American Girl Doll

 We promised Sadie a trip to American Girl Place for her 5th birthday.  Sadie has been looking forward to this trip for a VERY long time!  Several of her friends have gotten dolls and she was ready for her turn.  I knew I wanted to do the trip with someone so it worked well to visit with her cousin Emery (who loved getting her first doll, Josie, for Christmas).  The girls were both counting down the days.

 Marc and I told Sadie we would buy her doll as her birthday present.  She had mostly talked about wanting McKenna before we went.  Sadie is our most indecisive child so we wondered if it would take her awhile to look at all the dolls before choosing.  We were wrong--it took her all of 2 seconds to find McKenna and it was love at first sight!  Sadie wanted to buy her asap so she could take her out of the box and go shopping with her!  As we were out the counter paying, Sadie could not stop smiling.  I gave her a big hug and she said "Mom, I can't believe I finally get her--I just can't believe it!"

 We bought McKenna for Sadie but we also let her use some money from her savings account to shop with.  and boy did she shop!  We had to go through every section of both floors.  She loaded a bag with all the things she liked best.  After about 45 minutes I told her it was time to make choices.  We laid everything out and Sadie decided what she liked best.

 She used her money from her billfold to pay at the counter--what a BIG girl! (And yes, she already has a Christmas wish list!)

 Emmy and Sadie enjoyed making paper doll ballerinas.

 They also liked looking at all the "doll of the year" dolls.  They started coming out with a special doll each year in 2000.  McKenna will be joining the wall at the end of 2012.

 Macey had fun... and threw some HUGE tantrums!  I originally wasn't planning to take her but it worked out to split girls and guys for the morning.  Aunt Cori helped with Macey a lot.  She took her while I helped Sadie shop.  She had to bring Macey back to me at one point because Macey was kicking and screaming "I want my Mommy" so hard that a sales lady began questioning Cori!

 Sadie and Emmy both had fun posing with the McKenna cutout.

 When Sadie first looked through an American Girl Doll catalog she was fascinated with the headgear set.  I tried to explain to her what it was.  She told me that she was going to get it for her doll... and sure enough!

 As part of our special day we enjoyed lunch in the cafe.  It was so fun and totally worth the $20 per plate.  Our 4 course meal left me stuffed (even after I shared with Macey!)

 Our meal started with a "warm welcome":  mini cinnamon rolls.  Next we had an appetizer platter with mini soft pretzels, cheese triangles, and fruit & veggies with dip.  We each got to choose an entree--Sadie had chicken tenders with tomato soup and fruit and I had a yummy chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries.

 The whole restaurant is decorated in pink and black.  It's so cute!  The napkin holders are little pink hair bows that the girls get to keep.  Each table has little boxes with question starters.  The girls had fun drawing out questions and answering them.

 I was not happy that Macey accompanied us on this trip to American Girl Place; however, I can't wait until she is 5 and we get to go again!

 We were so excited to have Aunt Lindsey and Liam join us for our Chicago trip!  Liam did great on this "all girls" trip!

 Sadie chose hot chocolate to drink (even in the middle of summer) and she loved sharing it with McKenna--in her mini tea cup!

 Such a great time!  It was sad to leave...

Our last course "Sweet Surprises" consisted of chocolate mouse in a flower pot, a mini cake, and a decorated sugar cookie.  Sadie said to Marc and I as we tucked her in at night "Thanks for McKenna--I love her so much!  This was my best day ever and it will stay my best day... until you take me to Disney world!"

Beach Bums

While Nathan and Cori where here we took a trip to the beach.  We usually go into Chicago to go to the beach but we had heard lots of people talking about the Indiana Dunes... after some exploration we discovered it wasn't really that much more of drive (just over an hour) so we decided to go for it!  We were so glad we did.  No traffic to fight or expensive parking... We loved the beach--it was beautiful!

 Kinnick loved making a sandcastle with help from his dad.  Jaren got in on the action as well.  Marc of course had to have a "drawbridge" with a moat...

 Kinnick and Sadie both loved playing in the sand.  Sadie rolled in it all day long and Kinnick let us bury him!

Excited to explore other Lake Michigan beaches... really hope to make it back again this summer!

Grandpa & Grandma's

 We were able to spend 4th of July (and the few days following) at Grandpa & Grandma Gorsch's.  We always enjoy being together when the Colorado Gorschs are here visiting!

 We celebrated 4th of July with a trip to the "alligator pool", NeeNee's shopping trip to the $ Store, Grandpa's hamburgers & hot dogs on the grill, red-white-blue layered drinks, and fireworks.  One of the days highlights was watching Sadie compete in a "diving" contest at the public pool.  I watched as she did a canon ball, a twist jump, a dive, and a flip off the diving board.  She was the the youngest kids to make it to the "flip" round and earned some applause from the other kids as she bravely performed her flip.

 Aunt Nee Nee was brave enough to take all 5 cousins on a shopping spree to the dollar store.  This has become an annual tradition that the kids LOVE and look forward to.  Macey loved being "fancy" with her party hat and princess tutu.

 The fireworks show in downtown West Burlington was cut short when there was a malfunction and all the fireworks went off about 5 minutes into the show.  We heard ambulance sirens shortly.  We were glad to learn that no-one was seriously hurt.

The kids had fun playing outside with spray bottles and sidewalk chalk.  Kinnick learned how to play "monkey in the middle" from his big cousin Jaren.  I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of them together.  Kinnick was literally Jaren's shadow for the entire week that they were here.  From the moment he woke up until bedtime he wanted to do EVERYTHING Jaren did.

Aunt Cori bought a slushie maker and special cups for the kids to have slushies.  They were a hit!

And no trip to Burlington is ever complete without a trip to fun city.  We went Thursday night for a few hours.  Sadie had a blast trying all the water slides.  Kinnick was still too short but had fun playing with Macey.

Friends!

 We were so excited to host the Humistons (minus Jeremy) the last week of June.  They were only here for a short 2 day visit, but we packed in the fun... Crafts, a trip to the splashpad, coloring on the windows, playing at the park, riding bikes, a tea party, pedicures, "toast painting", popcycles, playing in the sprinkler, trip to the library, movie night (with homemade pizza), jumping on the trampoline... we also made some yummy treats--homemade fruit snacks, root beer float pops, choc/pb banana bites, pb cheesecake bites, and oatmeal energy bites.  Just typing all this makes me tired!  Not sure how we did it all but with crammed as much fun as we could into our short visit.  We usually enjoy seeing each other a few times during the school but this year we will both have school kiddos so our visits are fewer...  Another nice perk of this visit was SO MUCH more quiet time to just talk (this was NOT the case in our last overnighter--the adventurous freezer cooking craziness!).  Our kids are big enough to entertain themselves quite well and for the most part they did!

 After 2 days/nights of fun we headed to Champaign to meet up with some of our LCC girlfriends.  In the 8 years since graduation we've celebrated LOTS of sweet babies being  born.

We met at an indoor park at a church in Champaign.  This is our group of SEVENTEEN kids!! (Well a couple didn't make it into this picture...)  Some of them had never met (or didn't remember it if they had) but it was fun watching them play together like they knew each other.

And of course a picture of us girls... (We now have children big enough to do this for us!)  We were missing a few from our group but it was fun to get together with so many of us.

Mommy Smiles

If you're a mom then I'm SURE you know what I'm talking about... those moments when you can feel yourself smiling so big, then you realize that although the smile is probably showing on your face it is coming from your heart.  Sometimes no-one is around to see it.  Often (if you're anything like me) you find yourself trying to fight the tears of joy that you know are coming.  Mommy smiles are one of the (very) few perks of motherhood that you don't have to share with anyone (nor could you because people-including your husband-would often think you were crazy!)

These are some things that make my mommy heart smile:

• Listening to my children pray
• Listening to my children sing--especially songs about God
• Watching my children dance--spinning, hands lifted, unabandoned 
• Overhearing my children talk as they are playing together
• Knowing my 3-year old is in his room by himself, yet it sounds like he is having a party
• Watching my brave 5-year old make friends on the playground
• Witnessing unprompted acts of kindness
• Watching my 2-year old care for baby dolls the way only a future mommy can
• Seeing my children love and protect each in other in a way that I couldn't possible teach them

Being a mom is far from easy... but the rewards can't be measured!  What makes your mommy heart smile?

Binky Fairy

 That's right... Macey gave up the pacifier!  Macey enjoyed some one-on-one time with Mommy and Daddy (3 whole nights!) while Sadie and Kinnick went to Ms. Jennifer's for a visit.  On the night before we went to pick them up, Macey left all of her pacifiers out for the binky fairy.  I let her go to sleep with one for the last time...

In the morning, the pacifiers were gone and Macey had a new baby doll.  She named her dolly Cupcake.  Cupcake came with a little stuffed zebra that she named "Paci".  She was proud to know that the binky fairy took her pacifiers to another little baby who needed them.  She's done really well without having a paci.  She did fine at naps and bedtime.  She asked for it a few times when she was upset but moved on quickly when we reminded her they were gone.  

Next up for my big girl... potty training!

Happy Father's Day

For Father's Day this year we went to our first family baseball game.  We've been wanting to take the kids but hesitant to spend much money knowing they are still so little.  For Father's Day we decided to check out the Joliet Slammers.  The kids had fun, spent time with friends, wasn't too hot, ate peanuts at the ballpark... all in all a good day!

In the out field area there is a small playground--perfect for when the kids get antsy.  We enjoyed some time playing during the middle of the game.

Each kid got to pick one treat--Sadie and Macey decided on cotton candy and Kinnick chose to go into the bouncy house.  The kids also love eating peanuts our of the shell so they all enjoyed those with their dad!

The game started at 6 so it wasn't too hot and we got to sit in the shade.

We went with another family from our small group.  The kids loved playing together and we enjoyed the company.

After Sunday games they let kids run the bases and meet the players.  Our kids enjoyed walking down to the field and taking a turn to run around the bases.  We have plans to attend another game with our small group. I'm sure the Slammers will be a part of many summers to come!