Monkey Joes

Blake has attended a couple birthday parties this fall at Monkey Joes. Up until the most recent party for his friend Hannah, he has been scared of any inflatable jumping things. I think that is because he doesn't feel secure under his feet. Even at Little Gym he will not jump on the air trac because he is scared of it. Well he's made a break through! Ever since Hannah's party he now loves the jumping things and will even go on the air trac at Little Gym. I'm so proud of him for conquering his fear!

Ooops - I forgot one!

I'm trying to get my blog updated and dicovered I missed an important event! In late October Lauren's kindergarten class took a field trip to Eckert's in Millstadt. We had a fabulous time picking late season apples and enjoying all the wonderful attractions they have there. My personal favorite was the pumpkin lobber. It was kind of a hillbilly attraction but very cool to see a pumpkin get launched that far. Lauren was selected as a helper for it so that made it neat also. Eckerts does a fabulous job of promoting agriculture!

Halloween 2010

Well another wonderful Halloween weekend has come and gone. It was a busy one for sure and one to remember!

Our resident princess dressed up as Tiana from The Princess and the Frog and looked absolutely adorable. She gets a second chance at wearing this costume when we head to Disney in a week or so! Yeah! She had so much fun trick or treating with her Albers friends on Friday night in style via our friend's golf cart! Wow have things improved since I was a kid who only got to go to like three houses to trick or treat! Then later Friday night she went to a Kindergarten friend's halloween party. She topped it off on Sunday walking in the Halloween parade and then that night going to our Aviston friends homes.

Blake was not sure what to think about the whole trick or treating thing at first. I made him (first time ever to do something like that) a combine costume. He loved the costume but just wasn't sure about walking around in it. Well after watching his buddies, Caleb, Trevor, and Hannah he got on to the idea quickly! Then he ditched the red flyer wagon he was riding in and walked the rest of the night until he got back to Grandma's house. It was adorable to watch him waddle in his combine and say "twick or tweat." He of course thought we needed to sample everything in his basket as soon as he got it! His costume got lots of comments and he was so proud of it. He just kept saying big combine!

On Sunday he did great walking in the parade in Breese. Then came time for judging and he started to meltdown. We barely made it through before he kicked off his wheels literally and he was done with the combine! To my shock he won first place in the age 2-3 division! Yeah!!! It was honestly so much fun to make his costume. I just hope he doesn't expect me to make his costume every year!

Lauren looked truly like a princess and loved the parade. They got lots of fun prizes just for participating. She did not win her division, but she didn't care. I was relieved and proud of her for not getting upset that Blake won and she didn't. Instead she was just very proud of her brother!

Later that night we went and visited a few of our neighbors and took them cookies. For anyone who's ever lived in the country you know that you don't get many trick or treaters nor have stuff on hand if you get t or t'ers! So I decided we would bring the treats. It was fun to watch the kids great everyone! We are truly blessed with wonderful neighbors.

Fall Party and Hayrack Ride

For the second year, we have had some of our friends with kids of similar age to ours over for a fall party and hayrack ride. We have so much fun hosting this event. There is just something special about roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire and taking a hayrack ride through the country. Just one of the many things I love about fall! We were blessed with beautiful weather and just a great afternoon/evening. The kids had a flashlight hunt for treat bags, enjoyed fresh popped popcorn (thanks to the Poletti family), jumped in the bounce house (thanks Gaines family), made crafts, and just enjoyed playing together. Our puppy Sadie got lots of good belly rubs also and loved having all the kids around. Thanks to everyone who made it out! We hope to do it again in 2011!

Halloween Creativity!

Each year we carve pumpkins for Halloween. This year we decided on a "W" and a heart. Lauren got to do the W with the help of Grandma and then the heart with her friend Kaylee. She picked out a funny face to do also but we just ran out of time to get it done before Halloween. So we'll save it for next year.



For some reason I had a creativity bug this year and decided to make some lanterns out of old jars and tissue paper. I saw the idea in Taste of Home so I copied it. Lauren helped and had fun with the project too. They turned out really well and were super quick and easy to make! So we used them on Halloween at Grandma Vernitta's house to light her sidewalk. Some of my other creative things for Halloween this year were cake pops (forgot to take a picture), ghost cookies, and I made my first Halloween costume ever for Blake. More to come on that....

A site you don't see everyday...

Last week Wednesday, Blake and I were outside playing when he spotted a helicopter. It's a regular occurance to see fighter planes, jets, and helicopters around our house because of our proximity to Scott Air Force Base and the airport. So I didn't think much about it. But then I looked again and noticed there was something hanging off of the helicopter. Within a few minutes it was directly over our house and looking like it was going to land in my pasture! I honestly was scared and didn't know what to think. I grabbed my camera and Blake and just watched in amazement.

Then a friendly guy in a white truck drove in our driveway and told us what the helicopter was up to. It was a large saw hanging from the helicopter that was used to widen the right a way for the electric lines. Since we live on Highline Road we have lots of major power lines by us that go through our farm. So they were trimming the trees. It was a very windy day so I was even more amazed by the control the pilot had to have over this giant saw! Then the van driver asked if he could have the pilot land in our pasture to refuel. I of course said yes knowing Blake would be fascinated by it all.

Sure enough after an hour or so of chopping the helicopter landed and we got to go up and meet the pilot and meet the crew as well as get up close to the saw and helicopter. Blake was impressed and so was I! It's not every day that something like this happens so it was pretty neat for us. I was just bummed it happened while Lauren was at school because she missed it.

2010 Soccer Season

Lauren wrapped another season of soccer on October 23rd. She definitely improved over last year which was great to see. She played six on six this year with a goalie so it was a bit more challenging than it was last year when she played three on three. Playing goalie was definitely her favorite as it was for everyone on her team! The red team definitely was not the winningest team but they had fun which is all that really matters at the end of the day.

Following her last game, she got her soccer medal from her coach Tammy. Her teammates were all fellow kindergartners or pre-k students Nicole, Violet, Cole, Dawson, Jack, Braden, Lauren, Brooke and Carissa (missing from teh picture due to a wedding). I've also included a few pictures of her loyal fan club!

Needless to say we all enjoyed sleeping in this past Satruday as we no longer had to rush out the door for an 8:30 soccer game on Saturday morning!

A trip to the zoo

One of my goals for summer was to make it to all the major St. Louis kid attractions. Needless to say, I only got half of my goal accomplished. It just seemed the summer passed by way too quickly! So we took advantage of some of the nice fall days we had (still are actually) and met my friend Julie and her twins at the zoo. Blake loved it and I loved that it was not near as crowded as it is in summer! We rode the carousel three times (it's free before 10 am!) and enjoyed the train. Oh yeah, we saw some animals too. Blake liked the snakes the best I think (thanks to Jake) and I loved seeing the baby giraffe. It was great to catch up with Julie. We don't get to see each other near enough. The improvements they are making to the zoo look like they are going to be great. So I can't wait to go back next year!

He's growing up....

Blake has had some big milestones in the last month. On a random Thursday night September 16th, Blake went to bed with out his pacifier. That was the first time ever that had happened. So I didn't give it to him the next day and surprisingly he didn't ask. I kept this going and after three days I decided it was time to throw them out. A week later, he asked for his "c" but I told him they were all gone. So yeah we got rid of his pacifier! It ended up being a much easier process than I ever expected it to be. Thank you Lord!

A week later, Blake decided he was done with naps and was going to climb out of his crib. After three attempts to put him back in it and he kept crawling out I knew we were done. We took it down and now he's in his big boy bed. He's still adjusting to it and not wanting to always stay in it, but after a month, he's doing much better.

Along with these two big milestones, he has really started talking. Gongie has finally turned into milk! Yeah for that. And we have sentences now that I can actually understand. It's awesome to carry on a conversation with my little man. He's so precious. I just wish he could stay little forever!

Touch a Truck

The Breese Jr. Women's Club hosts an event each October called Touch a Truck. It's an opportunity where kids get to be hands on with all kinds of motorized things like excavators, helecoptors, fire trucks, a funeral hearse, street sweeper, semis, crop sprayers, buses, boats, etc, etc. The kids love it! So we went again this year. Lauren's favorite was the mini bus (a retrofitted golf cart) and Blake's was of course the restored tractor. Surprise, surprise. One of the surprising "hit attractions" was the hog trailer/semi from Bradley's company! Too funny watching the kids run up and down the ramps in the truck and peek through the side.

Here is a picture of the two of them at the event last year. Wow what a difference a year makes!

Harvest Time

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, changing leaves, apple picking, pumpkin picking, and Halloween. My favorite part of fall though is harvest. We have been able to get to Grandma and Grandpa Bartlow's twice to be a part of things. Blake and Lauren have loved riding in the combine and in the grain cart. It's been fun to see their excitement for things as well. The yields were poor on my parents farm but the best ever on our So. IL farm with 204 bushels to the acre on corn! Yea ha but that in the record books!

Driving Miss Daisy

Our poor cat Pepper is tormented by our pup Sadie every day! So she has come up with some interesting places to get away from Sadie. On this particular day, Pepper took refuge in Blake's car. I thought it was too funny and had to catch a picture. I just hope Pepper can survive Sadie's rough play until she grows out of this stage. Our other cat Peaches unfortunately ran away, at least we think that's what happened. We just say a prayer each day that Peaches found another loving home and is happy.

A change of scenery...

While the girls attended Disney on Ice, the boys went to our cattle partners Greg and Dan's to pick up our bull calves. So we officially have cattle now on our farm. The kids are loving feeding them and petting the one that will let them. It's pretty cute to watch them interact. I've enjoyed getting back in the swing of things with livestock, it's something I've honestly missed. I look forward to when the kids are ready to start showing. So if you are in the market for a registered Angus bull, we've got 5 to sell and one steer!

Disney on Ice

Lauren dearly loves dance and all things performance related. So we could not miss Disney on Ice as it returned to St. Louis. Grandma Vernitta was able to attend this time so now both Grandmas have ahad a chance to go. If you never gone, do so! It really is a great show and very reasonably priced. Following the performance we had a fun girls day out with lunch at Jilly's cupcake bar, shopping at Galleria, and then a trip to Penzeys spices. It was an awesome day with my little girl!

Birthday Highlights

I'm attempting to catch up the blog a bit. I can't believe how behind I am. I guess it's a testiment of how buys we've been! Blake had a awesome birthday with his cousin Delaney. It was fun to watch him open gifts and get into the excitement. It's amazing to look at the pictures from last year and see the changes like eating cake with a fork, saying his name, sitting patiently in a chair, no high chair, etc. What a difference a year makes.

Blake had his 2 year check up on September 17th. Here are his stats.

33 lbs
36 inches tall
19 3/4 inch head

Still a tall boy but he's come of his growth chart a bit. I think that can be easily explained by the meals he often skips and replaces with a sippy of milk! Oh well, I know this is just a stage.

Happy Birthday Blake!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy Blake! I can't believe he is two already. Where did the time go. We celebrated his birthday with a party last weekend. It was a joint party with Blake's cousin Delaney who will be two on October 1st.



I attempted for the first time ever to make my own birthday cake. My sister in law Julie always makes her kids cakes and such she inspired me to give it a try. It honestly didn't turn out too bad for my first attempt. I knew it met Blake's approval when he looked at it and said "tractor cake." You got it buddy!



Enjoying his cake....

More pictures to come of the celebration!

8 Years Ago....

Eight years ago, yesterday, I married my best friend. My how our life has changed! Although we have plenty of disagreements and probably don't communicate as well as we should I still love him lots and can't imagine my life without him. He's blessed me with so many wonderful things, the two best, Lauren and Blake. He's a great father, husband, hard worker, and I'm so very proud of him. I hope we make it another 50 but for now we'll focus on tomorrow and live for today. Happy belated anniversary Bradley!

On my mind...

So today was one of those days when lots of interesting things happen and you just want to go back to bed and start over. To start off the day, Blake kept escaping the house to go outside. Deadbolts and two different types of child proof locks are not Blake proof. We normally spend much of our morning outside but today we couldn't. You see I needed to do a bunch of things inside the house plus I wanted to make a "real" lunch since I had not made dinner the night before to redeem myself with Bradley since he was working from home this morning and leaving for the next four days. So anyways, Blake kept escaping resulting in me running outside to retrieve him many times. I should have just given up but I didn't as I had to finish those darn ham balls! Then to pay me back for making him come inside, he decided to retreat to my bathroom where he got into his bathwash and began washing his hair. So that resulted in a bath for him to rinse it all out! Then Sadie, our puppy decided to get in the trash and eat one of Blake's dirty diapers which resulted in her getting a bath and the sidewalk a washing. Fun stuff, huh? This was all before 11 am! Never mind the 8 million times I've wiped up pee and poop from our puppy on the garage floor who has decided puppy pads are not for her. Which brings me to my point of whats on my mind.

We adopted Sadie a month ago with the idea she was going to be an outside only dog. Mainly because I don't want her shedding hair in the house. I however had guilt about this since I grew up with dogs in the house and feel bad about her being outside all the time. I've thrown out the idea to Bradley about at least letting her come as far as the mud room but he hasn't agreed as of yet. So anyways, I've been talking to friends and reading way too much on the internet about crate training dogs. I dismissed this idea initially because I thought it was only for dogs indoors. However, I'm wondering if I need to do it so she learns the proper place to eliminate is outside and not wherever she pleases in the garage. But of course everything you read on the internet makes me feel guilty that Sadie is not being an indoor dog! Things like dogs are pack animals and their family is their pack, etc. I feel like I'm causing great distress to my poor puppy because I make her stay outside!! Ahhhh! So, I need to talk to people who have outside only dogs and find out if they are happy dogs. I want Sadie to be happy and know she's loved and be well behaved. And as far as crate training, wow I'm overwhelmed and not sure we will be successful with her being outside and me not able to catch her everytime she wakes up from a nap, etc. I guess I'm going to start with crate training her at night and see where that gets us. Hopefully soon she'll learn that eliminating outside is the right place. Until then, I'm going to try not to worry myself about whether or not my dog is happy!

Johnny Popper

She's Off to Kindergarten

My sweet baby girl left me for Kindergarten a week ago tomorrow. She was so excited she shot out of bed when I woke her at 7am. She carefully chose her first day of school outfit, eagerly ate breakfast and off we headed outside for pictures and to wait patiently for the bus. Lucky for her and me she doesn't get on until 8am! Neither one of us are morning people! I have been excited for this day to come, the beginning of a new chapter in her life. She is so ready for kindergarten. Eager to learn, make new friends, and enjoy her new school.


And then it hit me...... the walk down the driveway to wait for the bus, my emotions took over and I cried. I was not going to cry, not going to cry, she was ready for this and so was I. But I couldn't help it, just yesterday I was holding my newborn baby girl in my arms and now I'm sending her to kindergarten. I tried my best to hold it together, not let her see I was crying.



And there she went, up the steps of the school bus. I cried hard then. I felt like I had just sent her to the wolves. I was no longer protecting my baby. I couldn't help it, I had to cry. Who was going to reassure her that it was okay, make her feel comfortable in her new environment, not me! Bradley tried his best to reassure me and said, "if you think its bad now, wait until the day she gets married!" I guess he's right that will be worse.



I was so anxious for 10:30 to come and have my little girl back safe at home with her momma. She came home, all excited and anxious to tell me all about her first day! The report was all good, she loves it just as I knew she would.

Lauren's Kindergarten Open House

On August 18th, we attended Lauren's Kindergarten Open House. This was the time for us to meet her teacher, put away her school supplies, see her locker, and go over any questions we had with the teacher. I of course had lots but both of us were anxious for the big day.



Lauren's teacher Mrs. Clark seems really great. I think they will have a good year together.



I can't believe she's old enough for kindergarten! Seriously, where did the time go!



Mommy and Daddy love you so much sweetheart! We are so very proud of you and can't wait to see where your life leads. You are going to do great things!

Illinois State Fair

The perfect end to the summer for us is the Illinois State Fair. The kids and I ventured up to Springfield last Tuesday to enjoy the day. We got to see our heifer that was showing in the Angus open show and lots of my college friends. Then we took in the Little Farmer exhibit, the FFA barnyard, Milk a cow booth, the U of I piglets, and of course some rides. We had a great day and ended it with a trip to see the butter cow and a cream puff for mom and ice cream for the kids.