Brookfield Zoo

We've been wanting to take Sadie to the zoo all summer... We decided to go this past weekend (in honor of Marc's birthday!) Jason, Trista, Jadyn, & Jaren came up for the weekend and we went up to Brookfield Zoo on Saturday. It was a VERY humid day, but other than that we had a GREAT time! Sadie loved to wave at all of the animals...

The three kids enjoyed throwing cheerios to the geese. I helped Sadie feed one out of her hand, but she didn't want to try that again!

We got to try out our new double stroller... I really like it!

Sadie is "petting" the sting rays. (I don't think she actually touched one, but she loved sticking her hands in the water and looking at them. Jadyn got to touch several and loved it!)


We painted Sadie's face in the play zoo. She really wanted to help!

Jadyn is bandaging a wounded possum.

Jaren is playing with the large bird eggs... he loved throwing them!
Going for a ride on the trolley...


We tried to get a family picture in front of the elephants but Sadie wouldn't take her eyes off of them! I was really surprised at how interested she was in all of the animals!

Watching the Rhino with Daddy.

Sadie was so tired by the end of the day--she fell asleep while her dad was holding her and slept in the stroller for the rest of the trip!

The cousins after church on Sunday. (It's hard to get a picture of the three of them!)

6 Month Belly

I'm really starting to feel BIG now... which I don't like b/c I still have 3 months to go!

Birthday Fun!

Saturday we attended Emma's 2nd birthday celebration... She had a swimming party! This was a lot of fun now that Sadie is old enough to enjoy playing with her friends. She had a blast! She loved playing with Emma's new toys and even managed to latch onto one of her candy bracelets.

Sadie & Carson in the "baby pool".

There was a big pool, but the kids seemed to prefer this one!

Hugs for the birthday girl!


Sadie did not have any cake at this party, but she LOVED the jello cups! (We even took a couple home with us!)

Sadie trying on Emma's new goggles.

Sadie & Daddy (and her candy bracelet!)

Fun with Friends!

Jennifer and the girls came for a short visit and we had a GREAT time! They arrived Monday night and were already excited to play. Sadie and Grace did very well playing together. Sadie was also quite interested in Faith this time. (She seems to be taking more of an interest in babies--both infants & crawling. I guess that's good!)

Tuesday, after eating pancakes for breakfast, we loaded up--lunches and all, to head to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Our drive there was good. It took 1 1/2 hours and Grace & Faith mostly slept. We parked, loaded the girls into strollers, and we were off. They did very well and generally enjoyed most of the fish. Sadie liked the smaller fish better this time (last time she was fascinated with the Whales). She still wanted to grab them through the glass! Lunch went great. After lunch we decided to watch the dolphin show (we should of known better...) We had to go about 1/2 an hour early to get seats. Of course Sadie & Grace wanted nothing to do with sitting still at this point! We made it (barely) to show time and they loved when the music came on and seeing the dolphins jump high in the air. Unfortunately there was a lot of "fact" time when the dolphins were not too active--not fun for toddlers! We thought we were going to have to make an early exit, but we made it! After the show we got a snack and did one more exhibit. It was a good thing because Grace & Sadie's favorite part of the museum was climbing around on the big fake turtle (see picture)!

Our ride home took significantly longer (about 2 1/2 hours). Sadie & Faith were asleep right away, but Grace was glued to the "Pat Pat" movie (Little Einsteins). The last 30 minutes of our trip involved a lot of screaming by Sadie, but we made it home! That night we took a walk to get ice cream. Faith got her first taste of ice cream (and it's a good thing b/c I think the 8 grandparents at the tables next to us would have killed Jennifer if she didn't give her a taste!) It was a great adventure before school started back up--I'm so glad we got to do it!



Waiting for the dolphin show!

The Giant turtle! (Wouldn't this be your favorite part?)

Daddy's Princess

On Sunday I got out a "Princess Dress" for Sadie to wear. The top was pink with sparkly flowers on the waist and the bottom was three layers of white chiffon. She also wear white pantyhose, white shoes, a ruffle slip, and a pink bow in her hair. She looked adorable. I finished getting her dressed and let her put on a pink beaded bracelet. I said "Let's go show Daddy." Her face lit up and she ran to find her dad. She was so excited to show off her beautiful dress and her bracelet. As her daddy told her how pretty she is she held onto her skirt and twirled it around. I love the way she adores her dad!

I worked in the toddler room at church this week, so I got to witness the "tom-boy princess" first hand. As soon as she got in the room she took off for her favorite climbing toy. After about 10 minutes she had ripped her dress by crawling around. (Hopefully one of her grandmas will be able to fix it!) By the end of church (barely over an hour) she had ripped her dress, scuffed her shoes, broken her bracelet, and pulled out her hair! I only wish I had a before and after picture...

As I reflected on this scenario, I realized how much I love my daughter for her unique personality. She is not an observer (like I am). She is a doer! She dives head first into life without giving it much thought. She's an explorer and I love that about her. She definitely makes our lives more interesting and brings us lots of laughter! I hope her brother is ready because I'm sure she has many adventures in store...

Garage Sale!

This weekend we held our 2nd annual garage sale. I spend most of last week getting ready for the sale--sorting through closets & clothes put away in the basement and pricing things for our sale. Sadie loved to help! I showed her how to use stickers--very popular! We played a game where I would hand her a dot sticker and tell her a body part to stick it on. She loved doing this! Every time she sees a sheet with those dot stickers she wants to play. I love watching her...

Finger Painting

There are many "first moments" that I imagine witnessing with my children. In my head they always go a certain way, but real life rarely matches my imagination! Finger painting with Sadie was one such instance...

I have been wanting to let Sadie try finger painting all summer. I brought some paints home from my classroom, but after thinking it through I decided this might be a fun project to do at school instead. Friday morning I needed to run to school and pick up something from my room so I decided to make a morning of it and let Sadie finger paint and play on the playground. I got a paint shirt on her, laid out newspapers, got the paints ready, etc. What's the first thing Sadie does? She put a HUGE handful of paint in her mouth. I wiped it off, explained again that we do not eat the paint, and showed her how to smear it on the paper. She enjoyed about two minutes of painting (and sneaking some more paint into her mouth) when she suddenly burst into tears--who knows, maybe the paint didn't taste good! Needless to say I cleaned her up and decided we would wait a few months before we try again... I did learn an important lesson--I should wear a paint shirt also! I was covered in finger paint. Well at least this year I can assure my parents the paint is truly non-toxic AND washable--we field tested it!

Galena Trip

This weekend Marc and I took a trip to Galena with Andy & Lindsey. Marc's parents came to our house for the weekend to stay with Sadie. We planned this trip as a get-away to celebrate our anniversary. Marc and I stayed at Farmer's Guest House 2 years ago for our 1st anniversary and we loved it! It was even better this time staying with friends... They have a fantastic breakfast each morning & a wine and cheese time each evening.

We left Friday morning and stopped for lunch on our way to Galena. This guest house has a small cottage located directly behind it, that's where the 4 of us stayed--it was GREAT! Friday night we went on a "Ghost Tour" and learned some interesting history about Galena. Afterwards we went out for a late dinner. Saturday we toured the home of President Ulysses S. Grant, shopped, had lunch, and relaxed at the B & B. It was great to hang out, read, and play games. We were enjoying it so much that we cancelled our dinner reservations and ordered pizza--we also enjoyed the outdoor hot tub (well--I just put my feet in :) Sunday after we had breakfast & checked out we did a little more shopping and had lunch at a great Italian place. It was hard to leave after such a great a weekend (but great to get home and kiss Sadie!)

This is the U.S. Grant home.

This is "Annie Lloyd Cottage" where we stayed.