Robin's Birthday & A Driving Lesson

Happy birthday, Robin!!!

Today started out with some sleeping in..... because Saturdays should always be that way. Right? :) 

... By sleeping in, I mean 8:45am. Watch out, I know. :) 

Anyway, we loaded up and headed over to Eckert's to meet up with the Pages and Robin and her boys; Joe and Adam had decided they would take the kids out to the farm for the day while we took Robin for brunch and a movie to celebrate her birthday. Well, the guys taking on five kids for the day was a large part of the birthday present as well, so I wouldn't dare detract from that value ;) 

I've never had breakfast at Eckert's, but after today, I certainly will again. Deeeelish. From there it was off to Wehrenberg, where we met with Rachel and headed in for a late morning showing of The Words, starring Zoe Saldana [who I adore!] and Bradley Cooper [who Robin adores! haha.. ]. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from it, but whatever that was, it wasn't that. I definitely liked it; very unique. I'll probably have to re-watch this one at some point. Either way, it was a fun little outing and we even snagged a shot of us.... with Bradley Cooper. It was definitely by chance, lol. 

cori. rachel. cathie. robin.
...... & bradley. hahaha.... 

We found after the movie that the guys had finished the fair and apple picking at Eckert's, and had moved the party to Chuck-E-Cheese. We rendezvoused there for a short bit before heading back home for some family-wide nap time before making with it onto what is now an open driving range, literally. Remember a few days back when the Alexanders' birthday gift for Sydni arrived at our house and we weren't able to take it for a spin?

Well......

She's DRIVING!!! :-O

uh-oh..... driving already!

She had a BLAST. Holy cow. I loved every second of it. Love love love love her. A million x million thanks to Gerald & Leslie for their incredible generosity and for being so thoughtful!

Time now for some dinner with the fam....

See you tomorrow at the Tower!

xo | cmd

Life, Oh Life... Hallelujah!

Man oh man, this has been a weekend. I can't complain, not one bit. :)

Friday was our small group.
Saturday was our small group local missions project [hahaha] at the Gobles'.
Today was church, lunch, and just plain old family time.

jump start mma lesson: intro to triangle choke + face bite. hah... :)

Are we blessed, or what??


hilarious.. she put that there and then passed out...

 Our day ran its typical Sunday schedule of Bible study; the DeMonds have joined our class, and Cathie Page's parents were in visiting, as well. I had the opportunity to stand in for Trish in the praise band while she's out of town, which was a great time. Joe was here for the service as opposed to working in or out of town. It was a beautiful morning. We topped it all off with lunch afterwards at Eckert's with Pastor Ron & Miss Debbie. [♥ them!]

Oh, and I wanted to share this, not because I'm so closely or directly involved, but because it moved me :). As we all know, I've been appointed to spearhead this year's Relay for Life team for the church. Since the event revolves solely around conquering cancer and all that goes with it, I felt it completely appropriate to spread this message to cancer: You're at war, and from the looks of it, I wouldn't wanna mess with these guys, either :). One of Towerview's own, Kyle, is heading into his battle with Lymphoma, but he's not going alone. This is just a fraction of the army backing him; in honor of his physical spat with chemo, these guys took the Bics to their heads in support. Jason compiled this montage, and I wanted to share :). I only hope that if I ever find myself staring down something like this, that I'd be so blessed to have such an eager batallion behind me. :) Thanks for the encouragement, all of you - What a testimony!!


jason. kyle. matt
jarod. jim
[[ rallying against cancer! ]]

The rest of the day was spent here at the house, doing absolutely nothing, and more than thoroughly enjoying every millisecond of it. Joe's past work week following the hail storm was maniacally busy, and mine was a bit flurried as well what with Meagan phasing out of the office on a short notice. After a good long nap, the rest of the afternoon meant lounging with the family, enjoying a couple hours of sheer relaxation before finishing up the laundry and putting Syd to bed.
The only problem I can find with jampacked weekends is that they end all too soon and take way too long to come back around. It's back to the grind tomorrow... time to call it for now...

xo | cmd

Eckert's with Eric

The boys texted me at work today asking,

"Dinner tonight. Eckert's, or Lotawata Creek?"

winner!

Oh man. Tough decision. Seriously. After much consideration, we collectively decided on Eckert's. It didn't really matter to Eric, since he's not been to either one, but the way we had it figured, Eckert's is both closer to us, but also holds the tiny advantage in that its farm and market atmosphere and fried biscuits are very hard to turn down. :)



fried biscuits. magic.



So Eckert's it was, and it wasn't even in the slight a bad call. I learned during dinner that their round of competitions had absolutely extended into today, over everything from chugging rootbeer to conditional consequences off missed basketball free-throws. I wasn't surprised, but honestly it was a welcomed comical break in the other repeated tedious nature of my work day.

Eric leaves in the morning; we're praying now for travel mercies.

Oh, and tomorrow night, we've got a cooking class to attend, compliments of my bosses. This was our original arrangement for our 'company' Christmas party. I've never been to a cooking class, let alone with Joe. This should be fun :).

Better get your chef face on.... 8=:-]

xo | cmd

If You Want Me To

The pathway is broken, and the signs are unclear.

And I don't know the reason, why you brought me here.
But just because you love me, the way that you do,

I will walk through the valley, if you want me to.

Because I'm not who I was, when I took my first steps,

and I'm clinging to the promise, you're not through with me yet.

So if all of these trials bring me closer to you,

then I will go through that fire, if you want me to.

Though it may not be the way, I would have chosen,

when you lead me through a world, that's not my home

But you never said it would be easy.
You only said I'd never go alone.

So when the world turns against me, and I'm all by myself,

and I can't hear you answer my cries for help.

I'll remember the suffering your love put you through,

and I'll go through the valley if you want me to.

***

I sang that in church today, and the more I think about that song , its lyrics, and its ultimate meaning, the more I love it. This is such a powerful song, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to share this with my Towerview family. Ginny Owens is one of my favorite Christian singers, and this song was perfect for me today.

***

After church, we headed out to Eckert's with the Page family for lunch, and then back to their house for a short little visit. Sydni absolutely loves her time with Miss Carlee and Miss Loralye, if for no other reason than the fact that she gets spoiled beyond belief when she's there. 

See that girl there?
That's her throne that was set up for her by the Page girls; she soaked up every minute of having her very own special seat on the couch - complete with headrest, footrest, and personal blanket.

So silly. :)

Sundays are beautiful. They really are.

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, DAD!!

my dad ♥

Today's my dad's birthday. He's the best there is, so I have to wish him the best birthday, ever. :)
I love you, Dad. Happy birthday!! [[These dots are for you!]]

-- Which reminds me, it's been just about forever since I saw an actual Dippin' Dots store, so today I paid a visit and walked away with a tiny cup of tongue-freezers, aka dots. I firmly believe in holding a quota of 3 spoonfuls of those things, because anything more will turn your tongue into an icecube. Good, nonetheless :)

Anyway, to honor my dad and the fun of our family, my parents drove here from Ohio to visit for the weekend. It's the first time they've been able to visit us here in IL, so we are quite ready for the next two days.

Tonight, we took them to Eckert's, since obviously they've never been. They loved it, which was expected. Joe got his fix of fried biscuits, Sydni got to color on the tables and shove a shopping cart all around the Eckerts market, and my parents got a taste of Eckert's peach wine [yummm].

Mom & I went over some of the wedding stuff, which I really really wish I could post here, but that would totally ruin that little element of surprise. I'll just say that my sister is a master craftswoman, and her creative genius is going to be a solid addition to the big day. I'm excited!

Tomorrow, we plan to take Mom & Dad to St. Louis; they've never seen the arch, so that should be a good time. We've already had a long evening, so good night, for now!

xo | cmd

Double Date

Work was work. Aside from it being Friday, I’m not here to talk about work. J

Good news: I finally ironed out the kink [at least I believe I did] with the wedding wardrobe issue I’m having. I ordered new dresses today, and if I’m lucky, I’ll see those within the next two weeks. I also ordered the TOMS I'll be sporting, as well as two pairs of silver TOMS for two of my bridesmaids. Scoooore.

toms toms toms toms | ♥.

Earlier tonight, Caitlin and Nick met us here at the house and the four of us loaded up for a double date. First stop: Eckert’s. [Thank you Pastor Ron & Debbie for helping us discover this GEM!] They’d not been, and Joe consumes the biscuits like water, so really, nobody lost there. They loved it, we loved it, and we all left with just one unanimous complaint of overstuffed bellies.

From there, we headed over to a mini golf course near our house. We’d been meaning to visit, but hadn’t yet, so we figured we would utilize a perfect summer evening and challenge each other to 18 holes of putt-putt.



such focus!



I won.

Don’t ask me how it happened, because I bet I wouldn’t get that lucky again in a million years. But, for the record, I won. Haha. I can’t celebrate too much, though, because Joe was the only one of us that managed to sink a hole-in-one on the last hole to earn a free game. Don’t act surprised… J

This little place turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. Once we finished golf , we grabbed some bats and each took a turn for one round in the batting cages. I’m not nearly as bad as I thought I would be, but not nearly good enough to say I’m anything worth noting. Softball was never my thing. We did decide that we would make another trip soon and try out the bumper boats, go-karts, or the other mini-golf course.

we are barely tall enough to ride these things

*Yawn.
Tomorrow, Joe and I head up to Columbus, IN to rendezvous with my parents. They’ve had Sydni for two weeks now and this will be our halfway meeting trip to pick her up and spend the weekend with them. I suppose I should get some sleep….

xo | cmd

Back to Work

One of the best farewell parties I’ve ever had came from my Express friends back in Cincinnati before I left. My experience with the company up to this point has been nothing but positive, and I see honest opportunity for growth both individually within this company, and as a whole.

So, today I stepped into a different Express office for my first day as a “transfer.” It’s always interesting being the new kid in the office, but it’s even more challenging when the new kid has actually been in the game longer than the majority of the class. I’ve transferred from an office in which the newest staff had been there no less than 3 years, to an office where the senior staff [owners not included] are just approaching their 1-year mark. Hmmmm.

Let’s just say, it’s different here.  There is a copious amount of room for growth here, and I’m confident I can relay some of the things I learned coming from the office of an area developer. Fingers crossed.

With day 1 out of the way, I was ready for some relaxation and good company. Good thing, because Joe and I met up with our new church’s pastor and his wife [Ron & Debbie]. They had invited us to dinner to get to know us a little better, and I couldn’t be happier that we went. It is because of them that Joe and I discovered Eckert’s, which is a farmer’s market/orchard/country restaurant. It’s pretty amazing. They’ve got deep fried biscuits, which I’ve never seen or tasted, but in their defense, I’m glad I did. Not the healthiest thing I’ve ever eaten, but de-licious.



eckert's | fried biscuits

We had a great evening with Pastor Ron & Debbie; we spent nearly four hours sitting, eating, and talking. We are so very fortunate to have so quickly found such an energetic, passionate church with equally enthusiastic leaders. While I truly miss our home church family in Cincinnati [New Harmony!!], I am excited and eager to get involved here.

Oh, and high five for a four-day work week. J Back to it tomorrow!

xo | cmd