Neglect

Yeah, I've been completely neglecting this blog. It's not that I haven't had ideas to blog about, it's more that I haven't felt like any of those ideas are worthwhile.

I'm tiring of blogging about what's been going on and just posting pictures of my super cute kids.

Before everyone and their grandparents were on facebook, this blog was an easy way to show my friends & family what I've been up to, but now they can just facebook stalk me or instagram stalk me or twitter stalk me and see that in real time or close to it. I'd rather write something a little more entertaining.

The problem is, I've been uninspired.

I don't think I'm going to change the world or become some sort of internet comedian or make it as a mommy blogger or anything. I just want to write something... else?

Since I'm uninspired, I'll just give an update with pictures of what's been going on:

Simon got glasses.
Jonas wants glasses (and will wear his sunglasses around the house).
We had about a week of sick kids.
We cleaned up lots of gumballs from our yard.
There are still lots of gumballs in our yard.
Simon turned 5.
I made him a bug cake & we celebrated with our church community group.
We also made a trip to Kings Island to celebrate again with family.
Chase has been playing music.
I went to a concert at a basement venue where I saw Lucius and Tall Tall Trees.
I hula hooped with a friend between sets because a hoola hoop enthusiast hangs out at the house where we saw the concert.
Chase bought me a Lucius shirt.
I waited too long to change Charzie's diaper & pee got on that shirt.
I'm working on Charlotte's 2nd birthday party.
It's Yo Gabba Gabba! themed.

Now pictures:

Simon showed me bugs in a book & I put them on his cake

Spectacled Sime blowing out his candle

Simon at Kings Island with his funnel cake

My grandpa poking a kosmoceratops with his cane at Kings Island

Simon & Jonas showing some dino-love at Kings Island

This one is almost 2!

The birthday invitation (front) I designed for Charlotte

My Smashing Pumpkins Concert Adventure

So I won two free tickets from a local radio station to see my very favorite band.

The station asked a trivia question on-air, I was the first one to call in with the correct answer, so I won.  The concert was last night.  The husband was out of town for work.  Our awesome friend Caitlin watched our kids so I could go to the concert with our awesome friend Chelsea.  Here is a picture Chelsea took with her phone before The Smashing Pumpkins took the stage:

You can't tell here, but Chelsea is in her 3rd trimester of pregnancy with her 1st baby.  Also, you can't tell that there were at least 3 other obviously pregnant ladies at this concert.  I said the Pumpkins should have had a kid shirt & onesies at their merch table.  You hear that Pumpkins?  Get some kid merch and your fans will eat it up.  A Zero onesie would be mighty cute, ya know...

Anyway, our seats were upgraded because they "reconfigured the stage."  I assume they didn't sell quite the amount of tickets they expected and moved people closer.  No complaints here.  Upgraded seats was just one thing that added to the awesomeness that was last night.  Here are some more: a kid-free night, dinner alone at Arby's (where I didn't have to cut any food or clean anyone up or take anyone pee pee or poop), the sweetest old dude trucker mullet I've ever seen (at Arby's, it was just about waist length, pulled back in a ponytail and totally business in the front), a street parking spot (not paying $10-20 to park!), hanging out with Chelsea, seeing my favorite band, observing some "mom dancing" (just watch PBS during their telethons when they play oldies concerts and check out the middle-aged women dancing in the crowd, you'll see what I'm talking about), the fact that the best mom dancing was actually done by a young-ish dude with a sweater tied around his waist two rows ahead of us, the neat stage set-up with some crazy Death Star-looking thing that had stuff projected on it (check out images from another show here), and of course hearing some of my favorite songs played live.

The Pumpkins basically played two concerts in one.  The first was all songs from their new album Oceania.  I like that album much better after hearing it live.  The second was songs from their heyday plus a couple covers.  I'm not familiar enough with the current album to be able to name the songs they played, so I'll give you the set list from the "second concert."  You can be assured that it was all awesome.

Space Oddity (cover) by David Bowie
XYU
Disarm
Tonight Tonight
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
A snippet of Shock Me (cover) by KISS
A song Billy Corgan wrote for his daddy (didn't catch the name)
Zero
Cherub Rock
{encore}
Ava Adore
some dueling guitar
a bit o' Whole Lotta Love (cover) by Led Zeppelin
Muzzle

I'm well-aware that the current "Smashing Pumpkins" are pretty much Billy Corgan (the front man) and his new lackeys.  But I don't care.  The new lackeys are fantastic musicians and were really fun to watch.  And Billy Corgan was expectedly amazing live, and entertaining as well.

Something I noticed toward the middle/end of the concert was the lack of "concert smell."  You know, cigarettes + pot + booze.  I've always associated that smell with concerts, at least bar or arena shows, and it seemed odd not to have it.  I'm not complaining, I mean, I appreciate not feeling like I need a post-concert shower, especially getting home at 1:00 AM, but it just isn't the same.

So, yeah, home at 1:00 AM.  HUGE thanks to Caitlin for staying with the kids and crashing on the couch and then slipping out early to get ready and go to work!  Today the kids and I had a jammie day.  Also, I've been trying to indoctrinate them with Smashing Pumpkins music & music videos.  Jonas (age 3) really enjoyed the destruction at the end of Everlasting Gaze.  He wants to be a drummer.  All the kids really liked the Tonight Tonight video.  So do I.  And so should you!

Our September: Goings on & a Photo Dump

It's been, what, a month or so since I've last blogged?  Seems about right.  Lots has happened this past month!  Ready for a photo-dump?

Chase turned 31 and I made hims some pretty delicious peanutbutter chocolate cake bombs.  Next time I'll use a little more chocolate and a little less peanutbutter to make them more fantastic.

Chase, the boys & cake

The in-laws visited and we discovered the ridiculous awesomeness that is Scheels. (Read this in Stefon's voice) This store has everything: an indoor ferris wheel, sporting equipment, taxidermy, crossbows, aquarium, arcade games, photo ops, children's play area, animatronic presidents and delicious mint chocolate fudge...

Simon with Granny & Jonas with Papaw on the Sheels ferris wheel.

Granny & Papaw with the kiddos on our porch swing

My in-laws also went with us for the kids' first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.  Let's just say next time we'll just eat at home and go for the games.

Charzie with Chuck E.

 Some friends stopped by to visit & see the new house and we lined our kids up to take their pictures as we do whenever we get together.

Ezra, Silas, Nella, Charlotte, Jonas & Simon

I took the kids to the State Museum where there is a children's play museum all for free!

Simon posing in front of the giant mammoth/mastodon puzzle he did himself

We got new kitchen appliances and have been searching for artwork, curtains & area rugs for our house.  Eventually there will be before & after posts, but no room is quite finished yet to post an after.

I won tickets from a local radio station to go see The Smashing Pumpkins in concert in a couple weeks!!!

And then there was the Disney World trip with my parents.  This trip was exhausting and fun.  Some Disney trip highlights: Simon looking teeny tiny riding big rides, Charlotte dressing up in her Cinderella to parade around Magic Kingdom (and lady even took her picture to show her daughter-in-law what 16-months-old at Disney looks like), Jonas getting to spend almost a whole week with his grandpa, dessert with almost every meal, Charlotte exclaiming "Mouse!" whenever she noticed a Mickey Mouse anything, Simon & Jonas getting a pirate makeover and just having the fun Disney experience with my parents & kids while my kids are still little.  My mom should be a Disney vacation guide. 

Some Disney World low points: Jonas freaking out for every single ride (I mean every. single. ride.) because it wasn't his turn to get on yet, the stroller parking nazis and cheapo toilet paper (c'mon, Disney!)

Like I said, it was exhausting but fun.  Here are some pictures from our trip:

Cinderella got to meet Charzie

Me on the spinning tea cups

Simon riding Thunder Mountain with my dad

Chase & Jonas on Toy Story Mania

Peter Pan told the boys not to be pirates...

...but they were too creepy cute not to be pirates!

Jonas with his arms up on the Peoplemover (not a roller coaster)

Charzie with her arms up like her brother

Jonas checking out gorillas with his daddy at Animal Kingdom

Charzie snackin' with Neena on the bus

And the boys with Minnie & Mickey, of course!

And we have many, many, many, many (you get the point) more pictures.

So that was September.  Now it's October.  Maybe I'll give you another update in a month!

Band Photos

Last night we went to Steeleville, Illinois for a gig at a church carnival. In case you didn't know, Chase is in a band, but not just any band- Aaron R. Smith and the Reformation Band. Here are the band pics to prove it:

Aaron R. Smith and the Reformation Band

Aaron R. Smith (or if you're a Polish middle schooler, Akon)

Jason on guitar

Chase playing bass barefoot

Brad on guitar

Jermaine on drums

And here is the band's fan club. This band is so good that the kids were asking for autographs before they even started playing.

Photography is pretty fun. Since all the band members were there, we took a few band photos:

And just for fun, here's one of Chase and Bekah:


Oh, and be sure to ask Chase about what happened on the way up to Steeleville.

I'm Not Dead Yet!

Much excitement has happened since the last time I posted. I shall no longer leave you, Shelley, waiting in suspense for pictures of the famed MiniKISS and our first Miners' game...

Big John, one of the mascots. If you look closely, you'll see his pickax is on a baseball bat.

Here I am sporting our Miners cup.

MiniKISS consists of three guy little people and a short lady. They pretended to play their instruments to a track, but they did really sing. The reason we know that they were really singing is the music would fade out but the vocals would not. I think this just added to the awesomeness that was MiniKISS.

Sidestage of MiniKISS

Here I am being totally pumped for MiniKISS!

The Tuesday after seeing MiniKISS, we went to Paducah, KY to see the David Crowder Band. Highlight of that evening was when Crowder played a modified Guitar Hero controller that made guitar sounds.

The David Crowder Band

This past week Chase and I were serving at a youth church camp called Super Summer. Chase did some teaching and I was a coordinator for our group. Like most camps, there were rec games. A couple highlights from the games were...

Blind Kickball- teams played in partners where one person was blindfolded while the other led them around, but only the blindfolded person was allowed to touch the ball. This is our team not getting the other team out:


Ground Assault- pretty much the same as dodgeball. This is the lead singer from the worship band playing nice with the youth:


So there you have it, MiniKISS and more. We've had a lot going on, but we also have a lot coming up. We'll be travelling to see our families for 4th of July. We've also got an interview with the North American Mission Board and we planned a mini vacation to New Orleans. Hopefully it won't be two weeks before I update next!

Better Late than Never

So, now that we have Internet access from home (well, it was fixed and then went out but then came back without being fixed again), I can post some pictures from last weekend's Nashville concert extravaganza! (Click pictures to see them larger.)

Here we have Guster costumed in traditional coutnry garb, though they are not a country band. They've called themselves "wuss rock." I like 'em. They're both fun and funny. Here are more rockin' Guster pictures:

Guster was way fun, as was The Format. So, now it's time for some The Format pictures. I took most of the Guster pics, and Chase photographed The Format (and he wanted me to note that the lighting was bad, so don't think he's a terrible photographer).

Even though this one is blurry, I like it because the guy has a cheesey grin.

And here is a picture of me enjoying The Format concert:

It was much fun. Check it out, short hair!

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On a totally different and serious note, for those of you who pray to God, I ask that you pray for my cousin Brad and his family. Brad's only 20 years-old and has been through a few bouts of an aggressive cancer. It's possibly in his brain now. He's got some bleeding there, but no tumors showed up on the scan. Brad has accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, and he's in good spirits about the whole situation. Your prayers would be much appreciated by our family.