Weekend in Elgin

This weekend we went up to Elgin to visit! It was a quick trip, but it was so good to see everyone! I miss our family there (Jacobs) and our old neighbors and friends, but we don't really miss the area much. I can't stand traffic! It really felt like home pulling into Germantown Hills today!



Lori, Tom and Justin at On the Border Friday night.













Alec won 1st place for design in his Pinewood Derby! Great job buddy! It was a police car that has real flashing lights!














Brandon and Justin














Blake and Justin














Alec, Tucker and Justin














Blake and Justin shooting hoops at halftime of Brandon's game














Aunt Connie took Justin up on the track above the courts because he did not want to sit in the chairs - he had to run around!











I think we need a bigger fort :)









































































I LOVE his smile in this picture!













End of a long weekend - early to bed tonight!

I wanna drive the zamboni....

Last night we went to the Rivermen game. It was fun! Justin loves watching them skate and he actually follows the puck! He kept calling it a ball, but that seemed safer than telling him it was a puck :)



We got this from school yesterday. Rob and I laughed so hard when we saw "C.". We can just picture Justin sitting there like - yeah, so what...their fingers were in my mouth. I am not saying that I like him biting people, but this is the first report in months and I don't feel as bad since he didn't go "attack" anybody.














Mommy and her little buddy














He'll do anything for Cherry Coke :)













Grandpa Kent face!













Cheesy grin! We were right on the glass and he liked it when they skated by, but he didn't really like it when they hit the glass and fought for the puck right in front of us.


























A lot of you who read this probably know Chris Durno - he played hockey at Tech. He plays for San Antonio now, which is who the Rivermen played. We said hi after the 2nd period as he was coming off the ice, but we didn't wait to talk to him after the game because Justin was already 90 minutes past his bedtime.

There is also a guy who is at every game who had on a UP Sports Hall of Fame hat, so of course I had to talk to him (this was back in October when I first met him). He was born and raised in Hancock because his dad went to Tech. I finally met his dad last night - he is such a sweet old guy! He was captain of the MTU hockey team in 1948-1950! He has some cool stories about what Tech was like. I want to organize a Peoria area MTU alumni gathering. I talked to Mr. Burns (that makes him sound old!) and they are getting together a program to do regional alumni groups. I am going to be the contact for Central Illinois. I think it would be fun to get a section of tickets at a Rivermen game and do dinner/drinks before and then all go to the game. There are a ton of alumni in the area with CAT here, so I think we'd have a great turnout!

That's all for now - have a great day!

Here are a few pictures! Nothing much new around here. We might go to a hockey game tonight if I get back from Champaign in time (there for work today). Pictures of that to follow if we go!

Have a great week :)

Here is a video of our new little superman who is strong enough to open the freezer. He has not tried the fridge yet, but I am sure that's next - time to move the wine up to another shelf!






Giving the dogs their treats - they are really good with him and not too agressive about taking it, although this picture looks like he's going to lose a hand :)












Mom - quit taking my picture!


















He walks around and says "Bite?" and tries to feed Rob & I. Last night he tried to feed Papa and Gramma bites - the picture was covered in Gogurt! See that magnet? He likes to cover up the picture and say "bu-bye" and then he laughs...he thinks it's hilarious!

The Hills 1/20/08

Burrrrr...... Even Justin learned that word this weekend! It was very cold here all weekend; not as cold as it is in Green Bay right now as we are watching the NFC Championship game, but it's still cold!

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Saturday morning we met Katie & Josh for breakfast and then just hung out at home all day. The Wisley's came over later in the day and we just ordered pizza and hung out. Samantha was so good with Justin and they played together all night. She'll be a good big sister in a few months!! Rob and I got to catch up with Dave and Stacey - it was fun! They ended up staying until almost midnight...we had no idea it was so late. Rob & Dave were playing Guitar Hero, Justin and Samantha were playing in the fort and me and Stacey were chatting. Justin didn't even act tired or crabby!

Today we didn't even leave the house - it was great! We just played Wii, read books, watched football and stayed warm.

The sleeping situation is back under control. He goes to bed at 8:30ish (his normal time) with the dogs in his room. The dogs even know the routine now and they lay on their pads in his room and wait for their treats. Quincy doesn't whine to come out anymore either! He is sleeping through the night and we usually have to wake him up for daycare.

Here are a few pics from this weekend. He got new Spiderman PJ's and loves them. It was a 2 pack, so he wore them all weekend :)

To my fellow bloggers -

I want to do something fun for Crystal! I can't imagine living in a mud hut for 27 months with no TV, etc...I'd go crazy!

I was planning on sending her a binder with dividers that has each of our names on it. Then every two weeks or so I was going to print off what we've blogged so she can still keep up with what's going on!

Do you think she'd like this? I dont' want to duplicate efforts though if someone else is going to be sending her the same thing. I can just sign a card with the binder that it's from all of us! I don't know if a binder will fit in a tampon box, but I doubt the Niger mail people will want to steal a binder :)

Any input is welcome!

Happier Times in the Hills!

Justin slept through the night!!!!! Yeah :) For the last 3 nights, each one has gotten better and last night he didn't wake up at all - and he only wimpered for a few minutes when we put him down. I think the sound of Quincy whining to get out of him room must lull him to sleep :)

We went to Gibson's house (Rob's boss) for dinner on Saturday and Luke had gotten a fort for Christmas - Justin loved it! So this week I went and took back a few things Justin got for Christmas (crappy Sit & Spin, etc.) and used the money to get Justin a fort. He likes sitting in it and the dogs tails hitting the side - it makes a loud noise and he doesn't get hurt! He has really liked hiding places (under the vanity in the bathroom, empty cupboards) so he really likes his fort.

Yesterday morning when we were getting him dressed for school, he gave Rob a really cheesy grin. Then Rob said "do your cheesy grin again" and he did! Now he does it whenever we tell him to - as you will see in the pictures below!

videos!

Fallen Soldier

Being that I like to keep my blog positive, I was not sure if I was going to post this - but I am. Last week a 20 year old soldier from the town next to us was killed in Iraq. It was north of Baghdad and they were in a fight with insurgents. They said today that they now think it was friendly fire that actually killed him, but either way it is a tragedy. When I left home to go to the post office and work, there were people outside waving American flags along Hwy 116 that runs through our town. I turned left onto 116 to go to the post office and drove by Germantown Hills Elementary School (where Justin will go). They had all of the kids lined up along the fence line waving flags. I lost it - I was crying like a baby. I was sad for the family and fiance of the soldier killed, but I was also so moved by the community support. It made me so happy to live in such a great town. Whenever people ask us where we live, Rob and I are proud to say Germantown Hills. It's a town known for it's great school district, good sports teams and reasonable housing costs. Until we moved here though, we had no idea what a great town it really is! Everyone is so friendly - the grocery store, bank, pharmacy, hardware store, etc...I have yet to have a bad experience. After seeing everyone showing their support, I stopped at a parking lot next to the school and joined everyone. They had a procession of fire trucks, police cars, humvees, the hearse carrying PFC Pannier and Patriot Guard Riders take his body from the National Guard in Peoria to his home town of Roanoke. I think that the situation takes on a whole new light now that I am a mother....

So while this is a sad situation, the community support shown for the family made me realize what a great place we are raising our family in. Everything happens for a reason, and I really think that this is where Rob and I were meant to end up. We have a healthy family, jobs we love, great friends here and a nice house. Like the sign in our dining room says "Happiness is a journey, not a destination"!

Chuck E. Cheese & Latest Happenings

Hello! Sorry it's been a while...

Last Saturday we took Justin to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time - he really liked it! It was kind a last minute idea. We went out to breakfast at The Galley (restaurant by the marina) like we do every Saturday morning lately; I think that will be our new Saturday morning tradition. It's good food, close to home, cheap and it's usually the same people in the same tables. Justin is a huge hit with the old people :) After breakfast we went to Kohl's and got some great deals! We got 4 pair of cargo shorts for Rob, 2 pair of PJ's, 2 pair of windpants, 2 pair of sweatpants, 2 long sleeve t-shirts for Justin and 2 pairs of socks for me......all for $64.00!!!!!!!!! We did all of this by 9:15am and the mall was not open yet, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese instead! That is a perfect time of day because it was not busy at all!





























































In other issues, the sleeping problem has improved slightly - but not back to where we were before the holidays. We took AJ's advice and tried putting the dogs in there with him at bedtime. He only cries for a few minutes now with them in there. The dogs don't really like it very much, but I don't really like them getting on the couches when we are at work either - so such is life! I think that Tucker is okay with it, but Quincy being his needy self thinks he has to be attached to Rob or I at all times. Oh well - we love them anyways!!! We're trying so hard not to bring him in bed with us, so instead we have laid on his floor and he goes to sleep. Last night Rob was going to lay down on the floor for a little bit and then put pillows under a blanket and sneak out, but he fell askeep for 7 hours in there! We'll see how it goes tonight!

Justin might have saved our next door neighbors dog with his sleeping problems. Rob left about 1/2 hour earlier than normal on Monday morning because he was up anyways with Justin not sleeping. He went out to his car and the wind had blown their gate open and their black lab puppy was loose. We live on a fairly busy road, so who knows what could have happened! He chased her back into their back yard and bungeed it shut.

I think that's all for now! Videos to come soon - they are uploading right now.

This weeks worth of videos!

We've tried to catch all the new words and things Justin learned in Vegas on camera. There's more coming, we just haven't uploaded them yet!

Justin doing a little flying!



Justin using his words



Justin playing tennis on the Wii



Justin beating on the dogs with their own toy!

The Hills 1-10-08

Here are a few pics from this week! We're so happy to have him home with us!!! It seems like he left a baby and came home a little boy though :( He learned new words - bye-bye, piggy (when you burp!), hello and some others. He's so funny....

The only problem since he got back is bedtime. He forgot how much he used to like bedtime! Now he's been crying at night for a while; he does eventually go to sleep - but only until about 12:30am. Then he CRIES and CRIES! He won't go back to sleep. For the last two nights, we have taken him back in bed with us and he goes to leep right away and sleeps until we wake him up. I know that we can't keep doing it, but we're not used to him not sleeping through the night. It's almost like he wakes up and thinks we are gone again. He screams in a way we haven't heard..... Then we feel bad :(

Oh - and today is my 3 year anniversary at Thermosystems!!! I am so glad to have a job I enjoy, customers I like to work with and a great employer!






Playing in the cupboard. He won't be fitting in here much longer!














Fall on out!












Daddy and Justin eating their nightly frozen Go-gurt













Justin with his new racing PJ's from Gramma & Papa - Size 4T!!!!














His new big boy cup with a straw - he loves it!

.....

...my latest addiction. Before last week I had never seen an episode, but wiht the writers strike I started watching it online. I can't get enough and want to know what happens!!!! I have a lot to catch up on.....

Videos & Pics tomorrow - I PROMISE!!!!!!!

Is it really January???????

It hit 68 degrees here today and now we're under a severe thunderstorm & tornado watch!?!?!?! What's going on????

The Hills - 1/6/08

Hello! Nothing too exciting to report here, but I thought I'd check in :) Here are a few random tidbits....

• JUSTIN COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!!!! YEAH!!!!! Rob and I miss him like crazy and can't wait to see him. I know that he had a lot of fun with Gramma, Papa, Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda - thanks so much for sharing your vacation with him!!!!!
• Peoria broke a 101 year record today with 65 degree temperatures. It was BEAUTIFUL out! It was even sunny to go along with it. I was outside cleaning up dog poop for 2 hours and didn't even get a chill :)
• We went to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse and then to the riverboat casino with Katie & Josh last night. It was really weird to go out with another couple and not have to clean up the floor around a highchair before we left!
• Rob and I stayed pretty late at the casino (and with more money than we walked in with!). When we got out to our car, Rob's driver door was not shut tight...okay, we didn't think much about it. Then when we started the car, it said that the rear driver side door was ajar. Rob reached back to shut it tight and it was not even latched - totally open. We think we locked the car before we went in, but maybe not? The strangest thing is that if someone did get into our car, they did not take Rob's cell phone, the Sirius radio or Garmin Navigation System that were all in plain sight. We also did not notice any papers missing. Me being the worry wart I am figured that they just wanted our address so they knew where to go rob our house while we were on the boat, but we got home and everything was safe. I still made Rob go in first :)

Hope everyone had a nice weekend - more later!

I LOVE Illinois!!!!!

As of January 1st, the WHOLE STATE is smoke free in public buildings. People even have to be 15 feet from an entrance, exit or ventilation intake. It's so nice to go to a restaurant, bar, casino, etc and not feel like you have to go home and shower immediately to get the ashtray smell off of you!!!!!

More Las Vegas.....

Thank you Aunt Manda for keeping us up to date with pictures - we miss him so much, but it's fun to see what he's doing everyday!



Uncle Ry and Justin at the Mirage















Mirage














I am guessing he's pointing out a "dog" since everything is a dog :)
















Dolphins - who are probably dogs too!












Gramma and Justin playing the fishing game at the Excalibur arcade after dinner at Dick's Last Resort

Look at the concentration on his face - him and Grandpa Kent make the same face even though Grandpa won't admit it!







Showing off their prize!














Papa and Justin













Dick's Last Resort is one of those restaurants where they are mean to you on purpose. Justin's hat says "The one that Brad and Angie wouldn't adopt" :) I love how he's looking up at the hat like what is on my head??











I know him well enough to know that he's probably saying "ball" becuase he always makes this face when he does!













Wack-a-mole doesn't stand a chance against our monster!










Justin and Aunt Manda singing in the car :)