Girls just wanna have fun...

I've been

Pinkalicious-ed

and

Fancy Nancy-ed

Aunt Kerri with Alana and Keara

And Alana has discovered the joy of dolls. 

Reminder:  I MUST get her a doll when I get back!  No more forcing her to play with cars, trucks, and fire engines.  This girly girl needs girly things!  It has been SO fun to see her light up with these dolls around!  She just smiles and laughs at their faces, and examines their hands and feet.  It's so sweet!

And Susan, Cheri and I managed a great Girls Night Out with the usual bonding talk! 

Can't live without these!

And did I mention that I got to sleep in until 8 AM today (usually up 5:30-6:00).  ... and my first thought was "It is going to be a fantastic day!"  Amazing how GOOD I can feel after getting enough sleep!  Tried it recently?

This just in...

Having an AWESOME time!

Scenery's here! Wish you were beautiful :)

...wait a minute...

These are a few of my NEW favorite things

Thanks to Ashlee M,

LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!

I made them from scratch...starting with the clay---yep the same modeling clay that you made that ugly bowl out of in junior high that your mom still has displayed on her window sill at home {ugh, really Mom, I'm not attached to it}.  Then she put them in her kiln, then taught me how to paint them, kiln them again..glaze them...and TA DA!  Adorable pendants!  I had so much fun making them that my "I'll only make a few" claim to Steve turned into "11 pendants later with plans to make more!"  I'm not showing all I made because some are secret presents to secret people.  Can't give them all away, can I?  Yes, Lindsay and Mary...I'm having a party to teach you, too.  Who else wants to come?

Lots of MN

I thought I had better post the pics of MN trip #1 that ended 24 days ago before I start MN trip #2 that starts tomorrow...The differences in these two trips?  Car trip vs. flying!  Whole family vs. Sister's Weekend!  All my kids {gotta love them} vs. just me and Alana {that's okay to be excited about!}  So, because you'll see pics next week, that whole trip can be summed up in :

Lots of Bonding

Lots of Snuggles

Lots of Sunscreen

Lots of "What Sign? I don't see a sign!"

Lots of Patience

Lots of Giggles

(Securing Steve the best Dad and Uncle award as this game lasted at least 30 minutes)

and Lots & Lots of Smiles

Hope for Haiti--Fun Fair & Bazaar

Don't want to miss this:

Hope for Haiti

Dupage County Fairgrounds

This Saturday 10-4

Building 2

Live Entertainment, Crafts, Food, Bouncetown for the kids

Admission is free, event prices vary

ALL proceeds--each and every penny, dime, and dollar--goes straight to the people in Haiti.  A congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Wheaton, IL has teamed up with a sister congregation in Haiti to meet their needs directly.  Most of these families are still living in tents, and hurricane season is about to hit.  They have let us know that most of the money and aid that has been sent to the country has not reached the people as it is being swallowed by the government.  Desparate help is still needed.  It's going to be a fun time and worthy cause.

Stop me if you've heard THIS before...

I'm sure this has happened to you: after your child eats their small piece of the sacrament bread, they can't help but exclaim how satisfying it was with "MMMMM!!" or a more emphatic "More?"


But I wasn't prepared for this response: After Addison had the bread and the water, he looked around and seeing there was no more said in a voice loud enough for all to hear (within a few pews):

"Check, please!"

We love our Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to the Daddy that made these kids so adorable!

Though they are big shoes to fill, we want to be just like you!

We

 

You!

Kids need Dads for these kinds of adventures:

Steve & Carter went on a day trip canoeing in Iowa.  I got a quick glimpse of what it was like as they were getting ready for bed.  Observe:

"We were in a canoe, in a big river, and there was lightening and thunder and rain all around!"

Hmmmm...that canoe didn't happen to be metal, did it?

-------------------------------------------

Other highlights of the trip:

1)  Carter's facination with the outhouse:  "WOW, that's a long way down!"  

      "That's no wishin' well, son."  

       Now, Carter didn't comment on the bad smells that usually accompany outhouses, but he did make a point to comment when they got to Dairy Queen on the way back:  "Wow, this bathroom smells GREAT!  Like cinnamon!"

2)  After canoeing, they went exploring in a cave.  They had to shimmy their way in through a narrow opening, which Carter slipped through faster than Steve and was off and courageous in no time  Steve could barely keep up with him and he wanted to go just as far as all of his big kid friends (meaning, the 17-18 year old teens that went with them!) 

The guys and girls claimed Carter as their little mascot!  He felt like a million bucks with you guys!!!  Thank you ALL for loving him, taking care of him, and bringing him home safely (aside from the Vitamin Water incident and rock that fell on his head!)  I hope he grows up to be like you!

3)  Thank goodness the youth all use clean language.  This was evidenced a few days after he'd come home, and Carter asked me, Mom, what does Heck mean?  "Use it in a sentence."  "What the HECK?"  Oh my!  Then the next one he asked:  "Mom, do you know what Golly is?"  Like what, Carter?  "Good Golly!"  {Yep, straight from his ol' man}  Is there anything else that you've heard?  "What the FREAK?"  I thought we were done with such grown up phrases until the next day when we got in the car, and he said "Let's Cruise, Baby!"  He's such a crack up sometimes!  Don't worry.  I think he's back into saying "What in the World?" and other more socially acceptable phrases for a 4 year old.

Don't Quit, Keep Playing

The true story is told of a young piano student.  His mother, wishing to encourage him, bought tickets for a performance of the great Polish pianist, Paderewski. The night of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front of the concert hall. While the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped quietly away.

Suddenly, it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’

His mother gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

Although I'm no Paderewski, perhaps the performance looked something like this:

GO CARTER!  Taught himself!  Playing the duet was something we figured out today!
Any input to how and when to start him in lessons?

In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, ‘Keep playing.’

~James E. Faust

--and Addison and Alana aren't too far behind on their road to musical stardom--

Lucky Strike!

It's always nice to find a quarter or a dollar in the washing machine.  But today I struck it right!

I found a Credit Card!

It's been missing for quite some time...

"Another Day at the office..." by Steve

Wow!!! My commute this morning was crazy! A sea of red at the station.  The train was like a sardine can, 100X worse than Opening Day at Wrigley {Go Cubs, ok fine, and Blackhawks}.

I just got back from the parade heading down Washington towards Michigan Ave, saw Toews holding up The Cup,

tons of confetti, people hanging from street lights, lots of energy in the city today!

Of course, there was that moment I wished I hadn't quick Hockey as a 7 yr old. 

...Guess I should get back to work...

One's loss is another's gain.

Steve and I have goals.  Together goals and individual goals.  Sometimes this can cause a conflict of interest.

Take these two goals, for example.

Kerri:  Find time to go to the gym more.

Steve:  Help prepare meals more.

Our schedules have been packed lately, with Steve gone at breakfast and home after bedtime, so you can see how achieving these goals wasn't really fitting in to our daily life.  Until today. 

Last night I committed to go to the gym at 6 AM.  Steve was asleep, so I couldn't confirm with him.  Last night before Steve went to bed, he committed to make breakfast for the family; it was going to be a surprise.

When I returned home from my workout this morning, feeling good about my accomplishments, I was greeted by a spread of chocolate chip pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs.

YUM.  There goes that work out.

Never to be thwarted, though, I ended up going to the gym again this afternoon, and had an even better work out.  We got home at dinner time, and Steve came home only minutes after with dinner in hand.  A Hawaiian Pizza.

YUM.  There goes that work out.

Is it bad that after working out and burning all those calories, pizza sounded REALLY good to me?  He hit it right on.  Truly, he was too good to me.

Adventure Mom off to a Good Start

Today began with a severe case of the

Do-Nothings. 

But at the end of the day, we caught a contagious case of

Adventuring.

By 10AM it was clear we needed to leave the house.  The "inside-voices", "your sister is sleeping", and "don't throw that in the house" warnings were getting too frequent.  So, we piled in the car and left, "not knowing beforehand the things we must do." 

"Where are we going, Mom?"

"Uhhh...I don't know.  Where do you want to go?"

"The park."

(decision censored from the ummm's...uhhh's....no's...and my-turn-to-pick's)

"Ummm..." (observing the sky and remembering the weather.com forecast). "It's going to rain, and be stormy.  How about the...museum? library?"

"OK...." "NO, THE PARK" ..."NO, THE MUSEUM" (etc.)

Driving in the general direction of all three, we found ourselves near the Dry Cleaners.  So, I quickly switched lanes, left the kids in the car, and ran in to pick up Steve's clothes.  Then it hit me...Woila!  A Field Trip!  I grabbed the clothes and returned shortly thereafter with kids in tow.  We stayed and watched for at least 15 minutes, and had such a great time!  We could see all the machines and robots and how they worked and how quickly they got a shirt dried and pressed.  It was an assembly line that would have impressed all of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  Really Cool!  And they gave us brownie bites at the end. 

Adventure #1: Field Trip to the Cleaners.  Impromptu.

Back in the car, and it had stopped raining.  Still off to the museum.  Until we came across a park we'd never played at before.  So we turned Right, and stopped for 30 minutes or more, and had a great time. 

Adventure #2: Fulfill Addison's dreams and play at a cool new park. Unplanned.

Then it started drizzling, so back in the car.  This time not to the museum (as it seems we kept getting distracted from that destination).  This time we decided to drive 40 minutes to a teeny airport that was having an up-close-and-personal antique airplane show.  I didn't know what to expect, but knowing my kids love planes, we tossed the dice and decided to go.  We picked up Steve's sister Michaela on the way, snuck in a quick lunchtime picnic, and had a GREAT TIME! They had antique planes and biplanes, we watched them take off, fly, land, and all of this while we were right there on the landing strip and in the hangers.  They also had an antique fire engine, old time tractors, and toy models for the kids to ride in.  (scroll down for pictures) 

Adventure #3: Field trip to the airport.  Gambled the weather--and naps

Grandpa handed Michaela a $20.  "Go get ice cream".  We obeyed.  BEST Banana Split Blizzard I've had. 

Adventure #4:  Get ice cream instead of taking a nap; who am I?  I would normally never do this!

Drove home and kids immediately zonked out in their carseats.  Great, Just as planned, I thought, and enjoyed an awesome conversation with my dear friend Holley living in CA! Knowing my kids would wake up once we got home, I decided to forgo that scene, and just keep driving...to the museum.  So when they all woke up, they were so pleasantly surprised, no one cared they only had an hour nap.  Play Play Play at the museum until they closed at 4.  For some reason we were intent on being the last kids out of the whole place...and it worked.  So we ended up at the museum after all, but snuck in a few more adventures beforehand! 

Adventure #5:  Museum Crashers!

Adventure #6 was my game.  Let's see how fast we can get them to do the eat-pj's-brush teeth-stories-songs-potties-sleep routine.  It's 7:15, and I'm not sure I'm winning.

I guess somehow the Adventure Mom in me is back.  Ready to tackle a summer of fun with three kids?  We'll see, but at least we're off to a good start.

Pics of the Airplane Show

Quick...family shot!  One of the planes we saw fly

Notice the wooden propeller!
The boys have a similar model hanging in their bedroom.

Almost back to the Bucket Brigades...

Addison in one of the toys...

pedals make it move, and a steering joist for turning.

And my favorite photo:

the boys pretending THEY are airplanes on the landing stripe!

Excuse the Nakedness...

Theories to this adapted crawl include:

• Alana doesn't love the feel of the floor on her bare knees.
• Her knees get caught in her skirts and dresses doing the normal crawling.
• Building the upper body strength to beat Dad in a push-up contest.
• Communing with Primate Ancestors.

 

What's your take?

News Flash

Did anyone else wake up this morning and think,

June?  Really?  When did this happen?

Did anyone else glance "forward" on their calendar to see what was happening "next month", and then to realize a few hours later that "Wow, No, really, it needs to stay on that June page"?  I feel like I wasn't done filling in the May stuff, but I guess it's time to move on.