Sam's Giggles...

Sam has been giggling for quite a while now and I finally remembered to capture it on video! Whether he's giving kisses, getting kisses, being tickled or even just looking around, Sam LOVES to giggle! We have never heard a baby giggle like this...it's sad to say, but he almost sounds like a little animal! A sweet, adorable, precious little baby animal. :o) Be sure to turn up the volume on your computer for this one...you won't want to miss it! 

Walla Walla on my mind...

On Oct. 15th, Brian, Sam and I headed to Walla Walla, WA to visit our dear friends Tim and Lyndsey Dykstra and their four sweet little ones. Hannah and Ellie were blessed with a trip to Grandma and Papa's in MI and then to Grandma and Grandpa in Chicago too!

We had a fabulous 4+ days with the Dykstras - learning more about Tim's job with the Army Corp of Engineers, getting to know Acacia, Eli, Kaiya and Hudson, trying fabulous recipes thanks to Lyndsey's cooking and spending hours and hours sharing new stories, reminiscing about old stories and connecting with two people that love us dearly (we love them too!). It was a trip we will never forget and although we were sad to not share it with the girls, we look forward to the day when we can reunite with our entire families all together!

Here is just a snip-it of our trip...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Chicago Marathon 2008

On Oct. 12, we packed up the kids bright and early and headed down to the city to watch the Chicago Marathon. My mom-in-law Connie and her sister Chris were running in the race that morning. It was a beautiful, fall day for the 26.2 mile run. Sporting our "GO" blue t-shirts, those of us not running, did our best to cheer them on and on and on! 

The day was tough for most and taught us all many things...first and foremost in my mind...I NEVER want to run a marathon!!! I'll stick to triathlons and maybe a 5k here or there! I truly admire those who train and run 26 miles...but I also know it's not for me. :O)

I want to say GREAT JOB Mom and Chris! You are amazing women and we love you!

Okay, enjoy the pics!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Check out this great cause

I mentioned this family a while ago (here) and now a new campaign has been created to help the McNeil family. Please check out A Hundred for a Home here to find out more and how you can help.

Fall Fun

I love fall, as long as the sun is out and air isn't too cold. There are so many fun things to do in the fall and we're trying to cover them all! Here's what we've checked off so far:

Apple Picking - at Crane's Orchard in Fennville, MI (south of Holland) with Aunt Stacey and Taylor

Going to college football games - Brian saw the best U of MI game this season vs. Wisconsin and we visited Hope College last weekend - but they lost :O(

Visiting Family and Friends in MI

Taking a walk on the beach of Lake MI - we hardly ever get to enjoy beautiful, warm, fall walks!

Visiting the Morton Arboretum as much as possible - 3 times in the past two weeks! 

I'm sure there are many more adventures to come before the dreaded white stuff shows up...stay tuned! :O)

fyi - when you start this slide show, it may take a few seconds to load...don't fear, the pictures will appear! ;O)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Clearly...

Hannah is a peach...she never ceases to amaze us with her spunk, energy, imagination and her incredible memory. For instance...

This past weekend we were in MI for Hope College's homecoming festivities and time with my family. The kids and I went apple picking on Friday with Stacey and Taylor and had a great time. The girls loved running through the orchard picking up sticks and other treasures (in addition to the bags full of apples we picked)! Ellie actually enjoyed the sticks more. She found a long branch to hold, that was even taller than she was! Hannah looked at her little sister carrying this branch and said, "Ellie, you look like Moses!" I almost dropped my apples at that one!

And THEN a couple of days later, we were taking a walk/bike ride around our neighborhood and after coming to a stop at an intersection, I told Hannah that she could go on b/c it was "clear." She added, "All clear...Claritin Clear." I thought I heard what she said, but couldn't really believe it, so I asked her, "What did you just say?" She turned around with a sheepish grin and said, "Claritin Clear." Yeah, as in the slogan from the allergy medicine commercials! YIKES! I laughed so hard and then immediately called Brian...and although it was so funny, it did make me a little nervous about what other things she picks up on from commercials. She doesn't watch a ton of TV, but obviously when she does, she's taking it ALL in. We love our DVR that allows us to pause TV if we are watching a sporting event and usually I feel like the commercials she might happen to see during one of her kid shows, should be okay...but, wow!!! This also proves the power of commercials and media...scary!

A Friend's Loss

Yesterday I learned that one of my college roommates from Taylor lost her 33 year old husband (Mike Powers) on Saturday very unexpectedly. We still haven't heard the cause of death and I am sure this is just excruciating for Kelly and their families. Please remember them all in your prayers. 

I should be in bed...

I should definitely be in bed right now, but I'm not. Oh well...that's what coffee is for, right?

Here are a few new pics of our little one. Well, actually, he's not too little any more. Sam is 16 lbs now and one handsome boy! 

Sam attended his first Cub's game last Friday...yeah, the game they lost 6-12...yeah, the game that was the day BEFORE the game that clinched the title...yeah, we still had fun. ;O)

At least we had fantastic seats!!! (6 rows up, behind home plate, on the 1st base side)

Grandma and Sam...not paying attention to the game. :O)

Sam was a real crowd pleaser! Several people around us were ooing and ahhing (sp?) over him. We heard that he even made it on TV! 

Tummy Time is always more fun when there is something to suck on!

Hello Handsome!

New look

I LOVE these websites with free blog backgrounds! It's a perfect place for a technology challenged person like me to spruce up her site! :O)

Thanks to thecutestblogontheblock.com!

Singin' in the Rain

For many of you, like us, last weekend was a seriously RAINY one! I can't remember exactly how many inches fell here in the Chicagoland, but I do know that it was a new record! Thankfully, our sump pump came through for us and no water invaded our house. However, the back of our yard looked like there was a new river running through it. Hannah decided to get all geared up and head to check it out. She loved splashing around with her cherry rain boots, all the while spinning her umbrella like the little princess she is. :O) Ellie opted to stay dry...as did I. 

Since we were still recovering from our sickness and all of the rain was coming, it was a great weekend to stay home...ALL weekend. I don't think I left the house for 48 hours and typically I don't enjoy that, but this time it was okay. We were together as a family and we made the best of the gray days as we could.

Hannah would have stayed out there for hours if we would have let her!

For once, Ellie didn't feel like following her sister outside. :O)

Here's Sam w/ his girlfriends...yes, Ellie "set him up" with her dolls! We got a good laugh out of this one!

Our little princesses!

4 months old!

Sam is 4 months old!!

I must say, God has granted us some amazing, beautiful, easy babies! He is such a joy and we love watching him discover the new things he can do (grab toys!). 

He is our CAPTAIN ADORABLE! 

Germs, germs go away...come again NEVER!

We have been a house full of germs the past 2 weeks and it has not been fun! Here's a run down of the sickness here...

Tues. Sept. 2 - Hannah starts a fever - can't go to school

Wed. Sept. 3 - Hannah basically spends all day on the couch w/ a high fever off and on - can't go to school (she attends preschool Mon-Wed.) Ellie and Sam seem to be doing okay, although Ellie did have a runny nose.

Thurs. Sept. 4 - I thought Hannah was getting better, low-grade temp...at approx. 2:30pm, she starts crying really hard and says that her ear hurts. I call the dr. and they get us in that afternoon...double ear infection. The doctor's reaction when she looked in her ears, "Wow, these are BAD!" I have the doctor look at Ellie's figuring they'll be the same, but they weren't...no infection, however, they did have a lot of fluid in them....infection seems imminent. Start antibiotics for Hannah...

Fri. - Sept. 5 - still layed up, but seems to be improving

Sat. - Sept. 6 - a little better, still runny noses everywhere and Hannah starts a cough

Sun. - Sept. 7 - Ellie starts a fever and is MISERABLE.

Mon. - Sept. 8 - Ellie's fever is worse, Hannah complains that her ears still hurt, 4 days after being on the antibiotic. Hmmm, that's not right. Call doctor's office, they "squeeze" us in at 5pm. Hannah's ears have not improved at all and Ellie's are now both infected. Switch Hannah's antibiotics, Ellie starts on the same. No school for Hannah.

Tues. - Sept. 9 - Ellie wakes up with one eye stuck shut from the "goop" in them. When I went in her room to get her that morning, she stood up in her crib and in the saddest voice I've ever heard simply said, "Mama, eye...Mama, eye" as she pointed to her closed eye. I was able to get a warm, wet wash cloth and convince her to let me wipe her eye. Hannah goes back to school since her fever had been gone for days and her energy level was returning to normal.

Wed. - Sept. 10 - Hannah returned to school again. Ellie wakes up from afternoon nap looking much better...you know how you can just see it in their eyes, she actually looked refreshed. Still has major runny nose.

Thurs. - Sept. 11 - girls are improving, Sam has a goopy eye and runny nose. Fantastic.

Friday - Sept. 12 - both girls are continuing to improve, although they are still more fussy than normal...which sometimes causes MAJOR issues for Mommy. For instance, when I went in their room in the morning, Ellie was standing in her crib crying and Hannah was standing right outside of the crib crying (my guess is that E hit H b/c she got too close...). Hannah would not tell me what was wrong, so I left the room (after I was very kind and sympathetic), she cried harder. So, for the first 10 min. of the morning, H cried...for NO REASON!!! Needless to say - since I am NOT  morning person and really, no one wants to start the morning w/ kids who are crying for NO REASON - the day did not start out well. Crabby kids = crabby mommy. Things did improve throughout the day w/ a little orange juice and play time...

Today, Saturday, Sept. 13 - both girls woke up happy!!! Sam seems to be doing better too. His eyes have cleared up pretty well and his nose is not too bad. (thank you Lord for the goodness of Mama's milk!) And even though it's a rainy day, I'm happy too! :O) 

Okay, as I type this I realize it probably sounds like I'm looking for a pity party...I'm really not. I just thought I'd fill you in on our life...Throughout this minor illness, I continually reminded myself that the colds/infections they were dealing with are not serious and I was thankful for that. And, now that they are improving, I realize the past 2 weeks really weren't that bad. In fact, it was kind of nice after a very busy summer, to lay low and stay home for a bit. (I was able to get out once in a while, so I didn't go totally crazy.) And so begins the cold and flu season. I'm hoping my kids got their sickness out of the way now, but I'm sure we'll have several other days like this in the coming months...

Here's a few pics from yesterday afternoon, when the girls were in better spirits... (notice Ellie's red scab under her nose...poor thing has had it wiped so much, she cries every time!)

One of my new favorite pics of the two of them...

How old is this little girl again? She looks so old to me here!!!

Sam was not to sure about having his picture taken...or maybe it was being stuck b/t his two crazy sisters!

Beach, beach and more beach...why does it have to come to an end?

We had a fantastic little vacation in MI last weekend! In fact, we didn't want it to end...it's always so sad, packing up the beach toys and chairs for the last time of the summer. (Well it was the last time for us...lucky for my parents, they get to enjoy it every day until it snows!)

Enjoy these little snippets of our trip!
*I just realized that when you play the slideshow, you can click on individual pictures and they are enlarged and the show is paused...just a little hint if you want to check one out close up! ;O)*

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Ellie's 2nd, 2nd B-day Party

Okay, I might have misspoken...I guess Ellie is really having not 1, not 2, but 3 birthday parties! Because, of course, we had to celebrate with her as a family yesterday on her "true" big day!

So to really make it a party, I tried to think of Ellie's favorite meal to make for dinner. My choices were: hot dogs, mac n' cheese, spaghetti or Life cereal...I went with spaghetti. :O) W00 Hoo, we were crazy! 

We really had a great afternoon/evening celebrating our little girl's 2nd year of life. (Or were we celebrating that fact that she's entering her 3rd year?) Either way, it was great...jumping/sliding on the borrowed water slide (which, sadly, I had to return today), eating spaghetti, eating cupcakes (this time I bought them...she didn't know), getting a new baby doll and taking cute pics of all 3 kids. We took a walk to the park after dinner/presents and it was absolutely the best night of the summer. It was perfect...for our "perfect" little 2 year old. :O)

Party #3 will be in 3 days in MI...more to come. Enjoy your long weekend!!

Taking a quick look back...

Brand new baby Ellie! 2006

Happy 1st Birthday to Ellie! 2007

2 year old sweetheart! 2008

Catching up...

I realized that I have several pictures I'd like to share about our latest summer adventures, so bear with me and check out the following few posts...

A couple of weeks ago, we drove down to the city to watch the Chicago Air and Water show...from the roof of Steve and Connie's (my mother and father in-law) building!!! What an exciting and perfect place to view the great show! 

Sam thoroughly enjoyed his first (of many) air show!

Check out that view!

Ellie, sitting safely on Grandma's lap, actually really enjoyed watching the planes. She was even more in to it than Hannah, who was more concerned about playing with Peter back in the condo!

Thank you to Jim for the amazing next two shots!

The famous Blue Angels closing out the show. 

 

Catching up Pt.2 - Cosley Zoo

The kids and I joined my great friend Mar and her little guy Jackson at the local Cosley Zoo (Wheaton). The "zoo" is home to several farm animals and is a really sweet place to bring little ones...especially because it's free! :O)

Hannah asked to use the camera to take a few pictures of the goat laying nearby...here is what she captured. I just had to add them all, b/c I thought it was hilarious that she took the same thing 4 times! (I guess she thought she was really getting a great shot!)

From the inside of the barn, another goat decided he/she would get up close and personal and poke his/her head out b/t the fence...Ellie didn't like it...

Hannah, on the other hand, would have crawled in with the animals if she could have!

The girls and the bunnies! (HUGE bunnies!)

The kiddos minus Sam...he was there, but enjoying the view from the stroller. 

Mar and the "big" kids. 

Mommy and girls...