The Hunger Games

At the beginning of the summer, one of my goals was to actually read a book for pleasure. Between teaching, parenting and grad school, I hadn't read anything FOR ME in a long long time. My mom recommended The Hunger Games.

I started the first book and was immediately into it! When someone describes the plot, it totally does not sound like a book I would like at all, but it is really good. It is a quick read too. I would go to bed at like 11pm to just read one chapter and before I knew it I would be turning out the light at 12:30am.

I flew through the first book and had to have my mom borrow the second book, Catching Fire, from her classroom. Lee and I happened to be driving down to Barry's wedding that weekend and I finished the entire book in 2.5 days.

Onto the third book, the Mockingjay. My mom had already loaned out her copy of this one, so I had to go buy it. Yes, I HAD to go buy it. At this point, I just needed the closure. It was running through my mind so often, I just had to have an ending!! I finished the Mockingjay in under a week as well.

I really loved these books! They definitely are nothing educational, but they are interesting and entertaining and that is exactly what I was looking for during my first summer vacation!

Meeting Miss Rue!

Last week my mom, Taryn and I went down to see my cousin Joey, his wife Jackie and their new baby Emma Rue (they call her Rue). It was a bit of a haul in the car, but fortunately, my mom acted as baby entertainer and I did the driving. Teamwork!

Stopped for a gas station snack break!
Welcome to Kentucky. Geez.

Our hotel had a pool and my mom was able to coax Taryn into the pool.

Yeah... This is the girl that wouldn't go in above her knees a few weeks ago. It's amazing the things she'll do for Grandma but not for Mom!

Hotel room entertainment... Cheers!

Finally!! We had been promising Taryn the whole way down she would get to see a baby. I think she was starting not to believe us!

Baby love!

Rue loved her 2nd cousin Lauren! I kept getting good smiles from her and she even fell asleep on me one day.

Taryn was so excited to hold the baby. But, as soon as she was done, she tried to just push Rue off of her. She doesn't quite get it.

The new parents...

I just love talking to new parents! I remember going through so many of the emotions. There are such great highs and such awful lows in those first months. It can seem so overwhelming. As I was going through all of it, I felt so often like I was failing at this or that or that I was weak. I was fortunate to have family and friends going through the whole baby thing just a few months ahead of me, and when I got the chance to talk to them, it was such a relief to hear I wasn't the only one going through the emotional rollercoaster. It feels good to share some of that with Joey and Jackie. They have it a little rough down there without any family in the state. We tried to give the new parents a little date night. They were a little nervous to go, so dinner and a movie turned into KFC and a trip to Babies R Us. But, hey, at least they got out for a moment to themselves!

Happy Birthday Lee!

Saturday was Lee's 31st birthday. Man, that guy is getting old! We had considered going to the Benton County 4H fair, but it was too freakin' hot... So, instead we opted to go up to Lee's parents' lakehouse and stay up until 5am partying and drinking with their neighbors. Needless to say, I woke up Sunday in a world of pain and may have regained the title of pukey pants. Doh! It was a good reminder of why I don't drink like that every weekend anymore!!! More importantly, I know Lee had a fun time for his birthday and he woke up pain-free. Lucky bastard!

Slowly but Surely

So, it feels like we haven't been making all that much progress on our new house, but here is an update. The ones on the left are the new pics... I hope you could tell that though. Please note every piece of trim needs to be painted white (some parts have already been taped off to get ready to paint).

The living room. Nice to get those three layers of drapes off the windows!
The fireplace. That sweet green chair in the "before" pic is at my mom's now. It is a 1960's massage chair! It's pretty cool, actually.

For now, the den is definitely our "catch all" type room. It's currently basically a toy room.

Our master bedroom. This one clearly needs the trim painted! That dark turqoise is the color that the whole room used to be! Yuck!

Definitely the biggest changes we have made are getting new carpet and moving our furniture in, obviously. Besides painting the trim and some other small projects, the next big thing to tackle is the 1957 kitchen.

NYC Then & Now

Same place... 13 years later.

Had to include this pic just because I thought it was cool!

Lauren & Taryn on the Jersey Shore!

Taryn and I spent the last 5 days in New Jersey visiting my Dad and his family. This was the first time Taryn had been on a plane since last time we went to NJ when she was 7 months old. I was a little nervous as to how she would do on the flight, but it went about as well as I could have ever hoped! The only real hitch in the plan was getting into the airport. It was just me with a toddler, stroller, large rolling suitcase, diaper bag AND a carseat. I. Looked. Like. A. Pack mule. It sucked. I had to actually wear the carseat around my neck/shoulder like a ginormous purse while pushing the stroller with one hand and pulling the suitcase & diaper bag with the other. Lee asked me, "Did a lot of people help you?" This had been his argument for not driving me to the airport. That a lot of people would help me out. The answer... No. A lot of people interviewed me about flying with a toddler though. That's... Not helpful.

"Airplane Mommy!"

We got to see my half sister Daniella and meet her boyfriend.
We logged many hours at the Bayonne park. Pretty awesome park, by the way. There were about 10 different playground areas and then three different water park areas.

"My playmate... Papa!"

We went to Liberty State Park to walk around and get some good views and pics of NYC.

City girls!

On Monday we went to a park called "The Land of Make Believe" in Hope, NJ. At least I think that is the name... I kept screwing it up and calling it Imagination Land and stuff. The park was great! It had a ton of kiddy rides, games, a huge pool, some big water slides, and for some reason... Santa. Taryn was not happy to see that fat, bearded man outside of December.

What she did love was this car ride. I lost count how many times she rode this thing!! We would be doing something else and she would look at me all seriously and say "I ride cars?" It was a Dukes of Hazzard themed ride and she went back and forth between riding in the Sheriff car and the General Lee.

On Tuesday we went out to see my step-Grandma, two of my aunts and my cousin Amy. Taryn had an amazing time being the center of attention! A role she is used to in my family. We went over to my dad's old elementary school to play and she kept ordering Aunt Leesa to catch her at the bottom of the slide. Fortunately, they do not get ordered around by a toddler everyday, so they thought it was cute!

Despite a 1/2 hour delay in our flight, the trip home went incredibly smoothly. As the plane was taking off, Taryn's eyes started closing, and voila, she was asleep. She slept the entire flight and barely woke up for the landing. I even got a wink or two of sleep on the flight!

Hopefully next year we can do this again, but maybe bring Lee along to help carry some of the luggage.

Sweets for my Sweet

This summer with Lee away at "cop camp" (aka the Police Academy), Taryn and I have a LOT of one-on-one time. Some days it is fun, and some days it is a struggle. One day Taryn woke up a total wet blanket. Do you want to go for a bike ride? NO. Do you want to go for a walk? NO. Do you want to play in your baby pool? NO. And so on. I was just about out of ideas when I asked her "Do you want to make cookies?" ...And we have a winner!

She's got her apron on and her ingredients ready. Funfetti cookies... Mich would be proud!
We took turns stirring.

Ready for the cookies to "get hot" in the oven.

"Why do we need to cook them mommy? They taste yummy right now!"

After an excrutiating 10 minutes for Taryn, she got to get the cookies off the sheet.

The proud little baker!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Wilken!

This weekend we drove down to Harrisburg, IL to attend the wedding of Barry & Amy. We went through some serious boondocks on the way down. And that comes from someone that lives in a town of 2500 people! Where we ended up, Amy's family's property, was gorgeous!
What a beautiful place to get married! All except for the 100 degree heat!!

The new husband & wife!

The bad thing about going to Purdue... It is really difficult to spell out your name with your body. This is Clint struggling with the "R".
Our sweet-ass table! Clint dipping his foot in the pool before wandering off to talk to some jail bait. Kari kept saying "Clint, walk away. I hear the sirens coming!" That pool felt like heaven!

Kari, Tony & Half-eaten cupcake

Congratulations Barry & Amy! Enjoy your European cruise!!

This Thing Blows