Mana Peggy

My grandma turned 77 in August this year, I know, she looks pretty good for 77! Anywho, I ordered her a blanket with all her great-grand-kid pictures on it (well, my kids and my brother's) and it FINALLY came in this week so we got together to celebrate one great grandma!

Growing up

Last night my Emmy came running in excited that her tooth was "just about to come out". It will be her first tooth she has lost just becuase and didn't have to have pulled out by our dentist. She grabbed an icepack, toothbrush, and an apple and went to town. She ran in, showed me her "prize" and then insisted we call daddy to tell him the good news. Of course, her main concern was that she was getting a dollar...in fact....her exact words to Russ were "Yeah! It just came out!! Are you going to give me a dollar?!" After she handed me the phone, he informed me that she no longer sounds like a little kid, which is true...she does not.

This morning Maebree woke up at 7:00. She did not cry, call me to her room to "let her out" or sit at my bed until I woke up. She simple opened her door, came into our room, and proceeded to go pee (in the bathroom and on the toilet:) all by herself....no help from me at all. I heard the toilet flush, lid slam down, and then she walked back to her room and shut the door. She is 2.........TWO!! I forget that sometimes. It didn't last, she quickly decided that she indeed wanted to be awake and was "hun-gee", but just the simple act of her getting up and going to the bathroom all by herself almost sent me into panic mode. I no longer have little babies. I have little women.

Everyone responds to me with "Well, I guess it's just time to add another one!" to which I say "Uh...No thanks". Part of me says yes, yes we are DONE! I want no more sleepless nights, stretch marks, or saggy anything. But when someone else says we are done (aka my husband), I go into a little panic inside. I don't know why, I don't get it, but I just do. I don't want any more girls, I love my girls, but I just don't think I can handle one more drama queen. Four in the house is plenty:)

The Fray Tuesday

On Tuesday, we took my sister to The Fray concert for her birthday. Yeah, her birthday was in June, but this is what she wanted, so this is what she got!

WHAT an incredibly talented group of guys. We had a great time singing along with the songs, one of which we lovingly refer to it as "The Lost Song" because they used it in a Lost promo video. Unfortunately I could not bring my big camera (not allowed), but I managed a few good pics off my little point-and-shoot. I used up most of my memory on the video which looked good, but sounded SO bad. I will not be doing the Fray any favors by posting the videos, so you will just have to settle for pics and trust me that they sound EXACTLY how they do recorded.
Getting ready for the opening band....

We later found out their name was "Wheel" or something like that. We just called them "Not The Fray" or "The band not good enough to be the headliner".

Diana and I both wore red shoes....it was not planned.

They had lots of lights and special effect-type screens, but it was not "overdone". Just really good and really entertaining.

Faithism of the day

At a cookout, Faith notices a very popular game sitting off to the side.

Faith: "Oooo! Mommy! I know how to play this game! It's called 'cocaine'!
Me: "Uh....it's actually pronounced 'croquet' dear. You are not allowed to play with ANYTHING related to cocaine.

I love the innocence of my kids, and I hope they never lose it!

L.O.L.

Faithy has been growing out her hair for about a year now, all with the intentions of donating it to Locks Of Love. My AWESOME hairstylist, Brit, was given the honor of cutting her hair. If it was up to Faith, we would've just went to some random place, but daddy said NO! He didn't want someone else hacking her hair up:) The morning of she got a little nervous and even asked us if we would be disappointed if she decided not to have it done, which we of course told her no we would not, but decided to go through with it in the end. Now she has a super cute "do" and looks even older which I'm not so sure about.

We told her how proud we were of her choosing to be selfless and give her hair to some little girl who had her's taken away by an illness that they had no control over, and she of course immediately felt better about it too! Plus she got a little pampering and Popsicle out of the deal, so it was win/win:) Notice how her sisters moved in on the Popsicle action as well...

And as soon as Faith jumped out of the chair, Mae was right there waiting to have her famous mullet cut as well. I just don't have the heart. It's all she's got:)

I mean, the girl rocks an awesome mullet, but Brit was kind enough to humor her into thinking she was actually getting it cut.

Kudos to you Faithy for your selfless act!! We love ya girl!

Russ and I celebrated our anniversary 11 years ago on September 12. I CANNOT believe that we have been married for 11 years, but wow. Amazing.

We stayed at this amazing little B&B in Galena, IL. We spent our honeymoon there (not the greatest place for a honeymoon, we should've done the beach!) and wanted to go back for a quick little weekend getaway. After much stress of not finding a place, we found this lovely place. They owner was SUPER nice and accommodating (the room we wanted was rented out RIGHT before I gave him a confirmation that we wanted it) so he gave (well, not "gave") us his coach house for the same price. We walked in and knew we got a huge deal! The inside of the mansion was lovely. The moose did throw me for a loop.

Our lovely little coach house. I was scared when she pointed it out to us upon arrival. (notice my hubby's new toy parked in front. Yep. He finally has a big-boy truck again!) Also, that's Karen the Cat. She is precious.

Any fears we had were immediately squelched when we walked into our private oasis.

ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. And comfortable. And quiet, private, just amazing. They actually had champagne and chocolates waiting for us when we arrived. I found out that champagne is definitely over-rated (never had the stuff before) unless a simple little splash of it is mixed with a full glass of grape juice:) Not a drinker am I.


We shopped that evening and ate at a lovely pizza place that served us a very boring meager lettuce (and only lettuce) salad but also beer nuggets. That would be bread bear-battered and deep fried in oil. MmmHmm. Delicioso. The pizza was awesome too.

The next morning we shopped some more and then decided to go to Chestnut Mountain resort. He wanted me to do the Alpine slide which was fun....

What was NOT fun was coming back up. On that ski lift. I was terrified. Nine years ago I would've been swinging that thing and being all crazy with it. That day my palms were sweating and I was vomiting and peeing my pants on the inside the whole time. My palms are sweaty just typing about it. Evidently since having children, I have also developed a fear of heights.

I smiled, but I was not a happy girl! Though I did survive.

We ate at the restaurant we ate at when we came for our honeymoon, Fried Green Tomatoes. The last time we were there, it was out in the country. Quite the lovely place. This time it is downtown and has gotten a lot more swanky!! They serve you each course separately. It's AWESOME! And the best Italian food I've eaten ever. And since it was our anniversary, they gave us some Creme Brulee as our complimentary treat. Whoa. I have a new obsession. Cake, you might have to take a backseat for a bit. (JK cake, I will never leave you nor forsake you!) It was good. Russ didn't care for it. He said it tasted like bacon (WHAT?). So I had it ALL to myself!

I have a picture of us on our honeymoon that is similar to this and will have to post a comparison some day (I'm too lazy to dig it out:). But it is obvious that we have gotten a lot less dorky with age. Which is a good thing. The funny thing is the last time I wore that dress for my birthday party, I had some crazy tan lines from sitting in the driveway waiting for the limo. I wore the same shirt that day, and got the same tan lines. Weird!

We headed home, and I took some lovely scenery pictures, but it just doesn't do it justice. God's creation is just so darn amazing, I don't know how people can think it's an accident caused from space junk.

And when we arrived home, our children presented us with the best present ever. Didi had them make us some paintings, one of which I have already hung:) The others are their personal ones, and I will take a picture of their positions when I have them all hung. They are AWESOME!

Their combined mutual effort. Pretty cool!

So it was an amazing trip. A MUCH needed getaway for me and the hubs. He will start helping his dad in the field soon, and I have a VERY busy schedule coming up in October, so all in all, it was well worth it!

Eleven years ago yesterday I stood up with my cousin as her made-of-honor at her wedding in good 'ol Lake Geneva! Then six days later, her and her new husband Jeff made the trek to Urbana to do the same for us.....

I took some maternity pictures for them last week (they are expecting their second, a little boy, in Dec.), and haven't gotten to work a whole bunch on them, but I did work on one and I can't stop looking at it. That little exotic blonde-haired, blued eyed kid just amazes me with her photogenicness.....they really should capatalize off of that. It would only be fair.

More to come soon, but Happy Anniversary Jeff and Holly!!! I can't wait 'til our 50th!!

Mae-Mae's "Pintheth"

My daughter has this dress. She calls it her "pintheth" which is Maebrinese for princess. She cycles through a few dresses that are acceptable princess dresses if, for example, this one is dirty, has Cheetos allover it, or she poops in it. But she always comes back to this one and insists on wearing it every day, all day, and all night. I never allowed my other two such liberties with clothing choices (I don't like them wearing the same thing twice in one month, let alone every day!), but with her, I've lost all care as far as grooming goes:) I mean, she's typically clean, but were home all day, so who cares, right?

Well, I have to document this because some day I will inevitably forget. We have this massive pumpkin growing in our backyard (yes....it's back....don't even ask! It's for another post), so what better way to document her "pintheth" dress than in a pumpkin patch straight out of the pages of Cinderella!!!




She really loves this dress because she can "thpin" really well in it (which is maebrinese for "spin"....yeah...my kid has a lisp and I love it. Get over it:)



And who needs a fancy pumpkin carriage when you can ride out of there on a four wheeler!! Right? So typical Mae-Mae!