seven inches from the sun

I wanted to start blogging again.

2011-11-29T23:31:00.000-06:00

But I'm not sure I have as much time as I think I do to get it done.

I'm especially sad at how infrequently I take pictures now that my blog isn't active, and that is something that I want to turn around more than anything.
I hope this will help.

I did some family pictures for my sister, and I took some of Kira for her 10th birthday. All of these have been posted on FB but I thought I would add them here so I can find them more easily.

And also to make myself get back in the groove. :)

Here is one of my adorable toothless boy! :)

I cannot believe how fast they grow up! He is almost 8! Where has the time gone?

And here is my sister and her darling kids! :)

Hopefully I will be back sooner rather than later!

Sorry I've been MIA for so long!

Locks of Love.

2011-05-28T17:31:00.000-05:00

Kira got her first haircut today, she is 9 1/2. :) She donated 12 inches to Locks of Love. Supercuts has a great thing where you can donate your hair, they take care of the details, and the cut is free.

She is really excited about her new style, and made all the choices about her donation length, the new bangs, and when to do it. We are very proud of her. (Though I must admit, it was a little shocking for me!)

Here is the before:

Front:

She was pretty nervous!

Cutting off the pony tail! Yikes!

Getting bangs for the very first time!

And the After:

She *loves* it! And we took her over to Target to pick out some new clips and bands so she can practice fixing it herself now! The only downside? She was bummed she didn't do it sooner. :)

Ok, I forgot to add this to the first day of summer post,

2011-05-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

But it is just too fun! Evan's best friend L is adorable, and they had so much fun in the pool today. Here is a cute series of them playing teeter totter on a tube! :)

Look! E and L and cute tangled up feet! :) I love it!

School's Out for SUMMER!!!

2011-05-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

And we kicked it off right!

We had a great time swimming and picnicking with our friends today!

I took a ton of pics of swimming from my shady spot next to the pool, but I was starving by the time we ate and so I was *eating* during lunch. ;) But that's ok, we have all summer, I can bore you with pictures of children eating another day.

The kids had a ton of fun trying different dives. I'm not sure how they weren't in pain, because the belly flops were numerous! But they just kept at it. They were most impressed by Kevin's mad skills (he's the dad of three of the kids, and they thought he was just too cool! [he kind of is :oP] )

Then Evan, who has never dived in his life was pulling this stuff out of nowhere...nary a belly flop, even if his form is a little off. I have no idea how he figured this out so well.

Pretty crazy stuff~but that's just Evan for you.

So that's our big kick off for the summer! We had a great time and have a ton more planned after we moms got to sit around, drink tea and hang out! Can't wait for the rest of summer vacation!

Teacher Appreciation/Year End gift ideas!

2011-05-19T19:17:00.000-05:00

We love our teachers, and each year my kids have had fabulous teachers!
To show our appreciation we try to do a little something to show our gratitude!
This year we did this fun idea:

A fluffy new beach towel and a very fun magazine! (Who doesn't love this magazine!?)

And these cups! I loved this idea and the tag is a free printable you can find here, at Lisa Storms blog! I loved her cups, but here in the desert, we need the double walled kind so they don't sweat. These were a great find for only $5 at Walmart! And the lemonade mix we just picked up at Target. :)

Last year was a similar idea here.

I've seen tons of great, inexpensive but creative ideas all over the internet and thought I would share some with you in case you need some ideas!

I love this idea from Sara over at Our Best Bites, the picture is for Mother's Day but if you scroll down to the very end under the instructions is a link for a free printable label just for teachers! Yay for free stuff!

And check out this fantastic link from Tip Junkie! If you don't follow her blog you are missing out on so many great ideas! This is the same place I found the fun Christmas gifts we did for our teachers this year, and a million more great ideas!

How are you celebrating your teachers this year?

Give me a link, I love to hold on to great ideas for the future teachers in our lives!

TFL!

Today was Crazy Hair Outrageous Outfit day at the kids school.

2011-05-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

And I actually had to tell Kira that it is not "outrageous" to wear a brown shirt with a red plaid skirt. A little off maybe, but no one would think it was crazy.

Then Evan put on a check shirt with plaid shorts. Which looks like how most 7 year old boys look all the time.

Then I had to take a picture because Kira's "Pippi Longstocking" hair was just too much. And after this:

I had to say, "Guys! You are supposed to look crazy!"

*Note their body position didn't change, just their faces. LOL

Evan and his "crazy" mohawk. ;)

Hahaha! This kills me. Also this is it folks, she is donating her hair next week to Locks of Love. She is ready for it to go. I'm a little sad, but how is this for a last hurrah!?

Fifteen Years. We've only just begun.

2011-05-18T01:00:00.001-05:00

May 18, 1996 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, I made the very best decision of my life. I married this man. This man who promised to love me through it all. And has kept his word every step of the way.

I have struggled this year with what to *do*. It's a gift year. In fact, its the year you give a watch. (I don't make up the rules). But the thing is, that after all these years, I know that Shawn would not have the slightest use for a watch. No matter how fancy or how well it kept time. In fact, there are two things working against me in this desire to give a gift. Number One, I am a lousy gift giver. It's just a fact. Shawn has always known just what I would love, and surprises me every year on all the important dates. He's just magical at it. And I am not. I struggle every year to surprise him with something fabulous and I have never succeeded. (Well there was that one time in 1996 at Christmas, but jeez, we were newly weds and poor. A gift at all was a surprise back then). Number Two, Shawn just buys what he needs. And often what he wants (and he doesn't want for much, and when he does it involves technology that I cannot begin to understand). So that leaves me sort of in a lurch when it comes to gift giving.

I am good at saying what I feel. And writing. So I thought I would start off with that. It's not much. But it's from my heart, and he's always been good at knowing my heart.

In fifteen years we have been through more than most people in 50. For starters, we were pioneers in this internet dating stuff, in 1995 half the people we told would hear our story and follow up with "What is the internet?" And we married in a hurry. Met in October, married by May. And that was the easy part. He almost died on me. Twice. There was birth of two children. I supported him through school. Twice. He has supported me in school. (technically only once). Jobs, and job losses. Sickness and health. The loss of his mom, and my grandparents. The acquisition and loss of beloved pets. Home buying. Home selling. Home building. Moves. Across town, and across the country. And back again. Fights big and small. Heartache and moments of such profound love you just feel like you fell into a black hole. We've grown older. A few more lines on our faces. More gray hair than we would like to admit. We are a little softer. A little more gentle. A little wiser. We grew up together, so much changes between 20something and almost 40. But we managed to show up and hang on, and keep on keepin' on.

Some days fifteen years feels like a lifetime. It feels like I've never not known Shawn, or loved him. And it feels like I know everything about him, what he likes and doesn't like. What he needs before he needs it. That I can anticipate what's coming at every turn. And there is great comfort in that. In knowing. In feeling settled.

And other times it seems like I've only just met this man that I love, and he surprises me with something I didn't know. I love that even after all this time there is room to learn more. That there is still some mystery to him, to US, to what we have. I'm never bored, even when I'm content. We still make each other laugh. We still know how to hold a hurting heart gently and keep it safe until it heals enough to make a go of it on its own again.

Every day I wake up next to Shawn, and I'm so happy he is next to me. I think that my level of gratitude for this simple thing is something that I gained through all that "in sickness" part. So many times I have had to sleep alone while he has been in a hospital fighting to come home to me. And so no matter how simple it may seem to some, or how cheesy it sounds, it is just a pure and honest truth. And its one I never take for granted.

Shawn, thank you for the best 15 years of my life. I cannot begin to even imagine my life without you in it, and I look so very forward to the next 15. I love you. Always.

Just for fun.

2011-05-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

This was hanging up outside yesterday and I thought it looked so sweet.

This is my niece, Della, and her crazy hair! LOL

And Kira and Evan cracking each other up in the back seat on the way home. :)

I have so many things to talk about...

2011-05-16T13:39:00.000-05:00

but then I feel completely overwhelmed at the thought of the past four months in pictures. (You have no idea how many HUNDREDS of photo's I take in a month.)

So I'm going to start with yesterday and then I'm going to try to do kind of a summary post for each of the previous months back to January. :) That feels a little less crazy. And then I can get back to normal.

This weekend was a fun one, lots of family time which I have dearly missed over the semester. (Which ended up really well! I wound up getting a B in Econ, which I thought I would fail, and aced everything else, so Whew!)
Anyway, on Saturday we had everyone out for dinner at our house, and the kids played outside on bikes, trikes and with chalk and bubbles. It was really fun. Lots of neighbors stopped by to join the fun, and the weather wasn't too hot, so we enjoyed it.

After we put the kids down all over the upstairs, the sisters all went for a walk, and then we watched a movie. The guys all played board games. The grandparents always are in a race to see who can leave the fastest after dinner time, and all the mom's are jealous. ;)

Sunday we went and visited with GGP (Shawn's maternal grandma) and then we went to Sunday dinner. Which I have blogged about before, as one of my favorite times of the week. So relaxing, and just nice.

GGB is heading out to summer in Michigan this week, so this was the last dinner with her until October. She bought Avery this pretty dress, but Avery pooped all over part of the outfit and then didn't want GG to hold her, so the pics aren't so hot, but we tried.

My kids got in the pool, and they adore being in the water, so that was fun, I sat around and got some pics, so that was fun for me. Although Evan does.not.stop.moving. in the pool, so he is impossible to capture. He had a handful of hotwheels that he was diving for so he barely came up for air.
The water was on 77*F so Kira was having a hard time getting in.

Evan was not having this same problem, he just jumped right in.

This was what I was working with.

Today is my day off. And I'm telling you, I am serious. I'm not even dressed and it's almost noon. I haven't had a day to myself where I was not required to be somewhere or doing something in weeks. In fact the last time that happened I had a stomach bug, so that's not counting. ;)

So there is a most random blog post, that is rambling and awkward and not likely grammatically correct. Even after an entire semester of honors English with Figler trying to pound into my brain how to write properly. Poor guy. If he only knew what he was dealing with going in. :)

TFL, and come back soon, I'll have some recaps, and they include Disneyland! :)

I'm back!

2011-05-10T19:11:00.001-05:00

So I'm wrapping up the semester, and getting ready to relax a bit for the summer! I just completed a photography class, and wanted to post some of the pics from my portfolio, and since I'm itching to get back in the blog groove, but I really need to study for that last final, ( :) ) I thought I would throw some pics up to share, and then I can really get back in the swing of things later this week. So for now:

This was fun, this is an HDR image, I am just starting to figure out photoshop, so this is about as creative as I get for now. ;)

These are some actions from Pioneer woman, and the photos' are from a shoot I did at a workshop run by Stephanie Newbold from Stephanie Newbold Photography. This girls were super sweet and cooperative! It was a really great class.

This little guy was just playing in the park, I think he is adorable.

Thanks for looking! I'm glad to be back. My sad neglected blog will be getting lots of love this summer!

The Wild West. A preview...

2011-01-30T22:26:00.000-06:00

I don't have time for a full blog post, but I'm waiting for Shawn to get home, and finished my reading for the night so I thought I would make a little teaser post. :)

Color Me Mine (an overpriced but fun thing to do!)

2011-01-28T19:06:00.000-06:00

So Wednesday the kids in our district had a half day, so Lorraine had the idea to meet at Color Me Mine, a place in our mall that lets you paint your own "stuff". So we met up at 2:30 for some painting fun!

The first battle was the fact that I am anti-clutter. And my kids are clutter people. So this is an ongoing battle. But when I'm forking out the big bucks, I win. I just could not let them paint statues, that are ceramic, that will somehow become "sentimental" pieces that they cannot bear to part with but don't really want or love on display. In addition, their shelves/dressers are *already* jam packed. So I put my foot down. It's likely they will need therapy, or become hoarders later in life. Sigh.

In any case, I persuaded *coughinsistedcough* that they come up with something practical. That narrowed down their choices to a mug, a plate, a bowl or goblet. Lucky for them, there were dozens of choices in this very narrow category.

However Evan, upon falling in love with this ridiculous fish:

Became a total pain in the butt and refused to pick anything else. Refused. So I told him he could sit there and pout. So he did. (And how he honed in on this I will never know. There was exactly ONE fish. And this was what the shelves looked like)

Here is Evan pouting.

He gave up. Of course.

Then someone there said we could print up clip art stuff and use it on whatever we chose and so I suggested we find a Mario picture or Phineas and Ferb picture and paint it on a plate for his waffles in the morning. This turned his whole attitude around and everything was fun and smooth from then on.

Margo selected a tea set, it is super cute and she came up with a great design for it.

Laura had a really cool owl but my pics came out blurry. And Lorraine painted a super cute bowl for her cat food. :)

Kira also chose a plate. She wanted Princess Peach on hers. She did a *really* nice job!
(She also didn't wear an apron, in a long sleeve white shirt, painting, and came out of there clean. I will never know how she does that!)

(Clean being relative, she did wear that shirt to school and played on the playground. But it's not paint)

I painted a mug. As usual, there are no good pics of me. But it wasn't for a lack of effort. ;) Margo and Kira took plenty. But my head is cut off, or the zoom is all the way on my cheek. You get the idea. And it's my blog, so I have final veto power on how much scariness I will subject you too. You are welcome!)

My mug was pretty.

I can't wait to see the colors after it's been fired, they are really bright. I'll post pics next week of our finished products.

Here is Evan and his Toad plate. :) This turned out really well, and for a kid that doesn't really care for crafty stuff, he did a really great job painting.

So that is that. We had a really good time. I'm over the heart attack I had when we paid. And I think that we will all enjoy our breakfast a little more once we get them back. :)

Kira turns 9!

2011-01-22T17:42:00.000-06:00

So this is one of those back track posts, but I wanted to include her party story too!

We had initially planned a skating party. But we found out that two of her three best friends could not make the party, and that was really upsetting. Especially since S was moving. Literally in a couple of weeks. So I came up with a quick plan and we had a movie party at the mall. First all the girls brought some money, and we hit Justice and Bath and Body works. They had so much fun being bargain shoppers! Then Aunt Kimmi surprised Kira with some cupcakes at the food court! She was so shocked! And they were gorgeous! After that, (it was sort of rushed cupcake eating, since girls shopping at the mall can be rather slow and indecisive...) we went to see Tangled. That movie could not have been a better first "chick flick" for them to see together.

The day was wildly successful, and the girls all told their moms that they want a party like that. ;)

Shopping is serious business.

Well...mostly.

How darling are these cupcakes? My sister totally rocks. (too bad my pos Sony point and shoot does not rock, sorry about the crappola I'm calling "photo's" in this blog post)

(Hey, I made the darling girl in this pick though, so that should count for something right?)

Can you believe after eating cupcakes these girls put away popcorn, candy and a soda too? Yeesh.

But they sure are fun! I'm so glad we have these girls in our life! Kira is a lucky girl!

Evan turns 7.

2011-01-22T17:09:00.000-06:00

So we celebrated with friends at the bowling alley! I'm telling you. In spite of my love for planning parties, by the time they get to this age, just going somewhere is so much easier! (And due to my love planning parties, it actually winds up costing less as well.)

Then for the family party, Lawson and Phoebe, my wonderful inlaws threw a party at their house for Evan again. It was a party weekend, and it was a blast. (Thanks so much again!)

So you show up and there are table cloths, plates and napkins and balloons. Doesn't get much easier than that!

Then you sweet talk your amazing sister who bakes to hook you up:

Then you bowl for a bit.

Then they bring out pizza and soda. And they serve it. Yeah. See how this is going for me?

Then you eat cake.

Then you open up a few gifts.

So virtually I do nothing other than stalk the children with my camera. And I get lousy pics because I am out of practice. But hey, I'm ok with that.

Its not like you are going to get anything decent with a crew like this anyway. ;)

It's been too long.

2011-01-22T14:21:00.000-06:00

And I really miss my blog. The time must be made to make a few entries, because I *need* to write this stuff down. Because I forget it if I don't. And because I still am taking photo's but I'm losing the opportunity to journal what is going on, and then they are just sort of there. Pictures without a story. And that makes me sad. Because I think the story is so important.

So while I've been gone a million things have happened.

I started school. That was HUGE. I am loving it. Every second of learning has been great. The seconds of not learning, (ie: teachers who are wasting my time) I have found still irritate the hell out of me. But that's ok. I am not bored. And my brain is not stagnate. And this is what matters.

So. Since it's just too much effort to go all the way back in time. I'm starting from here. And going forward. (Though I may put up some pics from other things that have happened, like birthdays for the kids and some Christmas pics, but I'm not making any promises.)

The biggest happening in our family in recent months though was the birth of our two baby nieces! Avery Rose made her appearance on October 7, 2010, and Della Corrine showed up in a hurry just two weeks later on October 23, 2010.

Della

Avery

Side by side. :) This is from New Years Day. So they are about 3ish months here.

I cannot tell you how much fun they are. Though admittedly, they are both a little on the cranky side. Smiles are starting to be given more freely. ;)

We are so happy to have them in our lives. Babies are like nothing else. I just love these sweet girls!

Dave Matthews Band: Chula Vista, CA 2010

2010-08-23T23:48:00.000-05:00

Ah. Dave. My favorite singer of all time.

I just love his voice.

So for birthday this year tickets to his show in CA were purchased!

Jeff and Jen let us stay with them and their big lug of a dog Miles, and they went with us to the show.

The tricky part was getting there! I had freshman orientation at the UofA that I couldn't get out of until after 2pm. The drive to San Diego is about 6 hours. The show started at 7:30pm. You see our dilemma here?

So we fed ex'd the tickets to Jeff and Jen and then we got out of town around 3 and just drove like crazy.

We made it just in time to pay for VIP parking (Only $20. Hey! We lived in Chicago, this is all about perspective folks!)

We missed one song. That was it! Soooo happy!

Here is the set list:

Big Eyed Fish
Bartender
Stay or Leave
Write a Song
Seven
Crush
Alligator pie
Shake Me Like A Monkey
#41
What Would You Say
Spaceman
Cornbread
Sister
Gravedigger
Why I Am
You & Me
Two Step
Encore:
Some Devil
Time Bomb
Watchtower

Tim Reynolds (He is so not my favorite edition to the band. >:/ ) Middle is Rashawn Ross on the end is Carter. (He is such a cutie!)

Boyd Tinsley on violin:

Rashawn and Jeff Coffin. (He is *amazing* and can stay imo, unlike Tim)

Us:

Jeff and Jen:

And my favorite pic of the night <3

Stefan moves too much and I couldn't get a good shot of him, they all were blurry. Bummer.

The other fun part of the night was the grandma tokin' and the drunk girl climbing the light tower in a mini skirt: (You can't make this stuff up!)

Speaking of drunk girls! Two very obnoxious drunk girls plowed into Jen and I after the show when the tour busses were leaving! We got to see all the band head out up close in their buses. But right when Dave went past these two girls plowed into us. Knocked over the police tape and about knocked my camera out of my hand. Grrr.

But Jen said "Save the picture anyway!" So I did. And now you too can see a picture of Dave Matthews knee and elbow.

So thanks lame drunk girls. You suck.

Yard Work:

2010-08-17T20:15:00.000-05:00

And not my own. Unfortunately due to the economy we have a number of forclosed homes in our area. In addition we have several deployed people in our neighborhood as well. So we (the board of the HOA and myself) got together on Saturday to pull weeds and clean up these yards. It helps us all with property values, and of course helping those who are deployed is just the right thing to do.

I was there for about 2 hours and then mommy duty called, but I did help with two of the 5 yards on the list for the day. :)

Tools of the trade:

This was house number two. The over growth was insane.

Teacher Visit: Kira

2010-08-14T19:01:00.002-05:00

One of the other traditions at *S* is that the teachers do a home visit. It's just a chance for them to have some one on one time with your kid, and they do whatever the kids want to do. In 2010 the Wii is what all the kids want the teachers to do with them. :) After showing Ms. S her bedroom they played bowling on the Wii. Kira is really bad at the Wii, but Ms. S was worse, and Kira won her first game ever! ;P

Thanks Ms. S, Kira had a great time!

Family Movie Night!

2010-08-14T18:55:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite PTA traditions at *S* is Family Movie Night.

Free popcorn. Cheap Soda. Cheap Pizza (pre-ordered you just go give your name and get your dinner), a movie on a big screen on the lawn.

Good times!

We went with the Durnan's last night and the Millers found us. We had a great time! All the kids watched a terrible movie and the grown ups chatted the night away. :)

You come a little early, get your spot set up and socialize while you wait for the sun to go down so you can see the screen.

Here is the view from our spot on the lawn:

Chairs for the grown ups, blankets for the kids! Perfect.

We were super early, and glad. The entire place was packed, there must have been about 400 people there!

Happy First Birthday Liam!

2010-08-09T10:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Liam's first birthday. The theme was The Hungry Caterpillar. Terry loved that book as a child, I did not love that book ever. ;) But I did love planning a party around it anyway!

Earlier in the week Katie commenced with dinner plans. It looked like this:

Katie So Shawn...how much do you love your nephew? Because he REALLY wants spaghetti for dinner at his birthday party, but he doesn't really like the jarred kind. He told me that you make really good sauce and he'd prefer it if you made the sauce. So you want to do it? We'd buy all the stuff of course ;)

And thank goodness she did. Because she helped Shawn out by cooking the pasta. It burned to the bottom of the pot. No one knows how that happened exactly, but it was too funny. Poor Katie is known for her cooking disasters. And Shawn always teases her that she could burn boiling water. So...yeah. It was pretty funny.

The comments from the kids were great too.

Collin: "Um, Aunt Heidi, I think someone is smoking in our house, like cigarettes!"
Kira (crying...yes, really crying) : "I can't TAAAAAAKE it any mooooooore! I have to get outside to fresh air!!!"

And everyone's eyes were burning and watering. It was too funny!
This is before Katie cooked and the kitchen smelled wonderful!
Shawn is an amazing cook. He made two kinds of sauce and bruschetta.

Liam approved! (Once someone else cooked more pasta)

Rather than clean up a baby that just had spaghetti, we did the cake right away.
Kim makes all the kids cakes for their parties every year. They love them. (She actually flew to Chicago to get Kira's done last year, poor Evan had to have one from a bakery, lucky for us they threw a hotwheel on top so he was ok)

Happy little spaghetti covered baby! ;)

He started out like this:

But ended up like this:

Then his crazy mommy got it in her head that the only way to get clean is in a bath. Liam hates baths. So he got angry.

His protests failed and he came out later all clean and shiny. Poor little Liam!
Here is the decoration I hung above the table. ;)

The kids enjoying their cupcakes.

Caleb and Ethan also have a mean mommy. They had to eat their dinner before cake. Geez. The adults around this party were out of control!

They were both watching the other boys eat their cupcakes and ignoring their pasta.

Here is their mean mommy:

The plan was to decorate butterfly cookies. Those got burned too, but Katie isn't fully responsible for that I don't think. So we just made circles and the kids got to decorate those instead. They didn't mind.

I couldn't get any decent shots of opening the gifts, but I got this one of Uncle Chris. He wouldn't share with the baby.

And I got lots of shots of people loving on Liam and hanging out at his party. And what's not to love! Happy Birthday Liam!

Painting for Avery.

2010-08-08T12:04:00.000-05:00

I have two little nieces coming this fall! Miss Avery is coming sometime in October and Miss Della is expected some three weeks after that! I cannot wait for them to arrive, but in the meantime I'm planning on spoiling their mama's by planning fabulous baby showers and helping with their nurseries.

Yesterday was Avery's room. :) We had a good time (I love painting. I always think it's a good time) and we had good company.

Here is some progress, I'll post pics when the room is finished.
Tools of the trade:

Swimming with the "cousins"

2010-08-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

Jim and Lorraine had us over for dinner on Friday and the kids all went swimming. We had crepes for dinner, which were a huge hit with the kids, and it was really good to catch up and spend time with them. Thanks for having us over!

When we went inside I tried to get more shots, but everyone has their eyes shut or a goofy expression on their face. Except Miss Margo. :)

Green. It's all about perspective.

2010-08-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

One of the things I adore about the midwest is the piles of emerald foliage that are seemingly everywhere from spring until fall.

The green is so amazing it seems fake.

Tucson is not green.

It's grey. But for a few weeks in the summer during the monsoon, we are able to enjoy "green". It's a different sort of green. It's a desert green. A shade that most people see as dry and dead. But for us, in comparison to the rest of the year? It's gorgeous.

One of my favorite views is going towards the Catalina mountains in the summer as you drive down Houghton road. The very path we take each Sunday to family dinner as luck would have it. So for a few weeks after the rains I get to enjoy that beauty.

Sunday dinner

2010-08-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday we have dinner at Papa and Nonie's house. Usually it is just us, the kids and Brie and Chris. Occasionally the whole fam damily shows up. But whatever we do it is so super relaxing for me and I love it.

I really missed these family nights when we were in Chicago.

Nonie entertains the kids, Papa makes fabulous food, and the rest of us hang out, catch up, cut coupons from the Sunday paper and read People Magazine.

It's heavenly.

Kira being entertained by getting to circle all the things she wants in the American Girl catalog for her birthday and Christmas. There were a lot of circles.

Evan working on a puzzle game that they brought back for the kids from Seattle. :)

Goofing off at the kids table. As usual. ;) They always still manage to get dessert every week.

Chris and Brie at the table.

Self Portraits:

2010-08-04T14:56:00.001-05:00

Not the best picture of me, but whatever. It's to show my hair. :)

I used the straight iron on it today, I think I like it better with a little curl from the round brush, but this is what you get. Lucky readers!

Kira took a self portrait this week too. I wish mine was this darling!

I got my hair done.

2010-07-31T22:11:00.000-05:00

And Katie remembered my camera in my purse and took pics! I promised to put them on my blog.

I still don't have any "afters" yet! But here, these are good for a laugh anyway.

This part sucked. I was scrunched down in my chair and my neck was killing me!

Hangin' with the nephews!

2010-07-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

So I have to admit, that while I miss Chicago, I have had more fun reconnecting with Collin and getting to know Liam. I love my little nephews so much!

Earlier this week we went shopping at Target and the Party store to get ready for Liam's first birthday!

They were bored, so I found this ball stuffed in the towels and gave it to Liam. He started a game with Collin. :) It was very entertaining to me as an Aunt. I'm fairly certain I would have told *my* kids to stop it.

Here is Liam explaining the rules to Collin. Something like "I will take this ball and throw it at your head and you will like it, and then you will fetch the ball and give it back to me. While you do this I will laugh hysterically."

At the Party store we found this. Collin did not find it amusing that I had my camera. Again. And that his dumb Aunts are so embarrassing in public and made him do this. :-P

Liam, on the other hand, is still delusional and thinks we are cool and fun. Plus he is in love with himself and wants as many pictures of him out there in the world as possible.

Collin however is not embarrassed by his own 'good ideas' and wanted a picture of him in this party hat.

Goober.

Saying goodbye to good friends.

2010-07-30T10:19:00.000-05:00

Leaving Chicago was surprisingly difficult. Not only did we love the city, but in just a short year we had made some wonderful friends, who we miss dearly already!

I went through my pictures today and wanted to share some of our goodbyes, and even though we were sad to go, we found lots of smiles and laughter. :)

Evan and George.

Evan, Kira, Michael and Andrew.

Patty, Me, Roni.

A., B., Kira, Rachel

Iris, Rosie, Kira and Kena.

Kira and Kena

Iris and Violet.

Torrey and Hope.

Evan, Kira, Rachel and Zachary.

Fred and Ruth.

Lori, Me, Evan.

We miss you all so much!!! (And those of you who hide from my camera too! :) )

Yellow Pillow.

2010-07-29T10:22:00.000-05:00

Even at six and a half, Evan needs his yellow pillow.

Yellow Pillow is referred to as "him".
Yellow Pillow has to be washed when a nap or bedtime is not in the near future.
Yellow Pillow is worn so thin I worry he will tear and stuffing will fall out.
Yellow Pillow is Evan's security "blanket".
Yellow Pillow had a twin that was lost at Disneyland.

Evan thinks nothing of lugging that silly pillow around everywhere we go. But we try to make it stay in his bedroom. What would we do if we lost yellow pillow? This mama tries to not even go there in her head.

Not my best mommy moment.

2010-07-27T23:34:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Kira had a meltdown from He-double hockey sticks.

It was simply fantastic. And mortifying in every.possible.way.

Long story short, she had a huge fit in front of a whole bunch of people (mainly mothers of three year olds, and her tantrum was so spectacular that they all likely scheduled their husbands vasectomies the next day).

I didn't handle it well. I was woefully unprepared mentally for the sheer capacity of crap she had at the ready for tossing my direction, and it was terrible.

In hindsight, I should have walked her out the front door and around the block until we both calmed down. Instead I tried to deal with her there in a back bedroom. It was loud and awful and I swear I never want to see those women again, because I will turn a thousand shades of red if I ever did.

After we left, she continued her tirade for most of the next two hours. We had to run errands, so there was little we could do but deal with her, which involved me, a 2004 copy of National Geographic detailing what would happen if a hurricane were to ever devastate New Orleans (Wow, were they spot on), and sitting in our van with the A/C running so as not to subject other poor unfortunate souls who had the unfortunate idea to go out into the same public space as we did.

By the time we got to the furniture store to pick up Shawn's new book case, she had managed to mostly pull herself together. And they were having fun checking out the fountain outside and just chill. So I grabbed my camera.

We survived our day. And I still have two children, and I even like both of them again. ;)

Why am I sharing? Because I feel more normal, less like a loser of a mother when I read other people's stories about how they have less than stellar mommy moments.

It's nice to know we are all in this together. That none of us has a manual. That some days we get it wrong, and that it's all going to be ok. Tomorrow. ;)

First day of School!

2010-07-27T17:34:00.001-05:00

(Was last Monday, the 19th of July)

Anyway. I just found the cord to my other camera. (Yes I have two camera's)

So I was able to get these off of it, edited and on my blog! Yay! I'm back in action.

First off I try to get a sleeping picture right before I wake them on the first day. :)

This tradition generally amuses Kira and she wakes up happy as can be and gets ready to go.

Since his first year in preschool, this tradition has done nothing to amuse Evan and only makes him irritated at me very early in the morning.

I will likely never learn. Look for a post like this one in 8 years when he starts high school.

Next is the obligatory picture together in front of the tree in the front yard. Whatever tree will do. :)

How cute are my bespectacled children! ;) (I may be biased here, but I don't think I am)

Holy smokes. When did she get so dang tall?

Kira disappeared into the crowd as soon as possible, Evan was a little overwhelmed and lost in the sea of children. Twice the size as his kindergarten school.

Can you spot him?

They both declared it a good day, and have been doing great!

Glad to be back at our beloved *S*.

One on One with Collin!

2010-07-26T19:28:00.000-05:00

Since I have two kids, I rarely get time to just be the Aunt to my nephews. I always have to have all the kids in the mix, which is fun, but rarely conducive to getting to know a kid on a fun, one to one level.

Since my kids are in school year round, and Collin is not, I took advantage of that last Thursday and took him to lunch and bowling.

He was just a crack up and since we share a sense of humor, I was dying the whole time laughing at him.

When I picked him up we started to drive and I said, "What should we do for lunch?" He replied "I want to eat at Eegees! You can go to the one right here." Yes. There is an Eegees in the same parking lot as Katie and Terry's office. Then he said "My mom never lets us drive here, we always have to walk." (Thanks kid!) I said "Well we could've walked but you didn't tell me were just going right here until we were driving already" He just laughed.

We ordered our sandwiches and he talked me into Ranch Fries. (Okay, not that it was hard, he said "Can we get that" and I said "One order of ranch fries please" Twist my arm!)

While we waited for our food he shot his straw wrapper at me repeatedly. (Ok. So I shot mine back at him a few times too before it landed somewhere in the planter behind us and I couldn't find it)

Here he is reloading. ;)

Funny story about the Ranch Fries: While we were eating, he said "I don't know why I love these fries so much, but I do, and I love the brown crunchy things on top the most" I said "Those are bacon bits" He looked at me with huge eyes and said "I LOVE BACON!!! I didn't know they put bacon on your french fries! No wonder they taste so good!"

When we got to the bowling alley, we had the place to ourselves. Eventually more people came, but for a while it was just the two of us and a whole bunch of empty lanes.

How cute is that!?

Thanks for a great time Collin! I love you buddy!

The reason we aren't all the way unpacked yet:

2010-07-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

Isn't only to do with the heat.

We've been super busy. Once we got back the kids only had two weeks of summer left! So we have been trying to play and catch up with friends and family before it's back to the grind!

Lots of sleepovers. A birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. Lots of play dates. Evan even had one all by himself building train tracks with Pop (my dad) all day long. Ice cream. Pizza. Skating with friends. Game nights. Fighting with each other.Buying a new car. Even a little bit of puking in there for good measure. Last night was open house/back to school night, and our fun summer ends Monday morning at 7:45a.m. First and Third grade, here they come!

Here are some pictures from skating the other day. We had too much fun, even though it was pretty warm in the skating rink!

Liam recently discovered that your finger fits perfectly up your nose.
He is quite proud of this unique talent.

This is D. a good family friend. He was soooo sweaty! It was really warm and muggy in there!

I missed Isaac at the wall so I got him with his mama here instead. Too bad she was looking away!

I get so focused on the kids I forget to get good shots of the grown ups I'm with too!

Must work on that. ;)

Evan was doing it wrong and his hand was too low, so Aunt Kimi was helping him. Collin was so oblivious to all the happenings around his head.
At the end of the day they do a dance and everyone can join, you don' t have to wear skates. It's fun to do it, so this time I also took my camera out onto the floor.

Only Terry had his skates on out of all of us, so he has to be a little more aware of the balance issues.

The boys were doing a strip tease or something at the end here. ;)

If anyone can remember what this "shuffle" is called, will you tell me so I can put it on here to remember forever and ever? Thanks!

Moving to the desert in July. A job I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

2010-07-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

No moving companies for us. No way. We like to offload the trailer by ourselves, in the heat.
It's how we roll.

Thankfully, Lawson came out to help, because this is a big job. No ramp. No UPS worker. One dolly (thank goodness my dad brought one out for us, because UPS delivered 71 boxes and forgot the dolly.

Ugh. And see my carpet? Gross!!!! It was newly steam cleaned and now has black nasty marks all over it from those boxes.

grrrrrr.

But then my mom and dad came out and helped relocate all the boxes to the rooms they belong, so that went much faster than it would have with me doing it alone.

And I would say we are about 70% unpacked. Because we are taking our time.

Did I mention we moved to the desert in July?

It's a tad on the warm side. ;)

Thanks Dad's and Mom for your help!

Family time.

2010-07-07T11:54:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I regret most in my life is letting time slip by without seeing my family more often.

I'm so thankful that Shawn was more than happy to stop in Kansas City for an extra day to see my Aunt and cousins, but it felt too short. I need more time! A day isn't long enough. The hours flew by and we had to say good bye again.

Sean and Nick are both amazing fathers. The little boys that call them daddy were well mannered, obedient, and darling to boot.

Kira and Sean Jr. hit it off right away and Lane and Evan were shy but eventually warmed up to each other. Gavin is just a baby, so he just wants to be included any way he can with the big kids. ;0P He was super cute.

We had a bbq and just relaxed. I talked with Nick outside about his little guy, he's had some health issues and I was sorry to hear that. He was really healthy and happy when I met him though.

Sean and I caught up a bit, he plays with electricity for money these days. Sounds about right. And coaches his kids sports.

We just all caught up on what's been going on all these years. Told them about my part of the family.

Then we had dinner, and just enjoyed each others company.

The kids wanted to play with the sand table, even though they might be a little big for it. ;)

Nick and Gavin. Nick's fiance' Rebecca had to work so she wasn't there. Same with Sean's wife.

This is what happens when you play with sand and everyone around you is much taller.

Then all the kids moved onto the Wii. Sean Jr, Kira and Evan glanced at me and went back to their game. Lane fled the scene. He didn't want me to take his picture. Silly boy. I'm not that easy to deter.

He finally gave up and smiled for me. I left him alone after that. ;)

Well...mostly...

Well. I tried.

You can see where I get my height. (I didn't have a prayer in this family. On either side. It was hopeless)

I'm Sean's favorite. He loves me best of all the family. (Just ask him. ;) )

I almost forgot to take pictures (which is unheard of) because I was just having a good time being in the moment. Sadly Rebecca stopped by and then they headed home to put Gavin to bed so I didn't get any pictures of them. I took a picture of Aunt Chris and her boys but Nick had his eyes closed. Bummer.

It was so good to see you all again, and lets not make a habit of letting 5 or 10 years go by, or meeting up at funerals.

Science City, Kansas City, MO

2010-07-07T10:38:00.000-05:00

The best part of our move home was our stop in Kansas City.

We took an extra day to spend it with my Aunt Chris, and my cousins Sean (spelled the wrong way) and Nick.

Aunt Chris took the whole day off and spent it with us, and she thought of the Science City at Union Station as a fun way to entertain my kids. She was right, it was right up their alley! And for the price! Ten bucks! After living in Chicago that was a heck of a deal. (And lets not mention it was less than $10 to park too!)

We had a blast and spent a good part of our day just enjoying science.

First we met Aunt Chris at our hotel and she led the way. Good thing, because everywhere we turned the street was closed. We drove all around, into Kansas and back again. It was entertaining to say the least!

We saw some cool old buildings and so I took pictures out the windows.

We made it eventually! And the side tour was fun. :)

The ceiling was pretty cool, see Evan checking it out?

Somehow I allowed myself to get talked into this! It was pretty fun, though a bit wobbly. It's probably not for someone who is afraid of heights, but there were a couple of times I tipped slightly and it makes you pretty nervous. :)

There was a dinosaur dig:

The Astronaut training center was a hit:

IBM servers make Shawn happy.

The Mister E. Hotel was full of optical illusions. We loved this take on M.C. Esher's artwork:

His art lined the halls of the "hotel", really great stuff!

Shawn and Kira were off on their own often too, here is what we found them doing a bit later:

Trying to build an archway. We failed. We need taller people in our family. Aunt Chris and I weren't much help. ;)
But short stature does not preclude you from being wildly amused for a very long period of time at a turning table.

We must have done this for about thirty minutes. I actually got motion sick. Good times. But it was really a lot of fun to play around with this!

Being that we were here for that long I took a bunch of pictures, but somehow the adults don't look cute doing this like the kids. I didn't get a decent shot of Shawn or Aunt Chris. So I won't share them on the net. I hate paybacks.

Kira loved this, and Evan braved it.

We really enjoyed Science City and would recommend it to anyone who has a chance to check it out.

Fourth of July celebrations!

2010-07-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend celebrating with family. Good to be home!

Not much to talk about, but I did get a million pictures.

We started the afternoon swimming at Lawson and Phoebe's house. The kids went ahead without us, and this was the fun when we arrived on the scene. :)

How fun is that? I love friend/family belly shots!

One water wing. No idea what she was doing. Kids are just weird.

And what is more fun than an uncle and a large body of water?

Not much.

Unless....

It's another Uncle.

And he's launching you into the air.

Liam loves to have his picture taken. We are a match made in heaven. I love to accommodate him!

Lawson came out with his new fangled solar powered hat fan.

(Don't ask)

After we left their house, we headed over to Kim and Jason's for another party! (And yummy food!)

This is only part of the spread. There was so much to choose from, steak included.

Plus Kim was channeling me and put the salad in buckets! Isn't that adorable !

And of course it isn't a party at her house without cake. I even had some of this. It had cool whip instead of frosting. Yummy!

After I photographed the food I tried to get the people at the party.
Jason is pretty cooperative.

Then there were his parents. Slightly less so, but still smiling:
Hi Barb and Scott!

Then there is the rest of the crew.

Terry loves me. As is evidenced by his sign language. I'm not fluent, but I think this is the sign for "I love you". ;)

Shawn, giving me the look he always gives me when he wants me to take a picture of him.

Doesn't that scream "Take my picture please! And put it on your blog!" ?
Brent shares Shawn's opinion. He was not a fan of our loud family. :(

He was a fan of Terry's keys though.

Kim has no grass. So she picked some up at Home Depot. The kids didn't seem to mind, even though mine should know better now.

After dark we lit things on fire. Or maybe not. I can't say for sure. :)

Hope your celebrations were as fun as ours!

Evan lost his first tooth!

2010-07-05T19:22:00.000-05:00

In Albuquerque, New Mexico!
It was a crazy wiggly thing for a couple of weeks, sideways in his mouth. But he didn't seem concerned about it at all.

He got an apple at breakfast in the hotel and made it bleed. I had to do my mommy duty (yuck!) and pull it at the breakfast table. Joy.

But how stinkin' cute is it! :)

Oh, and if you don't think it is stinkin' cute, but rather yucky, I completely understand! I actually really don't like reading about or seeing other people's kids holes in their mouths.

It's a right of passage I don't think is cool. So I tried to not get too close up with the camera. ;)

We made it!

2010-07-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

We are finally back in Tucson after taking our time driving across country to get here.

Already I miss Chicago, but for now this is home, so we will just stay inside with our a/c and cold drinks and we'll be ok.

The trip was pretty uneventful, which is always what you want right!?
We did make a stop off in KC for an extra day and night so we could catch up with my Aunt Chris, and my cousins, Sean and Nick. We had a great visit and I really wanted to stay longer. It just isn't enough time to catch up at all, and after years of not being in touch, Sean and I vowed to not allow that to continue. It just isn't acceptable to miss part of your family for years on end.

I took a million pictures of course! And I have pictures still from Chicago to post, and tonight is a big Fourth of July celebration with our family. So hopefully I will be back in action with my computer (using Shawn's laptop right now) and can get my pictures up and maybe even think of something worth reading to share as well.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Six Flags a continuation...

2010-06-24T15:22:00.000-05:00

Lets hope Blogger is feeling more cooperative today!

I don't have much time for talking about the pics, since I should be packing and cleaning rather than blogging. ;)

So for this post and the rest, I'm just going to post pictures. If you have questions about something specific, ask me in the comments section. But this should make things go a little faster. Then I'm going to be down for a week or two while we move across the country and get set back up again.

I'll be back though I promise!

Kira and Shawn loved this ride, Evan was too short so he and I had a treat while we waited. ;)

We waited in a lot of long lines. ;)

So we had to find ways to entertain ourselves.

Ahem. I mean I had to find ways to entertain myself. And luckily I had a camera!

Kira and I sat in the front of the boat so we would get wet. Our theory backfired.

Bwahahah!

While waiting in this line Six Flags had a power outage. It lasted far too long and they didn't bother to announce there was an issue they were working on or anything. Very poorly handled, IMO.

Some of the kiddie rides were working. So the kids finally decided that they would do that at least.

They were really bored.

And while I am always the self designated family photographer, we keep Shawn around to navigate. Thanks to him, we had a great time, saw most of the park, and didn't get lost one single time! Yay!

Over all, we had a really good day.

:)

Six Flags: Great America!

2010-06-23T20:37:00.001-05:00

So we have had a super busy week!

Monday we took the kids to Six Flags. In February they had to read for six hours to earn a free ticket through their school. That was easy for my kids to attain! Kira finished in about a week. ;)

Then there is a buy one get one free special right now, so for $55 all of us were able to get into the park! Great deal!

We had a really good time even though it was pretty humid, and for about an hour and half only the kiddie rides were available (and not even all of those) due to a power outage issue they were having.

The obligatory picture at the front entrance. Why do we do this to our kids? They are >.< this close to getting in the gate and we stop them and make them say cheese. So mean!

This lady told them good job on their reading! So nice!

This is what you see when you get through the gate. So pretty. The carousel was the first ride we went on too. I love that it is a double decker!

This spinning in two directions thing looked much better to me from the ground. :)

The kids did this ride while Shawn talked to someone about the tree falling on our car.

Then we decided it was time to eat. So we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. Some random lady took my food, then complained about how *her* order was wrong. Stupid woman. So it took an extra long time to get our food and it was also wrong (since it wasn't *our* food) But once we got it, it sure tasted good!

Okay, I'm going to stop here and continue in another post because blogger is giving me fits tonight. Grrr.

I'll be back with more tomorrow. :)

Plus pictures from Blackberry Farm! So much fun!

A tree fell on our car!

2010-06-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it! Crazy storm that blew out windows on the Sears Tower just after we left it for the day, also blew a tree down in our neighbors yard and it landed on Shawn's car! Lucky for us, its the car that is being shipped to Tucson, because had I been home it would have hit my van. And that would have been a problem bigger than a tree falling on your car.

So as you look at this photo I park on the right of the civic. I would have had a very smashed up van. Lucky I missed my train downtown and threw my day off by an hour.

The glass shattered but stayed, lucky for us too, because the torrential rain would have made a mess of the inside with no window an no way to move the car or cover the hole with the tree in the way!

You can see it hit the roof and then slid down to the trunk.

Keith spent several hours getting the tree off our car. Shawn would have helped but he had worked all night the night before. So lack of sleep and a chainsaw is a bad idea. Keith said it didn't matter to him. I still felt bad he had to do it alone. I would have helped, I've chopped and stacked enough wood in my day, but I had to take Kira to the parade.

Kira's Cheer Camp

2010-06-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

Kira decided to give cheer leading a try and this camp was a perfect match for our over packed last two weeks of living in Chicago.

The camp was put on as a fundraiser by the local high school cheerleaders and was only for two days. Then they were in the community days parade on Saturday!

On the second day they did a little dance performance for the parents, and Kira was at the camp with her friend from the neighborhood M.

Waiting for her groups turn to perform:

Dancing:

Then here she is at the parade, can you spot her? (Look center)

Sears Tower Part Three: Heading Home!

2010-06-18T22:27:00.002-05:00

Getting home was rather unadventurous. Thank goodness. The only weird part about it was going really slow for a bit due to the storm and restricted speeds on the track.

No big deal.

What amused me was when we bought our tickets, there was one window open.

But the line looked like this:

Go figure. ;)

Cool clock at the station:

Ipod: Check
Tween Magazine: Check
Snack and drink: Check
Ignore your mother for the entire time you are on the train: Check

Sears Tower Part Two: What a View!

2010-06-18T22:23:00.003-05:00

Wow.

Truly amazing looking out at gorgeous Chicago on a sunny day from 103 stories up in the sky.

Looking South:

Adler Planetarium:

The Field Museum:

Soldier Field (behind those buildings there):

Looking East:

A little North East:

North:

The kids looking down and eastward:

Out on the Sky Deck. There are three. We went into all of them. Evan only crawled in the first one, then he felt confident and safe and was cool with the next two. He is *so* brave! There were grown people who wouldn't step out on them, and one man and one woman (in different groups) who actually crawled out themselves, sat in a sort of squat for a photo and then crawled out. It is really terrifying for a lot of people.

Kira was hugging Evan after he stood up so he felt safe.

Can you see the sky boxes? Pretty high up there:

Here, let me zoom in a bit:

See that sky? Within an hour of us leaving a crazy storm blew in. It blew out windows in the tower!

Storm blows out windows at 110-story Chicago tower
(AP) – 3 hours ago
CHICAGO — A swift-moving storm carrying high winds and pelting rain knocked out windows at Chicago's 110-story Willis Tower.
Police on Friday roped off areas around the imposing black building long known as the Sears Tower. Chicago Battalion Chief Michael Gubricky says windows were blown out in a 29th-floor air conditioning mechanical room and a 25th-floor unoccupied office.
Glass was on the sidewalk, but no injuries were immediately reported near the tower. Authorities say a woman did receive minor injuries from flying glass at the downtown Daley Center blocks away.
Chicago fire officials say another person was seriously injured by a falling tree on the city's west side.
The National Weather Service says winds in excess of 70 mph were recorded as the storm whipped into Chicago.

How crazy is that!? So glad we missed all the excitement. We missed some at home too, when a tree fell on our car! Check back for pics of that fun stuff tomorrow. Crazy day!

Sears Tower Part One: Getting to the top.

2010-06-18T20:12:00.002-05:00

Today I braved the train and downtown alone with two kids.

I was feeling pretty confident in my ability to:
A. Take a train by myself and get back on the correct train at the end of the day.
B. Not lose a child in the process.
C. Find my way to the Sears Tower, that is now called the Willis Tower and I don't care. Because I think Willis is a jerk. What Choo talkin' 'bout?
D. I'm a little sad that Gary Coleman died. Talk about a train wreck though.
E. I wasn't afraid of a train wreck, though maybe I should have been had I known what the weather was going to do shortly after we boarded the train to go home.

So. With that said, we drove to our train about 15 min. later than I wanted to head out because my keys were missing. Turns out that wasn't actually my fault this time. Shawn used them last! Whew! Never the less, we hit the crossing for the train...on the wrong side as our train pulled into the station. So for an hour we drove around and hit a couple of yard sales to kill time.

Waiting for the train:

Once we managed to catch our train, things went pretty smoothly. We had lunch at Union Station, because "It's too hoooooot! Pleeeeease, mom, don't make us walk around to find a place to eat!".

Then we headed over to the tower.

Checking out the Chicago River right outside Union Station.

Skydeck prices for today:

Mug shots. Seriously, they were acting as though they were being arrested. And Kira has a dirty face.

Good times. Black mail pictures are always extra nice to have on hand for those teen years. ;)

Once they cram you into the elevator like sardines, they give you a ride to the top with a show. Your ears pop. It's a short ride for how many floors you are traveling. 103. In case you are wondering.

Almost there!

Two baby Girls are on the way!

2010-06-17T18:17:00.000-05:00

Hooray!

And with that, and an inspiring post over at Quite Contrary I decided a nursery inspiration post was in order! (And I loved what Mary posted, so I didn't include them in my own post, hence the link. Check it out!)

So keeping that both of my sisters have different tastes, but not *too* different, I have found lots of great pictures over at Rate My Space to pull a ton of inspiration from when I get to help them design and decorate their nurseries! (And I also have to do something for my own sweet girl who has waited for 2 years!) All this while attending school full time and parenting? No problem! ;)

What I love about this room is that the art could be so easily replicated! And with the neutral paint on the walls, and the dark furniture, I could easily make something like this happen for Katie. (hint, hint).

Ok, I must say that I adore this room so much! And I think this look could be achieved using a dark wood or white crib. And I could paint that tree no problem. And that blue for the backdrop? ***LOVE***

This is just so soothing to me. I love the stripes so much.

Now this I'm actually posting because I'm stealing this idea, putting it into purples and blacks and making this happen for Kira. She has a daybed that needs paint, and I'm going for black baby. And then lavender walls, and dark purple swirls, and polka dots! What on earth is not to love!?

Look at that door painted out? And that sweet full length mirror. Perfect for dress up now, and checking-yourself-out as a tween in just a couple more years.

So, Brie, Katie, what do you think? Any love here for you? Any elements you want adapted for your spaces? Any of them you think are terrible?

And remember, you can use the design and not the colors. So don't get hung up on that. Check out the details and see if you like anything.

Comment here and let me know!

Lunch with Denton and Jae and Kyle.

2010-06-17T14:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much time to blog this week. After fishing we had a wonderful lunch that Jae prepared for us while we were fishing. And then Denton and Shawn came back and grilled hot dogs and sausage and corn to complete the meal.

It was really relaxing and the food was yummy. Thanks so much for having us!

When we first arrived this car was parked in front of their house. Evan loved it and wanted a picture of him next to it.

One with Kira:

And one alone: (yes he has on a pirate patch. That has to do with his eye stuff, and I will post a separate blog about that later this week.)

The kids are so funny. I love how big kids can manage to entertain themselves with baby toys for so long.

They all went down and played in the sand box for a bit.

Then it was time to eat.

This salad was so good I had seconds. (and maybe thirds. shhhhh)

Jae shared her lunch with Kyle.

Denton shared his beer. ;)
(okay, not really, Kyle just kept smelling it and then laughing, which made everyone else laugh, so he kept doing it over and over again)

Not sure what Kyle was doing, but it was not smiling for me. ;)

Quick Trip to Tucson...didn't go as planned.

2010-06-16T20:19:00.000-05:00

I literally took a one day trip to Tucson this week to deliver our sweet little Loco cat to my sister who is going to keep him for us until we get back in a couple of weeks.

So Loco and I flew out Monday evening, and I flew back early this morning....(well that was the plan).

Here we are at the airport. He was in the black bag, curled up as small as he could get with his face in the corner so you couldn't see him. ;) We had an hour delay and everything was backed up so seats were prime real estate. We took the floor. Don't I look thrilled? Yeah. I only had my cell phone camera and I took about five pictures (looking like a complete dork I'm positive) trying to get one that consisted of more than my nose hair or a boob shot.

When we got there, Luna (Kim's cat) attacked Loco. They didn't take to each other and consequently blamed the people they don't love. So Luna spent her time hissing and growling at me, making sure to let me know of her displeasure, and Loco growled and snarled and hissed at Kim and Jason. I don't envy their time together. ;) I kept looking back, fully expecting Luna to be chasing down my car "WAIT YOU B*TCH!!! YOU FORGOT YOUR DAMN CAT AT MY HOUSE"

While there for one day, I snuck in a little time with Katie who took the day off from work. We had her boys and Liam still thinks I'm sort of cool. (Collin is not so easily convinced, when I said "I'm pretty cool right?" He said "Um...I guess kind of". Great. I see how I rank.

Liam also is a ham, and believes that camera phones were invented for him. He would pose, point, have you take his picture and then would spend several seconds admiring himself and cheering and clapping at how darling he was, then point at you and pose again so you could take another fabulous picture of his cute little self. (What can I say, I indulged the boy!) We also met up with Miwa and Isaac for a bit and shopped around the mall. (Only I didn't actually shop, I just wandered and resisted)

Collin posed for about two pictures and then was busy, busy, no time for me and my camera!

Liam saw the camera and posed.

This was a favorite of his. He kept wanting to see this one again. ;)

Miwa did some shopping for Jesus Bling. She REALLY wanted to get this, but Katie and I told her to hold out, because they always have jewelry sales and we thought she might be able to get it for a better price. ;) I mean they already came down 19000 dollars! I think she was nervous it would sell if she waited too long, but we were sure it would come down a little more.

She also found some clothes she liked.

She got one of the wigs, but they were out of that belt. (She gets stuff like this to keep the paparazzi off her back)

Lawson and Phoebe had a really nice dinner for all of us, I only managed to take more pictures of Liam. I never can remember there is a camera on this phone (and is it any wonder? Look how awful these pictures turn out! Ack!) But Liam remembered. And said "THAT!" and pointed. Which to him means: Let me pose, I'm so cute and you know you want to take my picture" or "I'm starving! Feed me ice cream".

So I took his picture and my dad fed him the ice cream. We are well trained in this family.

We did one smile and one serious face.

Then I missed my flight the next morning. And had to fly stand by. First I got lucky and made it to Dallas/Fort Worth. Then I grabbed a Starbucks on my way to my next gate and this is what I managed to do:

That was par for the course with my day. That was the entire drink. Not one sip.

I had better luck with my standby flight and got out on the very next flight, so fortunately for me, this was the end of the run. (Until lunch when I ordered a burrito and the guy said "No it's not too spicy at all, very mild" and after 3 bites I had hearburn and Shawn had to stop somewhere else to buy me a sandwich)

I think I just need to go to bed and call it a day. A really.long.day.

Fishing at Fermilab.

2010-06-13T20:30:00.000-05:00

As it turns out all that water needed for cooling for particle accelerators, needs a holding place.

All those holding ponds then become happy living places for fish that end up there via bird transportation and then they reproduce. So we got to go fishing today.

The kids have never been, and so catch and release was a really great way to give them a chance to try it out. I forgot how much I enjoy fishing, it's been many years since I spent the day at Pebble Creek with my dad and my grandpa, some worms, a pole and my grandpas old smelly fish basket. I thought of my grandpa many times today and sure miss him.

So Denton, Kyle, Shawn, Kira and Evan and I headed out with our tools ready for a fun afternoon. And boy did we ever have fun!

Bug spray and Bait. Must haves. :)

Poles and a lesson are also vital to avoiding fish hooks in body parts that don't belong to a fish.

So Denton got our kids set up and then helped Kyle with his pole. They threw it in, and the hook landed in the fishes mouth and Kyle claimed the title of "First fish of the day" in about 30 seconds. (You can't make this stuff up! I'm dead serious!)

Shawn caught the next two. He was trying to tell a big fish story while the puny little thing was still on his hook. ;0P If you look carefully you can see the dinky thing on the bottom right side of Shawn, it looks about the same color as his shorts so it's hard to see. (Because it is SO small!)

I tried my hand at fishing, but was better at taking pictures and snuggling a little munchkin while we caught twigs and seaweed. I sort of caught a fish but he flipped off the hook right when I brought him out of the water. Lame. So I gave up after that.

He was not impressed with our team efforts. He kept saying "Uh oh". :) Gosh I love squishy little 2 year olds!

Denton just ran around keeping the kids going, he did a great job of untangling, casting, untangling, letting the fish off the hook, untangling...(did I mention he untangled a few lines. ;) )

He's a good guy. It's nice there are guys like him in the world.

The kids took turns with a net. They were not successful. Kira found a dead crayfish. Yuck.

Then Evan slipped and fell in. It's called a natural consequence. I'm not sure what the kid expected wearing flipflops on mossy rocks in pond water.

When he got back to the bank he wanted me to get him some dry clothes. Um...my days of carrying around extra clothes for children ended pretty much immediately following potty training. I was sick to death of that diaper bag. He thought that I was unreasonable and mean, and pitched a fantastic fit, the kind you usually encounter with a three year old. (You know, the age of child you *would* happen to be carrying extra clothing for with you) So I took a picture. It was a proud mommy moment, let me tell you.

Shortly after the kids both caught a fish and we ended our first fishing excursion on a pretty darn happy note!

Yard Sale Day!

2010-06-13T18:52:00.002-05:00

Saturday was our yard sale and we had so much fun.

We started off the day with five families joining together at our house. Joyce, Lori, Ruth, Linda and I set up around 7ish and none of the kids were awake yet. Being the smart mothers we are, we left them to their sleep and enjoyed each other's company in the warm yet overcast morning while we set up.

It was pretty slow going, I think the anticipation of the rain scared off a large number of our shoppers. Darn that weather!

Ruth and Linda:

Lori and Linda taking a break on Joyce's awesome couch! I LOVED this fun couch, wish I could have kept it. :)

Eventually all of the neighborhood children woke up and Kira and Rachel had good luck selling their lemonade to the neighborhood boys. I'm sure you can guess why they did good business! Boys like cute girls. ;)

Other than the boys though, business was super slow. A competition lemonade stand was set up, which IMO was more than a little disappointing, and in addition to that it was chilly and threatening to rain. It wasn't exactly in high demand.

Oh well. They still had fun.

Over all, none of us made much money. The kids did better than the parents combined. Sad really. ;) But the socialization was a blast, and I'm glad I got one more day to relax and hang out with all my great neighbors. I'm REALLY going to miss them!

Part of our "luck" issue was tied to the three hours of rain we endured. ;) It's hard to shop when your merchandise is covered by tarps!

Keith owns the World's Largest Tarp. (I'm not kidding! This thing is still folded numerous times and covered a couch, bookcase,a chair and a table and was the size of a house!) Lori had to bring it over in a wheel barrow!

The girls abandoned the Lemonade stand in a hurry to play in the basement. They didn't re-open.

Oh well! It was still fun. :)

S'mores and good neighbors.

2010-06-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight we had a fire with Lori and Keith and the kids had s'mores.

And played with fire.

Don't worry, Keith taught them fire safety and told them to not get burned. ;)

It was a bit green and smoky, but it kept the mosquito's away, so who's going to complain?

For this shot my flash was up. Kind of a fun effect I though.

This shot was kind of cool, you can see the heat rising up around her.

Z made a s'more for me because he doesn't like them. He just wanted to make one. He caught the top on fire in about 5 seconds, then blew out the flames and brought it to the table. Then he assembled the s'more for me and that took some time. It was interesting to eat a s'more when the marshmallow wasn't even warm. ;) But I did and said thanks, and he was super happy. I do what I have to do you know? :) (and it was chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow, it couldn't be all that terrible right? :) )

Fun at the Hospital.

2010-06-10T11:01:00.001-05:00

So as many of you may know, in our 14 years of marriage Shawn and I have been through a great deal of complications with Shawn's health.

It's actually been REALLY, REALLY good for the last 8 years. But we've been dealing with some new stuff the past six months. And really, we aren't complaining (even Shawn isn't complaining) because in the grand scheme of our lives, this is pretty minor. And we know major.

In any case Shawn has had to have a few procedures since Thanksgiving.

Anyone who has ever had a sick spouse knows the sinking, awful feeling you have when you step through those hospital doors. The unknown. The risks. The odds.

Everyone tries to assure me that it's going to be fine, but you know, those odds, those risks? Those random happenings? Well they happen to SOMEONE. And I am not foolish enough to believe that somehow I'm immune. In fact I tend to think the odds are not in my favor considering how many times they have been. I always worry the axe will fall on me this time. And it is really hard to see him wheeled back.

No matter how many times we go through this routine of ours, I never feel safe until he is home, in our bed sleeping next to me.

I also don't really like to talk about it, or blog about it, or think about it beyond the confines of the hospital walls. It is bad for my health, because I internalize this process. And that isn't like me. It isn't what I do. But it's what I do with this, because frankly, I can't process it. I can rarely verbalize it. But this time I thought I might try to document a day of it, because this time it wasn't "bad". So I am able to deal with this trip a little differently.

So a glimpse at the things I see. The things I stare at for hours in the hospital. My perspective of Shawn's health procedures if you will.

Yeah. He doesn't look concerned at all. And that is how he tries to keep me sane. By putting on a brave face and loving me with a smile. Even when he was in the most pain in his life and it was a "big deal" he would give me that smile, squeeze my hand and tell me he would be fine and would see me in a while. And that's what keeps me going. It's all I have in those moments.
Everyone gives Shawn a hard time about smiling for photos, but he saves them for when they matter. He saves them for me when my heart needs them most.

I love you Shawn. And it's always a big deal to me. Thanks for pulling through every.single.time. and coming home to me.

Baby Love!

2010-06-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

George and Grace and their little sister Gabby just had a new baby brother join their family on Saturday. :) We were able to meet him today after we took the kids home. It was really nice to get some sweet baby snuggles and catch up with Megan. We are really going to miss their family so much when we go home. :(

Gavin is just as sweet as can be, and of course I took a few pictures! Congratulations on your new addition. Thanks for sharing him with us this afternoon.

Megan, proud big sister Grace and baby Gavin.

A play date with friends!

2010-06-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

Today was a play date at the park. Unfortunately someone forgot to invite mother nature, so she got mad and rained on our plans. ;)

Traci, Christy and I met up at McDonalds to let the kids play in the play place. On our way we stopped and picked up George and Grace.

The kids played really nice together and other than one minor mishap when George cut his toe (yuck and ouch!) it went really well.

Here are the kids playing and hanging out with their buddies. :)

(Don't we all make the most adorable kids ever? I took a picture of all the kids but they were all blurs of motion. The shots I did get were still not very good, I think my camera was on some kind of odd setting, none of the pictures turned out well. I may have to have it looked at. Blur is not good when you take pictures of kids.) So here is what I managed.

Two of Christy's four. :) See? Cute! What did I tell you!?

George, Traci's youngest, Kira and Grace.

I was cracking up at George and Grace, I took this three times and yet they were constantly looking in opposite directions from each other and never at the camera! Kira and C. were too cute, but tired of smiling for me, so I gave up. ;)

Talk about blurry! These two were full of boundless energy, slowing down long enough to take a picture about killed them I think!

After the kids ate we opened up the Happy Meal toys. Grace started cracking up and she held it up and said "This is the worst toy EVER!" Then doubled over in a fit of giggles. So stinking cute!

I took a picture of her making a funny face when she showed me the toy, but it didn't turn out very good at all.
But I did get this cute shot. The quality of the photo is marginally better, helped along by adorable subject matter.

It was a nice way to spend a rainy gloomy summer morning.

Our going away party. :*(

2010-06-07T20:09:00.000-05:00

Ruth and Fred so kindly hosted a going away party for us, and it was wonderful!

It was really nice to see everyone, eat some great food (funny story: everyone brought appetizers to share. There were lots of bean dips and tortilla chips, like 4 different kinds! Everyone said something about they thought of it because we were going back to AZ or whatever. I thought it was so funny that everyone had the same idea. ;) We brought spinach dip!)

Anyway. Here are a few pics from the evening. Thanks so much for having this for us, we had a lovely evening!

Flowers from Ruth's gardens.

Watermelon, I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of all the bean dips and salsa's! I feel like such a failure!

Ruth, Dee, and J. :)

Kira, R. and A. Hanging out in the basement, hiding from the boys!

Tony and Dee.

Angela (who made me take this picture 4 times before I got her to smile!), Linda and Lori.

Ron acting like one of the boys. ;) (Do they ever grow up!? Rabbit ears!) Haha! Lori and Joyce.

Ron let me get his picture, most of the men complained. Keith bailed with his little guy who wanted to go home. Shawn wouldn't let me take his picture and none of them wanted the lights on! Men.

Ruth and Fred. The Hosts of a fantastic party. Thanks everyone for a great evening, but also for a great year! I couldn't have found better neighbors had I tried, it's been such a wonderful experience and I wish we didn't have to leave this wonderful neighborhood! I will miss you all dearly, and promise to come visit!

Maxwell Street

2010-06-06T19:43:00.000-05:00

The little Japanese shop is on Halsted, which is right by Maxwell St.

So we had a good time walking up and down the street and hanging out with the bronze statues! The kids loved that part, and I loved reading all the stuff about Maxwell Street.
Really bad picture of Kira, great one of the sign. *Shrug* I wasn't trying to get her in the pic but she insisted on posing there, so meh.

A view down the street.

Isn't that brick street gorgeous!? I love it, adds such character!

A lady with her groceries:

Evan said she looked thirsty.

So Kira had to share with this guy:

These boxes had relief art all around the entire statue and the pictures were of the same people as the bronze statues. We sat next to a musician with his little cigar box for money, but for some reason it is gone, I must have accidentally erased it. :( The kids loved finding the people in the art that they had "met" on the street.

Here is the history of the area from a sign. :) I loved this shortened version of how it used to be.

New Bento!

2010-06-06T15:26:00.002-05:00

We have had a really crazy busy few days since school let out.

Yesterday we headed down town to Kawaii, a little Japanese Shop to pick out some new Bento stuff for the kids lunches next year.

I got lazy this year and barely packed Kira any lunches, but I have new motivation to get back with it for next year for both kids because I really believe that menu choices that are considered "balanced" by our government are a joke. And I don't want my kids eating that food daily. Some days I imagine it will have to be what they eat because I will be in school, but I"m hoping to make it the exception rather than the rule.

Anyway. All that aside Kawaii is a cute little shop and the parking was only $2! Can't beat that!

First we played a bit. Evan found these funny plastic hats and masks.

Kira said "Oh great, you are going make me wear this and then put it on your blog, I just know it!"

I said "Say cheese!"

Then the kids found these eraser/rubber toy/puzzles. (I have not a clue what they even are! But they were cute and fun and a buck so I said "Sure you can get that")

I'm a sucker for office products so when Kira said the magic word "eraser" I couldn't say no. But once they were open, I'm not sure that they are supposed to be an eraser. They opened them and threw away the package there so I don't know what it said (Not that I can read Japanese, but I'm sure someone could have helped me out! Oh well.)

So the Bento was what we came for and I wasn't disappointed! They had great prices and a great selection. The other side had more. I got Evan two boxes plus and extra (Kira already has two but she talked me into a fun one with a pink bunny on it). I also got some picks, and a couple of egg molds and a press for rice that I've also seen used as a cutter and press for sandwiches which is really fun too. We also got some extra bands because Kira seems to lose those and I'm not sure how. For less than $2 each they were a bargain!

I also let the kids pick out some goodies from this wall. Kira declared that Japan has much better candy than Mexico. ;) (Not so into the sweet/spicy aspect I guess.)

The picked up a treat that was a cookie/cracker type stick with a chocolate frosting-like dip for a treat. They devoured them.

But first we went to Quizno's which is right next door.

Now. Let me just say, I thought that this would be uneventful, much like any other trip to Quizno's I've ever taken. But it was not. It was something right out of science fiction! (I will now do a fabulous ad for Pepsi, much like the one I did for Old Navy, I should get paid in free diet pepsi for a year or something equally fabulous. Think it will happen? A girl can dream)

Anyway. So we go in and we order our food and I get the drinks and I tell the kids to pick a chair while I fill our cups.

And behold.

I wanted so desperately to say "Computer, tea. Earl Grey. Hot"

Alas, it is a touch screen. But we are getting closer! ;)

Evan chose Wild Berry Mt. Dew. When I said "Um...are you sure?" and he responded "Yes, duh! You know why mom. Pop. He loves Mt. Dew and so do I, but I like to add a little fruit to mine" ;)

Then we sat at the high table (after I finished photographing the Pepsi machine of course, I can only imagine what the poor employees must have been thinking, college kids. They probably think I'm insane.)

The kids ordered pizza. How lame is that?

And we sat at the high table. Evan demonstrates just HOW high our table was. ;)

We took a little walk after lunch, but I'll make a new post for that. :)

Just for fun:

Summer time is here!

2010-06-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

It's entirely possible that I will never get this song out of my head.

2010-06-01T19:23:00.001-05:00

There are some things that Chicago takes very seriously. (Not their politics of course. ;) )

Nope, I'm talking about their sports.

We became Cubs fans by default. With a brother in law like Terry, and then living in the North Suburbs, there is no way around it. You are a fan. Own it. Buy the gear. Go to the game. Talk about it.

Then the Blackhawks made it to the Stanley Cup.

I've watched more hockey in the past two weeks than ever in my life (and I'm saying that's been about 3 min. before now. Now we are up to about 15)

If you want to know what on earth everyone on the news, in the store, on the radio is talking about, then you have to know what is going on in Hockey right now.

So since everything is all Blackhawks all the time every moment my head is filled with this song. (I put in the video special for you so you can hear it too! Misery loves company right!?)

Now actually I feel happy because for once I have heard the ENTIRE song. And I need that. Because otherwise I have that ear worm of nothing but one part of a song running through my head and I can't get it out because I don't know any more of the song! And for what it's worth, I *really* like the song.

So. That mini-vent over. GO BLACKHAWKS!!!!

Ahhh. Look what I found!

2010-06-01T19:05:00.001-05:00

My sweet kitty boy. I sure miss him. :*(

Indiana Dunes State Park, Indiana (of course)

2010-05-31T17:57:00.003-05:00

We took a break yesterday and while I shopped everyone else stayed home.

I'm pretty sure Hallie never moved unless forced by the need for food or because at some point during the day you have to relieve your bladder.

She was thrilled to hear that on Memorial Day weekend dogs are not allowed at the Dunes. Tasha was sad. She likes water, sand and the opportunity to fling, splash, make general chaos where ever my food or beverage might be. She's a pro. I was not sad to leave her behind.

When we got there, it looked like this:

Not really Shawn's cup of tea. But he is a trooper and helped set up "camp" by the water in the midst of these other thousands of people with the same idea. (Really glad we didn't bring the dogs!)

The water was a balmy 59*F today. The kids didn't care one bit!

Evan got right in, cooled off from our walk down the beach, and then set to work with his sand tools. :)

Kira dove right in and started swimming. She said it wasn't cold. (She was lying. I was standing in it up to my knees to take pictures of her) I would have changed and joined her in the water though had the storm not arrived to foil our plans. (yes really!)

Right about now is when they heard thunder and made the announcement that we had to get out of the water for at least 30 minutes. Great! We *just* got there! So I tried to make it happy and told them to come eat lunch and then by the time we were done we could go swim more.

(Have a little lunch with your sand there Evan)

Still no luck. So we had some Cheetos.

And the sky just kept getting darker...
Dang.

Then the wind picked up and it got ugly. Shawn wanted to stay. Kira lost her ever loving mind. (She is terrified (as in phobic) of thunder) We threw everything together as quickly as we could and that wasn't fast enough for Kira. She was really upset and walking ahead of us. She kept turning around telling us to hurry.
The beach looked like this:

Then it looked like this:

And then like this:

Everyone headed home. It was pouring shortly after and it rained most of the way back to Chicago and through most of Chicago.

Kind of a bummer. When we got home Hallie stole the Cheetos. She felt slighted. (That we didn't get her a good snack, not that we left her behind. Lets not kid ourselves.)

But aren't they cute anyway? (Can you see Kira already looking worried! Poor girl!)

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

2010-05-31T15:31:00.001-05:00

So we decided to head out to this park for some hiking to kick off the official start of our three day weekend.

We loaded up the entire family, (Tasha and Hallie included) and left Loco home to hold down the ~~bed~~ er...fort for us. (He didn't seem to notice we were gone)

The place was jam packed, but we figured that where ever we went this weekend we would run into crowds so we tried to not let it bug us.

We sat down in the shade and had a picnic before we set off on our hike.

We didn't get to do the trails we had planned because Hallie refused. She really didn't like all the stairs and kept sitting down. You would have to tug on her leash to get her to go and it didn't matter to her old bones if it was up or down. I joked to one guy that I was sorry, it was like being stuck behind the little old lady in rush hour. He laughed and said that was ok, but maybe we should get her a handicap sticker for her butt! :)

She just was not impressed with our efforts to include them. She is a house dog.

French Canyon

Hallie decided this was a good spot to rest. Some other people thought she was funny and took her picture too. Silly old dog. She had a good rest. It was hot too, 91 with humidity. So we were a little jealous.

Evan thought this crooked bench was hilarious.

Kira's "help" lasted all of three minutes before she asked her dad to carry the backpack. ;)

Nice huh? It was *everywhere*. We all managed to avoid touching it even though it was jutting out all over the place.

The top of Starved Rock.
We thought it was a rather odd view...

Kicking off the three day weekend!

2010-05-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

Joyce and Ron are our next door neighbors and they are just so dang nice!

They invited us over for dinner the other night and Sue and Stuart from across the street joined us.They are here on assignment with HSBC for a two year contract from England. Kind of funny how small the world can be.

We had Salmon, corn on the cob, chicken, potatoes, asparagus, salad and for dessert we had strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries!

Hello Summer!

Joyce and Ron have grandkids that visit often so our kids were very entertained with all the "new" toys. We had a really nice evening and lost track of the time. It was nearly nine before we got home and started bedtime. :)

We will miss them lots!

Ron, Sue and Stuart.

Kira getting some loves from her daddy.

Joyce and Ron let Evan bring the legos outside. He was thrilled.

Stuart played some ball with Kira.

Joyce cooking the salmon. She had three marinades and even though I'm not a fan of fish, I tried all three.

Maybe I'm growing up because I actually enjoyed the fish. We brought home leftovers. It was good. Evan didn't care for it, but Kira devours fish, and I'm pretty sure she is going to be really happy when we add it to our menu rotation. She loves the stuff.

Joyce also gardens and the yard is just gorgeous.