Shampoo Banana

Say it, it's funny Shampoo Banana. I was reading a review on mexican restaurants here in town, or should I say townssss. Shampoo Banana was how someone referred to Champaign Urbana, I like it, Shampoo Banana.

And no I'm probably never going to go to another Mexican restaurant than my beloved Dos Reales, b/c it would just be wrong, infidelity if you will. Originally I was looking at reviews for Thia restaurants, I've been to Nitaya, but apparently we have much better Thia restaurants. Ones to try...Thara thai and/or Siam Terrace.

Back to your regular viewing schedule....

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head...

The weather has been a little more Spring like lately! Yay, finally. So in honor of said weather Brent and I did a little yard work this weekend. Some raking leaves, started the pond filter, mucked it out a little (I broke the net we use), and cleaned up some of the flower beds. We also put out the patio furniture, table, chairs and umbrella. Yesterday I went to Prarie Gardens, as they were having an open house. That AND I've never been there during a growing season. Lol, I've only been there around Christmas time, they have pretty Christmas trees. Anyway, they have tons of plants, greenhouse after greenhouse, holy crap. I managed to walk out without spending a ton, surprisingly, I did buy some more plants though!

We also cleaned the Chapel yesterday. We took down Makenna's birthday decorations finally, lol. Anyway it looks much better and organized (the garden center part). Why you ask would we be cleaning the Chapel up? Why because it's that time of the year, no not the Spring cleaning time of the year, it's wedding season. And with such weddings comes...yep, bachlorette parties. One of which will be here..next weekend. Megan is getting married and we are going to party.

Hopefully....

this works. I tried to upload a couple of videos yesterday but it broke my sidebar. Try number 2.

Makenna's egg hunt:


Makenna vs. Bubbles

Blowing Bubbles...

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a great one! We enjoyed spending time with family and food! Makenna woke up to her Easter basket this morning and then later she went on an Easter egg hunt!

Saturday we celebrated Brent's 26th birthday with presents and a lovely dinner in town. He managed to get some new cologne, pjs (can't have enough), wireless playstation controller, crocs, and a tie. Wooohoo

New photos are up at our photo site. Easter, Chicago and Cayuga pics.

Back From The Windy City

We are back. We got back yesterday around 1pm. Our train left Union Station at 9:15am, yeah we had to sit a few times and wait for other trains to pass. Anyway we came back a day earlier than anticipated b/c Makenna wasn't feeling well and was VERY crabby. She would cry at the drop of a hat. She was having problems sleeping in the hotel which didn't make matters any better. We were totally miffed as nothing was helping so we just decided to leave early. The good news is she is back to her old self! Above is a picture of the hotel we stayed at The Intercontinental on Michigan Ave, it was lovely and service was great. Ps- I didn't take this photo.

Annnnnd they're off!

I've literally felt like we've been running in a horse race lately.....everything is just zooming by! So the house is finally back to some normalcy and I'm happy it's Friday buuuut...we've got stuff to do this weekend so, take that for what it's worth. Things are finally relaxed from the craziness of last weekend, nothing like cleaning the house, preparing a menu for guests on a whim. It really wasn't bad but I'm an order and schedule type of girl, by the way we enjoyed your stay, since I know you are probably going to read this at some point.

So tomorrow I have a bridal shower to go to tomorrow afternoon, in Danville, did I happen to mention the gas prices. Which really wouldn't mean too much but with going to Peoria last weekend for the funeral kinda busts our gas budget. Anyway, to kill two/three birds with one stone Brent and Makenna will be visiting with Jan and Pete while I am at the Bridal Shower. Then afterwards we will continue on to Newport to visit with my Dad's side of the family and have a meal.

Sunday I have to pack b/c Monday morning we will be boarding a train...going to Chicago...Michigan Avenue. Brent has a conference that he will be presenting at so Makenna and I get a mini vacation...and I say that b/c they have a pool. Note to self buy swim diapers. We will be coming back on Thursday. I'll let you know how the hotel is that we are going to stay at...The International Hotel?

Then next weekend is Brent's birthday. Note to self get gift. And Easter....which I've not even thought of a menu for. But on the up side...I have two oven racks! And speed bake!

So....I've planted my Lady Ferns, Lily of the Valley, Orange Perfection Phlox and Grape Magic Daylilies. My morning glories and petunias are starting to sprout, yay, I have those started indoors. I also bought a Blue Crop Blueberry bush....Makenna loves blueberries so why not and the bush is suppose to look great in the fall. Mom is still planning our veggie garden, she ordered the tomato plants the other day and thinks she may work on assembling the bed this weekend. I know how old do I sound, gardening, cooking, vegetable gardens. Yesterday I also did a bit of raking and spread some grass seed. The grass never grew back last year along the sidewalk the city re-did. I bought a sun/shade mix and did some research about what grass varieties would grow best for the conditions, hopefully that one does a good job. The pond is totally unfrozen now, the fish are doing well and are starting to eat again (the colder it is the less they eat). I still need to fish (haha) the pond pump out and unclog it.

It was so nice out yesterday. After Makenna woke from her nap I took her outside to play on the swingset. She did a little of everything and a lot of sliding down her slide. Then we walked around for a bit and she pointed out the trees and leaves. Brent said he took her for a walk around the block the other day while I was out at the gym. He said she made it about half way before he picked her up!

As always I have lots of laundry calling my name!

Grape Magic....

Ohhhh doesn't it sounds loverrrly. Yes today I bought some Grape Magic from Homer De Pot...I know they ground is still frozen...so they are in the fridge out in the chapel....with the Orange Perfection Phlox, Lilly of the Valley, and Lady Ferns I bought last week at Walmart. I also got my hands on a can of Shade loving wildflower seed mix...for a couple of beds that I just want to have take care of themselves. Yes, I know I have major gardening problem. They are waiting though....come on SPRING!

Picture of said Grape Magic: It's a rebloomer too, I know you're jealous.....

This past weekend has been an eventful one. Brent's Dad drove up and arrived yesterday as there was a death in the family. Brent's cousin's son passed away Friday I believe. The funeral is Tuesday, Cathy is on her way to Champaign by plane right now (or more accurately stuck in Chi-town, when isn't a plane outside of O'hare delayed).

Tonight I made a Wild Rice Chicken Soup which was wonderful...straight from a Taste of Home Cookbook, that I had borrowed from the library. Really really good. I need to borrow some more...

Brent says being sick is exciting, or ohhhh I'm suppose to say how excited I am that he's sick, lol, yeah he has been sick all week so my empathy meter is almost on empty (I kid...a little bit).

I can't think of anything else.............

Comcast suuuuucks

Just in case anyone wanted my opinion of the recent comcast taking over insight. They suck, the website sucks, too much information EXCEPT they leave off the site exactly what you are looking for. The live chat doesn't work...you try to log in to see your information and "it isn't available at this moment" (it was yesterday), the channel lineup for the area is "not available but they are working on it". Oh and we got a postcard in the mail the other day with all of the price increases on it. Which means our bill is going up an extra $5 a month, not a huge deal I guess but we already spend $73 bucks month, $876 a year, and in fine print on the postcard, you have 30 days from the point of receiving the postcard to increase or decrease your service. After the 30 days you are charged "upgrade and downgrade fees", really. So I'm fed up, after the Internet problems many had in town while they were "converting" and price increases, the fees. We don't really watch tv much anyway so we are just going to go back to basic cable, that's it. Makenna gets PBS, we get the network and anything else we want to watch we'll watch online. We looked at satellite and that's not to say that someday we'll want more channels again and go the way of the cheaper than cable satellite but for a difference of $720 a year....I can watch less tv and finish some of the house projects, or garden, rent from redbox, or go to the video store or library. Really. Ok enough of my ranting.

On a lighter less anti corporate society bashing note: Makenna had her 18 month checkup yesterday! She was 33 inches tall (90% percentile) and 24lbs 13 oz (25% percentile) (Skinny minnie!). She had three shots...and won't need any more til she is 4 ( I think that's what the doctor said)! She returns for a wellness checkup when she is 2!

Last weekend it was really nice outside so Brent and I took down the Christmas lights (haha finally) and the rest of the Christmas decor. We put up some spring/Easter decor, hoping that it would keep more cold and snow away. IT DIDN'T WORK. We also played out side with Makenna, she used her swing and went down the slide a few times. We patched another squirrel hole (ANOTHER ONE), and I glazed some windows. We also pruned (with the chainsaw) the big huge bush, to about two feet off the ground (it is suppose to be a bush but grows ridiculously fast and was about 12 feet tall. Afterwards we went to Dos with Grandma Vicki and Uncle Chris.

Anyway, that's all for now, taaaaataaaa!

ps- I didn't take the above picture, I used it help me feel zen about the post.

The Big 6!

Happy Unofficial to everyone, we plan on NOT going down on campus this weekend.

Earlier this weekend Makenna and I went to a playgroup meetup at the mall, so she got to see some of the smaller kids and other moms! She had a good time once she spent some time there (she is quite shy).

I'm now 6 years old. I had a nice birthday, we celebrated for two days. I decided to go to Alexander's Steak House for dinner on Thursday b/c Mom wouldn't be able to celebrate on Friday due to her classes. It was goooood!! To celebrate I was given a couple of cards, gift cards, a new pair of shoes (whoohoo) and a new charm for my bracelet. Friday I went to the mall to do some shopping with those gift cards while Brent (he took the day off), did some last minute shopping for me. Not to mention we started off the day with some breakfast at Peep! Afterwards I had requested that we get some mini cakes from the Cake Artist Studio, Brent apparently had ordered me a cake the last time he was there! It was beautiful! (See picture above) For dinner last night we left it to Dominoes, ate some cake and candy, lots of really good for us stuff!

The weather is suppose to be really nice this weekend. We have nothing planned other than making a trip to the grocery store for some basics.

It's March people!

New pictures are up!