Ms. Shannon's Last Day at PALS :(

I stole some pictures from Ms. Shannon's myspace page of her last day at PALS. I think that more than 1/2 of them had my little camera hog/ham in them! He likes to show off for her camera :)

We are going to miss you so much Ms. Shannon!


Definition of a Child Care Provider (child'kâr prõ vid'er)
n.chef, baker, janitor, sock and shoe finder, coat buttoner,boot fitter, bottle washer, grocery shopper, diaper changer,protector, dish washer, nose wiper, vegetable pusher,floor sweeper, waiter, story teller, playground attendant, PE teacher,activity director, driver, zoo keeper, inspector, aerobics instructor, tutor,entertainer, therapist, manager, derby instructor, performer, bookkeeper,self-esteem builder, teacher, helper, well wisher, nurse, traffic controller,noise controller, life saver, thinker, problem solver, engineer, designer,counselor, safety instructor, arbitrator, creator, inventor, companion,musician, historian, technician, dietitian, athlete, beautician, fire marshal, analyst,artist, dentist, scientist, biologist, technologist, accountant, manicurist,receptionist, environmentalist, pharmacist, hygienist, speech therapist, reader,builder, informer, composer, supervisor, author,navigator, peacemaker, friend. . . . . . . .

Thank you for being all of the above and more to our son - it means the world to us! Best of luck in your new endeavors!

-Rob, Melissa and Justin






Being a ham!













Playing in the treehouse














Monkey boy!













Justin and his gf Lauren....he talks about her all the time and always hugs and kisses her!

He looks so grown up here!














Justin and his Ms. Shannon :)
















Ham again!











Smile!!!

The Hills - 8-7-08

I can't believe it's August! I am so ready for summer to be done - bring on fall....football, sweater weather, bonfires, pretty leaves, Rivermen Hockey, etc.

The Haps:

• Work is crappy. I told Rob that I would like to quit my job and be a cashier at Walmart.
• Sue and Godsie are helping us out big time next week! I have to be out of town for work one night (gone 2 days) and the next two days Justin's day care is closed. Rob can't really take the time off of work with his new job and I have 2 jobs due, so they are graciously driving down here to help us out - thank you so much!!!!
• I have softball tonight - at 8:30pm and 10:30pm! That's past my bedtime! Oh well; I love playing!
• My boss will be here at 9am tomorrow....should be fun after a 10:30pm softball game!
• I got sick when I got home from Michigan - on Tuesday I took a nap at 4pm and woke up the next morning! I have the greatest husband in the world to let me sleep that long!
• Did I mention I want to apply at Walmart? Or maybe marketing at CAT; that sounds like a fun job - think they will hire someone without a marketing degree and no experience? :)
• I miss Katie - it's been over a week since I've seen her....come over soon!
• Rob and I are building a fire pit this weekend - look for pics on Monday!
• Our neighbors took their dog to a shelter. I understand on one hand that yes; they have a new baby coming in a few weeks so that would be a lot to take on, but you accepted the responsibility of a dog. They adopted her when she was a cute little cuddly puppy and then they did not take the time to train her, so of course she's not well behaved. They don't learn on their own. So yesterday she went to a shelter - and not a no kill shelter; those were all full. Rob and I did everything we could to find her a home, but no luck and we sure can't take another dog. I cried a lot yesterday thinking about her because she is now one of about 50 other black lab mixes at a shelter that euthanizes about 20 dogs a day. Sad. What is that teaching your kids? If you accept responsibilty and then decide you don't want it anymore, just find a way to dump it on someone else or get rid of it? Shitty.

Okay - enough for now....gotta get back to work.

Have a great Thursday!

Michigan Trip!

Hello! Justin and I had a lot of fun on our trip to Michigan - but now I feel like I need a vacation from our vacation. I have a cold and today I woke up feeling pukey and Justin has a huge rash on his back...no idea what it is. It will be good to get back on our normal schedule and routines again! Here are some pictures from the weekend - If you click on the title "Michigan Trip" it will take you to the site where I have all of them from the camera on there!




Friday morning before the wedding we went swimming at Yinglings....

Here's Megan, Morgan and Justin














Megan and Justin eating a popsicle!















Great Grandma and Justin














What a stud!













Little ham :)


















Great Grandpa and Justin













Ava and her Aunt Tammy













Morgan and Justin













Some of the cousins.... me, Tammy, Lori, Terry, Shawn (Lisa's friend), Jenny and Lisa












Me and my date :) Isn't he a hottie!?!?!



















Uncle Mikey and his two favorite things :)












Our "immediate" family that was at the wedding














Out at the Rat after the wedding. We were saying how it won't be too long when we'll be there with Megan, Brandon, etc and we will be the "old" cousins :)












Mikey, Bobby Lite and Trev :) Losing money at the Big House...at least it was for JGHS football!













Playing baseball in Grandpa & Grandma's back yard - their grass is softer than our carpet :)













Justin didn't want to leave Bay City....














Justin was being a stinker and would not take a picture "with" Great G&G Metzler - he just wanted to be the photographer. Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda came over too so they could see us, but I forgot to get the camera out :(









It was a fun weekend and we got to see a lot of family that we have not seen in a long time! Thanks for letting us crash at your houses Yinglings, Rosebush's and Metzlers!

We'll be back in a month for Aunt Manda's shower :)

South Bend, IN

Justin and I went to South Bend yesterday for the St. Joseph County 4H fair - and Chuck Wicks concert :) I wasn't going to blog it because I'm tired of hearing people's comments about how many shows I go to, etc. but I figured this is my blog. If people don't agree with what we do for fun - mind your own business. Justin and I have fun going together; he loves the fair and the concert! We are at Yinglings right now and heading to Bay City for a wedding! Rob didn't come this time because he just started his new project at work....we miss you daddy!







Justin with the Champion cow :)










He loved the fire truck!












Justin on the firetruck









Chuck during soundcheck

Justin in Chuck's aviators - After sound check Chuck was sitting on the edge of the stage talking to us and he called Justin over and pulled him up on stage....he put his aviator sunglasses on Justin and of course I had to take a picture! Justin didn't want to give them back as most of you can imagine! Later when we saw him, he asked how I get his fingerprints off of my glasses - they are like glue :)







Playing soccer with Jerry (Chuck's tour manager)














During the show - Justin loved it and clapped the whole time :)













After the show





















Before we left the parking lot!

Pictures!

I know it's been a while - I just have bloggers block I guess...don't really feel like doing it. We had a fun weekend with the Treml's (our old neighbors)...I wish we lived closer! Last night the Adams came over for dinner and that was fun to see them again - it had been almost a week! That's a long time for us!

Not much else is new. The potty training has good days and bad days, but he's not even 2 yet, so any progress is good! We are so proud of him :)

Ann Taylor Loft

Hello! Just as an FYI - don't ever buy clothes online without googling a coupon code first! I tried on pants at Ann Taylor Loft (ATL) yesterday and LOVED them, but the store does not carry talls. So today I went online to get them and the total was like $142 for 2 pair of pants with tax & shipping and such - a lot, but they fit great and I need nice pants for work. I googled for a coupon and found a code - teacher20 and got 20% off my purchase AND free shipping! New total - $102.42. Yeah!

New decoration

Isn't this cool? I think Aunt Connie has one similar too. We got this (well, we are on Saturday) at the Riverfront Market. I thought it was super cute and the letters we picked just happened to be all windows. It comes framed and matted too and it was only $40! I thought that was a pretty good price!

I have a few pics of Justin on the camera...I will upload them soon!

Bush = DB?

While I am on the topic of stupid things in Peoria today - the president is here.

He is here to sponsor a local candidate running for congress, so he's doing a dinner at a private estate here. The dinner is $500 a plate....not too horribly ridiculous I guess to eat with the president - here's the kicker - if you want your picture taken with Bush it's another $5000!!!!!!! What? Are you kidding me?

The pjstar has a comments section on articles they print - when this one came out a few weeks ago stating the price of things a guy posted soemthing like this:

"Why spend $5000 when I can go to McD's and fill myself up off the value menu for $3, then go across the street to Walgreens and take my picture with a box of Massingle - either way I end up full and have my picture taken with a douche bag"!!! :) I thought that was so funny, but the paper did not apparently because it was deleted!

What an Embarrassment

Click HERE to watch the video.

I am sure some of you may have seen this - since it made NATIONAL news and was on sportscenter. How embarrasing for the city of Peoria. We love taking Justin to the games, but the way our pitcher acted was horrible. He threw a ball at the Dayton dugout and missed and hit a fan who had to go to the hospital! He is in jail and being charged with a felony - and he should. He should not be allowed to play baseball again - back to the Dominican Republic and sell stuff on the beach. Ryno was not there; he was in Washington for a Hall of Fame event. We think if he was there this would not have happened. The pitcher beaned like 3 players in the first inning...hello - maybe time to visit the bullpen?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If Castillo is ever on the mound again in a Chiefs uniform I will boo him until I'm blue in the face. He's a disgrace to our team.

Rivermen!

Guess who will be the family sitting in Section 16, Row A, Seats 1 thru 3 for all of the Peoria Rivermen home hockey games??? Yes - The Brooks Family! That's right on the glass so we don't have to worry about bothering the people in front of us...plus I think that Justin will LOVE being in the first row - and mommy too! I like the hits and scuffles; being near the corner we should see lots. Oh, and it's on the end where the Rivermen shoot twice per game!

So excited for the games to start in October!