Arden's Birthday Celebration!!!

Here are some pictures capturing Arden's spectacular 1st birthday party. What an event!!! Dave & I were thinking it should be on an MTV show. What fun...and all the food!!! The man standing next to the girl on stilts ate fireballs. Later on, he was doing magic tricks. Really wish Gavin, Julie, Brandon & DJ could have shared the enjoyment with us. Dave & I are happy Evelyn won't remember her 1st birthday party...She'd think she got robbed. :) (I was having an incredibly difficult time posting all these pics in the same entry, so that's why I broke them up.)

attractions galore

There was also a not so kind character artist, who appeared to be good at his job. I don't think any of us got a drawing???

fun times...

Arden and her 1st birthday cake

She barely ate her cake, but what she did try, she ate like such a lady.

Fun @ ABC

Here are some pics of the girls having a great time! We only saw Chris twice, very briefly. I'm sure he was having fun with the boys.

Starved Rock

We celebrated finishing six weeks of school by taking a short camping trip at Starved Rock. Last year when we went up in DJ's car, the kids had to share the backseat with pillows and sleeping bags. So this year, we took both cars. A much more enjoyable trip for mom, who got to drive up alone. Once we set up camp, we realized that the pork chops and steaks we had planned on having for dinner over the next few nights, were still in the freezer at home. So, we headed out to purchase replacements.

The next day, we had a good time hiking around Starved Rock. It turned into a longer hike than we had planned, but the kids were troopers and didn't complain at all. After lunch we explored the campgrounds and hunted for sticks to roast marshmallows. Samantha comes camping for the smores.

We hiked at Mathiesson State Park the next day. The kids enjoyed it here a lot. We encountered a huge snake, that fascinated Samantha. There were a lot of families setting up camp when we returned to the campgrounds, so Chris and Sami found some playmates. Unfortunately, we had to break camp and head for home the next day. This time dad had the quiet ride, as the kids decided to come home with mom.

independent gal

Watch her go...

The Swamp ate my Shoe

We have been finding innovative ways to do lessons and enjoy this beautiful weather. On Monday, we rode our bikes to the library and watched the bees and butterflies pollunate the flowers before heading in to do our lessons. On Tuesday, we had PE with some homeschool friends, OK so it was tennis lessons, but still, a better PE than mom would set up. On Wednesday, we had science at Les Arends forest preserve. Thursday, we had another tennis lesson and played at the nearby park for a while. Today, to celebrate a lesson free day, we went to a meeting with our homeschool group. First Fridays are club Fridays, Sami is in art club, she learned about Michaelangelo, and painted a fresco. The canvas was taped to the bottom of the table, so the kids sat on the floor and painted leaning back, kind of like poor Michaelangelo painting the ceiling. Chris and friends in the Lego club, made some cool designs.

After the meeting, we went to Nelson Lake Marsh. Sami and Chris enjoy playing with the toads. We ventured to the edge of the swamp and then Chris and Sami climbed a tree that was growing out over the swamp. Sami got a little further than her brother who is a bit heavier. He discovered this when he stepped out on a branch she had been on and it broke. He landed feet first in the swamp, quite horrified. Murky, scummy swamp water sucked at his shoes and held fast. It was a battle, but he and one shoe escaped. Shoes that we bought five days ago. Maybe that is why, I risked life and limb to search for the missing shoe. Sami tried to go in after it but quickly changed her mind when she started to sink. The shoe was rescued, but I'm not sure I want him wearing it again. Sami and Liam have been dousing all there shoes with soap and the hose. I'm going to see what happens if I throw them in the wash.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Yeppers...today I am one year old. Time sure flies when you're having fun and learning too! Can you believe the baby picture is of me a year ago?!? I hardly recognize myself.

I have to admit, I gave Mommy a real hard time during my photo shoot this morning. I didn't want to sit still. Sitting is yesterday's news since I'm walking now. My record is 20 steps! The most exciting part is that I walk without any coaxing. I just go.

Yesterday was the last time I drank from a bottle and from Mommy. I'm a big girl now. I'm no longer interested anyway and am tolerating whole milk just fine.

I've been very entertained with the toys I received for my birthday. My ride on princess car is awesome and I really like my big legos, but one of my favorite things to do is play with the garbage can. I love to open and close the lid.

I've been eating everything, as always. Some of my new favorites are grapes, strawberries, grilled cheese and beef stroganoff. Yummy!

I continue to be a very happy girl with such a content disposition. People marvel at how good I am. (...just wait...) ;)

New Editor

Hey, family! Blogger has updated its post editor, so if/when you go to post something you will find that it looks a little different. Hopefully this will make posting easier in general - and hopefully it will solve the problems Missy & Dave have been having with uploading videos (?). Make sure to click the "Compose" tab on the upper-right corner of the post window.  My computer defaults to the "Edit HTML" tab, which is fine if you know HTML but not so great for us laypeople.  You can learn more about the changes and new features here.