Addiction

I just read Momastery's post for Maggie. It is about addiction and I just love the way she writes. If you or someone you know has struggled with addiction it's a good post because it's written like a real person, not some text book or 12 step philosophy statement.

Road Trip!

Wow. We packed in a lot this last week! We left Thursday morning and drove to Rockford, IL and checked in to the hotel. The kids were SO excited to be at a hotel. We were the only ones who were using the pool which was awesome. Since it was our official first day of vacation we walked across the street to the local seafood restaurant and treated ourselves.
Friday morning we got up and drove into Chicago and checked in to our 2nd hotel. We headed straight to Navy Pier where we met up with an old friend of mine from AZ and her son. They were practicing for the Air and Water Show and so we had Blue Angels flying right over our heads - pretty cool! We did the swings and the ferris wheel and made a whole afternoon out of it.
Friday night we went to the groom's dinner for Bill's cousin's wedding (the main reason we were on our trip!). The parents of the bride live in a gorgeous home just a block away from the Obama's house. We weren't allowed to take pictures, and the secret service were watching, but it was cool to see none the less.
Saturday morning Bill and I took the kids to the 96th floor of the John Handcock building to get a great view of the city...not to mention the air show that was going on right outside the windows. We strolled Michigan Avenue and then went back to the hotel to change for the wedding.
The girls and their cousins were the flower girls for the wedding and they couldn't have looked any cuter! The wedding was very sweet and there wasn't a dry eye in the room.
The reception was held at the bride's parent's house again and it was a BLAST! Lots of wine, singing and dancing!
Sunday morning we rolled out of bed and got in the car and headed straight to Six Flags with Bill's sister, her husband and our nieces. Despite the wine hangover that all us parents had we still managed to get on some pretty awesome rides! The kids had a blast riding all the rides with their cousins and were completely wiped out by the end of the night. I still can't believe Laila was able to keep up walking with us ALL weekend!!
Monday morning Bill and I loaded up the girls and drove to the Wisconsin Dells. We spent the day Monday and Tuesday throwing ourselves down waterslides. It was great!!
We were smart enough to take Wednesday off from work so that we could unpack, mow, and all the other things that got neglected while we were gone.

Even though the trip went by too fast I'm glad we were able to escape before school starts back up.

Laila's 4th Birthday

I have all "kids" now. No more toddlers, much less an infant. However, I totally get why people "baby" their youngest child. It's not an intentional "I'm going to baby her because she's the youngest" it's that I really see her as my baby girl. Since she was the 3rd and last child there was noone to come into the home to make her seem big. She's just forever the baby.
She doesn't act too much like a baby though. She's totally tough and awesome and she knows it. She's a smart little cookie and has absorbed so much from her two older sisters. She's not shy and is quite competitive - more so than the other kids her age. She started soccer this summer and they're trying to teach her about being part of a team and she's not having it. Some day she'll probably be a great asset to a team, but right now it's all about her being first at everything. And I mean everything.

I have no idea where the last 4 years went. We've just been enjoying Laila so much and having fun we just plain lost track of time, I guess.

We have so many nicknames around here for her I better just keep it simple and say this: Happy 4th Birthday our absolutely perfect in every way Laila Beth.

Does Summer Have to End?

I'm watching Cecelia outside sitting in our little hammock chair. She's just rocking gently in the warm summer wind with her eyes closed. It just makes my heart happy.
I love crawling into bed with my cool summer PJs on at night and waking up to a warm floor under my tired feet.
It's so easy to wake up early when the sun is shining so brightly through all the windows in the house.
The kids get to stay up a little later and sleep in a little longer.
I love watching the girls ride their bikes, and swing on swings, and dig their feet in the sand.
There is so much to do and so many places to go. Seems like there's always some reason to celebrate when it's summer.

Even though it's in the far corners of my mind I'm trying not to even think about fall. I'm fully submerged in this Minnesota summer - I just wish it would never end.

School's Out

 My future 1st and 3rd graders!!

 Cherry and Spoon

 Did you know that Bill and I snuck to Vegas for a weekend?

 I love having my girls home!!

 Living at the beach.

My gorgeous, smart, sweet HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE cousin :)

Delaney's 6th Birthday

D is for Dainty

E is for Easy To Laugh

L is for Lovable

A is for Animal Lover

N is for Nature Lover

E is for Empathetic

Y is for Young Soul

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

A is for 

It's Almost Summer!

We have been very busy gearing up for summer. Laila is already done with preschool and the big girls only have 6 more school days left before summer vacation officially starts.
We have been busy finishing up the porch, working on the lawn and getting the pool up and running. Memorial weekend was sort of our kick off for summer with lots of swimming, BBQing and bon fire-ing :)
Delaney's birthday is this Friday which is hard to believe. Time flies and their birthdays always seem to sneak up on me.
I will be sure to post something special about my brown eyed girl.

I hope you are all as excites as I am for summer to start - it's my favorite time of year!!