"Runners, start your engines...."

                             
                                            KLOP  FAMILY  FUN-RUN  2011
Was this the prompting of bigger and better things for many?  Longer distances, faster times, etc.?

In keeping with the Distance Running theme (see the impressive Marathon post below), it was suggested that I post my Trivia Question here as a post:  
Baseball slugger Hank Aaron hit 755 career home runs.  How many miles did he run, cumulatively, in just circulating the bases -- (not counting the jog from home-plate to the dugout)?  In fairness, please wait until after 6 p.m. Central Time tomorrow evening (Thurs.) to respond. 
The first correct answer after that time gets a prize.

Hint:  all the bases are 90 feet apart. 

Runners

It's a beautiful day here in Central Illinois!  We'll be spending a portion of it at a Jr. High Track Meet.  Which made me wonder which Klopfenstein runners have big race plans this summer.  I think Jen is running the Illinois Marathon today in Champaign.  Anyone else have upcoming races we can cheer for?  Or just recreational/daily running plans?  I'd love to hear them.

Have to post a picture too - it's from a cell phone, so not the best quality.  This is my oldest at a track meet earlier this spring.  His relay teams are doing great this year.  (His 4x200 set a new school record last week!)

Shelley

Houston, We Have a Problem!

Yesterday Phoebe (Jake and Malissa's) had this big cast put on her little leg. She was "attacked" by some table leaves that fell on her and she wouldn't put weight on that leg. It was a hairline fracture, but she is fitted with this non-weight-bearing cast for 6 weeks! Poor honey! I believe she has a sucker in her mouth here and is taking it all pretty well.

Add-on:
I had Phoebe today while Malissa was in school (massage therapy) and she was adapting to that cast with no problem. A friend stopped over and brought her little dog in and Phoebe was thrilled with it! I took a couple of pictures and after the dog was gone, I carried Phoebe into the office to print off the pictures for her. I got it done and I took the pictures into the living room where I was going to cut them to size for her. I said, "Come on, Phoebe, we're going to cut the pictures out." She didn't come, so I said again, "Come here, Phoebe, let's get these pictures ready and you can take them home with you." Pretty soon I heard a little voice, "I can't walk..."

Oh yeah. I forgot.

I made a new friend this weekend. Do any of you Klopfensteins recognize her?

Two Stories and a Picture

To piggyback on Ann’s previous post I’ll tell you the two parts she mentioned. My flight itinerary was to leave Dallas at 7:50 p.m. CDT and arrive in Greenville-Spartanburg at 11:00 EDT. It was a direct flight so there was no concern about missing a connection since we left Dallas almost an hour late. It seemed as if the flight was going very, very long when the pilot came on and said that due to heavy fog at GSP we were being forced to land at Charlotte, NC. Dad, Mom, Mary and Joey went to GSP for my 11:00 arrival, but the police were there to tell them that the airport was shut down and they would have to leave. My flight landed in Charlotte and I was able to get off the plane just after midnight. The crew needed 11 hours off and then the plane would go to GSP at 11:00 the next morning. I really didn’t want to get to Mom and Dad’s early afternoon on Saturday and have only 27 hours there so I got in the rental car line. A man walked in and said he negotiated with a minivan taxi driver to take a group to GSP; at 12:30 AM I crawled into a minivan with 7 strangers and barreled down I-85 to Greenville/Spartanburg. Dad, Mom, Mary and Joey had gone back to Anderson which is about a 45-60 minute drive from the airport while I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Joey and Mary returned to the airport to pick me up just after 2 AM and then we got to Mom and Dad’s at 3:00.

It was a very short night!!!

And now for the pies as if the flight fiasco wasn’t enough.

My contribution to the brunch was to make a strawberry and a pecan pie as Mom loves pie. I thought about buying a Marie Callender’s triple berry, but it just seemed wrong to buy a pie for such a great pie maker!!! However, I did let go of my pride and used pie shells that Mom had made and had in the freezer.  I baked the shell for the strawberry pie while making the pecan pie mix. The pecan pie had to bake for 70 minutes. I was sure I had figured the time right, but then I messed up the timer while the pie was baking. I guessed at how much time was left. Mary told me we didn’t have nearly that amount of time before we were to leave for the restaurant. I didn’t know what to do especially because I was in the middle of the strawberry glaze fiasco. I followed a recipe for the glaze but it never gelled. I wondered if the corn starch was old and bad but Mom said she had never heard of that. I have never had the glaze not gel. I decided to try a second batch. Some recipes called to boil it for 1 minute and some for 3 minutes. I let it boil and boil and boil as I kept thinking it looked as if it was starting to gel. Finally yes, it was gelling!!! I took it off the stove and went to get the strawberries. A couple of minutes later I looked and the glaze was hard, hard, hard like sea crystals!!!

By then it was time to leave so we took the pecan pie out of the oven. The crust looked great and the top was obviously done but who knew what it was like underneath. Dad looked at it and said, “What kind of pie is that?” That didn’t help the situation. I cut a bit into the middle and it appeared to be runny. I just left it and by the time we were back from dinner it appeared to be just right.

After dinner we stopped at the grocery store to get “fresh” corn starch. I tried another batch of glaze, and same thing. By now I was determined to make this pie. I sacrificed more of my pride and asked Mom for help. Thankfully she got it to make glaze and not just a watery mixture of water, sugar and corn starch or crystals!

Some of you know of the many issues I have when flying so this just adds to my list of flying disasters. Thankfully the return trip Sunday evening was uneventful. There was not a cloud in the sky from GSP to DFW so I got to see such great scenery the entire trip.

In the end we had two pies that didn’t look that great but tasted ok, and made for an additional story of my weekend.

I’m also adding my favorite picture of the weekend—Andrew led everyone in singing Happy Birthday to Mom. After that she wanted him to do the same for John Michael. The only way Andrew could see was for JM to sit on Grandma’s lap!

Big Birthday Party

We had a big birthday party here yesterday.  Mary, Joey, Rhoda (who flew in from Texas), Mark, Molly, all of their children, and Mary Lee were all here to celebrate Mom's milestone birthday.  We didn't get many pictures, but Rhoda has just emailed these to me from her phone.  We had a big brunch-type meal, with shrimp and grits, roast beef and chicken salad small sandwiches, broccoli casserole, green salad, fruit, deviled eggs.  For dessert we had chocolate cake, and Rhoda made strawberry and pecan pies.  I will not tell the story of the making of those pies.  She can if she wants to--as well as the story of her not-so-fun flight here. :-)

John Michael has a birthday this week as well, so we celebrated him as well.  He turns 17.  Hard to believe he is that old - and very tall also.

And I think here all are watching John Michael open his present from Grandma.  She picked out a bow tie for him.  When five teenagers and twenty-somethings all say "ooohh," you know she must have done a good job.  That's high praise.

Before the meal we were able to skype with Andrew.  Couldn't talk long as it was already midnight his time.  Today I discovered that someone took a screen shot of the Skype conversation, so will include it as well.

Mom opening her gifts.

It was a nice day to celebrate Mom's and John Michael's birthdays.

Happy Anniversary

This morning Mary made the observation that 57 years ago in 1957 Mom and Dad got married.

That means that 7 years ago many of our family were in Alabama celebrating their 50th anniversary.

I realize I'm biased but I don't any other couple that loves God, each other, and their family more.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Week-end in Kansas

Perry and I just returned from a few days in Kansas with Brandon and Maria and their children.  We enjoyed a fun and relaxing get-a-way.  We left Thursday at 6 pm from Galesburg on the Amtrak and returned to Galesburg about 12:30 pm. today.  Jesse (5) looks quite grown up in his new glasses and we celebrated Alice's 4th birthday.  The new baby is due in late May when Milan turns 2.   --- Carol

Heiniger Update

Hello from the Heinigers! We stay pretty busy around here with home schooling, choir, swimming lessons, and co-op. Ethne is in 4th grade, Catie is in 1st, and Riley and Gavin are anxiously counting the days until they can start Kindergarten.

Ethne loves to read and write. Almost every day she works on a story, and has 50+ "books" finished. I love seeing this trait in her. We plan to focus a lot on creative writing next school year.

Catie has discovered she can read. At the beginning of the year, she was convinced it was too hard and was below grade level. Then we found the Mercy Watson series. Almost overnight she caught up, and in another month she was advanced. I'd now say she's reading at least a year above. It's fun hearing her read out loud; she constantly interrupts herself with commentary.

Riley is a force to be reckoned with. She rules her preschool class, her Sunday school class, her co-op class, and her siblings. Look for great things from her. She especially loves to sing and can really belt out power ballads and Sunday school songs.

Gavin is a high energy boy. He loves to climb, run, and jump. He's great at taking things apart and getting into trouble. He's also the first one to get all his chores done every day. He loves being a helper.

I'm training for my sixth marathon on April 26 in Champaign. This will be my third in six months, after which I plan to take a nice, long break from longer distances. I've set a personal best in my last two races and expect to do so again with this one. My running has improved a lot since I changed my diet. Who new my fuel source was holding me back so much?

Brett keeps busy at Caterpillar. His singing group Amazing Love will be headlining the Midwest Gospel Sing this year, an event I believe Uncle Cleve is helping organize. I may be biased, but every time they sing there I think they're the best act of the night. They are all talented individuals and have a talented leader getting the best from them.

Well, that's about all from us. Hopefully we'll have some fun updates later this year from our family trip to the Creation Museum and Brett's and my trip to Thailand to visit his brother and sister-in-law.

Steffen Update

I read Aunt Ada's appeal for new posts.  I always enjoy hearing everyone else's updates, so here's mine...

I celebrated my 40th birthday back in January and Sam gave me the perfect gifts.  An iPad and a vintage 1920s Royal Typewriter.  He laughed that I spent more time playing with the typewriter than I did the iPad at first.  Aside from Facebook, Pinterest, and my email, the only 2 games I have downloaded on the iPad are Popwords and Crossword Puzzles.  This is to ensure that it stays my device and doesn't get overtaken with the kids' stuff.

I baked a couple of rhubarb pies for the Mennonite Relief Sale this week.  I bought some rhubarb at the store in the morning but when I was ready to make the pies in the afternoon, it was no where to be found.  I didn't want to load everyone up and drive back into Bloomington to the grocery store, so I put out a plea for rhubarb on Facebook.  Sure enough, a neighbor had some in her freezer that I went over and picked it up quick.  I also got an offer of frozen rhubarb from Texas (*cough*Rhoda*cough*), and the recipe for Great Grandma's rhubarb pies from Aunt Ada.  In this case, technology was a very helpful thing!  The pies turned out great, by the way, and this will be my standard recipe from now on.

Otherwise, it's business as usual around here -- laundry, kids activities, and homework.  I'll leave you with the latest book report from Thad.  He's in 5th grade this year and has had to do a variety of different things for reading.  This assignment was to pick a partner and both read the same book.  They could do an oral report, interview each other, or make a movie.  Of course, he chose the movie.  their book was called Wild Man Island.  His friend came over after school one day and they put this together in about 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Rainy Day at Elementary School

It's pouring down rain today, and does not feel like my first day of spring break.  Due to state testing, field trip, and teacher work day all this week for Mary Lee, this was the only day that would work for me to ride over to her student teaching school (35 miles from here but just 10 miles from where she's living this school year), have lunch with her, and meet her class and teacher.

I was only there for about half an hour, but it was fun to see her "in action" and being teacher-ish.  She got up, walked down the table row with her hand up, and the kids immediately got quiet for the part of the lunch period when they are not allowed to talk, just eat.  She is at a large, new elementary school with 700 students!  She is working for a good teacher, and the other 4th grade teachers that I also met were complimentary of her good work.  It was worth the ride in the rain.

Enjoying a Day with Cousins

Julia and Heidi came to stay with us for a couple days so Ellie came over and we enjoyed the great outdoors---finally!  The girls played and played and had a great time. ----Grandma Carol

QUILTS AND HOT TUBS . . .

I wish all

of you would post something more often. PLEASE?? It doesn't have to be anything "important" - I just like to see new posts. Yesterday I worked on the quilt most of the day. My back got very stressed, so Jerry and I spent some time in the hot tub. The jets feel so good on my back. This small tub has been in our basement for about 15 years and it is still running well. Of course, we only use it from late October until we head to Florida. Then we refill it when we get home and empty it again around the end of March. Today, I plan to put the border around the quilt. We have beautiful snow on the ground this morning - but we are getting very tired of snow!! Hope you all have a wonderful day.

BUSY DAY

Just thought I'd post a couple pictures to add a little variety to the blog. Perhaps someone else will add more within a few days also. I spent most of the day making rice crispy / peanut butter bars to take to lunch at church tomorrow. Our good friends, Dale and Vicki Schlipf, are serving lunch and I volunteered to make these for her. Then I made Mona's ravioli for dinner - very easy as I just have to boil the ravs and nuke the sauce - stir it together and eat!! My kind of meal!

Reunion Photos

During the snowstorm two weeks ago, Mary Lee cleaned out all our old boxes of photos--a huge job--and we found these of that old K. reunion in the late '90s in Decatur.  I know there are more, but these are the ones we found this time.  Good times.

Timon Noburger

Recently Timon sent an email to our family forum about getting a cheeseburger from McDonalds that didn't have the burger in it.  He is a delightful 7 year old writer and his description of his experience made us all laugh.  Last night when he sent this picture, I really chuckled.  I thought all of you might enjoy this picture. ---Carol

Babysitting, Birthday, and Trip to Oregon

Heidi, Andrew, Julia and Laura spent almost a week with Grandma when David was born.

We celebrated Anderson's 1st birthday.  He loved it!

Kyla, Pearl Miller, and Preston

I returned from Oregon on Tuesday after a week-end with my mom and Preston and Kyla.  I provided the "wheels" to take them to Silverton for a meal and singing on Saturday and then bring them back after a wedding reception on Sunday.  We stayed in some stay over suites at the place where my mom lives and had a nice breakfast Monday morning at my sister Cynthia's home..  On Saturday we enjoyed a nearby aquarium where this picture was taken. ----Carol

PS  I just happened to notice that our grandson, Andrew, looks like Uncle Lynn and Ann.  Am I the only one that thinks so?

Test

Seeing if I can post from my phone...

Two Unusual Natural Events

We have had an interesting week with natural occurrences here in the southeast.  You midwesterners will laugh, but we have had quite a snowstorm.  Didn't get the 8-12 inches originally forecast, but we did get about 6 total - the first two melted after the first wave of the storm, and the rest was pushed down by ice.  And the storm lasted over 48 hours, which is very unusual for the south.

The neighbors called and offered their four-wheelers - Mary Lee (who came home for the duration) and Mike went out to enjoy them.

Then, late Friday night, we received . . . an earthquake!!  I had gone to bed and heard this massive shaking sound, and also what sounded like someone who weighed about 500 pounds running up and down our hallway.  We live near a small airport so thought maybe a plane was making too low an approach, but that didn't sound right either.  I went out and asked Mike and he said the only thing that could have caused that kind of shaking and noise was an earthquake.  A few minutes later the U.S. Geologic Survey had it on their website--it was 4.1 magnitude and centered in Edgefield, which is about an hour and a half from here.  (For you history and political buffs, that is also the birthplace and burial place of Senator Strom Thurmond.)  The quake was not big enough to cause much damage, but definitely big enough to experience.

Rhoda is here now, spending a three-day weekend with Mom and Dad.  Hopefully it will be a quiet and peaceful weekend!

Have any of you ever been in an earthquake?

PICTURES

LUNCH WITH COUSINS

We met Marguerite and Charlene at Panera for lunch; sat there for almost two hours reminiscing about the "old days"! A few pictures below. We are very happy in this little condo we have. The pool just outside our door and the beach and waves beyond that. Very friendly group of people around here. I fixed two huge t-bone steaks last night - well, actually Jerry grilled them outside - two baked potatoes and a mini-dutch apple pie from Publix for desert! Almost better than eating out except for the work involved AND the clean-up following!! After all, I'm ON VACATION! Tomorrow we plan to go to the Ellenton Outlet Mall and then meet old friends from Dwight for a late lunch near the mall.

ENJOYING FLORIDA - FINALLY

The weather has been quite cloudy/rainy/cold since we arrived in Florida, BUT finally today we have beautiful sun and warm weather. We are going to meet Marguerite and Charlene at Panera for lunch. That will be interesting as they are both very social and fun to be with. This is a "test" post as I've tried a couple times to post something and it didn't work. So you might or might not see it.

Housekeeping

I was unaware that commenters had to do the "prove you're not a robot" routine with the numbers, before a comment would post.  Since only blog members can post comments, that is not necessary, and I have turned it off.  Sorry for the irritation that that has caused.  Please let me know if there is any continuing problem.

David James

Here's an updated picture of David- he's an alert baby!

David James Endress - 4 days old

David James Endress

He is 20 minutes old in this picture.  We may post more pictures soon. :)

David was born Thursday evening, January 30th, weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches.

David's siblings are Matthew, 15, Sarah, 14, Laura, 11, Andrew, 8, Julia, 5, and Heidi, 3.

Perry and I are delighted to welcome grandchild #17, and we are thankful that mother and baby are both doing well. --- Grandma Carol

Surprise for a Birthday

Of course I didn't get any pictures--just one on my phone that didn't turn out very nice--but Ada, Jerry, and I pulled off a surprise on my dad on Tuesday.  :-)

Dad's birthday was yesterday.  Ada called me last week and said they wanted to come see them (Dad and Mom) on their way to Florida, and what did I think about them surprising Dad for his birthday?  Of course I thought it was a great idea.

The original plan was for Mike and me to plan to take Dad and Mom to a restaurant they really like called the Galley, a place with good food and a beautiful view of Lake Hartwell.  Ada and Jerry were going to be there ahead of us, so that when we were seated, they would already be in the booth.  This was all on Tuesday, actually the night before his birthday.

Things started getting complicated when Mike found out he had to work later on Tuesday night.  Then the reports of an impending winter storm started coming in.  The snow started about 2:00--and I know you Illinois people think this is funny, but when snow starts, things shut down around here.  (And if you saw the news about what happened in Atlanta when things don't shut down on time, you know why.)  Furthermore, the road to the Galley goes over what is called the Double Bridges, which are treacherous enough when the weather is not bad.  (The bridges are very long, very narrow, and have no shoulder whatsoever.)

So we went to plan B.  Ada and Jerry went straight to my folks' house and surprised Dad at the front door.  (He was equally surprised even though the circumstances changed.)  Then I pulled together a birthday dinner at my house and they came over and ate here.  Mike got home really late, not only from working over, but because the roads really were treacherous.

Anyway, it was a nice evening, we celebrated Dad's birthday, and pulled off a surprise!

EMMA AT THE PIANO

Here are a couple pictures of Emma playing her new piano. She is such a sweet and pretty girl and very excited to have this.

THIS AND THAT

We recently gave our piano to Emma. She was so excited to get it. I've asked Jodie to send us a picture of her playing the piano so we can post it here. My dad bought the piano for me when I was about 9/10 years old. Also have a picture here of Owen as he was playing his Cello in an IMEA competition in Peoria yesterday. He is very talented and it was so fun to listen to this group of 6, 7, and 8th graders perform.

Sunday morning in Lester, IA

 Anderson, Milan and Jesse in the baby room.

Milan and Jesse

Here is a small (less humorous) part of the "story."  Sunday morning, when I got to church, Brandon handed Milan to me and said that Maria wasn't there because she took Alice to the doctor.  Alice (3) had been sick all week-end with fever and cough.  Milan was not at all happy to leave Daddy, but when Daddy was out of sight, he was fine.  When it was time to go in, Jesse was on the bench just outside the sanctuary with Julia and Heidi.  I went to tell them it was time to go in, and I noticed that Jesse was crying.  I asked him what was the matter and he said, "I want Daddy!"  Daddy was walking up to the pulpit to preach and Jesse proceeded to cry so loudly it became a big wail.  I knew if I put Milan down or gave him to somebody else, he would join the chorus of tears.  Jesse's loudest cries were right when the congregation was silent in prayer just before the service.  Brandon could hear him on the pulpit and he thought it was Milan.  (This wasn't typical behavior for 5 year old Jesse.)

I managed to persuade Jesse to follow me into the baby room where I distracted him by reading him a book. We could hear Brandon preaching, so I told Jesse that even though we can't be with Daddy, we can listen to him, and Jesse was fine the rest of the morning.  At this point, I decided the best place for me to stay with the two boys was in the baby room.  Charity was in there with Anderson, so I got out my new smart phone and took these pictures.

Shortly before the service started, I was told that Matthew was also not there.  He was resting at somebody's house nearby because he wasn't feeling well.  About 11 am, I texted him, and he said he was doing better and would be coming for the afternoon wedding service.

Maria, Alice and Matthew were there in time for the wedding, and we all sat up front.  It was a beautiful service. ----Carol