Life at WillisLand

Things are busy as usual.  All three girls are doing well in school.  Mitzi is busy with color guard and chorus perfomances.  She enjoyed the homecoming dance!

My Aunt Jenny passed away on September 20th.  We were glad to be able to make it up to Minnesota. We drove up Thursday the 24th and came home Sunday the 27th.  The girls had a blast and the weather was beautiful!  I met my Uncle Francis for the first time (he lives in Norfolk VA).  I got to do some antiquing in Crosby last Saturday.

Six surviving Jerry siblings. Bot: Aunt Mary, Dad, Uncle John. Top: Uncle Francis, Auntie Ellen, Aunt Marlene.

Cousin Veva, Marjorie, Cousin Kathy and Me (Jenny's Daughters)

Daniel Jerry Family

Having fun with the kids. Ernie, Evalynn, Kathy's Son Kyle, Kathy's Husband Barry, Kathy's Son Brady, Elizabeth and Michael

Lynn and Grandpa Jerry

Evalynn and Elizabeth

The one thing they remembered from our last MN trip.

With Marjorie and Ernie on the four wheelers

Elizabeth and Michael

Evalynn posing for pictures

Evalynn posing with the tractor

At Serpent Lake in Crosby

At Serpent Lake in Crosby

Michael and Evalynn at Serpent Lake in Crosby Elizabeth took picture

Michael and Elizabeth at Serpent Lake in Crosby Evalynn took picture

Michael and Evalynn at Serpent Lake in Crosby Elizabeth took picture

Wading in Serpent Lake

Grandma and Grandpa Jerry's new stone. Grandma's birthdate is wrong. Should be June 27, 1918

We took a few of Jenny's roses to the cemetary. Evalynn and Elizabeth placed them.

Uncle Billy's new stone with one of Jenny's roses.

So many birthdays! So little time!

Autumn’s first birthday was Saturday.  Who would of thought it would be so windy and cool for the end of August.  Her party was over at the park’s pavillion.

A pre-party nap

Lunch

Checking out her new gift from Grandma & PawPaw Willis

Opening presents

Autumn Walking

Cake time!

Evalynn and Elizabeths sixth birthday was Monday.  The girls decided to spend a day in Chicago instead of a party.  So, Mom & Dad surprised them with a visit to American Girl Place along with lunch at the American Girl Cafe.  They got to chose their doll (bitty twins).  We also went to the Lego and Disney stores.  Some of the pictures were taken with my cell phone, so they’re a bit small…

Hancock Building across the street

At the American Girl Cafe:

Birthday Cake…They had a couple friends over for pizza and cake…

Mitzi thought she would hide from the camera :)

Mitzi’s color guard team had their first non-parade performance at last Friday’s football game.  The girls were great!  Here is a picture of her in uniform…

Here are pictures of the dining room remodel…

It’s hard to believe school is starting this week!  It does not even seem that we had much of a summer.  Of course is begins to warm up just as school is about to start.

Lynn and Liz spent 6 weeks of the summer away from home.  They spent 3 weeks in June/early July in Wisconsin, we went to Chicago/Michigan the last week of July and then they spent another two weeks in Wisconsin.  Mitzi just got home yesterday from spending 8 days in Boston with Grandma Willis.  Michael and I spent most of the summer putting the house back together (the poor yard has suffered).

Most of the new dining room is done (still need to work on panelling around the header).  We moved the table and pantry over yesterday.  We spent today reorganizing the living room (moved the piano to where the dining room table used to be.  We still have bins to go through/send to storage.  Lynn and Liz’s bedroom got cleaned out.  I’ll post pictures when I get them off the camera.

We plan on expanding the kitchen out to the old dining room next year.

Can you believe that Autumn will be one in 13 days!  She is walking (when she wants to).  Evalynn and Elizabeth will be SIX in 15 days!

I’ll get off here…I’ll be back within the next few days with pictures.

I spent most of today (when taking weeding breaks) redoing a couple chairs that were carryover from the garage that we had sitting near our desks.

Before...

After...

I am working on going through other pictures…

We started moving into our new bedroom Saturday. After three long months of planning and hard work, we can now feel proud and enjoy the outcome.

We still have some clean-up and then we can start painting and move Mitzi up.

Here are the latest pictures…

As a refresher…this is a before picture…

South wall/garage door 

East wall

Now for the next phase.  The wall between the dining room and the old porch started coming down today.

We’ve been busy with the new bedroom, so I haven’t had much time on the computer…

The girls’ last full day of school is tomorrow…the year went quick.  Evalynn and Elizabeth will be doing two years of Kindergarten.  We are so glad that they’ve even had the opportunity for two years of Kindergarten.  They’ll get to start the year as teacher’s helpers.  Evalynn’s speech has improved quite a bit, especially since February.

We ended up giving Hal back to the shelter.  He was too protective of Michael and I and would growl at the girls if they came near us.  He didn’t have any problems with Autumn, but probably would when she gets older.

Mitzi and Ashley have joined the High School’s Color Guard team (they’re restarting the team after several years).   Mitzi had a great year…now for her Sophmore year!  She finished driving school a couple weeks ago.  She is not eligable for her license until her birthday (January).  In Illinois, they have to have their permit for nine months.

Dan, Ashley and Autumn are doing great.  Dan really lucked out on finding a job that has not laid off (he’ll have his “seasonal” layoff later in the year, but will go back).  Two of the places he interviewed with here has laid off close to half their employees…must have been a blessing that they did not hire him.

The bedroom is finally moving along.  The drywall phase lasted what seemed to be forever! We laid the floor last night.  We have some trim left to install and then we’re ready to move in!

Here are our new light fixtures.  The fan is above where our bed will be.  The track lights will be in the office area.  The closet light is a motion light.

Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel!

Dan and Ashley are heading to prom tonight.  Ashley borrowed the dress I wore for New Years Eve (looks much better on her).

Hal and Odie are tolerable of each other now…

I had a good Mother’s Day, probably one of the best!  We had all four kids, Ashley and Autumn here.

I love my camera! From the basket of Petunia's from Dan, Ashley & Autumn.

Getting so big! 

"I can drive this thing with my eyes closed!"

Happy Mother's Day!

Now for big news, Our family grew by four feet Saturday!  I’d like to introduce you to Hal (he already had the name and Michael likes it).  He is a Corgi-Basset mix and came from an animal rescue.  The poor guy is about a year old and we are his first family!  He is trying to learn the ropes here.  Odie is helping.  We had to teach Hal how to go up and down the stairs.  He loves the kids. Finally, we get a dog that loves to play fetch–if nobody will play with him, he’ll toss the ball and fetch it.  I wish I had him around last week when I was picking up sticks.  This guy will find the smallest stick!

Introducing Hal...

The three girls and Hal...He is one loved Dog!

He thinks he is hiding...He loves rolling in the grass!

Hal & Liz

Waiting patiently!

Should we tell him that lap dogs are typically smaller?

I just found out I passed my EMT-Intermediate exam.  Now I get to stalk the mailbox for my new license and to see what my score was!!! All the website said was “pass”.  Nine months of hard work finally paid off!