We are back home from our Kentucky Christmas

After filling up our bellys with soup beans, sweet tea, and biscusts and gravy, we started the long drive home today after a wonderful visit with family and friends in Kentucky. We have not been back since Kian was born so a lot of family members Kian hadn't even met yet! We also were able to meet up with friends we haven't seen in about 6 years!

Kian and Jamie are happily putting together some Christmas gifts in his room and I am just relaxing, enjoying the lights on the tree. Tonight is a wind down night for us.

Hopefully I will have photos uploaded soon to share more of our great trip with you all :)

Merry Christmas!

We will be in Kentucky at this time tomorrow! We hope that you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and that Santa is good to you all :)

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

because of the ice storm that came through here last night - YIKES! All the schools are closed and there is seriously a layer of ice everywhere on everything! The branches on trees are really heavy - Jamie and I both had large branches in the back of each of our cars this morning. I had to even scrape off the ice on the flag on our mailbox to put it up!

Kian Sat on Santa's Lap - It's a Christmas Miracle!!!

Every year we ask Kian if he wants to see Santa and he says he does, get excited, stands in line and then when it's his turn he flips out and won't sit on his lap :

This year we finally had success!!!

Kian walked up to Santa with his Walmart catalog in hand and started telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Jamie had is iPhone out and took this picture of him :)


And here is the picture we brought home with us - forgive the blurry look as it is a picture of hte picture. But check out the great smile :)

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Here is glimpse as to what you will see in our Chrsitmas Card this year :) Kian had a little photo shoot with the tree in the background :)

Bailey wanted his own, priavte shoot apparently. I was taking pictures of just the tree and he posed all on his own lol

The Tooth Fairy's Delivery!

The Tooth Fairy left Kian Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from Star Wars - he loves these figures! Here is a better picture of his missing teeth and of him with his new toys thanks to the Tooth Fairy :)

All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

That's right! Kian just lost another tooth today!

He wasn't quite as excited about it as he was with the first one - he was more into watching a video on a player he has than "posing" for my camera lol Hopefully I can get some shots with a nice smile later on :)

O Christmas Tree

Tonight we decorated our Christmas tree. All our decor made is safe (well, my angel was about to lose her wings - nothing that a hot glue gun couldn't fix :)). Kian had a blast hanging ornaments on the tree. The only rule was to not let them hang too low so our puppy Bailey woudln't think he could help himself to them.

It's amazing all the memories that come flooding back as we put up the ornaments. There are ones from each of the places we have traveled to, ones that commemorate our First Christmas Together, our new house, and of course Toby and Allie ornaments. Kian hung one that looks just like Toby in a place of honor right in the front. I hung Allie's ornament right next to it. Kian even said a little prayer for Toby and Allie tonight. We still miss them a whole lot.

Speaking of animals, Bailey is growing and growing! Jamie asked me today if I have taken any photos of him recently and I really need to - it's unreal how much he has grown in such a short period of time! We are also finding out that Bailey is very different from Toby. He loves the water (Toby hated it! - yeah odd for a lab to hate water). Bailey actually sticks his head behind the shower curtain so much that by the time I am done showering, his head is soaked! Bailey is also very vocal. He will often bark or whimper at me (while staring me down) when he needs to go outside to "get busy." Bailey also LOVES to be outside. This weekend Jamie was out in the garage rearranging boxes and such and Bailey was in our fenced in backyard just running around, full speed, all on his own lol Bailey is such a little lover and we are so happy we have him in our family :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

We are getting our second snowfall right now where the snow is actually accumulating!!!! The first snowfall we were on our way back down home from Wisconsin so we didn't get to enjoy the actual snowfall too much. Tonight all 4 of us went outside while the snow was falling. Bailey was chasing Kian around the yard - I think they both would have stayed out there forever if we let them!

Yesterday there was still a blanket of snow outside so I took a few photos of Kian before it started to melt (I used some for my new blog banner). Kian is really enjoying the snow and I am looking forward to having enough to snow to make a snowman!

Thanksgiving in Wisconsin

We decided to make the 5 hour trek up to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time that all three of us were in Wisconsin at the same time! We really enjoyed visiting with all our family :)

Thanksgiving Day we headed over to my Grandma and Grandpa Zuelzke's house. I think that all the people were kinda overwhelming for Kian at first, but he is so social he warmed up pretty quickly. Grandpa Z had a good time teasing Kian - brought back a lot of memories of him teasing me as a child! Kian also quickly made friends with my cousin Steve's daughter, Ameerah, who is only 4 months older than him. She called him her "new friend."

Below are some photos of the festivities.

Grandma and Grandpa Zuelzke with their 5 Great Grandkids!

Kian hanging out with his Great Uncle Jack

Kian's picture of Grandpa Zuelzke's turkey leg - and yes it is real :P

During the time we were in town we got to hang out with my little sister, Laura, and her fiance Brian. I went to see them perform with their band Wavelength at a bar on Wednesday night. Laura and I had the happy surprise of seeing my Uncle Paul (my biological father's brother)there!

Friday night Jamie and I headed out to see Brian and Laura perform as The Moonlighters at the St. James - a martini bar in Darboy. Below is a photo of them performing. It was so neat to see them and the place was something that Jamie and I really enjoyed and would enjoy it more if it was in our city!

Laura and Brian performing as The Moonlighters at the St. James on Darboy.



Me, My Mom and Laura - the three girls :)

All-in-all it was a great visit. Kian got to know our extended family better and so did Jamie! We look forward to many more trips up to Wisconsin in the near future :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We had our first snow fall since we arrived in Champaign. Jamie and I drove Kian to preschool this afternoon and the snow started to really come down - it was so pretty! Jamie asked Kian if he could see the snow and he said, "Yeah, it's from Santa!"

Week with Grandad and Nan and Bailey's First Vet Visit

Monday Jamie's dad and step-mom arrived for a short visit. Kian had a great time rough-housing with Grandad and read lots of stories with Nan (mainly I Spy books). We all enjoyed having them here. Even little Bailey who was almost puppy-napped by Grandad ;)

We took Bailey for his first vet visit and shots. He is healthy in every way :) He weighs 20lbs even and the vet said that at 4 months she can triple the weight and that will be about how much he will weigh full grown....he will be around 70lbs - so a big boy!

Bailey also has caught on quickly to a lot of things (although he still has a lot of things to learn) but he already knows how to shake! He is such a good boy, we are very lucky to have him in our family :)

School Pictures 2008

We got Kian's school pictures back last week. They turned out pretty good - I can tell that in some of them he's smiling and saying CHEESE (like in the one right below this text lol!) I just thought I would share some pictures of our cute guy :)

Kian and Bailey :)

Things have been going really well with Bailey. He is a very loving guy. He also is very smart and takes well to redirection. Kian and I went shopping for lots of chew toys for Bailey. Kian's favorites were a slice of pizza and a hamburger. Bailey would chew on them then carry them around for a while. He would laugh and laugh!

I took some pictures of Bailey and Kian while they were playing on the floor. They both love each other a lot :)

Meet.......Bailey!!!!!

Since we lost our Toby we have been wanting to get another dog. But we knew a move was possible for us so we put a search on hold. Today Jamie and I were talking about getting another dog. We wanted a yellow lab for sure...today he was looking on craigslist and found this CUTE puppy! We emailed the lady who had him, drove an hour, and picked him up!

He is a 9 week old white lab (his parents are a white lab and a yellow lab). He weighs about 18lbs right now. We decided to name him Bailey (yup, just like the yummy Irish liquour lol!)

He is so sweet! He loves to give kisses and follows Kian all around :) I know they will be best friends! He is actually pretty mellow for a lab puppy - which is nice although I am not sure if it will last lol He is a lab ;)

The photos below are the ones that we saw of Bailey that drew us in :) I will take some more later on for sure. But we wanted everyone to meet our new family member!

Crickets.....

I hear them through my open window! An occasional car drives by. But really the only sound I hear is crickets. It's been a long time since I have lived anywhere that was this quiet! It is so nice to be back in the MidWest!

Halloween 2008!

We had a big day yesterday! First, Kian went on his first field trip with preschool. They went to a Nature Center, walked some trails, talked about autumn and animals. It was a lot of fun (I went too - I volunteered to drive).

When we got home, we grabbed Kian's costume and headed to Volition for their Trick or Treating around the office. Kian got quite a haul of candy from that - even after i picked through what was not safe for him to eat (processed near nuts).

After that we were home for a short time and then all three of us headed over to one of Jamie's co-worker's house. They have 2 little boys. Another couple and their little guy was there as well. We ate pizza, the boys played (yep, they are all boys) and I think we all had a good time!

Then it was time for Trick or Treating so it was costume time.

Kian wanted to be a sword wielding Batman - we had him leave it behind ;)

My Handsome little Batman

All the Trick or Treaters

Kian mid run to the next house - he ran the WHOLE time with his new friend Nicholas.

Here are Kian and Nicholas running to the next house!

The local fire department walked down the street with the fire truck and gave out candy to the kids - how cool is that!

Trick or Treating at our new friend's house ;) Not like the kids needed more candy ;)

Jack 'O Lanterns

Yesterday Kian and I went to Walmart for some things and picked up some pumpkins for carving. There weren't any larger pumpkins and Kian wanted these cute little ones so I told him he could pick out two. Then I found kits that allow you to kinda make your pumpking a Mr. Potatohead of sorts. He picked out the animal one. The pumpkin on the left is a dog and the one on the right is a cat. He's so proud of them! Anytime anyone comes to our house he tells them about them and wants to show them off :) A great idea

We are All Moved in!

We checked out of our hotel today. The heater should be fixed today and some repair guys should be showing up any minute to ground some of our outlets. We still have a lot of unpacking to do. But the house is starting to feel like a home :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Yep, today is my birthday :) It was mostly spent unpacking with some phone calls from family sprinkled in. Our house finally has cable and it starting to really come together. We are having to get kinda creative with storage, but it's all coming together.

This evening Jamie and Kian took me out to eat at Olive Garden. We had one of the best meals as a family there! Our sever was amazing first of all - we tipped him nicely! We had some really great wine, Kian ate salad - A LOT of salad (he's not a lettuce guy but he was tonight!). Most times we are still eating when Kian is finishing...we tonight we were waiting for him!

It was a good birthday, enjoying the crisp autumn weather and spending time with my two favorite guys in the entire world.

Unpacking, Unpacking and More Unpacking

Today Kian and I hung out at the house today waiting for the heating guy to come and fix our furnace. Of course they came, replaced a few things and left before really making sure it was running. Two minutes after they left the furnace stopped working so I had to put another call in....that was at about 10AM. The guy would "be here today" and didn't show until 6PM :P bleh. Needless to say I have the entire Kitchen unpacked. I am realizing how much counter space I have lost :( I am having to compromise on a few things that I like having in my kitchen....like a portable dishwasher and a nice toaster oven :( I keep reminding myself that we only have a 9 month lease and hoping that when it's up we will be able to move if the place still seems like it's not all it's cracked up to be. I sure do miss owning our own place that's for darn sure.

Unloading and Unpacking

Bright and early the Allied truck was sitting in front of our new place. Unloading went faster than loading that's for sure. Kian was a mini manager telling the guys what room to put things in - oddly enough he informed them that the big screen TV was to go in his room lol Smart kid! He also spent a good part of the time putting things in the backyard and riding his bike around an area on the walking path right next to the house.

I got a good amount of unpacking done while Kian was at school and I hope to get more done tomorrow. Unfortunately we found out today that our heater was broken so it was rather cold in the house so I didn't want to bring Kian back over there after school. He had a pretty rough day anyway and was pretty crabby. Poor guy is still adjusting to the time change - just like the rest of us.

Tomorrow morning the furnace guys are coming to fix it and hopefully we will be able to hang out there for a good part of the day and get more settled. But it sure is good to have all our stuff with us now in Illinois. Now we just need our cars and we are all set!

We Got our Place and Will Have Our Things TOMORROW!

We signed papers and such for our lease this morning. I am planning on heading over there to do some laundry and check out what I need to do/buy to get the place ready for us to move in.

Then, after Jamie got to work, he got a phone call from the driver of the moving truck and asked if he could deliver our stuff tomorrow!!!! How crazy is that?!?!?!

So, we will be all moved into our new place in less than a week from leaving Livermore! Now, all we gotta wait for is our cars :)

Photos of our New Place :)

As requested, here are some photos that were in the listing for the house we are renting :)

View of the front of the house, garage, and side entry way:

Front Yard

Back Yard - behind the fence is a paved walking trail and a creek

Pantry/Electrial area. This is right when you walk in the side door - I am planning on putting up a curtain or something so people don't see all my Sam's Club goodies in there ;)

Kitchen shots - there is a small area in the corner across from the cabinets in this photo where our round dining table will fit perfectly in

Front entry way and living room (you can see the side entry from this angle as well)

Other side of the living room

Hallway in between the bedrooms and living room - this view is toward the Master bedroom

Hallway view toward the bathroom - laundry area is just to the left

Photos of each of the bedrooms - there are three in a row and look very similar - I can't tell which is which in the photos lol One will be the Master, one will be our office and one will be Kian's room

Newly remodeled bathroom

Well, that's the tour! We are going to go through the paperwork tomorrow! I am hoping that I will have a few days to start laying down some contact paper and what not before the movers arrive with all our stuff!