Grandpa's Obituary

Grandpa Rackers' obituary is wonderful. Here's a link: http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2010/03/24/obituaries/nt282obits_rackers2010.txt

Thank you all for all your prayers! We really appreciated them.

The Rackers Family Traveling Circus

Our family can be quite the circus. If most of our neighbors weren't so reclusive, then we would have an audience every day.

For example, I've become quite the oddity since I began riding the unicycle. Our imaginary land full of ninjas, orcs, knights, and princess who swordfight spans the full street, and also the bike trail. And our drop-dead amazing talents (ripstick, pogo stick, bikes, etc.) are sure to entertain any passerbys. Especially since we seem to be the only kids in the neighborhood who do such things.

Today, we were running up and down our street, decked out in full Lord of the Rings costumes. We were looking for those tiny niches that could be Middle Earth instead of Suburbia, Rolla Style. The eccentricities were complete because we were riding scooters, carrying blankets, and juggling the camera and tripod.

Seriously. Just move to our neighborhood and you will never again go to the movie theater to get your entertainment.

And now I interrupt whatever important thing you might be doing...

...to write an extraordinarily long post on recent happenings, most of which probably do not concern you personally, and therefore leave you no obligation to read my ramblings.

If, on the slight chance that you have read further than my last sentence, you may feel free to continue reading my ramblings. These particular ramblings relate to certain hectic events that have occurred since my last post.


As I wrote before, I got my driver's permit! After reading through the Missouri Driver's Guide in a record three days, I finally convinced Mom to take me to the Highway Patrol and take my test. I got a horrible score- 87%, but it was a passing score. Besides, one of the questions was mathematically incorrect. How in the world ought I answer it?
In any case, I did indeed get my permit. And my picture is not entirely idiotic!
Yesterday, my parents were out at my brothers' soccer games. At 9:30, the realtor office called. They spoke the dreaded words.

"May we show your house?"

The worst part was what followed:

"At 11:00?"

This is what ran through my mind: ELEVEN O'CLOCK?! Holy COW, that is almost an hour from now! Oh my goodness, Mom and Dad are not here! Okay, okay, deeeeep breath. Your bedroom is clean. Good. The kitchen isn't trashed. Okay. Ben is here. He needs to finish his bedroom first. Okay. Deep breath. The library? Just needs a quick vacuuming and putting the horizontally placed books on vertically. The atrium? We cleaned that last night, just needs a mopping. The craft room? THE CRAFT ROOM! OH MY GOODNESS, what am I going to do? My sewing project is out! My paints are out! The crayons and markers and papers and the whole box of toy cars are out! Okay. Breath. I can shove all of that in the giant drawer which happens to be empty. The TV room? HOLY COW, THAT PLACE IS A PIGSTY!  And my bathroom! Adelynn left all her dirty laundry there!

(a somewhat accurate picture of the state of the house)

At this point, I miraculasly kept myself from freaking out. I scurried like a madman to clean the craft room while I set Adelynn on the task of the TV room. I talked to Mom on the phone. I scrubbed the bathroom in a grand total of three minutes. etc. etc. etc.


Finally Mom and Dad got back, around 10:15. Dad gets pretty freaked out whenever we show the house, so everyone was hurrying around in such a fashion that it actually might have been detrimental to the amount of work actually accomplished.

But we did it. By 10:54, the van was crammed full of dirty laundry, and the whole family was crammed into the other vehicles. We went off to grab a five minute lunch and then head to the soccer feilds. Nick, Will, and Addie all had games to go.


Now comes the fun part. Nick's game was over. Dad, in his usual no-explanation mode, brought some people home. Then he handed me the car keys. I looked at him, uncomprehending.

"Well, get in!"

Ooookay. The car was in the driveway. I sat down. I located the gas and the brake. I expected Dad to show me where the blinker, headlights, etc. are. Then he might bring me to a relatively empty parking lot and let me practice a bit. After all, I'd never even sat in the driver's seat before. I was not prepared for what he said next.

"Okay, Shaylynn, you are going to take us to the soccer game."

WHAT?!

Well, let us say I was insanely nervous that first drive. I know I never once checked the rearview mirror. My turns were far too wide. I went 20 mph on a 30/35 mph road. I nearly ran into the curb. But I survived.

And a few hours later, I drove us back. Then I drove around the neighborhood, practicing turning and breaking. Dad "only" had to grab the wheel once. But it was fun. :)

I have a cousin with no name, and she is born tommorrow!

I kid you not! My aunt Ashlea's little girl was born this evening. So far she does not have a name... and she was born in Japan. Because of the time difference, this means that she is born on October 1st. (and this is the evening of September 30th!)

Half a Week in St. Louie

Ben and I stayed an extra 4 days in St. Louis with Grandma and Papa! Here is a picture I took of the arch. I didn't edit it yet...

We toured the brewery! That was really neat.

Grandma and Papa eat out for lunch and don't eat dinner. So we got to go out to eat every day! And we also got deserts each time. :) Even the time we went to Arbys. I got a Jamocha shake! YUM!

On Monday we ate at the Four Seasons Hotel restraunt. It was so fancy. They had fresh ham and sushi at the buffet bar! I ate so much I could hardly move, and I wasn't hungry for dinner or even much breakfast the next morning. We looked around the hotel, at least the places you are allowed if you aren't staying there. Everything was so neat and fancy. The workers there opened doors for you (even car doors). Everytime they did that it made me feel like giggling, or pretending I was a princess. :) I think regular people need to hold doors more often. Then everyone can feel like a princess (or prince or king or whatever). Just like Rose said in The Shadow of the Bear: "Have you ever felt that there's a story going on that everyone is a part of, but not everyone knows about? As if the people you meet aren't just their plain, prosaic selves but are actually princes and princesses, or fantasical creatures who have hidden their real shape, who don't remember who they are?" (I'm paraphasing here, I couldn't find the quote in the book so I just went from memory)

There I go, rambling agin. *supercilious sigh* lol, look at me, being supercilious to myself! Okay, back on topic. Trip to St. Louis.

We also took a tour of the Fox theater. We took a ton of pictures, but it was dark so they didn't turn out great. :P They had this whole hallway where the cast would sign their names on the wall. I took pictures of a bunch- they had nearly every musical imaginable there. :)

This was the chandelier at the Fox. It looked tiny, even from the very top balcony, but it is actually 12 feet in diameter! It reminds me of the chandelier in The Phantom of the Opera. *shivers delightedly*

We didn't get to go onstage :( because they are working on the stage. Did you know that every show brings in its own stage floor? So that you can do all those disappearing things with trapdoors and whatnot.

We also went to the art museum (yay!) but half the stuff looked like it belonged in a history museum, and a ton of it was abstract (aka, utterly pointless blobs of paint in my humble opinion. One was these four celieng-high sheets of plain gray, shiny metal. And that is art...?) They had a couple Monet paintings, and several awesome realistic ones. I got a few ideas for artwork.

We did tons of other stuff, and had a Blast.

Marcus and William's Birthday Party

After we went to Grants Farm we came back for Will and Mark's birthday party at Grandma's!

William spent the rest of the time at Grandma's playing his new Wii game. :)

And Marcus fell in love with his Nerf gun

The whole gang

(minus Grandma and Papa) At Grants Farm (above) and Cici's Pizza (below)

Grants Farm

We went up to St Louis the day after Mark's birthday. While we were there we went to Grants Farm! I think Marcus loved it.

We saw the "Elephant show"

During the "Animal Show", they needed volenteers for a "Rat Race". William got picked! The rat was supposed to race across his arm to the arm of the boy next to him. First, the man doing the show put the rat on Will's head. Then... he put the rat in Will's hat and put his hat on his head!

This was my favorite part- the rat crawled into Will's shirt!

Marcus loved the sprinklers over the sidewalk. I played with him in there, and I got SOAKING!

*drumroll* A TURTLE!!!

Papa and Addie

The Fourth of July in Taos

Rachel and Hailea racing to catch a parachute

Dad and Marcus stole Will's parachute! It helps to be tall.

LtoR: Adelynn, Mary, Rachel, Grandma's neighbor Brooke, Sarah, and Andi.

Mary and Ethan. The "St. Louis Rackers" (soon to be "one of the St. Louis Rackers") do foster care.

Left: Mary, Emily, Andi, and Racel (and I think its Kaleb on the ground) cheer about something.

Bottom: Nathan, Will, and Kaleb chase a parachute.

Guys talking!

Pictionary

Today we were playing Pictionary. Mom and I did pretty well (she even got yodel!). Ben and Will, on the other hand... :) Ben thought that sissors were monkeys (???) and William thought that Ben's mountain was a triangle with water in it.

Silver Dollar City

We went to Silver Dollar City on Friday and Saturday! I had so much fun! Adelynn was tall enough to go on most of the rides- she is so cute! On Thunderation, I rode backwards with her, and she held up her arms the entire time, screaming bloody murder, and then laughing when she got off and begging to go on it again. Mom and Dad took pictures on their phones. I'll figure out how their phones work and post the pictures.

I am finally able to walk properly again. :) All but two of my blisters are gone, and my little toes have returned to their normal size. I discovered that what I thought were bruises were actually blood blisters. :P So, while we were in Branson we went shoe shopping.

GUESS WHAT I DISCOVERED?

Shoes that do not pinch my feet, cause blisters, or cause cramps really do exist! Men's size 8 Wide 4E. So, yeah, I am wearing men's tennis shoes. :P And some men's shoes look just like womens'. The extra-wideness is only the tiniest bit less wide than my feet. I wore the shoes all day at Silver Dollar City, on all those hills, and did not get a single cramp or blister. I think we solved my shoe problem!

Now, if only I could get dress shoes in men's extra wide...

The Long-Awaited Pictures

It was so nice out on Thursday! Then it had to go and get all cold again. Brr. Yesterday I only grabbed a sweatshirt on my way to play practice, and BRR! And I normally don't get cold at all...

The "Mudball King". No kidding.

Playing in the mud

Marcus reminds my of James Hamacher in this picture. Not sure why...

Our broken tree. :-(

Our not-broken tree. :-)

The often-fought-over hammocks. I can't believe that no one was sitting in them...

Aww. Markie is just too sweet.

On our rock wall.
I love my camera. :-)

Catapillar

Today was a really nice day out! It's hard to believe that about a week ago we were out playing in the snow.
Today we all went and played outside for hours (I took pictures, but I don't have my camera right now, so...)
Nick and Adelynn were playing in the mud by the playhouse. Nick found a worm and they named it Catapillar. And then Nicholas put the worm on the swingset. Adelynn started screaming, and I thought it was because Nick dared to put a bug on the playset.
What she was actually screaming was: "OH NO! Our new friend is stuck!"
And that is the story of how they got a pet worm for about half and hour.

Snow Video!!!

I took my video camera out in the snow- and, wonder of wonders- I made a video of it! Sorry its so choppy, I did it really quickly on Windows Movie Maker. Its ok for a first try I guess. I'm excited though, because Dad showed my how to set it up, and I can actually get my videos onto the computer by myself!

It takes ages to get the video onto Blogger! Oh, well... I can't hear any sound, but then again, that is most likely just this computer.

SNOW DAY!!!

SNOW DAY! (Actually, it was mostly just little ice balls, not hail, not snow, and we should have done school but its just been a lazy day. Here are some pictures:)

The skateboard ramp is great in snow!!!

Sorry this is sideways- I forgot and turned the camera to the side while filming it...

Adelynn and I

Adelynn found a box with some of my old dresses and immediately fell in love with them!

Adelynn, age 5

Shaylynn, age 4

There doesn't look like much similarity there, aside from the dress. In this picture, however, there is a hint of Addie's grin.

William's 10th Birthday

Will's present. He also has a booklight now, and has been sleeping on his beanbag in his reading cubby underneath his desk. Mom and Dad made a coupon book for him- things like a family bowling night, a book he is wanting when it is released, and "a family game of Monopoly at Mom and Dad's convenience".

The birthday boy had to show off his favorite pocketknife. At least, I think it is his pocketknife. Maybe it is Ben's.

Marcus is clapping for his big brother. He was so cute! This is one of the rare in-focus pictures of Marcus- he is usually moving too fast!

An interesting view

The sweet ice cream scooper girl

William conducted the singing of "Happy Birthday"

Posing for an out of focus picture.

Lighting candles in pajamas- he was ready for the movie!

The Stamping Up bag doubles as spur-of-the-moment wrapping paper

Drinking his Mountain Dew icy while staring at his all-chocolate cake

Blowing out the candles

A small example of Will's estaticness (spelling? I just sounded it out)