Easter visit to Champaign

We made a weekend visit to Champaign for Easter. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Urbana. Our room was nice! J spent the first night at Nana and Poppop's, and the second night at the hotel.
On Friday, we had lunch with Rachael and Katherine at El Toro, and dinner with everyone at Best Wok.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at Sam's Cafe, and went to Decatur for Lunch with Susan and Tareq. We went back to Champaign and had dinner at Steak n Shake.

On Sunday morning we had a quick continental breakfast at the hotel, and went to Easter service at the church where Jeff conducted the choir for a brief stint, Mahomet United Methodist. The boys had their first egg hunt of the day after the service. We had Easter dinner at Nana and Poppop's, and a second egg hunt before heading back to Champaign.

Poor baby boys

Both boys have ear infections and fevers. Poor J keeps getting so hot, he can't sleep. So tonight, we are up and on the couch watching Captain America. Hopefully we can get a full nights sleep soon.
Thankful you aren't here (at least someone's getting some sleep!),
Sarah

Well, here's the scoop...

Here it is, almost 5am. What's that you say? Why am I awake? Well, I'm awake with a sick baby. Not Jack this time, luckily. No J has a headache, fever, and a sore throat, and can't fall back to sleep due to the pain, so we are very quietly watching a few episodes for Batman the animated series on the couch. Poor buddy...

So here's an update for any that need it.
In July, Jeff was offered a position as the choir director/music teacher at Illini Bluffs in Glasford, IL. He teaches 4th - 12th grade music. If you have never heard of it, don't worry, we hadn't either. It's a small town about 20 minutes outside of Peoria up on a bluff along the Illinois River. It is a very pleasant town. Well, we packed up, and in August 1, we moved to Peoria. We live outside of the city, so it's nice and quiet, but we are close enough to Bartonville to do all of our shopping and use the library. We traveled pretty much every weekend between August and the new year. Jeff and Jonathan were in a wedding, we had big family birthdays, and holidays in abundance! We sure did have a good time, though! Since school started back, Jeff has been busy preparing his kids for upcoming competitions and festivals. The boys have been busy growing big and strong! Jonathan has been busy working on getting rid of diapers. And me? I've been busy keeping up with everyone, and keeping everyone on track!

It sure has been a crazy year so far, and we aren't even to Spring Break yet! More to come later!

Wishing you were here,
Sarah

March is Insane!

School has been cancelled this mornings due to weather! This is the third school cancellation, so it looks like we have to use some emergency days in May.

March has officially moved from Mad to Insane! So much for Out Like a Lamb (Though next weekend is supposed to be in the mid-50s, so there's still hope).

Update: I think I read that by 8pm, we had 6 inches of snow! Yuck!

Lunch with Uncle Ed

This restaurant is right across the street from our house! The family converted their grandparents old farm house to a restaurant. It really comes in handy when we haven't planned anything for dinner, or on snowy days when the roads aren't so good. They have many decorative plates on the walls.

Just a reg'lar Saturday at home

Wait, what happened to the popcorn?!

Jack takes a bath ahead of schedule

We had just finished dinner, so Jeff started a bath for the boys. This is a nightly occurrence. Well, tonight, Jack got so excited to his bath, he climbed right on in while J was still getting undressed. Silly boys!

Visit to DG

We visited Downers Grove to see Grandma Laura, Grandpa Jack, and Granny Durema.

Jack was very happy to see Great-Granny Durema for brunch.

What wonderful food! Laura made quiche, asparagus, fruit, and this beautiful coffee cake that was magnificent! Grandmother brought a cranberry bread that was pretty great, too.

Grandma Laura and J playing trains! Our favorite thing to do!

This was just too sweet! Jonathan wanted to sit with Grandma Laura to watch his movie. He wanted her to watch Transformers, too!

Boys keep life interesting...

So here we go. Poor little jack has another double ear infection. We had to wait an hour past our appointment time last night to see the doc and then another hour at the pharmacy to get his prescriptions. We now have to follow up with our doctor in 3 weeks to see if we need to see ENT as this is his 3rd or 4th ear infection for the winter. Ugh...
Jonathan is excited today as the NCAA tournament begins. He made his bracket earlier in the week and is now enjoying watching the games. What a boy!
This momma is tired and ready for everyone to take a nap so things can get done in this house! I never understood the advice to nap when babies are napping. My house would never be clean! Off to swim lessons tonight for the J-man!
Wishing you were here,
Sarah

And so the journey continues...

Hello everyone!
After some thought and debate, we have decided to start a family blog so all of you can keep up to date with our family!
Where to begin... Well, Jonathan, who is 3, has been taking swim lessons and is doing great! We are in our second session of the parent/child swim class and he loves it. Hopefully, at the end of this session, he will graduate on to either the in between class or the "big kids" class. He has been doing a great job and can now put his face in the water with ease and do "farm" jumps (far, big jumps). He is a pretty funny guy! We just took him to Medieval Times last weekend, so he now talks of slaying dragons and being a knight!
Jackson, 14 months, is doing pretty great. He only says mama when he really wants something, but says hi dada all the time! He is a real daddy's boy. He gets so excited when Jeff gets home from work. It's so cute to see!
Jeff is loving his job at Illini Bluffs! He is having fun teaching the wide range of kids. He is already thinking of ideas for next years big events at IB. I think he is really loving this job, though right now he comes home saying, "how long until spring break?"
As for me, I am enjoying watching the boys learn and grow. I love watching their minds develop and expand as they figure things out. Some times it's hard watching them learn independence, but it is the most rewarding thing, too. I have also been working on the family history on all sides of our family, so if you have anything I might be able to use, send it my way!
I am working on this post from my iPad and this is the first time I have used this app, so no pictures today, but as soon as I figure it out, I promise pictures of the boys in abundance!
Wish you were here with us,
Sarah