Tractor pics

The first pic is us in the combine. You can't really tell how big it actually is, but it's more expensive than most homes in IL. The second pic is Abby with "Uncle Rick," Patti's cousin.

Holiday weekend

We spent our 4th visiting Brian's family in Illinois for a family reunion. It rained all day Saturday, so we were inside most of the time, but luckily it let up enough to have some great fireworks that evening. Abby and I also got to experience something very new for us, tractors! Patti's cousin gave us a tour of his shed with all kinds of huge tractors, including a combine that Abby, Brian and I got to sit in it. We'll have to wait for Grandma James to get her film developed before we can show you that pic. Abby was all about seeing the tractors. I wonder if/when I will ever get Brian's family tree figured out. I'm not used to both sides of the family and every generation living within a ten mile radius of each other. It's very confusing, but very cool.

Abby loves her uncle Kevin. I have a picture of Brian and I from a while ago, Abby points to it and says, "mommy and Kevin".
















Grandma and Grandpa
















The James family (Brian's mom with her brothers and parents)
















Great Grandma and Grandpa James (Brian's mom's parents) and Abby
















Great Grandma Sollars (Brian's dad's mom) Grandpa Henderson and Abby
















Our view of corn all weekend.
















Best weather we had was coming home.

Corn season

Abby is ready for Illinois sweet corn next week, but is it ready for her? I need to put a lock on the refrigerator. She got in there herself and took the foil off this leftover, cold corn and for some reason she likes taking her shirt off lately.

Abby the artitst

Fully supervised and seriously, took less than 10 minutes to clean up. If only you could have seen Brian's reaction when he came home, it was priceless.

It's true...

... we are expecting.

With all these new babies in the family Brian and I were starting to feel left out. This will be the 3rd grandchild on my side of the family to be born this year. How exciting! When I ask Abby if she wants a brother or a sister she says, "I want a sister and brother" or "I want a sister". We'll see :)

More Michael

Jess always said she wanted to have a baby before she turned 30 and she succeeded. Today is her 30th Birthday! I think she has a pretty awesome gift to play with.
Yesterday Abby and I went to visit. I was taking pictures and Abby started climbing on the bed. Without pushing anything, the bed started going up and wouldn't go back down. No one could get it down, so the staff had to bring in a new bed. Needless to say, I didn't get too many pictures. You can't take your eyes off of Abby for a second. She is a climber, explorer and doesn't mind getting dirty.

Cousin Michael has arrived

My sister-in-law, Jessica, delivered a healthy, beautiful baby early this morning. After a long labor, Tim, Jess and Michael are getting some much needed rest and recovering. Brian, Abby and I tried to hold out for the birth late last night, but had to make the 2 hour drive back home. Tim texted me this pic last night/early this morning. We're hoping to make it back up today to see them, so we'll have more pics after that.

Michael James Blankenship
June 19, 2009
9lbs
22 inches