Drive-Thru Safari

On Sunday a few of us went to a drive-thru safari. I was sure the young kids would enjoy it, but we all had a great time screaming at the animals and rolling up our windows to keep some scary critters out:) You could buy grain and carrots to feed the animals from your car as you drove through. Only in America.

Spen and his lama friend

 

 

Brave Lucian

Spen's hand and a giraffe

Reunion Weekend

On our 5-year anniversary, we packed up our family of 5 and drove to Ohio. After well over a year of planning, we successfully executed a reunion weekend with a number of my college friends. We chose Ohio because it is in the middle. Half of us live in the midwest and the other half are on the east coast.

We stayed at a water park resort with plenty for the kids to keep busy. And boy were there kids! There were 17 of them amongst our group. Claire had a great time playing in the water park and swimming in the outdoor pool.

She instantly bonded with another little girl her age, Nora. They each said numerous times that they were best friends. Claire asked me each morning "Moma, who'd I swim with yesterday?" I would tell her Nora and her face would light up. So cute.

Spen was a trooper hanging out with all the little ones. He was a big help on the trip.

Kyle enjoyed some water time as well. The weather was pretty perfect.

A shot of our clan (minus Lucian who mysteriously disappeared during photos). It was so great to see everyone and meet all the new babies.

17 kids and counting.... one of my friends will welcome a new babe in Oct.

Claire and Kyle were both great travelers. I was pretty surprised. Here's a shot of the kids playing in the pack n' play right before nap time. Claire loves to snuggle with her little bro.

Week in Review

Claire shares her mother's love of sweets. (Not sure if that's good.) Last week I convinced the family to accompany me to get frozen yogurt after dinner. Claire was a happy camper. I was too.

Kyle continues to be a happy, happy little guy. His looks are changing, with more defined features. He has an adorable dimple and thus far, blue eyes.

Kyle spits up a lot and must wear a bib at all times. I don't want to buy anymore, so he wears Claire's old bibs around the house. Who doesn't love a pink lamb bib anyway?

My sister and I took Claire and Kyle to Rockford Sat. to visit Nana Barb in the hospital. Unfortunately, she developed a bad infection in her hip and had to have surgery. She is improving and may head home tomorrow. Say a few extra prayers for Nana Barb please.

Claire picked up some cute new hair bows Nana had made. She is eating a spoonful of cream cheese in this photo.

For father's day, we made breakfast at home and then headed to the lakefront for an art festival. We went last year as well. We had some tasty treats, looked at beautiful art and watched a few performers. Claire loved watching a group of Irish dancers. She was practicing some of the moves in her bed that night.

We cooled off a little at a fountain, it was a really hot day.

 Lucian and the kids:)

Dinosaurs

Last Wednesday evening we headed to the zoo for a member preview of the new dinosaur exhibit. We have been reading a book about dinosaurs to Claire before bed for several months now (she loves repetition). I thought she would get a kick out of some life-size dinos. They are robotic and make noises as well. She loved seeing them and told us all their names. Her friend Sydney went with us as well.

 My weekend time was spent (finally) painting walls in our basement and cutting up trees in the yard. Lucian borrowed some power tools to do the main cutting and I would chop things up and drag them to the curb. Sounds fun, right?

In between all this work we set up the pool and had a picnic lunch under an umbrella. Claire is a water baby, she loves to splash and play. She picked out a few new toys at the store earlier that day and spent some time breaking them in.

Jumping in

Looking at clouds with daddy

Kyle liked our picnic too

Kyle is a strong, strong boy. He is showing some early crawling moves which really impressed us last week. While on his stomach, he will put his head down, pull his legs up and under his belly and scoot forward. He's a little inch worm. He also always has his legs locked like in the picture below. He will grab your hands, arm, blanket, etc. with this move. We think it's pretty funny.

Just a cute shot of everyone on a weekday morning last week.

 

Hello June

What a gorgeous weekend! Saturday morning Lucian and Spencer went out for a bike ride. Claire and I were able to play in the yard while Kyle napped a bit. She has such an imagination. We were acting out movie scenes, having meals under the swing set, going on bear hunts, you name it. It was great to have a little one-on-one time with my girl.

My friend Carie got married on Saturday in Madison, so Lucian and I headed to the party. We are so fortunate to have family nearby that loves to watch the munchkins. Aunt Mimi came to our house while we attended. It was a long shift, but she did great:)

I met this really nice, handsome guy at the wedding. He seemed so familiar... but seriously it was so nice to stand outside, have a drink, listen to music and have uninterrupted adult conversation for a night. I often feel stressed about fitting in such things, but once we are in the moment, I remember why it's important. We clean up pretty well, right?

The rest of the weekend was filled with errands and outdoor chores. Kyle goes with the flow, as usual, and warms my heart every time he smiles.

Claire helped us pick out flowers for our pots and planted with me as well. She is looking so grown up!

All about Spen

This is Exam week for Spencer. He is wrapping up his junior year, which is pretty hard to believe. He was elected student council vice president for next year. He took two advanced placement exams last month and will re-take the ACT on Saturday. It's been an intense academic year.

Spencer is looking at colleges and interested in advertising copywriting at the moment. With an internship in his schedule first semester, we've arranged for him spend hours at both Lucian's and my work. It should be good exposure. He will also begin a summer lifeguarding job on Friday at an outdoor pool.

Here are some 'senior portraits' Lucian took of Spen a few weeks ago.

First Swim

Mimi invited us to swim at the pool she belongs to last weekend. The weather was perfect and Claire had a blast. She played and swam to her hearts content until it was time to go home and nap.

 They had a kiddie pool too, which was great fun.

Mimi helping with Claire's hat

 Playing with a noodle

The fam. Kyle even checked out the water.

2 happy guys

Misc.

 Here are some cute pics of the little ones from the last week or so. They are both growing and changing so quickly.

Claire is very particular about her clothes, hair, meals. Just about everything. She has this beautiful long hair and never lets us do anything with it. On this particular morning she asked Daddy for "2 ponies." Lucian texted me this photo so I would believe it happened.

Bath tub fun

Claire fell asleep in the car on the way home from a cookout Monday. She looked so tall lying in her bed. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

 Kyle got his first haircut this week (at 5 months). It was getting pretty long around his ears and in a few spots in the back. Just a little clean up, we love his long locks.

 And... Kyle is rolling over! He does it the most when lying on the floor in the kids' room (when Claire doesn't interfere). Video to come.

 Love this sweet guy!