The Hills 6-5-08

Hello! Not too much new here, but I thought I would post a few pics! Grandpa Kent had to go to Canada for work and he found Justin a real hockey helmet - sure it's for probably a 5 year old, but it fits my punkin's head :) On Tuesday night, we were going to go to the zoo only to find out that it closed at 5pm....so Justin and I went to McD's in Metamora to play and have a flurry. Katie met us there too! It was nice to sit and chat and she went in the tubes with Justin since my legs are not really feeling up to contorting around the corners of the playland! Justin loves Katie....when we got in the car to go home he cried almost the whole way "Kaaaattttiiieeeee" :) This weekend we might all go to the Tremont Turkey Festival and he can get his Katie fix!

There were some tornados in Central Illinois last night - luckily we didn't get them, but they were not too far away. It was a pain because everytime they did a weather alert or put the map in the corner of the screen the hockey game lost the HD and was really fuzzy. Oh well - Wings won and we didn't get a tornado...it's a win-win!

The Hills 6-2-08 - part II

Two posts in one day?!?!?! - don't get used to it :) I know how much my family loves reading this, so I try to keep everyone up to date as much as we can :)

Since Rob and I are the only ones in Peoria, nobody in our family has seen Justin's daycare. When I went to pick him up today, everyone was on the playground so I took a few pics without anyone thinking I was crazy!
This is his new classroom....



His cubby with his report and art project waiting for us everyday! How appropriate that today there was a purple octopus and tonight is the Stanley Cup Final game (hopefully.....we'll know in 2 minutes!!!!!)
Justin got to move up with some of the other younger toddlers from his old room, so it's not really much of a difference for him which is good!
Throwing the ball for Tuck-dog
Apparently he wanted to go swimming! Rob and I turned around and he was sitting in the middle of the pool....












Okay; so these are actually the leftover kabobs from last night, but don't they look pretty? They tasted really yummy too! We put too many onions on though...oh well; learn for next time!


Okay, the Penguins just tied it up with less than a minute to go - time to go watch overtime! Good night :)

The Hills 6-2-08

What a great weekend! The weather was beautiful, no major plans, very relaxing! Here is the weekend in the Hills - a pictoral :)

Tucker supervising the puzzle time....
Friday night we (read:Rob) put up room darkening curtains - WHAT A LIFESAVER!!! Saturday he slept in until 8:08am and Sunday until 7:30am and today we had to wake him up for daycare....why didn't we do this months ago???
Here is what they are like with them open, but we need to take the blinds off of the window...I figure they are just navy blue so that will go with any theme we do when he gets a big boy bed - probably sports!
Saturday Justin and I went to Jen's baby shower - here are Justin and Madison playing with the balloons. Little did we know that Lincoln Patrick Adler would be here less than a day later - congrats Jen!!! He was born at 4:11am on Sunday - only about 5 hours after we got out of the Sex in the City movie! We told her to have him there and she might be on the news :)
Justin and Madison again - he tries to say her name, but it gets shortened to "Madis" :)
He was asleep before we were even out of Erin's neighborhood! It was 3:30pm and he usually naps at 12:30!
Sunday morning we got up and went to Menards - daddy needed a drill bit and Justin needed a little pool! It was 86 here yesterday and it is not supposed to be highs below 80 in the 10 day forecast - looks like summer is here!
I had the camera out and he was doing whatever face I told him to make - he's such a little ham!



Sidewalk chalk!!!!
Justin loved the Elmo that daddy drew for him - who knew I was married to an artist :)
Justin in his new pool with the net (there are little toys that sink). One of the toys is a pink starfish and there are also pink starfish on the bottom of the pool - he saw them next to eachother and pointed them and said "match" - he's a genius :)
The wacky sprinkler - it's kind of cool; little balls float up on the water stream that shoots straight up. The hose water was pretty cold though, so he found ways to get between the water streams!
Hanging out in the bath water warm pool after it was in the hot sun for hours!
Quincy and his favorite toy ever! It's a ball that squeaks a lot...he drops it by us to play catch with him, he has not chewed it to shreds, he loves it!
Brandon and Jenna (the next door neighbors) and Justin swimming. By this time the water was pretty gross with grass and suntan lotion, but whatever....he's a boy!
Naked baby! He wanted the balls to come out, but didn't want the cold water on :)

Okay mom....I'm ready for a towel now!
Thanks for the new Tigers shirt Grandma Sue! I wore it for my first day in my new classroom at school - I'm an "older toddler" now...Mommy doesn't want to believe it.

The Wisleys came over for dinner last night too, but I apparently forgot to take the camera out of my purse! We had a great time with them - Shiskabobs (sp?) on the grill, Justin and Samantha played until 9:30pm and Beila was a little angel! She was awake almost the whole time and only cried when I held her :( We sat outside and ate and were out there for hours - it was a perfect end to a great weekend!

What else? Oh, The guy I work with who drives me nuts is gone this week - so it will be a nice peaceful, relaxing week in the office! Yeah! My legs are still hurting pretty bad, but I can at least walk. The left leg has a really gross bruise on it (pretty big!). I have never had a bruise when I didn't even get hit or anything; just tried running to first base! The weird part is that the bruising is not even where it hurts the most...any ideas Stephie??? (it helps having a sports team trainer read your blog!!! :)

Forgot the best part!!!!

I blogged about all of the bad but forgot the good - I got my first Coach purse for our anniversary!!! I LOVE it :)

Anniversary....

Well, let's just say the night did not go as planned to say the least!

Our plan was go meet at home, leave by 5:30pm and go to my softball game in Chillicothe (with Justin) - leave there, come home and play in the yard then ice cream or a treat and then Justin's bed time...

Instead, we made it to softball - but when the game started I was the first up to bat. Rob and Justin were still inside the bar because Justin spilled Rob's full Coke all over the table, Rob, etc. So I get up to bat and hit the first pitch pretty good - between the SS & 3rd over their heads....and still get thrown out at first. As soon as I started running both of my legs gave out. It's the muscles on the front of my thighs - both of them! I barely made it back to the dugout and immediately sat down by the fence...I couldn't even go down the 4 steps in the dugout at first. I was sweating and felt like I was going to throw up it hurt so bad. It felt like my muscles ripped away from my leg or something.... So I went and laid down on the bleachers and Rob got the car and we went home. Super long drive because every time he braked or accelerated or turned it hurt so bad. It almost felt like a burning (like when you do squats) all the time and painful. So I came home and laid on the couch - Rob got me some 600 mg Ibprofeun I had left and then got me hot and cold compresses on it for a few cycles which helped dull the pain a little bit. I ended up sleeping on the couch because stairs were not an option. No fun at all. I do feel better this morning when I am sitting or laying, but as soon as I try to walk it hurts like crazy. On top of that, Justin was awake crying last night more than he was sleeping - no idea why! He was just fine, but would not go to sleep.

Has anyone ever had this happen in BOTH legs? I have NO idea how hitting the ball and running did this...like in the first 3 steps.

My husband of course was wonderful though - he took care of me and our crabby Justin who did not want to leave the ball field!

Hopefully this weekend will be more fun than last night was!!!!

Our Anniversary

Today I have officially been Mrs. Brooks for 4 years!

On one hand, it seems like yesterday, but on the other it feels like 14 years.... We have lived in 3 cities, moved 5 times (or 6 if you count the extended stay hotel for 2 months!), gotten laid off/promoted/transferred and of course most importantly being blessed with Justin! It's been a busy 4 years but I could not imgaine going through it with anyone else. You let me be myself, but make sure to bring me back down to reality when I need it :) I can't wait to see what we'll be adding to the list in the next 4 years!

Thank you for being the husband and daddy that you are - I love you so much Rob!!!!

The Hills 5-28-08

Last night we went out an ran a few errands and went to CSC for a treat! They have the best ice cream ever - other than maybe Zehnars (the old barn place) or wherever we used to go in AuGres!

In the last week or so, when we drop Justin off at daycare he has an absolute meltdown. He cries and cries and clings to us. I don't know why! He loves it there; whenever we pick him up he is playing and as happy as can be. His teachers all say that he's good and they all love him, but the mornings are heartbreaking :( Did anyone else ever have trouble with this? I don't know if it's just because he is getting old enough to realize that we will be gone all day? I don't know, but it's really hard on us....

On our way home from town last night there were all kinds of flashers and news crews and such about 4 miles before our house - we thought it must be a bad accident, but it turned out that the police went to serve a guy with a emergency protection order and he fled out a window and then he ran into a field and fatally shot himself. When we first heard the story they just said "a shooting near Spring Bay" which scared me a little, but at least it was not a random act of violence. All of the news reports keep saying "shooting", but if you shoot yourself isn't it called suicide or self inflicted gun shot wound? Shooting just makes the area sound dangerous....

On a happier note - here are a few pics :)

He loves Coldstone....or maybe his mommy does so she tells herself that HE loves it :)
Such a big boy!
The cotton candy ice cream might be a cool color, but it does not taste very good - especially compared to the cake batter....mmmmm......

Go Daddy!

We are so proud of you Daddy! We love you tons :)

-Melissa and Justin

_____________________________________________________________________________________

For those of you who don't know, Rob found out a couple of months ago that his company is moving their headquarters to Madison, WI and if he wanted to keep his job after June 2009, he would have to move there. We love it here, so moving was never really a consideration.

After getting the house sold, finding a new job was next on the list. He applied online to a few places last Thursday night, got a call on Friday morning, had an interview today at 9am, got an offer by 11ish, we met for lunch to go over the details, he put in his 2 weeks and starts at his new company on June 11th!!! It's too bad because he really liked his job at CG - but the corporate world is ever changing I guess! His new company is called Pearl Companies - he's in the Technology division. They have an insurance division, benefits division, automotive group, etc. They are a locally owned company that's been around for a long time. Plus, they own a GMC, Buick, Mazda, Lexus, etc dealership so if we show Rob's employee ID, we get the employee discount - SCORE! Someday......

Have a great week!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a fun weekend! We didn't really do much, but it was nice and relaxing. We were outside almost the entire time and it felt so good! Justin loves his sandbox (Thanks GG Brooks!) and now whenever Rob or I come near it he makes us take off our shoes - no shoes near the sandbox! We also found a ball that Quincy LOVES and will actually play fetch with - of course they are $7 each at Petsmart, but so far he has not chewed this one up! I just realized that I hardly took any pics this weekend, but here are a few - I'll get more this week.

The first ones are at Tinley Park (First Midwest Bank Ampitheater). I have only been to outdoor concerts at Pine Knob and have had a great experience at everyone. I was extremely disappointed with Tinley Park in comparison to Pine Knob.... Total fun haters. We brought wine and snacks and lawn chairs to tailgate before the show, only to be told to put them away. If you are out of your car you need to be moving towards the venue entrance. WTF? Plus there are skyboxes there, so if you are in the lawn you're looking between the seats and the skyboxes at the performer - it makes it seem more like you're outside of a building looking in rather than just a pavillion roof. Oh, and the big screen up by the roof was not working on our side. Oh well - it was still fun and we learned that we definetly want VIP seats for any future concerts!

Katie and her $3 M&M's :)
Tim McGraw! What a great performer :)
Katie and I at the concert - next time we're getting VIP tickets!
We ended the weekend with a wonderful steak dinner at Katie & Josh's new house. Their next door neighbors have a 2 1/2 year old so Justin has a friend when we go over there! Also, notice the green house in the back ground? That was the one that I fell in LOVE with when we first moved here and put and offer in on and everything....too bad we don't live that close to the Adams!

Random ramblings for a Friday afternoon....

*Softball last night was fun! I am no longer a one-time sub...I've been recruited full time. Sure we got mercied 15-2, but I got one run and an RBI and caught all 3 balls that came my way in left fied. I was pretty happy! The bar we play at is awesome. It has a patio that overlooks the field and the field is lighted, concrete sunken in dugouts, bleachers, a concession stand and everything! I am excited! It's 1/2 hour away, but it's worth it for the atmosphere! All of the players are my age and are engineers at eServ, so it's fun!

*Rob and I found out today that on June 2nd Justin will be moving to "older toddlers" - the next room up. So now not only do I not have a baby anymore, I don't even have a young toddler :( I really like the teachers in his room now - I hope we like the next ones too!

*I am really excited to go to Tim McGraw with Katie tomorrow! Pictures to follow later this weekend!

*I used to dread driving home on Friday (especially a holiday) - I could guarantee at least an hour or two drive home....not in Peoria :) I love not having to deal with traffic anymore! My boss is in town and he is staying the night here just to avoid the Chicago traffic this afternoon/evening.

*TGIF...and even better that it's Friday of a long weekend!!!!!!!

Have a great day!