More Family Fun!

We went to Chicagoland for the 4th of July. The highlight of the long weekend was July3. That Friday the weather was perfect!!!! We were all in our suits and in the pool by 10AM and stayed there all day long. I loved it. As the day went on, the boys got braver and braver with the pool. The older 2 went off the diving board and Maddox went down the slide once (in my arms). I was able to float and visit with Tracy (no worries, I saved you all from that picture).


Cooper jumping off the diving board. This was HUGE!!! he was sitting on the edge of it in a huge tube and just dropping himself into the water. I finally told him to "Man Up" and jump for a picture. We managed to get him to jump for 5 or so "pictures" :)

Nelson had little fear, he got to the end of the board and just lept off. We were really proud of him.

Maddox only went off the slide this one time, after that everytime someone went near the slide he ran to the other end of the deck. He didn't like that water splashed up into his face. He never went under the water, but the splash was just too much for him to handle.

Olivia just loved being outside and the center of attention. When she wasn't jumping around in the exercauser she was enjoying being held and played with by her cousins.

Saturday was a dreary day and we were trying to figure out what to do with all the kids until nap time and time for us adults to get ready for the wedding. Karl came up with the idea of going to McDonald's to play and eat. We all loved the idea of getting out of the house, not having to clean up the mess of toys or lunch and drove over to McD's. Olivia, who started crawling the beginning of the month (3 days earlier to this picture) was more than ready to try out her new skill in the playland. Thanfully Travis drew the short straw and got to climb with her and follow her all over the place.

All the cousins posing for a picture right before lunch came. This picture is the only documentation of Layna playing. She wasn't a huge fan of the playland. She was much happier just watching her cousins play.

Lunch is served! Olivia ate her first chicken nugget and loved every bite of it!!!!

4th of July festivities.

We are in Orland Park for the holiday weekend. We swam all day yesterday. Cooper and Nelson even got brave enough to go off the diving board, we were so proud of them. Maddox sat on my lap and went down the slide. He hated all 7 seconds of it. You could hear him screaming, "I'cared!!! I 'cared!!!!" all the way down.
Today it's dreary, rainy, and cold. Cooper and Nelson are enjoying Lego's Indiana Jones on the big screen TV.

Maddox pulled out all of Grandma and Grandpa's matchbox cars and convinced Travis to play with him for a little while.

These are the kinds of family vacations I enjoy; lots of fun and lots of relaxing.

Olivia's current milestones.

Lately, Olivia wants nothing to do with pureed or mashed foods. She wants to pick the food up and feed herself. I love the ease of this. I just pull veggies out of the freezer, throw them on her tray and she has a meal. She's also learning how to use a sippy cup. It's a slow process. She's much better at holding her own bottle.
This past week she's figured out how to crawl forward, but still prefers to just stand. Today she managed to pull up on her toy box and then wave to me when she saw the camera.

Crazy first month of the summer

Things have been crazy since the summer started. Cooper is in Summer School every day and loves it!!! He comes home so excited about what he's done that day, I'm so gald that he's enjoying it. Nelson and Maddox have been enjoying day camp every Wednesday this past month. Olivia likes it too, it means that she gets 5 or so hrs of no big brothers.
Travis and Nelson both celebrated their birthdays this past month. We saw Batman converge on the house!!! Travis did a great job with the birthday party, all the kids seemed to have a great time. For Travis, I took him to a Chicago Fire game. It was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday! My parents kept the 4 kids and we 3 hrs of just sports, and adult conversation, Travis only had to ask me not to cut up his hotdog once. After that, I was able to remember that he was not a child.
While my mom was in town with Sophia she watched the kids for me to go get a hair cut. It had been a LONG time since I had been in a salon. I though I would just trim it and put some layers in, but then got some other ideas and ended up cutting over 6 inches off of the back of it! I love it, Travis is slowly getting used to it...

Rub-a-dub-dub

4 monkeys in a tub.
(I had a better picture of the kids, but the dolphin placement wasn't so good.)

Summer Vacation is here!!!!

The boys came home yesterday yelling and screaming. I'm still digging out from under notebooks, folders, crayons, and other "treasures" that they had in their desks all year. Maddox loves having them home, he's been following them around all morning trying to get involved in all of their games. I was brave, I took all 4 and headed out to the grocery store. It went really well. They helped me load the cart, unload the cart, and then it came time to pay... I left my wallet in the diaper bag, by the front door. We live right behind the grocery store, the older 2 decided they wanted to race me home. They completely misunderstood me and didn't stay there waiting for me, the van and the younger 2 kids. They went running back to the store!!!!! Needless to say, They were just sitting at the check-out laughing with the clerks when I got back there. Talk about a "frist day of vacation" adventure.



This picture has nothing to do with the post, but was just too cute to leave out! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

The Memorial Day weekend started with a great birthday party for our neice, Layna. She turned 2 and did it in style! She had the most amazing "Princess" birthday party ever! The cake was a pink and purple crown and she even had glass slipper sugar cookies. While at my brother's house Maddox decided to flex his big brother muscles. He sat on the floor, spread his legs, and declared, "I need Div to sit in mines lap!" Of course, I had to oblige.

Since there was a brief moment of dry ground and no rain we gave Nelson his birthday present a week (or 2) early. He got a new, bigger bike. He loves that he can now keep up with the rest of us on bike rides. We were even able to make it all the way around the block before the thunder and rain started again.
Toby did a great job of summing up most of our weekend! The rainy weather helped us all be really lazy.

All about Liv.

Olivia is growing so fast! Okay, not really... But she is slowly getting bigger. We went to the doctor on Friday for her 9 month physical. She's 16lbs and 11oz (that's a 10 lb weight gain in 9 months) and 26 inches long (that's a 7 in growth in 9 months). She's in the 10th percentile for both height and weight. That puts her right on par with her big brothers. She eats anything she can get her hands on or convince her brothers to give her. She has no teeth, and no signs of any, but still loves to chomp on crachers, cherrios, frozen veggies, and scrambled eggs. She squeals whenever she sees her brothers or the dogs. She has definately mastered sitting and reaching for anything and everything. This past week she started pulling herself up to the standing position. No crawling yet, just lots of rolling and scooting when she's sitting. Up until a week ago I was always in awe of the little coos, giggles, and girly sounding noises she would make while playing or "talking". Then she learned a new sound... It's a deep throaty growl! So not little girly, but it gets everyone's attention and she smiles and giggles whenever she makes it.
With the big 9 month birthday comes new explorations... Just this morning she took it upon herself to try to update the blog and listen to the charging i-Pod.