The Countdown Begins.

I took this picture to share with you! Keith's garden is full of these beautiful tulips!!! They are my favorite!

The girls and I officially leave for Colorado Springs on Monday, May 18th!! To say I'm excited is an understatement. I will get to see Evan every day! I will get to have a partner for this whole "parenting" thing! I will have my family back together. Ugh! I am so impatient for time to fly.

Of course, time does no such thing. So, let me tell you how we've been spending our time...



Ethan has been spending his time instructing Jana on how to properly weed a garden.

Julia has been spending her time bossing other people around and making this complaining face (which is very similar to her father's complaining face...)
Julia has also been exploring the wonderful world of eating dandelions. Here is how that goes:
1. Pick dandelion out of ground and show it to your Mommy. Listen as Mommy will tell you, "No.No.No.".
2. Proceed to eat said dandelion while making eye contact with Mommy. Mommy will definitely make a squealy noise and grab the dandelion out of your mouth. Start process all over.

Julia loves a good stroller ride. It's great for nap taking.


We've been trying to be outside as much as possible due to the weather being GORGEOUS! Kyle and Ethan met us at the "big park" on Sunday. Elisabeth pushed Ethan on the swing a whole minute before Ethan deemed himself all done.
Julia is into standing and cruising around. She's pretty awesome.
Elisabeth is a wall climbing fool!
Julia enjoys some swing time.
Omg. I love this face.
The girls and I walked to the fountain. Julia had never been and really liked it. She tried to jump in when I sat her on the ledge, so she was regulated to observe from the edge.


On Saturday, (that's right, we're going back in time due to Blogger putting my pictures up backwards, so deal!) we drove up to DeKalb to visit friends and so Ebeth could stay the night with her bestest friend Avery one last time before we leave. Here I am with my lovely friend Danielle and her new car! (which we're standing in front of!)
Danielle and I worked together at both The Growing Place (Ebeth's daycare) and at Camelot. She was Ebeth's first daycare teacher. Elisabeth adores her!
Here are the girls in my favorite DeKalb bar, Fatty's. Only the best dining atmosphere for my young children.


Last Thursday was Elisabeth's open house at Jefferson. We walked there and on the way back, we stopped at Tot Lot for a few rounds of swinging. Julia enjoyed riding on Papa's shoulders so much, she kept kissing his head!
Nina and the girls swinging away.


Julia had never swung before!!! She loved it!


Ebeth also got a Papa shoulder ride.
Elisabeth's open house was lovely. She enjoyed showing off what they do daily and getting to see her friends' parents. She'll be leaving 3 weeks before school ends, but she's okay with that. She's so excited to see Evan and our new house, she can't wait either.

Cell Phone Pics!!! (Totally random, but some of my favs!)

I have been horrible about taking pictures recently. I'm so wrapped up in wrapping up everything here in Pekin, that I've neglected my camera. :(

Elisabeth is practicing up a storm for her dance recital in May. She came in late to Dianne's Dance World, and has completely caught up with the other girls. She's the youngest and the shortest, but she knows her dance! She takes after her Aunt Kyle. Last night, I picked her up from dance and she started telling me about how a couple of girls have been making fun of her. It seems that they think Ebeth pulls her pants up too high (she totally does) and were hiking theirs up and laughing. Ebeth was quite upset because, "Why are they mean to me? I'm not mean to them." She said that she told them her pants weren't up too far and tried to ignore them. Ugh! Talk about breaking my heart. I really wanted to find the girls and slap them around a little, but that doesn't seem like the right response. (who am i kidding, it's totally the right response) We talked it over and came up with some things she can say next time (like, "My pants aren't too high, I'm too short!" Laughter always works for me), and we'll work the wardrobe so it's not an issue. I hate girls. I"m not kidding. Those girls learned that from someone and I guarantee it's from older woman in their lives who are catty. I'm not saying I don't do my fair share of judging others (it's my fav pasttime), but I darn well make sure that I'm teaching Ebeth how to be respectful. I tell her constantly that she doesn't have to be friends with everyone, but it's. I read this awesome book called "Queen Bees and Wannabes" and I'm going to have to reread it, because it talks all about how girls as young as my little Ebethers can start this type of bullying and how parents can build their own daughters' self esteem to stand up for themselves and be confidant, to be able to cope with this type of behaviors, etc. I'm really of the mindset that Elisabeth has a right to be her own quirky self, but I don't want her to start being self conscience because of some stupid girls. It really makes me sad, because Ebeth is so spunky and innocent and I'd really like for her not be jaded by little judgemental brats whose moms talk about the best sales at Gap, and their daughter's recent pedicure gone bad, or how their one step away from being the stage mom.

[stepping off soap box]

Julia is miliseconds away from crawling. She can say cat, clap, dad, and hi. She loves clapping, eating, baby dolls, eating, bath time, outside, eating, and Elisabeth. She is starting to develop a temper, which is super not cool. I am not one to deal with temper tantrums well. We'll see how that plays out. She weighs 24 lbs. and will initiate peek-a-boo, which I love! She's still waking up about twice a night, and we've had a few nights where she definitely was about to put on the porch for the night.

Anyway, enjoy my random cell phone pics from who knows when (at least the last 2 years).




Here is Julia at her 6 month well-baby visit. She was giving the Dr. raspberries and thoroughly enjoying her nakey time.


My mom and I took Julia and Ethan to Wal-Mart. Only the best shopping for our babies!

I love Julia's squished face here!


Julia and her Elemaphant. She hearts him when she's going on walks in her stroller.


This is my little jaundiced, non-fat Julia. So tiny.


This is the picture that greeted me whenever Evan called my old cellphone. It always made me smile.


The day Julia was born. I love this picture.


Ha! This is at a Mexican restaurant in DeKalb. It was Cinco de Mayo and when we went, Ebeth told the waiter that it had been her half-birthday. Well, the waiter misunderstood her, thought she said it was her dad's birthday, and came over with birthday ice-cream, a sambrara, a mariachi band, and they all sang to Evan! I was dying! Ebeth thought they were doing all of this for her (despite them putting the hat on Evan's head) because of her half-birthday. The mariachi band sang 3 songs to Evan. Ahh...best day ever.


This is how Ebeth blocks the sun from her eyes.


This is a very bundled Ebeth after a swim at the hotel in DeKalb with Nina. It was freaking freezing!

Me. Like. Evan.

I forgot to make mention of the fact that I have been dating Evan for 10 years today. That's right, 10 years. And we're only 25 and 27, respectfully. We still like each other, so we've got that going for us. Oh, and we have two lovely girls, so that's another plus.

Love you, Ev.

Me. Like. Spring.

Spring. I do love thee. I like open windows. I like BBQs. I love the rain storms. And the tulips.

However, I do not love the fact that Julia has MAJOR seasonal allergies, which were confirmed when I took her to another doctor's visit. We go every month. The nurses love us and know us by name. Anyway, Julia was coughing pretty hard core, along with puffy eyes, runny nose (that she vigorously rubbed until she'd whimper and cry) and, like I told the nurse when I called, the kid was just a mess! So, we took her in and the doctor put her on baby Allegra and let me tell you---that stuff is the bestest stuff ever! Within 24 hours she was considerably better. No more runny nose, no more coughing. She still is a mess, but now it's just after meal times. Thank you, Doctor in Morton!!!!

Evan is officially in Colorado now!! He left Thursday morning and arrived late Friday afternoon. He sees mountains daily and is currently house hunting for us. He's found a couple of potentials, but is quite overwhelmed with finding the family home without direct input from the family. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras and internet, because he's constantly sending me pics and sites to look at.

It's kind of hard to believe we'll be out there in less than a month. I've been packing up what's left here in Illinois, which is less than I thought. It's mainly the girls' clothes. I'm drowning in a sea of girls' clothes. I have clothes that are too small for Julia, but am saving for baby #3 (incase it's a girl...which the odds are likely). Clothes that are too big for Julia, but that she will grow into. Clothes too small for Ebeth, but waaay to big for Julia, but still need to take with us. Clothes that are too big for Ebeth, but that she'll need. Not to mention the load of clothes that they both currently fit into. Oh, and my own girl clothes. I've also been going through things that I've saved over the years that I thought we'd "need", but now realize I'd rather not tote around the country for the next 10-20 years, so we're having a garage sale at the end of May at Kyle and Matt's house!!!!!!!!! I will make millions on the children's books I have alone. (Not kidding...I have maybe 7-8 boxes full of kid books. I was saving them for a classroom. Oops.)

Thanks to everyone who came to visit Evan while he was home. It was so nice having him here, but he stayed just long enough for us to get used to having him around all the time. He even let me sleep in a few days (SLEEP!!!!!!! WEEEE!!!!!!!). He got to take Ebeth to school, rock Julia to sleep, and even hang out with his friends. Here are some pictures of his short visit home!

(Oh, and Ethan was present, but good luck trying to get him to sit still long enough to get a picture. And, sadly, Matt was not present, due to him being a pilot and having to pilot somewhere)


Bryan and Julia were instant BFF.



My mom had to feed my fat, fat baby before she ate the villagers.




I have no idea why my dad and mom are posing that way...

Ode to my 2001 Ford Focus ZX3

After 8 years and almost 4 months, I traded in my wonderful Focus. I was so very sad. There are so many memories I have with my car.

I bought that car brand new when I worked at Velde Ford on December 28, 2000.
I had so many people stop and talk to me about my car when I first got it! I was so proud when old, grumpy looking Harley bikers would stop at traffic lights to compliment my car and talk gas milage with me!
The Focus commuted me to both ICC and ISU.
It drove me and Nena to visit Mel at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, driving up to 90MPH when a gigantic MAC semi-truck was on our tails and we couldn't get away from it.
The Focus was the "family" car when we had Ebeth. She spent her entire life being carted around back and forth in the backseat behind me!
It drove through the great flood of 2003, when all of 14th street was flooded, but I had to get me and baby Elisabeth home safely.
I remember Elisabeth singing at the top of her lungs to The Dixie Chicks' "FLY" album for almost a full year.
It made countless trips to Chicago, even getting it's right side mirror bumped off in a garage parking lot accident (shut-up Evan).
It took Evan to Alabama for his Air Force training.

Sure, it had it's flaws...like the passenger seat didn't fold up anymore because one hellishly cold night, Jana kicked off the handle trying to get out from the backseat. And, there was nothing (Nothing.) powered about it. And, when the body shop guys fixed the side mirror after the garage parking incident, they put it back on a little skewed, so the window would get caught on the mirror's corner when you rolled it back up. Oh, and when we moved back to Pekin before Evan left for Alabama, the heat went out. And when Evan was in Alabama, the air conditioning went out. Oh, how I love my Focus!

But, we're moving to Colorado, and we don't think the Focus would make the trip safely. Plus, we've added a family member who's never even been in the car (poor Julala). So, on April 23, 2009, I officially said good-bye to my beloved car. I even had the manager take our picture next to it for the last time (which Evan was sure to tell me was probably the first time that the manager'd been asked to take a picture of customers and the car they were trading in).

And welcomed our new 2008 Taurus SEL. It is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has power EVERYTHING!!!! It has a ridiculously enormous trunk, leather seats, so many cup holders that Ebeth can have 3 drinks on any given car trip, enough leg room for giraffe to comfortably sit in the back, and a rather powerful engine!!! Evan is taking it to CO, but it really is my new car!

Evan is home!!!

Evan is home until Thursday! As you might remember, I left Wednesday for the Bloomington Airport to catch a flight to Alabama so I could be with Evan when he graduated and whatnot. Yeah, let me tell you how much of a freakin' mess that was. First off, ISU is wreaking havoc around campus by redoing streets, building, etc. So, I get there and I go to turn on a street that is no longer a street, end up getting a bit backwards, but finally find my way again. Then, I get stuck in a traffic jam while large dinosauresque machines block the street I need to get on to be on time for my flight. By now I'm super stressed because I had left Pekin at 1:00, barely getting a good-bye with Julia because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make sure I had everything I needed for the girls before I abandoned them for 3 days. It's now 2:30 when I am stuck in traffic, ready to cry, with a cell phone that just died, Google map directions that aren't worth crap, and dinosaur machines blocking the road and threatening to eat my car if I tried to leave the line of traffic. Finally, after almost 30 minutes of waiting, I am flying to the airport chanting "Please don't let me miss my flight. Please don't let me miss my flight," probably looking like a complete crazy to the people around me. I get to the airport, run to the Delta man behind the counter and practically scream at him, "I'm here for my 3:oo flight to Atlanta!" The poor (now deaf) Delta man informs me that they just loaded the plane and are taxing (3 minutes ahead of schedule). Poor Delta man...because I asked him to repeat that information to me several times while my completely stressed out brain tried to process this information. So, then, adding the final straw to making me look like a complete and utter idiot, I say, "Now what?". So, Delta man tells me all about "next available flights" and then helps me get one of those. I find out the next flight leaves at 5:45, there is plenty of room, and then he tells me to make sure I am seated by the boarding gate at 5:15, "So this doesn't happen to you again, ma'am." Thanks. So, I go, plug in my phone and call Evan bawling my eyes out because I'm so frustrated and sad. I won't get to see him till 11:00PM and we'd planned on eating dinner and hanging out with his friends on base. Evan decides he still likes me and seems a bit concerned over my amount of tears (normally, I"m not much of a crier). Since I hadn't eaten lunch yet, I got to a restaurant at the airport, order a beer and a hamburger, and read a book. After that, I'm much calmer and follow Delta man's advice and sit at the terminal like it's my freaking job.



I finally get on the plane. Yes, I'm one of "those people" who take pictures out of the plane window. But, I think it's so cool to have clouds under me! And to see so far that you can actually see the curve of the earth. Hm...I wonder if the girls will inherit my extreme geekiness?...

I FINALLY arrive in Birmingham, where Evan is so nicely waiting for me! I didn't get to meet any of his friends Wednesday night, but did get to lounge in his room while he had to do PT stuff in the morning (aka: run around the base for 2 hours). We ate lunch with his classmates, and then Evan said the most sweetest thing to me, "I was thinking we could go back and take a nap before dinner." A nap?! A nap!!! There is a God! Of course I want to take a nap! ARe you kidding me? So, we go back and NAP (napnapnapnap)...for over 2 hours! Almost missing our getting ready time for the Dining Out (oops!). But, we hurried, and made it on time for cocktails!



Here we are in our finest. I was so excited to have a purple dress, and then find out 3 other wives were also thinking purple. We are obviously all geniuses.


After the dining out, we changed and went to the Officer's Club for beers and some stupid pool game called Crud where people get injured trying to steal cue balls from each other. Neato.



Friday was graduation!!! Then we packed up and headed back for Illinois!

Evan was nominated for an award.
Us outside his JAG school!


We stayed overnight in Mt.Vernon, but made it home Saturday. The girls were very excited to see Evan. Julia was more excited to see me (and her constant milk supply), but eventually showed excitement over Evan as well. He gets to stay until Thursday morning and then he's heading out to Colorado Springs to report in to his base. He will be house hunting and getting our stuff together out there. The girls and I will be joining him probably around Memorial Day weekend. So, we will be staring at him and demanding attention from him until Thursday morning!

Going to Alabama tomorrow!!!

Hooray! I'm going to visit Evan tomorrow!!! My plane leaves around 3:00PM and I'll be arriving in Alabama around 6:30PM! I am so excited. Excited to see him! Excited to have a full night's sleep! Excited to read books!

I won't lie though, I'm super going to miss the girls. This'll be my first time away from Julia and I'm dreading it. Ebeth's a trooper and has been there/done that with us being gone for a while, but not my Julia. She's a Mommy's girl and my tummy hurts every time I think about leaving. Julia's staying with my parents and Ebeth's staying with Jana and Keith. It's only 3 days, but that's a long time in baby world. Ugh! No more talk of that...

So, you're probably wondering how the whole "crib" thing is going. Well, since you asked...it's going swimmingly!!! Julia goes down for the night around 8:00, Ebeth around 8:30. Elisabeth loves loves loves having Julia in her room (and even yells at me for sometimes taking her back to my room in the middle of the night) and they aren't waking each other up. Julia wakes up at least one time to nurse, and then I put her back in the crib where she stays until around 5:30AM. That is waaaaay to early to wake up, so that's when I bring her back to bed to nurse and go back to sleep. Evan, being all smug and whatnot, said he knew Julia would do well in the crib. Well, I wasn't so much worried aobut her as I was it waking up Ebeth. But, then Elisabeth turned out to adore having Julia in her room! Who knew?

Well, it's off to bed for me!