The Bug

Noah had his latest check-up on Wednesday, and he is 31.5 inches (60th%) and 22 lbs. 3 oz (25th%). Looks like he will be tall and thin, I'm guessing tennis and swimming lessons will be in order. He did also have an ear infection, but he is now on antibiotics and doing much better. He has definitely changed a lot in the past year, and his personality is really starting to show.


Here he is a year ago at this time...



And Now...

Elf Yourself

Christmas greetings to you from our little elves. A lady at work did this for Mike. It makes me laugh. http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1523943809

The Night It Rained Tears

Unless you are from Evansville, Indiana, you probably do not remember what happened 30 years ago today, December 13, 1977. I remember watching the news that evening with my family on the little black and white television that we usually used to play Pong. The news was bleak. I remember the snow falling around a broken up plane. I remember seeing gym bags scattered about on the cold ground. I remember seeing athletic shoes and other things as well. The University of Evansville was to play a basketball game in Murfreesboro, TN. The plane took off from Evansville's Dress Regional Airport and crashed shortly after take-off. There were no survivors.

I remember my parents were to leave the following day for Australia and being scared the plane would crash. I remember going to a game prior to the crash and sitting in the bleachers. I remember hearing Mike Duff was as good if not better than a player from French Lick (Larry Bird). One player failed to make the flight due to illness- he was killed in a car accident one week later. In my opinion the basketball program has never recovered from this tragedy. Please remember the families involved as I am sure this is a difficult time year after year.

Anyway, if you haven't seen We Are Marshall, I highly recommend it. It really brought back the memories of the Aces tragedy which is why I decided to blog about it today- so they would not be forgotten. Go Aces!

St. Charles Christmas

Last night I was blessed with the opportunity to spend some quality mommy-time with a friend. Thanks to my wonderful husband for watching the kids so I could wander the streets of St. Charles in search of many non-necessities to add to my wish list. Although a bit misty out, the company- Mrs. B., was fantastic. Being able to spend unlimited amounts of time in stores without being asked for a drink or a snack is something I definitely appreciate. I learned of a new children's illustrator, Tasha Tudor, as well as many other books of which I was unaware. I did find a sweet, magical book called A Princess Primer that Carlie will definitely get for her birthday if she doesn't get it for Christmas.

The decorations are so beautiful at Christmastime.


No visit is complete without a stop at the Sweet Shop.

Some carolers singing to us by the fire.

Carlie's Christmas Program

We had a nice visit this week with Grammy and Pawpaw. It is so nice to not have to do laundry or ironing this weekend as Grammy helped get it all done before they left. So, I can relax and get some other stuff done like Christmas cards. Last night was Carlie's Christmas Program for school. She had been practicing and practicing singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night. She would sing Silent Night to her baby dolls in bed. Very sweet. All the kids did a great job.




I guess he was bored...
Carlie and her friend, Lauren

Christmas is Coming!!

We started off this week making a Gingerbread House that we picked up at Costco. Grammy and Pawpaw were coming for another visit, and their Ford (Fixing Or Repairing Daily) SUV broke down on the highway in Illinois and Mike had to go rescue them. Good thing this gingerbread house was able to pass the time while we waited. I had never done one before, and I think it turned out pretty nice.

Grammy and Pawpaw

Grammy and Pawpaw came to visit last week to drop off Noah's remaining birthday presents from the party that wouldn't fit in the car. Now, they don't fit in the house, but that is another issue all together. Noah has really become attached to Pawpaw. If Pawpaw is carrying him, he can't even sit down or Noah starts pouting. It is quite funny.

Pawpaw caught us up on some much needed home maintenance and is on the hunt to get another mole in the backyard. Grammy stocked us up on Costco goods and was able to get her embroidery machine serviced as well. We look forward to seeing them next weekend and celebrating Christmas with the Rodgers clan.

Casey and Doug visit

Well it took about a month, but I figured out what "compress image" means. So now I can post a little faster. We had a nice visit with Aunt Casey and Doug last weekend. There was a lot of playing in the leaves and hanging out. Sunday we took them to Pujols 5 Grill for brunch. Surprisingly, I had not been there yet. It was quite a tasty and bountiful buffet. The greatest surprise was when the waiter dropped off our bill and said they were having an early bird special between 9:30 and 10:30am, since we got there at 10am, he took $40 off our bill. Did I hear him right? Surely he said $4. Oh no, when I opened the bill, there was $40 off our bill. It ended up being less than $6/person!! I think we will be returning to Pujols' place again and see if they do that "special" all the time, especially since the kids are free anyway.

After that we went to the Arch. What a beautiful day to visit. Noah had his first trip up, as did Doug. I think they both enjoyed it. Thanks to Doug and Casey for paying our way on the Arch visit. A fun time was had by all.

The Picture Says It All

Zoo Day

Today we met Perrin and Lia at the zoo. The girls walked around and took turns in the stroller and shared the monkey backpack. Their behavior was just wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for a better day with so few people there. Noah hung out in the stroller and was just as good the entire time. The giraffe exhibit did almost become x-rated as the male giraffe followed one of the females all over the place and was getting a little too close for comfort. I'm guessing the zoo will be welcoming a baby giraffe sometime in the future. Oh, and I will try to post some stuff from our visits with Grammy and Pawpaw and Casey and Doug soon.

Payback would be sweet

It was March 6, 2005. No one expected the undefeated and #1 ranked Fighting Illini to lose to Ohio State. Well, they did, and it still makes me mad when I think about it. Let's just say payback would be soooo sweet if Illinois wins tomorrow!! So everyone out there reading this, be sure to cheer "I-L-L" then "I-N-I" at 2:30pm tomorrow (and don't call during the game;-)

Another Show Off Day

Carlie finished off another session of Littly Bitty Dance at the community center last week. Here are some highlights from her show off night. (In case you are wondering why I am not blogging as much, we got a new camera and it takes over an hour to do one post by the time the photos are uploaded to the computer then to the blogger site. If anyone has suggestions as to how to do this faster, I would greatly appreciate it. )

Happy Birthday Noah!!

I can't believe it has almost been a year since Noah was born. It used to seem that it took forever for my birthday to roll around, and now it comes around all too quickly. Lucky for me, the whole month of February is "Celebrate Rachel" month!!

Back to Noah. We had such a fun time at Grammy and Pawpaw's house celebrating Noah's birthday. It was great to have Grammy Dobbins make it as well. It really helps to have a mom that's a teacher (with deep pockets, hee hee) who knows how to throw a party. Carlie was just beside herself with excitement when she saw the little bounce house with balls, but when the Mega bounce house was blown up she couldn't contain herself. She was screaming and jumping, and it wasn't even her party. Noah had a great time too. I think he likes chocolate cake as you will see.

It was great to see many of our relatives that I haven't seen in awhile. We always say we will get together and never do with our busy lives and schedules. I would have to say though that it is pretty special to have so many family members that have stayed so close for generations. Pretty rare these days. Anyway, a big thanks to the Grammies and Pawpaw for all their hard work in the making of such an awesome party!

Well I have lots of thank you notes to write so I better just post some photos. I will have some other birthday photos on the 24th, his actual birthday.

The Grammies blow up balloons

The Birthday Boy

The Cousins
Let's Get this Party Started...
Pawpaw brings out the food- Yummo!

The Cake
Make a Wish!!









Come on, you can do better than that
Mmmmmm... Caaaaake
Doh!

I would post more pictures but this is taking way too long :-)

Oskee-Wow Wow!!

Chee, Chee Ha, Chee Ha Ha Ha!!! They are not so happy in Happy Valley tonight. For all those who care (and I'm not sure many of you do) Illinois won today against Penn State!! This is the first time they have gone 2-0 in the Big Ten since I was a student (and that was quite a long time ago.) Hopefully this is a turning point in the program, and they can finally start winning again. In other Illini news, basketball starts in 31 days! Another whoo hoo... even though I am uncertain of how good they will be, they do have Michael Jordan's son, Jeffrey, on the team (he walked on.) Anyway, that's my sports blog for the day since there is nothing good to say about the Cardinals.

Welcome Fall

I wish. This was last Saturday, and it was beautiful. Nice crisp fall day. Today as I write this the a/c is back on, and it is 90+ degrees outside. Back to last weekend I spent the day with a friend from MOPS, Ashley, while Mike hung out with the kiddos. Here are some of the shots he got.


Making Daddy proud


Carlie took this

Weeding the garden

Isn't he just the cutest?