Summer in Review - Condensed Version

Here are a few highlights from the summer that weren't the new house. :)

Elliott and Mommy go to the Brookfield Zoo with Papa Zoo on a nice summer day before school starts back up.

We help Nana celebrate turning 60 at Red Lobster.

Daddy, Jillian, and Elliott look for a ball and car in one of his books. This is one of the first times he finds a picture of one of his favorite things and says it.

Taking a walk at the River Walk. Elliott would have jumped in the fountain if we didn't keep a close eye on him.

Jillian's birthday party with friends from Roy De Shane at Nana's house.

Grandpa and Grandma Locke come for a visit around Grandpa's birthday.

On Jillian's birthday, she got 9 pink roses from Mommy and Daddy.

Uncle Bob and Nana came over to help out with the new house. Uncle Bob brought a power saw. Awesome!

Elliott attended his first baseball game -- the Kane County Cougars. He was in awe of the fireworks at the end.

New House, early stages

Here are the long-awaited, much anticipated pictures (and videos!) of our new house at 1500 E. Thomas Rd. in Wheaton, IL.

Here are some minute-long videos that I took with my new digital camera of the upstairs and downstairs for those that want the tour. :) Sorry if you get motion-sick after watching them!

Upstairs


Downstairs

These are pictures of our new house either before we moved in or just after.

Jillian by the front door from upstairs view.

Elliott getting into trouble, playing with the toliet, in our master bath (small, but MASTER!)

Brooks and Elliott check out the kid's tub in the mirror; kid's bathroom has double sinks. Yay!

Master bedroom. Salem blue

Jillian's room--precious pink


Elliott's room--it's a boy!

Brooks mowing the lawn for the first time--front yard.

Neighbors in our living room for Jillian's birthday; view from kitchen

Same: living room, but you can see the fireplace.


BIG kitchen, complete with many guests to show just how big it is. :)

You can't see the stainless steel appliances, except for the frigde to the left, but you can see outside!

The most recent picture: the new table and chairs. Paint color is green crystal. Loving this room!

I'm finding that my style is country yet modern. Not quite Martha Stewart...more like Martha Stewart on a budget while trying to be a little green and not throw away something good just because it doesn't match perfectly or something. Nonetheless, love the table! Linda says it has formica on the top--good for families with small children. :)

I'll try to put up the newer pictures soon. We are hoping to go to the Brookfield Zoo today with the kids on Labor Day.

Orff Level I Fun!

After spending two weeks downtown for my Orff Level 1 class, I thought I'd share a few photos. I LOVED it and am thinking about doing Level 2 in the future, but not next year--I have too many other classes to take for my graduate program! Yes, I officially started at VanderCook over the summer. Next year, I will take classes "full time" (more like undergraduate scheduling) for about 6 or 7 weeks. It will be a very busy time, but at least it will be stuff I can use for my job! :)

We did a lot of fun group activities, and at the end of the day we had "Special Topic". We started with the "drumming guy". Here's a group on African drums.

Here's a poem from Dr. Suess that we read and put fun instrument parts to.

Recorder class: we learned about pentatonic scales and playing them on recorder and notating them (or not!)


Here was a really cool poster for a cool silly noise activity in recorder class.

Here are some students playing "metals" on drum day.


This is notation for a xylophone piece we performed called Hiya.

Here's the drum guy showing a real African xylophone.

And a real djembe, and some real African rhythms on the board behind him.

This is my friend, Valerie, who took Intro to Orff with me in March. She's really great! She played tenor recorder in our recorder ensemble.

Brooks came out to see our "sharing day" (aka performance)

I was so happy to see him and share with him!

Fourth of July 09

The day after Uncle Ricky's funeral was July 4th. I wasn't my usual cheerful self, and Brooks was at bond court. I always liked going to the parade, but wasn't sure it was worth the effort. Then I remembered all the interesting automobiles that are typical in parades and knew Elliott would like it. We got all decked out in our patriotic colors and headed toward Cloverdale for the parade.

Elliott was in awe most of the time, but really liked all the cars and trucks. He waved to them and Jillian collected candy from the different floats that were tossing candy out.

Afterward, we headed to Sheridan to see my family, again, for the scheduled family reunion type event. It was good to see everybody, even if I just saw them yesterday for the funeral.

Elliott played in the rain with Katie. It was so cute!

They had so much fun on this little horse!



Here is the Dix family:

Bobby, Sarah, Katie, and Robert

Elliott had fun with Grampa Jim, too.



So did I. :)


The Russells in their hospitable home in Sheridan.

J.D., Uncle James, Aunt Teresa, Jamie



Uncle Choppy and Nana had to get in on the fun with Elliott, too. :)

I love my big family!

If you enjoy reading this or find something you like, please leave a comment! We won't know that you were here unless you do. :) Thanks! The Lockes

In Memory of Uncle Richard Warren 1958-2009

On June 30, 2009, while we were furniture shopping, I got the call from my stepdad, Jim, that my Uncle Ricky died at work just a couple hours earlier. Of course I was surprised and devastated, especially since he was one of my youngest uncles, but also after the death of my Grandpa just two weeks earlier, it was hard not to dwell on the worst possible scenarios.
As I started coming to grips with this tragic loss, we attended his funeral on July 3. Elliott was graciously babysat by Bethi Goss, my dear sweet friend from church, so I could sing "Amazing Grace" and Brooks could be a paulbearer. At the funeral, I saw our large family grieve over this sudden and unexpected death of a loved one. It was then that I really started to grieve and really start healing.


Aunt Brenda Warren, my uncle's widow


My dear cousin, Sarah, who I grew up with and was closest to of all my cousins, and her husband Robert Dix.


Sarah's sister and my cousin, Lesa. I think her husband may have taken their four boys home by the time I got this snapshot with her.

Here is a link to a local newspaper report on the accident. It doesn't have any pictures, but it tells what happened, if you want to check it out.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090702/NEWS/907020313

A sort of family reunion...

My mom's cousins, Patty, from Sycamore, IL and Karen from Eldon, Missouri, by Lake of the Ozarks.

Aunt Brenda (Montgomery, IL) and Gloria (Roadhouse, IL). Aunt Brenda is mom's sister and Gloria is her 2nd cousin.

Amy Christensen, recently engaged to Drew Merry as of August 1, her birthday. :)

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cheryl (Pontiac, IL). Jerry is mom's brother.

Jillian, another distant cousin-type relative, and Katie, my cousin's daughter (Sarah and Robert are her parents)

Aunt Shirley came up from Missouri as well, and is my mom's oldest sister.

Uncle James and cousin J.D. are part of Aunt Teresa's family.

Uncle Choppy, Aunt Ann, and my cousin Alesha. Uncle Choppy is my mom's brother.

My cousin Rodney and his wife Sarah. They have a 3 1/2 year old named Annabelle who plays with Jillian and Elliott sometimes when we are all at my mom's house. Rodney's sister is Amy and his mom is my Aunt Sherry.



My cousin David and his wife, Diane; David's parents are Choppy and Ann

David and Diane's two boys, Andy and Alix. Andy is almost done with his Bachelors in Education and wants to be a history teacher. Alix told me he is "staying out of trouble" ;)


Ashlee and her boyfriend, and their son Ayden.

Ashlee and her younger sister, Alyssa

Cousin Peter and his wife, Debbie (Peter has a sister named Debbie Jo, so his wife became known as Little Debbie since she was younger). They are son and daughter-in-law to Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Gladys.

Mom and cousin Mark, who was the one who helped us improve our bathroom at the townhouse. His sister is Debbie Jo and brother is Peter.

Cousin Peter's wife, Debbie (aka Li'l Debbie), 2nd cousin Denise, and cousin Debbie Jo, Denise's mom. Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Gladys are Debbie Jo's parents.

Aunt Sherry (Oswego, IL) and Aunt Teresa (Sheridan, IL), both my mom's sisters

(In the background is one of Peter and Debbie's sons, Aunt Gladys, and Uncle James)

Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Gladys, the globe trotters (well, maybe just RV'ers of the contiguous 48 states)

My dear, sweet friend Bethi offered to help babysit Elliott while we attended the funeral in Morris, IL. It was a long day for us, but Elliott had a great time! I'm thankful that we were able to visit the night before so it would be familiar to Elliott, and boy did it pay off! No tears! Well, that, and I think Bethi is a whole lot of fun! :)

Elliott played with Beatrice, Bethi's daughter for part of the day, when they weren't taking turns taking naps. She has a playpen just like Elliott does!

Susan, Brooks, Bob, and Mom (Bonnie)

Bob, Mom, Jillian, and myself after the funeral was over.

The End of the Road Trip

Much excitement has happened since the last post, but let's try to go in order, shall we?

Elliott is showing off his two front (top) teeth. We usually don't see a smile that shows them, but I managed to get a picture. :)

DAY 4: D.C. Area, Virginia

Wednesday we were at Busch Gardens, so Thursday we drove to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home.

The grounds we beautiful, but boy was it hot and humid! And no A/C! Bleh!

Our family with the Washingtons.


Watching the blacksmith.

Jillian asked and listened about how all the tools and hardware on the table were made. She also asked about the coal. We explained that it's the stuff they say you get in your stocking from Santa when you're bad.

That night, we drove to Alexandria to visit two fabulous people, Jon and Ali Hjembo. We met and ate dinner at a great little French bistro called Madeline's. It was very tasty, and the company was even better! :) We had such a nice time catching up. Ali and I took a walk around the area, with Jillian tagging along, and talked babies and married life. I think Ali is such a sweet gal, I'm so glad Jon snatched her up and married her! She's such a sweet and beautiful addition to our, well, extended family (but she seems more like a sister-in-law than my husband's second-counsin's wife). Anyway, I gave her a little early baby gift from Carter's of some baby boy clothes since they are having a boy, and she was so excited! I wish they lived closer so we could spend more time together!

DAY 5: Water Country, U.S.A.

It started out as a tag-team family vacation, taking turns going on water slides and watching Elliott, until Jillian and I met a Navy wife and her 6 year old daughter. It was so long ago now that I can't remember their names, but we had so much fun! The two girls would go on the double-tube rides together and the mom and I would do the same. We met in line for one slide, and went on the raftless lazy river called Hubba-Hubba Highway, together right after. As much as I love my husband and would have loved going on rides with him, this was WAY more fun that what we were originally doing.

Jillian was aprehensive about going on most rides, but with Gabby by her side, she was willing to do anything! I think we tried every single slide by the end, when it was much less crowded. Our days started out slower, but went later, so we knew that Elliott would get a nap in the morning, and we saved money by eating breakfast and lunch in our room at the resort.

After an exciting day at Water Country, U.S.A., we were ready to head home the next morning. Now that I know how to do videos on my cool new camera, AND I can upload them to my computer, then to the blog, perhaps there will be more in the future! Here is my first video attempt, which ended up being two parts (only because I didn't know what I was doing yet). However, it's still way easy to use and to learn. Love it! These videos are so sweet, I hope you enjoy them, too. I put them on Facebook first, then tried them here. I'm so glad it worked!


What goes up...



...is even cuter coming down. :)

DAY 6 (Saturday): Driving Home Part 1

We decided to take a route home that included the scenic mountain roads through West Virginia. Now, you can say all the bad things you want about that state and the people who live there, but it's a beautiful place, and the "folks there sure are nice". Much more friendly than most places I've been. Anyway, here's a sample of what we saw from the road. I even drove a little before we got to the mountains... :) We taught Jillian "Country Roads" on the way to Virginia so we could sing it as we drove through West Virginia. It was so much fun! She still knows the words. :) We stayed the night in Beckley, WV and got some good southern hospitality. :)

DAY 7: Driving Home Part 2--Toledo again, last stop before HOME

We stopped to stay with the Lockes again to spend more time and share about our vacation adventures over dinner. We had a nice visit and left Monday after lunch so we could get back in time for Jillian's swim lessons on Tuesday morning. Phew!

In other news, we had been working on purchasing a house in Wheaton, but didn't tell many people because we were uncertain as to whether or not it was really God's will or just ours, and thus whether it would happen or not. We arrived home, expecting to close on the house soon after (like, that week, being the first few days of July). No closing yet, so we went furniture shopping to see what we could find for the new family room. We decided not to get the sleeper sofa for now, but aren't sure what will be in that room to sit on as of yet. I'll do a post all about the house later.

Williamsburg, first half of week

The Road Trip Begins

If you haven't checked the blog in a week or more, check out the two posts immediately before, as they are both recent as well.


They are both happy at the same time, yay! Riding in our car before borrowing Grandma and Grandpa Lockes' van.

First Stop: Ohio

Recreating a picture of Brooks at 16 months in the same high chair, eating a banana

Elliott gives "high fives" now.

He loves this book with pictures of trucks--he waves to each one. :)


Surprise from Grandma and Grandpa Locke -- loads of fun.

Second Stop: Pittsburgh

Our welcome at the Babson's :)

The cousins play "together"

Third Stop: Langhorne

Great-Grandma tries to pick up this heavy boy.


How big is Elliott? SO BIG!

Great-Grandma Locke and the great-grandkids and her grandson

Fourth Stop/Destination: Williamsburg, VA

DAY 1: Relax a little at the resort

The baby pool at Williamsburg Plantation.

DAY 2: Colonial Williamsburg

Jillian in period dress for the day at Colonial Williamsburg. Her sash matches her croc's.

Grampa Jim's gift was the dress-up for the day, and she got to keep the bonnet.

I had to tell her not to smile for this one.

I liked Jillian's bonnet. Elliott liked waving bye-bye to the shuttle buses.


Elliott took a short nap in the stroller with Nana and Grampa

The spice lady told us that nutmeg is a hallucinagen if you eat the whole nut.

Aren't they so cute?


Me and Brooks at the Capital (re-created for the third time, we learned)

Fife and drum players outside the Capitol. I couldn't get a pic of them playing because it was too crowded then.


Jillian as the Speaker of the Common inside the Capital, recreating a meeting in May 1776


Jillian and Brooks on the jury...probably Brooks' only time to do it, too.

Tour at the Governer's Mansion, inside.

At the Governer's Mansion...so precious, I had to put it in.

DAY 3: Busch Gardens--way cool! Elliott stayed with Nana & Grampa Jim

Jillian near the entrance with the beautiful blue hydrangea bushes.

Brooks and Jill wearing their 3D glasses for Curse of Darkastle in Germany. We also wore them for a cute story called Corkscrew Hill in Ireland.

We saw lots of cool animals, like these bald eagles, some wolves, and a hawk. We wanted to see the "More Pet Shenanigans" show, but we instead saw an Irish dance one and a rock 'n roll dance and acrobatics show at the end of the day.

Me and Jill on the Katapult.

Me and Brooks on the carousel.

Jillian on the carousel

Brooks and I on a ride together...the only one.

Jillian on a carousel horse.

Griffin: The roller coaster we didn't go on...with 2 90-degree drops.

We rode Le Scoot (log flume) and got drenched, the Loch Ness Monster, Brooks and I took turns on the Alpengeist, and we all enjoyed the Big Bad Wolf and Apollo's Chariot, similar to Raging Bull at Great America. Jillian required some convincing (ok, forcing) to go on some of the rides, but she was fine. She thanked me later for making her go on them. :)

Weather was warm but not very humid or overwhelming. I dressed for the sweltering heat I expected and was delighted to experience some more mild coastal-Virginia climate. Thank the Lord for two beautiful days outside!!! Busch Gardens Europe is really beautiful, I highly recommend it!