Six Flags Great America

I have sooo much to catch up on from the past few weeks. These are all from mine and Brett's camera phones.

Miss Maddi had to get a tooth pulled. This is when she was waiting for the numbing shot to set in. She had been trying since March to get his tooth out. It would start bleeding from inside the tooth. The tooth was hollow inside but the roots were fully attached. She was never able to get it out herself so it was time to get it pulled. She was very brave and it went very smooth.

We went to Great America with our neighbors, the Balls, before they moved. It worked out great because Brett and Brendan were able to ride bigger rides with Maddi, Cade, Grace and Jack while the rest of us waited for them to ride. Emma and Ellie enjoyed hanging out together and were troopers. This is Brett and Emma on a slide in the Wiggles World. Emma actually rode the monkey tree ride and she was not much of a fan. She didn't actually cry until the very end, but when I asked her if she wanted to ride again she quickly responded "no, no".

The kids LOVED the boat ride and rode it over and over again. It got pretty chilly later in the day and most sane people didn't want to get wet. The kids were able to ride it mulitiple times without having to get off the ride each time.

After they were wet from the water rides, they got in the family dryer. Brett said it was the best $5.00 he ever spent in his life. He was pretty cold after getting wet.

Maddi saw the karaoke stage and was all over it. She sang "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry all by herself. She did a nice job singing but needs to work on her performance. Ha ha. I give her credit for even getting on stage to sing by herself. She wasn't even the least bit nervous.

After Maddi sang, then Jack and Andrew went up to sing Dynomite. Maddi, Emma and Grace were the back up singers and dancers.

Toward the end of the night someone was getting tired and a little grumpy, even on Daddy's shoulders. She really was good the whole day. It was a very fun day and a great way to spend time with our friends before they moved.

This was Emma and Ellie at a going away party at another neighbors. The rest of us were at a swim meet, but Brett and Emma went to the party for a bit after Brett brought Emma home from the meet to go to bed.

Grandparents and Father's Day

Texas Grammy and Grandpa came for a visit while Grandpa was in Chicago for work. The timing doesn't work for us to go to Texas Grammy's summer camp that's in Texas this year, so Texas Grammy did some of the activities they are doing at camp with the kids while she was here. These are their bunny-copters.

And here they are seeing how they fly down from the second floor. The kids had a great time going to the pool, park, playing four square and basketball and hanging out with Grandpa and Texas Grammy. We are looking forward to them retiring and moving back to the states at the end of the year so we can see them more often. They said when they come back to visit, they are staying until Emalyn lets them hold her. Emalyn pretty much screamed every time they looked at her for the first day or two. By the end of the visit she wasn't screaming and she would give them kisses and blow them kisses but she wouldn't get too close to them. What a stinker!

Saturday evening the kids opened their birthday presents from Grandpa and Texas Grammy and Brett and Oliver opened their Father's Day gifts. It wasn't quite Father's Day yet or their birthdays. It's become a tradition of the kids getting their birthday presents at summer camp when they have an "unbirthday" party. The kids were all smiles in anticipation.

Maddi, Emma and I went to a pink birthday party for a neighbor earlier in the day so Emma already had her birthday shirt on. She got a tricycle from Grandpa that has a parent handle to push her. It's just like our neighbor Ellie's and she loves it!

The kids wrapped Grandpa's gift in bag after gift bag. They enjoyed watching him open it.

Daddy with his girls. Maddi is still wearing face paint from the pink party.

Someone was happy with their Legos for their birthday! I was glad and surprised he chose Legos for his gift. He doesn't play with them as often as he used to but he was very excited to get Legos. Maddi got money because she's saving up for an ipod touch or an ipad. She was quite happy too!

The go go squeeze applesauce is one of Emalyn's new favorite things. She loves eating applesauce with a spoon and also in the squeeze pouches.

She's going to turn into applesauce soon.

She asks for applesauce by going to the fridge and saying "aaahh uuuhhh", like applesauce without and consonants. Then she'll ask for a spoon by saying "ca", like car without an r. I see speech in her future, just like her sissy :)

Brett got Swedish fish candy as part of his gift. Emalyn took a bite...

...and...

...she loved them!

So Grandpa made a little trail of swedish fish so she'd have to get close to him to get more candy. It's so sad that she was so aloof of her grandparents. Reminds me of stories I've heard of someone saying "leave me my lone"!

Sunday morning we went to church and then we went for our traditional Father's Day lunch at Texas Roadhouse.

We attempted our traditional picture of Brett holding the kids in front of the restaurant, but the kids have grown too big to do the picture. Brett was upset that the day has come that he can't hold all of his kids in his arms. It's okay Brettley, it was bound to happen.

Emalyn with her stink face. I think she was just hungry and wanted to get inside for some of those yummy rolls.

I guess we'll have pictures of Brett standing with his arms around the kids from now on.

It was nice that Brett had his own father here on Father's Day.

Another picture of stinker with the stink face.

After going home and eating ice cream and watching Daddy Day Care, it was time for some fun at the pool.

Emalyn loved the splash of the ball coming up from under the water.

And we loved the look of surprise on her face after the splash!

Somebody is part fish and LOVES the water! She jumps in over and over. Reminds me of Cade when he was little. No fear of the water, at all.

Lots of fun pictures jumping in over and over and over....




Looks like someone swallowed some water. Oops!

The only picture we got of Emalyn with Grandpa and Texas Grammy.

I love the look on Cade's face in this picture. He adores his little siter. I am so thankful that the three kids love each other so much.

What a great day celebrating a great father!

2nd Week of Summer

The second week of summer was just about as busy as the first week. The good thing was there was no baseball and Brett was in town to help with the craziness. I knew I'd screw the schedule up at some point this month, and Monday was the day. I knew in my mind that it was a night free of dance, swimming and baseball. I took the kids to the pool that afternoon (even thought it was barely 70 degrees outside and cool)and we had a nice relaxing evening. Later that night after the kids were in bed, I looked at the calendar to make sure I knew what was going on on Tuesday. It was then, at 8:30 pm, that I realized I was supposed to sub 2 classes that night at the gym! I felt so bad and sent an email apologizing to my manager right away. She was very understanding, especially since I ended up subbing 5 hours at the gym last week. I hope that's the only schedule mess up during this crazy time of year.

Here is a picture of Grandpa and Maddi at her dance Showcase last Sunday. Oliver was in Chicago all week for classes for work. He was able to sneak away Sunday night and come watch Maddi dance. Texas Grammy didn't fly into Chicago until Monday afternoon so she missed it. I wasn't sure what he would think of the Showcase and thought he might be a little shocked by some of the costumes. Brett prepared him for it and he really enjoyed it. They left after all of Maddi's dances and didn't stay to see the whole company dance at the end so they could relieve the babysitter that was with Emma and Cade. Brett was happy to leave. He's seen the dances before and the Dallas Maverick's were playing in the NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat (they won the game and the series that night), but Oliver really wanted to stay until the end. I guess he really did enjoy the dance Showcase!

Grandpa and Brett enjoying intermission at the Showcase.

Grace and Anne (neighbors) came to watch Maddi too!

Tuesday night, Cade had another swim meet. It was at the Oswego pool this time and the weather was great. Cade got first place in every event he was in. I brought the camera and didn't take a single picture. Awesome!
Ellie came over to play with Emma on Wednesday and we got some pictures of the sweet girls together. We realized Emalyn doesn't know how to hug. She gives kisses instead of hugs.

Kisses!

These girls really love each other and talk about each other all the time.

Ellie knows how to hug. So cute and funny!

Emalyn is going to be so confused when Ellie moves at the end of the month.

I've been working on making a photo book for the Balls of pictures of our families together over the years. I tried to get a group shot and these are what I got...





...oh well, we tried!
Thursday night Brett picked up his dad and step mom from the city and they stayed the night with us. Texas Grammy stayed with us until Monday, but Grandpa had to go back to the city Friday morning until Saturday afternoon. Pictures of their visit and Father's Day coming up soon.