Fun with Friends

For the first two weeks in June, we enjoyed playing with friends, especially the Wentworths, Jackie and Serious.

We made sure that these two little buddies got to play a bunch while the Wentworth family worked hard to get their home on the market. 

Dallin had his two year check-up. He is measuring 25 percentile for weight and height, but he's growing steadily, so that's good.

We enjoyed our first summer park day with Momtime friends.

The boys had some trouble getting used to longer days of sunshine. Here they are playing outside in their pajamas, refusing to believe that it's bedtime.

We made muffins on a rainy day.

I kept hearing things in our roof at night, so Jeremy went up on the roof to inspect. Here is the view of our neighborhood from the top of our house! Can you see me and the boys down below? Jeremy determined that we have bats.

I was able to celebrate with Jackie and Serious at their graduation!! The highlight was eating African food and dancing to African music with their family.

Here's a pic of our last Sunday with Sarah. I was so grateful that Sarah sang in a quartet with me, Erin, and Merilee a few weeks earlier. I couldn't let her leave without singing with her in a special musical number.

We enjoyed a big party for the Wentworth family at the Grush farm. Dallin had some good bonding time with Bryan.

Dallin tried on my glasses at a Mexican restaurant. 

Jeremy and the boys are always playing sports together. 

This little love-bug never seems to get enough cuddling with me!

Coloring time...

Drawing like a pro!

Jackie spent some quality time with us during her last few days before moving. We miss her so much!! Dallin sometimes asks if it's Jackie when there is someone knocking on the door, and the other day he was really excited when he thought he saw her at the store.

We got some pictures of the kids before the Wentworth's big moving day.

Tanner has learned a lot from his favorite friend and thinks the world of him. We have been so blessed to have this family in our lives!!

We got first dibs on the Wentworth's swing set!  Some friends from church brought it over completely in tact on a trailer! 

I told Tanner ahead of time that we would get their swing set. When Tanner saw the swing set, he started to cry and within moments was balling like a baby. I couldn't figure out why he was so upset. When he got calm enough to speak, he said he wanted his friend to stay at his house in Minnesota and not move. Tanner insisted that the swing set was supposed to stay at the Wentworth's house. This kid is too smart for his own good. Instead of being happy for a big backyard toy, he was sad because he knew the only reason we were getting it is because our friends were moving. 

One Saturday in June, Jeremy and I rode our bikes to Sterling drug with the boys in the bike trailer. Then we rode to McDonald's for lunch. Then we got rained on during the ride home. It was really cold! But the boys had fun.

The next day was a gorgeous Sunday. I decided to lay out on the lawn.

Right before we left for Colorado, I found this bird's nest with eggs on my front porch wreath! Looks like we'll be getting some new friends at the house soon!

Chicago in May

We enjoyed a wonderful family trip in Chicago during the last weekend of May. We got to spend most of our time with Callie and Brian Hill!

The week before going to Chicago, I helped landscape the church with the youth.

I also did playgroup with some friends. We toured the historical society at the county fairgrounds. The boys got to see old fashioned buggies and climb aboard some train cars and train engine. 

Then, we headed off on Friday afternoon, May 29 to Chicago for our 3rd family trip there. It took us about 7 hours. Jeremy used rope to make a holder for our kindle so that the boys could watch movies during the drive. Genius.

On Saturday morning, Jeremy and Brian played basketball at the church. Callie and I attempted to go to the beach with the kids. Here is our car piled with little people!

The beach was rainy, so we fed ducks and came back to the house. Tanner had a great time playing with the girls. They were so good at sharing their toys with our boys.

When the daddies came back from basketball, we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is free and super beautiful!! I felt like I was walking in a golden book about zoos or the zoo from Lady and the Tramp because of the classic architecture.

Tiger.

Watching the gibbons with the Hills.

The rain was very pretty while we were at the zoo. A little chilly at times, but very refreshing.

Lunch in the cafeteria.

The zoo had a cool jungle gym exhibit. We spent about an hour there.

The Beaver was part of the jungle gym exhibit. It was my first time seeing a beaver up close. He was so cute!!

After the zoo, we headed to the Art Museum (Art Institute of Chicago). We had one hour before it closed. Our kids were sleeping, so the Hills stayed in the car while Jeremy and I blazed through the museum. On the museum map, we found a cool self guided tour that tells you what to see in exactly one hour! It was perfect. We got a great workout speed-walking from place to place. This is definitely the best way to see an art museum! And it was especially nice to enjoy everything without little people pulling and whining at our legs. Thank you Callie and Brian!

I lost Jeremy while we were speeding through the Greek/Roman pottery to the next painting. I found him several paces back staring at a vase. Wide-eyed, he said, "800 BC? When Jesus was on earth, these pots were old! And somehow they are still in perfect condition. How did they do that?" Needless to say, we marveled at the pottery for several minutes longer than our "tour" allowed. We couldn't help ourselves. 

Our view leaving the museum. I love the character of this city!

For dinner, we got Chicago deep dish pizzas. Man, I can't believe I've been missing out on pizza like this my whole life. It is so yummy! We've gotten it every time we've been in Chicago, and it is definitely my favorite type of pizza.

The kids had a fun time playing their own restaurant games together while we waited for dinner. They ended up piling under the table and taking a bunch of the table supplies with them, haha. 

When we got back to the house, Callie had some adorable books to read to the kids for bedtime.

The next morning was Sunday. Before church, we went on an architectural tour. This was a definite highlight of the weekend. 

We rode on a boat along the Chicago river through the city. Just a few minutes into the tour, Jeremy leaned over to me and said, "I had no idea I was so interested in all of this stuff!" We really enjoyed it and learned a lot of Chicago history, which is what I've been wanting to know more about ever since our first drive through the city. Thank you to Callie for recommending the tour and for babysitting the boys so we could go! 

When the tour was over, we raced back to the Hill house and went to church. After church, we drove home and made it home before it was too late.

We had such a fabulous time in Chicago! I love it more and more each time we go!! And it was an extra fun treat to see our boys get along so well with the girls. Thank you Callie and Brian for letting us invade your house for the weekend!!