July 4th Moments

 
 
 
 

Father's Day 2010

 
 
 
 
Hanging out at the drive-in to watch Toy Story 3.

Quick Trip

 
 
 
 
We made a day get-away to Schaumburg. The boys and I visited Legoland Discovery Center and Rainforest Cafe at Woodfield Mall. I lost count how many times Gavin told me thank you and he loved me. Ha!

Having a Great Summer!

 
 
 
 
Baseball games, swim, and impromptu outings keep us occupied these days. Having fun!

GARAGE SALE

606 Teal Cove Ct. (neighbor's house). Friday 4-7p, Saturday 8-12p. We've been busy preparing the following items for sale: Mary Kay, Vera Bradley, Home Decor, Clothing for men/women, Wicker Furniture, Boys' clothes 2T-7, toys, books, Housewares, etc. The list goes on and on! :o)

Two-wheelin' it!

 
 
Go Taten man! My baby is growing up . . . a tear.

An unexpected neighbor

 
This morning I was looking out of the kitchen window and noticed Mr. Fox who hangs around. Apparently he got a squirrel and was busy having breakfast. Who says you don't have wildlife in the city?

Updating Blog finally!

The past couple of months have been interesting to say the least. However, I have new pics up and we've got a couple of birthdays + Valentine's under the belt. Gavin has played soccer for the YMCA and finished his last game this weekend. He and Taten are now in gymnastics. I think they enjoy it but we'll see. The boys have said they'd like to learn to do flips someday. We'll see. Brad turned 35 on 2/18 and mine is 3/1. I made Brad a low-carb peanut butter pie which he thoroughly enjoyed. He's not a big chocolate eater but when you mix up sugar-free triple-fudge ice-cream with a cup full of peanut butter, he's good to go. We missed a huge snow opportunity last week. It hit my home area of Western Illinois of 7-9 inches and everything we got in Champaign was all rain. What nasty weather. We all have spring fever bad and I know the boys are just itching to get outside and stay there. However, with spring will be the lawn-mowing season so I'm apprehensive about that. Our family enjoys having Brad around more and he has accomplished a lot this winter with getting organized for the new season. We're also looking forward to some boating opportunities, too. Oh spring/summer, come soon! I have been reading Julia Child's memoir "My Life in France." It's great and I'm trying to brush up a little on my French from high school and college. There's different areas of the book where she used French and I can't remember some of the words. Oh well. Loved the movie Julie and Julia and highly recommend to everyone. Yes, even the men. On another note, Taten has been challenging our authority to extremes lately and we've been having to take away things. Unfortunately spanking the child doesn't work so we're having to find other ways to get our message across. Right now, I'm blaming his tantrums on the full moon coming up (ha ha). Just ready for him to calm down a bit. Taking away video games, though, seems to hit him hard enough that he straightens up. We have to stay strong. I'm off to bed . . .

A New Year

Many of you know by now that Brad and I had our van broken into while visiting the Kleinmans' in MN. Very frustrating and disappointing. The latest is we have taken all the measures we can so far to repair things on our end. However, today's latest development is another check came through on our account. Now, I had the account closed on Monday (or so I thought) and it's still active. After speaking with the fraud dept. at the bank, they were going to handle some things on their end and of course, I have to go in to fill out affidavits for forgeries. In the meantime, we've had some money credited back which is a relief, but doesn't do much good if the bank isn't going to follow through on closing our account properly. Let's just say we're not going to be working with them as much anymore. And, can I just put this note in here, too? If people working at banks or retail stores ask you for id, do not get angry or irritated. I get so mad when I hear people complain about this. The bottom-line is you could be going through this garbage like ourselves and many others just because someone didn't request id. There.

I've definitely learned a few lessons of my own through this whole thing, if you can believe that. Ha! And, I'm continuously praying for this person that they will somehow come to God and repent. Hopefully they've kept the bible that was in my purse or it at least pricked their conscience when they saw it. I've also been praying for my ability to forgive, which seems to come up more and more these days. But if God finds me worthy, I have to say that I have to find this person worthy, too.

Whew! That being said, MN was excellent. It was so much fun to be back with the Kleinman's and Brad got to see their new home and stomping ground. We had a great time visiting and look forward to it again. Despite the break-in, the sledding (or sliding) hill we went on was a blast. Taten had a close-call accident, but he made it through and of course loves the excitement. Can't wait to find out what "flavor" KK and RK are having from the ultrasound this month and of course, another visit later in the summer.

Hope everyone is having a great new year, so far, and just remember to enjoy life and not put stock in the material stuff. :o)

Thanksgiving Fun! Whoo hoo!

 
 
 
 
Them boys. Takin' risks for the sake of fun. Ha!

I will get there someday!

http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/

Gavin's Birthday party

 
 
 
 
A good time was had by all. Gavin celebrated his 7th birthday with 10-11 other friends and us family, too. Speed Racer was the theme. Our boy is growing up so fast!

Trick or Treat!

 
 
 
 
The boys really scored on the candy!! Gavin was dressed as Optimus Prime and Taten as Bumblebee from the Transformers' movie. Not sure about Brad.

Fun fall trip to the country

 
 
 
 
Had so much fun hanging out with Gramps at the farm. We visited a pumpkin patch. Then we spent a lot of time 4-wheeling around the fields and Great-Grandma's house. The boys didn't want to leave.

Walking for Westview

 
 
 
 
Had a great day at Gavin's school during their big fundraiser event. Celebrated music, art, and theater.