalyn and Phoebe.

I know many others took pictures, so maybe we'll some other special images of the successful gathering.

A few months ago Sonya and Jodie planned an event where all 7 siblings and Mom got together and reminisced while Sonya taped. A highlight of today was the disbursement of DVD's that Sonya made from editing the video and adding valuable old pictures throughout the stories that we told. Wonderful! Thank you Jodie and Sonya for preserving so many memories for our family.

ANOTHER QUILT COMPLETED

I finally finished this Sunbonnet Sue quilt set. It is a queen-sized quilt and a 4-square wall-hanging complete with prairie-points around the edges. Lots of tedious work!!

For my lunch today, I made a salad with the greens from my living salad bowl and included bacon, shredded cheese and toasted almonds. Delicious. That living salad bowl has been very productive - we love it.