Big News...We Had Pets!!

For those of you that didn't know, we had pets - that is big news in our house. Our friend, Karen, from church gave the boys 2 tadpoles. Will named his Freddie and Andrew named his Ninja. After months, the tadpoles changed into frogs. A few days before we were going to take them to the pond, one of the frogs died. This morning, we took the remaining frog to the pond in our neighborhood.

For those of you that are wondering, Andrew has already thought about getting another pet. Our conversation went like this:

Andrew: "I think I know what I'm going to ask for my birthday." (his bday is in December)

Me: "What"

Andrew: "A cat"

Me: "Oh, Andrew, I'm allergic to cats - we can't have one of those in the house."

Andrew: (after 20 seconds of deep contemplation) "Are you allergic to dogs?"

Pool Time!

We have been spending a lot of time at our pool since it's been so hot out. Aunt Nicole, Leslie, Adrienne, and Madeline came to visit us this past week. All of the kids love the pool!

Leslie backfloating

Aunt Nicole, Madeline, and Adrienne

The brave jumpers...Adrienne

Andrew

and Will

Daddy and the boys

Holiday World

We took the boys to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. We had a great day! We rode rides in the morning and then went to the water park and then back to some rides. The boys were unbelievably brave. They wanted to go on all the rides - even the roller coasters! They liked the water park the best though. Andrew had to stand up super straight to make it on the big rides since he was about and inch or two short. I couldn't believe all the rides they went on!!

their 1st roller coaster!!

We loved Holiday World!!

The Dreaded Broccoli...

The dislike of broccoli runs in the family. Where as I love it, my boys don't feel the same... I had to get the camera out at dinner one night because it was so comical! The new interesting thing was the sound effects being made. Normally, they would just complain and say that they don't like it. This night, Andrew added some barfing noises...interesting!!

hmmm....I wonder where they get it!!

My Little Artists

We went to Grandma and Yeh Yeh's and Grandma bought each boy a canvas to paint. They were so excited to paint!

check out that concentration!

Grandma and Will

Will painted Lego Alienquest and Andrew painted the sky with fireflies, a beach, and many sea creatures. They got to hang them in their rooms - they look great!

All Things Green

Our garden is blooming! We are so excited to check on it to see if anything is growing. We especially love watering the garden. We get wetter than the plants, I think. This is what we found today:

peas...

peppers...I can taste the fajitas already!

tomatoes...fresh salsa....

and beans....lots of beans! We picked 2 containers of beans and a 1/2 of container of peas. Not the best thing that I have to force the boys at dinner to eat even 2 beans! Anyone care for some beans?

What Happens With Girl Cousins?

Hair Style Time!!

I love this picture because it's not usually something Will would be a part of. He let the girls put barrettes into his hair!

Happy 4th of July

Happy4th of July - we spent some time with some good friends watching fireworks. It was a toss up whether I liked the fireworks or the kids "oohhh" and "ahhh" more.

the monkey

festive popsicles for the day

Grandpa and the boys

After the ferris wheel, Aunt Christy took the kids on this lighthouse ride...it was fun!

look...no hands!

Because of our long walk earlier, Grandpa and Grandma decided we needed to take the water taxi on the way back to Aunt Christy's. The boys loved the boat ride.

We walked by Solider's Field on the way back. Andrew knocked on each door hoping someone would open it but they didn't...

Family Day Downtown

We all met at Aunt Christy's apartment and decide to walk to the Shedd Aquarium. We got there and because it was a free day, the line was super long. We knew that we wouldn't make the wait so we decide to go to Navy Pier. We walked along the lake - it was the perfect day for a walk. The kids were great troopers! It helped that Grandma bribed them with ice cream!!

Andrew holding Madeline's hand....how cute!

4 monkeys!!

Aunt Christy bought us all tickets to ride the ferris wheel...can you tell we are excited?

The boys loved the ferris wheel! They loved looking around and seeing everything. We even spotted Madeline and Grandma on the ground below!

Fun with Aunt Christy and Uncle Chirs

What a great visit we had in Chicago! We went down and stayed with Aunt Christy and Uncle Chris in their strange house. The boys are pretty fascinated that they live in a house with a bunch of other people (an apartment)!!! We had a great time!

the bean

1 highlight...the L! We ended up taking it down to Millennium Park and watching an outdoor symphony, and seeing the bean. It got pretty late so after dinner, we had another highlight of the night....a cab ride. Uncle Chris got us a cab since Andrew's legs were so tired from all the walking and it was getting so late! Oh, the things kids love!!