Random/Lately

Maddie has gone from furiously crawling everywhere, to cruising along furniture and standing up in the middle of the room...

TO WALKING! Woo hoo!

She takes what I think are the most adorable little frankenstein steps that have in the last few days turned into more of a wide-stanced march, and she's really great at pivoting now. :) She chases the other kids around the house, swiping toys and darting behind furniture. She marches towards us as fast as she can with arms in the air when she wants to be held. She is pretty much the cutest thing in our lives.

We spent a day over Memorial Day weekend driving over to the lake house and back home in the same day. We were celebrating my dad's 60th birthday and cousins I haven't seen in years came with their babies I had never met. It was great fun!

Little road warriors - they were really well behaved the entire 3 hour trip.

Finally there!

My grandpa Bob with his 'rally cap' on, next to grandma Edie.

Maddie loved being on the water and feeling the wind in her face.

Bubbles with cousins (or second cousins?)...

Grandpa Bob had never met Maddie, so that was really special for him to get to spend some time getting to know her.

Eating birthday cake.

Ellie had been having a rough time at night (and even during the day) with her asthmatic cough, so we were nebulizing her 3 times a day.  

Heading out, saying goodbye to more cousins!

A random picture I found on my phone - of myself. Sleeping. Robbie is turning into a bit of a stalker when he is supposed to be resting.

We took the kids to the Memorial Day parade, but we didn't get there soon enough! So we caught about the last 10 minutes - still fun. It was hot and the kids wouldn't have lasted much longer anyways.

A recent playdate at Northside park with the Lake girls.

The girls were eating lunch and kept scooting together and swinging their little legs under the table. It reminded me of how when you are little you just want to be touching the people you love all the time!

Fal-Fal and Elle-belle

Savvy Ann and Maddie Jane, relegated to the baby swings so the mommies could catch up. 

This girl is energy packed into a baby's body. Cute and busy and full of expression in her eyebrows!

Kacey's and my kids are in this phase right now where they don't want their own moms to do things for them. Robbie and Ellie want Kacey to push them on the swings, and Fallon wants me to tie her shoelaces. It's pretty awesome to see your kids love your good friend as much as you do! (Ps. you can't even tell in this picture that Kacey is in her second trimester!)

Content with the wind in her hair.

Happily watching on as the big kids play nearby.

Fallon is such a sweet big sister. 

Taking a lunch break in the stroller!

Another day, another quest for more sleep. :)

Robbie and Ellie woke up from short naps one day just as I was laying down for a much needed nap. So I gave them a box of bandaids and told them they could put them on me. 

Then I rolled over and 'rested my eyes' for another 5 minutes. 

Their handiwork...

 

By the way? Totally worth it. And as one friend pointed out, taking them all off was sort of like an exfoliating spa treatment. Sort of.

Helping Ellie fall asleep one day on the air mattress in our room while my friend Jen visited from Florida.

Favorite past time these days - dressing up in costumes.

Tiny ballerina.

Buzz Lightyear.

("flying" on the ground, ha!)

We helped a friend get ready for a St. Baldrick's event to raise money for pediatric cancer. The night was a huge success and the kids were entertained by our sitter's husband who is inside that bear costume, as well as a children's balloon maker, music and great food.

Hours after the event I came down with a brutal stomach virus. Thankfully it was a Friday night and Rob was able to take care of the kids that night and Saturday while I rested. 

Little walker. 

I felt better on Sunday so we took the kids to the park as a family to get some fresh air.

Watching the trains go by.

More happy swinging! Those tiny thighs just kill me.

Sliding with my tiny girl.

She is so adventurous at the park and kept trying to climb up this tunnel, then falling back down.

Peek-A-Boo!

Couldn't do this last year!

A little teeter-totter action...

And a few final pushes on the swings.

Ellie's about ready for bed.

So my sweet friend Jen came to visit and stayed with us the night before I got sick and the Sunday night afterwards! It was actually perfect timing. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures, so I snapped these with my phone as we were dropping her off at the airport! We were so sad to send her off. It was awesome to see her and get to catch up in person, but we really missed seeing the rest of her family also. 

Ellie is disgusted that I would try to serve her chicken and peas for dinner.

Check out that pouty face. Yikes.

Robbie gets his own pool pass this year as a 4 year old! He is so proud of it, this was taken right after we had his picture taken and he was handed the card.

We went to the Morton Arboretum one afternoon to check out the tadpoles in the wading pool. It was really frustrating - there was a huge group of kids that were splashing around and trying to catch the tadpoles, so you couldn't see anything in the murky water. Also, they kept pushing my kids off the stepping stones. So we stayed to the side and waited for them to all leave, then we went back in.

Summertime = blueberries in the car. I think she was rubbing them all over her face out of boredom. 

Siblings holding hands.

Playing in the backyard

Checking for boo-boo's that might need band-aids before bedtime.

Rob fell asleep on the train one evening and missed his stop in Wheaton. So we picked him up in West Chicago and brought him home. We are so tired it's getting funny!

We aren't the only ones who are tired - the kids and I have been hitting the pool pretty hard, and sometimes I try to keep Ellie up instead of napping her. This is what happens while I cook dinner if she doesn't nap...