July 2010

We started out with the big bang of the 4th. We went to the Sullivan parade during the day. We went and watched the firework show at the hangar as usual. They had the annual corporate BBQ. For such a small place, though we go every year, I'm still amazed at the show they put on.

We did some sparklers and flowers at home with Baylee the night before. She loved it.

We went to the park a few times, had Thomas and Anna over one day, worked in the garden a little, canned lots and tried to stay inside the rest of the time. This preggo lady does not appreciate the heat this year. Summer has been sweltering with heat indexes up to 113 for days in a row. It's ridiculous for where we live. Who would have ever thought? The humidity has been horrid. We definitely got shafted this year with cold winter and brutal summer.

We also went to the fair grounds one day and checked out the livestock with Sarah, Thomas and Anna. Baylee had a blast petting all of the animals. We then took the kids for a picnic and to the park.

We also had a really bad storm come through. We lost our two big trees by the barn, luckily just into the corn. Besides having to mop up buckets of water in the house, and having to chase down a few things and cut up the trees, we made out really well. The winds got up to 83 mph where we live and with nothing to stop it, it was insane. The corn was 90% laying down in the field around the house. It became quite bare out there really quickly. Growing up in the lush, green south, I definitely miss the trees, we complained because of the few we had even when those were standing and had planted some baby trees in the spring. Hoping the maples stick to their reputation and grow quickly.

July was spent getting back in the swing of things, with the intent and goal of life slowing down for us for at least a short while.

June 2010

It's quick catch up still....

June turned into a crazy time for us. We were in the midst of trying to get back to the regular routine without the Lilli bug when we found out about Dad's motorcycle accident. ( I won't go into detail as most of our readers keep up on facebook or were in touch) Baylee and I made the long 20 hour drive to get to Rapid City. Dad's quick physical recovery was amazing and he was out of ICU in a week and up on the pulmonary floor. It was intriguing to watch day to day the improvement that could be made so quickly, especially from where he was at when we got there.

Update: Currently, after being in Houston and now recovering in Galveston, Dad has his full memory back less 2 wks prior to the accident and does not like to talk about the wreck. He still needs help with making connections sometimes but he is due to be out of his learning rehab by the end of the month, at which time, he will be well enough to hang out with the boys for a week or two and go back home to Rapid City. At least that's the plan as of now. He has amazed us all and we have been blessed tremendously with how things have turned out thus far.

The upside to going to Rapid City was that I got to see all three of my crazy brothers and Tarrah, as well as Sandra(Cort's fiance). Mom was also there for a day or two when we got there. Also, my Grandma and Uncle Gary were there from Georgia. So it was nice that we got to see everyone even though the circumstances could have been much more pleasant. Thanks to Tarrah, I got to spend quite a bit of time at the hospital while she watched the Baylee monster either in ICU waiting room or at the house. After things were more stable, we all got to hang out more and went in shifts to the hospital. Baylee was loving the fact that she has so many uncles ready to play with her at any time, from hooting at owls with Uncle Cort to looking for golf balls in the yard and on the 14th tee with uncle Hagan, to Uncle Teague just being crazy with her and playing along with whatever she said. She also cherished her time with Aunt Tat and Vannah running around like lunatics.

I loved being able to see everyone. Cort had us rolling one day when he emerged with that big ole stache on his face. We laughed for hours over that thing. The plan was to leave it until Dad woke up and could see it and laugh about it. Dad woke up and saw it but we didn't get the laugh, only so much can be done with a wired jaw and when you've been out for days and days. But it was hilarious. It just got a little too normal to look at him and see the caterpillar. Even Baylee made fun of it one night while we were all in the kitchen helping with dinner she pulled her hair over her top lip with an "I have a mustache too". I think that was worth it, even to Cort.

The trip was also nice for me and Baylee because I got to see our dear friends Brian, Kelly and Caleb. Kelly and I took the kiddos to Storybook Island for some playtime and much needed hang out time for us. It's nice they are doing helicopter tours so conveniently where Dad lives :) It was fun to hang out. We got to hang out with them another day up at the helicopter store and see Crazy Horse and MT Rushmore. Baylee found Mt Rushmore beyond hysterical when she saw faces carved into the mountain.

We came home after two weeks and spent most of our time playing catch up with life in general. I had dropped all projects to get out there and left the house a wreck in the middle of all of them. We spent some time at the pool in Mattoon with friends, flying kites, playgroup, swimming in her pool, playing outside at the house and normal life and I tried to catch up on projects.....and failed miserably at catching up. And I was terrible at taking pictures the whole month, thanks to Hagan, I have about half of our pics from SD.

Rest of Bug's trip

I never posted most of the pictures from the rest of Lilli's trip to see us. So here are the highlights.

The rest of the visit, we ended up hanging mostly around the house and town with nothing particularly exciting going on. Those are usually the most relaxing, enjoyable times though. The girls both loved our visits to the parks. Cody killed a coyote one night. Both ladies insisted on petting the dead coyote. They loved playing together in the pool and Lilli made a friend in the toad that we caught for her one day.

Previously mentioned professional pictures....we got the spots all cleared up mostly, you have to look really, really hard to see the few remaining ones. Adrien 1 Poison Ivy 0. Yay me!

We went to Target and O'Charley's(my part of the outing) one day before attending the zoo in the rain. We had to cancel the original zoo trip with playgroup I think 3 times because of the rain. So playgroup went to the Children's museum that day. I gave the girls the option of the museum with friends or the zoo in the rain, just us. They picked the zoo. It was cold and very wet but we had the zoo to ourselves. They even ran the train for us still. It was quite peaceful. And most of the animals were out despite the rain. It was torturous in parts trying to keep all 3 of us dry but I went prepared with extra snacks and extra clothes. It ended up being a blast and absolutely wearing both girls out.

The last weekend Bug was here, we took Dad to the park with us. It was a nice break for me not having to push them on all of the spinning toys. One night, I was using dirty pool water to water the garden and they desperately wanted to help. So of course, I let them. It took a while but kept them busy and wore them out and they just laughed and laughed. We spent a good bit of time chasing butterflies, fireflies, chickens and Odin. While the drama meter in the house is always off the chart, we really enjoyed Lilli being here. Baylee and Lilli loved each other's company and the companionship of having a pal at all times.

Camping

We decided to take the girls camping for a night. We just went to a state park about 20 minutes from the house. They were both very happy to try a new adventure. I don't know what it was about the tent but it turned the two ladies crazy. They were wild and ecstatic every time they got to go in it.

We did some fishing after setting up camp. Both girls caught fish all by themselves and were rightfully proud. We had the girls roast their own hot dogs for dinner and followed that later in the night with roasted marshmallows. (prego lady forgot the graham crackers on the counter so no smores for us) Lilli's favorite part was roasting(eating) the marshmallows no doubt. Baylee said she just liked it all.

The big fiasco: our ladies thought it would be a great idea while I was getting dinner ready to go pick some random leaves and rub them on themselves....(WHO DOES THAT?) I went ballistic when I saw them but thought of all the things they could pick whats the likeliness of it actually being poison. LIKELINESS=100% apparently. We couldn't tell because the leaves were so mangled. It showed up about 48 hours later on Baylee, Lilli's took about 8 hours longer but wasn't as bad. The funny part of the whole thing...apparently young children have a fascination with rubbing their butts while naked. It would've still been able to be spread when I was getting them dressed the next morning. They took turns getting dressed and each one did the same thing with rubbing their behinds while standing there, we were cracking up at that point and then turns out their butts were the worst part on both of them which essentially, just made the whole butt rubbing even more entertaining.

So we overloaded on baking soda. They played in the pool for 3 hours with (I go extreme) 2 lbs of baking soda in it and took baths with baking soda in the water as well as being smothered aloe vera 2 times. Getting rid of the spots by picture time in 4 days seemed like a crazy notion, but it worked. Leave it to the baking soda!

Overall it was a very memorable weekend. We had a good time and the girls both absolutely loved it.

Train Museum

We took the girls to a train museum a few weeks ago. The museum part was just old train cars the way they would have been used. The big attention getter was of course the real train ride. We happened to go on a tourist bus day and so some locals dressed as cowboys and robbed the train. They actually stopped it mid tracks for these "ferocious men" with cap guns. It was a good time and glad we went up to check it out.

Lilli's visit

We are about half way through our visit and I decided it's about time to post some more pictures.

The ladies have both had their fair share of time with the chickens and playing chase with Odin. The girls played in the pool one day when it was warm. It was a little windy making it a bit chilly but they insisted on playing and just laid in the sun for warmth in between escapades in the water. They both helped plant another set of corn and have even enjoyed helping pull weeds in the garden. I took the girls to see Cody at the farm one day and they got to play in the tractor. We've had lots of singing and dancing time while stuck inside due to weather. They have both learned the chicken dance and thoroughly enjoy showing off their moves.

We took them bowling with some of the guys. Robbie, Mauricio, Marcelo and Douglas all joined us for some entertainment. Poor guys were attacked all night by two little girls wanting to play and be chased. The guys were nice enough to oblige.

We had a playgroup in the park with our school friends. They both ran around like crazy for 2 hours. We've also gotten together with friends a few times for a change of pace. We've stayed fairly busy trying to keep the little ones entertained. I couldn't even mention all that we have done but these are the highlights.

These girls get on each other's nerves like only a sister can, but they have really enjoyed having each other around to play with at all turns.

I guess our biggest news would be the ultrasound. We are excited to add a baby boy to the family.

The Whirly Bird

Last Wednesday, it was a beautiful day in the 80's and I blew up the pool and filled it to be warm when we got home from town(well water will freeze your butt off). While in town, Cody called and said he had to fly up to the auction site and we could go too. Baylee was beside herself with excitement as soon as I told her we'd have to play in the pool another day we were going flying. Lilli was less than thrilled we weren't gonna swim but after a little listening, she was game. So we grabbed snacks and met Cody.

Each way was 120 miles so about an hour. The girls had fun pointing things out, from tractors, to cows, to funny shaped lakes and swimming pools. They loved the wind turbines as well. I was more excited about the Amish man out farming his field with a horse pulled plow and the Amish buggies we passed over. They both started laughing and screaming as we circled the auction lot. It made us both laugh. Lilli and Baylee both ended up having fun, shake the baby went less than smoothly and I felt bad about half of each flight. Ugh. But it was still fun and glad we got to take the girls. It was the first time we've been able to fly with Cody in Illinois and much more fun than playing in the pool. (the pic at the top of this post wouldn't upload to the album but you can click it and make it big)