August Photo Dump 2013

Here is a massive photo dump to finish off August!

Chicago Air and Water Show: August 17, 2013

On August 17th we took the kids down to Lakeshore drive to watch the air and water show over Lake Michigan. 

Cam and Taber were mesmerized by the amazing trick pilots and fast flying jets.

The girls were more interested in the beach

I told them just to put their feet in but it wasn't long before they were fully submerged. 

(At least they were entertained :)

 Cute little beach babes

They also found some friends and made sand castles.

Meanwhile Taber and Cam were drooling over this

 While pregnant mama sat and roasted in the sun.

We ended up spending about 3 hours watching the planes, which is pretty impressive for Cam's usually short attention span. It was an awesome setting and a fun way to spend a Saturday.

First Day of School! August 21, 2013

On August 21st Teya started her first day of 2nd grade!

All the siblings wanted in on the picture :)

My big beautiful 2nd grader.

 Brinley got to go visit her classroom and drop off her supplies that day.

 The next day was Brinley's first day of Kindergarten! She wanted to wear the exact same outfit Teya wore on her first day of kindergarten. She looked darling in it. 

 Cam and big sissy on her first day of school.

(Teya was already at school since Brinley is in afternoon kindergarten)

One more pic because she just looked so stinking cute!

 Even though the school is less than 1/2 a mile from our house, they still bus the kids on our street because we live on the golf course and that's considered a "hazard zone." I love it because it's super convenient and the bus picks them up right in front of our house. Score! :)

 Brinley felt so big getting on the bus all by herself. 

After she got on the bus we went over to the school to greet her when she got off. All the little kindergartners looked so cute. 

 Cam was having a good old time with all the kindergartners until they turned to walk in the building and suddenly he realized he wasn't going with them. He cried and cried, screaming, "Dee Dee!" (His nickname for Brinley) over and over again. It was the saddest thing. Luckily it's only half day kindergarten and when Brinley goes to school he takes a nap, so he hardly misses a thing. 

Your day will come too little buddy, before you know it, your day will come... 

Daddy Daughter Camp Out: August 23-24, 2013

The first weekend after school started Taber and the girls were invited to join 3 other families on a Daddy Daughter campout. 

 The campsite was located on a river and the only way to get to it was by boat! So they loaded all their camping gear and food in kayaks and canoes and paddled about 3 miles to their destination. 

Taber's arms got a good workout paddling these two cuties and all their stuff in. 

They set up camp right on the river and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing. 

Then it was time for dinner, PJs, and marshmallow roasting.

Taber said the girls slept like champs! He took some cute pics of their morning snuggles.

The next day swimming was a top priority.

 The girls had a blast collecting zebra mussels, paddling around the river, and jumping off the diving rock. 

But mostly they just loved being with their daddy.

Because being with Daddy means fun, and FISHING! They caught quite a few cat fish thanks to Dad's awesome fishing skills.

 They even decided to keep one and bring it home.

 The girls and their fat juicy fishy. 

After some more fun on the waterfront they broke camp and headed home. 

Daddy cooked up the catfish for dinner that night and it was DEE-Licious! So meaty and juicy we all licked the plate clean and wished we had more. Such a fun weekend for the girls and their Dad. So glad they got to do that!

 Rock River Family Day: August 31, 2013

 The next weekend Taber was itching for some more cat fish so we went back to the rock river where he had camped with the girls to try our luck. While Taber was fishing the kids had a blast playing in the river. 

 Cam wanted his feet wet, but nothing else, so this was our solution. (also I DID bring a swimsuit for him but he wanted nothing to do with it, hence the trashy swim diaper look. ;)

 The girls could play in the rocks and river for hours. 

 Which they did. 

The cat fish weren't really biting that day but it was still so fun and relaxing to be out on the river.  (Also love this pic of Taber and Cam. Love my sweet boys :)

 When we were done playing on the river we hiked up to a little lookout area to get a better view of the river. Such a beautiful setting! It was a great way to wrap up the month and get one last big outdoor fix before the weather got cold. 

And that is August! (and possibly the longest blog post I've ever done!) 2 months to go and I'm caught up! ;)

June 2013 in Pictures

Okay if I'm ever going to get this blog caught up to the present I'm just going to have to do some massive picture summaries. So here is June (minus Taber's AK boys weekend which will get it's own post)

Once school got out we ended up spending A LOT of time on the trampoline. 

 They would jump on it every single day, perfecting all their tricks and burning off loads of energy.  

Their favorite is jumping with the sprinklers. Never gets old. 

 We visited Auntie Naomi and Uncle Kevin a few times and played with their rats. The kids are nuts over those things. 

We went to the local butterfly house

Cam was fascinated. 

 We busted out the fire pit and roasted S'mores a couple times. One of our favorite backyard activities.

Me and my friend Julie took our girls to downtown Chicago and spoiled them to a fancy lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. Sometimes you just need a fancy girls day out :)

The girls loved exploring the big city

We hit the American Girl Doll store and Brinley insisted on having her picture taken with this doll because it was her favorite.

 We also hit the Hershey store where Brinley was in heaven and Teya was like, "Enough chocolate already!" 

 We celebrated National Donut Day with the cousins

We also hit the Zoo with the cousins

The kids loved the new dinosaur exhibit

 We took the kids to their first minor league baseball game to cheer on the Kane County Cougars.

 And Taber and I went to our first Cubs game at Wrigley field. 

 We celebrated Father's Day with the world's best (and handsomest) Daddy.

 Taber helped me teach the Young Women in our ward how to build a fire for camp certification.

 They aced it!

 I was called as 1st counselor in the young women's presidency on top of my ward camp director calling, which meant more time with these awesome girls!!

Some really nice friends gifted us this beautiful piano and it has been such an awesome addition to our home! I can now play close to 20 hymns (I could only play 4 or 5 before) and the girls have started piano lessons. Love having music in our home. 

 We said goodbye to Sister Weber, one of the first (and best!) sister Missionaries to serve in our ward. The girls had never been exposed to sister missionaries before and they fell in love with her, and want to serve missions now because of her. So grateful for her awesome example. 

 We swam with friends

And started an epic 2 week road trip around the country, but that is a different story for a different day. 

Some surgeries are easy to recover from. A tonsillectomy isn't one of them :(

On May 23rd we took Teya and Camden in for back to back surgeries.

 (I figured Hey, if I'm going to spend a week rehabing children I might as well do them both at once!)

Teya was getting her tonsils and adenoids removed.

Cam was getting his adenoids removed and ear tubes put it.

Cam went first and came out with no problems. Just a little sleepy angel.

He went right back to sucking his thumb and snuggling blankey.

 Teya came out next but instead of sleepy angel she was more like a wild crazy person. I really don't know a better way to describe it. She just couldnt' handle the way the drugs made her feel and was screeching and flailing around, spasming, crying, and saying crazy things. Luckily Daddy was there to comfort her.

Her tonsils were huge, the right one was the size of a golf ball.  It was so big the doctor actually took a picture and gave it to us. I'm posting it so it can go in the blog book but just a warning, the following image is not for the faint of heart...

 Blech!

 The next day Cam was back to his normal self, king of the house as usual. 

Teya on the other hand was just a pathetic little ball of misery. Every time her drugs got close to wearing off she just cried and cried. She couldn't hardly eat a thing and she could barely talk because it hurt so bad.

 she started writing notes when she needed things. It was so sad.

A week later she was still crying every time the drugs wore off. Her ears hurt really really bad (residual pain from the surgery) And she woke up screaming almost every night. It was the worst and saddest thing I've ever seen her go through. 

Finally after about 10 days, she was back to her old smiley self, without drugs. It was a tough tough surgery to recover from, but I've heard it's actually worse when you're an adult, so I'm glad she did it now instead of later. 

As hard as it was, I've noticed that it really has helped her be more empathetic when people are sick or suffering. We've had friends and relatives get sick and go to the hospital and her concern for them is so much deeper now that she knows what it's like to really hurt. 

One of the sweetest moments with her newfound empathy was on the Sunday after her surgery, she was still too fragile to go to church so we stayed home and watched The Testaments. During the scene where the Savior is crucified I looked over at her and saw tears streaming down her face. Through her tears she quietly whispered, "poor Jesus." I think it was the first time she internalized how much he suffered for us, and it was sweet to see how it touched her tender little heart. 

Surgery isn't fun, but Cam and Teya were troopers and hopefully we won't be dealing with any more surgeries for a long long time, preferably never again :)

Spring Soccer in Chicago is not for the faint of heart...

Back in April we signed the girls up for Spring Soccer. 

They were SO excited about their soccer shirts and cleats and shin guards. 

They even slept with their soccer balls that first night.

They were going to be "real" soccer players.

We were going to be "real" soccer parents. 

Everyone was excited!

Because their games and practices were all during Cam's nap, 1-3:30 every Saturday, Taber became the designated Soccer parent and diligently went every week to cheer on the girls.

 This meant braving the elements since "Spring" in Chicago isn't exactly beach weather.

In fact, for the first few games poor Taber sat freezing for hours on the sidelines while the kids played in full winter gear.

The initial excitement about soccer started to wear off as the reality of the time commitment and physical strain of being out in that weather started to take it's toll. Still, Taber the super soccer dad remained undaunted and after a pep talk with the girls they all committed to see it through till June.

The freezing weather let up a little in May but then they faced hurricane winds that almost blew them off the soccer field.  

And then, overnight, the weather turned from freezing cold to burning hot. No nice breezy "Spring Soccer" weather for these little troopers. The weather only deals in extremes out here I guess.

Luckily Taber packed the snack cooler with plenty of drinks to keep them hydrated and even brought popsicles, because he's awesome like that.

Finally in June they had their last game and were even rewarded with lovely weather.

 Soccer wasn't easy, but they learned to persevere and stick with something even when it was hard.

 They learned that you start what you finish.

 And that you should always do your best, and try your hardest. 

And in the end, they most definitely earned those trophies!

(Although really I think the biggest trophy should've gone to Taber, for spending 3 hours every Saturday for 3 months, in extreme weather, supporting his little soccer players)

It was all worth it for these smiles :)

 (although next year I think we'll try indoor soccer...) :)