ISU Relay For Life

I love Relay For Life. I love Illinois State University. I love Nursing.

It was a  no brainer when Mary asked if Charlotte and I would go to the Relay for Life with her. Mary is the Secretary for the Student Nurses' Association. The SNA had a booth selling baked goods at Relay For Life. If I'm not mistaken, it was my class in 2004 when I was President that helped SNA get involved in Relay For Life. (We also started the bar crawl tradition...my idea... thank you very much.) I LOVE the Relay for Life though. When my Grandpa Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000, our family started selling Kettle Corn for the Relay For Life in Greene County and they did that for a few years. At the Relay for Life my senior year of college, we stayed up allll night on the Quad and participated in the hourly costume changes, etc that went on all night long. It was such a blasty!

I wanted Charlotte to experience her first Relay for Life... however, we were disappointed that it was changed from outside to inside bc of the cold, rainy weather. But it was still good! There was a good showing. We were there for opening ceremonies. I bawled my eyes out during the Survivor Lap. I told myself I wouldn't cry. I mean, I seriously only knew like 3 people there and none of them were survivors. But I took one look at a young guy that I could tell had recently gone through chemo and I lost it. Crying. Sobbing. I am pathetic. It's so emotional.  We were so happy to be there though. We were happy to remember Grandpa Wayne and happy to fight with Grandma Millie.

My sweet girl... all decked out in her wind suit her daddy got her.

How cute is this girl??

Check out my double chin. Niiiice.

Aunt Bare and Charlotte. Charlotte was pointing to a balloon.

We hung out up top so Charlotte could watch everyone. Man, this kid is busy.

Creeping on everyone down below :)

After an hour or so, we loaded up and stopped by the Normal Target to get Charlotte a movie for the car and we headed down to Grandma Ann's house. We wanted to drive starting at 8 pm so Charlotte could sleep on the way and be somewhat quiet :) She finally fell asleep after about 30 minutes. Such a good baby girl!

Sibling Movie Night

How much do you love this picture??? I mean, this is quality.

Mary, John, and I went to see The Lucky One at Willow Knolls in Peoria on Thursday, April 26, 2012. We went to the 9:45 pm showing. Even though we had eaten a big meal and were full when we entered the theater. But we still had to get the BIG movie theater popcorn and the BIG movie theater soda. It was so delicious. We didn't eat it all. We didn't get a refill. And we didn't finish our soda.

The move was fabulous. A tear jerker. Zac Efron in his underpants was fabulous :) At one point, some kids were being mean to the main kid in the movie and making fun of him. I, for some reason, could not handle this emotionally. I had been choking back the sob, the cry, and a laugh. Well, it all came out VERY LOUDLY in uncontrollable laughter and sobbing. I really couldn't stop. The entire movie theater was silent and it was a serious part of the movie and I am sitting there laughing and crying all at the same time. Pretty embarrassing :) The good part was that I didn't cry the rest of the time. I was just fine. John on the other hand was not. Poor man was bawling his eyes out.  We were quite a trio.

It was a great night. Love spending time with my siblings. We missed you, Meem.

Meet Miss Emily Ann

My best friend from high school had her second baby girl, Emily Ann on Saturday April 21, 2012. We went over and met her on April 25, 2012. She was only 4 days old and her most recent weigh in was 5 lb 15 oz. SOOO TINY.

Doesn't she look perfect???

Charlotte loved her. She kept giving her kisses and hugs.

Ella was very proud of her baby sister... although, she probably got sick of everyone asking her if she likes her.

Charlotte loves her Aunt Jodi.

Love this picture. Momma and babies.

The Heflin ladies. Beauties aren't they?

Charlotte is trying to figure out where she fits into this equation.

Ella showed her some love.

It was fabulous meeting Miss Emily. She is gorgeous, sweet, and such great baby. She looks so much like her dad.  Jodi is great mom and she had wonderful help from her mom and hubby. Charlotte wouldn't stop hugging Ella. It was so cute. Ella was very tolerant of her. It was a wonderful visit. So glad to be in town when she had this baby since I wasn't when she had Ella :)

Congratulations Jodi, Derrick, Ella, and Oscar. Your family is perfect. We love you.

Playdate with Mitchell and Carter

We love being back in Illinois and being able to visit the Robinson household. It's always a nice drive there and back through the rolling plains of Illinois. Charlotte and I ventured up to see them Monday April 23, 2012. We drove to their beautiful house in the morning while Charlotte took her morning nap. I kept telling her on the way she was going to be seeing her cousins Mitchell and Carter and her Aunt Tracey... as well as Bailey... her kitty cousin.

It's so cute how each time we see them, they seem so much more grown up! (which obviously they are) The last time we saw them was in February on Mitchell's second birthday. It always takes him a minute for him to get used to us and for him to play with Charlotte. Here he is in the first few minutes clinging to his mama.

Charlotte loved helping Tracey with Carter. She loves patting babies on the back so when she saw Tracey burping him, she jumped right in to help.

Our attempt to get the three kiddos together. The best one in the picture is the youngest one. The seven month old is the only one looking at the camera.

Here the two younger ones are watching TV and Mitchell is trying to figure out his next move :)

I have no idea what Charlotte is pointing at but it cracks me up. Notice her little finger. It's like she was going to poke Mitchell in the butt.

Kisses from cousins.

Sweet baby Carter. He was so chill and so good all day.

That cell phone was the favorite toy. All three of them LOVED it.

I love how similar in size they are. Mitchell was such a peanut at Carter's age.

Hugs for the baby. 

One last group shot. Here Mitchell is giving his brother love. They are all three so sweet.

We had a delicious lunch of spaghetti (Charlotte ate her weight in noodles). We hung out, talked, the kids played. It was perfect. When it was time for Charlotte's afternoon nap, we loaded up in the Tahoe and headed back to Mom and Dad's house. Charlotte was asleep before we were even out of their neighborhood.

BUT when she woke up, she was greeted with a snack/treat of the golden oreos...one of her favorite all time treats. She tears them apart and eats the creme out of the center then nibbles on the actual cookie.

It was a great day. I love seeing Tracey and catching up on life. She really is like a sister to me and I don't know what I'd do without her. I am so thankful to have the Robinsons in my life. And even though we don't talk everyday anymore, we still talk frequently and tell each other everything.

GDI Reunited (Minus Eri and B)

There is just something about your best friends from college. You know, they are the ones I did my craziest, strangest, funniest, stupidest things with over the years. I still feel like we do or say stupid stuff when we are back together even though we all turn 30 this year. (THIRTY!!! AHHHHH!!!) I was so happy to get to go up to the suburbs of Chicago and meet up with them for the night.

Charlotte had her first over night slumber party without Momma at Gigi and Papa's house. She was with Aunt Bare and Gigi all day then Aunt Bare babysat her Friday night. On Saturday she was with Gigi, Papa, and Bare until I got back to the house. 

Friday, April 20, 2012, I got up and got ready and headed up to Naperville to see Amy and meet her new little bundle of joy, Matthew, He was born at the beginning of March (a few weeks early) and I had yet to meet him. And since I had given up Facebook, I hadn't seen any recent pictures of him. I do have to say, he is a BEAUTIFUL baby... and such a mixture of his mom and dad. The funny thing is that I always try to picture my friend's babies in my head when they are preggo. I tried to picture what a mixture of Amy and Brad would be and I couldn't quite picture it. But Matthew really is a great mixture of them. He is really beautiful. He is a good baby that loves to eat :) I also got to bond with Charlie, Amy's dog. LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM. If I wasn't so allergic to dogs, I would steal him. I love him. He was the most hilarious dog. 

So when I got to Amy's, my pregnant self was starving (I mean, it had been at least 3 hours since I had eaten last) so we went to Chili's and completely pigged out. It was perfection. Then we went back to her house and just sat around and talked. It was perfect. Jennifer came and met up with us for a few hours before dinner. I hadn't seen her since October maybe???? She looks beautiful as always. It was hilarious watching her hold Matthew and feed him a bottle... out of the 7 of us GDI's, Jennifer is one of the only 2 to not have a baby yet. She was funny.

Even though I was with him all day, I forgot to take pictures of him. So here is the one I took. Little Matthew Huffman :) So adorable and perfect.

We decided we needed a night away from family life... no babies and no hubbies. Brianne was in the St. Louis area celebrating her 30th birthday and having a FABULOUS weekend while doing it. Erica had her 2 babies for the weekend while her hubby was out of town. She wanted to come so bad but she didn't have an option for child care. So minus a few of the bunch, we still went out to dinner for a few hours without babies or hubbies...just the girls.

We went to Cooper's Hawk Winery in Burr Ridge which was delicious. All of the girls got wine (except me) and delicious meals. 

The two with the youngest babies... Amy (left) and Tammy (right). Matthew is 6 wks old and Nicholas is almost 6 months old. Love these girls. They both came to visit me pregnant back in August in SC. It was hotter than the hubs of hell. We didn't do the beach or anything. It was WAY too hot.

Ashley (left) and Jennifer (right). Ash has a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old. Jennifer is our most recent to wed (a year and a half ago).

Jennifer and I have been friends for half of our lives :) Since we were 15-ish.... crazy, right?

All of the girls got to have wine and such, but my only excitement for my taste buds was dessert. I wasn't going to get one but they told me they'd help me eat it. Delicious looking, right???

Here is my crew... minus 2...

We had an amazing time. We go to dinner at 8 pm and didn't leave until almost 11:30. It was a wonderful night filled with tons of funny stories and memories. Love these girls so very much and miss them more than I could ever express.

After dinner, I followed Jennifer into the city (Chicago) to her place. It's beautiful. I should post pictures.... well, if I had them I would post pictures. It looks like something out of a magazine. It's really really gorgeous. I was able to park my dad's camero into this VERY TIGHT garage spot that she normally parks in down the street from her place. We got back to her place after midnight and talked for awhile. I slept terrible being away from Charlotte. I thought I would sleep amazing... not so much. It was the longest 7 hours of sleep I have ever had. 

Saturday morning we got up and got ready and Jennifer, David (her husband) and I went to get breakfast. We went to this delicious diner in Boystown. I got pancakes... with ice cream on them. I've never seen this as an option and David convinced me that I needed to get the ice cream. Here he is not eating any carbs at all bc he is on a diet and here I am eating ALL carbs and a GINORMOUS scoop of ice cream on top. It was so delicious though. Looooved it. Jennifer tried it...and loved it. After breakfast they drove me around their favorite neighborhoods then it was time for me to get on the road back to mom and dad's.

I got to Mom and Dad's house a bit after lunch time. Charlotte was sleeping but her little face when she woke up and saw me was so priceless. I missed her more than I could ever express. But I totally needed a night away with my girls. It really was perfection.

Best Friends Forever

On , April 19, 2012, Charlotte and I went to visit the Heflins. Jodi and I were best friends in high school. I still consider her to be one of my best friends. I am so glad that we have remained close and that we have each other. She continues to try to get me to move back to Illinois... frequently. :)

Charlotte and I took breakfast over to Jodi and Ella. We took them breakfast from Panera... yummmmmm... Jodi is 40 weeks pregnant and looking fabulous.... even if she isn't the most comfortable. She was getting around magnificently with that well-cooked baby hanging out in her belly. 

Ella is 2.5 so her and Charlotte tried to play together but Charlotte didn't always get it. When Ella got her trains out to play, Charlotte just tried to move the tracks and walk away with the train. Ella was VERY patient though. They played in Ella's room and with her little kitchen. We then went outside and played. It was so nice to get to be outside playing and talking. Around 11, Charlotte decided it was passed her naptime so we needed to go. I love having friends that still live in the area so that Charlotte can get some kiddie time in.

Later in the day, Jodi had her doctor's appt and they scheduled her to be induced the next day. She ended up having Emily Ann Heflin on Saturday April 21 around 2 am. :) Such a beautiful family.

A Day of Awards

On Tuesday April 17, 2012, we had a very busy day :) It was the day after we got to Illinois from South Carolina. Charlotte and I felt a little jetlagged but we were excited that we were able to be in town for the big days for mom and Mary.

For lunch, Mom was recognized for an award that she was up for. She was nominated by CASA for an award for the YWCA. It was a big deal to be nominated. Even though she didn't win (a State Representative beat her out), it was still a huge honor to be nominated out of all of the people in the Peoria area. She had a big cheering section there with her.

Charlotte fell asleep during the lunch but was WIDE AWAKE and ready to go for the awards part. So her and I did some laps outside in the hallway.

My parents. They wore their fancy clothes.

PS The food was actually good. Normally at banquest type things the food is terrible. But this stuff was good. Way to go Civic Center.

Mary is graduating from Mennonite College of Nursing on May 11 (I graduated from there 8 years ago). They had their candle lighting that Tuesday evening. So we went to Normal and attended. Again, my little short stack was into everything, loud, and needed to be out in the hallway for the majority of the ceremony. However, I got to see some of the awards and the lighting of the candles. I'm such an emotional pregnant mess. I got a bit choked during it... not a shocker.

Lynn Kennell was one of my lecture instructors as well as my clinical instructor for OB... my passion. Mary is going to be an OB nurse as well when she starts her new job. Lynn is so proud that we have such a passion for OB. I still keep in touch with her. She's a fabulous woman. Mary got the award "Most Like Lynn Kennell" which was sweet too :)

After the candle lighting, we went out to dinner at Wild Berries... a delish restaurant in Bloomington. Charlotte was NOT in the mood to sit still. She was too busy and tired to care about eating. It had been a long day and she was over it. Thank goodness the restaurant was basically empty.

At least she had Mary and her 2 friends to give her attention.

Even though it was a long day and we were pretty maxed out by the end of it, it was well worth it. We were so glad to be there supporting Mom and Mary.