Ode to Argent

Well as of May 25th, I am officially unemployed from Argent. It was good while it lasted, almost 5 years. I was a little unsure of working there at first but after the first few months and the money flying in I had to agree I made the right choice. The first two years were very profitable for me as an account manager, several months hitting the top 10 account managers. The mortgage business has been rough and only going downhill in the past 3 years so as they say all good things must come to an end.

I had the chance to attend many fun events put on by Argent. I got to go to a rooftop Cubs game on my birthday (game just happened to be on my birthday, not that they had it for my birthday), I got to see Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray, David Spade comedian, Erica Badu, and also a famous comedian from Mad TV who's name escapes me at the moment. I was also lucky enough to win tickets to Chicagoland Speedway to watch Buddy Rice and Danika Patrick, Indy Car racers sponsored by Argent.

I am lucky enough to say that I made some good friends while working and even though my employment has ended the friendships have not.

Jenna's Friends

Jenna has some new friends, Calvin and Olivia. Jenna has fun with both of them and everytime she sees Calvin she gives him a big smile. Jenna and Olivia like to play on the floor and hold hands and sometimes kick eachother. Calvin has a new girlfriend now with Olivia.

Backyard Friends

I know it's kind of silly to do a post about birds and a chipmunk but I just enjoy them so much. Since I was born and raised in California there really is not a wide variaty of wildlife in the city so I think I enjoy nature more since moving to Illinois. We have a large post in the backyard with several different bird feeders so I can look out the window and enjoy the birds. We usually have a Cardinal family, Redwinged blackbirds, Woodpeckers, Sparrows, American Goldfinchs, and a Wren who doesn't show is face much but only his song. Yesterday we had a new friend on our feeder, it was a Rose-Breased Grosbeak (black and white bird with read chest top left photo). It was really cool to see something new. We also have a chipmunk that cleans up what the birds drop.

Mother's Day

We woke up on Mother's Day a little cold.We were camping in the trailer and ran out of propane so we had no heat and of course it was down to about 45 degrees. We quickly got dressed and went to Jan's camper to warm up. So since we were out of propane we decided to cut our day short and head home. I got a loving call from Kayla and Becca to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. David and the kids gave me a gift certificate for Mario Tricoci. I will be using my gift certificate for a pedicure and a massage and after I am all relaxed I had requested dinner at my favorite place, El Puerto so we will be having dinner with the kids and Jan this Sunday. It was a great Mother's Day, especially since this was my first "official" Mother's day.

Pearl Lake

We tried out a new camping spot last weekend and we didn't get warm fuzzes from it. We were in the back 40 in the dandelion patch. We had never seen a campground with so many rules as well as a very large rule to pick up the dog "crap", yes you read it right, that is exactly what the rule list said.

David and I were very excited about one thing though, me being from California and David living there for many years you tend to find your favorite fast food places and when David was driving to the campground what to his eyes he found a Del Taco. Del Taco is way better then Taco Bell and they have yummy french fries. So of course the next day we had to go for lunch and I even got drive thru for the ride home.

And of course it wouldn't be camping without the balsa wood airplanes that burned in a fiery crash. The kids had fun climbing the rock pile and collecting rocks from the large pile in the back 40 where we were camping.

Our crooked girl

We noticed that Jenna had been turning her head to one side so on her latest checkup we asked the doctor to check out Jenna's tilted head. Jenna has what is called Torticollis(pronounced torta-collis). In english it is the muscles in the neck that are stronger on one side then the other. We caught it in time and with a few months of therapy it should correct it but for a time Jenna might need to wear a miniature neck brace.

1st Camping Trip of the Season

It is finally camping season again. Our first trip was two weeks ago and we have another planned for this weeked at Pearl Lake. We have never been to Pearl Lake before so we can only hope it's as good as the others we have been to.

The weather was perfect, it was about 75 degrees durring the day, we all even got a little sunburned. The highlight of our weekend was the cheap balsa wood airplaines that eventually ended up stuck in the tree. Danielle found a clever way to get it down though from parts from the bolo toss game.

Little Piggy

Jenna had her 3 month old checkup and she is becoming a little piggy, gaining 2 pounds since her last appointment. Jenna now weights 11 pounds 1 ounce and now is 22 3/4 inches long. She is finally started to fit into some of her closet full of clothes.