Blueberries, Tornadoes, Oh My

This past weekend was rather busy for us. The Greer's (Jim's sister, her husband and their two kids) came up for a visit. They made it up around 7:30 PM (Kaitlyn was already in bed) and we sat down to a nice dinner of white chicken chili. I have no idea what we did but I know it included a trip to the movie store and Wii playing. At the end of the night we were in bed around 11:30 pm.

Saturday morning the alarm goes off at 5 am. yes, 5 AM. Why? you ask. Because there were blueberries to pick about an hour and a half away. So the plan was to get there when they open so we wouldn't be stuck in the heat. So we hit the road before 7 am and it already starts to rain. We figure that it eventually has to stop....but it doesn't. We get to the blueberry farm and I strap Kaitlyn to my back and we hit the fields. The blueberries were HUGE but boy did it rain. Kaitlyn did great and didn't complain. In fact, after she had the taste of a blueberry she couldn't turn back and was trying to pick them off the bush herself. After picking we drove 1.5 hours back home. We were back at the apt a total of 10 min we decide to go to the county fair. Kaitlyn rode a pony , went down a big slide and even road a small ride. It was a decent time. We came home, had dinner, and took the two oldest kids to the pool. Again we hit the sack around 11 ish.

Sunday came fast. We rose to blueberry waffle (thanks jim). The Greer's took off around 1 pm and I went into the lab to prep some things.

Monday comes and I get to lab. i was there a few hours before daycare calls..Kaitlyn is super fussy. I, being worried that I might have given her strep, picked her up and took her to the Dr. No strep, thank goodness. I make it back to lab around 4 pm and get home around 8pm. THe phone rings and it is rescue group we volunteer for. One of our dogs that was adopted out was found wondering the streets. The lady who found him refused to give him back to the group (the group always remains part owner). So I drive 45 miles away to get a police escort to get the dog. Long story short, the department was super busy so there was a wait. By the time we got to her house a tornado was coming and we had to turn around. We finally get to her house around 11:30 pm, got the dog, and made it home around 1 am. I had about 3 hours of sleep that night. So here are some pictures

St. Charles, The Zoo and other happenings

Last weekend we headed back to St. Charles with a couple of our friends and their little boy (age 2) to celebrate the 4th of July. We wanted to show them what "real" fireworks were like as St. Charles does give a pretty good display. All of us had the Friday (the 4th) off so we ventured home on Thursday night. We didn't get in too late but late enough that there was only time for a little visiting before we all headed to bed.

Friday morning we were up early (thanks to Kaitlyn) and prepared ourselves for the day. I have to be honest, I don't quite remember what we did in the morning. However, I do remember Kaitlyn took a 3 hour nap that morning followed by another 3 hours nap that afternoon. That put us at a friend's BBQ around 5 pm. We enjoyed a nice spread of food and some games. Around 8 pm we headed to the water front to walk around before the fireworks. It was completely packed. The flood waters created less room for spectators for land was at a premium. We found a nice spot though slightly behind a tree and by the time we settled in, found family members, it was time to start the fireworks show. Kaitlyn was so incredily tired since it was 1.5 hours past her bed time. She laid on my stomach and just watched with wide eyes as the explosions went off. Immediately after they stopped, she was out.

Saturday we woke early yet again (thanks Kait!). It was all right since we had a big day at the Zoo planned. We made it to the entrance around 9 am and started off. About 10 minutes into it, Jim's cousin (her husband and little boy) called to let us know they made it to the Zoo as well. It was nice to catch up with them. Funny this is, they live close to use when we are in Champaign but we see them more in St. Louis. Anyways, the Zoo was a big hit. Kait made it nearly the entire day there before she passed out at the Penguin house. The weather was perfect and our friend's little boy couldn't get over the monkies and turtle (or in his words "turles" ) on our way back to St. Charles, we stopped by the St. Louis Mills for some window shopping before we headed home for the evening. It was a nice night of card playing.

Sunday we woke and headed to my parents house to see them for a bit then back to the Wilson's side for a nice lunch before we headed back to Champaign....completely exhausted.

This past week was trying to catch up with life. Jim has been working full time and sneeking in some studying for his national certification test coming up in the early fall. Kaitlyn loves to say "purple" and play with her purple fruit loops. She can also say "blue" and has kinda said "green" once. She STILL isnt'walking but took a nice step at the Mexican restaurant that we frequent. They love her there! She puts on a nice show and they give her a free ring pop as we leave.

I have a good story about her daycare...but this post is getting long enough...so on to the pictures

Kaitlyn meeting up with her cousin at the zoo







Kaitlyn enjoying the misting fan


Kaitlyn finally crashing at the penquin house


Kaitlyn's "i'm not happy with you" look


Kaitlyn REALLY LOVING the water


My big "helper"




Watching daddy play guitar hero



Big girl at the park


YAY FOR BBQ

This coming weekend

So this weekend (the July 4th weekend) we are heading back to St. Charles for some good ol' fireworks and hopefully some family time. We are leaving tonight after Jim gets off work and hopefully will be in town around 9 pm...but we will see about that. Friday we have a party to go to followed by the fireworks on the river front. Saturday we hope to get to the zoo! Our friends and their youngest are coming with us. I hope they enjoy it! Yes, there will be pictures of this, I promise.

I have to tell you all about my day yesterday. I sign on to our bank account to find that I am -$300. Now, if you know me, you know that I am good with money. I watch our account deligently. SOOOO...what happened? I will tell you...

Our apartment complex took TWO months rent from our checking account...because, well you all know we have an extra $750 that we can just hand out like that :insert angry face: So I call the office. Seems like this happened to everyone who had automatic withdrawl. The corporate office has to write a PAPER CHECK and MAIL it to us. They cannot explain why they can make automatic withdrawls but cannot put money into the account. So after explain how "not pleased" I was, they figured out a way to overnight the check. It should be at my mother in law's house sometime today.....let's hope that happens.

So then I go off to get the oil changed in the Jimmy (not in Jim silly, our SUV). Come to find out we need ALL NEW TIRES...yep, all four. So that was another expense we aren't quite expecting. But we have new tires and that makes me feel a bit safer on the road. What a way to end that day.


Here is the pretty sky a few weeks ago















Here is Kaitlyn , completely exhausted

And here is my girl just being cute

A little catch up

So we have been pretty busy. This weekend is our first weekend in town in the past three weeks. Boy does it feel good. Don't get me wrong, I love traveling and seeing family, but there can be something said about just being home. That being said, we had a pretty busy weekend.

Friday: not too bad. We picked up kaitlyn from daycare and came home. Had a decent dinner and put Kaitlyn to bed. I worked on some photographs that I needed to finish up and post for Jim's Cousin's wedding reception. Jim rocked out on the Wii. After I was finished, we played a bit of Wii bowling. Out of three games, I only won one :( But I have to admit, I am out of practice.

Saturday: up by 6:30 AM (thanks Kaitlyn). I head out to get a Rug Doctor. I like to give the carpets a really good cleaning once a year. We have our own steam vac but the Rug Doctor is REALLY GREAT and if I had an extra $500 I would buy one. So Jim and I spent the entire morning and part of the afternooon shampooing every inch of our carpet. Boy was that water nasty. Not saying we had terrible carpets...we vacuum often but things accumulate over a year I guess. You don't really notice it until you emtpy the water tank on the Rug Dr. We went to our friends and helped them shampoo their carpet. Might as well, we had the thing for the entire day. Then Krystal and I went off to play around town while Jim and Gary played Playstation. Somewhere along the lines I convinced Krystal to let me teach her crotchet. So we loaded up at Hobby Lobby and went back to her and Gary's house. We crocheted while the boys played. It was nice. We left there around 12:30 AM. Now this is pretty late for us. Let's just say, Kaitlyn had totally changed our sleeping habits. We roll into home (1 mile away) and take the sleeping Kaitlyn to her room where she instantly wakes up as soon as she hits the sheets. Now when is a 'wake up' I don't mean her tired eyes peaked open. NOOOO!! She sat up and was talking her head off. Walking away initiates the screaming....so there we were, in the kitchen at 2 am while she happily ate a banana. She crashes....at 4 AM only to wake at 6 AM.

Sunday: needless to say...we are tired. I returned the Rub Dr. and returned home to a napping Kaitlyn. Of course the entire pot of coffee we consumed has taken affect. no sleep for me. instead I catch Kaitlyns' website up (http://www.kaitlynelizabethwilson.piczo.com/) and we pick up a bit more. I have a home visit to complete for the minpin rescue we work for (http://www.minpinrescue.org/). After that I am sure we will end up BBQing at Krystal and Gary's. I am sure I do not need to include that we will be going to bed early tonight...

So anyways, here are some pics of kaitlyn over the past couple weeks. Please bear with me as I try to figure out how to insert pics...

Well Here We Go

So one of our neighbors moved. It was a really nice family with two of the most beautiful little girls we have ever seen (Besides Kaitlyn, of course ). We were hoping they would just live here until we (Jim, Kaitlyn and I) moved from this town. Unfortuntely, not everyone's life revolves around our own. As they were packing we exchanged contact information. In their's was a URL to their blogspot. Jim then remarks "We need to start one of those!"

Let me translate that for you "You should get online and figure out how to do that! That way you can post everyday about our lives and keep updated pictures on Kaitlyn!" So here I am, in the middle of everything else, starting our blog.

Let me begin with a slight introduction. We are currently in Champaign, IL due to my grad school. So yes, I am in graduate school in the chemistry department. If all works out, I will be graduating with my PhD in chemistry sometime next year. James recently graduated with his radiology tech degree (May) and is currently a Rad Tech at the local hospital. He is actually enjoying bringing in a paycheck and just being done with school.

Kaitlyn turned one back in April and is growing like a weed. NO, she isn't walking yet but she cruses like no one business. We are sure she knows how and probably runs around when we aren't looking. However, when an adult is present, she requires her fingers to be touching something inorder to stand. Once contact is broken, the bones in her legs turn into jelly.

We just returned from a really long weekend trip to Arkansas for a wedding reception. It was a nice trip and were able to see some of Jim's family that we don't get to see that often. Well off to get some things done before I leave the lab!