STROH SURVEY

I asked everyone tonight to quickly name the one thing they miss most about Illinois....please don't be offended if you're not on our list! We truly miss you all!
CASEY - Vito
KYLE - Kelsey
SHANE - Kelsey and Charlie (gotta give him two cuz I know how much he misses them both)
RYAN - Maxi (we gave him options and this is what he said)
DREW - I could of sworn he said his bestest babysitter ever, his cousin Kelly!
DENISE - DEFINITELY KELLY!!!
RORY - Watching Bulls games on TV

Someone's gotta take the picture....

I think it's about time we take a family photo of all of us together!

Just a few photos for you to enjoy!

OMG - We have a middle schooler already!

Casey is totally enjoying every day of middle school as long as he makes sure his shorts cover his knees each and every morning! Soooo weird, it must be a middle school thing? I guess it's only cool to wear those longer type shorts and it's so funny to see him do his little test to make sure they don't creep up on him. Someday he'll realize that his mom is a professional shopper and only buys what is in style! He's made a bunch of friends who sit outside the house every morning and wait for him so they can all walk to school together. Just last week he went to his first school dance....the Pumpkin Bash! And as I was told SEVERAL times by him, it was not necessary to go to the dance with a girl. He went with a group of friends and had a blast! He even called us halfway into the dance just to check in and to let us know what a great time he was having. Not sure if he was calling to calm my nerves or if he was nervous himself. Or it could of been he just thought he was a cool kid with a cell phone? We'll never know for sure!

GO SHANEY!!!

This is Shane's first year playing on a soccer team and he's doing great! He really enjoys it and has made sooooo many friends. He plays on the same team as his friend Riley, who used to live by us in Algonquin and they went to Preschool together but didn't really remember each other when we got to Arizona. His team is undefeated and haven't let more than 2 goals be scored against them in a game. And just this past Saturday Shane FINALLY got his first goal!!!! YEAH SHANEY! One less thing for him to complain about! I'm kidding! Shane just goes out there and tries his hardest even when it's soooo hot and he looks like he might fall over from exhaustion. The funniest part of each game is when Rory and I will yell to him to "get the ball" or to "get in there and help out his teammate", but we don't have a clue as to what the rules of the game really are or what each position is supposed to be doing.....and Shane is the first to remind us of that!

FUTURE (AND CURRENT) FOOTBALL STAR!

Kyle is playing football once again and kind of got off to a rocky start. He always starts out the season with all his belly-aching, sore muscles, paper cuts, hang nails or whatever he can think of for that day before each practice and games. He just gets soooo nervous! But now that his dad is one of the coaches, things couldn't be better. He is once again the star of the team! I'm sure you've all heard already but I'll say it AGAIN, his teams record is 3-0 since Rory took over! I can't even describe how cool it is to see Rory with his teary eyes that he gets when he watches Kyle play. The best part is that Kyle actually loves playing football! It's all he talks about and he can't get enough of it. Luckily being out here in Arizona he can play year-round. It's funny when he watches the pro games and he'll criticize the players....which isn't hard to do while watching a Bears game....but it's still just funny to listen to him. Last weeks game he ran for two touchdowns (both 50 yards plus). He also crushed the biggest kid on the opposing team on the very first play of the game, but that same kid totally picked Kyle up and threw him down later in the game. It didn't even phase Kyle, he just got right back up and did what he needed to do to win! It's really an awesome feeling when the other parents talk about how much they enjoy watching him play. Rory and I couldn't be any prouder of him! Go Kyle!

SENDING BIG SMOOCHES TO UNCLE KEN, AUNT DAWN AND P!

The boys would like to send out a HUGE kiss to Uncle Ken, Aunt Dawn and P for the big pumpkin bucket filled with Halloween treats they sent them! I can't even describe how happy it made each and every one of them! They loved all the cool candy you sent and really enjoyed the silly looking mouth lollipops in the photo. Thank you sooooo much for thinking of them....it was really, really special! I can't even begin to tell you how much we all miss you guys! (I'm getting tears!) And pumpkin carving this year was just not the same without the three of you! And P, Ryan wants to know why you weren't wearing your bathing suit for your school photo??? Please come visit soon!!!

OUR LITTLE PUMPKIN!

I know he is mine, but I'm gonna say this anyway....isn't he the cutest little kid EVER? Every day I swear he just gets cuter and cuter! He is such a good baby (minus the sleeping part) and he just kind of goes with the flow of all the craziness that goes on in our home. He just got two teeth and I think another is on the way! He can stand and walk while holding onto something and is definitely into EVERYTHING! He is discovering his voice more and more everyday....just yesterday he was yelling sooooo loud and saying DaDaDaDaDa or BaBaBaBaBa....and he does that silly little fake cough that babies do. He is getting better with the whole nighttime sleep thing....which I'm so used to that it doesn't even phase me anymore. Actually he was sleeping all night for the past two weeks and then those stinkin' teeth decided to interfere. UGH! He just gets so much lovin' from all the boys and we all can't get enough of him everyday!

THAT LITTLE STINKER WE CALL RY-RY

Each and every day we have to fight with Ryan to get him out of his "jamma's". He prefers to wear them all day long and if he goes outside he just puts on his snowboots (sometimes along with his cowboy hat) and he's good to go! What a sight! If I had one word to describe him it would be STUBBORN! Imagine all the Kornfeind's and their stubborness rolled into one....you'd get Ryan! Pretty scary thought, huh? He has taken a cooking class (anything to get him out of the house) and sometimes you'd think he was the teacher....always the little Boss Man! He is now on a tee ball team and he is enjoying it and making new friends....just don't ask him to hit the ball off the tee. You have to pitch it to him! He has sat through SEVERAL of his brothers games that he is now probably good enough to play right along with the big boys. Sometimes when you are talking to him he'll respond "why you talking at me?" or "why you saying those words at me?". Too funny! He loves spending every day with his best buddy in the world....Daddy! Sometimes he is the biggest stinker ever and is like 5 kids by himself and others he is the super bestest cuddler in the world! We love him to pieces and wouldn't trade him for the world!

OUCH!!!

On Sunday morning one of my worst nightmares came true....a scorpion stung one of us. And of course it had to be me! I can't even describe how scared I was at the time and of course it happened while Rory was out golfing his "best game ever". My first thought was "thank God it didn't get Ryan or Drew" (who were cuddling with me at the time). My second thought was "how am I supposed to spend the day shopping now?" It is the absolute worst pain I've ever experienced....seriously almost worst then contractions. Don't get any crazy ideas, I'm never going to experience contractions again! 911 and Poison Control were very helpful and after about 10 hours of the most excruciating pain ever, dizziness and trouble breathing, my legs went numb and I felt like I had about a 120 degree fever. Thankfully Ryan took care of me by making band-aids out of Legos. Today I'm still sore, my leg is a little tingly, my vision is blurry and the weirdest thing is my tongue feels swollen. I guess this could last for days or possibly weeks and other symptoms can still show up over the next few days. I'm also extremely tired since when I close my eyes all I can see or think about is scorpions. For those of you who haven't seen one up close....trust me, they are the scariest looking things EVER! I'm terrified of them and it's the one thing I hate about living in Arizona. And of course I've seen more of them in 3 months then some people who have lived here for several years. I just hope that the boys NEVER have to experience what I went through. Now, Rory....that would be a different story....Mr. Tough Guy!

THE BOYS!

Introducing our blog........

I'm not sure I have time for this with the zillion other things that go on in this family each day, but I promise to try my hardest to keep this up-to-date so everyone back in Illinois is sooooo kept in touch with what is going in our lives here in sunny Arizona, that you'll be glad we moved so far away! Seriously, I'm doing this to give me something else to do online instead of shop. I honestly thought that is what the internet was invented for! SHOPPING! Enough about my addiction.....

Sit back, relax and ENJOY!
Welcome to our family blog!
Oh yeah, did I mention it's sunny here???