Party Animals!

Last week, within a 5 day period, there were 3 big parties! It was a fun, crazy week to say the least! First, I had what Kenley and I started calling our "kid/mom party." A few weeks ago, I was thinking about how summer was coming to an end, and how we didn't get together with everyone we had hoped to as much as we wanted to. So, I decided to invite a bunch of my girlfriends and their children over for one huge play date. I think we ended up with 14 moms and 20 kids ranging from 5 years old-2 weeks old!  The party had to start indoors because the weather wasn't very good, (what he hell 60 degrees in August?) but we made the most out of it, and the kids were still able to get outside and play in the bouncy house and on the swing set. Somehow, we even managed to get a decent picture of them too. It was a fun chance for the kids to play, a chance for me to see my friends, and for some of my friends to meet each other.

 

Then, just 4 days later, we celebrated Charlie's 1st birthday. We had all our family and a few close friends over to celebrate our "baby" boy. It was such a nice day. We had a blue and  green 1st birthday theme, and I had fun spending a lot of time decorating. Everyone was outside enjoying the nice weather, and Ray and I both felt like we actually got to enjoy the party and socialize with everyone. Charlie had a good time being outside, and he loved his cake until he rubbed frosting right in his eye! I was sad the morning of his party because even though he was already officially one a few days before, the party really made it sink in for me. The day of his actual birthday we took him and Kenley to "All Aboard," a little restaurant that serves food on a train and we got him a cupcake from the bakery. He also got his 1yr photos taken, and we got so many amazing shots. Kenley snuck in for a few too.







Then, the following day, we through Ray's mom a surprise 60th birthday party at an Italian restaurant. Ray and Alison started planning his party over 2 months ago, but it was hard keeping the secret at Charlie's party, when half of the people there were attending her party too, the very next day! I think she was really surprised, and we had a really nice lunch with all of her friends and family. It was fun seeing how surprised she was seeing everyone who came to celebrate. Happy 60th Pam!

So, then after we had a few days to recover from all the parties, we took the kids on vacation to Wisconsin Dells. We just got back tonight, so I think I'll have to post about that later. We had a great time, but it was exhausting! We were going non-stop with the kids for 5 days. Vacation post coming up!!

July...crap it's practically over!

I am so behind on blogging. I used to at least read other blogs at the end of the night, and then (try) to blog once a week, or at least every other. I've also noticed a lot of the other blogs I read have not been posting as much. I've concluded that it must be because most of us have more than one child by now! But, I still like blogging. I like putting down my memories in words and pictures, and I love looking back at my own blog and reminiscing. I also like when people unexpectedly tell me they read my blog, so thank-you! I can't believe July is basically over!  I just want summer to last forever, or at least the warm weather. (Even though it has actually been really cool out for this time of year.)

I started to blog last week, but it was a little hard because my grandpa has been in the hospital, and we have all been worried about him. He is still in the hospital, but he is improving, and he is out of the ICU. It has been hard on the whole family, but especially my grandma. Please send positive thoughts their way!

This week was kind of the kick-off of what will be a full 6 weeks of celebrations, we have parties/weddings every weekend from here to the end of August. We were at a wedding last night, which was really fun. We celebrated Rays 33rd b-day two weeks ago, and had a really good time. We had a nice night away overnight, celebrated with the family, and went to a few really nice dinners.

I've been working a little bit, and now I am preparing for a new job that I will start in August. I am going to be teaching at the community college in our area. I taught there at night before I had Kenley, and I always thought it was the perfect part-time job. I always hoped that maybe there would be a chance of me going back there sometime, and I contacted the department chair a few months ago, and the timing was perfect! I also just found out this week that I may be teaching 2classes instead of just one. I think this could be the perfect opportunity for me to work on a more flexible basis, much closer to home, but still mostly be home with the kids.

 

Can't believe July is almost over. It hasn't even been that hot! Even though most people like this weather, I would prefer it to be a little warmer. It's only been in the 70's so many days, which makes me nervous that it might get cold out early this year. I just want to hang on to these days of the warmest weather for as long as possible! We are also trying to plan a long weekend to take the kids somewhere on vacation. It will be our first family vacation of 4!  We also started planning Charlie's 1st birthday party. I truly can't believe he's almost 1, and I'll probably cry about it.

Luckily, I will have a lot of other babies to snuggle on this year. My friend, Cheryl, just had a little girl 2 weeks ago, who I can't wait to meet. My friend, Melissa, is due next week with her 3rd child, her first girl. And, my sister will be giving me another niece in November. It's going to be a fun time with all these new babies. Charlie is going to be surrounded by lots of women in his life!

Never a dull moment

Our family has grown over the past few weeks. We got a new puppy, Archie! He's a Havanese , and he looks like a little stuffed animal! Ray has been wanting another dog for a while, and I knew it was probably only so long that I could make him hold out. I reluctantly let him talk me into going, "just to look" of course, and hours later we were home with Archie. It wasn't quite the dog Ray originally wanted to look at, but he saw how much Kenley and I seemed to like this puppy, and his little face is pretty irresistible, even for a guy who wanted a bulldog. He's been really good with the kids so far, and Kenley treats him like her little baby. He (mostly) seems ok with being held wrapped up in a blanket by her, and him and Charlie seem to enjoy playing together with the same toys.

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Friday night we did a 2mile run in our community with the kids and Archie in the jogging stroller. I was really proud of Ray because this was his first ever race, and it's been nice for us to do it together. Kenley also got to do a kids dash at the end too, which was fun to watch. On the 4th we went to my sister's in-laws house and hung out outside, went swimming, ate lots of food, and Ray and Greg ended the night with a huge firework show for everyone. On the 5th, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's lake house for the day where we spent the day again swimming, eating, being outside, and Kenley got to fish for the second time with my dad. We were pretty exhausted today after 3 very
busy days, so we stayed home and put the kids to bed early!

The past 2 weeks Kenley had Sportscamp where she learned soccer and basketball skills, and Frozen dance camp, where she learned dances to all the songs from Frozen. She had so much fun at both, and she did a great job listening and participating. This week she starts swim lessons and gymnastics. I am also taking Charlie to the mommy & me swim class. So, as usual, we are staying busy! It's been a great summer so far, and I'm so happy there is a lot more of it left!

My happy place

Whooo!  This week marks the official start of summer, and it really is my happy place!  I feel like I've really gotten a jump start on summer this year, since I have been able to do a few things that normally take me until end of June/early July to do when I have been wrapping up the school year in the past.  I was able to meet up with my work friends who were celebrating the end of the school year last week.  It was good to see them, and I am just as happy for them that the school year is over.  But, I can not believe it has been a full year since I have been off of work!  In some ways it feels like forever that I have been away from teaching, but a short time that I have been home with the kids, if that makes sense.  My new job is going good so far! Much different from the teaching world, but much easier and no stress!

A few weeks ago, my mom, sister, niece, me and the kids headed to Shipshewana Indiana, an adorable little Amish town.  We had a great little get-away filled with shopping, eating out, and a visit to a farm.  We were all piled in my dad's Tahoe with 3 car seats, stollers, pack-n-plays, diaper bags, suitcases, etc, so just getting in and out of the car was an adventure in itself!  The kids were really good, and we had fun staying overnight in the hotel together. 

I've been taking the kids to lots of local summer event these last few weeks, and we have already been to the farmer's market, a butterfly fesitval, lots of parks, and we are just staying really busy!  Ray and I took the kids to Great America for the first time for Father's Day.  It was really fun, and I was surprised at how many rides Kenley could go on!  I think she is going to be a daredevil like me because she had no fear, even on the bigger rides. She was able to go on the log ride, the big ship, the octopus, 2 smaller roller coasters, and a lot of other little rides.  Even Charlie got to go on a few, and he seemed to like it too.  It was a really nice family day, and it was fun for Ray and I to think back about when we went there as kids, and even took a little weekend trip there together before we were engaged.

It's been a great start to the summer, and I know we have some type of fun plans every week already!  I'm ready to soak up the sun, and the kids already have tans :)

Sandals & tank tops!!

Whoooo! It's Memorial Day weekend and we got gorgeous weather!! I could not be happier to be in sandals and tank tops, and I finally got to out away the kids winter wardrobes. After this winter, you won't hear me complain about hot weather.  We had a great weekend with a trip to the zoo, (Charlie's first) some yard work and shopping, a parade, and we are about to barbecue dinner.  The only mishap was that Kenley hurt herself on the swing set yesterday and took a trip to the E.R. I guess the x-rays didn't show much, so we're going back for a cat-scan tomorrow, but we're hoping for the best!

Miss Kenley had her ballet recital last week, and she did excellent. It was the most precious thing I had ever seen, and I wished I could have watched her 100 more times. You never know how your kid will react to being in front of a crowd and performing for the first time. As soon as she got on stage and found where we were sitting, she got a huge smile on her face, waved, and started giving shout-outs from the stage!  I was so proud of her and loved watching her dance. I'm happy she liked ballet so much, and she says she wants to sign up again. This is her last "official" week of pre-school, but she will still be going 1 morning a week for summer camp. Between that, swim lessons, sports camp, dance camp, and gymnastics, she is going to have a busy summer. I know we are going to have so much fun doing all our usual summer activities too.

Charlie totally turned a corner in the past few weeks and has mostly been sleeping through the night!!!! I can't add enough exclamation points to this statement. It took us a long 9 months to get to this point, and to say I am happy is an understatement.  Of course, each time I realize that it's early morning and I haven't heard from him I go check on him.  Then, as soon as I realize that he's fine, he's actually still sleeping, I get so excited that a few times it's almost been hard to fall back asleep (almost!) oh, sleep, how I've missed you!  He's also getting in crawling position, is sitting by himself, and rolls and scoots around everywhere. Many people have brought up his upcoming birthday, but I'm in denial. I don't want him to be 1. I want to freeze this exact time where we are in a good grove. Sleeping, easier to get out of the house, Kenley is pretty independent and a great helper, Charlie still a "baby", so basically, stop getting older kids!

Some news for me, I'm starting to work a little bit this week. I am going to be working on a very flexible as-needed basis for a company that helps older people downsizing their homes. He company does everything from helping people pack, organize, move, and hold estate sales. I'm pretty excited about it since it is something I've always been interested in, and it's perfect because it is so flexible.  I'll mostly be working 1day a week.  I am also going to be teaching 1 class at the community college starting in the fall. I am so happy that I have the opportunity to work a little bit, but mostly be home with the kids.

 Ray and I were invited to a charity event by our friends, Jim and Melissa the Four Seasons last weekend. It was fun to get all dressed up, and it was really cool being at the event and watching the live auction! It was a really nice night out.

Time to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend with the family.  Happy Memorial Day everyone!


I'm over a week on actually posting this because I had my first day of work, and I was super busy setting up and having our annual garage sale this week.
 Updates:  Kenley's arm is totally fine, and she didn't need the cat-scan after all!

Catch up

We had a great Easter weekend with the kids and our families. We woke up early, and Kenley and Charlie hunted Easter eggs in the backyard and found their baskets. Then, we headed off to meet up with Ray's family for brunch, and my family later in the day. It was a gorgeous day out, and the kids had so much fun and were exhausted by the end of the day.



The following weekend, we went to Grizzly Jacks water park resort. This was our 3rd year going, and it was so much fun. Katie, Greg, and Kayla came with this time, so we had all 3 kids, which was an adventure. We all had fun at he water park and the amusement park. Kenley was able to go on the trampoline, and Greg and I went on the zip line. It was a fun little get-away, and of course we took our annual family picture next to the bear.

A week and a half ago was my 1/2 marathon! Ray came with Kenley and Charlie, and my mom brought Kayla to cheer me on. It was hard, but I ran the whole time and finished around 2hrs and 17 min. I am proud of myself that I did it, and that I accomplished a goal on my "bucket list." I was so out of shape after having Charlie and not working out and eating whatever I wanted for 9 months, and now, almost exactly 9 months later I'm feeling really good and proud of my hard work. I don't think I'm going to keep up with the really long runs, but I know I will still be going to the gym about 5 days a week, and I'm planning on doing some shorter runs over the summer.

We also celebrated Mother's Day by going out to brunch at Ditka's with Ray's family, and then visited with my family at my mom's house.  I am so blessed to be a mom to my 2 beautiful babies, and I am very thankful for my mom and mother-in-law and all that they both do for our family.I am soooo excited that my sister finally announced her pregnancy to everyone, so now I can share!!  I am getting another niece or nephew in early November.  We are all excited to find out the gender of this baby in the next few weeks. 

We have lots of plans coming up over he next few months, and my calendar is filled with showers, weddings, graduation parties, birthdays, summer camps/activities for the kids, and just a lot of fun plans. We will definitely be keeping busy throughout the summer. Can't wait for that warmer weather!