Camp Erin

I had the privilege of having a slumber party with two very precious little girls this week. I refer to it as "Camp Erin" because I told their Mom that she could send her girls to Camp Erin anytime she needed a break .. between now and when I have to go back to school. 

Peyton, the oldest of the two, is Robert's Goddaughter. He loved this girl as if she were his own and he spent countless hours with her and her parents before moving to Decatur. In fact, we had just begun talking for the first time about a month before she was born. He was so proud to share that he would be a Godfather very soon, and he did send me a picture of him holding her the day she was born.  He was just SO proud!  Peyton was going to be the flower girl in our wedding .... white dress, cowboy boots, and all. 

Robert was only able to meet sweet Sawyer one time. One weekend while visiting Robert's family, we stopped by to see John, Katie, and the girls on the way back to meet sweet, sweet Sawyer.  I still kick myself that I didn't capture a picture of the moment they met. He instantly fell in love and was so proud of her too. He would repeatedly say that "when these girls start dating ... I WILL be sitting with their Dad on the front porch cleaning my gun when that sorry boy comes to pick them up ..."  oh my! 

Because of the bond with these two ladies and their parents, I feel like I owe it to Robert to keep a close relationship. I love this little family so much, and I'm so grateful that they accept me as one of their own.

Back to the slumber party, I picked up the girls Tuesday night for a slumber party. Peyton was OH SO excited to swim!  We stopped by the store on the way home to grab their favorite for dinner .... fried chicken!  Went over so well! 

Sawyer and Peyton enjoying dinner

Sawyer is such a sweetheart and proceeds to tell everyone in the store "Hi".  She's such a social butterfly and just so, so sweet. 

After dinner, we got in the pool for a while with my Mom and just had a blast. Came in for a quick snack of chocolate cake and ice cream ... then it was time for baths and bed.  I was a little worried about bedtime since the girls had never stayed over here before, but they did fantastic.  We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ... and fell asleep.  Peyton did tell me "I miss my Mom a little bit" before going to sleep. 

Two sleeping beauties!

The next morning consisted of cinnamon rolls for breakfast, playing with fun toys, and going to Walmart to buy some water wings for Peyton.  Luckily they had pink mermaids ,so she loved them! 

Enjoying her breakfast

LOVES these toys from when I was a kid

Sweet Sawyer

After lunch of peanut butter and jelly, chips, and watermelon ... it was time to swim again!  I lathered these beauties up with lots of sunblock and we were off to the pool. 

Having a blast

They were sooo much fun swimming!  Sawyer started to get tired, so she layed down for a nap out on the porch in the shade and I had some one on one time with the adorable Peyton.  She was full of advice for me. Here's our conversation:
P: Erin, how old are you?
Me: 27 .. almost 28
P: Well, don't you think its about time for you to get married?
Me: I guess. I was going to marry Bobbo (what she calls Robert)
P: You can't marry Bobbo anymore because he's dead.  It looks like you'll have to find another man.  There's lots of men in this town.  You can't marry my Dad because he's married .. and you can't marry (another guy she knows) because he's not a husband .. but he's a boyfriend.  But, Erin .. there's lots of other men.

What great advice from an almost 5 year old! ha! 

These two were wore out .. and both slept all the way in the car to go meet their Mom and Dad.  I had a blast with them ...and hope to do it again sometime soon!  

I definitely felt Robert's presence the whole time they were here. I love having these little reminders of such an amazing man that's watching over all of us! 

Thanks again, John and Katie, for letting me spend some time with your precious and sweet girls!  <3

Celebrating a Wonderful Man

Since I met Robert, I always heard about his epic birthday parties in his Mom's backyard. I was only lucky enough to experience one party with him and boy, did I regret that party before the end of the night ... and almost all of the next day. I definitely drank was served tooo much!!  

Last year, his brothers decided to continue this tradition of getting everyone together for his birthday. What a great way to gather everyone together to drink, talk, and reminisce about a very special man. It was definitely a good time! 

Here's a few of my favorite pics from last year: 

This past weekend, we had our second annual memorial birthday party for him.  It's so fun to gather with these people all in one place.  There's some that I don't get to see too often, so I love having the chance to visit and catch up. 

Amy, T, and I headed over early in the afternoon to spend some extra time with Laury and the boys as well as my bro, SIL, and niece.  Adam and Jamie also brought their precious little girls over to hang out for a bit as well.  We started our party early! 

3 year old photography skills ....

Playing roller coaster

We decided to make a tradition of going to Gross Burger. It's an amazing hometown burger joint over there that I would highly recommend you visit!  There's nothing like their garlic salt on the fries ... yumm! We may have been slightly tardy back to the party, but it turned out just fine.  

Here's the pics I captured with my phone:

Sweet P and Roxy .. Roxy strongly dislikes LOVES kids! 

N and precious Brynzlee

Adorable S

Here's a few more courtesy of my awesome sister and her camera! 

<3 this RoCo fam more than words can say

 T ended up turning into the life of the party before we left. I may or may not have some incriminating videos of him on my phone ... 

It turned out to be such a fun evening with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came!

Girl Time

Yesterday was full of spending time with some great girls! 

I had lunch and a pool date with Chrissy. I love getting to spend time with her to catch up during the summer because I'm used to seeing her everyday during the school year. We never seem to run out of things to talk about! :) 

Last night, I met up with three girls I graduated from high school with for dinner and to go see Rosetta Stone (the band that played my brother and SIL's wedding reception). This night was full of reminiscing, drinks, laughter, and singing.  We spent quite a bit of time reliving old memories since this is the first time we've all been together since probably high school.  Hard to believe that was 9 years ago!! 

Rosetta Stone at Fletcher Park

"It's just like Senior Trip" 

 

 This was such a good way for me to spend Robert's birthday. He'd be proud to know I went out and had some fun.

Here's a short video of the concert.  They're SOO good! 

**Don't mind the shout-out Denise was giving to my SIL :)  

Happy Friday!! 

Birthday Wishes

Today I'm sending birthday love and wishes to a very special angel. 

 This sweet and handsome man is celebrating his 27th birthday in Heaven!

Happy Birthday Robert! I love you like crazy and miss you even more!

<3

What a Week!

It's hard to believe that it's already July .. and almost mid July at that.  This past week seemed to fly by.  Here's a recap:

Sunday -  My mom, brother, sister-in-law, niece, 4 dogs, and I piled in the van to head to my Grandma's house. Baby Bryn was making her first visit to Grandma B's. 

Here's a few pictures from the car ride.

 What a great visit! Quite a few other family members came over to visit and eat some wonderful food. We all know Grandma is a great cook! Unfortunately, the only pictures I captured were of my cousins .. 

Another fun thing to do at Grandma's ... go through old pictures. I just love looking through her picture books over and over.  I found this beauty! 

Cute Roe kiddos

Sunday evening brought the fireworks that were rained out on Saturday.  Ended up being my only fireworks to see this year.

Great Job Maroa!

 Monday - My brother and sister-in-law came over to spend the day with Mom and I. Extra time with Brynzlee is always a plus. I hadn't seen her in a month and couldn't believe how much she's grown. She was extra smiley and I enjoyed every moment! 

Tuesday - My Mom and I did a little shopping in Springfield, and that evening my nephews had their last ball games. My Mom and I went to watch them play, and I didn't get any pictures!  Here's some of them earlier in the season though ..

Love watching my boys play sports!

My oldest nephew decided he wanted to stay the night with us Tuesday night. He hadn't stayed over here in quite some time.

So Wednesday, I hung out with Dylan most of the day. It's so much fun to have some one on one time with the boys. Wednesday night brought my brother, sister-in-law, baby B, my sister and her fiance here for the night.  Talk about a house full.  We stayed up late waiting on my sis to get home... So good to see her! 

Thursday was the 4th!  What a fun day! I was so lucky for Laury, Doug, and Chelsea to head over and celebrate with my family!  It's so much fun to get everyone together! 
Here's a few pictures .. 

How Patriotic!

Family Fun!

Too bad I didn't capture all of the family that was here.  Next time, I'll do a much better job!  My entire immediate family (plus some) were able to spend some quality time together.  There's nothing better than family!  I say that over and over, but it rings so true! Unfortunately, Amy and Ty had to head back home Thursday night because of Ty's job ... boo! 

Friday brought another hang out day with N, K, and Baby B!  This called for more photo opps! 

The many faces of Bryn from the week ..

I'm not proud of her at all ... can you tell?

Saturday - We celebrated Dylan's birthday.  Can't believe this baby boy is about to turn 12! It just seems like yesterday we were all so very excited for his arrival! 

 

Getting in their snuggles before going home

After the party, everyone left .. and it was back to an empty house.  This called for some relaxation and a nap!  What a fun week spending time with family... but it sure was exhausting! 

P had to try out the swing with baby B left ...

Here's to enjoying the next 5 weeks of summer .... it sure is flying by!!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Okay, so maybe the doctor didn't really order me to pay a visit to Tilton, but it sure was exactly what I needed. 

Yesterday, I ventured to Tilton (and Georgetown) to visit many dear family and friends that I just don't get to see too often. I decided I was going to kidnap Laury for the day and take her to visit some other friends and family.  What a blast! 

First stop - Adam and Jamie's

I hadn't seen them since February .. and let me tell you that is WAYY too long!  What a great time catching up with both the adults and the precious kiddos. Little, sassy A knows exactly how to tug at my heart strings. When I walked in, she seemed so excited, so I grabbed her for a hug. She instantly remembered my name. No too long after sitting down, she comes up right next to me and asks, "where's Bobbo?" ... What a sweetheart!  It amazes me that she remembers exactly how she knows me .. through one heck-of-an amazing guy!  I told her he was in Heaven, and she was just fine with that answer.  She went on to look through pictures of my phone and laugh at some of the silly ones I have of her Bobbo.  I enjoy so much joining in helping these little ones to remember the one and only Bobbo. 

I tried to get this little girl to take a cute picture with me, but she was so FULL of energy and sassy-ness.. which is exactly why I love her! 

The many faces of precious little A! 

Rockin' the shades!

 This precious girl has also just recently became a big sister to a completely adorable baby R!  R is simply precious.  She looks just like a perfect little baby doll, and I enjoyed every minute of cuddling with her.  There's nothing better than holding a brand new baby! Congrats Adam and Jamie on another precious little girl!  Let's just hope she gets some sass as well. (I may or may not take credit for the first one...)

Little precious and perfect R! 

 I wanted to meet up with Katie as well, and she was able to bring her girls over to Jamie's too. We were all able to spend a few hours all together catching up, and it was fantastic! Adam also got home from work while we were there, so I was able to spend some time with him too.  So awesome to see everyone again.. and discuss the chocolate milk incident yet again! :)

Katie, Precious S, Baby R, and I

I'm not sure how we never got a picture of Katie's oldest, sweet P, while she was there. She was having too much fun playing with all the toys. Now, Sweet P, also has a way of tugging at my heart strings.  She was SOOO excited to see my car when they pulled up, that she just walked into the house (without knocking) walked right up to me and gave me a HUGE hug.  This girl is extra special as well.  She is Robert's God-daughter and was going to be the flower girl in our wedding. I can't explain the amount of love I have for these previous little girls! It's soo touching to me that they can go so long without seeing me, but don't forget about me.  

After the visit, Laury and I headed back to her house for a bit to spend some time with Doug. He just loves every minute he gets to spend with me. There's nothing better than having a little brother to pick on, and I had to wait an awful long time to gain 2 little brothers!! 

Laury, Doug, Jake, Melissa, and I all headed up to watch Sweet P play t-ball coached by her Dad. There's nothing more fun than watching theses teeny little kids playing ball. It was like a whole team of kinders and brings me back to missing my kiddos from school.  There were "zombies" in the dugout, dirt being thrown, kiddos sitting on the bases, and sitting in the dirt. Amazing! 

What a baller! 

After the game, we stood around and talked for a bit.  It was so nice to see everyone together, and I could feel Robert right there with us. Sweet P asked her mom if they could take me home with them. Just another tug at my heart strings!  I would take her home with me if I could!!  We discussed setting up another date for them to head this way and go to the zoo.  Sounds like a fun day! 

We headed back to Laury's and I had to hang out there for a bit to wait out the storm. 

Didn't really want to drive through this...

I know I say this over and over (AND over), but I just enjoy each and every minute with Laury.  I am SO lucky to have someone like her who is more than a mother-in-law to me. I consider her a very near and dear friend. I'd spend much more time with her if we were closer. 

Heading home last night brought back the tears.  Usually it's tears of missing Robert. There were many trips home from there that brought me to tears, sometimes so much that I had to pull of the road for a bit.  Last night, the tears were different.  I felt Robert with me every step of the day yesterday. I feel like I'm making strides, and it doesn't make me sad to be over there anymore.  It just makes me grateful!  Grateful for the life-long love and friendship I have with these special people!  Through my tears I was thanking Robert for all of it.  Without him, I wouldn't have any of them! 

I Survived...

....almost a whole entire week at home alone!

My Mom took my Grandma and Aunt with her on an excursion to go visit my Uncle in Atlanta. This was the first time that my Grandma has been down to see his house, and they were so excited for the trip. I would've loved to go, but this was my very last week of school. There was no possible way I could join them. I was forced to stay home by myself (with 2 pooches) for a whole week....

I know what you're thinking... most 27 (almost 28) year olds should be able to spend time at home alone without any hesitation; however, for me, this was the longest time I've been alone since losing Robert.  Thanks to my amazing family and friends, I haven't had to spend much time alone in the past year. 

One thing I learned this week was... even though it's been a whole year, I'm not quite emotionally stable enough to spend that much time alone. Now, I know I could've reached out to friends here in town to spend time with after work, but the last week of work is quite busy and most nights I just wanted to be home. To top it off, I also developed some sort of sinus infection throughout the week, so I wasn't sleeping well and seemed to be exhausted at the end of the work day. 

Here's some pictures of what I kept myself busy with this week:

Last weekend, Jen came to visit. We went and met Courtney for lunch in Champaign, did some shopping
 

If you know me, you know I didn't buy these ... but had to try them on ...

and she helped me make these for my kiddos:
 

I'll sure miss this precious class!

 The fantastic pool that I was so proud of had way to many leaks to fix.  So... I took it down .... 

And put it in the truck.......

 

Goodbye pool with 17+ holes!

There was a lot of lounging time .... 
 

<3 these boys

The water heater wasn't working, so Harrison came to save the day and light the pilot light and showed me how to do it, so in the future .. I'm ON it!  

and I ended the week with putting up the NEW pool (mostly by myself)..... 

I was so happy to see my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt make it home!  To top that off, Laury showed up for a surprise visit yesterday and made my day!!!  I'm so grateful for her. What an amazing lady that I'm so proud to forever call my mother-in-law!  

 It was definitely a long lonely week, but, I made it, and I'm proud to say I was able to take just another step forward ... It's been a long road, and I know there's still farther to go, but I'll keep chugging along... 

ONE teacher work day tomorrow separates me from Summer 2013!!  Now, that there's a working pool full of water, I'm more than ready! 

This pool and I have many summer dates scheduled!

 Happy Summer!!