Visit to the Zoo

Thanks Nana and Papa for taking us to the zoo.

Austin, Madison and Papa petting sting rays and sharks at Stingray Bay.
Do you see the cheetah hiding in the grass?
Austin was tired of taking pictures by this time.

Indy day trip

Jaci, Sumera and I (2 on the left) made a trip down to indy for Melinda's big birthday bash.
I still remember the day I met you on the bus in 8th grade. Thanks for being a great friend. No we did not plan our matching outfits this day. haha Great minds think alike I guess.

Defacing Property

Austin and Madison with their best friends Jordan and Taylor. Fun memory! We are so lucky to have such great neighbors.

Welcome to the 30's

This is my friend Karen that I have known since my freshman year in high school.

Even though she has moved to Florida we still have managed to keep a great friendship over the years.

She came back to Chicago to celebrate turning 30 with me and two other friends. What better way than a shopping day in the city and over to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Miss you already Karen, but I'll see you in October.

Beach Day

Last Saturday we ventured off to our first day at the beach for the summer. Beautiful day to spend at the beach as a family.

Can you tell by the look on Austin's face how cold the water was?????
The kids took turns burying each other in the sand. Madison took advantage of Austin being buried and gave him a few kisses on his cheek.

Austin spent a lot of time digging this hole.

I love this picture of Madison.

Madi showing Austin how to do a hand stand.

4th of July

Well if you are like us, you had a busy holiday weekend with many parties to attend, fireworks to be seen and food to eat. Thursday we went to a BBQ and watched the Highland parade with our friends.

Miles inherited Austin's old camping chair that he grew out of recently. He's waiting so patiently for the parade to begin.
Gee, do you think Austin is excited about the parade starting soon???

Dustin and Madi having a little fun at the parade.

Then on Friday we went to my parents house for hanging out and some more food. When it got dark we watched their neighbors fireworks show that was pretty good considering they do it from their backyard. I'm amazed at how much money people spend on fireworks.

Before the show started we roasted a few marshmallows with nana and papa. Pay no attention to the shirt my dad is wearing.

Kitchen

BEFORE

AND AFTER

I love the potential that our kitchen has at our new home. Hopefully in a few years we will be able to knock down the wall that divides the kitchen from the dining room and replace cabinets and countertops etc. But for now adding some brown paint in this bland white kitchen made a big difference. It is the same color brown paint that I used in the canvases that hang over my couch in the living room. I'm also going to use that brown to paint a horizontal stripe around my dining room.

More pictures

Sumera with her 3 beautiful children!
Alice with her 2 month old baby, Kaden.

Jaci with Nicholas and Hannah

Tiffany with Allie. Her other daughter, Hannah, was a bit camera shy.

Lucas and Lilly belong to their wonderful mommy, Melinda!

Austin and Ali became great buddies.

So much changes in 12 years

So this was me and 7 of my best friends in high school all dressed up to go to our senior homecoming dance. We were known as the v-8 frogs. I'm not even quite sure how that name started but it did stick over our high school years together.
And this is 12 years later when 6 out of the 8 of us were able to get together with our children. 6 moms, 12 children ranging in age from 2 months old (Kaden) to 10 years old (Austin). Congratulations to Alice, the newest mommy of our group. We missed you and your 4 kids, Melanie!!! You didn't miss much as far as catching up with each other.... we were mostly chasing children around. haha

All day extravaganza

We decided to invite several of our friends over for an all day extravaganza last Saturday. The excitement started pretty early on when Hank the dog caught the mole that has been living in our backyard. Thanks Hank... way to go! The mole is the little black blob you see laying in the mulch.
Here is the proud dad and his dog Hank. Dustin gave him a whole piece of ham as a reward for catching the mole. 10 minutes later Hank threw up that and then some on our patio. Ahh... good times!!

There was badminton...

throwing bags...

even hillbilly golf.

Of course we did a lot of eating. Thanks Blaine for grilling while Brian was watching the Cubs game.

Girls were enjoying the hammock swing.

When it got too dark to play any more games we took the fun inside for a friendly poker tournament. It came down to Brian and I for the final two. Still can't believe he beat me.