Madiera Beach, Florida

Jillian's first time at a real beach on the ocean...yeah, it's the gulf side, but Brooks insists. It was a very nice day, well worth the day waiting for the rain and storms to clear. Our hotel/condo was just across the street from the beach. Very nice!

Grampa takes Jill out for her first wade in salt water.

Nana holds a sleeping Elliott.

Our first time at an ocean beach together. This is better than the dunes (except our friends aren't here to enjoy it with us--glad to have some family with us, though!!!)

Bathing beauty :)

Elliott gets his first salt water experience, too, while Jim gets some sunblock from Mom. :)

You can tell he LOVES it! ;)

Aww...my family at the beach! A dream come true!!!

Jillian gets more confident...

...and Elliott's not so sure. But Daddy's got him!

Isn't it beautiful water? The sand was great, too. Jillian found lots of shells, which came home.

The funniest part of the beach were the clams! I videoed them being unearthed by the waves, then immediately digging themselves back into the sand for refuge from the birds. That was a first for me. Overall, a great experience. I hope Brooks doesn't think I'm done with beaches yet. He seemed to like it a lot, too. :)

Jillian's New Outfit

Here's a picture of Jillian and Linda with the blouse of the beautiful outfit handmade for her by Mama Locke.





The jacket, too...




A skirt! And a matching purse!!!




Coming downstairs, as if it were to the ball...





...with the perfect shoes to complete her gorgeous outfit! It's as if Nana knew everything about the outfit that Mama Locke was making and got her the perfect shoes in preparation. :) Thanks, Nana! THANKS, GRANDMA LOCKE!!! (From Jillian)




Grandma Locke gets a present from the grandkids, for Mother's Day. A little late, but in person!



Thanks, again, to Mama Locke and my Mom for everything! Happy Mother's Day (again)!!!!!

Almost finished!

Beautiful Blue Hydrangeas! Who would have thought that my cruddy soil would keep my hydrangeas blue (instead of them turning pink)!



Elliott in the bouncy seat. He has been a very good baby, sleeping, eating, and playing well, even when he is not being held!


Extra pansies in my flower pots...two were homemade gifts from Jillian. I'm so glad they are finally going to good use again!


We are preparing to leave for Florida today, so this will be brief in words.


Jillian on the patio!


Jillian talking to Mac


Some thing we got at Sonny Acres that likes shade and makes a good ground cover AND has purple flowers. :)

Last night, Brooks had to miss "Little Shop of Horrors" starring Jessica Cross, my dear friend from Elmhurst, to finish the patio. He (and I) have had to miss several things this week in the rush to finish, but God has been so gracious to give us a whole week with nice, mild heat and no rain. Brooks still managed to sweat profusely, but he avoided sunburn everywhere except the side of his right calf, thanks to me. :)

Patio from the house


Patio!


Mac likes sniffing the outdoors since he can't get out there


Anyway, here are the pictures of the patio almost finished (just needs the filler sand between the pavers, as far as I know), along with Jillian, Mac, Elliott, all from just moments ago, and some of our plants from outside that are doing well. :) Thanks to Dad Locke for the beautiful blue hydrangeas!!!!


New hydrangea this year from Brooks--the other one that bloomed first was "bunnified". :(




Our hydrangea from last year--behind the newer one, but still thriving thus far!


Sherbet viola pansies out front--thank you, Brooks!


Jillian and Mac admiring the patio



Mac, wishing he could jump outside, but sitting contently by the screen for now. We are enjoying the weather that allows us to comfortably keep our back door open.

Patio Progress

As I was working on the most recent post, Brooks was working diligently on the patio. Actually, he put the neighbor kids to work lifting pavers while he played in the sand. ;) (Or was it the other way around???) The neighbor kids, Semaje and Jameel aren't innocent, but they are regular kids who love to help out and do stuff with their hands! They helped plant our flowers out front, too. :)

Here are some pictures of the progress on the patio.

When Dad and Mama Locke left us a couple weeks ago, there was nothin' but limestone base out there. Now check it out! This is the view from the back door.

View from the bushes...7 pavers down, 65 more to go...plus all the sand, leveling the sand, cutting the trim stuff, installing the trim,...please pray that he finishes before we leave for Florida on Friday night!

View of what we still have left to do. I went out to help Brooks with sand (I think I helped...) to hopefully move things along a little faster after I watched him for a while (I had to learn what to do somehow!) Looking at and walking on the laid pavers is very encouraging. Now we just have to do what we did 9 more times.

Brooks looking hot from all the hard work, and with a fresh new haircut!

I bought tickets to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Wheaton Theatre on Thursday night, featuring another one of my bridesmaids, Jessica Cross. Linda Yeo, my maid of honor, is coming over to babysit so we can go. Yay!!! I will see about getting pictures of that posted. If not, I will defer to the website. :)

I don't know if it's legal to have a post without a picture of Elliott, so here are a couple recent shots I took on our bed. He is certainly more expressive here than previously!

Enough posts for one day, donchathink?

Another new baby

Introducing Brianna Isabel Perry
born to Stephanie (Hopperton) and Bob Perry
on May 22, 2008.




I know that these pictures aren't new at this point, but hey, they're here now! That's why a previous post was called "Last things first". Brooks and I went to meet her and congratulate her parents (Stephanie is my childhood friend and was one of my bridesmaids) on Thursday before they went home. Elliott was there, too, but he was sleeping. Steph said she was hungry all the time, and she seemed to live up to that reputation. At least she was nursing well! Yay!



Here's little BIP with her proud papa, Bob.
I must say, I'm very happy for Steph. Her story isn't so different from mine, except hers turned out a little better without so many changes. Nathan was born January 11, 2004, and Bob proposed to Stephanie the following Christmas. They were married on September 3, 2006, and I got to be one of her bridesmaids and even sing for the wedding! :) Bob's a quality guy and I'm so glad she met him. :) She deserves someone really great like him!

The plan is to go visit them on either Wednesday or Thursday this week. I will try to remember the camera again, but this really is Brooks' department...until I get my own actual digital camera. I think that will help me get more pictures, since I won't be lugging around the camcorder. It's great, and we really like it and get a lot of use out of it, now I just want to be like my mom. :) Speaking of my mom, my Aunt Shirley and Uncle John are visiting from Missouri this week (and last), and I got some pictures of Elliott and my mom and Aunt Shirley on her camera. I will try to have her email those to me to post. Yay!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Two cuties in green :)



He's trying...



ELLIOTT SMILES!





Now that Elliott smiles at me often, it was so much easier to get this picture of him smiling!





Ode to Brooks:


While is this is not your first time celebrating Father's Day, it is your first time celebrating with a "mini-Brooks". It is so precious to see the strong resemblence between you and Elliott. :)


And this is not your first time celebrating with a child of yours, but now you are a father of 2, which is twice the fun, and twice the responsibility. It's no longer 2:1, it's 1:1 parents to kids.


Finally this is not your first Father's Day with minors, but it is your first being the father of an infant. The middle of the night wake ups, the burp cloth armor, and lots of diaper changes. Not just any diaper changes, but a huge dirty diaper on Father's Day, that YOU got to clean up. Sure, it wasn't the blow-out that I got on Mother's Day that included hosing him down in the sink in the church nursery because wipes were doing no good. But now you know what your parents went through with you.


Now, you have truly joined the ranks of true fatherhood. :)





Brooks, you are a wonderful and amazing father. You are dedicated, loving, patient, kind, and fun. You help Jillian with her homework after a long day of work. You make her lunch and sometimes make her dinner when I'm not able to. You have burped Elliott a lot, given baths, changed clothes, and changed many diapers, all with a smile on your face and in your voice. I can't imagine a better father to our children.


Brooks, you are an amazing husband to me. You encourage me, love me even when I'm not giddy, you are patient with me, you support me and lead me, set a good example for me, you are so loyal and take care of me. And when I turn off the game/computer and have your attention and speak slowly and loudly, you are a wonderful listener. :) You are my best friend! God's love is so evident in your love for me, and I am so blessed by you! I hope you had a wonderful father's day--you deserve it!


Love,


Susan


Elliott smiles as he giggles at me! :) So sweet!
There are my two favorite guys!!!!

Last things first - Elliott's first trip to Ohio

We are home from a nice visit in Toledo with the Lockes (aka the in-laws, not us, silly!) This was Elliott's first time visiting Grandma and Grandpa Locke at their home in Ohio. That means he also added two new states to his list--Indiana and Ohio! That makes 4 in less than 4 months!

He got to try out Emmanuel Baptist Church's infant nursery, called Sleepers (as opposed to Creepers or Leapers, for crawlers and walkers/toddlers. I personally was impressed with their nursing room as well as their whole system. I got to wear a pager during the service and, sure enough, I was paged due to Elliott's unconsolable crying. I didn't tell them, but it was only because they changed his clothes (like I asked, since he was drenched from spit up earlier but sleeping when I dropped him off) and he does NOT like changing his clothes, or getting dressed. Undressing isn't so bad for some reason. Oh well. Maybe someday he will figure out that if he insists on maintaining his reputation as the Spit Up King, he will have to change his clothes more frequently! At least he has all sorts of cute outfits to wear...he is almost 4 months now and wears size 3-6 months. Anyway, he was talking up a storm (apparently, the storm occured back home where it took out power in the Wheaton area, including our church!) while we were in Toledo, much to the enjoyment of Mama Locke and Dad Locke.

Elliott is wearing an adorable outfit from Mama Locke with a froggie (by Taggies) on it, but he has been spitting up so much that the fuzzy froggy bib (by Carter's) covered up the other froggie. At least his Grandma got to see him wearing it!

Now that he is smiling and cooing and "talking" to us more now, I think he's starting to be more fun for all. Especially me, since I seem to be his sort of favorite...I'm not trying to boast at all! Sometimes I feel bad that my exclusive nursing of Elliott has taken away from his time with Brooks, but I'm seeing that this is not true. Nor do I think it is the root of his bias--I think it's because I'm his mommy and I just spend more time with him, period. I interact with him more, whereas Brooks is responsible for time-sensitive things, such as paying bills, so those things keep him from giving Elliott as much attention as I am able to. Sure, I do my share of house work with laundry and dishes and such, but I'm also not working, either.

I take that back...I go to DO for assessment training on June 16 (hey, that's only a few hours away now!) as well as more music curriculum meetings July 1-3...then web-based grade book training on August 5, and who knows when the other meetings will be. :( I mean, it's nice that I get paid for the time I spend in the summer, since it doesn't hurt after having my paychecks cut to reflect the unpaid part of my maternity leave, but I won't get it until my first fall paycheck.

Well, I'm thankful Mom is coming over to help tomorrow while I'm at District Office. Brooks is STILL not finished with the patio...the goal is to finish before we leave Friday night for Florida! We'll see--I'll try to take a photo or two to show his progress...or lack thereof as of yet. :)

Thanks to Mama Locke and Dad Locke for all their help getting it to where it is! (Mama Locke didn't dig, silly, she babysat Elliott while I was at work. :)

A little something...

So we've been too busy to take photos or post anything, so here are a couple pictures that are cute of Elliott. We are still in Springfield for a wedding, waiting for Elliott to wake up from his nap, then I can feed him and we can go to a museum. Of course, we forgot the camera, so there won't be any pictures of this trip.


Elliott in a cute overalls outfit from the resale shop and the "L is for Lion" bib. (L is for Locke, too!)


Elliott checking out his mobile. It plays Mozart and goes around and up and down.



Here's a close up of the cutie. :)

Brooks has been working on the patio out back, but he needs some help finishing it. Hopefully Steve Hinchee can come over to help. I'm finally done with school, but it was a long two weeks, including all the time I spent getting my new text books organized and put away for the summer and packing up the old ones. Bleh. Jillian starts swimming lessons again tomorrow...maybe I can get pictures of that, if the weather allows for her to have lessons. We have thunderstorms in the forecast for the whole week as of right now. That's better than the extreme heat and humidity that they have down here in Springfield. At least they also have Hardee's. :)