Wow, what a super fun day we've had already and it is only 6pm! We got up this morning and went out. First we stopped at the library, I got three books and about 10 for the kids. The kids played with the toys there again. It is really hard to get them out of the library, which is a great thing. I am glad they like going to the library. I did get a special book for GG and I to read together. It is for mothers and daughters! I'm planning on reading it to her before bed. Then we went to Wal-mart and got Monkey a Halloween costume and GG some pants and a shirt to put under her costume. We also got the kids a pumpkin candy basket they were on sale for 50 cents, along with a few other things we needed. Then we walked to Big Lots, first time I had every been in one, I wasn't that impressed but we didn't really look around. We also went to the Golf Mart, they had little clubs that were GG and Monkey's sizes. I don't think I have ever seen clubs that small. Grandma and Grandpa A. want to get clubs for GG, either a Christmas or Birthday present? I am almost thinking they should get Monkey some too. But not the little ones the same size as GG's, I don't know. They were too cute though. We came home and there was a package at the door. It was a birthday present from Joe and Virginia, thank you, I love it. There was scrapbooking stuff in it :) Which reminds me I need to start doing their books again or I'll get behind again. This afternoon the kids took naps and J and I started to watch a video I got from the library we only got halfway through it. When I started dinner I realized I didn't have all the ingredients I needed so I sent J to the store to get them. What a great hubby. When he came home GG and J finished making the dinner cause I had a sleepy nursing Monkey on my lap. Now I am going to go eat the yummy chili. Oh yeah today GG was wearing my flower girl dress and wanting to wear it for Halloween, she is a little to short for the dress so we told her she could wear it next year if she is tall enough. She calls herself the princess girl when she has it on. The rest of the night we will probably watch ER together and do a lot of reading, the books we got from the library, of course! Tomorrow is Halloween, YAY!

Today was a nice day, how could it not be with GG running around saying, "It's a beautiful day today!" over and over again. After J went to work I laid the kids down for naps. GG actually let me rock her to sleep for the second time (she let me yesterday) in the longest time. I loved it. She is still my baby girl. Tonight Monkey kept bringing me books to read to him. He is so funny he gets a book and then backs into my lap. I then ask him if he wants me to read the book to him. He shacks his head "yes" and then says "book". I can't believe how big both of them are getting. Also tonight GG played with my hair. She wanted to make me look pretty. She just puts in and takes out hair clips over and over again. Yes, the kids like to do things over and over and over again. I don't mind that is how they learn. Oh yeah GG helped me make dinner. We had homemade pizza. She is getting better at helping cook. I did get another b-day card today in case anyone was wondering! Tonight is J's last day of work until he has two days off :) Monkey took another cat nap tonight not planning on it, GG woke him up about 15 minutes ago. AAAGGGGHHHH!!! So I should go try and get both of them to sleep or at least GG.

So today we got up to no daddy. He had court this morning what a bummer. Then when he came home he took a nap because he got home late last night so late that I actually fell asleep before he got home. We had very little time with him today, which was very sad. I did get another birthday card today! GG watched snow white again today. The only funny thing I can remember that happened today was at dinner. I had made a turkey breast. Monkey ate all of his and half of GG's plate. I think he likes it? Since he ate so good I gave him a cookie. GG of course then asked for one. She on the other hand did not eat her dinner as good. I told her, "no you didn't eat your dinner." She went running to the table and said, "I better go eat my dinner then." She actually ate the rest of her dinner. I didn't even have to bug her about it she ate it on her own, of course knowing that she would get a cookie. Then tonight on tv was Charlie Brown's the great pumpkin. GG and grandma watched it together while Monkey and I spent time together. Now it is time to get the kids ready for bed. GG didn't have a nap and Monkey took an early nap. They should both be sleeping by 9 hopefully :)

Well remember how I said I thought Monkey would be awake later he woke up at 8:30pm. It is 10pm now and he is being a completely crazy little dude! I think I have read 8 silly monkeys to him about 10 times. He is playing peek-a-boo with his shirt by pulling the bottom over his head. He is a little wired?!? Nice of him to take a cat nap now I won't be lonely waiting up for J. GG fell asleep in the rocking chair at 9pm while we both read our books. I love when she just falls asleep on her own at anywhere! (like the potty the other day)

First I want to start out with a cute story about my boy Monkey! He has learned a new word. He says watch but it comes out atch. He says this right before he starts to nurse…then he does this funny thing with his eyes. He can make one move and the other stay still. It is so funny to watch! He has been doing the eye thing for about 2 weeks and I would call J over saying watch Monkey. He is so smart, now he says watch and then does the trick. He knew what he was doing and why I called J over!!! He is turning into such a little ham. I guess he has a good teacher, GG :) This morning the kids stayed with J; reading books, singing, and dancing to songs while I went to the post office. Then after lunch Monkey took a nap and GG and I made cookies together. That was a lot of fun. I love spending one on one time along with family time. I also got my first birthday card today! At least I hope it was the first and not the last :) After dinner tonight GG and grandma M watched Sleeping Beauty. (Monkey and I were suppose to go to the town meeting tonight but J said we didn't have too. Then I thought about taking him to get presents for J and GG from him but it is just too cold out so we stayed home.) GG is really into the Disney movies right now. Monkey is asleep right now and I am afraid he will wake up soon and want to be up until 11pm or later. Oh well I need to go get GG and settle her down cause soon it will be bed time.

This morning we got up and I told the kids they were going to see Ellie. GG said, “She’s going to choke Monkey.” (Ellie likes to hug Monkey but usually ends up pulling him down to the ground.) Then she said, “But I will protect him so he doesn’t get hurt.” What a nice big sister she is. She’s already looking out for him! We all went to sunday school thing morning. GG learned about Abraham and Sarah. She also told us she liked singing the songs, of course! After church we went to see our friends the K's. That was so much fun and it just makes me miss all my wonderful friends at WIU even more. I think Aaron might be getting a job here. Then they will move here and that would be so cool. He has a second interview tomorrow. If he gets the job then Belinda is thinking of staying home with Ellie and we could have play dates all the time. Well I have to stop talking about this because we don't know what God's plans are for them. I just hope it is for them to move here! What would be real cool also is if Joe and Virginia moved here. (Hint, Hint) Oh yeah and having an extra hour of sleep last night totally rocked! The end:)

Ok I have a quick update about Elizabeth's birthday dinner. Here a cute story for you: GG said, "Aunty Ribbit I have to whisper something to you." So Elizabeth leaned in and GG whisper in her ear, "Go over and pinch mommy's butt!" Which then Elizabeth announced to the table. I tell you My little girl is the silliest. What a great sense of humor!

I am updating early because we are spending the night at J's parents house. Last night the kids were wired. They stayed up until 1am. I think it had to do with the fact that Aunty Becky came home from college this weekend (and daddy was off of work). They have so much fun with her. It was kind of nice having them awake that long because they slept in this morning. I am usually up until 1am anyways. This morning we got up at 10am and got showered and ready to go grocery shopping with grandma. We came home and ate a yummy lunch. I need to go pack some stuff for tomorrow so we can head out at nap time. Tonight we are taking aunt Elizabeth out for dinner it is her birthday. Happy Birthday Elizabeth. She is now 13! As you can tell this weekend is filled with crazy fun. Aunts and grandparents and friends from WIU. Oh yeah remember how last time we went shopping and Monkey lost his shoe? Well today GG lost her doll. I wasn't happy, I don't let her take the doll into the store so I don't know why she had it. She knows that the doll stays in the car. I went in the store and it was at the service desk. Good thing because that is what GG sleeps with at night.

Today was great. J was off! We didn't do much this morning just family stuff. Then after lunch the kids took a nap at the same time giving J and I time alone. We watched ER that I had recorded from the night before. Then before we knew it the kids were up and went out to run errands. When we came home we carved our pumpkins. I took some pictures so they will be on the web page when I get the pictures developed after Halloween sometime. We ordered pizza tonight for dinner. We had a free coupon so that was nice. After dinner both the kids were messy, mostly Monkey though. So J gave the kids a bubble bath and I picked up things downstairs and got their pjs for after the bath. Now they are watching Peter Pan again! I am not feeling the greatest right now. I think it was the pizza?!? So this is going to be short.

So today we got up early…9am. I got the kids showered and J woke up just in time to help me get them out. That is about all that happened this morning. After lunch the kids and J were playing with the dog while I watched. They were having a tug o war with her. Monkey was actually able to hold on to the toy longer than GG. He is such a strong little boy. The other day at the park I put him on the monkey bars and let go of him and he held on for a good 30 seconds. The kids seem to like the dog but I don’t really want one when we move. This afternoon both kids took naps just at different times, which is ok with me. I got to spend alone time with each of them. Tonight for dinner the kids and I went to McDonalds…I didn’t feel like cooking and I wanted to get out of the house. I am starting to get cabin fever and it isn’t even winter yet. The McDonalds had a playland that I let the kids play at after they ate their dinner. As I was getting GG’s shoes on to leave Monkey walked off and one of the older kids there knocked him over. Then this guy picked up my crying baby, like 2 seconds before I got to him. I was a little unhappy about that especially since he reeked of smoke. Why in the world did he think it would be ok for him to pick up my baby? I tell you some people are just out there. Then tonight I got a call from our friends the K’s they are going to be coming here this weekend. So we are going to meet up with them on Sunday. I am so stoked. The kids are going to have so much fun playing with Ellie.

This morning we didn’t do anything interesting. J left for work and he left us a note on the bathroom mirror. It was real cute. This afternoon before I put Monkey to sleep, GG came up to him and said, “Give me five, on the side, up high, down low, you’re too slow!” The cool thing about it was that Monkey actually gave her fives throughout her game! They interact with each other so nice sometimes and then so bad at other times. I guess they are kids being kids! Monkey has also learned a hand thing. J taught him to put his two pointer fingers together, then you “cut the pickle” (his two pointers) then you tickle him. So he will come up to you with the two fingers together wanting you to cut them and tickle him. It’s too funny. Anyways, while Monkey was taking his nap my neighbor stopped by to see if we wanted to go to the park, since Monkey was sleeping, we didn’t go. I felt bad, but now I know it was a good thing because Monkey slept for 2 and half hours. (he usually sleeps for an hour!) I thought something was going on with him this morning when he woke up because last night he nursed almost the whole night. After his nap I noticed that he had a little fever, good thing I didn’t take him out in the cold. I want to keep him healthy this winter. He seems fine now…just wants to nurse more. (no problem for me) Then I talked to my mom and siblings on the phone for over an hour! It was good to get caught up with them. My phone conversations with my mom usually get interrupted by one of my brothers or one of my kids after about 15 minutes or less! Tonight we aren’t going to be doing much considering Monkey isn’t feeling the greatest. Just a side note, I’m really excited about, we got invited to a Halloween party on my birthday, which is Halloween. So if J is working I will have something to do with the kids. If he isn’t working even better we can go as a family. It is at the M’s…remember how cool their house is? I’m so excited.

Today was quite interesting for lack of a better word. This morning we all laid in bed playing, cuddling and just being together as a family. We didn't get out until 11am! Then we went to Wal-mart; J needed a shirt and I wanted to get GG some vitamins. We ended buying some Christmas presents. But while we were there a girl, that lived on my floor sophomore year of college, came up to us. I haven't seen her in about 4 years. She lives here and has a little boy a little older than GG. I gave her our number so maybe she will call us someday?!? We came home and the dog had knocked over the garbage and had it all over the kitchen, the dumb dog. (sorry Becky, but she is) Then J left for work and the kids took naps. I worked on the computer for a little bit and then the kids were awake. Time to make dinner :) Then tonight we went to the LLL meeting in the town J works. That was a lot of fun. There was so many people there. A little overwhelming but ok. The kids had plenty kids to play with and food to eat! When we introduced ourselves a couple ladies commented on how much they liked the kids' names! I love that they are unique names. Then on the way home from the meeting there was an accident, it blocked 14, the way we go home. So we went around the block to get back to 14 and saw J in his uniform. He looked so cute. He doesn't even know that we saw him standing out there. I can't wait to tell him when he gets home. I'll probably say something like...that was a real bad accident you had to direct traffic for! But I don't know maybe I will wait for him to tell me! Oh yeah we got our closet fixed tonight, I am glad to have use of that again:) It should be a late night tonight considering J will be working late because of the accident that happened around 9:30ish pm. I like waiting up for him and talking, call me crazy.

What a beautiful day we had today! This morning after we got ready we took a family walk with the dog too. The kids picked up leaves, sticks and rocks. Then we ate lunch and J left for work. Monkey took a nap and GG and I played with playdough together. I finally unpacked it, it took so long because once I did, I knew she would want to play with it. We had lots of fun. Then when Monkey woke up we went to the neighbors house to see if they wanted to play at the park. We went to the park and there was tons of kids there to play with. Then we came back home and I made pork chops. After dinner I got an awesome phone call from my friend Matt. I haven't talked to him in forever. It was so good to catch up with him. J is going to be so sad he was working when he called. Monkey is taking a second nap right now. I think that he is starting to come down with something. I really hope not though. I don't want another winter like last with him. I took him to the ER twice in the middle of the night because he couldn't breathe. He ended up with croup two times. I just want him to be healthy this winter so he can go play in the snow with GG! Anyway, GG talked to Matt on the phone she loved that. Then she told me she had to go potty and I told her to go ahead and go. (that is so weird of her she usually doesn't tell us!) After about 10 minutes I realized she hadn't come out of the bathroom yet. I walked over there to her sleeping on the potty. I should of taken a picture but I was nice and didn't. I did wake her up though. I guess being outside so much today and not having a nap has made her tired. Once I woke her up she went potty and is now wide awake. So nice of her to get a little cat nap in ;) I hope she goes to bed at a good time tonight. Like before J goes home. I also don't want Monkey to sleep too long that he is wide awake later. Oh well that is the great thing about being a stay at home mama. I have nothing to do (like work or errands, tomorrow) I can stay up late with them and take a nap with them tomorrow!

So peaceful here right now. Both the kids are sleeping, J is at work and grandma and grandpa left town. So I thought I would update real quick! This morning we didn't make it to church because J didn't get home until 2:45am. I thought it would be nice of us to let him sleep in...and we did go to church last night. I got the kids showered and dressed this morning all by myself. I haven't done that since J has been in the academy I kind of forgot what it was like! This afternoon I vacuumed and I am still doing laundry. When Monkey fell asleep I cut his hair. It works great. I just turned his head and was able to cut it without him moving. So for moms with little boys, wait til they fall asleep to cut hair! Then again I don't really know how long that will last. He may turn two and not take naps! I am planning a low key night for us since we will be the only ones home until about 10pm. The kids watched Peter Pan this afternoon and GG really liked it. I am going to go and enjoy the quietness and read my book.

This morning I woke up to both my boys giving me kisses! It took me a long time to open my eyes because I knew that when I did the kisses would stop. This morning J and the kids racked the leaves. Don't worry I took pictures that will be put on their web pages sometime soon. I, of course, took advantage of the fact that J had both kids outside :) I jumped into the shower. When I got out they were inside heading to the bathroom ready to take baths. I got dressed and got their clothes and helped get the kids out. I got Monkey out first and dressed. Then GG, while I was dressing her Monkey was behind me. He went to one side and kissed me and then to the other side and kissed me. He did this the whole time it took to get GG dressed. He is such a lovable little boy! Then we all went to Cosco including grandma M...talk about buying in bulk. I couldn't believe how huge everything was. You could only buy 6 lbs of meat at a time. They did have cool carts though. Since everything is so big the carts are too. The kids both sat in the front. They had two seats in the front of the cart. Moving along we came home and ate lunch then J left for work. This afternoon grandma, the kids and I went grocery shopping. While we were there Monkey lost a shoe. So we walked and walked around the store looking for it. I even asked the service desk a couple of times and an employee was helping look. These are the only ones he has and I thought J was going to be mad. As I was walking holding a now sleeping Monkey with only one shoe, a lady came up to me and told me she knew where his shoe was. I was so happy! Whoever found the shoe put it on a shelf. And we were looking on the ground, of course. She told me that the same thing had happened to her a few years ago and she was on her way back to get the shoe to take it to the desk when she saw me. I am so grateful for nice people like her. This evening we went to church with grandma and grandpa M. Before we left Monkey was sitting on the stairs and for some reason fell down them. I was so scared and I think he was even more scared. He hasn't ever fallen down the stairs from the top to the bottom. It was only a couple steps. I watched so helpless. At church Monkey was cute. As they were singing songs he was raising his little hands and dancing. I can remember when GG used to do that. I love the baby dance! Did I ever tell the story about GG dancing in Old Navy?!? (It was a couple of days ago) They always have music playing in there and she was wearing the hat that we got for 1.97 she was walking up and down the store dancing. Hands going and spinning she ended up having an audience :) We are now home and winding down from the day. I am going to try and have the kids asleep when J comes home because I like spending time with just him and today is sweetest day!!!

So last night we ate at the A's. J's mom defrosted what she thought was chili. Well it wasn't. We thought it was bad...because we thought it was suppose to be chili. It turned out to be meatballs and sour krout! GG said, "grandma's chili taste like feet." J and I thought that was pretty funny. I don't know how many feet she's been eating :) Then J and I had a date night after dinner. That was fun.

Now on to today. We got up and ready for the day. My friend Kristen called. If you are reading this Kristen I miss you so much. It was nice to really talk to you about stuff. Then as we were getting ready to leave my brother Travis called. He really just wanted to talk to the kids. We had a play date with Isabel and her kids. She made lunch...it was chicken chili...never had that before and it was good. I also got to hold Ava she's only 8 weeks old. I love the baby smell. GG and Annie really got along great. Annie is a year older than GG. They were pretty funny together. One of them had to go to the bathroom so they both went. They are starting that pretty early ;) They really took to each other right away. Within about a minute of walking in the door they were talking about being friends. How sweet. J and I had fun talking to Isabel about CLA stuff. That is the school were we are sending the kids, it is in the town J works. Or at least for pre-kindergarten thru 1st grade. We got home about 4:30pm and then J made dinner. What a great hubby I have! We have been spending the rest of J's time off hanging out as a family. Tomorrow starts his next 6 days of work. Well I'm going to go back to snuggling with GG while she watches Veggie Tales.

Here's the run down of the day so far. We got up and went to a MOPS group. That was a lot of fun minus the getting lost on the way there. The directions were horrible. Once we got there the kids had tons of fun. Monkey played and didn't even care if J or I were around, totally not like Monkey. He must of been having fun. GG had fun too but I think she was a little nervous. She didn't know anyone. She tried talking to some of the kids but couldn't get there attention. I felt so bad for her. She just wanted to play with the kids. Then they did the parachute, read a story, sang songs, and had a snack. By that time she had made friends and there were four little girls sitting with her at snack time. I was happy for her. She loves people so much. Then on the way home we stopped at the pumpkin farm and got a big pumpkin J picked out and a smaller one GG picked out, along with three munchkin pumpkins. Monkey liked them the best, he could hold them. Then we came home and I made homemade pizza, yum yum. Now the kids are getting a bath from daddy. So I thought I would update real quick. We are going to be leaving after the bath (right at nap time) to go to grandma and grandpa A's house for you guessed it another sleepover! I am being paged Monkey is done with the bath.

What a fun filled day we had today. Before I start I want to tell a funny story. GG and Monkey were wearing grandma's high heel shoes. GG said, "Look at me. I'm a person." I think she meant adult :) Today before we left the house I was nursing Monkey. GG climbed up next to me with her baby doll and started nursing it. We then had a conversation about why are nursers were up so high. She said she wanted them to be like mine. I told her one day they would be. It was too funny and J just listened to us and laughed. Then we ran errands...the bank, post office, and storage. When we were done instead of going home we decided to go to Old Navy and use the $10 gift card we have had since Christmas! It was awesome most of the kids clothes were on sale. We got Monkey an outfit for next summer each 1.97 and then GG got a hat for 1.99 and we got money back on the card. That was cool. Then we came home and ate lunch. After lunch J and I decided to rearrange our bedroom. The kids watched a movie. I think I like the way the room looks now. We washed the bedding on both beds too. So tonight we will have clean sheets. I love that! After dinner we made crafts completely J's idea! It was a lot of fun. When we were done with that we took the kids to the public library. We got cards and then checked out books. I looked at the different events and activities for families through the library. I might try doing some of them. I will just say that I could write a lot about the library it was REALLY cool. It was huge and had a lot of things in it. The kids really enjoyed picking out movies, books, and playing with the toys there. They had doll houses, train tracks and other fun toys. Monkey liked a riding motorcycle they had. They really had cool things there to make the kids like the library! We are going to be going back there, probably a lot!!! So like I said we had a great family fun filled day.

Ok so we spent the night at the in-laws and I had a late night. I don't know why I can't fall asleep until I know J is home safely. I don't think it will wear off like people have told me. So last night when we got to my in-laws grandpa was the only one home. It got to be 10 and grandma and Liz weren't home yet. We let GG call them on the phone. But before that grandpa said, "grandma needs to get her butt home." So we called and when GG started talking to grandma, grandpa told GG to ask her where she was. Instead GG said, "grandma, get your butt home." We were both so socked at what she said we died laughing. On to today...we got up and went to the playgroup. It was a lot of fun. There was three boys one which was Monkey's age and there was three girls. One a year older and one a year younger than GG. The kids had a lot of fun. We went back to the in-laws and ate lunch. Then we headed back home at the same time as J left for work. We got here and started laundry and cleaned up things. I did get a call from my big brother who is over in Iraq that was a major highlight of my day. I hate knowing that he is over there. I want him home safely. We ate dinner with grandma M tonight and it was yummy. She made a pot roast. No work! The kind of meal I like. Monkey has started saying bye bye more now. He usually would wave and now he does both. Very cute! I can't really think of any other stories even though I know I have some. So I will end this here.

We are back from Scott AFB. We had so much fun. The kids loved playing with their cousin Kiera and Aunt Melissa. They didn't want to leave today and I don't think Kiera wanted us to either. We took the kids to a pumpkin farm. They got a hay less hayride! And then got to pick out pumpkins. Well, we helped Melissa and Kiera pick out a couple. We are planning on going with J this next week on one of his days off. Then we went to this cool park on Base. The time went way too fast. The three of the cousins played so well together. Kiera really seemed to like GG. Monkey and her are the same age so they didn't really play together but that didn't stop them from hugging and kissing each other! I'm really glad that Grandma let us come with her for the visit, but it feels good to be home. I know the kids like being out of the car. It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive. But they really did a good job :) Tonight we are going to be heading over to the J's parents house for another sleep over as J calls them. That way we can sleep in tomorrow morning before the playgroup at 10am! I need to go pack...again.