Home Improvement!

This spring has been filled with home improvement projects.  My dad was here over Spring Break and built the board and batten entryway that I am completely in love with.  The hooks will be great for our parties and the kids can hang back packs there when school starts! We took a small break from the construction to pack some food at Feed My Starving Children with our small group.

Our poor little Charley saw the caulk tube and thought it was the world's largest nasal aspirator.  Such a lady she is.

The other big project was after Spring Break.  We were in desperate ned of some yard work. We finally bit the bullet and had it done.  New beds, retaining walls, trees removed, lilacs relocated, and mulch.  It was a big job but it looks much better.  We get lots of compliments from the neighbors.

I am using Project Life to document our days.  These collages are made in the app on my phone.  I am hoping to kill two birds with one stone and just blog about the collages.  I'm struggling with double documentation so this seems like a better idea.  It's such a great way to preserve memories that seem harder to keep track of when you're always adding more. 😀

Kalahari

Sunday and Monday of Spring Break were spent at the Dells.  Our hotel room was a double suite that we shared with my parents.  The kids were giddy and ready for the fun.

We got our suits on as soon as we got there and swam for 3 hours.  There were slides, a wave pool, lazy river, and a kid area that had its own lazy river.

After 3 hours the kids had hit a wall and were hungry.  We decided our best option was eating at the buffet and it was so, so good!  We did a little arcade play after Nana begged Papa for tokens and then hit the bed early.  And sharing a hotel room with young kids is not pleasant.  Charley snores like an old man and sleeps best when she is parallel to the headboard.  Great.

Bryan had a conference call first thing that morning but then we headed back to the pool.  Jackson was so brave and rode a big tube slide with us but then politely declined all future offers.  He wasn't a fan.  After another full couple hours of swimming we got lunch and headed home.

We were only at Kalahari for about 28 hours but we had a blast and Spring Break was just one day in!  So exciting!

Bad Outfits, Breakfast Egg Hunts, and Birthday Parties

I was just scrolling through my phone and realized I have SO MANY photos to update! This will will be the week of blogging!

These pictures are so random but I wasn't to document them so we can remember later! Thursday mornings are my time to workout.  I take a 6:30 am class and Bryan takes the kids to school.  He is great at this but he struggles with doing Charley's hair and sometimes her outfits.  This was one of those days.  She was wearing a dress and yoga pants!  With tennis shoes!  She doesn't care though.  She loves school.

We had a blast with our Small Group friends at a wine tasting on Friday night.  We have had someone from Wines For Humanity come to a couple tastings and it's always a good time.  As long as they start with the white wines, I don't mind the driest reads as much at the end. The kids had a blast playing with their friends.

The very next morning (way back in March) was an egg hunt I organized for some friends.  The egg hints in Naperville are completely crazy.  The parents pick up their kids and carry them to the biggest eggs!  No thank you!  We loved our low key egg hunt at the park with donuts.  It was the start of a new tradition.

Right after the egg hunt we headed to a birthday party for our "Chick-Fil-A Friends."  We met them in the play place in Chick-Fil-A and hit it off!  Their daughter Emmy is so adorable. Those glasses and curls!  Emmy turned 4 and her younger brother Jackson is 2.

This was the weekend before Speing Break and my parents were in town.  We dropped the kids off at My Gym on Saturday night and headed out for a nice dinner.  Sunday morning we headed to Kalahari which will be the next post! Soon!

Catching Up!

I started this post two weeks ago.  I'm not sure where the time went.  I'm just going to finish this one and post a new update later in the week.

I was feeling so motivated and productive yesterday until our washing machine broke.  While taking the clothes to the laundromat was a pain, it was nice to do all the laundry in two hours.  

Jackson still has the biggest sweet tooth ever but he becomes more enjoyable alll the time as he continues to age and better understands how the world works.

He loves this chalkboard and especially loves it when I make a calendar for him for the month.

Charley had a follow up with her pulmonologist who we absolutely love.  He is the kindest, gentlest man.  She is such a good girl at the doctor and is way too familiar with the pulse oximeter and stethoscopes.

We had a big milestone moment in the family.  JJ made it through a Chicago Fire game.  He hates them because he doesn't like the loud stadium and he's terrified of fireworks when they score. He was so brave that night and he even ended with smiles!

Charley loved the whole thing.  She's always up for fun!

She has changed so much lAtely but she still is attached to her lovey. I'm in no rush for her to get rid of it because Jackson just became less and less attached to his and hasn't asked about it in months.  I'm sure Charley will do the same when she's ready.

Any chance I get I sneak over to Meredith's house to snuggle baby Lucy.  Shes simply the best!

Charley was going to the store with me and as I was getting ready to leave, she gathered her things to take to the store.  I talked her into leaving the giant Tonka truck at home.

I am still loving my Project Life app for Scrapbooking on my phone.  It is so hard to keep up with Scrapbooking and the blog with the everyday life demands so I look for the easist way possible.  I was able to create the spread below on our way home from the game.

I promise not to let two months go by again! Another update will be posted soon!

Happy Birthday to Smow Boots

It's a good time to capture what life is like for Charley at two and a half.  She has so much spunk and it's finally coming out in her speech! She is starting to string together 4-6 word sentences and loves telling Jackson what to do.  

The very best thing she says is "Smow!" It comes out when she wants to wear "Smow boots", if it's "smowing outside", or if she wants to "smuggle wif mama."  I love it!  She also loves singing happy birthday to things she likes.  We sing happy birthday about 20 times every day while making our way through a list of people, places, and things that she loves.

We just got back from an awesome trip to Ohio and were gearing up for another weekend in St. Louis when she got hit with a respiratory virus.  She's pretty sick on day 5 of this thing and we're just hoping that it starts getting better soon!

Last night was the roughest yet.  She just couldn't get comfortable at all.  We tried just about every sleeping position until it was morning.  The worst part about the sickies is that it keeps her from getting the rest she needs to kick this thing.

Jackson is so excited not to go to St. Louis.  He loves his "stay at home days." He would be happy to stay in the same clothes for three days and organize all his toys and put on theater performances for us!

Hopefully this weekend brings us all much health!

Life is Good!

My babies are getting so big and I feel time slipping away!  Both of them are closer to their next age now and it's freaking me out!  Three and five???  Whaaat??  We have all been relatively healthy and we are SO thankful!  Life has been good and there's not much more we could ask for.

This little mama loves her babies.  She carries them around, pushes them in strollers, and rocks them.  It's the sweetest and so interesting to see it come so naturally to her.  Ah, science!

Jackson loves all thinks school, play doh, and My Gym.  My friend Lisa owns My Gym and it has been fantastic for the kids.  We joined when Charley was not willing to participate in physical therapy.  She just cried the while time and the hour was pointless.  She loves My Gym and gets great practice there.  Jackson loves it too and enjoys the physical challenge.

It's getting easier and easier to take the kids around. Charley is not potty trained but I don't even carry a diaper bag.  It's so freeing to throw them in the car (and spend 5 minutes buckling car seats) and go!  They love going to Costco for pizza and ice cream.

This Winter has been really mild.  The temps have been manageable and there was very little snow.  Until last weekend when we got 19 inches in 24 hours.  Yikes!  We had planned on about 8 couples coming over for the Super Bowl but ended up with just one family making it and we invited our neighbors across the street.  It was still a great time and good to get to know our neighbors more.

Charley proves to be much happier in snow gear than Jackson.  She loves going out in the snow....with her babies of course.

Bryan is in Arizona this weekend so it's just me and the kids.  We've had a great couple days together and are chilling at home this morning after French toast and bacon.  

Life is good and hopefully I'll not let another month go by with no update!

Happy 2015!

We had such a great holiday season this year!  Everyone was in good health.  No migraines.  No coughing. Just fun!

We spent Christmas in Kansas City and we were so excited to have Mimi join us. The kids loved all of the family time and of course the presents too.  We were able to see both sides of my family which is rare so it was a fun treat. 

We were at to stay almost a full week which left some play time too.  After several days in the house the kids were ready to burn some energy.  We found a great bounce place one day and we visited Legoland the next day.

Since we've been back we are adjusting to our 30 day trial period of a gluten free diet.  We are hoping it helps Charley's asthma and allergy symptoms.  The kids are enjoying being back in school.  

I had school two days but Wednesday and Thursday were cancelled due to the cold.  Hopefully we'll all be back tomorrow.  

We had grilled nuggets (the kids were not excited) sat Chick-Fil-a last night and I caught them being so sweet.  

They love each other so much!