Post 10-26-08

And again, I admit to being the worst blogger. Ever. I apoligize.

Now that we all know this, let's get on to bigger and better things....

The trip to CO was great. It was fantastic to see family (despite the reasoning) and Drew had an okay time. The drive was pretty horrific for him, but we managed and made it home (thankfully!). I'm including pics from the trip.

Not much has changed for us. We're both still working and devoting all of our time to making sure Drew doesn't totally destroy the house. A word of warning to everyone---boys are boys! They break everything they touch (and some things they dont' even have to touch) and they have very selective hearing (already known by those that are married to said boys). But he's still the cutest thing to ever set foot on the planet and we love him dearly. He's learning all sorts of new things now. He's got several words (some intelligable, some not) and can sign several words. I'm confused on the signing, as he says most of the words he signs as well. Oh well. He's moved into the toddler room at daycare and is learning to hold his own. He's still pretty tiny, but we're hoping he'll hit a growth spurt soon!

We went to Piedmont for the annual Fall Festival. It was a blast. It was great to see everyone. Drew loved the parade, as you can see in the pictures. Him and Tripp mostly enjoyed the candy, although Drew managed to take time out to look at the tractors. Fun!

We traveled to Tanner's Orchard yesterday. It's an apple farm with a ton of stuff for kids to do just outside of Peoria. As you can see in the pictures, Drew's favorite part was the billy goats. He love petting them and laughed histarically when Matt got bit feeding them. Yep, a boy.

We've had a bust month and are looking forward to Halloween, where Drew will be dressing up as a lion. roar! Will post pics.

Take care everyone!

NIkki

Update 9-29-08

Okay--so I'm successfully the worst blog-writer. Ever. I admit that. I've also proclaimed in the past that I'm a myspace dropout so I guess I should have seen this coming.....

On with life we go! Let's see what's been going on lately--

First, I have to ask each and every one of you to say a prayer for my grandmother and our family. My grandmother, who lives in Colorado, passed away Wed. She was 94 and had lived a wonderful, full life. We know she is with God now and much happier. We will be traveling to CO this week for the service and to see the fam. Wish us the best and we'll post pics of the beautiful mountain scenery.

As many of you know, and some of you may not know, I have recently decided to leave my job. I officially left at the end of August. Work was beginning to take too much time away from home and I just wasn't happy with that. For those of you taht know me fairly well, you know I'm not one to stay at home. This left me figuring out what part-time job I could take to occupy myself and keep Drew in daycare (he LOVES it there). I decided to work a few days a week at his daycare. This was a huge leap for us and I'm glad to say it's working out perfectly! I love working there; I'm close to Drew, the people are great, it's easy, relaxing work and, at the end of the day, I leave! No strings attached. It's perfect.

We've been pretty busy these past few weeks. Drew is learning more and more each day. He's got quite the vocabulary now, and can sign several words. He never sits still and is already showing signs of starting the 'terrible twos'. Yikes. He's still absolutely adorable and so fun to be around. Matt and I are really enjoying our parenting lives. I'm attaching pics for those of you that haven't seen him in awhile. Yep--look at all of that hair!

Our latest accomplishment--Drew's now drinking out of a straw! Yes, that's all it takes to get us excited now.

Our friends Sam and Rachel continue to raise a beautiful girl (Greta, above). Drew's still not quite sure about here, but I think he's coming around. Rachel loves to dress her up in various outfits and put those adorable bows in her hair. Too cute!

Take care everyone and yes, I'll try to write more often

-Nikki

Aunt Trisha's Visit

We got a surprise Thursday--Aunt Trisha came to visit us! She was here when I got home from work Thurs. She had made plans w/ Matt to surprise me--it worked. We hung out at home Thurs and ordered Mexican (yum!) then sat around and watched girlie movies all evening. My idea of a great night! Trisha and I ran some errands Friday morning and hung out. It was great to see her! For those of you that don't know, Trisha is my absolute best friend from high school. We don't get to see each other very often (Trisha's in the army) so when we do we try to make the best of it. SHe had to go back today (tear) but I'm so, so glad she made it up here. Thanks Trisha! love you! Below are some pics of her and Drew.

Matt also got a surprise. Below is him w/ his new golf club. Bring on the birdies....!

-Nikki

8-20-08

We have had another great weekend here. The weather has been gorgeous. God’s finally giving us what we deserve!
We’ve been spending a lot of time out and about these past few days, as you can see from the photo’s below. We went out to eat with Sam and Rachel and Greta. It was Greta’s first adventure to Old Chicago (we go there a lot). We decided to break her in right by having mom chug a Woodchuck (apple cider-flavored beer). Rachel was a bit tipsy, being this was her first drink in almost a year, but she managed to pull it together and not stumble out of the place trashed!

Rachel enjoying her first drink!

Drew got another haircut (our 4th!). He’s looking more and more like a little boy each day! We then went to Baby Depot and browsed through the winter coats. Drew has a pretty good time trying them on. We decided to go w/ the one that came w/ the bibs. And, as you can see below, Drew loved modeling them. He’s ready for snow!

We also spent some time at the park, where Drew must have been hungry before dinner because he would not stop eating dirt! I know it can’t taste good, but if that’s what he wants……

Greta’s Gma and Gpa Quam are coming into town this week so we’re going over there for dinner tonight. I’ll try to get some pics of Drew and Greta, but he’s not too interested in her—other than poking her in the eye. But we love her!!
Drew’s Nonni and Pops Lueddecke are on vacation right now. We believe they are boarding their cruise ship in Miami right about now. Fun! Hope they bring Drew back something cool (hint hint!!).
Take care and hope to see family soon!
-Nikki

Fallin' for the Ladies...

Drew on his Bday present from Grammy Sherry.

It's the rocking horse I had as a child. Mom had

it restored and gave it to Drew.

This is Drew in his old bouncy

seat. We got it out for Greta to use when she

came over. His butt was dragging the ground.

This weekend carried with it some fun events for us. Friday night we decided to hang out at home. The weather was great and we were playing on the deck. Drew has a kiddie pool set up on the deck and loves to throw things in it. Yes, he does get in it occasionally, but it’s mostly used for water storage of those toys he’s punishing. Drew has recently found this little doll that goes w/ his Lego set. It’s actually in the shape of Belle (from Beauty and the Beast, for you non-Disney lovers). We’ve come to call her Drew’s girlfriend. He loves to carry her around, chew on her head and, when she does act up, he throws her in the pool. He then has created this game of retrieving her and tossing her over the side of the deck. It is then the responsibility of us parents to go get her, toss her back in the pool and the game starts over again. Well, as you can see in the photo below, Belle got the best of him Friday......

After a few showers Sat morning, we met Sam, Rachel and Greta in town for lunch. Drew is a lover of Mexican food so he enjoyed a soft taco. We’ve been playing a lot outside so we spent the rest of the weekend at the park and outdoors. We rode our bikes to a small park down the road. It was a great, relaxing weekend for us.
Drew is learning quite a bit these days. His newest feat—he’s started signing more words! He’s got 3 ½ under his belt now! He can sign ‘baby’, ‘more’ and ‘all gone’! And we’re learning ‘please’. He even points to babies and signs ‘baby’. He’s also learned a few new words:
Pedy—Pretty (generally associated w/ flowers and nature)
Bedy—Baby (yep—he can say it too!)
Cuck—Truck

He’s a master at pointing. Almost too good. Yesterday we were leaving the house. Matt was holding him and we were in the kitchen. He was getting fussy and ready to go when he spotted the bananas (his FAVORITE food) . He immediately pointed to me, then turned at pointed to the bananas. I could see the words forming in his head: ‘You woman—bananas!’. It was really cute.
As you can see, we’re busy and growing these days. Take care all!

Baby and 'Baby'

I thought I'd post some pics of Drew and his buddy Bryson. These two are hilarious together. In the top three they are playing outside a restaraunt, chasing each other. The kids seem to love that game. Ahhh....to be one again!

Not much has changed here. The weather has been beautiful so we've been spending a lot of time outdoors. I'm scared to think what we'll do come winter!

I've been waiting to post anything about this until I get some good pics, but it doesn't look like Drew's going to cooporate so I"ll go ahead and say it. Our friends Sam and Rachel brought their new baby girl into the world on July 18. SHe is a beautiful girl named Greta Rae. We love her ! I wanted to get some pics of Drew kissing her but he doesnt' seem to want to get near her. We love being able to spend time w/ them and just hold her. She's so tiny!

in other news......Drew has picked up three words signing! He can sign 'baby', 'more' and 'all gone!'. It's really cute. yep--he's growing up!
That's all for now.

-Nikki

Off to Wrigley

Drew and Bryson spent most

of the game eating cookies

Bryson: 'Drew, gimme that cookie!'

Drew: 'No way man! Get your own.'

Our seats were amazing

Drew took a nap on the way

up to prepare for the big night

Drew and Dad after the

Run through the Rain

On Tuesday, we took the journey to Chicago to Wrigley Field. Don’t’ think we were going to see the Cubs—we’re not traitors. Our local minor league team was playing there. We went w/ Dan and Jess and their little boy Bryson. We parked and took the train into downtown. It was a blast and quite an experience. Figuring out where to go, what train to ride, when it left…..but we made it. The boys had a great time and behaved marvelously. It was the bottom of the 9th w/ the Chiefs up to bat and it started pouring. We decided to chance it and ran out in the rain to get to our train. The boys thought it was a party! Everyone got soaked, but it was very hot so we didn’t mind. It was a great adventure and we hope to do it again soon!

-Nikki

Cakes and Trucks

Happy 1st Birthday Drew!!

Drew's Mickey Mouse Cake

Drew eating his cake

Opening presents

We made it through our first birthday! We had a great weekend full of friends, presents and cake. Drew made a great show of diving into his cake. He enjoyed his chocolate cake. Probably too much. He had a good time playing in the water with his friends. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the water was great. He opened a few presents, but became distracted more and more so I ended up opening them. That's okay--I like opening presents! All in all, it was a great weekend.
We had a house full of company; Grammy Sherry, Aunt Morty and Uncle Bill, Grandma Chris and Papa Jr, Aunt Haley and Uncle Trevor & Tripp, Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Kelly all made the trip to see us. Thanks guys! Drew really enjoyed his company; despite the teething!
We'll do it again next year!

-Nikki