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.



Fresh Air

Spring.  I love it.  I love our yard.  We have a redbud tree.

There are four old fashioned lilac bushes, and one new bush (the kind that doesn't have much fragrance).

Our garden is not planted yet. 

Iris and tulips are coming up in the flower bed.

Oooo and there's a crabapple tree!! 

And peonies!  Two different kinds!!  Yay!  I kind of want to give Nancy a hug- she planted lots of my favorites!

We took Cecily to communion last Saturday in one of her new dresses.  I didn't even try to take her into church... we sat in the baby room... much better for my stress levels.  She ended up being really, really, good and some of the younger girls were sweet enough to hold her while they passed the bread and wine.

We invested in a lawnmower since it took Bob three hours to push mow the yard last fall... I'm kind of excited.  I got to try it tonight and it's going to take me awhile to get used to driving it.  It's been three years since I've used a riding mower, and I've only ever used a zero turn mower.

Little miss wants a ride...

Blessings.

Shopping

On Thursday Mom, Shelly, and Cecily & I drove up to Woodfield mall.  Cecily was really pretty good all day.  I drove into and out of "the city" since it keeps all of our adrenaline levels and blood pressures down... and those were the two times Cecily decided to cry.  The rest of the day she was pretty content sitting in her stroller and posing with the random hats aunty Shelly kept trying on her.

And swimcaps!  Somehow I don't think this would stay on her in the water... 

It was lots of fun.  I didn't end up buying much for myself, but between all of us Cecily came home with a ridiculous amount of cute clothing.  It's hard to resist in stores like Janie and Jack and Hanna Andersson, especially when there are sales.

We also spent an inordinant amount of time at Anthropologie... hehe... where they kept telling me how cute my little boy was... um.. ok... yeah she's wearing a blue striped shirt, but she's got lime green pants on...and a bow... hehe. 

There's quite the variety of stores and it never ceases to make me feel slightly dowdy... oh well, I would look really silly wearing most of what they're selling.

We ate supper at the Cheesecake Factory which was really good.  I was full so I didn't eat any cheesecake.  *grin*  And then we came home and little miss decided that she wouldn't sleep through the night and she didn't want to sleep in. *sigh*

Blessings.

Warmth

I love spring.  Cecily and I have been spending lots of time outside working in the yard.   Well, I work, she supervises and makes sure I take lots of breaks and decides when it's time to go in.  (Slightly frustrating sometimes because I could get lots more done... haha)  Today we hauled sticks to the town burn pile and worked on trimming the overgrown honeysuckle vines on our fences.  Anybody know how to kill a vine?  We have more than plenty and I kind of want to thin it out a bit.  I'm glad we live in a small town; of the 5 loads of sticks and vines I've hauled in the last few days, random people helped me unload 2 of them. 

Ooohh... and Mr. Faw came and tilled my garden today!  (For Mom- he's not a creepy gypsy!  He's nice and his tiller has a sticker on it that says "My boss is a Jewish carpenter."  *grin*)  I haven't planted anything yet, it still seems waaay too early. 

So here's a picture finally of the 3rd Saturday Quilt club quilt that I've finally finished piecing.  Now I need to decide if I want to try to quilt it myself or have it machine quilted. 

Cecily's pretty Easter dress- the pattern is from the 40's, but because I can't not modify a pattern I added the sash and the tucks on the skirt and an invisible zipper. Which are amazing and have revolutionized sewing for me. The buttons came from grandma Koch's stash and the lace from my mom's stash.  

 The tucks should probably be lower, but I realized that too late and I don't think I want to take half the dress out. 

And what you've all been waiting for: gratuitous pictures of Cecily!  She's sad because she needs more toys...

After a long day in church. Little turtle baby.

And she's learning to grab onto things- like hair!  And she doesn't know how to let go so beware! *grin*

Blessings.