Summer Fun

Although we are well into summer now, I wanted to share some of the things that we did at the beginning.

Father's day started out with breakfast for D; baked oatmeal w/ peaches, sausage and eggs. The kids had made cards and helped me with the banner that is hanging behind them.



After church we headed down to D's parents with the kids and some friends for church. We took quads back to the waterfalls, let their dog Abby play, ate lunch overlooking the river and the weather was perfect!



When we got back we discovered mom mom had let the kids wade in her pond (supervised of course).




Some old friend's of D have a pool that they let nearly anyone use. So one day sister Denise and I took the kids to cool off. You can see that J loves to jump in and I promise that he is not attacking his sister. I didn't even realize that she was in the picture until I posted this.


E with her cousin Ella, they are peas in a pod. I watch ella and her brothers a couple times a week and these two already act like sisters in the best and worst ways.

Catching up

SO, I know I'm incredibly overdue for a post....so I just loaded this with pics that I have meant to share for a while but have slacked. As most of you know, we are expecting our third baby in January and I have been tired and feeling icky...but those are good signs right? So keep us in your prayers and I'll attempt to be more regular in my postings.

This is actually back in April when I was doing some planting with my little helper. She got the gardening gloves in her Easter basket.

I just loved this pic!

The week before mother's day we had a picnic at a state park w/ D's fam for his mom. It is right on the river with some spectacular view. Daddy and daughter were enjoying it. This is where E was telling her uncle Dwayne about something and then said "...and it was amazing." Cracked us up.

In July E will be a flower girl in my cousin's wedding. You can see she's taking this very seriously. J will be one of the two ring bearers...I can't wait!

My mom and my Grandma Lee (dad's mom) came out for a visit over mother's day weekend. It was so fun to have them here. This is when we rode the train.

J and Grandma Lee at our Mother's Day dinner out.

ps I realize that there are very little shots of the boy...but for one he is always on the move and hard to capture, and two he's been in school. Tomorrow is his last day and it will be fun to have him home and it will give me more chances to capture him with a camera.

DC Time

For the past couple of years we have enjoyed meeting my parents in DC. Dad has a chiropractic convention there so we get to see him a little bit, stay in a fancy hotel and eat fancy food, as well as have some quality time in our nation's capital. We didn't do tons of sightseeing this year, which was fine. We did however, make it to the National Cathedral (beautiful) and a little time at the Natural History Museum. We also went to a Nationals baseball game, they were playing the NY Mets which made for an entertaining time thanks to the colorful fans. My only regret is that I didn't get more pics of mom and dad with the kids. I was lazy, no excuse. (oh yes, i must brag, dad won Chiropractor of the Year!! way to go dad! he has invested so much into the profession and the association, it was good to see him recognized. We are proud.)


The sun was out more the next day, but the weather was beautifully accommodating for our time on the mall.

I had been here years ago, but I forgot how beautiful the stained glass windows were. My camera just could not capture it!

I love this rabbit. (oh yes, i love the kids too :)

Thank You!!

Last Friday J had his Race for Education. I'm sorry that I am not thanking all who sponsored more personally, but we don't get to see the list of sponsors, and I believe the PTA sent some thank you notes. J did great! I completed 13 laps and although according to D they couldn't have been a football field's worth, I assure you that they were close. He ran nearly the whole time, without complaining. Even though I am not a runner, it would be great if the kids picked it up as a form of enjoyable exercise. As you will see below J's teacher Mrs. R., was kind enough to invite E to take a lap with her. E was just telling me that she wanted to run too, so it really made her day. Thank you again to all who sponsored J and supported his school!

It was also crazy hair day.

Easter

Saturday night, before Easter, we had an egg hunt at our place with family and a few friends. We hid 102 eggs, so much fun. There was food, there were Resurrection Eggs (they tell the Easter account as you open them)...twas a good time indeed. Should have taken more pictures, the food was pretty.




Sunday we went to church and then we stayed home. I made our own Easter dinner: Braised Lamb Loin Chops, Steamed Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes. Yes, it was yummy.





Don't know why J has his leg up. He smiled so nice in all the pictures that I took. I think he's trying to pose and E is trying to copy. What's funny is that when I was done, J kept asking me if he looked "fancy". What's that about? (Aren't my Cosco flowers pretty?)

i'm ready for my close up......

Spring!

Spring is officially here, though the roller coaster weather we've been having causes us to think otherwise at times. Today is lovely, the kids and I cleared some flower beds, I pruned my rose bushes.....we're loving it.

Last week we had our first blooms of the season. I like to call this one "crazy kids with crocuses".

We also made it to the park on a day where it was in the 60's and then we had snow and ice that weekend. Here they are (above) on the death trap.

Chicago

Sorry grandparents, no pics of our kids in this one, but there is a baby so you can get a fix just the same. Last week I went to Chicago to visit my dear friend Suz who recently gave birth to Maggie Grace. As you can see below she was the star of the show while we were there, full of personality, such a sweetie.


These pics, uploaded small for some reason, I'm not savvy enough to fix them, but you can still get an idea of what we did. Chi is a great city, would love to go back when it's not covered in snow!
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1- Tina (my trusty traveling partner) in front of the snow & ice covered lake at Navy Pier.
2-We had breakfast at Toast, yummy stuffed french toast!
3- Met up with some Ravencresters that we hadn't seen in forever, one of them my old roomie!
4- Chicago Style Pizza
5- Excited about Chicago style pizza
6- We went to Marshall Fields to buy Frango Mint Chocolates, they had chocolate shampoo!
7- T, Me & Suz...a great time, with dear ones.


We took sampling Oberwiess Ice Cream very seriously, Chocolate Almond Shake, extra thick, enough said.


The happy little fam and our gracious hosts.

*photos by tina (except for what she's in of course:)

little bit of snow

So I must confess that a few weeks ago I entered a few posts without actually publishing them, and this one is definitely outdated. For one, it's starts out by saying...."last Saturday" which of course isn't true anymore; two, we have gotten so much more snow since then, it's still on the ground and more of a thick layer of ice now. But last weekend the kids did get to play in the real snow with their cousins as well as go for snowmobiling rides with daddy. You may desire to see pictures of these events, but I wasn't there to record the memories. I was in Chicago visiting dear friends with a dear friend. Perhaps I'll share pics of that trip next time. For now enjoy this "older" entry.

Last Saturday we had a little bit of snow (but most thus far) and the kids were excited to go out and play in it. They had grand plans of snowmen, snowball fights, and snow forts. So we bundled up went outside and maybe five minutes later were back inside for hot chocolate. I think they ended up being more excited about getting cozy with a cup of hot cocoa than anything else. My kids for sure!

Mirror Fun

imagine if there were two!

a ballerina takes pause

Friends passed down a leotard with attached tutu to E the last time we were at their house for dinner. It has been the outfit of choice ever since. One morning when we just didn't make it to the gym, we did some ballet together. When we were done, E was kind enough to allow me to photograph her in a resting state. She loosened up at the end as you can see. By the way the bow on her head is an accessory that she added herself.

hanging out

It's been fun lately to see J & E play with one another more. Yes there is still the provoked scream or two between them, but overall they really seem to enjoy each other's company.

I have discovered her like this a couple times. She sneaks out of bed to put on some ballerina or princess dress up clothes and then falls asleep. If she doesn't do this before she goes to sleep, it is often that she gets gussied up before coming downstairs from her nap.

We have the pleasure of cousin Ella hanging out with us at least a couple days a week. Today her and E were playing and Ella decided she was going to "take a bath" in this can (that we normally keep the balls in) and E was the baby in her seat. They love to be silly girls.