Happy 27th birthday to my hubby!

Happy 27th birthday to my best friend and husband of almost 7 years, Robert L. (middle name kept secret, haha) Oakley. You are a wonderful hubby and an awesome father! I couldn't do it with out you Rob! I love you very much, and I hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you! I'll be joining you in exactly 2 weeks in turning 27!

Love ya!
Kimmy

Merry Christmas from the Oakley Family to yours!

I wanted to take this time (the last time I will probably have on the computer till after Christmas) to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. This has been such an exciting and wonderful year for my family, and I hope yours too! I can't wait to see Luke on Christmas morning wake up to what Santa has brought, but we should always remember and teach our children the real reason for Christmas. Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and to give us everlasting life. God Bless everyone, and once again Merry Christmas from the Oakley family!


Love,


The Oakley's

Birthdays, Birthdays, everywhere!

A lot has been going on since Thanksgiving in my family as always! On November 29th my dad turned 60 years old! We had a very nice party for him, but kept it low key because that is how he wanted it. A very happy 60th to my dad, and my hero Stephen Arthur Edgcomb and MANY more! Love you Dad!

On December 9th we had another birthday in our family. My sister Melissa celebrated another year! Thanks for being my sister and one of my best friends too! I love you! Happy Birthday to Melissa Noelle Snider, and MANY more!

And yes, we celebrated yet another on December 11th! My big brother Adam turned the big 29! Now he is "pushing 30" haha. Thanks for being a cool big brother and friend! Happy Birthday to Adam William Edgcomb and MANY more!

We will start another round right after Christmas! My husband Rob on December 29th, My niece Ellen January 7th, Me on January 12th and mom on the 23rd!

Baby Elle Boutique!

Hand knit toddler and child scarves are sure to be a great stocking stuffer!

Are you looking for a unique handmade gift for the special little Princess in your life? Well look no further than Baby Elle Boutique! My sister Melissa makes lovely handmade dresses, headbands, and there are also adorable hand knit scarves for your little one! She would love to have you come take a look, she also does special orders! Stop in and see for yourself how adorable her items are! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5982923

everything comes to you beautifully packaged, ready for gift giving!

Adorable headbands for babies, toddlers, childrens, and adults!

Becky and Richard visit Illinois!

My sister Becky and her husband Richard came to visit from Baltimore, MD this past week. They along with their HUGE yellow lab puppy Michener stayed at our house for the week. We had a great time visiting with them, and getting together with everyone! Luke sure loved his aunt Becky who he thought at first was Dora the Explorer come to life. He likes to call her Aunt Dor-Dor. It was so cute. I think he has been sad the past couple of days with her gone. The past couple of days he looked all over the basement for their puppy! He was just calling out "Puuupy, Puuupy" over and over! One night Becky and Richard got all the fixings for a taco night at our house, and everyone got together. These are the pictures that I stole from Uncle Richard from that night! We miss you Becky and Rich and hope we will see you sooner than letting a year pass again! Maybe we will head out your way sometime next summer!

The "Edgcomb" Sisters!

Ellen pretending to play Wii!

Luke with his monkey he got from Becky and Richard!

Get out and VOTE!

Just dropping in with a quick note to say......I hope everyone will exercise their right to vote on this beautiful November day. No matter who we support it is not only our right, but our duty to vote.

This weekend was my only cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding the wedding took place at St. Mary's church in Naplate, IL, and the reception was in LaSalle. It was a beautiful day, and fun getting to see lots of family members we had not seen in a long time. The wedding was kind of emotional for me as it was another milestone that my Grandmother could not be there for. She is in a nursing home due to a stroke, and gets too excited with large amounts of people around and this gets her heart off track. I know this in my head, but in my heart it is hard to know that she is alive but can't be at events like this. Anyway, it was also a fun time to get the baby cousins together to play as well! They all had a great time playing. Luke had some "older women" as girlfriends at the wedding! It was so cute. I did not get any good pictures of the bride and groom unfortunately. Congrats to Jordan and Brittany Edgcomb!

Luke with a little girl he met at the wedding!

My three boys Max, Robert, and Luke walking at the park!

The men drinking beer in the parking lot before the reception! (Dad, Adam, John, and Rob)

Lots of fun!

We've had lots of fun this past week including having Ellen over to play at the park, getting Luke's first vaccum, and going to Curtis Orchard in Champaign! Having Luke makes everything so much fun, everything old is new again when you see it through the eyes of a child! Luke really loved the orchard he played all over the playground equipment, and loved playing in the pumpkin patch! Next year we might try to go on a weekday to beat the crowds!

Happy Belated Birthday to Autumn Rose Edgcomb!

Happy 1st Birthday to Autumn Rose!

I would like to say Happy 1st Birthday to my niece Autumn Rose who had a birthday October 3rd. I have been lazy with my blogging, so I am posting it now! She had a great birthday party with lots of good food, and lots of birthday gifts! Let's just say she will be a well dressed little girl!

Our attempt to pose the babies! As you will see my niece Ellen is crawling off the couch!

Weekend!

Luke and I before the walk!

Hi everyone!

This weekend was a busy one! On Saturday morning Luke and I got up bright and early to get down to Colleen Hoose school to walk in the Alzheimer's Walk! It was really a fun time for us both! They had a great turn out! Over 500 people walked this year! We met a nice lady named Anna who walked with us, without her it would have been kind of lonely. Next year I think it would be fun to get a team together. I felt good walking in my Grandmother's memory, like I was making a difference for a disease that I know is close to finding a cure. I want to teach Luke the spirit of giving to those less fortunate and helping out causes greater than one's self. That is truly a good lesson to teach our children. After the walk we drove out to Minier where Rob was already helping my sister and brother in law move. I came out to help watch Ellen while Melissa finished some last minute packing! Gosh those dang gnats were REALLY biting us bad! Melissa and John's friend Landis found out that they are attracted white, because about 1,000 of them were on the back of his t-shirt. Luke found out too, as they seemed to be attracted to his Blonde hair! There is nothing worse than holding a heavy box you can't drop while being attacked by bugs! Anyway we are happy to see them settling into their new place, and I know that home will be a showcase in no time with Melissa and John as the owners! Congrats Melissa, John and Ellen on your new home!! Saturday night was also Rob's mom's birthday celebration! We had a great night over there with a wonderful dinner (as always), watched a movie, and Grandma Mindy even gave Luke a hair cut! Which looks very cute I might add! We hope she had a wonderful birthday! Also as a side note it was a great game between DA Bears and the Eagles last night on Sunday night football! Rob's brother in law Brandon who is stationed in Cape Cod, MA is also originally from the east coast, and is a huge Eagles fan. So Bears vs. Eagles has been a fun match up the last few years in the Oakley family! Glad to say the Bears won again this year!

Our fellow walking friend Anna.

Luke and Grandma Mindy!

Saturday!

Hello to everyone!

I just wanted to make a quick post about the Memory Walk on Saturday. I want to thank all of my generous sponsors! I really appreciate the donations to this worthy cause. Even if you weren't able to donate you can follow this link http://www.kintera.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=mmKXLbP8E&b=4103553, and write to Congress to tell them we want to find a cure for Alzheimer's. As many as 5 million Americans are living with this terrible disease right now. We can find a cure for this in our lifetimes, science is very close.
Once again thanks to all of my sponsors, I don't know what I would do without you!
-Kimberly
Sponsors: Janet Sutton, Steve and Kay Edgcomb, Melissa Snider, Oakley Family, and Jason Collins.

Memory Walk!

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to post a link to my Memory Walk page. I am walking in the Alzheimer's Memory Walk on September 26th in memory of my Grandmother Margaret Streed. If you ever known anyone afflicted with Alzheimer's you know how terrible it is. I really believe that they are getting close to curing Alzheimer's. So I ask for your support as I walk in the 2008 Memory Walk! Please visit my page, and if you can make a donation that would be greatly appreciated!
Love,
Kimmy
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=269148&lis=1&kntae269148=5ECC4E9F36354690A373D6AE76202B85&supId=227590780

May we never forget......

9-11-01

May we never forget the people who died during this tragedy. Say a prayer today for the families that were forever changed that day. I can't believe a day that was 7 years ago can still feel like yesterday. God Bless America.

Six Flags!

Just wanted to post a little about our trip to Six Flags in St. Louis with Rob's family a couple of weeks ago! We got up bright and early on that Saturday and were there when the park opened. We had a really great time, the weather was very mild just about 80 degrees, that is really mild for St. Louis in the middle of August. Best of all there were hardly any lines! We just got to run right on the rides! We had a great time riding all of the roller coasters! The Boss was probably my favorite, but you gotta love Screamin Eagle, Batman,and I love the new Evil Kenievel. (I don't know how to spell that!) Round that out with some fun water rides, and a ride at sunset on the big ferris wheel and you have a great day! Luke had fun too, he spent most of his day with Grandma Mindy, and he rode a few rides too!!

Chris Knight Concert

My parents, brother and another couple went to see the Day of the Dozer benefit concert last night at the New Lafayette Club in Bloomington last night. I have gone to this twice before once to see Jack Ingram that concert took place at the Circle Lanes bowling alley, also to see Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis at Ewing Manor. This concert was a nice change of venue. The show opened with Dan Hubbard and the Humidors. Dan Hubbard is very talented and evoked many comparisons to other artists from my fellow concert goers. My dad said a young James Taylor, while others said old school Bare Naked Ladies, or possibly John Mayer. I'd say he just plays good music. I especially enjoyed their second song "This is My Life".


Now it is time for the man we have been waiting for to take the stage. Chris Knight. He walks out on to the stage with a full beard with more grey in it than before. He starts out with a song from his debut album "Chris Knight", "It ain't easy being me". Great song, and it really gets the crowd going. He went on to play a couple of other favorites "Down the river", "Framed", and "Oil Patch Town". Then since he was told "by his drummer" that this was a CD release party he played some new songs off his latest release "Heart of Stone". I think this will be another great CD for Chris. My dad especially liked "Hell ain't half full", I also enjoyed "Home Sick Gypsy". Usually when you go to a concert and the band plays songs off a new album you are kind of disappointed, but not with Chris Knight. You find yourself listening to each word of his story telling songs and gritty voice, and you enjoy them as much as his old favorites! His band was very exceptional and really rocked it out! Part of the fun is also listening to him talk before the new song "Go On Home" he talked about how he only has three t.v. channels, and he stumbled across a reality show the other day, and had to duck tape his head to keep it from exploding from the stupidity of it! Unfortunately people in the audience were rude and yelling different songs to play at him all night, and he got upset. It wasn't the greatest crowd, and I wish people would have just let him play his music, and shut up. All in all he was great, although he definitely kept the crowd wanting more. His story telling songs of love, murder, despair and poverty make you feel like you have experienced what the characters in Chris Knight's songs have a life very different than your own, and that is worth the $15 in itself.

Baby Elle Boutique

Have you visted Baby Elle Boutique?

If not you should! My sister Melissa has an online store with the most adorable dresses, skirts, socks...etc. for little baby girls and toddlers. The dresses really are beautiful, and I don't just say that because she is my sister! Check it out, and tell your friends! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5982923

More summer photos!

Some of us before the wedding!Those crazy Oakley kids =)
Luke and Ellen out for a ride!
Zach and Matthew, look almost more alike than Rob and Matthew! ha!

Luke's first hair cut!
Looking cute in the yard!
Playing with his water table!
With daddy in the Great Smokies!
At Grandma and Grandpa Edgcomb's house!

O.k. it's been a while!

A couple of people have gotten on to me about how long it has been since I have posted! Well here I am! Luke continues to learn new things and keep me on my toes everyday! He is saying lots of new words, and a couple of phrases now! He still isn't walking, but one of these days I am sure he will get up and walk across the room and surprise us!! We have had a nice summer so far at the end of June/early July. We went on our first family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. Also special to me and Rob, because we honeymooned there! We really had a great time, the weather was beautiful, and we made lots of family memories we will always cherish. In July we went to Chicago to attend Rob's cousin Zach Cain's wedding to Angela. It was a lovely wedding, and even better because Aunt Elaine (Rob's sister) visited from Cape Cod. We had a great time seeing her, and being with the whole Oakley family. We did miss Brandon though! Next weekend we are heading to Six Flags, which should be lots of fun! I am still working part time at Von Maur, and staying home full time with Luke. I do enjoy working with the customer's at Von Maur, but wish we would be A LOT busier. Hopefully the economy will get better soon. I am also walking in the Alzheimer's Memory Walk on September 27th. I am very excited to be participating, and I am walking in my late Grandma Margaret's memory. If you would like to sponsor me here is my link...http://BloomingtonNormalMemoryWalk.kintera.org/2008/kimberlyoakley. I am going to post some pictures now of my summer so far!

Cousins in Crime

Well I was watching Ellen yesterday. Her and Luke were quietly playing in the living room while I ran to get something out of the kitchen. I hurried back to the room to find this!!! Enjoy!