Our Nana...

I have been missing her terribly. I thought I would share some of the photos I was looking at. She was a great lady...a one of a kind in fact...and I miss her each and everyday she is not here with us. Everyone says it will get better with time. I know that to be true, however, it doesn't seem to be making it any easier for me now. I hope you look at all of these photos and remember how truly special she was...she was one in a million.

FINALLY!!!

I know...I know...I haven't kept this up very well at all lately! I am going to try harder on that!

I have one video below of Taylor's first volleyball game. I also have a link below where you can view the other video I have of her during her first volleyball game. Mike was nice enough to help me get that one uploaded to YouTube, however, I can't figure out how to share it other than displaying the link. (Mike, please get with me on how to do this as an actual video clip on my blog site)

Anyway, we have been very busy here with volleyball (Taylor) and soccer (Kaylee) going on. I have been keeping myself pretty busy also. I have starting going to exercise classes at the Eldridge Fitness Center. I think I am addicted to them! So much that next week I am buying a membership because it will costs me more to pay per class than to just buy a membership and all of it will be included. There is about 5 of us going now from work. We don't even go home, we just head straight for the gym after work...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2FuFuVYDk

Bowers Vacation 2009 ~ St Louis, MO

We headed out on Monday to St Louis, Mo for a little family vacation. Monday was spent traveling, checking into the hotel, going to Union Station, eating at The Hard Rock Cafe and swimming. The hotel we stayed at was The Millennium Hotel. It sat along the river literally across the street from the entrance to the arch. We called the 26th floor home sweet home for the next 4 days. We had quite a view of the skyline at night ~ especially with the floor to ceiling, extra large window.



On Tuesday it was time to conquer the arch (UGH) and sweat our @$$ off!!! I HATE heights and sweating!!! Needless to say I was about to do both of them to the extreme today!!! When I booked the hotel room I bought a package deal giving us "All Access Passes" to the Arch. This included a movie on how the arch was constructed, entrance to the top of the arch, lunch at the Arch cafe, one hour sightseeing boat excursion and of course 10% off at any of the souvenir shops. Oh, and did I mention that it ended up being 105 frickin degrees. Why do we always seem to go on vacation when summer decides to come out full force???? I'm glad we did the whole arch thing, but I know I don't ever want to do it again!! Tony and the kids, however, loved every minute of it and making fun of me. At one time at the top of the arch I had one of my kids on either side of me "helping" me walk to the middle of the arch. How sad and embarrassing do you think that was??? That was of course after they coaxed me to let go of the metal beam I was helping to hold up. Once I got to the top, I just froze and couldn't move. After all of that it was back to the pool to swim.



Any hoo...On Wednesday we tackled the zoo. It was awesome!! the animals and all of the exhibits were great! The only thing I could say that was a little bit of a downer was it was 107 frickin' degrees out and some of the animals wouldn't come out of their homes. Although I can't really say that I blame them...It was HOT!! We had a lot of fun seeing all of the different animals and stopping in at the Build A Bear store. Yes ~ I said Build A Bear. The zoo had a shop their and all of the animals that you could stuff were animals they had at the zoo PLUS you could buy the matching baby. Of course all they had to do was bat their beautiful little eyes at us and we were blinded (once again) by their cuteness. The long day was a great one and we all enjoyed ourselves. After all of that it was back to the pool to swim. I posted a lot of animal pictures for my nephews. I know Jackson really enjoys his animals, and maybe there might be one that he doesn't know...probably not.



On Thursday it was time to eat our complimentary breakfast buffet and head for home. By this time we were all ready to get home especially the girls. They were really missing the dogs and couldn't wait to see them. We got back home about 2:30 and once we unpacked I went and picked up the dogs from Sherry & Dick's house (a.k.a. Disneyland). My mother in law graciously agreed to take Shelby & Annie to her house while we were gone. Thanks Sherry!

Happy Father's Day 2009!!

Happy Father's Day to all of the father's!!! We had fun making Tony work for his present...We sent him on a scavenger hunt! We had a list of items he had to find around the house and bring them to the kitchen table (see pictures of the list). It was Taylor's job to make sure he got all of the items in order to move on to the next phase. Kaylee then handed him a "Grand Finale Question". It was a math problem that made him add the kids' birthday's together. It was Kaylee's job to correct his work to make sure his answer was right in order to go to the next phase. Once he got the answer correct (comes from a good education ~ HAHA) Kaylee handed him the prize...A re-creation of his motorcycle license plate. He went out to the garage where it was parked and saw a new Kawasaki Vulcan jacket. He was quite pleased with it!



P.S. I LOVE YA FA-DUDE!!!

Nana's Cream Filled Cupcakes ~ YUMMY!!!

If any of you were ever lucky enough to have eaten one (or many) of my Gram's cupcakes, you know what I am talking about!!! The cupcakes are filled with homemade cream filling and are frosted on top. They literally melt in your mouth! These are also the famous cupcakes I used to have her make me every year for my birthday and my kids requested to bring to school for their birthday's. Even Tony gets into the act as he just can't eat one of them...Yes...they are that delicious!!!

With Gram having some health problems and her moving to Wisconsin, the kids and I thought we should carry on the baking of her famous cupcakes. Taylor and Kaylee both have made them before with Gram, but I never did. Taylor guided me through the steps as we followed her recipe. It helps too that I currently house Gram's recipe box and her "shooter". The "shooter" was the tool she used to fill the cupcakes. Boy it's old, but it still works like a charm!

Enjoy the pictures as we embarked on our cream filled cupcake baking spree...

Kaylee's 8th Birthday...

On the last day of school today was also my youngest birthday. She is 8 years old and I can not believe it! I made her a sign (secretly) after she went to bed and hung it off of her dresser so when she woke up she would see it. That is how her day started...She went off to school to put in a half of a day for the last day before summer officially starts. She was soooo excited! We (Tony, me, Dick, Sherry, Lori & Bob) took her to her restaurant of choice....Culver's. Yep, nothing but the best for my kid! :) After that we went back to Dick and Sherry's for cake and ice cream, but first...presents! You will see from the pictures that she had no shortage of that! Anyway, I tucked her into bed tonight and sang "Happy Birthday" to her AGAIN.

For her birthday party with her friend she is going to have a slumber party (first one for her birthday, anyway). I am hosting eight 8 year olds!!! UGH...What the heck was I thinking? God help me. Pictures of the slumber party will follow after Saturday night.

Last Day of 6th Grade & 2nd Grade...& 6th Grade Graduation

Oh how the time flies! My babies are growing up!!!

Kaylee is now on to 3rd Grade. She received an award from her teacher as "Most Huggable". And she is definitely that!!! Her 8th birthday was also today. She got the royal treatment let me tell ya! I made 2 large pans of rice krispie treats (48 squares ~ I pre-cut them) for her to bring to school and not a one came back!! Imagine that!!!???

Taylor is now officially graduated from elementary school! She received two awards...one for accelerated math and one for academic excellence. The academic excellence award was given to kids with GPA's higher than 3.5 for the year. I was very proud!!

The parents of the 6th graders put on a luncheon for the rest of the day after the award ceremony took place. We had 6 different games (they divided up into groups), pizza, fruit ca bobs, rice krispie treats, brownies, slushy machine, karaoke and a graduation cake. I think we all had a blast!!! It was a great last gathering before they go on to JR High and are joined by all of the other 6th graders at the surrounding elementary schools. I was glad to be a part of it!!!

Tonight Taylor also was off to a 6th grade friends house where her and her family are throwing a pool party complete with more food and a bon fire for the evening hours. This was from 3-9:30 tonight. Taylor just got home and basically went right down to her room. She looks beat!

Happy Belated B-Day ~ Bib & Mikey!!

I am so sorry I didn't get a chance to write this yesterday (on the actual day) but it took me that long to "sift" thru Gram's picture books (a.k.a. "the Archives") to find just the right photos to post... :)

HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY ~ YOU'VE COME ALONG WAY!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!

Annie's "Summer Do"

After seeing Annie (a.k.a. Polar Bear) starting to pant only a few weeks into nice, somewhat warm weather, we decided to get her groomed for the summer months. Although I wish she could keep all of that hair (gotta love it!!) I wanted to make sure she is comfortable once summer really hits. I thought I would share some before and after pictures with you. Enjoy!

Mother's Day 2009

I know, I know...I have been a bad blogger! With that said, I am finally getting around to sharing my Mother's Day pictures with you. It was a nice Mother's Day all in all. I woke up to my kids wanting to give me my presents before I got ready for the day. UGH! This being said I will only show you a few pictures of me...forgive the hair. :) They bought me a bicycle! It was been one thing I had been wanting for a long time. Everyone else in my family had gotten new ones but me. On a side note, we have had some nice family bike rides since then. It was then time for all of us to get ready to head over to meet up with Dick and Sherry at Lancer's for Mother's Day brunch at 11am. It was a great spread of all kinds of great food, as usual. After brunch we went over to Dick and Sherry's for awhile and then back home. It was a pretty relaxing day I have to say. Enjoy the pictures!

What a great weekend!!!

When my sister told me she was unsure about staying with Grandma overnight while Mom & Dad had a much deserved weekend away I offered to come up and stay too. This was the best thing I ever did! Not only did I see Shell, Chris & Jackson, I got to see my Grandma again!

Ever since Gram moved to Mom & Dad's house I have missed her tremendously!!! When I got to Mom and Dad's house Gram was sooo excited to see me. When we said our hello's and sat down in the house, Gram made me sit next to her in the oversized chair. She had her arm around me and her other hand on my knee the whole entire time. That did my heart some good that's for sure!

We had a lot of fun while I was there! I was able to give Jackson his presents, a dump truck and gas (a.k.a. diesel) pump, for his up coming birthday. He will be 2 years old on May 5th already! Time flies, right Shell!? The diesel comment I made was because when Jackson was asked about putting gas into his dump truck, he said it was diesel. That's my smart little nephew!!!

I drove up on Friday morning so I could see Mom & Dad before they left bright and early Saturday morning. That worked out really well as it was a beautiful day! Dad and I even went on a bike ride on the trail near their condo. A great way to work on the tan! :)

Anyway, I had a wonderful time with everyone. But, when it came time to leave I was near tears. It was a trip that I didn't want to end. I absolutely loved every minute of it! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Tony's new addition to the garage...

Well...It is official! After not owning a motorcycle for the last 11 years, Tony has bought another one. He had several in the past, but the last one he owned he sold when Taylor was about a year old. He just didn't have the time like he used to. Imagine that!!??

He had always said he would definitely get another one once the girls were older. Yes, I caved!!! This bike is brand spanking new...he has never had anything new in his life. It had a whopping 20 miles on it after he rode it home. He is just like a little kid!!! I have to admit though...he looks pretty flipping awesome on it! Above is an exact replica of the bike he bought. It is SWEET!!!

Spring has sprung!!

So sorry it has been so long since my last post! It has really begun getting quite busy around our house. We have started multiple sports and they all seem to have started about the same time this year.

Taylor has started with soccer games this Saturday, not to mention their twice a week practices on Friday's and Sunday's. She also has started (1st time) with the YMCA's volleyball team. They have practice and games starting at 7 or 8pm on Thursday nights. It usually gets over about 9 or 9:15pm. This makes it a little hard to get the girls up on Friday morning for school! UGH!!

Kaylee has started, also, with soccer games this Saturday. Her team practices once a week on Thursday's. We are in a carpool with four other families from our subdivision to help on the running of the kids back and forth. Kaylee's also going to be starting next week with softball practice once a week on Tuesday's. We haven't found out when those games start yet.

Tony is continuing working with both our dogs on obedience training. These classes are twice a week on Monday's and Thursday's. Shelby is in the agility training which helps her run off some of the energy she has. She does really well on the tunnel and teeter totter ramp. Annie is the exact opposite of Shelby. She would much rather lay around and sleep or cuddle than run. Annie is still in the advanced obedience class and will probably not go on to agility. they are both better dogs because of the time and energy Tony spends with them.

I find myself running in circles most of the time. Between working, running to and from practices and homework with Kaylee I don't seem to have much time for myself. I am, however, taking the time to go to Wisconsin (by myself) next weekend. My grandma recently moved in with my parents in Appleton. My Mom & Dad are going away for the weekend and so I am going to go up and stay with her along with my sister, Michelle. I really miss grandma since she has moved so this will be a great trip and I am looking forward to it.

Well, I better go get Kaylee ready for her game this morning. We have already been to Taylor's this morning at 8am. I will try to keep my blog up to date with pictures of games and whatever else we are up to.

How time flies ~

I can't get over how old my kids look! It seems like just yesterday I was changing their diapers.

Time definately flies! Taylor is in 6th grade and then off to 7th grade (Junior High) next year. Kaylee is in 2nd grade and then off to 3rd grade next year. I can hardly believe it!

Jackson Time!!!

Last weekend we enjoyed much needed one on one time with Jackson. He was so much fun I can't even begin to tell you! I do, however, sympathized even more now with Shell & Chris. I almost had forgotten how energetic an almost 2 year old is!!! Jackson is definitely on the move 24/7!!! He was such a good boy...laughing and smiling and just plain being goofy!!!

We took him to “Donald’s” on Saturday afternoon for lunch and then to the Bettendorf Museum. He ran all over that place! He sure is a busy little boy! Then it was off to our house to play with Annie & Shelby. He also was able to play a little "real" guitar ~ Tony got two of his guitar's down and hooked them up to the amp...Boy did Jackson love that!!!

Saturday evening we took him out to eat at Golden Corral. We thought this would be a good place for him since it has a variety of foods and there is no waiting.

He went to bed at 8:30pm (a little past his bedtime). He went right down while I rocked him and let him play with my hair. This is something he does when he is tired. He is such a snuggler when he is tired. I enjoyed every minute!

He slept thru the night in the bed with me. He rarely moved! When he woke up at around 6:00am he laid in bed with me and snuggled again…of course all the while he played with my hair again.

When he woke up Sunday morning he had blueberry pancakes and milk. We watched the wiggles (lots of music and singing). He loved it! After all of that, off he went into the tub to get clean for the trip home to see his Mommy & Daddy, whom he was really starting to miss.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

This weekend was terribly exhausting, but a very happy one. Some of you know that this was the weekend we moved my Grandma to Grand Haven here in Eldridge. She is in what they call independent living. She has all the amenities of home, fridge, stove and microwave. She had a little apprehension leading up to this weekend, but in the end she seems to be really liking her new place.




We had nearly 15 people show up at 9am on Saturday to help move. It took only about an hour to move her from one place to the other. Now that is what you call good help!!! Everyone put in a lot of effort to make this a very smooth transition for my Grandma...And it worked! Thanks everyone!! She already told me this afternoon that she is looking forward to taking part in a few , of the many, activities Grand Haven has to offer. Of course one is the walking club and the other is a bible study. Both of those are near and dear to her heart. Seeing her smiling and happy makes me, and all of my family, very grateful to all who played a part in her move. These people being: Dad, Mom, Tony, Me, Taylor, Kaylee, Shell, Mike, Dale, Nina, Dave, Dylon, Neil, Mary & Dane. Unfortunately I didn't get everyone's picture, but here are a few that I took.

I left Gram's new apartment at 2:30 to go home and get Kaylee over to Tony's Mom's house for an overnight and for seven 12 year olds to have a slumber party. Taylor's birthday is Thursday and she will be 12 years old. Why not have 7 of her closest friends over for a sleepover??? UGH!! They were pretty good...We started the party by doing a craft, at Taylor's request. We made fleece pillows. I did a lot of the pre-cutting of the 16 pieces of fabric previously. All the girls had to do was cut the strips, tie 3 sides, stuff and tie the last side. They all wrote their name on the backside to help them tell which one was theirs. They all decided to sign Taylor's pillow with the sharpie. It went pretty smoothly. After the craft and presents we had Godfather's pizza and a Maggie Moo's calssic Oreo ice cream cake (Taylor's favorite) Enjoy the pictures!!

Meeting Mr. Rohan ~ road trip!!!

Last weekend Dad, Mom, Nana, Me, Taylor and Kaylee all piled into my Explorer and headed for Kirksville, Missouri. We were very excited to meet the new addition to the Syring clan.

We left Eldridge at 6:38am and weathered some really nasty icy roads until sometime after Iowa City. We arrived at Mike and Mara's around 11:30am. I can not begin to tell you how small he was...He reminded me, literally, of a baby doll! He was perfect in every way possible. Unbelievable considering he made his appearance 33 days early! Mara had to leave us for about 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon to take the mock board exam. I truly don't know how she does it. Go Mara!!!

The highlight of my visit has to be the honor of giving Rohan his bath before we left. I swear he just kept getting smaller and smaller as the clothes came off of him. When I did start cleaning him off I found myself having to clean the 3 rolls on his cute little butt because he doesn't have enough fat to fill it out! Did I mention he was tiny!!??

Anyway, we left Mike and Mara's house at 6:38pm arriving back home around 10:45pm. What long day...but well worth it!

A huge "Thank You" goes out to my Dad for driving the entire trip! Hey Dad, watch out for those deer!!!

~side note, my Dad did an excellent job in keeping everyone safe as he saw a deer along the road and yelled "deer"! Dad was able to slow to about 10 miles an hour and about 5 feet from it (no antlers and not too big, Thank God!). What does the deer decide to do??? The dumb thing decides to run into my vehicle! The deer ran along the side of my Explorer and ended up rubbing along the whole passenger side right to the rear tire. Then the deer kept running off. Thanks to Dad I only ended up with some deer hair stuck in my wheel well for a remembrance. No scratch or dings in the vehicle what so ever!!! WOW!!!

ENJOY THE SLIDE SHOW!!!

The Rohan Alexander Syring Shrine

Welcome to my work shrine of my new nephew, Rohan. I had one of these when Jackson was born too! Isn't that what a crazy Tanta does? We are traveling this weekend to meet the little guy and I can not wait! I even have a nickname for him already, "ROR" pronounced like the sound a lion makes (it's a long story). Anyway, I couldn't wait to show him off to all of my co-workers. They all think he is adorable!

Rohan Alexander Syring has arrived!

Congratulations to my brother Mike and his wife Mara on the birth of their son Rohan Alexander Syring! Here are a couple of pictures I took (a.k.a. stole) off of their website. If you would like to view all of them please see the link to their website. He is a adorable!! Mara you look awesome!! I'm a Tanta again!! :)

Arrived: 2:01am

Weight: 5 lbs. 10 oz.

Length: 18 inches

Christmas 2008

This Christmas turned out to be really nice. I was a little apprehensive at first since my family was not going to be home for Christmas. A huge "Thank You" goes out to my in-laws for going the extra mile to include my Grandma in all of the holiday festivities.


Christmas Eve started out by taking my Grandma to Christmas Eve church services at 4:00pm. After that we went straight over to Dick and Sherry's house where we celebrate Christmas with Tony's sister Lori. Her present to both girls was Cheetah Girls concert tickets that they went to 3 weeks before Christmas. Tony's brother Nick was able to make it home. He lives in Chicago and started a new job, so he wasn't quite sure when he was going to make it home.


Christmas morning consisted of the normal morning Santa routine. Santa brought the girls "Rock Band" which we all played a few times (more like 20) after all of the gifts were opened. The big items this year for the girls were a cell phone & stereo for Taylor and an MP3 player & CD alarm clock for Kaylee. I was suprised with a diamond (v-shaped) necklace I had my eye on when I was sick and sulking about not being able to join in on the fun on "Black Friday". Tony had picked out his present in September so we could pre-order it. Suprise, it was a new guitar for his collection. This one is a Kenny Wayne Shepard special edition. It arrived the Tuesday after Christmas which turned out to be ok since he was off of work for that whole week. the guitar is black with grey racing stripes down the middle and Kenny's signature on the back. It is gorgeous!!!


The rest of the day on Christmas consisted of a great brunch made by my mother-in-law. She makes egg casserole and sweet rolls. YUM!! Tony and I and the girls, and even, Dick & Sherry, all bought my Grandma a present so she could be a part of the gift opening. My Grandma was tickled pink and very grateful. Of course, the following week she made us all bread!!! That't my Grandma!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY 2009!!!