Weekend in Decatur

This past weekend we spent Saturday up in Mike's hometown, Decatur, IL to see his nephew Jack. I hadn't seen him since this spring and he's grown so much!! He's crawling and standing up with the help of tables and already saying "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma". And he likes to Dance and shake his head a bunch. He's so cute! He did cry once, but once out of two days isn't too bad. And he only cried because he wasn't where the action is...that's why they call him Action Jackson. Here are some pictures of him:





I decided to include this little pillow thing I made for Jack in this post. Its my first felt craft. Its like a little pillow with a loop for Jack to hold on to. One side is a puppy face and the other is the letter J. I used embroidery thread to attach the felt objects together. I think I'll start using felt more!

Wintery Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! I know I did. Mike and I took a little road trip across the great state of Missouri to see my family in Kansas. We arrived on Friday evening, ate dinner and watched the Royals game. They won, yay! We passed by the stadium on the way in and there was almost no one there. It wasn't that surprising since it was around 30 degrees...boy was it cold. Of course they still had the silly-guy-without-shirt to show on TV. Those guys must do some serious tailgating to do that in freezing weather!

Saturday we went to lunch with my Aunt Diane and cousin Kathleen. We talked about Easter plans and wedding plans. Then we went to David's Bridal to try on wedding dresses...again! Its okay, because it was a place I hadn't been before. I tried on about a dozen dresses. From the simple no frills dress...to the sequin everywhere dress. And of course they had to put a veil on, which really does complete the outfit. But this one girl kept putting a blusher on me. A blusher is the veil that goes over your face that your dad is supposed to lift up after he's walked you down the aisle. With my luck, it would get caught on my dad's watch and rip and it would mess up my hair. So no blusher, but I humored her because she really wanted me to try it on. Then this other lady kept yelling at me because I wouldn't put the slip on under the dress. I would've put a slip on, but what they gave me was more of a Scarlett O'Hara hoop skirt! When I swayed back and forth I looked like a church bell! Anyway, we had a good time, but I again didn't buy anything. But I have over a year, so what's the rush?

Easter day we went to Diane's for brunch and were entertained by our cousin's kids, Jennifer and David. They both just learned how to give bunny ears to each other, which is quite appropriate for Easter. They told us about their Easter egg hunt and what the Easter bunny left for them.

Then it was back in the car for another wonderful four hour drive across Missouri. At least stuff is growing, so the scenery is a little prettier to look at.

Happy Belated Easter, Everyone!

Action Jackson

This weekend we went to Decatur, IL to see Mike's family. Mike's nephew, Jack, is already six month old. He has changed so much since we saw him at Christmas. He's getting so big and he's jumping around and laughing. Its like a different kid. I wasn't sure if he remembered Mike and me, because he is only six months old, but I think as soon as I got behind my camera he was thinking..."Oh yeah, that crazy lady who blinds me with the bright light flashes." I took a ton of pictures of him at Christmas. He is a very good baby...didn't really cry and he was laughing and baby-talking a bunch. He loves his grandma and thinks his great-grandma is funny because she dances for him to make him laugh. How could you not love this kid?!



Here is a video of him in his jumping swing thing (click on the picture below). I wasn't sure if he was laughing or crying, but he was cracking us all up.
So, of course we watched a ton of basketball. Unfortunately the Illini lost in the Big 10 tournament, but were invited to the NCAA tournament, so Mike's happy. Here is Uncle Mike being a bad all-day-sitting-on-your-rear-watching-basketball-influence on Jack.

The biggest drama we had this weekend was with the dang dogs. They have two of their dogs on the electric fence, but the other two can roam where they want to. Bubba and Onxy. Bubba is a funny mix between a basset hound and cocker spaniel. I met Bubba when he was just a puppy. He looked like a little lab, but now looks like the picture on the left. He might be funny looking, but he's a sweetie. Onxy is a black lab who is kind of the leader of their pack because she could whoop up on any dog! Anyway, they like to wander around and wandered onto the other side of the interstate and luckily Carol's friend had stopped and called us to let us know what was going on. So Mike's brother-in-law, Chip, and Bob went up to the interstate and in between cars racing by called them back. Crisis averted.