Bad Storm

For those of you who have noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. We went through a week of bad storms here for awhile. One of them knocked our power out before we could properly shut down the computer. After the power came back on our computer has been messed up ever since. All of my picture software was on that computer so I can't do anything with photos until we get it all fixed. It's been killing me to not be able to post all kinds of fun pictures. The kids first day of school...the big flood on our street...new furniture for our home...no more ugly pine tree in front of our house. Eventually I will be able to blog again with pictures. but for now this will have to do. Leave me a comment so I know who is still checking on our family blog.

Camping Trip

We took our first (and probably only) camping trip of 2007. It was hot, and very wet on the second night... but over all we had a great time. 7 adults, 7 kids and 3 dogs. We had fun hiking, bird watching, swimming at the beach and just hanging out around the campfire. I had one too many smores myself.

How many siblings does it take to set up a tent?

The kids had fun digging a big hole with Aunt Cassy.

One last girls picture at the beach!

Madison and Faith roasting marshmallows.

The hummingbirds were fun to watch at the Nature Center.

One of the very few pictures Austin and Brandon would let me take of them. They had to stick together since they are the only boy cousins.

Marilyn, Kelsey, Carolyn and Kylee relaxing around the campfire.

One of the many pictures I took of my adorable niece Kylee.

Even Coco got to go camping with the family.

Brian has been working 12 hours shifts, so he wasn't able to camp with us, but he did make it up there one night for hanging out around the campfire.

Our first overnight guests

Carolyn (mom), Cassy (sister), Michael (brother) Kylee (niece) and coco (dog) are here all the way from Florida to visit us for a few days. I've taken so many pictures already that I have to post them. Austin showing Coco around the new house. Coco loves our fenced in backyard... and we love having her here.

Cousins getting ready for their first slumber party together.

Austin reading Kylee a bedtime story. (Did you notice that Kylee poses for every picture? SO CUTE!!)

We took Kylee to "Tyler's Tenders" where the choo choo train delivers your food at the snack bar and you can take train rides for only a dollar. Here comes our food!!!

The kids just adore their Aunt Cassy. (so do I)

Madison decided she wanted to pose like Kylee. What a cute cousins picture.

Rub a dub dub... three kids in a tub. Thanks for letting us cool off in your pool Aunt Marilyn.

Stay tuned for more pictures...

New Home

Our last family picture at 833 Arbogast.

Well I think it has been 12 days since we have moved into our new home... and to say the least it has been crazy around here. Most of our belongings came in a POD that we packed. Other items were stored at my parents house and a friend's garage (thanks mom, dad and Tim) until we had posession of our new home.

Off to a good start packing the POD Bringing the big stuff in makes it a little more tricky.
Quick throw the mattresses in and close the door.

Saying goodbye to our old home and neighbors was kind of hard for me. Austin was only 2 and Madison was 4 months old when we moved into our home in Griffith. We had so many memories there. So the last night in that house me and the kids slept on the floor with some blankets and I cried.

We moved in with my mom and dad for a week before we were able to get the keys to our new home. Thanks mom and dad for letting us take over for a little while. We had fun staying with you guys.

Thanks to all of our friends and family for helping us move all the furniture (especially the very heavy piano that I don't think the guys will soon forget about)

The kids have adjusted well to the new home. They met a boy next door that they have played with everyday. They also enjoy picking apples from the apple tree in our backyard.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. Our family celebrated by going to the Highland twilight parade on July 3rd. We really like this parade because it is at night so you don't have to sit in the direct sun and burn up. After the parade we went to the Highland carnival to play games, ride rides... and yes, I did eat one funnel cake Yum!

Here they are with their bags waiting for people to throw candy. Austin said that was his favorite part of the parade was getting so much candy. Madison said her favorite part was the horses.

This is Madison with her little buddy Miles. Aren't they both so cute??

Austin doesn't like to ride the rides at the carnivals, so I talked Madison into riding on the "Tilt a Whirl" with me. That was AFTER the funnel cake and I didn't even get sick.

On the actual 4th of July we went to a BBQ at our friends house. After it was dark we all came back to our house to do fireworks and hang out some more.

Diving Board

Well I thought I was done posting swim lesson pictures until the teachers thought it would be fun to have the kids jump off the diving board today. The water under the diving board is 12 1/2 feet deep but they had four lifeguards there just in case. When the teachers told the kids to line up by the diving board... I think my blood pressure went sky high instantly. They both did really well though and could even manage to swim to the side of the pool when they were done. They both jumped several times until lessons were over. YIKES!!!

Swimming Lessons

We signed the kids up for swimming lessons this year. (Thanks Pete and Carolyn) They went M-Th last week, and M-Th this week at Munster Pool. Each lesson was 45 minutes long. They both have learned so much in such a short time already. It's been really hard trying to get good pictures of them in the water because it's usually just a picture of water splashing.

Tea Party

Madison decided to throw a tea party and invite her two friends that live across the street from us. She was very busy all morning with the preparations. She washed all her tea party dishes, made placemats for each girl, picked daisies from our garden to put in a vase on the table and even helped me make the sandwiches and snacks. After the tea party they made a craft, watched a princess movie, played "hide the tea bags" (thanks for the idea Sheila) and have been playing school and house the rest of the afternoon.

Fun at the Beach!!

The kids and I picked the PERFECT day to spend at the beach. It was 86 and sunny. We spent most of our time swimming in the water. The kids even let me sun bathe a little while they dug around in the sand.

I will keep taking as many closeup pictures of Madison's adorable smile until those two front teeth come in.
Austin decided we need to buy more sand castle making materials. (Notice the beauty of the steel mills in the background)

Graduation Day

Here are some pictures from when Madison graduated from Forest Ridge Academy. Each child wrote a biography about another friend in their class, and then read the story to the audience. She did really good!!