nothing new...

I know, I know...I've been slacking lately. Things have been busy with work, but other than that, nothing much going on here. Brianna is still fighting her cold and cough, but seems to be in pretty good spirits otherwise. Bob has started his winter volleyball league, and I am making the office my home for the next few months. Gotta love tax season!! :o) I've added captions to the pictures that don't have them, so now you can all go back and look at the pictures again and read my witty comments! I hope all is well with everyone, and I'll try to get back on my once a week schedule to update this. Have a great night everyone!

Happy Anniversary Tomorrow (January 25) Alli & Steve!!

rollin', rollin', rollin...

I know I told you that Brianna rolled over from her back to her tummy quite awhile ago. And she did, but we think that was just a fluke, because she never did it again, until Saturday. Yep, she is on the move. She's becoming quite good at it too. Although, once she is on her tummy, she doesn't really know what to do and she doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy, so she just cries. But we're very excited about her new little milestone. Even as I'm writing this, she is rolling around! :o) I've added some more pictures, a few anyway. Sorry I've been really bad about the updates and the pictures, things have just been crazy! I know...its no excuse... I'll try to do better! Love to all!

sorry to disappoint...

Nope...no new pictures! :o( Sorry, things have been hectic. I know thats no excuse, but to be quite honest, I haven't even taken any new pictures since Christmas. 1....2....3...4...now that you've had time to pick yourself up off the floor, from the shock that has just knocked you off of your chair, I'll continue. Today was Brianna's first day of daycare. And no, I didn't cry, I actually transitioned very well. I think Bob having her at home for the last 3 weeks definitely helped with that! When Bob picked her up tonight they told him they wish they had 12 (thats as many as they can have in the nursery) just like her. :o) The only thing that really stinks (besides actually haveing to pay for daycare!)is that I have to get up about an hour earlier than I did when she was coming to work with me. But I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly! She is finally starting to feel better and act more like herself, so that is definitely good. Besides that, I'm busy with tax season...so if I don't post on a regular basis, that is why, but I'll try my best, and Bob is busy catching up at work. We are also busy trying to get organized at home, we're doing pretty well so far, we'll see how long it keeps up! I'll try to take some pictures soon! Love to all!

PS. Keep the prayers coming for Miss McKenna, she has reached the 3 lb mark!! Keep praying and she'll be at home with her mommy and daddy before we know it!! :o)

happy new year

Well, 2006 has arrived. Sorry I don't have new pictures to post, things have been a little hectic around here. Brianna has been sick and we're trying to get her healthy again before she starts daycare next week. She went to the doctor on Friday and just fyi she now weighs 15 lbs 9 oz. She was started on antibiotics on Friday and also nebulizer treatments. Hopefully they will help and we can go back to normal around here. Unfortunately, this has caused her to wake up at night and sleep a lot during the day. Also, unfortunately she has passed her cold onto me. So, we ended up having a quiet New Year's Eve at home having a 24 marathon. We watched the first season and now we're about 12 hours into the second. We had the Carroll (immediate) family Christmas yesterday, and also the Caruso family Christmas. It was great to see everyone, and of course Brianna was spoiled rotten! I think she has enough toys & clothes to last her a lifetime. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year, and we look forward to seeing/hearing from you all!! Lots of love to you all from the three of us!!

its over already???

I can't believe its the 26th (well, actually almost the 27th) already! The weekend went way too fast. We had a wonderful Christmas in Iowa though. Santa was very nice to Brianna this year, but I guess you can't get into too much trouble when you're only 4 1/2 months old! Grandpa Lester & Grandma Susan spoiled Brianna and Braden rotten, but they loved every minute of it!! It was so nice to see the Kramer side of the family. (I promise that we will attend some Felton family function sometime in the near future!!) My brain is still a little sluggish after a weekend of doing nothing, so this won't be too long. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and we hope you have a happy & healthy New Year. We love you all. Check out ALL the Christmas pictures (there are a ton of them!!) and also pictures from Joey's baptism on the 23rd. The pictures will have captions sometime in the near future! Keep in touch!

only 6 shopping days left...

I can't believe Christmas is next Sunday. I had every intention of being way more prepared than I am! I don't have any cookies or candy made yet, although I see that as a positive, they'll be really fresh! But I did get the wrapping all done today, so I guess that is good. And as you can see the tree is finally all decorated, and there is a very special present under it, can you tell what it is??

We went to a holiday party on Thursday night, and Brianna got to see Santa (check out the Christmas 2005 photos.) Friday was Brianna's last day at work with me :'o( Bob isn't going back to work until January 9th, and that day Brianna is starting daycare. Its been great having her at work with me, even if it is a little stressful. Other than that I guess there isn't too much going on here.

I've rearraged some suff on the left side of the page, I figured most of you would rather have easy access to the pictures instead of my archived ramblings. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be a big addition to the albums next week. :o)

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year! If you are traveling, be safe. Keep in touch and we hope to see you all in 2006! We love you all!!

the whirlwind continues...

Hi again...well, here we are, Sunday night again, and time for the weekly update! Man, the time has been going so fast, I can't belive Christmas will be here in two weeks! It was another busy weekend here. Friday night we went to dinner with Ben, Amanda, and some friends from Knox who were visiting, after dinner we went back to Ben & Amanda's, where they (not I) proceeded to play poker until 4:15am. I fell asleep on the couch with Brianna, so we got home about 5am yesterday morning! Brianna was up raring to go about 8:30 or so, so we decided to go Christmas shopping, and Brianna spent the day at Grandma & Grandpa Carroll's. She had a good time of course, and I'm sure they didn't spoil her at all, at least that is what they tell us! ;o) Today I had every intention of getting the rest of the house picked up and decorated for Christmas, along with the presents wrapped, but of course, none of the above got finished! Oh well, I played with Brianna, and spent a little time with Bob, when I could drag him away from the football games, or the computer checking on his fantasy football team! Holly, I agree, I can't wait for fantasy football to be over, lets hope they don't decide to do some other fantasy game! :o) This will be Brianna's last week at work with me :o( Bob is off starting next week through the 8th of January, and on the 9th she will start daycare. :o( I'm sure its going to be a sad day, but I know she is going to enjoy herself. Other than that, I guess there isn't much else going on, just time passing too quickly. I'm still amazed everyday how much Brianna grows and how she grows more curious everyday. She has completely turned our lives upside down, and our house has never been messier, but it also has never been filled with so much love, smiles, and laughter. Its almost bath & bedtime....so I guess the mess will have to wait! :o) Love to all.

4 months old

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my post all week, and I know I usually post on Sunday nights, but we were home approximately 10 minutes all weekend, and last night the site was beeing funky, so this is the first chance I've gotten to write anything. We spent the weekend in WI visiting some friends (hence the not being home all weekend). It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend and it was so great to see Jonas & Jen.

Besides that, as you can tell from the title of this post, Miss Brianna turned 4 months old on Friday. She had her checkup on Friday as well. Bob ended up taking her by himself, as I was swamped at work. She now is weighing in at a whopping 14lbs 6oz and and giagantic 24 inches long! She also had to get 4 shots again...boo :o( The doctor told us to start feeding her rice cereal, but as you can see from the pictures, I'm not real sure she likes it! I can't believe how much she has grown and actually that she is 4 months old. It doesn't seem like she's been around that long already! Other than that we don't have anything exciting going on, just trying to find enough time to get the tree up and decorated, as well as the house and get our Christmas shopping done, and cards out. So, I guess with all that to do, I should stop writing these posts and get to it! By the way...there are some new pictures up, you know what to do, just click on the link!

brianna & braden

I always say these things will be short and then I end up rambling on forever, so this time I won't even say this will be short, even though I'm planning for it to be so! First of all I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. Obviously, I am thankful for our beautiful baby girl who brings us so much joy, and as you've been seeing, is growing way too fast! I'm so thankful for the wonderful family that we have, they are so wonderfully supportive and loving, and for my handsome new nephew, who I can't wait to spoil!! I am thankful for all of the new babies that have gotten here safely this year, and pray for the ones still on the way, and also for beautiful baby McKenna, who every day shows us all that the its not the size of the body that matters, it is the strength of the soul, the love of family, (especially two amazing parents), and faith that really counts. And we are also very thankful for our wonderful friends that we are so lucky to have. As I said we have many things to be thankful for this holiday season, so thank you to all of you who check in on us, you are all very special to us and we are so very lucky to have you in our lives!

OK, I'm done with the mushy stuff now! :o) As you can see we went to see little Braden this weekend (oh, and Angie & Nick too!) I've added the pictures to Braden's album, there are quite a few of them, so enjoy! Other than that, I guess there isn't too much to tell, we had a great time visiting with the Creech family, and are so excited about their new addition. Braden is so adorable, and judging by the fact that he wasn't put down for more than 5 minutes at a time the whole weekend, I think he's going to be just a little spoiled! :o) Just kidding guys! We love him and you and can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Love to you all!!

mr. braden nicholas creech

I've added a Braden photo album. Click on the link to the left to see some pictures of the cutie pie! I'll be adding more soon!! :o) I've also changed the links a little bit. The photo album list for Brianna was getting out of control, so I will have a link to the most recent album from now on. Don't worry the rest of the pictures will still be there, you just need to check out my whole collection of albums now! And yes, Braden has his own section, but hey, I've never been an aunt before, so its exciting for me!

just a quick note

Just wanted to write a quick note, its been a busy weekend, and I'm tired, so this definitely won't be too long! Friday was Grandma's 75th birthday, so we went to Iowa to help her celebrate. On Saturday Mom and Dad went to St. Louis to wait for the arrival of their newest grandchild, so Bob, I, & Brianna headed back to Illinois. We were supposed to spend the weekend getting the house ready for Christmas, since we won't be home for the next two weekends, but we ended up not getting a whole lot accomplished! Oh well, thats usually the way that goes. There are new pictures, but I haven't created a link yet, so you can click down at the bottom of the left side to get to the main page with all the photo albums. I've created a new photo album that has pictures from Grandma's birthday (THANKS LINDA!!) and some of Brianna (yes, I know there are a lot of the same picture, but I have my reasons!) And it is easier to upload the whole file instead of picking and choosing. I promise I will go through them one day and delete a bunch, when I get some extra time! I guess that is about all. I'm anxiously awaiting pictures of my nephew, and can't wait to see him in person!

Please especially keep Dale, Suzanne, & McKenna in your prayers, that precious little angel has a strong spirit inside that tiny little body, and the power of prayer is an amazing thing!

we have a nephew!!

Braden Nicholas Creech was born at 10:37 pm on November 19, 2005. He weighed 9lbs and was 21 inches long. From what I've heard he has lots of dark hair. Congrats Angie & Nick, we can't wait to see all of you!!

Also born yesterday was Dale & Suzanne's little one. McKenna Arlene Felton was born at 2:35 am and weighed 1 lb 12 oz. Congrats Dale & Suzanne on your beautiful little girl!

Please keep the 4 parents and these 2 little babies in your thoughts and prayers!

We love you all!!

quick note

Just wanted to let you know I've added a section for links to family and friend's websites. So if you have a site that you would like added, let me know!

couple more things...

OK...so I did have a few new pictures. :o) They are in the Volume 4 album. Bob got ahold of my camera while Brianna and I were napping. I've also added captions to the pictures, since I've had comments about my not doing that last week! :o) What do you people want from me?! :o) Just kidding! I added a guestbook to the site, so feel free to leave your comments and or criticisms (not that I'll take your advice...but you can leave it!) ;o) Well, I guess I should head off to bed soon, so...goodnight all!

just a little note...

Hi all...sorry no new pictures this week! Maybe later on in the week, but no promises. Nothing much new to report...we hired someone at work on Monday, so that is good...its weird to have someone else in the office, and I've discovered I have some control issues, its been hard to give up even the things I hate! But hopefully everything will work out and run smoothly! We took Brianna to get her picture taken on Saturday, she did pretty well, they just don't spend a whole lot of time with anyone because they book their appointments about 10 minutes apart, so with a 3 month old its hard to get really good pictures. but they did turn out pretty well, and I'm sure we'll have her picture taken again sometime soon. Other than that, I guess things are pretty boring around here. I'll try to post more this week, time just gets away from me these days.

I ask that you all keep Dale, Suzanne, & their baby in your thoughts and prayers, they are going through a really stressful time and prayers are one of the best things that we can do for them.

Love to all!

short & sweet

This is going to be pretty quick tonight. We just got back from Iowa about an hour ago, so I'm dead tired, and can't really think of much to write about. We went to Sarah (Hawkins) Weipert's wedding reception on Saturday night, the 5th (also Sarah's birthday). Sarah & Nathan actually got married on the 15th of October in Kansas City, MO, but then had a reception in Cascade for those who couldn't make it. She looked stunning, as you can see, and it was great to see her and her family. We also got to spend some time with Mom & Dad, which is always good, and got to get a break from the countless things that need to be done here at home. Well, now its back to reality, and we came home to find that our schedule on our DVR somehow got erased, so everything we had set to tape over the weekend never got taped, including the Bears game, that unfortunately wasn't on TV at Mom & Dad's today either....Booo :o( Anyway, I guess thats about all...I've added some more pictures to the Volume 4 album, there are a lot of Brianna in the dress that she wore to the reception on Saturday and also the dress that Mom & Dad gave her. She wouldn't smile, so I had to keep taking them! Until next time.....our love to all!
PS. I just noticed that I look the tallest of the 3 of us in this picture. That is quite sad, as I've never been the tallest in any group before! Thanks Sarah and Jill for making me look tall, even if it was only for a second!

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you have a great Halloween tomorrow. I've added pictures to the Volume 4 of Brianna in her Halloween costume...I know there are a lot of them, but she just looked so cute! I was trying to get her to give me one of her great big smiles, but all I could get out of her was a few smirks and some tongue sticking out! I guess other than that, there isn't too much to report, we helped Ben & Amanda move into their new house this weekend, it is a georgous house! We had a lot of fun spending time with them this weekend, even if we were moving stuff! :o) We will be heading to Iowa this coming weekend to attend a wedding reception for a friend of mine from high school, so it will be nice to see some family and friends. I guess that is all, enjoy the new pictures! Man, I can't believe I amost forgot to mention about the World Series! Of course, we were tuned into the World Series and even stayed up until 1:30am on Tuesday night to watch the 3rd game. This was a very happy household on Thursday morning...its good to be Sox fans! I completely enjoyed the baseball season this year (although I usually do) and we even got to go to a game with the Wolfe family. It was a great baseball season, and I can't wait until next year!Have a good week everyone! Until next time...

bob & his trophy!

Here is Bob with his 2005 Club Championship trophy. We love you and are very proud of you!!

let's go sox!!

Hope the weekend is finding you all well. We have a pretty low key weekend planned, watching the Sox is a big part of it and the other is Bob's golf tournament tomorrow. It is the Sterling Hacker played at his home course, its just a fun tournament to end the season basically, he will also be presented with his Club Championship trophy tomorrow. Other than that there isn't a whole lot going on here. Brianna and I went shopping with Amanda today, she slept the entire time and was very good. OH, she rolled over from her back to tummy last night, that was very exciting! Anyway, I guess I don't have much else to write about, no doctor's appointments until December, but she is growing so fast, I can't believe she is almost 3 months old already! I've added a new album, because the other one is getting out of control! Enjoy the new pics, I'm sure there will be more in the near future! Love to all!

a weekend at home??

That's right folks we are actually spending the whole weekend at home! We were supposed to be helping Ben & Amanda move into their new house, but they found out last weekend that their closing was being moved back 2 weeks...boo :o( So, anyway, that freed up our weekend. Bob took Brianna up to the lake yesterday to visit Great-Grandma Caruso. Amy took Jake and Joey up there as well, so that is how we got the adorable pictures of the two of them together. Joey was born on September 18th, so he is about 6 weeks younger than Brianna. He is a doll, and I think the two of them are going to be great friends. Today we did a bunch of stuff around the house, finally got Brianna's room organized, so that feels good. And now of course it is a night filled with the White Sox and tomorrow will be filled with the Bears and the White Sox! Oh well, its nice to be able to spend some time together! And work is going well, we placed an ad on Friday to find someone to do the clerical work that I can't keep up with and to answer phones (yippee) and we've already gotten 8 resumes, so things are looking good. I really hope that someone works out because I just can't keep up anymore. They keep giving me more things to do, which is great, but then I don't have anyone to give all of my other "not-so-important" things to, so there are mounds of filing to do. But hopefully I can get everything all cleaned up for the new person when we hire them, and my life will be much less stressful (thats the hope anyway!), and tax season will run much smoother! Well, I guess thats about all that is going on here. Oh, Brianna started sucking her thumb today...it was very cute. And she is almost ready to roll over, she has gotten so close in the last few days, its only a matter of time. There are some new pictures in the Volume 3 album as well.(I'm going to have to start a new one soon) The first few are of Brianna at work with me and then there are more pictures of her and Joey up at the lake. Have a good night everyone! GO SOX!!!