A few more pics...

We made pancakes for the Steffen boys one Saturday morning.

It wasn't long before the shenanigans began!



We enjoyed a picnic last weekend at Miller Park with our kids and grandkids...minus Eric's...
for whom it is too far to drive on a Saturday noon. We missed them



The kids had fun playing in the water sprinklers at the park.
Well, here's Carter and Joe having fun. Phoebe wasn't thrilled with it.

Yes, that's 3 inches in the rain gauge at our house in Bloomington.
Dave's fields, once again, got not one drop.

What is wrong with this picture? If you can blow it up,
you might be able to see the man just above the center of the picture,
standing all the way inside of  the cart return. Just standing there. He must have
been overcome with the heat. It was 100+ in that parking lot!
What on earth is he doing??

Let's hope the heat spell breaks and we have a nice day on Sept. 1. I'm hoping Jerime and Staci...and many more of you...are able to come to the K5K/breakfast. It's on my calendar!

City life!

We have moved out of Eureka to the "city" of Naperville! Jerime had a job change and is now working as a project manager for a company in Sugar Grove, IL called Dispays Now. They make retail racks for stores. One of their biggest clients is Jacks Links beef jerky.

We moved into a duplex right by downtown Naperville two weeks ago. So far we love it here. I have a lot to do yet to get settled. Reagan starts school in 4 weeks so we will try to get her registered today.

We hope to make it back for the K5K in September.

RDK Summer Event

On Friday evening, July 6, the RDK family gathered at Gloria's house for a summer get-together. It was 100+ degrees, but we had ample room inside with wonderful air conditioning for the adults.

Cleve and Marty enjoy conversation

A rare opportunity for a shot of Gloria's entire family.
Joe, Jamie, Jodie, Dave
Dean, Gloria, Emma, Benjie

The kids ate outside on a fun hand-drawn art "blanket" designed by Gloria.

All it took was a little water to keep the kids cool and happy.


Thanks, Gloria, for a very nice summer evening!

TRIP TO FLORIDA

Last Thursday Angela and I went to Jacksonville Florida to move Kelsie into a new apartment. She is working down there this summer and will be a senior at Jacksonville University this Fall. Kinda hard to believe, isn't it?!? She found this one-bedroom apartment and will be there through her senior year.

Angela drove a Budget rental truck with Kelsie's bedroom set, a pair of couches, table/chairs and a variety of household items packed in tubs and boxes. She "whipped" that truck down the Interstate, up and down the hills/mountains, and through the dreaded Atlanta just like a pro! We were two days on the road and glad to get to our destination safely.

We met Kelsie at work at 4 pm on Friday. She didn't get off until 5, so we went to a nearby Publix and got a few necessities and then followed her home. These pictures are kinda mixed up, but will give you a brief look into her apartment.

This is her bedroom - all put together and decorated.

Kelsie surrounded by boxes, tubs, etc. as we get ready to "dig in". To her right is the living/dining room, and to her left is the kitchen. Notice her bike on the small patio. 



Two beauties heading to the beach - after all one can't go to Florida without hitting the beach, right? I, however, stayed "home" and read a book and took a nap.

Monday night we went to a beach-side restaurant for dinner and took a walk on the beach. Kelsie's friend Kelley went along and took this picture for us.

We made several trips to Walmart, Home Place, Publix, etc. - and in the end we were pleased with the result. I hope Kelsie will be happy there. She is a very independent, responsible young woman. Angela and I flew home early Tuesday morning - 5 am departure on Southwest Airlines, 30 minute connection in Nashville, arrived in Midway on Tuesday morning and Grandpa was there to meet us.

Cover Photo

What a nice picture of Grandma K! Ann, did you recently change the cover photo or do I just so quickly check out a new post that I missed the change?

A Parade

With Perry/Carol's comment about going to the parade in Chenoa yesterday, it reminded me of this scanned in photo which is part of a CD of photos that I recently found.  I'm pretty sure that we were sitting waiting for the 4th of July parade in front of Dad's dealership.

Nog Blog Report

Update on retirement:

1. The first day, Dave said to me, "Now we're not going to fight, now that I'm retired."
I said, "We don't fight, we just bicker."
Dave: No we don't.
Me: Yes, we do.
Dave: No we don't.
Me: Yes, we do!

2. Today Dave said to me, proudly, "I took the whole day off yesterday!:"
My response was, "You're 63 years old, we've been married over 40 years, and you can't believe you took a whole holiday off."
The man is a work horse.

It's 8 weeks until the annual K5K! Still time to get on your running shoes and get in shape! And for the non-runners, let's hope for a nice, cool morning where we can stroll the park and play with the kids. I promise a good, full breakfast for all who attend!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Happy Fourth of July to all members of the EJK Family Blog!!!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with ... picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." --Erma Bombeck

Poison Ivy

Anyone have a good remedy for poison ivy? It's not as bad as I've had in the past but it is taking it's time running its course or so it seems. I've been using hydrocortisone creme and got some Ivy Dry today.

I'm really eckled by it!!! (How's that for a good Klopfenstein word?)--don't worry no pictures coming.

More Wedding Pictures

These are two pictures that Nog Blog suggested posting. This one is Mom with Whitney and Haley, who was the maid of honor, at a bride's luncheon.

This is the engagament picture of Whitney and Josh that was in the paper since I didn't have a candid of him in the pictures that I took at the wedding.

June 29

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Ann!

Happy Retirement Day, Dave!

Looking for some rain in central Illinois! The crops are thirsty!

Wedding Pics

Here are a few pics from the big wedding Sunday evening.

Mark was there as well but this was a quick snap with the mother of the bride before the ceremony.

 This is a view of the wedding site. You can see the ropes hung from tree to tree. Windows were suspended from the ropes to give an idea of a room or an enclosed area. The picture doesn't do the site justice for the work involved or the intimacy of it.

 This is a mantle at the front of the site where the ceremony was held. What was unknown was that there was an M80 (? since I don't know fireworks) hidden behind the logs and a battery trigger on the back of the mantle. The best man reached behind and lit the firework when Whit and Josh were announced as husband and wife. Another interesting tidbit is that the cross is sitting on the mantle for the ceremony as it was suspended from the ropes as well. However, the day before and earlier in the day it was not on the mantle but the humidity caused the rope to sag and lower the cross.

 This is precious Emma entering the wedding.

 The best pic I have of the beautiful bride and her introspective father. The wedding was even more special as Josh's father is a minister. He personalized the wedding of his son and a wonderful girl that the Bateman's have known essentially her entire life as well.

 Had to share this picture to show Emma. She certainly knows what a camera is. When one is pointed at her she immediately grins and if you don't get the picture fast enough she throws her head back continuing her cheesy grin. What a sweetheart.

Cuteness Alert

Sunday night was Whitney's wedding.  It was an outdoor ceremony at the home of some friends of theirs who have a nice place way out in the country, and it was beautiful.  I didn't have a camera with me, but "stole" this off of facebook - it's Lindsay's little girl being wheeled in a wagon up the aisle.  On the back of the wagon was a sign saying "Here comes the Bride."  I think she is absolutely adorable!!!

Here is a link to a fine article about Uncle Perry and his latest writing endeavor, "A Pilgrim's Journey." The article appeared in the Pontiac Daily Leader on Thursday, June 21. Check it out!http://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/news/x1660534855/Klopfenstein-pens-autobiography

Back in Action

Well, I've been totally away from here for awhile.  We took a spur of the moment trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to see Mike's beloved Gamecocks play in the College World Series.  It was a great trip - I've outlined it in more detail on my own blog.

We tried to stop for a few minutes to see Maria's family and meet the new baby, but Brandon got sick the night before we were coming, so that got scratched.  Sure hope he's a lot better by now.  Maria missed out on a jar of my homemade strawberry jam, but maybe we can fix that later on sometime!

If you're ever 45 minutes south of Omaha, I highly recommend Lied Lodge.  It's run by the Arbor Day Foundation and was a lovely place to stay.

Will try to catch up on what's been happening here in the past week or two!

Happy Father's Day...I think!

TIME FOR A CHANGE

It's a bright, sunny, and hot day in Gridley, although we're expecting and hoping for some much-needed rain later today. Everything's been pretty quiet and uneventful since the "reunion" of a couple weeks ago.

We plan to go to the visitation/funeral of a very dear friend, Evy Reis later this morning. She is a native of Chenoa, but lived in Meadows when I worked there. You may have seen her obit in the Pantagraph about a week ago.

Some pictures to share include the daisy bush which is just beginning to bloom,  a hanging pot that I purchased ready-made and is thriving, a quilt waiting for me to finish the binding, AND the new vehicle which now matches the truck. The electronics are a struggle, but the drive is SMOOTH!! What a difference seven years make!!  

Grandma Time

         Milan's first Sunday morning--- going to church with his family.

                  How exciting to wake up to another day with baby brother!

                                            Milan Perry Emch

I spent five days with this precious family.  What a special time!   ---Carol

The Gas Game

The comments on a previous post reverted to the current price of gas in various areas of the country the K's represent. I mentioned that gas was at $3.47 and wasn't sure if I should fill up with half a tank or hope it would come down even more with the price of crude oil dropping. I called it The Gas Game to fill up at optimal time.

Today at lunch the cry went out through the building "Gas is going up" so I headed over to Meijer which was still at $3.44 while Speedway a block away had raised the price to $3.79 a gallon. I would love the explanation for the .35 jump!

Did the price of gas spike in  your area today?

Bloomington Muralist

Speaking of newspapers, if you pull up the Sunday Pantagraph online...or from your stack of papers :) you will see a picture of the Girl Scouts painting a mural on a downtown Bloomington building. The article states that there was a contest among the Girl Scouts and the winning entry was selected and is now being painted. It says that "Bloomington Muralist Martin Klopfenstein" sketched the mural on the building for the girls to fill in. He has done several murals in the downtown area, and in private homes in the area.

Newspapers

Rhoda made these observations about newspaper reading on her blog.  A lot of K's are news readers - I'd be interested to know what you think.  Do you think print newspapers are on the way out?  If so - is that a good or a bad thing?

Somebody. . .

I just found out that SOMEBODY in this family is celebrating one of those milestone birthdays today.  Somebody who makes everyone else chuckle because of her great posts and comments.  Does the celebrant want to come forward on her own and 'fess up?

KLOPFENSTEIN COUSINS GET-TOGETHER

We had a wonderful day with the Klopfenstein first cousins today.

 Catherine, Carolyn, and Mim



 Jim K, Perry K, Larry Stahl, Gene K, Paul K, Ada, Nancy K Davis, Lynn, Alice, Merle K, and Carolyn K Schlipf

All the guests except the photographer, Paul K are in this picture. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the event. About half of us went on the cemetery-grave-visit and stayed for the Memorial Day Service, but due to the heat, some went back to our house or just came in time for lunch.  

 Paul K, Carolyn, Jim K, Ada, Gene K, Perry K, Larry Stahl, Nancy Davis, Alice, Merle W, Lynn.

 Note the burned bush. A neighbor to the north called our house to say there was smoke and flames at the northwest corner of our house! Fortunately we had the fire out before the trucks arrived. Mulch under the bushes/trees somehow kindled a fire!

Certainly reminded us of Christmas at Perry's. If Denny hadn't been home and seen the smoke/flames, our bedroom wall might've been destroyed before we discovered the fire!

All's well that ends well. We thank the Lord for watching over us. It was a wonderful day - and they all want to do it again next year! Hope you all had a great Memorial Day.



Milan

                                 Milan Perry Emch
                                 6 lb 1 oz 18 1/2" long
                                 Born @ 2:27 am, May 26, 2012

Milan Perry Emch

Perry and I are happy to announce the arrival of our 15th grandchild.  Brandon and Maria have a new son, born this morning at about 2:30 am.  He was 6 lbs 1 oz.  Milan's siblings are:  Anna, Timon, Jesse and Alice. Hopefully we will have pictures to show you soon.   ---Carol

READY FOR OUR REUNION

We've been busy for the last few weeks getting our yard spruced up and our flowers planted. I've picked a few to show you. My "color palette" this year is green, yellow, orange with a little red and blue thrown in. I painted all my old pots in bright colors and they have really brightened our deck. I made the tablecloth and chair pads - wish I'd bought more of that fabric so I could've covered the backs of the chairs also.

 Front porch - got the chair from the Antique Shoppe in Fairbury and painted it yellow.

 Our turtle is enjoying the zinnias and petunias. This morning when I opened the front door to get the nenwspaper, a rabbit ran out of this garden, stopped at the end of the sidewalk and looked at me like "get out of my way!". I just stood and stared at him as he stared back at me. After about 4 or 5 minutes he hopped smartly back to the purple petunias at which time I yelled and chased him (or her) away. The nerve of that little fellow!!

I love the new birdbath. You can see one of several rose bushes which are loaded with buds and should be in full bloom by Monday. 

A view of the deck w/painted pots.  I have begged for years for something to hang the hose on - finally got it this year and I love it! Thanks to my long-time sweetie.



 These 12 grave decorations will go to all the Klopfenstein gravesites at the cemetery - at least I hope I got all of them. I copied them from Jeffrey Alens.

These two will go to Chenoa to Jerry's parents and siblings graves.



Wetzel-Celis Update

Well, it's been awhile since I wrote an update on our family, so I thought I would get one done today. I came home from work not feeling well today ~ slept awhile, then went to the store to buy some food to make a good dinner. In actuality, it wasn't really a "good" dinner, but it was alot better than the ones we've had for the last couple weeks. I just do not like to make dinner at all.

Early this month, Jerry and I went to Jacksonville to move Kelsie from one place to another. She is staying in Florida this summer to work at at State Farm agent's office. We helped her for a couple days and then spent a few days on the beach. There was a surfing contest right outside our hotel. That crowd, plus the "super moon," made for an interesting time! Kelsie has one more year of college left, with one of the semesters to be spent in Thailand. More to come on that at a later date.

Nathan has one day and one hour left of Kindergarten. He's had a great year and made many friends. This summer, he'll spend his days at State Farm daycamp and another daycare's daycamp. I hope they wear him out, because he sure has alot of energy. As I type, he jumping over me from one couch to the other.

Heater is graduating from Normal West High School this Saturday. The ceremony will be in the US Cellular Colesium and we will have a little gathering here afterwards. Her plans are to go to Paul Mitchell School of Cosmetology, starting in June or July.

Heather is still managing at Chipotle and having a good time with lots of friends. We see her about once a week or so. Yesterday, she joined us at the Strollathon for Rett Syndrome with the Poppen Family (from Gridley). It's also worth mentioning that she has a dog that I love. Yes, it's true. I even let the dog ride in my car with me from time to time.

I'm still with State Farm, having recently been assigned to a project called Integrated Customer Platform. My little piece of it is to build/buy a content management system to store, track, use marketing messages. I also continue to do my "for fun" job -- with 31. Jerry is still with the State, transferring to an office in Peoria in a week or two. It will be good for him (and our Ford Focus) to have a much shorter drive.

We've been working on our house, and it is now for sale. If you know someone looking for a nice, large home in a very family-friendly neighborhood, have them call me! Friends and neighbors ask when they see the sign, "What are your plans?" And we always tell them, "To sell the house."

I've found that having a little boy is much different than having little girls. No longer do we spend the evenings on the couch rubbing feet and brushing hair. We now entertain oursevles with made-up jokes ("Why did the spray go to the bug?" "To kill the bug." And then I must laugh.) and homemade wrestling matches. Here's a pic of a recent one. Nathan always wins!

Hope to see you all at the annual K5K later in the year!