Our Little Women

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I should probably mention right up front that this post is going to be long . . . and if you've never lived in Kirksville, you probably won't find it very interesting!

After breakfast Saturday morning, we decided to revisit all of our old haunts in Kirksville. The kids (especially Ali) were very eager to see everything . . . I to my surprise, they thoroughly enjoyed all of it. For Ali, she had a lot of history there that she has no memory of . . . so she thought that was really great. Here is the abbreviated version of our wanderings . . .

Our first stop was the University. Our overall impression (unfortunately) was that it was so ugly!! It's such a beautiful campus, but there were tons of things under construction! So, my pictures on campus were few, but I got a couple of the "typical" Truman shots. The clock tower is, of course, one of those.

Kirk Memorial. The front of it was all roped off and torn to pieces, so this was the best I could do. They have a lot of work to do before classes start!

The bell wall on the quad

Here are my girls "experiencing" the gum tree. Apparently the original tree died and a new one has been adopted by the students. I don't think I ever put a piece of gum on that thing.

The sunken garden. One of my favorite spots on campus . . . unfortunately the pavilion at the end was full of folding chairs . . . not very picturesque, but the flowers were beautiful, as always.

My poor kids . . . I couldn't pass up such an opportunity for a group shot . . . I assure you . . . I took many of them!

I've created a monster! Yes, here's Emma with her camera, asking Ali to pose by the flowers. And of course . . . she comes by it honestly. Here I am taking a picture of her taking a picture! Ha!

This one made me laugh! Here I am trying to pose the girls for a group shot on the quad and Aaron felt the need to snap a few pics. Of course they're all looking at him, and paying no attention to me!

This is one of my favorites of the whole weekend! Isn't she a doll?

All of the buildings were locked, except for McLain Hall. This was a treat for me b/c this is where I took most of my Spanish classes and where I did tutoring. I was surprised at how fascinated the girls were by the place.

My advisor's office . . . yep . . . she's still there!

Sign for the Spanish Honor Society. I was a member (though admittedly, not a very involved one!)

After wandering around campus for a while we went to the house where we lived when Ali was born. 416 N. Elson Apt. B It's even for sale! : )

The hospital where Ali was born. She's been wanting to see this place for years! All of the other girls were born at St. Luke's and they've been back there since then. This was Ali's turn!

109 1/2 W. Washington St.

Lidia and I lived in this apartment for a few months my Jr. year. Incidentally, it is also where I met Aaron for the first time, August 1997! : )

Washington Street Java Co! And it even still has the same name (I think it changed names like 4 times in the years that I live in KV) I spent many many hours in this place. It was right downstairs from the above mentioned apartment!

Pagliai's Pizza!! Home of the Ronza. A Kirksville tradition. Aaron worked here the first year that we were married.

Ali's first Ronza experience

Emma's first Ronza experience

Meg's first Ronza experience

Julie's first Ronza experience

Our little pieces of Kirksville history : )

October 1999 & January 2000

The trucks are still there! This is a newer one, but we did see one of the older ones when we first arrived.

While on the square we also enjoyed the farmer's market, but no pics to show for it.

And last but not least . . . The Bevier & Southern Locomotive in Bevier, MO . . . the home of The Pear Tree. (Okay, it's not in Kirksville, but still an old haunt of ours.) The food was fabulous . . . what a treat!

Camping

It's been 9 years since the last time we went camping.

Friday morning I called Aaron at work and said "Hey, what would you think of going camping today?"

After a few hours of scrambling around to get ready, we were on the road, bound for Macon, MO (near Kirksville). About half way there we changed our minds and decided to go to Kirksville instead. Most of the places we were wanting to see were in Kirksville, so we thought that would be a better idea. Thousand Hills State Park . . . here we come . . .

Considering the suddenness of our decision, we really didn't forget much. Of course one of the things I DID forget were clothes for Emma. Genius, I know. I had thrown some clothes in the wash for her, and ended up leaving them behind. Thankfully I did pack panties and a swimsuit. We also brought clothes for Sunday morning. So $6 later, Emma had a new cute outfit from Walmart - tax free even! : )

We arrived at our campsite just in time to get our tents up before it was dark. Of course, we had to get some s'mores in before bedtime. They all thought that was awesome. Julie loved roasting "Marsh-pillows" Love it! I think the name just might stick!

Our first morning - here they are toasting biscuits over the fire. They thought that was pretty darn cool as well!

Our Campsite

. . . with even a little view of the lake!

There were a couple playgrounds in the park. Emma thought the monkey bars were awesome, and she could actually do them! (But she isn't thrilled with the blisters that resulted!)

Haircuts!

My girls were seriously overdo for haircuts! Mrs. Younce came over and definitely worked for her money!! : )

Ali has some "interesting" hair! It has a really inconsistent texture . . . straight in the front, fuzzy on the sides and curly in the back. After one haircut a few years ago, her hair was so puffy that Ali cried. So Mrs. Younce (being the genius that she is) recommended a "reverse perm." Yep . . . a perm solution that is just combed through her hair to mellow it some. Thankfully Ali basically has adult hair and the perm has never caused any remote damage. Because we were doing cuts at my house, the kitchen sink was the wash bowl. Well, it worked! It just made me laugh!

The finished product! We love it!

Meg's cut changed a bit this time. More stacked in the back. Her sisters told her that she looks like Kit now . . . and that made her day!

Then there's Julie. Any event with Julie is an experience. Mrs. Younce spent half the time laughing at her "Julie-isms." One of our favorites was when Jess was cutting close to her neck with the scissors, Julie asked her if she was going to cut her skin. Jess said, "No honey, I won't cut your skin because I'm a professional. Do you know what that means?" Julie responded without missing a beat "Yeah, I fink it means when you turn in to Elizabeth." It would be very interesting to spend 5 minutes inside that kid's head!

All done with Julie!

Then there's Emma! Emma's hair is about as opposite of Ali's as it could be. Her hair is really fine and breaks VERY easily! She can't wear long hair or she starts to look like a rat! So, it was time to take some drastic measures! Jess worked some serious magic with Emma's hair. The pictures really don't do it justice. It's SO cute . . . my favorite of all the cuts!

In all, Jess worked for a good 3 hours! Yikes! (Of course 2 of those were just on Ali!) Thanks Jess, you're a life saver!

Princess Breakfast

Last week our Children's Ministry hosted a Princess Breakfast as a Back-to-School event for the girls. Of course, Julie and Aubrey aren't school aged yet, so Amber and I did our own little version with them at Bread Co! Yum!

Here's the "real thing!" It was like the prom! First they had "Beauty Treatments" (Nails and hair) then they had a formal breakfast. Our pastors and a few deacons dressed up in full suits and each girl was escorted my one of them. When they entered the fellowship center, they were announced ("Announcing, Princess Ali Patton!") then they curtsied, then they were escorted to their seat, and had their chair pulled out for them! They had glass place settings, stemware, etc . . . It really was amazing!

Ali got to sit next to Mrs. Henderson (our Children's Ministry director) and happily chatted her ear off!

Karis and Emma

Graci and Megan

Julie, Meg, Ali & Emma!

Birthday Party!

Emma's birthday party was at The Field this year. (An indoor soccer arena here in Pacific) She thought it was awesome because she could invite as many friends as she wanted with no additional cost!

This year her mind was on all things soccer!

What a crew!

They enjoyed a huge inflatable slide and an obstacle course. It was great b/c we didn't have to do anything! The kids just ran and played.

They're escaping out the side of the obstacle course!

Weeeeee . . .

The whole crew . . .

This is what happens when you tell them to act silly!

They played for about an hour, had cake, then had the world's fastest present opening experience. Yes, presents from all of these kids opened in 7 minutes! We were almost out of time!

Everyone had a great time . . . It was definitely a party place that I would recommend!

Happy Birthday, Dear Emma!

My little Emma turned 8 this year! Karis stayed the night with us the night before, so she joined us for the festivities. Hurry up . . . eat . . . presents . . . then off to day three of soccer camp!