They're dropping like flies

So last week was busy again.  I feel like I drove around a lot. 

Friday I went to the farm and dropped off Cecily and borrowed the van, headed north to Paul and Jean's to pick up their play gym (thanks!  and thanks for Kayla's bitty baby!), then drove home and unloaded the play gym, then back to the farm to get little miss and watch Fred and Troy cut down a tree. 

Saturday we went back to the farm for lunch with Lena's family.  Aww, they're not even looking at each other....  hehe.  We got fabric samples so I can make little miss a dress for the wedding.  Hooray!

Ooooh, and Wendi-with-an-i called me in the middle of lunch to tell me she's engaged.  I feel so old.  I told Bob that, "everybody's engaged but me,"  he just looked at me funny....  hehe.

Saturday evening there was a dinner for G and G Koch's 70th wedding anniversary.  Cecily and Hanna playing together...

And then Sunday was church, of course, and Clayton's graduation party in the evening.  Rita and Karen and some of my cousins were there- it was good to see them all.  Rita brought little miss her very first Vera Bradley purse.  She chewed on it all night, so I think she likes it.  Auntie Shelly needs to send me the pictures on her camera...

So after all that, Little miss and I slept in Monday morning (and she proceeded to stay up until 12:30am last night.  ugh.).  We were kind of lazy all day.  Rustin and Sharon and Matt came over after supper and did some prep work for our landscaping.  Then we went to Pinky's for ice cream where we met up with Greg and Mary and crew.  Good times.  

Blessings.

I've got my pack on my back

I've been slacking on blogging lately... o well. 

Last week I was pretty busy.  I helped Kelly paint Wednesday all day, Thursday I went to the farm and picked up camping gear and a trunk load of perennials from Fred and Di's, and Friday I helped paint again in the morning and then we went to Starved Rock that afternoon. 

I don't know why, but my brothers like to call with big news when we're camping.  This time, Matt called to say he was engaged as we were loading the car...  floored would be an understatement.  Anyway, I was slightly flustered and we were in a hurry so I didn't get much more than her name... I suppose I should have called back on the road but by then I was in no state emotionally to talk on the phone... poor Bob.  :D

We had beautiful weather Friday night.  It was our sort of annual Koch cousins camping so Dale & Meg, Jon, Mike, Kevin, and Josh were there too.  

They are all camping experts so we had really good food over the fire...

Little miss liked camping, I think.  She was happy the whole time and slept the whole night.  I slept pretty good too, but I also heard some people yelling at some noisy campers, the guys chasing away a coon and coyote from our food, Dale and Jon scrambling to get their rain fly's on their tents before it started raining.... hehe.  Quite the night. 

There was a slight letup in the rain while we ate our yummy pancake breakfast.

Maria was cracking me up... 



We had to pack up all our stuff in the rain.  Ugh.  Wet tents are the worst.  And since we were already wet we decided to hike in the drizzle.  It rained last Koch camping too.  I don't like camping in the rain. 

Little miss liked the backpack we borrowed.

We don't look like we've been camping, do we?  Hehe.  Hooray for the soggy, greasy look.  

There was actually water running in the canyons!  I've only ever been to Starved Rock in the summer or fall when everything is dry.  So pretty.

I was jealous of Maria- I love to go barefoot in puddles.  Or streams.  

 Then we came home and unpacked our wet gear.  And Cecily wiggled out of her car seat and fell off the table... I found her on her back on the floor... minor freak out.  And then I called her doctor and got a long list of head injury symptoms to watch out for that all sound awful.  happymothersdaytome.

To top it all off I looked in the church book to see how old Lena is.... poor Bob got his shower interrupted twice when I discovered that she's younger than Michelle, and then again when I realized she doesn't turn 18 for two more weeks.  *Blink*  Haha.... and then I did talk to Matt on the phone and he got to listen to me freak out and give him a hard time about being a cradle robber.  I'm excited to meet her this week.  Shelly and I can give her all kinds of inside info on what living with Matt is really like- poor girl can't have any idea what she's getting herself into.  We're kind of a weird family.

He's totally twitterpated already and it's going to be really funny. 

So to make a long weekend longer we went to W-ton today for church and mother's day festivities at the farm. Tomorrow I'm going be lazy and do laundry... wet smoky laundry.  Woot woot. 

Blessings.    

Bricks

So no offence to my older readers, but I've come to the conclusion that there should be a maximum age to purchase bricks and pavers... they card for spray paint, why not for landscaping materials? 

Before.  Hopefully there will be a pretty after sometime soon. 

This is what we've dug out of our front landscaping...

Pretty sure these are supposed to be for patios.

 They had patio blocks laid flat with two layers of bricks glued (not mortared) on top... and then a second row of perpendicular patio blocks sunk behind that.  Yeah.  Overkill much?

And I've gotten about halfway through digging out the bricks on the side. 

Before- all brick.

My mom came over Thursday afternoon and helped keep Cecily occupied... she got to help dig too.  We're planning to reuse some of them for a new brick edge, and our neighbor wants some to build a fire pit, but we still have waaaaay more bricks and pavers than we need. 

Little miss and I went for a walk the other night and stopped to talk to Beulah.  Must have tired her out. 

I set her in the sink so I could do my hair and she could talk to the baby in the mirror.  She got the faucet handle to turn slightly, hence the wet spot on her pants... hehe. 

Blessings.

Happy Anniversary

To us!  We made it three years on the 26th...  is it sad that I'm already looking at our wedding pictures and thinking, 'wow, we look young and thin'?  *grin* 

Bob spent our anniversary going up north for work for the third time in a week.  Woot.  He called and told me not to cook though, so when he finally got home we did go out for supper.  We decided to try Basta's... because it's yummy, close, and probably not busy late on a Thursday night since Cecily came with us.  The food was good, but I decided to try something new that was really, really spicy.  And I ate too much too fast because I was trying to keep little miss entertained.   (I forgot food for her and a sippy cup... oops).   By 11:30 that night Cecily was still wide awake and wound up and I wasn't feeling so good.  Woot.  Hooray for getting up close and personal with the toilet... So Bob took Cecily for a drive and came back with milkshakes and a sleeping baby.  My stomach had calmed down a little bit by then and I love milkshakes.  I did save half for breakfast.  haha.  O man, seriously, so far every year one or the other of us has been ill on our anniversary. *sigh* 

Anyway.  Friday was much better, Bob took off work and Amber came to discuss landscaping.  Aaahh. I'm kind of excited but there is much work that needs to be done.  It was good to have her here.  We went to a garden center to look at plants... introduced her to Pekin... hehe.  Good times. 

The town wide garage sales were Saturday.  I think I'd like to be a garage sale-er... except that it would require getting up in the morning and that pretty much doesn't happen around here.  *grin* The only thing I was maybe going to look for was  a life jacket for Cecily.... she has plenty of clothes and we don't need any stuff.  So we just went for a walk after lunch and stopped in a few places... the first house we stopped at had a life jacket.  Works for me.  We went to a farewell singing for Aaron and Katie that evening.  

Blessings.

Hail to the Orange, Hail to the Blue

Bob had to go to Aurora for work yesterday, he left early and got home late, so little miss and I went down to Champaign to visit Auntie Shelly.  First we stopped at Mark and Ashley's to see little Vienna, then we headed to the Upper Room.  It kind of made me miss college days and 709... kind of.  Although I do love Urbana in all of its old houses and leafy green goodness, I like my nice house and quiet street and Bob better.  :)  

We ate lunch at the Courier Cafe and then we went for a walk.  Shelly showed us her social work building (it was an empty lot when I was there- makes me feel rather old!) and we wandered to the quad.  We had to show Cecily the morrow plots...

She got lots of smiles from the students and passersby.  Randomly, it was three years to the day of taking our wedding pictures on the quad. 

We stopped at Cocomero for frozen yogurt.  So yummy.  And then we went across the street and introduced Cecily to the Alma Mater.  *grin*  

I would have gotten a picture in front of Noyes lab, but they've got it all fenced off for construction.  Next time.  haha.  We showed her where I used to live and where Grandpa used to live... she was thrilled. 

Shelly had a mandatory lecture in the evening so little miss and I crashed the student appreciation dinner at church (this makes twice in three years... haha) and stayed for the service.  It was good to be there and see Champaign people again.  We really need to visit more often. 

And then we headed home.  We made it to Farmer City before she started crying.  And she fell asleep by Goodfield, so it was a little bit better than last time.  haha. I didn't stop because I think she just wanted to be home and out of the car and stopping would only prolong the agony...terrible, I know.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun.
Blessings. 

Just ducky

So yes, I don't have much to blog about.  Last week was quiet.  Cecily and I went over to G and G Beutel's one morning to quilt (she didn't last as long as I wanted too.  Oh well, I got a few stitches in.).  Otherwise we were home and didn't do much. 

Every once in awhile I'll browse craigslist to see what's for sale... and this weekend this rocking chair was there!  Bob is very longsuffering... he let me get it and went with me and loaded it up in my trunk... 

It's an antique.  Solid oak, and a lot of it is quartersawn.  Eeeee. 

It needs some cleaning up... I started taking off the fabric yesterday and there is real wool batting for padding!!  I'll probably attempt to refinish it and take it to get reupholstered.  It may take a while though since I should be focusing on the landscaping.  *grin*  

And since I know most people just want to see the little miss.... here she is singing to me while I got ready this morning.  Yes, I know that leggings look ridiculous with a onesie and a cloth diaper, but they have ruffles on the back to make up for it. 

Blessings.

Shouting Appalachians

We got our new lights up!  My brothers came over Saturday night for pizza and wiring... they're so handy. 



Out with the old...



in with the new!  It's so much less heavy and dark in this corner now.

And while we were at it these lights went too.  They were nice and low profile, but also kind of space age and the light was weak.  So much so that we rarely turned them on because there wasn't much difference between on and off.

The mess on moving day.

Jakey is multi talented.

I love light.  Bob picked these out because I was being indecisive.  I think at some point the randomly placed ceiling fans will go away... we only turn them on occasionally for Cecily to look at.

 These walls are still white... suggestions for colors or decorating tips?

Little miss has outgrown her baby towels.  I think she likes her big hooded towel!

Sunday we went to W-ton because it had been awhile.   After church we attempted some shaped note singing out of the"Sacred Harp".  I need a piano... because I can't sight read anymore.  So it was quite interesting sounding but fun to try.  Steve and Renee joined us for supper and we got to see their Guatemala pictures.

Blessings.

Six months

We've had another quiet week, which I love.  We haven't been doing much outside because it's cold again.  And I've been lazy so we haven't been doing much inside either.  *grin*  Well sort of lazy.  I've been half-heartedly chipping away at my spring cleaning list. 

Cecily's six month picture and mine...  I think she looks like herself.  I've also heard she looks like a Klopfenstein baby, and the ladies at the eye doctor think she looks like my Dad.  Hehe, poor girl. 



Speaking of the eye doctor, for the first time in my life my eyes got better instead of worse!!  Maybe there is a plus side to pregnancy hormones... although they could change again when she stops nursing.  I must confess I did for a brief minute try to figure out how many kids I would have to have to get back to 20-20 vision, although I don't think it works that way and it would probably be more efficient to get Lasik. *grin*    

Blessings.

In my Easter Bonnet

First off, this girl is way too smart.  She's figured out that bottles and cans and glasses hold liquids... here she is attempting to steal Bob's IBC cream soda (such an easy birthday present!). 

We had a pretty quiet week.  I think my highlight was going to Dale and Meg's on Thursday for a Passover Seder.  It was a blessing and good for my soul.  Having it the night before Good Friday helped me to focus since I seem to spend most of my time in church taking care of little miss right now...  There's something about participating in an event that has been commemorated for thousands of years that makes my heart happy.   

Susan came home for the weekend so we spent Saturday evening with her and we dyed Easter eggs with the girls.

There were a few casualties.  Cecily tried it.

 And this is right before she dumped that cup of dye over.  Then the carton of finished products got dropped so there are no pretty pictures of Easter eggs this year.  *grin*

In my Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it.... 

I think she likes her Easter dress.  It makes her eyes look really blue.  

We were with the Beutels Sunday night at the cabin... Cecily did really good all day until Carrie's bf, Paul tried to hold her and she started screaming.  I felt kinda bad for him, I think she'd just had about enough Sunday and Easter at that point.  *grin*

Blessings.

Birthdays

So my cousin Ned turned 21 this past weekend, and since he just happened to be in Illinois there was a party.  And since he's 21 we got a keg for him.... of root beer.  1919 Root Beer.  It's probably some of the best root beer I've ever had, but it's only available on tap so you can't get it at a grocery store.  But you can find a distributor and get it in a keg- 16.5 gallons of wonderfulness.

They loaded it for me at Baumgarten's, but it took Fred and Troy to get it out of my trunk at the farm...

It was about at this point that I realized that I had forgotten about needing a keg tapper and we had no way to get the root beer out.  Ooops.  Since I have sooo much experience when it comes to kegs.  So Cecily posed for us while we called around trying to find a tap. (Hopefully this is her only experience with kegs too.  *grin*)

My brothers were in charge of keeping it iced down and transporting it to Herb and Lori's.... where we enjoyed it in frosty mugs.

And by the pitcher full.  

Profound words:

Cecily got lots of attention.  Kisses from Shena... or is this Kebe?  *grin* 

Ned took a nap.



In the evening the boys that weren't going to communion came to our house and played Risk.

 Maybe this is why you lost Troy...

Sunday was Bob's birthday.  Cecily helped him open his presents.  We went to his parents' house for supper and more cake that evening. 



Good times... good root beer.... it even tastes good flat!
Blessings.