Another month in review...

Joey started karate at the end of June and loves it! After seeing the transformation of our bathroom, the kids had been planning for a while to redo their bathroom with a blue sky, rainbow, and clouds. That later led them to ask for a city with houses, buildings, cars, trucks, planes, trees. We have it all. Sorry I haven't taken the after shot! It is all done and looks great, but here are the workers starting their paint job. One of the really hot days in July we went to the DuPage Children's Museum with Auntie, Andrew, Emma, and Grandma. Joey and Jill (and Java too!)had a fun time pretending to camp out in our family room... Jill had a Storybook Ballet dance workshop where she enjoyed dancing with the bigger girls. Lucky for her she advanced into the next class for 5-7 year olds! She'll have to step it up this fall, but she does love dance. Towards the end of July my great friend Ellen from Australia came to the States and we met at Navy Pier. She went on to Arizona for the CHARGE Conference which we were not able to attend this year, but are very excited that in 2015 it will be in the Chicagoland area! Ellen emailed me from the conference when she found out and I was so excited to hear it would be so close! We had a great time at Navy Pier with Ellen and her cousin, such lovely people. We went on the Ferris Wheel, watched the kids go on a few other rides, and then after parting ways we went on the SeaDog for a somewhat unexpectedly wet, but fun ride on the lake! The last weekend of July we went with Nonna and Grandpa to Arlington Race Track for family days, there were pony rides, a petting zoo, the regular races, and so much more. We had a nice picnic and a great day. What started off seeming cool and possibly rainy, ended up great! The kids loved cheering on the horses and of course Nonna and Grandpa there made it all the more fun! Finally taking us to this morning, Joey and Jillian started their last 3 day camp of the summer: Dinosaur Dig! Here they are before dropping them off, Joey is very into dinosaurs so he was very excited for this camp to start! They both love the camps at the nature center. Joey still has hockey and karate, and Jill is continuing with dance, but this is the last camp of the summer which means things are winding down a bit!

5th Annual Charge for CHARGE 5K

The week before Joey and Josh's birthday was the 5th Annual Charge for CHARGE 5K! We had a great event this year, our volunteers are awesome! We had 108 finishers and many generous donations and I am confident we will hit our goal of $5,000 before the year end! Thank you to everyone who volunteered, participated, spectated, and were a part of this event in big and small ways, every bit is appreciated. I brought the camera, but there was no time to think to pick it up. Here is a link to some pics that were taken by Grandma-thanks! And some others from our neighbor whose son placed 2nd! Great job Joe!

Happy 5th Birthday Joey!

Hard to believe but our little man turned 5 on July 3! We celebrated in the morning, I brought home some donuts in the morning per request of the birthday boy and we gave him his gift. In the evening we went to Pilot Pete's aka the airplane restaurant with Grandma, Auntie, Uncle Chris, Andrew, and Emma. Joey got some gifts from everyone as well as a birthday song and cake that most everyone but him ate! The next day was the Fourth of July! We went to the parade to watch Gigi doing her gymnastics down the street and Andrew doing some karate moves. I have pics on my phone, and will have to load those up later, but everyone did great--even Auntie and Mrs. Sole who were marching with their stars. Mr. Sole was so kind as to haul the kids in that wagon up the hill to and from the parade. Thank you! The day was warming up quite a bit, just in time for the kids to play in the little pool at Joey's party! Joey had a great birthday, lots of smiles and laughs. Thank you everyone for helping him celebrate!

June Updates!

Here we go again, I'm over a month behind on blogging, so the month in review and in pictures. Summer has been very fun, but very busy. Jill at dance: Joey at Hockey: A combo of hockey and dance, Joey continues to improve his skills and keeps moving up levels! My Grandma and Grandpa's 70th Wedding Anniversary! A visit to St. James Farm with Auntie Miya, Uncle Mark, Nathan, and Jake: Camps started: Joey and Jill loved Nature Camp and can't wait to go back in August, as well as Vacation Bible School! Jill playing soccer! Father's Day: Jillian had her dance recital, this time she did tap! Joey and Jill and swim lessons: We had the 5th Annual Charge for CHARGE 5K last Saturday. I have been getting some pictures from people and will have a separate post about the event soon! But it was a great success and we raised a good amount of money. Thank you everyone! After the race we went to Northlake Days by Auntie Steph and Uncle Don's house. These pictures don't do justice--Joey was on a crazy fast and high swing that even Daddy was scared to be on, and Jillian and Joey both loved the kiddie roller coaster! The day after the race we had a wedding to attend at Wilder Mansion, aka the old Elmhurst Library. It was strange to be in the building that was once our library as kids, looked totally different, but it was a very nice wedding.

Lots to Update!

Here is the quick rundown of what we've been up to the last month! I am going to go from most current and work my way back because of most exciting news Joey had his Preschool Graduation this past Wednesday! I can't believe it! As usual there were teary eyes in saying goodbye and moving on. The classes did a great program of songs and poems. Joey wasn't feeling great that day but he managed to make it through the program with a smile! He will be moving to Evergreen next year, but Jillian will still be at this wonderful preschool! The week before graduation we took an early summer vacation! We went down to Nonna and Grandpa's condo for a fun week. First was the plane ride: The next morning after waking up and looking at the birds and fish we headed out to Sarasota Jungle Gardens for a fun day with Florida's finest. After cooling off in the pool in the evening it was off to Daddy's favorite restaurant- Phillipe Creek: The next day was a beach day! We needed this so that we could be ready for our surprise day. We kept telling the kids that we were going to have a big surprise for them on Wednesday. They were good and went to bed when we told them too and woke up without a problem (Jill had a case of croup so this was a big accomplishment!) and were awake and patiently waiting to find out their surprise. The surprise was not Rainforest Cafe as Joey initially thought. We had them look out the front windows and they saw the sign with Mickey and Minnie on it which meant one thing...Disney World! We got there very early- 3 row 4th parking spot, thank you! We took the ferry over and saw the opening of the park and stayed all the way until the very end. No naps, no complaints (again even though Jill was just getting over a bout of croup), they were awesome and lasted the entire day until the ferry ride back for Joey and the last few fireworks for Jill when they hit the wall and were out til the next morning. It was truly a fun and magical day, seeing princesses, riding lots of rides, shopping, and enjoying all the wonder the Magic Kingdom has to offer! The next day was a bit more relaxing again. We went to the Sarasota Car Museum where we saw some very impressive cars including John Lennon's and Katharine Hepburn's cars. We finished the night at Sharky's on the Pier for dinner and walking by the beach. (I was proud of Jill when she showed me her princesses were doing planks and then got down and did one herself!) Our last full day was spent relaxing, going back to the pool that the kids loved, walking around Venice, Siesta Key (which we also did back on Tuesday as well), and then stopping at Historic Spanish Point for a historic hike and then some ice cream! The next day it was flying back home again... In other news on the homefront: We have been redoing our bathroom, and while we don't have a finished product to show yet, here is a glimpse of how it is all going... Some random things we've been doing the past month: riding bikes, visiting the Arboretum while Jill was at Enrichment and going on a tram tour, reading some cool books that had some neat activities to do, lots of misc. things! Wow! That was a lot, I know I need to get better at keeping up with this. It was a busy month for sure and I don't think we are going to slow down anytime soon. I just finished signing the kids up for summer activities! Joey will continue hockey, Jill will continue dance, and they are both doing swim lessons, nature camp, vacation bible school, Joey is going to try karate, and Jill is going to try soccer. Phew--its going to be a full summer, but I feel like now is the time to figure out what they really like to do and then skim back later when we know where their interests are. I know some of you are saying it will never scale back, but its wishful thinking!

Wolves Game

Last weekend we went to the Wolves game! The pregame activities were lots of fun, but the kids really enjoyed the fireworks, fire, and game. Both have said they want to go back soon!

March 14-April 13 in review

Yes, once again a lot to update. I left off on March 14, the date Joshua met the Lord. This year, as we have in the past and plan to do in the future, pulled the kids out of school and had a family day. Each year there are more and more questions from not only Joey, but Jill as well. We told them that it was because of Josh that we were able to have the family day going to Rainforest Cafe and Legoland! We first went to Assumption where Joey insisted on bringing a few things for Josh, and Jill followed with a toy of her own. Jill also picked up her "Josh puppy" a puppy that was at his site, but she felt Josh had left for her. Since Joey and Josh usually share cars it was only fair to let Jill share the puppy. So it got a good cleaning, and Jill is taking great care of it. We went from Assumption to Rainforest Cafe one of the kids' favorite restaurants! After our early lunch we headed right over to Legoland! It was the perfect family activity for us that day; some therapeutic building, a couple of rides, and then a 3d movie that maybe pushed it a little too far for Jill. We ended up coming home with a good starter set of Duplo legos and a couple of kits for Joey and Daddy. We spent the rest of the day at our dining room table playing with legos and talking. A couple weeks later it was Easter! We celebrated the day before Easter going to the park district for the Bunny Bash along with Auntie, Grandma, Andrew, Emma, and their Grammy and Papa from NY. They were in for Easter weekend and to celebrate Emma's 3rd birthday! After a bunch of crafts, games, and egg hunt at the park district it was home for naps and then Emma's birthday party. The next morning the Easter bunny came and then it was off to church by Grandma's. After church we headed to Grandma's house to start our ravioli making tradition, color eggs, and stop off to Assumption and then time for the rest of the Easter festivities to begin: dinner, egg hunt, and a visit from the Easter bunny! This past month is always filled with mixed emotions, but we have been doing well and keeping busy. Here are some of the other highlights of the past month: Joey loved playing with energetic Jessie in the snow, Joey also had a blast helping me make some vegan pasta and vegan ravioli. Jill enjoyed it but got bored quickly, Joey recently told me that he wants to be a chef! We planted a root view garden of carrots, radishes, and onions, Jill planted some "I love you" beans that are supposed to say I love you on their first bloom. We went with Andrew and Grandma to dinner at Domo 77 where the boys enjoyed watching the food chopped up and fires going right in front of them! We celebrated Nonna's birthday and then 12 days later mine. Java and Jessie posing for pictures at the end of the night. I did a freezing cold race on my birthday, where we were somewhat misdirected so a refund of our entrance fee and $10 off next race but took some pictures of the frigid day. Just 4 days later we had nice warm weather and were on spring break so we went to Cosley Zoo with Bethany and Lilly. They were so nice to get Joey and Jill hats from their Disney trip, which they both love and wear all the time, and both Joey and Jillian had a blast with Lilly at the zoo and back at home. And then finally last weekend we had Andrew and Emma over for a few hours to play outside, have dinner, and the boys played video games for a little bit while the girls got their nails done and then played their princess matching game. We had Emma and Andrew over for a while so that Auntie and Uncle could have some time to do some last minute packing. Which takes us to today...the movers are at their house and packing up! Moving weekend is here for them!