Turkey Day Weekend

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Jim's parents arrived. It was great to see them in our neck of the woods! They had not been here since the first October we were here, before we were married.

On Turkey Day morning we woke up bright and early to do the Naperville Turkey Trot. This is the 3rd year that we have participated in this 5k and it is a great way to start off Thanksgiving because you get your exercise in first thing and then you don't feel so guilty about stuffing yourself later. This year, instead of calling it the Turkey Trot, I have renamed the event Turkey Waddle. Being almost 8 months pregnant I think the new name fits. We walked the 3.12 miles but I was amazed by our time...the 4 of us did the walk in under 49 minutes Here are a few pictures of the fun...

This was Gwen and Regis' first 5k and they have expressed an interest to do more.

After the Turkey Waddle we ran home to put in the turkey. This was the first time that Jim and I have hosted Thanksgiving and I think it was a huge success! We had 9 people for the feast, me, Jim, Gwen, Regis, the Trelo's (John, Karen, Jack, and Mark), and cousin Joanne. Jack was the only Trelo that I was going to allow into the house because of what he was wearing...

...but I decided to let everyone in anyways. Jim and I provided the bird, the mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and the pies, but then everyone else contributed. It was delicious!!

On Friday evening we went to The Naperville Christmas parade and lighting ceremony. This has become a tradition for us along with the Turkey Trot. There is a cute hometown parade and then, once Santa has made his way through the parade route he flips the switch and all of Naperville's lights turn on at once.

One thing that was a bit odd about the parade is that there were 2 Santas...

This was quite confusing to the kids around us. The parade should only have 1 Santa! Hopefully they will not make this same mistake next year. Oh well...the reindeer and the dancing girls made up for it...

Lights of Naperville...

Freezing Floridians...

The rest of the weekend we relaxed and visited. Hopefully, fun was had by all. On Sunday we had our first real season. Gwen and Regis had not seen snow snow since they moved to Florida, about 5 years ago, so it was a treat for them to see. But the the happiest person of all about the snow was Chewy...

Next...off to Seattle for the weekend.

10 weeks to go

With 10 weeks left until our little arrival I though that I would finally post a belly picture...

Not to bad for 7.5 months along. I have seen many women MUCH bigger than me at this point in their pregnancy. I asked my doctor yesterday if I should be concerned at all that I am not bigger and he told me what I expected to hear. It is because I am tall. Since I am tall she has more room to manuver inside so, I am not as big onnthe outside.

Jim wanted to have a belly picture too...

He looks great for me being 7.5 months pregnant...no sympathy weight for him!

Here are a few pictures...

I hope every one has a safe and fun Thanksgiving!!

Abigail's Room

For those of you who don't know we have picked a name for our little girl well...we are almost 100% sure...Abigail Kalin Rogers (Abby)...spelling of Abigail under negotiation...

Over the last few months we have started working on her room. Her room was once my office and junk room but, it is definitely NOT anymore. I saw a room on Pottery Barn Kids and we have been trying to copy it. Here is a picture from Pottery Barn:

We were actually able to get the exact paint color. Pottery Barn uses Benjamin Moore paint but it is $45 per gallon. We were able go to Home Depot and get the paint for 1/2 of that...they didn't even need to color match. Home Depot amazingly has a record of all their competitors' paint formulas in their computer.

Our neighbors gave us their old white crib and then we have been VERY slowly getting other things. Here are a few pictures. The color does not quite look the same as the picture above. I took these picture in the late afternoon and the sun was not shining into the window.

Look at this great lamp, Jim picked it out...

As you can see we have a lot more work to do but it is a start.

Abby even has her own terrible towel...

We went our friends Bernie and Tony's house last weekend to watch the Steelers game and they had the towel for her. We already knew that she was a Steelers fan but this makes it official.

Happy Birthday Dad! We wish we were with you today, see you soon!!

Mom's October's Visit

My mom has visitied us in October ever since we moved to Naperville and this year was no exception. Unfortunately, I do not have vacation days left so mom was on her own a lot, but we made the most of the time that we had.

Mom came in on Thursday afternoon. Thursday night we relaxed at home. Friday I had to work so mom relaxed around the house and took Chewy on a long walk. When mom and Chewy got back from the walk she told me that I might want to grab a towel because Chewy was a bit wet. When I turned the corner with the towel I saw that Chewy was covered with HUNDREDS of seed pods and burrs. When I say hundreds I really mean it, no exaggerations. As soon as I saw him I though that we were going to have to get him shaved bald to get rid of all the burrs, but mom was very patient and she got most of them out. I wish I would have taken a picture but they were EVERYWHERE. It made Jim and I question whether or not we could leave her alone with her granddaughter...just joking mom.

Friday night we went out to dinner with our friend's Chris and Stacy to Jimmy's. It was one of the worst meals that we had ever had but...the company was nice.

Saturday, Mom and I got up and went to the Wheaten Saturday market. Mom and I went to this market the last time she was in town and I have been looking for an excuse to go back. This is a GREAT Saturday market. I wish Naperville's market was as big but Wheaten is not too far away.

Of course we had to stop at Starbucks before going to the market...

Look at all the pretty mums...

The market is so compact that it is hard to get a full picture of it.

Saturday afternoon mom, Jim, and I went to Keller's Farmstand.

Mom and I had been to Keller's before but at a different location. I like Keller's because they have a HUGE corn maze. Look at this thing...every year they have a different design.

We traded off navigating our way through, it took us about 45 min.

Fun pictures from Keller's:

Jim as my knight in shining armor...

Mom as a jester...

At Keller's we also picked out pumpkins. They had a few to choose from...just a few =)

After the pumpkin hunt we headed to the the Bavarian Lodge, the only German restaurant we know. Jim had the BEST meal of his life, just ask him.

On Sunday, Jim had 2 soccer games. While Jim was playing soccer mom and I went for a long walk through the prairie with Chewy. Interesting enough, Chewy came home with zero seed pods on him.

Sunday evening Jim made delicious home made pizza and we carved our pumpkins.

Mom always has the simplest desig but for some reason they always turn out the best. From left to right...mom's pumpkin, mine, and then Jim's.

Mom left first thing Monday morning. Mom and dad will be back for Christmas. Next visitors are Pop and Gwen for Thanksgiving.

Here is a picture of the Autumn Blaze Maple that we planted last year in full fall color...

Oktoberfest Pictures

Thanks to Manuela we have a few pictures from Oktoberfest, here they are.

Some of the decorations...

Below is a GREAT picture of the t-shirts that Frank and Manuela got us they read:

Oktoberbest 2008, Muenchen - USA, Jim Rogers

Frank and friend playing bags.

Next big party...St. Patrick's Day.

Oktoberfest

On Saturday we had our 3rd annual Oktoberfest. I can't believe that we have been in Chicago long enough to have a 3rd annual anything! We had a good showing of people from the neighborhood, Jim's work, my work, and other friends. I think and one point we had about 50 people here. We have had such good luck with the weather every year and this year was no exception...it was a gorgeous day with the temperature in the 80s. It was a long day we were up before 6 am to begin preparing the food and by the time our guests started to show-up we were already tired. The day was great though and and didn't go to bed until after midnight. Needless to say...we were exhausted on Sunday. Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures. Jim and I were both running around so much that we forgot to pick up a camera. Jim actually blames this on me because I was the pregnant sober one. Thank you to all of our friends who helped to make the 3rd annual Oktoberfest a success!

Next up...mom comes to visit this Thursday.

Surprise Visit

Last Saturday morning I woke-up to an email from my Aunt Ellen saying that she was coming to town for a visit along with my Aunt Ann and Grandma...they came to town on Tuesday. It was very fun to see them! During the day my family spent time re-discovering Aurora, IL. Aurora is where my family truly began. Aurora is where my grandparents went to high school, met, and fell in love...the rest is history. On Wednesday night my aunts, grandma, and cousin Joanne came to my house for dinner. Jim made a fabulous meal and we spent the evening catching up. This was also only the 3rd time that my grandma has been around Jim so that was nice for them to have tome to get to know each other more. Here is a picture from dinner:

Here is a picture of our fuzzy children...lazy lumps!