chomp, chomp

Grandma Vonda came to visit last Friday and stayed until Monday.  She painted Annah's room and put up her "Over the Moon" wallpaper border with a little assistance from me.  It looks great!!!  Annah is excited to have a pretty room again. 
    
On Saturday we (Mom, Annah and I) made a short trip up to Ottawa to attend an awesome bridal shower for Erin and Travis.  Erin's church really went all out for them, and we were so glad we could be there for it. 
    
Sunday we visited Morningstar United Methodist Church in Normal.  It is the second church we have visited in our search for a new church home.  We've decided to keep visiting churches and then re-visit ones we like before we make a decision where to stay. 
    
Annah is working on learning to say, "baby," and will whisper it but not say it out loud.  She waves when anyone says, "hi" or "bye," 
 and can even say, "hi" herself.  She is also starting to chew soft foods! 
    
We finally got 2 rolls of film developed which included these pictures of Annah eating creamed spinach...

getting around

Annah has been working on getting her 3rd tooth (top right center one) this week, and it finally came through a bit today.  She has actually been a little fussy about this one, so it must really hurt.  She's still our little angel though. ;)  On Tuesday Annah started pushing a big basket around the living room and walking behind it.  We told her she's not allowed to start walking yet. ;) 

Today Annah and I had a play day with some other kids and mommies.  Yesterday our neighbors Carlene and her kids Jacob and Ashley came to visit and invited us to go to the park and zoo with them today.  We met Kim and her boys Colin and Sam and Amy and her girls Madison and Colby there, but it was a gray day and wet at the park, so we decided to go to Kim's house instead.  All the kids played and had fun together.  It was good for Annah to be around other kids again, and also good for me to actually get out of the house and meet some people.  We had a fun time. 

    

Jeremy is busy studying for another test towards his C.L.U. designation.  He'll take it on the 28th.  He also has one near the end of  September. 
    

We are extremely thankful for the beautiful cool weather we've had this week.  It's been in the 70's or low 80's and breezy.  Hope it stays this way, and hope it's cool where you are! 
    

Check out the new pictures of the DeHaven gathering that Aunt Joyce sent us!  

A Gathering of the DeHaven Family 

 Sunday, August 12, 2001

 L to R: Great Aunt Joyce, Paulette w/ Annah, Taryn 

 baby Charlie w/ Danielle, Seth w/ Annah 

 Great Uncle Walt and Annah 

 Paulette  Annah

August updates

We still have 2 rolls of film from July to get developed.  Hopefully we'll be able to add those within the week. 
    
We spent the weekend in Indiana, much of it with the Lopshire side of the family this time.  Saturday we  saw Great Grandmas McEowen and DeHaven and went out to dinner with Jeremy's parents at Carlos O'Kelly's, where Eric works.  Sunday we spent time with the whole DeHaven clan at the lake, and also visited Great Grandmas Crabill and Fulk.  So many people to see in such a short time.  We'll have to go back again soon. 
    
Jeremy is really enjoying his job!  Today he even happened to see the C.E.O. of  SF, while he was at the main Corporate Office.  

Annah and I went to Gibson City to ALCO and the County Market today.  It took most of the day.  It's funny how a simple trip to the store can still feel like a busy day. 
    
Annah pulls up to standing very easily on her own now.  She can squat back down to sitting easily and then pop back up to standing again, as long as she's holding on to something.  She can say, "dog," and calls every furry animal-like looking thing "dog" too.  She loves to shake her head no, and can sort of say, "uh-oh," "no, no, no," and "wow" when she feels like it.  She can also wave, but won't usually do it when people other than Mommy and Daddy are watching.  She has some really funny faces now, including one where she makes a little "o" with her mouth, and one where she scrunches up her nose and eyebrows and breaths in and out loudly through her teeth.  It's somewhat mean looking, but sometimes she's smiling when she does it, so we're not exactly sure what she means by it.  She makes us laugh! 
    
We're doing well in Illinois; how are you all?  E-mail us!  We miss you!

Hhhhhhot!!!

Since we returned from vacation, life has been pretty uneventful.  At the beginning of the week, temperatures were unbearable.  We don't have a thermometer to know exactly what they were, but they were at least in the upper 90's with humidity reaching insane levels.  Our house does not have air conditioning.  Ughhhhh.  BUT!  We have been the very fortunate beneficiaries of 2 window air conditioning units.  We put one in the living room and closed all the doors, and one in Annah's room.  We've been spending almost the entire day in the living room because it's just too hot to be anywhere else.

Vacation to Dillon, CO

Our vacation to Colorado
Thursday, July 20, 2001
Grandpa Dave arrived at our house.  He and I ran around like crazy people trying to pack the Durango, get the dog in his travel kennel, and get the house closed up in the 893° weather with 200% humidity.  The two of us and Annah left for Bloomington to drop off Snickers and pick up Jeremy.  Dave and Jeremy took turns driving to Hannibal, Missouri, hometown of Mark Twain  and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, where we stayed for the night.

Friday, July 21, 2001
We all got up early and got back on the road.  Dad and Jeremy drove through the rest of Missouri and into Kansas, switching drivers every 100 miles.  We ate lunch in Wathena, KS at Bonnie's Dinner Bell, the only restaurant in Wathena and probably for at least 60 miles in any direction from it.
We stopped in Randolph, Kansas in the afternoon to see Jean, Randi & Michael at their house.  (Roger was in Nashville.) We were only able to spend about 1 hour there, but it was very nice to see them and theiir lovely home.  Annah was happy to get out of her carseat and crawl around some too.  We landed in Salina, Kansas for the night.

Saturday, July 22, 2001
We got up early again and back on the road.  (Annah likes to get up early.)  We stopped in Russell, Kansas, home of Bob Dole.  Dave had heard that there was a cafe where Bob Dole filmed all his campaign comercials there where we could eat.  We drove around Russell (quite a small town), but didn't find anything.  We stopped and asked a lady getting into her car, and she said the commercials were filmed in Texas, but we could get good breakfast at the Mexican place.  Grandpa Dave immediately began to sob.  We had breakfast at Meridy's (not the Mexican place). It was good.
Back on the road, Grandpa Dave drove us through Denver, a feat he did not much enjoy.  We arrived at the condo in Dillon, Colorado in the afternoon.  The first thing Annah did was climb 5 stairs for the first time!  We hadn't even  unpacked enough to get the video camera out to capture her new trick on tape!
We relaxed a bit, unpacked and called the other car.  Grandma Vonda and Travis and Erin were finding their way through Nebraska, where they would stay in North Platte for the night.  We decided to eat at  Pug Ryan's Steakhouse & Brewery. Yum!

Sunday, July 23, 2001
We relaxed at the condo and waited for everyone else to arrive.  Vonda, Travis and Erin arrived in the early afternoon.  A few of us run to pick up  Quizno's subs.  We highly recommend them if you have a Quizno's near you.  We decided it's the closest thing to W.G. Grinder's we've found.  Very good stuff!  We hung out at the condo for the rest of the day and grilled out for dinner.

Monday, July 24, 2001
The guys decided to go adventuring in the morning, and the women stayed at the condo.  In the afternoon,  Jeremy and I went trout fishing with Dave, Travis and Erin.  We caught 17 fish in 20 minutes!  It was a fun time, and Grandma got to have some "QT" with Annah too.  That night the 3 of us stayed at the condo, while everyone else went out.  We ordered a pizza and sat in the outdoor hot-tub after Annah went to sleep.  It was nice just to have some quiet time alone together.

Tuesday, July 25, 2001 - Happy Birthday Lori!  We were thinking of you, honestly!
We went to Georgetown, Colorado for breakfast at The Happy Cooker. Then we went for a short ride one the Georgetown Loop Railroad.  Jeremy and Annah didn't go on the train, but they stayed where they could see it and videotape it for much of the trip up and down the mountain.  After the train ride, we perused Georgetown, which is quite an old town with lots of neat shops and antiques.  We also visited Idaho Springs that afternoon.  Back at the condo that evening we grilled the trout we'd caught the day before and watched an interesting movie that is a favorite of Travis', The Villain.

Wednesday, July 26, 2001
The guys went adventuring again up in the mountains, doing things like sight-seeing, hiking and taking pictures of the mountains and scenery.  The ladies hit the outlet malls!!!!
That evening Jeremy and I got to go on a date!  Grandma and Grandpa watched Annah and put her to bed while we went out to dinner at the Dillon Dam Brewery. After dinner we spent a few minutes at the Dillon Outlet Stores and then saw Jurassic Park III.  It was a good movie, so scary that I literally jumped out of my seat about 200 times.  We wanted to get some coffee at Starbucks afterwards, but it was closed, so we went to Denny's.  They're always open.

Thursday, July 27, 2001
Everybody went to the outlet malls in Silverthorne.  Annah was getting worn down, so the three of us, went back to the condo for the afternoon so she could nap.  The whole group had dinner at a great Mexican/American place in Frisco.

Friday, July 28, 2001
We all packed up and left the condo in the morning.  We stopped somewhere along the way at an actual Cabella's store--the mens' revenge for the outlet malls.  We spent the night in Omaha, Nebraska.

Saturday, July 29, 2001
On the road again, we stopped for lunch in Iowa and accidentally stumbled upon some more outlet stores!  $4 bikinis at Old Navy!
We were at Erin's house in Ottawa, IL by the late afternoon.  We stayed there for a short time, and Annah enjoyed crawling about and meeting Patti and Dave and Erin's Grandpa too!  Travis stayed there, and Dad and Mom brought us back home.  Patti was so thoughtful to send supper with us since we couldn't stay, so we put Annah to bed, unloaded the car and ate.  Mom and Dad got back on the road and made it to Lafayette that night.  We were all exhausted and glad to be home.
It was a wonderful family vacation, and we are so glad we could spend an entire week together!  Here are a few pictures!

Annah's summer milestones

June and July 2001 

 Annah held her own sippy cup the first time she drank from it! 

 Look ma...one hand! 

 Annah's first time using the spoon on her own 

 First time "pulling up" 

 Annah "tenses up" when she gets excited! 

 C'mere! Lemme see that camera! 

 "Yes, I have my own personality!" 

 All played out 

Creative Super-Saucering

Happy 1st Birthday Aidan!!

Wow, Aidan is 1 year old already!  And, he was born just before Annah.  Ok, we're not going to deal with that thought right now...  We hope you had a very happy birthday Aidan! 
    
We're heading out to Colorado until the end of the month.  We'll have plenty of news and pictures when we get back.  Enjoy the rest of July!

Not so hot

So, it's not so hot here anymore.  The first weekend we were here it was in the 90's with 100% humidity and we were miserable.  The new house doesn't have air conditioning.  The high temps aren't so bad, but the humidity just makes things unbearable.  But anyway, now it's cool again even though it's in the 80's.  It's nice to have the pool too. 
    
The boxes are slowly getting unpacked.  Slowly.  Slowly. 
    
Annah can pull herself up to standing now, if she has something to hang on to.  It's still a very wobbly standing, sometimes with her legs very far apart, if that's where they are when she starts to stand up.  Nevertheless, the girl is getting closer and closer to vertical, and it's really scary for her parents.  Well, maybe not so much scary as sad.  Why can't she just grow up slower???? :-(  She really is a lot of fun these days.  She has become an expert speed crawler, and is hard to keep up with.  She likes the hardwood floors in the house, except when she falls backward on them.  Those times it would be nice to still have carpet.  She still loves talking to herself in the mirror, and her favorite toy right now is her Fisher-Price Be Bop Buildin' Singin' Snail Pail .  We probably sing the song in our sleep! 
    
Tonight our neighbors 3 houses north of us came to introduce themselves.  They are a young couple with a 2-year old boy and a 6-month old girl.  They brought us a casserole and invited us to go to church with them sometime.  It was nice to meet them, and they're very nice.  So far, we haven't met a lot of other neighbors.  On one side of us is another young couple with a little girl who's almost 3.  And, on the other side is an older couple.  The woman has come over a couple times to see if we needed anything, and she even gave us some curtains she wasn't using.  So, the few people we have met have been extremely friendly. 
    
Oh, any of you who talk to Taryn on AOL Instant Messenger might want to note that her screenname has changed due to our cancelling AOL.  It is now TarynLML.  Feel free to say hi if  you see her on! 
    
3 days 'til vacation!  Wahoo! 

Moving In

Yep, we're in Illinois!  And, so is all of our stuff--in LOTS of boxes!  The movers packed all of our things into boxes on the 2nd and loaded them into the truck in a couple of hours on the 3rd.  We stayed at the old house for a few hours doing some last-minute cleaning, and left Columbus in a downpour that afternoon.  Jeremy and Annah led the way, and I followed behind in my car, but we talked over 2-way radios all the way to Brownsburg, Indiana that evening.  We left there late morning on the 4th and arrived at our new home just after a lunch stop in Gibson City, Illinois.  (Gibson City is the nearest town with actual things to do in it.  It has several restaurants, a County Market grocery store, and a Big R.  It is about the size of our hometown of Churubusco, Indiana, and a few miles closer to us than Bloomington is.) 

    Wednesday night we stayed at the Radisson in Bloomington.  Annah's sleep schedule took priority over fireworks, so we didn't get to see any.  Unfortunately, we had no hot water in our room and had to switch to another one because the maintenance staff was "off" for the holiday.  Then the second room's air conditioner was set on "frigid" and  no one could figure out how to fix it.  It was well past Annah's bedtime by the time she got to sleep anyway.  Oh well.  Fireworks next year. 

    Thursday we got up early because we had to meet the movers at the house at 8:00.   It only took them a few hours.  By the time they left we were hungry, so we headed on into Gibson City and got some lunch at the Country Kettle.  In the afternoon, we started to unpack some things, and my parents arrived.  When Annah woke up from her nap, we all went into Bloomington and bought a new bed.  So, now we have an extra bed for anyone who wants to come visit us!  At supper that night, we discovered that Annah likes cucumbers, and also lemons! 

    We have been unpacking, cleaning, and discovering the "quirks" of our new home since we got here.  My parents were a HUGE help in cleaning and unpacking!  Now we can actually live here between the rest of the boxes, as the rest of it gets slowly unpacked and put away.  On Saturday, Travis and Erin came down from Ottawa.  We had supper at Famous Dave's Barbecue in Bloomington.  It was nice to see them, even for a short time. 

    Jeremy started his new job yesterday.  He came home with a smile on his face!  He thinks he is going to like the job a lot!  I like my new "job" too! ;) 

We've been working on moving into our "new" house over the past few days!  

Annah seems to like it here already.

Annah and Gram

...and Grandpa spending time with Annah, of course.

Can you tell it is incredibly hot and humid?!  Look at that baby's sweaty head and rosy face!  Seriously, we are melting over here!

Look who else is here!

Fun times with Erin and Travis!

Whee!!!

More Goodbyes

It's July already??  What happened to June?! 

 I took Annah to see Jeremy at work on Thursday.  We all went with Sam to eat at the Chinese Buffet

one last time before we leave.  And, all of Jeremy's coworkers got to see Annah again before she starts walking.  Friday Jeremy worked his last (half) day in Ohio  It was really tough to leave.  Boy, are we going to miss all of those folks!  What a great bunch of people, and a lot of really close friends.  Of course, they all better stay with us when they come out to the corporate office! 

    Friday Annah and I visited Capital to see all of the ladies there.  Okay, even Greg talked to Annah too.  Annah crawled behind a chair in the lobby and played peek-a-boo with a visiting high school student and her mom.  And Kim showed her how to make the water jump in the drinking fountain. 

    Annah is starting to associate "Ma ma" and "Da da" with the actual people!!  Yesterday Annah went to the store with Mommy and rode in the basket of the cart like a big girl!  She is starting to eat stage 3 baby foods and dry things she can gum/chew.  And, she is crawling super fast now!  

Someone actually came to look at our house on Friday!  Unfortunately, they were looking for a 4 bedroom ranch, and ours is a Cape Cod.  We have another showing scheduled for this afternoon.  Hopefully they'll like it! 

    

The movers come tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

    

We will be off-line after tomorrow until some unknown date.  We plan to get connected shortly after we arrive in Illinois though.  So, hopefully we won't be "down" too long!