Our Chicago Weekend - October

My niece, Alayna, turned 6 in October and she wanted to celebrate her birthday at the American Girl store in Chicago. We had a very fun time and enjoyed being with some of the people we use to hang out with up there!!

Birthday supper at The Cheesecake Factory

We stayed one night with our good pal Kerry. The kids loved getting her up at 5 something in the am (different time zone for us). Thanks for putting up with us Kerry!!

Off to the American Girl Store. Thea got the bitty twins....she has had them picked out for weeks!

Brya on the other hand, did not know what she wanted. So we wandered around the store for a while before she chose....

(Thea still picking things out)

SAMANTHA!!! Brya saved all her birthday $$ and did anything she could to make a few bucks so that she could get another doll.

Brya and Alayna ended up getting the same doll.

We had lunch in the little restaurant there. It was ADORABLE. Everything was pink, black and white. Each doll got her own little chair at the table and a little tea set. Guests: Robin (taking pic), Kerry, me, blond twin, Thea, black twin, Kirsten, Amanda, Jess, Brya, Samantha, Samantha, Alayna. Brya's Nikki was at the salon getting her hair done!

Happy 6th Birthday Alayna!!

Kerry and Thea! (the store was packed so I was so glad that Kerry was there!)

Craft Time!

"What did you get??"

Bags and boxes!

Wishing we were not to old for the dolls!! :-) (Robin, Kerry and me)

Shopping aftermath!

...and where were Troy, Nolan and Kevin all this time?? Football game of course! Northwestern and Purdue (I think....)

After we were done downtown we headed out to the country to visit our great friends, Glen, Becky and kids. Katie and Laura got into playing with the dolls too. Thanks for everything Karate Family!!

Glen, Becky, Andy, Katie and Laura

On Sunday, we went to meeting at Arthur and Patty's place. That is the first meeting we went to when we moved to IL from WA. Special!

Leftovers

Nolan: "What is for lunch Mom?"
Mom: "Leftovers"
Nolan: "OK"....and he runs off to play.
Mom: "Time to eat"
Nolan: Looking at his plate of spaghetti.."Why when you say leftovers it is always something else?"

BEWARE! - Potty Training Story

Sorry the "Farties (Smarties)" video is sideways.......

The other potty thing that she does, is sometimes calls #2..."I did Big Brown"

The rabbits went camping!

We have 2 rabbits and they usually just stay in their cage in the sunroom (they aren't very friendly) but today we set up a pen in the yard. Brya and Nolan sat with them and read books. The gray one is "just a rabbit" (kind of like a mutt dog) her name is Tabby. Of the 2, she is more likely to let you pet her. The brown and white one is a rex and her name in Lindsey. She is very curious (always sniffs the vacuum cleaner when it come near), but she will hardly let you touch her (which is a shame because she is so soft).

These 2 were taken a month or so ago.

Back to Swim Lessons

All 3 kids are back in swim lessons again. They all love it and I love it that all 3 classes are at the same time....we are in and out in about a hour!! This might be the last year for both Brya and Nolan, they have mentioned wanting to start Karate and I'm only up for one sport at a time. My rule is that they had to take swim lessons until they can swim across the pool all on their own....Brya has been able to do it for a while and Nolan can too (he just gets a little panicky sometimes). Nolan just moved up a level on Wednesday.....he'll start learning the strokes now. Thea loves the water...in fact they kicked her out of the baby class last year because she has no fear....she was always saying "Let go of me, let me go". She is now in the pre-school class and now she is saying "My turn, my turn" (she would rather have the teacher to herself).

The beginning of the doggy paddle.

Nice front glide Nolan!

Hurry Mom....we're shivering!

Thea's back float!

Look at the smile on her face!

Thea the Fish!

Brya only has 2 kids in her class so she is tired after 45 min of almost constant attention.

Brya jumping!

All smiles!

Bombs-Away!

Off-centered goggles...oh well, as long as they don't bother him!

Changing the date?

Does anyone know how to change the date of a post? I would like to post something from this summer but it bugs me to have the wrong date on it......any suggestions?

I give up.......

We had a wonderful busy summer and I really wanted to post some of the 1000+ pics we took....but the summer doesn't seem to be posting itself so I guess we are just going to move right onto Fall!! :-) Here are some of the highlights of our summer....

• Nolan's 5th birthday


• 2+ weeks of vacation to WA and ID


• Horse show (not our horses...much to Brya's dismay)


• State Fair


• Pool time, pool time and more pool time


• many visits to the zoo


• Conner Prairie


• Frog Rescues


• sprinkler park


• and much much more

If you want pics of any of these events just leave me a comment (bribery...I know :-) and I'll work a getting something posted.