Little GIRLS Run the World!

.... well, they did today at least.

We were graced with a visitor today - well, two really. Christine stopped by the office on her way to run a few other errands, and she brought little miss Ava with her. That kid is as cute as they come, and she made with it taking over my job for a few minutes. I think she did rather well, and even got a quick interview with me before she did all her documentation, i.e. drawing little face pictures all over my post its. Too cute. I'm pretty excited to get down to Waterloo and take their pictures. :) Soon!!

meet our newest staffing consultant.. haha.. little ava!
she took over my desk.. notice the candy dish has been strategically
relocated ... by her mama. haha.. see if you can spot it. 

card for nancy ♥

Halfway through the day, I was told that I get the day off tomorrow. It was kind of surprising, seeing that tomorrow is Nancy's last day. I almost didn't want to take it [don't worry, I'm not that crazy], but I did because it's a Friday and without working it, I'll have a nice four-day weekend. The downside is that I won't be there for Nancy's last day, and she'll be there running solo with the new girl for her last day. :( The upside we decided was that her new job will still be close by, so we'll be making lunch plans very soon. I'm gonna miss her.... crazy to think she won't be there on Tuesday when the office reopens. I gave her the card today that I found at Target and decided was absolutely perfect for her, for the office, and for all that our jobs have stood for so far. Haha. Ugh. I miss her already! :(

By the time the work day was over, I was gearing up for the evening with more little munchkins. I'd talked to Amy earlier in the week and offered a night of fun for Tessa here with Sydni and a break for Amy & Kyle. Originally, it was going to be just for a few hours since I'd thought I had to be back up and out the door for work in the morning. Instead, I've got two little girls running circles around the living room in their pj's, pretending to be flying mermaids on a school bus. I love it. I know how nice it is every so often to have just one night sans kiddo; I'm so glad we could do that for the Sandvens tonight! We're having a blast tonight.. lol.

tessa & syd - little buddies!

My parents are flying in tomorrow; Syd and I will go pick them up and get the last minute details nailed down for the big party on Saturday :). Exciting :)

Let the weekend begin!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Tessa Bean



baby liam! love, love, love.

Today happened to be one of those days where I found myself alone on my lunch break in my car, sitting at the park, wondering almost aloud where time has gone. In a couple short months, we will have already lived in IL for a full year. Joe's Air Force anniversary is approaching in June, and that's not to mention that we now have a 2-year-old. I'm not entire sure what it was exactly that sparked the mini outburst of reminiscing, but I thought all the way back to this same time last year. Joe was just getting ready to make the official trip out to the strange little destination of Belleville, IL, and I was probably gearing up to leave work behind for the day and finish off the evening with Kalyn, Tim, & Paul over on the sand courts of Cinci Sand Volleyball. I'm amazed how one simple year can move so many mountains. We have been so challenged, but ultimately so blessed by what the last year has brought. Just little sidenotes, I suppose. :)

In other news, I got a text from Joe today reminding me that we were due on base at the Sandven house this evening to celebrate miss Tessa's 3rd birthday. Sydni was beside herself as we headed over there, knowing she would get to play with Tessa. I was excited to see baby Liam, since we had yet to see him since the day he joined the family. He. Is. Adorable.


chicken! :)

 A&K totally outdid themselves on the cooking; grilled chicken, pasta salad, fruit salad, and brownies made for the perfect dinner menu, and we even met a great new couple, Nick & Rebecca. It looks like they may be joining us at church this upcoming Sunday, along with their little one, Max. Exciting!

Happy, HAPPY birthday to you, Tessa Bean!

It's bath & bed time here!

xo | cmd

Babysitting :)

Kyle & Amy are one of the couples we know from base; Kyle works with Joe, and they were the two we initially hung out with as soon as we moved to Scott. Their daughter and Sydni always have a blast together, so it was our pleasure when Kyle asked us to keep an eye on Sydni while he and Amy went in to the hospital to await the birth of their second baby. Joe texted me at work to let me know that Tessa was already at our house, and that the two little girls were taking the afternoon by storm. 



welcome baby liam!



As soon as I got back to the house, I relieved Joe of babysitting duty and took the girls to church. It was quite the production getting them both into agreeable clothing; each of course had to have her own ensemble: cartoon character shirt, skirt, leggings, pigtails, backpack, stuffed animal, blankie, and juice cup. When I finally got them out the door and loaded into the car, I was forbidden to leave the garage until I got the Veggie Tales’ Hairbrush song running.

We made it through church with very little fuss, and for being such good little girls, I treated them out for some dinner together before heading back to our house. Since I’m editing this entry to backdate it, Tessa spent the night last night and her baby brother Liam was born this morning at 12:30AM!

We’re so excited to see him!

I’m a bit tired… Ciao for now J

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday Joe!

Well would ya look at that! Just when he thought I was the only one that gets older in this family, today Joe went and added another year to his belt. He is officially an old geezer. Ha.

!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!

Anyway, since Justin is here visiting for both the weekend and his first time to the St. Louis area, we took full advantage of it all and went out for a little jaunt show him the base before heading over to the arch. It was definitely a nice little road trip.



cori. joe. jb
- the arch! -

Once we finished up with our little arch excursion, we headed back to the house and the boys proceeded into the basement for a few rounds of indoor cornhole.

The original dinner plans were targeted for Lotawata Creek, since Joe loves that place and it’s a great spot for visiting guests. I’ve known from past inquiry that they do not accept reservations at Lotawata, so I spent the day silently hoping we would be able to secure call ahead seating for us and a few others. I’d sent out some invites, and had about 15 heads total lined up and ready to rendezvous for a surprise birthday dinner.



syd & mo @ 54th street



Two hours before our projected meeting time, I came to find out that Lotawata wouldn’t be able to accommodate a party of our size until nearly 11pm. Excellent. Lacking a backup plan, and somewhat anxious about where to re-direct my efforts, I consulted Mo to see if she had a decent idea. Having lived in the area for a while, her input helped, and landed me at the

54^th Street

Grill in O’Fallon, parked on the wait list for nearly an hour before our friends started trickling in. By the time 6:45 rolled around, Joe, JB, myself, Meagan & Rob, Amy, Kyle, & Tessa, Jarod & Lila, Mo, Jimmy & their friend Stefan were all packed into two booths, stuffing ourselves full of deeeelicious food J. Add the cheesecakes I’d stopped off an snagged earlier, and it was a full-blown party. Hah.

 After dinner, the Prescotts and their friend stopped back to the house; we spent the evening with them before calling it a night. JB heads back to Cinci tomorrow, but we’re doing church before that. So.. until then… J

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POGI!

xo | cmd

Toddler-sitting!

Today was an exciting day for Sydni. It's not unusual for her to hang out with other kiddies on the weekends, especially Sundays due to church and post-church play dates. Today was special because Amy & Kyle asked us to watch Tessa for the afternoon while they got some Christmas shopping under control. I told Sydni about it Thursday after I'd originally confirmed with Amy, and she's been babbling about it since.



little buddies :)

 I was quickly educated on what it would be like if I had been graced with twins. It was funny watching two little girls being two little girls and all the wonder that comes along with that. They were more than content to play Barbies in the doll house, push baby dolls around in the stroller, and marvel over newly-painted fingernails [I lended some aid in that one]. After hours of squealing, chasing, playing, and the inevitable increments of innate toddler territorial disagreements, they settled into the big bean bag chair and peacefully remained there for nearly the entire duration of Finding Nemo.

All in all, a pretty fun day here at the Dills residence. Joe slept through the majority of the day since he'd worked last night, but he was awake when Kyle & Amy showed up later in the evening. He works again this evening, so I'll leave it at that and get back to the rest of our evening here.

Ciao!

xo | cmd

Miss Tessa Bean!

SCORE! I survived my first week at my new office. It’s beyond different, still, but I think I’ll start meshing a little better when I’m not faced with 50 different things in a shortened workweek.

Anywhooooo. Sydni’s been gone [not gone, but on vacation, rather] at Nana & Pappy’s [aka, my parents’] since the beginning of this week when we left after the holiday weekend. It’s been eerily quiet around here, and I caught myself once this week feeling a bit useless not having the same recurring pile of stuff to clean up.

That’s why tonight we readily agreed to watch Tessa [Kyle & Amy’s] for the night while they headed out for a date night. I was pretty excited. Tessa is one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen, and she’s funny, too.

I came home from work to find Tessa perched on our couch, tennis ball raised above her head, squealing at our dog, who was more than ready to play fetch with her in the living room. She thought it was the funniest thing. She helped me fix dinner, and told me all about how she helps her mommy out at home making dinner, too. She colored some pictures and ate dinner in Sydni’s high chair, because, well, she insisted on sitting there as opposed to a normal chair. Well ok, then.

tessa bean!

We took a trip to the park, where Tessa was very quick to make some new friends. I realized that Sydni does the same exact thing, and I had to stop for a minute and just appreciate the simplicity of children playing together. There’re no social borders, no status lines, and no inherited grudges to take into consideration. It’s just them, a playground, and all the free time they can handle until it’s time to go home. I love it. Tessa loved it, too, but was completely okay to head back to our house, get cleaned up for bed, and even fall asleep before Kyle & Amy came by to get her.

This is our first time babysitting another little one together: we didn’t do half bad! We still have one full week without our little one. I’m already starting to miss her, but I know we’ll find some way to fill the time.

For now, lights out!

xo | cmd