15 month stats

Claire went to the doctor on Monday. She weighed 24 pounds 4 ounces (75%) and was 33 inches long (OFF THE CHARTS!) She got two shots and doesn't get any more until Kindergarten!

We survived!

Claire, Congo, Rally the cows and I survived a whole week without Trever home! I know it's hard to believe, but the cows got fed twice every day and the house didn't burn down. It also didn't sell while he was gone which is a bummer.

Claire and I kept ourselves fairly busy while daddy was away. Monday night we cleaned the house (not that you could tell by Tuesday morning) and worked on accounting for Black Nugget Farms. Tuesday was an early day. We left the house a little before 7 and stopped by the Voelker's house to drop of a couple of bugs that we collected for Graysen. Then Claire and I head to Farmer City where we met Grandma Marge. Claire spent the day with Grandma and helped take lunch to the field.

Tuesday night we surprised our friend Amy. When she got home from class Claire, Marla and I were there cleaning her house! Amy and Ryan are expecting their first baby on September 29th and we can't wait!

I don't remember what we did on Wednesday. Oh yeah, we skyped with daddy in Texas! He had a later night than usual and Claire had an earlier night than usual so we didn't talk long. Claire was pretty excited to see her daddy though!

Thursday was another long day. I dropped Claire off at Miss Mary's house at 7 and headed for Farmer City. Then I headed toward Danville to scout fields. I got back to FC and towed a belt back to Piper for a grower. Then I had a church meeting at 5 and a meeting at the Extension Office at 6:30. I didn't pick Claire up until 8:30! That was a long day at Miss Mary's house, but we're awfully glad she was willing to help us out!

Friday was our last day of chores before daddy could take over again. We kept track of his airplane on the internet and couldn't wait for him to get home! Before he got home we tossed Claire in the bathtub...

And Congo joined her! He LOVES the bathtub! Then we put on daddy's favorite jam jams...

And Claire was soooo tired. But she stayed awake until daddy got home!!! She was sooo excited to see him!

Yesterday we went to the Illini football game. Kickoff was during nap time and Claire finally passed out in the 3rd quarter! After that she was a much better football fan!

Today Claire went on her very first tractor ride! Being the product of two farming families, I can't belive it took 15 1/2 months to get her in a tractor! I didn't get to ride along, but I hear that the tractor ride went much better than the ride in the combine with Papa Greg.

Then mommy played photographer for a while. She wasn't the happiest camper but I got a few cute ones.

The next few weeks are fairly empty on the calendar but between harvest and Trever starting a new job, we might have our hands full!

Claire's first ponytail

15 months

It's been a few weeks since I last posted anything and, as usual, we've got plenty to tell about. The last weekend in August is always the Builta reunion. Claire wasn't the baby of the group this year, but she had a ton of fun! Daddy spent a lot of time chasing her through the playground.
And, then mommy chased her some more trying to get some pictures! She loves the little hamster tunnels!

Later that week, Trever spent his final day at Select Exotics and accepted a position with Family Heritage.

We spent Labor Day weekend together and simply enjoyed being together as a family. On Saturday we went to Chenoa and took in our first Mighty Mites game. I enjoyed putting on my "big" lense and trying my hand at some sports photography.

Shelbie is my little sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and she cheers for the GCMS Mighty Mites team.

This is my favorite picture of Graham since my battery died in the first half!


This is my favorite picture from the day. This little guy is a friend of the Voelkers and Michael was pestering him from the sidelines.
Sunday we headed to church. After church and naps we headed to a cookout at our friends house just north of Piper. It was a great chance to visit with people in our community and we are so appreciative of the invite.

On Monday we took a shopping trip to Arcola, Tuscola and Champaign. We literally shopped till we dropped but we got Trever some new things for his new job!

Tuesday moning Trever headed for Chicagoland for licensing training. He had a few chalenges with the traffic but after 2 days of class and 4 tests he is officially eligible to sell insurance in the State of Illinois!

In the meantime, a nasty stomach bug hit our house. Claire woke up sick Tuesday morning. Luckily, Gammy came over to help with Claire so I could get some work done. She was feeling much better by the end of the day. We went back to the sitters & work on Wednesday but by Wednesday night it had hit me too. Thankfully, Trever was home Wednesday night to study and could take care of Claire while I slept on the bathroom floor! He made it through his tests on Thursday but the bug found him by bedtime that night. Unfortunately he wasn't able to slow down too much so it lingered with him a while longer. We've all been upright for a couple of days now so hopefully it stays away.

Yesterday Claire turned 15 months old! We tried to get some pictures before we headed to Champaign for the day but were only successful with this one.

We had a baby shower for Radebaby yesterday at El Toro in Champaign. I didn't take any pictures but I hope to get a few from the others in attendance. We stopped to see Grandma & Grandpa at the tailgate but decided to skip the game. I was in bed asleep before the game was even over!

This morning Trever taught Sunday school and then we tried to get our 15 month bear pictures. Attempt 1...


Attempt 17...short 1 shoe.

I took a lot more than that, but those are the best I got!

Then we went and helped daddy in the barn. Before he left for the week he got all of the feed ready so that Claire and I can handle chores without him. Claire really wanted to help!

She even figured out how to turn the water on. She LOVES water.
And she pet the heifers. I wish mommy was as confident with the cows as Claire is!

And Trever left about 12:30 for the airport. He will be in Dallas until Friday for Sales School. It sounds like he has a pretty action packed week ahead of him and we sure hope he has time to call home before midnight! Claire and I are off to a pretty good start to our week! Only 9 more chores until Daddy gets home!

He just texted me that he's boarding in Chicago. Next stop St. Louis!

Claire's first Quad Tour

We took Claire on her first tour of the U of I quad today. She got her picture taken at the Alma Mater!

Then some strangers (Kara & Jake) thought we really needed to take a family picture.

Then we headed to Cold Stone Creamery where we treated Kara & Jake to some yummy ice cream!

Claire's first demo derby

A couple of weeks ago we found out that our friend Tony was going to be in the demo derby at the Fairbury fair. We happened to be free that night so we of course we took them up on the invitation to come watch. We got there with just enough time to check out the Fairbury Fair before the demo started.

Claire with Mr. Tony's car in the background. He was the red and blue #13.

Claire and daddy with her checkered flag. They passed these out too all of the kids in the stands.

Mr. Tony with his trophy. Not really sure why since he got last place, but he got his entry fee back and a trophy to go with it!

I don't think we'll be frequenting the demo derby scene, but it was a lot of fun to have someone to cheer for!

14 months

Time is flying by. We've done lots of things since my last blog entry but we haven't taken many pictures.



A few weeks ago we gave Claire her first ear of sweet corn and she LOVED it! She hates to wait for it to cool off and sometimes calls it a banana. We made a trip to the McLean County fair last weekend and picked up an ear of corn at the Pork Producers booth. It kept her entertained for over an hour!


Yesterday Claire turned 14 months old. She becomes more independent everyday and has developed quite the attitude. Since she wouldn't cooperate for the pictures, we decided to replace her with someone who doesn't throw fits and is potty trained!

We really didn't get a very good picture of Claire with the bear. She has figured out that she can see herself in the back of the camera. So, as soon as she sees the camera she yelss "MAMA" and takes off running toward me to see the picture in the back of the camera.

At 14 months Claire...

• throwssome serious fits
• likes to help daddy do chores
• carries Congo around upside down
• climbs on everything
• knows the signs for more, please, thank you, and all done
• says quite a few words like more, thank you, puppy, I, mama, dada, papa, Mamaw, nana (banana), Melmo (Elmo), and a lot of others that I can't think of right now.knows what cows, sheep, chicken, snakes, bees, monkeys, donkeys, horses, ducks, and pigs say (everybody knows pigs say LaLaLa right?)
• Knows what outside means and you better mean it when you say it.
• isn't one bit afraid of cows or pigs charging out her down the aisle in the barn, but is terrified of sleeping pigs.
• LOVES brushing her teeth
• has 9 teeth and a few more on the verge of poking through
• Folds her hands when we say prayers

I"m sure there are many other things that I'm missing. I'll try to be better about catching the every day things and post a little more often. But for now, I need to pack for vacation. That's right, we're headed to the State Fair!