Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for Illini
Fun with Ry Ry
Ryan stayed over last night, and the kids were so excited to see him this morning. Ben wrestled and wrestled with him, and to Ryan’s credit, he just let it happen. It actually brought back so many memories of me playing with Ryan when he was that age. Ben reminds me of him so much. I can still hear Ry Ry shouting, “Wrestle!” as we rolled around on the floor, and then this morning it’s like I was reliving the past as I heard Ben shouting the same thing. It was awesome.
The kids are lucky to have a cousin like Ryan. Although it’s tough having him so much older than Ben & Emma, he really seems excited to be a part of their lives, and they will certainly learn a lot from him. If our kids turn out to be like Ryan, we would be very fortunate parents.
Halloween fun
The weather made us nervous all week, but luckily it pretty much cooperated in order for us to have a very fun Halloween night. It was a tad bit chilly, but thankfully the rain finally stopped.
We started the night with pizza, and Grandma & Grandpa Kerber joined us first. Then Aunt Theresa came, and finally Auntie M, Salina, and Bella rounded out our group. It didn’t take anyone long to finish eating…the anticipation of trick-or-treating was on the forefront of everyone’s mind. 
So after we ate we changed into our costumes (which luckily were big enough to leave room for a couple of extra layers underneath) and headed out. Ben the panther, Emma the lion and Bella as Magenta the dog made up our costumed group. 
Since Auntie M and Salina both came with us, the adults outnumbered the kids for once, which is never a bad thing!
We started down the street and the kids were into it right away. Emma had not napped this afternoon, so after only a couple of houses, she was getting droopy and was pretty far behind.
But Ben was very patient with both of the little girls. He would wait out on the sidewalk and I can’t remember him complaining once. After about 40 minutes of trick-or-treating both of the girls were ready to head in. Neither of them really knew what any of the candy was in the first place, and they were pooped from walking. Plus, Bella had other stops to make, so Auntie M and Salina were off.
Ben, however, was still ready to go. So Dave took him around one more block. Needless to say, his pumpkin was very heavy by the time they got home a half hour later. He was so excited about some of the things in there. It was too funny. By this time Grandma & Grandpa had gone home, but Aunt Theresa still had a bag of goodies for the kids. They both loved opening these, and we had to have just one more treat before bed.
Both kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. 
We ran into almost all of our neighborhood friends and saw some pretty cool Halloween houses. While Halloween is certainly not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that a smile came to my face on more than one occasion tonight. There’s not much more you can ask than that.
Oh wait, icing on the cake…the Illini football team beat Michigan tonight, too! Woo HOO!!
It’s the best…even the next day
Tonight we had Pop’s leftover pizza for dinner. Seriously, even as leftovers, it’s one of my favorite pizza on Earth. It’s so sad how happy something like a hot piece of pizza can make me, but it does. No, we didn’t give any of it to the kids, and no, we didn’t feel guilty about it one bit! They are much too young to appreciate it yet!
Illini Saturday the sequel
For our birthdays in August, 
Theresa got us tickets to the Illinois vs. Michigan St. game, which was today. It was Homecoming in Champaign, which is always a fun day, and Dave and I were really looking forward to going to the game. But since we had been to the game last week, and saw how badly the Illini looked then, we had trepedations about our chances today. We had hope for an Illini victory, though, and looked forward to the game.
We were way too optimistic, I’m afraid. The Illini are awful. And really…using the word awful is being too kind to them. They didn’t do anything well today. Truly, the highlight of the game was when two fighter jets flew over the stadium during the pre-game show.
However, it was certainly not a wasted day. We got to see Ryan again, and he even went to dinner with us after the game at Papa Del’s, our very favorite place in Champaign. There is nothing better than enjoying a Pop’s pizza on a Saturday afternoon. There is just something about that pizza that is indescribable yumminess. I liken it to Mystic Pizza…one may never know what’s in it that makes it so good. But we do love it, and both Dave and I look forward to getting there at least once a fall. We were happy that we could take Ry with us to keep the torch for Pop’s burning on.
We’re still holding on to some hope for the Illini, but it’s very little. I can hardy remember a time when we were this bad at football. Honestly, I’m not sure that we’ll win another game this year. It’s a sad day in Chambana-ville. 
Illini fun
Family, food, and football…what more could you want, right? Yesterday was a great day spent with all three. The Swartzies bought tickets to the Illini vs. Penn St. game in Champaign, and were looking forward to spending the day with Ryan there. Then, at the last minute, our neighbors offered their season tickets to us for that game, too, so we decided to join in the fun. We quickly threw together some tailgating plans the night before, and it was on.
They picked us up around 9:30 and we all piled in the van to head to Champaign. Their tickets came with one parking pass, so this was the best way to ensure we could all tailgate together. We pulled into the lot, and were very impressed with the location. We were right across from the football stadium in the Assembly Hall parking lot. It was awesome!
Ry gave his brothers, Nance and me a tour of the campus, 
and it was so fun walking around with him now that he knows his way around and has experiences on campus. He showed us where he has classes, and where the house he pledged (and de-pledged) was, and had so many little funny things to tell us. I loved it. After the tour was done, we headed back to the stadium and Dave started grilling. 
We grilled brats and pork chops and had all kinds of yummy snacks on the side. Since the weather wasn’t cooperating too much, we brought hot chocolate with us, as well, and that really hit the spot, too. Some of Ry’s friends came to our tailgate, and it was fun meeting them.
It was all such a good time…until the actual game started! The Illini are so pitiful this year that it’s almost painful to watch them. We suffered through the game, with the intermittent rain and all. It’s so sad to watch. The ironic thing was that the Swartzie’s tickets were just a couple of rows away from ours…a total coincidence, but pretty fun.
We had such fun hanging with them and with Ryan. Even though he’s been a U of I student for almost two months, it didn’t seem as real to me as it does now, after seeing his dorm room and watching him interact with his friends. now it’s sunk in…the next generation has arrived and I’ve officially passed the torch!
What a let down
Woo HOO…the beginning of the college football season started today with the annual Illinios/Mizzou Arch Rivalry game in St. Louis. In the past, the Illini have not had much luck in St. Louis, having lost the last 4 meetings there. But this year was supposed to be different. All of the analysts agreed that this would be Illinois’ year. Everyone talked about how great we’d be with Juice Williams finally coming into his own this season and using his experience to lead a talented team.
I’ll say it again. What a let down!
For goodness sakes, Illini…could you please just play decently on national TV? We fumbled, we dropped balls, we threw interceptions, we missed a point after attempt, and our star receiver got hurt on the very first series. I’m sadly almost ready to admit that Juice Williams is one of the most overrated quarterbacks in college football today. He wasn’t playing like someone with experience. He was playing more like someone who maybe would like to win a game or two…we’ll see how it goes. And Mizzou, who, by the way had a sophomore starting his very first college game at quarterback, looked awesome. Let me make this perfectly clear…they had a 19 year-old kid who had never played in a college game before leading their team, and we had a 23 year-old Senior with three years experience behind him leading ours. And they kicked our butts. Ugh. I really hate to say that it’s going to be a long year, but if this game was any indication, we’re in some pretty big trouble come Big Ten season. I love you, Illini football, so please stop breaking my heart!
Final score-Mizzou 37, Illinois 9
The next generation
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of Illini has begun. Today Ryan moved into the dorms at the University of Illlinois. Of course, since we’re both alums, Dave and I are thrilled about this. In some ways it literally seems like yesterday that Mom, Dad and I were unpacking my stuff in Weston Hall. In others, it seems like that was more than 23 years ago. Holy crap…23 years ago!? How did that happen?? Anyway, it is very exciting to know that someone else in the family will now bleed orange and blue. Now that he’s officially set foot on campus as a student, the Illini loyalty is inevitable. :) I hope that he has even half of the fun I had when I went there. If so, he’s bound to love it.
Good luck, Ry! Study hard, keep an open mind, learn something new every day, and HAVE FUN!!
Euchre, euchre, euchre
Today we had a Euchre tournament. Well, we didn’t “have” the tournament…we played Euchre in a continuation of a tournament that has been going on for approximately 22 years. Please let me explain.
In 1987, my high school friend Patty and I were freshmen at U of I. Her sister Irene, also a good friend of mine from high school, was a senior there. Irene’s friend Mark was a first year law student at U of I, too. We got together one night to paly some Euchre. It was simple fun…we drank, we ate, we listened to good music, and we laughed a lot. Somehow, after that, we came up with the idea to keep a running score. Once we would get to one level, we would just create at new one, and the Euchre Tournament was born. Mark started keeping score on a notepad in 1992, which was way after we started, so we’re not really sure of the exact history before that date. But since then, he has documented when and where we played, and has kept a running score. At some point Mark and Irene’s friend Jeannine took Patty’s place, and this is the current group who periodically gets together for a day filled with the same fun. The system basically goes like this: you must win 2 out of 3 games to win a match. You must win 11 out of 21 matches to win a mega-point. Today started with us behind 7 matches to 10. Jeannine and I had a great streak, but Mark and Irene finally won that last match and got themselves a mega-point. Right now, after 16 years, the score is five mega-points to three.
It’s so outrageous that it’s incredibly fun for us still.
It’s official
Yesterday Ryan went to U of I to register. He and Nance slept here Thursday night so they could only do the last 1/3 of the drive Friday morning instead of leaving at the crack of dawn from Sycamore. I’m not sure who was more excited…Ry or me! It’s so awesome. When they got done they stopped back here and the three of us went to dinner so we could rehash the day. I think it went really well for both of them. I think that the best thing I heard was that Nance was really confident that he was going to the right place and was choosing the right major, which is broadcast journalism.
I’m so very proud of him and so excited for him. I hope his experience there is just as fun and awesome as mine was. I can’t wait to watch him experience everything!!
Pomp and circumstance, part II
Today was Ryan’s graduation in Sycamore.
I was looking forward to going up by myself to enjoy the day with the family. Not that I don’t love my kids, but there are times when it is nice to be by myself so I can relax and focus on what is going on around me besides tantrums, dirty diapers and the desire for juice. Even though I was totally looking forward to this day, I really had no idea how much I would enjoy it. Being up there by myself brought back so many memories of the time when I lived there and was totally a part of the Swartzy. Don’t get me wrong…I really do love my life now and I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It’s just that hanging out with all of them was such a huge part of my life for so many years that it was really great to visit that time again. I don’t think I’ve talked to any of the boys as much as I did today in years.
But I digress. The day wasn’t about my enjoyment, but it was about family. We had such beautiful weather that we took a ton of pictures outside before the ceremony. 
I swear we thought of every combination of family we could to photograph. We took pictures of the boys alone…the whole Swartzy family…Ry with his grandparents…Ry with both sets of grandparents…the whole family with the grandparents…Ry with just his parents…and Ry with his mom and with his dad alone. 
Then the Johnsons came over and we did it all over again with Jenna and Ryan in a whole new set of pictures…all of the kids were complaining that their cheeks hurt from smiling so much! 
After pictures we were off to the high school for the ceremony. It was very nice, with the exception of a couple of stuffy speeches from the “suits” (the district superintendent and the president of the school board) that rambled on a little. The highlight for me was definitely the student speaker. SHS has a tradition of choosing the student speaker based on speeches submitted by interested candidates. The boy who was chosen to talk was poised, well-spoken, and wrote one heck of a speech. He had us all chuckling one minute and wiping tears the next. He spoke about some of their teachers specifically and about some of the things that every high school students faces. It was a really great speech. In fact, my dad actually searched out his parents to compliment them on his performance.
After graduation we all went for some dinner together. Again, I was taken back in time to my pre-married life when this was actually pretty customary. I had a really great day, and I’m so excited for Ryan to begin this new phase in his life. One of the first things I said to him after the ceremony was, “Ry, you’re an Illini now!” By far, my favorite picture of the day is this one.
Oskee-wow-wow, Ry!
