The Greatest Show on Earth.....

Well, just in case the zoo was not enough of an animal fix for the weekend - we ended our weekend with the Greatest Show on Earth - The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus on Sunday evening. We all had a good time :) Our favorite parts were of course the animals and then surprisingly the motorcycles. I could have done with about 1/2 as many clowns and weird contortionists (sp?), etc. But it was all fun!

One funny note was when we got there early you could go down on the floor for the pre-show and walk around. The first thing he did was lean down and feel the ground because he couldn't figure out why the ice was gone. The circus was on the arena floor that he had been to 40 some hockey games this year :)


Here are some pictures....




Mommy and Justin with the elephants.













Daddy and Justin













Justin was on sensory overload from the moment we walked in. He didn't know which direction to look :)










Justin with his $10 dollar snow cone - prices there were a little high, but we were lucky...he didn't ask for any souviners like the stuffed animals or flashy things. I can handle a $10 elephant cup!








After the messy snocone was gone!













I LOVED the elephants :)













Crazy guy - must have not heard of Seigfried & Roy?













After the circus we went to Culvers for a quick dinner and while we were eating we found out the road was closing because they were walking the elephants from the Civic Center, across the bridge, down Camp St. and load them on a train to the next show. Of course this we had to see :)








Mommy and Justin













Mommy and Daddy - taken by Justin....













Here is a video of the motorcycles. I know practice makes perfect, but what happens when one person is off by one second or one foot? Probably not a pretty site!

PALS

Friday was the last day of the school year at PALS - before the summer session starts. The picture below Ms. Ericka took for me. Of all of the things he could have said he picked this :) I think this means you have to come visit us soon Uncle Mikey! He's almost out of bubbles...J/K!

Playdate with Lauren

What a fun day :) We picked up Justin's friend Lauren this morning to go to the Members only grand opening of the new zoo! They added the Africa Exhibit - it was so nice! After the zoo we came home and had lunch and Lauren & Justin played. We attempted to get them to take a nap by putting the Aerobed on Justin's bedroom floor and putting Nemo on, but I don't think they closed their eyes. I tried! Then when we put Justin to bed tonight, he wanted to sleep on the Aerobed....on "Lauren's side" - only one nap and she already has a side :)

Here are lots of pictures....



Having lunch in Justin's playhouse














Not sure what was so funny :)











Finally - someone his size to jump with on his "jumpoline"!














Going into the new part of the zoo. This double stroller worked out great - I got it from a guy I work with who wanted it out of his garage :)



















Breakfast with the monkeys - Fruit Loops, bananas and OJ :)

The rhinos

I think there were 4 zebras total - I only got one in the picture.

Rob getting used to a double stroller :)

Watching the giraffes

There are two of them - they are so cute :)

Singing "I like to move it move it" - really loud - and dancing :) I wish I would have had the video camera!

This pic was right before Justin "ROARRRED" loud and the rest of the kids jumped out of the way :)

A nice pic after the move it move it episode!

Female lion

Ignore me and my thickness in this picture. Lauren was afraid to go on the back alone and I was afraid she would have fallen off. Poor camel :)

On the way out we ran into Claire - another PALS friend...they all started screaming when they saw eachother - it was loud...We don't know how you do it Ms. Ericka and Ms. Steph!!! They were really good today together - but quiet is not a way to describe the day!

5 Year Anniversary.....

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I married my best friend - on one hand it seems like yesterday, but on the other hand I don't even remember what life was like before I met him. We have shared hopes and dreams, ups and downs and everything in between... I love you more than you can imagine Rob :) Here's to many, many more!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

27 weeks!!!!

Just a quick post - 27 week belly picture and my new hair cut. I can't believe I got it so short in the back, but I really like it. It's nice and cool for summer...no hair on my neck! I like the inverted style though; it still looks longer in the front. Probably something I won't keep forever, but my hair is SO thick with the prenatal vitamins and if I have it longer I do nothing but keep it in a pony tail.

I am still feeling good. Some back pain and more recently pains in my rear - almost like a nerve or something if I move wrong; but no biggie. 3 more months and I'll be done with it. I can suck it up :)

We have the new bathroom almost finished too! I will take pics of that when it's all done. It actually won't be ALL done until the next time my dad visits. I tried caulking 3 times and each time it looked like shit, so the bathroom is staying uncaulked until he visits and works his magic :) Love you! Justin took his first bath in there last night and loved it. He could see the hockey game on the TV in the toy room from the bathtub.

No more land line.....

Just a quick note - we no longer have a home phone. Last week we switched from cable to dish and decided that we don't use the land line enough to justify paying for it! So if you need to reach us our cell numbers are as follows - Melissa: 309-643-7408 / Rob: 309-472-4229.

Memorial Day Weekend....

Whew. What a weekend. Rob and I are EXHAUSTED. We used to be exhausted at the end of a long weekend from too much drinking, eating, driving home from whatever destination we took that weekend....how life changes :) We built a swingset this weekend. All weekend. I am so glad it's done (soooo close!), and I am really proud of us. Rob did all of the hard work, but I did help where I could! We are SO happy with the way it turned out and Justin loves it. He keeps telling us thank you mommy and daddy - it made it all worth it. So here are a few pictures of our weekend. I wish I would have taken a picture of our wood pile before we started and now the finished product. I like the kit we bought and the components. The directions were pretty good - until the end we found a couple of issues, but nothing we couldn't fix. We did the whole project for under $1000...much cheaper than Rainbow or most of the big box store options. Plus the wood is so much sturdier than a lot of it we saw in the pre-made kits. The build time said 5-10 hours. We took longer than that, but it was just Rob and his 6 month pregnant wife, so I think we made pretty good time. Katie and Josh took Justin to her bosses BBQ to play with her son on Saturday for a few hours which was a huge help - we got a lot done in those few hours!




Helping Daddy drill the planks for the rock climbing wall.














Such concentration :)












He was a great helper...... insert sarcasm here!












When I'm tired of pushing him I tell him to swing like Superman.












Up on his rock wall - this reminds me of a senior picture pose :)












Playing under the playset












8pm Monday night - we ran out of daylight with about 45 minutes of work left. We could not start until about 2ish because of the weather today.













Daddy putting the roof on











I was trying to explain to my mom where it was in our yard - this shows it pretty good.

The Hills 5-21-09

Finally - some new pictures for you mom :)

I am happy to be home again. I was only in Chicago for one night, but I really don't like being away from home. Especially when I call to talk to Justin and he begs me to come to his house to play sports with him. It breaks my heart...

Last weekend we were in Michigan from Friday night until Saturday afternoon. It was a quick trip, but we went up for a Brooks family reunion in Spring Lake. It was fun to see everyone. There were a TON of people there that we did not know or meet. It was the extended family that only gets together every 20 years or so. We got up there on Friday night around 9ish to Grandma and Grandpa Metzler's house in Holland. Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda met us there - Justin was so happy to see family! Aunt Manda spent the night with us and Ry came back in the morning (had a work meeting). We had breakfast and hung out before we had to leave for Spring Lake. We went to the reunion - Justin played lots of baseball and golf and then we headed back for home. Oh, we stopped at Meijer on the way to get some Vernors....yum! We can't get it in Illinois!

Sunday Rob had his hockey playoffs. They ended up getting 3rd. We love going to hockey games, but it will be nice to have the summer off for a break :) By the time we go to another hockey game we will be a family of four!!!! Speaking of which - the ticker tells us we are down to 98 days......WHAT?!?! How did double digits sneak up on us? It doesn't really seem real yet becuase we don't have the nursery done, I have not dug out any clothes, the crib is not put together, etc. However, when I went to Chicago yesterday one of the guys I work with gave us his double stroller. That hit me a little bit - wow...we really will have 2 kids to fill this! It's a nice Peg-Pergo or whatever side by side, but it's not one that will fit a car seat, so it will be one to use later on. I think we still need to get a sit and stand one - any suggestions for those friends with 2 or more kids?

We are so excited for a long weekend! Hopefully we can get a lot done. I want to get the bathroom finished and Rob wants to work on the room or swingset - weather depending. I figure I can work on the bathroom early in the am and late in the evening if it's too nice out to be stuck inside....plus my BFF wants to help me! Thanks Katie :) We should be able to have it done in no time! All of the swingset components are in, we just have to get the lumber. The lumberyard where the components shipped to wanted us to buy the lumber there. We sent them the lumber list and told them that if they were cheaper than Menards we would - otherwise we were going to Menards. They did say that they would deliver the swingset stuff and lumber for free if we got it there...that would be super convenient!

I think that a lot of you know our friends the Wisley's. Please keep their family in your prayers. Samantha is in Chicago today having surgery on her legs. She has CP and they are doing a surgery to correct her legs so she hopefully will not have to wear braces on them anymore. It involves breaking both legs, shaving bone and putting pins in. Not fun. Especially for a little girl who will be on bedrest for a lot of the summer. Sam is excited and not nervous at all....but I can't say the same for Stacey. I think that this will be worth it in the long run, but getting through this part is going to be tough.

I think that's all for now :)





Grandpa Brooks and Justin golfing













He's getting really good at it!













Uncle Ry and Justin playing on the ipod - probably on youtube again :)











Great Grandma Metzler and Justin














Great Grandpa Metzler and Justin - getting a poke in the nose :)











GG Metzler's new living room! They had a fireplace put in and the built in shelves - it looks great! (Thought you would like to see this mom and dad!)

The Hills 5-14-09

Hi! I know I just posted last night, but that was just pictures. I wanted to get them up asap in case we lost power because we got some pretty strong storms. Rob was at hockey and some of the thunder scared me - and I LOVE storms.

Not much is new around here. Just plugging along with work, daycare, projects, etc. Tomorrow after work we are leaving for Michigan. We are going to Holland on Friday night and staying with my GG Metzler. I think (hope!) that Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda are going to come over for breakfast on Saturday morning. Then we are leaving late morning for Spring Lake to go to the Brooks Family reunion - the whole Brooks clan! Rob and I are excited. Usually we only see his extended family at Christmas time. Should be a fun party! We are leaving after the party and driving home on Saturday though becuase Rob has playoff hockey games on Sunday morning. So it will be a really quick trip and a LOT of driving, but it will be fun!

We are anxious to get started on J's swingset, but we can't seem to get the stuff in town. I am so annoyed! The lumberyard got everything in besides the actual swing set kit. It got delivered to the wrong store a few hours away and it was supposed to be delivered yesterday to the right store. They called yesterday and said that it got delivered to a wrong store AGAIN. This time it's only about 1/2 hour away. He told me I'm welcome to go get it there. I don't think so! I am not driving for an hour to pick up something that is supposed to be with the other components! Ugh. So he is going to get it as soon as he can and call me. If it's not in by Monday I'm going to be mad!

I need to take pics of our new and improved toyroom soon. We got rid of the entertainment center and hung the TV on the wall - it looks SO much bigger in there! Maybe I'll take the pics when I have that bathroom done too....so you'll probably see it after the baby is born :) J/K.

Justin has been making me so sad lately. He keeps telling us that he wants to go to LV to see Gramma Airplane and Papa. Of course when he keeps asking and doesn't understand why we can't go see them whenever we want to it makes me cry. I was so lucky growing up to live in the same town as both sets of grandparents. He has so much fun with them and it sucks that we only see them a few times a year. :( Move closer.......

Oh and BTW - Katie is alive!!! I saw her on Monday night when her and Josh were such good friends :) They knew that we needed more drywall to finish the new bedroom and that we don't have a truck. They were in the Lowe's area and stopped and got it for us and dropped it off. We love you guys! We need a truck. Just not condusive to a family of four.

Okay - that's enough for now. Stay tuned on Monday for pictures from the weekend!

Tiger Brooks?

Rob got Justin his first "real" set of golf clubs today. They are so cute :) We only had about 1/2 hour to play outside with them between rain and storms today, but they both had a lot of fun! There is a lot of work to do - Justin holds them like a hockey stick and hits like a slap shot, but he'll get the hang of it!




Justin and his new clubs














Such concentration....














Look at that form!













Getting a few pointers from Daddy













I think he likes them :)













Glad these are foam balls - a few hit our house!













He must have gotten a goal??














These are my flowers I got from Home Depot with my salesman of the month gift card. My goal was to keep them alive for 2 weeks - I am already at 3!!! What are the chances I can keep them alive for a whole month? I like the basket - it's an upside down pyramid shape.