King's Island

This brought back a lot of fun memories of our many trips to King's Island as a kid! We've definitely grown up a lot since then because the park seemed a lot smaller than what we remembered. The biggest change, though, was having a child of my own to watch on the rides! It was so amazing to see Allie overcome her fears and then to watch her be so proud of herself afterwards!! Her first ride was on the merry-go-round and she was quite hesitant to get on (or stay on). Then we were off to the helicopters and when she got off of this ride she proudly yelled, "I did it" and was smiling from ear to ear. Her first few rides were with one of us, but by the end of the day she was riding on her own.





Then we headed to Howl -o- Fest where Allie got to walk through a hay bale maze, pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and color it and one for Avery too.


At 7:00 the scary stuff started coming out and the fog was on full blast. We could hardly see where we were going! My Mom and Dad took Allie and Avery and headed home while the rest of us stayed and were ready to have a fun night! Our first stop was to ride Invertigo and while we were in line we were deciding on what we thought would be the most fun of the haunted areas to go through. Just as we were getting ready to get on the ride we get a phone call.......my parents have no way of getting in the house! So we ride the rollercoaster and then head home, which may have been a good thing because after that ride I was extremely dizzy and just did not feel good at all (hence the name). I was even still dizzy the next day! It was still a lot of fun though.

SLEEP

Just another half hour....that's all I ask! Why is it that when you have two kids they can never sleep at the same time?! I thought for sure Allie would sleep in this morning since she had the privilege to stay up late last night to watch her Daddy's soccer game. But, no, she woke up at her usual time. Fortunately, Derek was still here this morning and got her back to bed, but then Avery wakes up. I try and try to get her back to sleep for just another 3o minutes of shut eye and then......"Mommy, Hello....anybody here" ...Allie is up (just 20 minutes after Derek put her back to bed)! I go and get her, come back to get Avery and wouldn't you know she's back asleep.

Oh Charlotte!

Yesterday was an overcast, dreary, wet day. So, we had a lazy day and spent it indoors (except for later in the evening when Allie and I had our one on one time and we went puddle jumping!). After our nap we decided to color and watch "Charlotte's Web." Allie was really paying attention to it, which surprised me because it's the newer version that isn't animated. I think she was fascinated with the animals talking or something. Anyway, after Allie and I came in last night from puddle jumping we decided that we would go downstairs and get out our Halloween stuff. While Derek was getting the bin out Allie was playing with her toys. Avery and I were over with her just watching her. She goes to get a toy out of her toy bin and says, " Oh, Charlotte!!" I went over and looked and there was a huge spider in the bottom of the bin! (yes, it was dead...Derek just bombed the house for spiders while we were gone) I was just taken aback because I hadn't realized that Allie had made that connection.

While we were going through our Halloween stuff we came across the Allie the Alligator costume that Allie wore when she was a baby. I held it up to Avery to see if she might be able to wear it this year. I thought it looked a little big, but Derek thinks it will fit her. Then Derek holds it up to Allie and says he thinks it will fit her too!


Allie at 4 Months

Our Week In Lafayette

Allie, Avery and I headed to Lafayette last Friday to stay for the week. Our main reasons for going were to attend baby showers. My cousin, Ashley, is due November 6th and I couldn't miss that......we were like sisters growing up! I can't wait to meet her little boy! Our family is expanding so fast....with a baby girl due in a couple of weeks and another baby girl due in January!! Then I also went to Melissa's shower, one of my friends from high school. She's having a little boy, Jack, in December. It was good to see her and her mom, Katrina and her adorable baby girl, Paige (looking so cute in her Colts outfit)!

Our week was soooooo busy. We hung out with GG for a few days and the rest of the days we spent shopping with my Mom. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but I couldn't pass up the shopping since it's almost impossible to do with 2 kids alone. One day while we were shopping at Target we saw a crowd around one of the check out lanes. So, I went down there and standing there at the register was Robin Williams. I started to walk back to get my Mom's phone so I could take a picture and as I left them Allie started crying for me. My mom told her I was going to go see a movie star and that I'd be right back. Well, she wanted to see the movie star and was whining about it so they headed over too. As we were walking over there he was done checking out and looked like he was getting ready to leave. So I just said oh well and we turned around to head out. Then he passes us........Allie is still whining about seeing the movie star. So, we catch up to him and my Mom says to him, "She's crying because she wants to see the movie star." Robin Williams says, "Oh, well she's not even old enough to know who this movie star is." He wasn't very friendly so we just walked away! I can sort of understand since everyone was swarming around him and he probably never gets a break, but still.......a cute, crying little girl!! Anyway, I guess he was in town for a performance at Purdue. I read in the paper the next morning that he told the audience immediately to "remember this moment the old fashioned way....in your memory." He didn't want any pictures taken and to end up on Facebook or MySpace.

I know this is probably boring, especially without pictures (I didn't take any this time).
But this week was fun, exhausting and lonely (w/o Derek)........but mostly fun!!

Happy Birthday, Derek!!!

I know you say it's just another day, but if it wasn't for that day 26 years ago then I wouldn't have the best husband in the world with two beautiful daughters! I feel so bad being away from you on your birthday for the 3rd year in a row! All three of your girls want to be there to celebrate with you and let you know what an amazing husband and father you are (as I don't show or let you know enough). You really are the BEST. We never have to worry about anything because we know you are here to protect us, guide us, and provide for us. I know things are hectic now with school, a new baby and a toddler running around, but you still manage to take the time to help around the house and play with Allie and Avery. You're always there to help anyone when they need it. You're patient and thoughtful (still open the car door for me after 8 years!) You have a great sense of humor and know how to make me laugh. We've missed you this week and can't wait to see you in a few days. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Have a great day and good luck in your soccer game tonight!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream....

FOR ICE CREAM!!!!!!!

Saturday we went to Young's Jersey Dairy....again. Our excuse was to take Allie to see the animals for "A Wool Gathering." Really, though, we wanted some more of their awesome ice cream! We ordered the COW's TROUGH because we were starving (there was a 60 minute wait at the restaurant there) so we decided to split this. It was massive......but we devoured it! Their ice cream is homemade and the peanut butter ice cream is to die for (so is their peanut butter sauce)!! Little did we know, whenever anyone orders this they ring a big cow bell!!!! Afterwards we weren't hungry but we already had our name in at the restaurant and we've heard it's really good so we went ahead and split a meal. It was really good .... a lot like Eckert's for those of you that have been there with us in Illinois. If anyone comes to visit, we'll have to take you there... especially for the ice cream!

Smarty-Pants

Allie's Vocab

Allie is starting to say more and more and sometimes we're so amazed by the things that she'll say. She has started calling us Mom and Dad instead of Mommy and Daddy and every once in a while she'll call us Derek and Brooke. That was cute at first, but now we have to be sure and ignore her when she calls us by our names! Every morning when she wakes up and I go and get her from her room she says Good Morning in a cheerful little voice. One thing that she's started doing recently, which I LOVE, is saying "I love you Mom" out of the blue. She also started singing Rock A Bye Baby and it's adorable when she sings it! She is saying so many things and the things she has been saying for a while are getting a lot clearer for others to understand. I think a lot of words she says are clear, but realize they aren't so much when other people are trying to understand her. We're very proud of her and get excited when she says something new. She's growing up so fast!

Huber Happenings

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted. We've been super busy and, on top of that, I think the lack of sleep has kept me from posting. Well, this weekend was exhausting...but tons of fun. Derek's Mom and Dad, Kevin, Tami, Abby and Kaiya all came to visit!!

Friday they all went to the Air Force Museum while I took Avery to her 1 month Dr's visit. Everything went well and she's already at 8 lbs even. I also got my blood pressure checked and everything looked fine there. Saturday started off bad for me (I only got 4 hours of sleep b/c Avery was up most of the night), but we did go to the Beavercreek Heritage Days Festival and the girls were able to make rag dolls and a top. After that we headed to the lake and I rode the waverunners for the first time since we had them! It was a ton of fun.

Sunday was Avery's blessing. She looked so cute in her dress and Derek did an awesome job!

She was blessed to:

• have a knowledge of Heavenly Father


• have a sharp mind to discern right from wrong


• build a strong testimony and be able to enter the temple one day


• follow the Spirit


• continue to make decisions of righteousness to bring happiness and joy to life

She is an amazing little girl and was quiet the whole time, she looked as if she was glowing afterwards. Joining Derek in the circle were his Dad, Kevin, his friends Abe and Sheldon, and the Bishopric.

After church we headed outside and found ourselves in 60 + mph winds. On our way home small tree branches and leaves were flying around everywhere......stop lights were out and blowing back and forth like crazy. Traffic was backed up for miles because of this so we took a back way home, which probably got us home faster but there were tons of trees down along the road. Once we finally got home we found our neighbors chairs in our yard, our gazebo torn into pieces and Allie's swingset was also apart. We were fortunate not to have had more damage than what we did have and we were also still with power while most of the neighborhood (and all of Ohio for that matter) were without! Kevin and Tami were traveling back to Chicago through all of this mess and were very blessed to make it home safely, but they ran into some obstacles along the way!

Shedd Aquarium & Kaiya's Blessing

Last weekend we headed to Chicago for Kaiya's blessing. We spent Friday at the John G. Shedd Aquarium so Allie could see the fish. Later, Kevin met up with us for a late lunch at Gino's and had Chicago style pizza. Then that evening Derek's Mom and Dad arrived and we spent the evening visiting. The next day I was exhausted so I slept a lot, but we did go to a Corn Roast (which was delicious) and played cornhole and horseshoes.......that evening Tami's family came over and we all played Pop 5 (I think that's what it's called) which was a lot of fun! Sunday was Kaiya's blessing. It was really nice and Kevin did a great job. After that we headed to Indiana for a reunion on my Dad's side, but we got back an hour too late. We were able to visit with some family though, which was nice.