Ok, So I.....

Our Little Bunny

Addyson making chocolate covered strawberries.

Addyson giving Morgan a ride in her Jeep!






Ok, so I recently have started staying up until the wee hours of the morning...well, 1 AM is the latest I have been up, but that is LATE for someone who only gets to sleep in until 6:30 on a good day because of her children. The reason I have been up so late is that I am turning into my DAD! (Which to me is not a bad thing!) Let me explain.....I have got an internet addiction (that is how it relates to my father)...more specifically, mine is a BLOG addiction! First, I look at all my friends' blogs and when they haven't updated, I move on to the Blogger Home page and look at the "Blogs of Note" or I go through all the blogs that I can when you click on the "Next Blog" link. It is pathetic. I have learned more about people I don't know than about people I do know! Also, I have seen more blogs in a language I can't understand or actually never knew was out there. Who knew that people around the world liked to blog and not just Americans! HAHA! Yesterday, I learned about a married mom with two boys that lives in Atlanta and started a photography company in 2006....and let me tell you, some of the pictures were amazing. She had a little blurb about every picture she took and about all the couples that she met while photographing them at their weddings, or if her subjects were children she explained their personalities and what they did during the photo shoot....that blog alone took up about 30 minutes of my time...the sad thing is, I don't really have 30 minutes to spare on these people! ARRRRGHHHHHHH!!!!! At least, it passed the time while watching the Cubs game....they have me on the way to a nervous breakdown as it is! It is nice to read about someone else's stress sometimes! I found a couple of blogs that I would like to share and these bloggers seem to enjoy sharing their lives with the world, so I hope they don't mind! They are cute blogs and if anyone wants something to do (Not that any of us have time or anything) or something fun to read, here they are:

http://www.bottlesbarbiesandboys.blogspot.com/ - this one is from a stay at home mom of three....it is pretty hilarious!

http://work-girl.blogspot.com/ - this one is from two working girls....it deals with the every day grind of a working woman but I really enjoyed it....it brought back a lot of memories for me from when I worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in downtown Chicago. Boy, did I have some of the same stories to tell and some that I can tell but definitely wouldn't be putting into print! HAHA!


Today was Addyson's last day of Summer Preschool. She really loved going to preschool this summer. Today, when we walked in she was jumping up and down in front of the teacher and the teacher looked at her and said, "I just love that!" It made me feel good to be sending my little girl to spend the day with someone who appreciates her! The wonderful thing is this same teacher will be Addyson's 3 year old preschool teacher in the Fall. I can't wait for her to experience the joys of school. Diana and I grew up loving school so I hope Addyson and Morgan feel the same way about it. Addyson was a little disappointed that her buddy, Christa, wouldn't be there today but Christa was sick last night....hopefully, not like Tim and I were last weekend...that was miserable, but she understood what throwing up meant so she knew that Christa needs to get better so that she can play with her soon at the YMCA. Christa will be with Addyson at preschool in the Fall so that makes the transition of going to school a lot easier on a child, I think, when they have a familiar face with them. And now that she knows her teachers it will be easy to talk it up and get her excited.


Morgan will be 8 months old on Saturday and is now using a sippy cup. She was so excited yesterday when she figured out how to put it up to her mouth and get juice out of it. Now I need to consistently give it to her so that she gets better and better at using it. Plus, she still needs to figure out how to hold her bottle so she can drink that on her own as well. For some reason this is proving to be harder than I remember with Addyson, but then again, there is a lot that I cannot remember with Addyson and I am always asking Diana about when Kaylee did stuff since it all happened more recently for them. I swear, though, Mommy Brain gets all of us because a lot of it she cannot remember either...Will we ever get our brains back to the full capacity they once were? My friend, Luanne, gave me a calendar to write down all of Morgan's milestones and whatnot....now, my biggest problem is remembering to write it down! There have been many instances, thus far, where I am writing things down as an approximate date.....gees! I cannot even remember to write things down on a calendar that is sitting right in front of me, how can I expect myself to remember what Addyson did 2 1/2 years ago!


Yesterday, we went for a walk in the neighborhood and the first thing Addyson said was, "The rocks came back!" Yes, the water has finally receded after 6 weeks from our ditch! We still have a long way to go before the water on the side of our house dries up and we have some grass seed to plant because a lot of the grass died, but the water levels are slowly going down and we are starting to feel a sense of relief but we know that if something is not done, this can happen all over again. The main problem the neighborhood is dealing with now is who is going to pay to resolve the issue! I have a lot of faith that it will get done, though. There are too many nice families that live here to give up on it! We love living here and hate the fact that this is bringing all of us down.

This Past Week

This is Morgan making her new "funny face". She scrunches up her nose and starts snorting. It is actually quite humorous since she tends to do it when people smile at her.

Here she is playing peekaboo with her dress. I don't know if daddy is going to like her doing that. :O)


So not a lot of exciting stuff has happened this past week....Addyson went to preschool two days and we basically stuck to our schedule of going to the YMCA and running errands on the other days. Tim and I got a horrible case of the stomach flu on Friday that kept us from doing anything on Saturday but by Sunday, we were back to normal (well, as normal as you can be after not eating for two days....) and back to doing things like Tim taking Addyson to swim in the neighbors' pool and me going to a neighbor's house for a wine party....although I really didn't drink much. :O) Maybe this next week will bring better times and a much more exciting blog entry.

Great America and KeyLime Cove Resort

Not Sure who this guy is but Addyson loved dancing with him!
KeyLime Cove Resort was fun for Addyson
Morgan was NOT a big fan of the water.
Daddy and Addyson on the Lazy River.
The big kids' area that Addyson wouldn't try!

Addyson in Dorothy's teacup ride.
Addyson and her favorite dog, Scooby Doo.
Morgan got a little sleepy.
On the Bumblebee ride....

Addyson in the Looney Tunes Train

Addyson in Wiggles World wanting to play in the water....
Addyson in the water and not wanting to ride the rides...
We finally got her on the Big Red Car!
Addyson coloring with Dorothy and Wags.

Addyson's favorite ride at Great America. She is in the second car with Daddy.

This past week we took the girls to Six Flags Great America and then we stayed at KeyLime Cove Resort in Gurnee, IL. It was such a great time. This is Addyson's second year at Great America and this year she ventured onto the bigger rides. Bugs Bunny National Park and Wiggles World weren't enough for our little adventurer. She saw the Jetsons' Roller Coaster in Camp Cartoon and that was the ride she HAD to ride, and she did it with her arms in the air.....no hanging on for our little monkey! She saw the big kids doing it in the cars in front of us so she imitated them and shocked both Tim and I with her courage. Then when it was over, she wanted to go again and again! We started out in Wiggles World where she got to ride the teacup ride and the Big Red Cars and Planes. After the Wiggles show, she sat with Dorothy and Wags and colored. Dorothy colored on Addyson's page and Addyson keeps telling me how "Dorothy is my friend and she colors so good!" She then goes on telling me, "Dorothy is quiet, and she doesn't say much but I really like her." It has gotten her interested in the Wiggles again which she had to watch this weekend when it was on. Daddy took her on the Roaring Rapids ride right around the time it started raining, so she got soaked and then never really dried off from it....the poor thing was freezing but would not admit it and was not interested in leaving even after being there for 7 hours! We did finally convince her to leave since we had a hotel reservation at KeyLime Cove Resort which is an indoor waterpark resort next to Great America. It opened in February and it is awesome inside. It has a lot of storefronts in the lobby and I am assuming it looks like Key West (I have never been there). The waterpark was big but Addyson was only interested in the little kids' part so we stayed there. I didn't get too many pictures of the resort or waterpark, because Addyson wanted me to slide down the slides with her but we do plan on going back there every year. It was a very nice place and well worth the $149 room rate. From what I have heard, it costs more than that in the Dells for a lot less waterpark and room. We are hoping to go there soon, so I can be the judge of that when that time comes. After the waterpark stay, Addyson and Morgan stayed with Grandpa Pat and Grandma Rosie while Tim and I went to the Cubs game. Addyson got to ride a pony named Goliath and she has talked about it all weekend. Now Grandpa and Grandma will have big shoes to fill each time we go down there, because I have a feeling she is going to ask to go riding every time we mention their names. :O)

July 4th Weekend

Our Fourth of July Weekend was a very relaxing one. Every day was beautiful and sunny and we were able to just hang around the house and enjoy it. By living near a lake, we saw fireworks from our house Thursday, Friday and Saturday night with the best ones being Okauchee Lake's fireworks since they were bascially in our front yard. Addyson and I sat on the front porch and watched them. I tried to take pictures of them but alas, I am not a professional photographer so they were not all that great of shots, but we really enjoyed the display and could hear all the boaters cheering once they were over. On Sunday, we had dinner over at Aunt Diana and Uncle Bob's and the girls swam in Kaylee's pool. Morgan didn't like it as much as we thought she would but I am guessing the water was too cold for her. We are taking the girls to a waterpark in a few days so we will see how she does there.

It is about Time I Post Something!

I cannot believe that I have finally found some time to post on this site! It has been almost 3 weeks since the last one. We have done quite a bit so that may be why I am so busy but I still feel like I should have been keeping this thing updated during that time. Let's see....the weekend after Father's Day, Tim and I went to Chicago to watch the Cubs beat the White Sox....the fourth inning was very memorable with the Cubs scoring nine times! Addyson and Morgan stayed at Grandpa Pat and Grandma Rosie's house. After we picked up the girls, we went to Tara and Ty's for a swimming party and fireworks. Addyson wanted to go home right before the fireworks started because she all of a sudden was scared of them....but I convinced her to watch them out of my bedroom window so she now realizes that they aren't so scary after all. Actually, it is all she has talked about since seeing them. We will get to see them Saturday night from our house when they let them off in Okauchee over the lake.

Last Wednesday, Addyson went to a Summer Fun class at her preschool which she loved. She will be going to that every Wednesday throughout July and she gets so excited because she takes her lunch like a "big kid" and gets to eat with her new friends. It is good for me to spend one on one time with Morgan and it is really great for me to get to go to the store with only one kid! And to top it off, it is the one child that can't speak or cause a commotion!

Last weekend, we drove down to Peoria, IL to visit Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Kenny. It has been awhile since we had gone down there and Morgan is at the age where she will sit in the car without too much fussing. It was overall a good trip down...Friday evening we went to the Peoria Chiefs game (Chicago Cubs Single A Affiliate) and Tim was able to get Ryne Sandberg's autograph which was his highlight, Addyson got to see both mascots (fire dogs - a real dalmatian and a dressed up one) which was her highlight, and I actually got to drink two beers at a baseball game and see Shane Keough (The Real Housewives of Orange County) bat a few times which were my highlights! Haha!! (As my sister knows, I am kind of obsessed with that show.) Anyway, we had fun and the girls were good at the game. The next night, we got to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings (which we love and can't wait for the Pewuakee restaurant to open) and see our good friend Erikka who we miss dearly! She was my roommate at EIU and in Chicago.....Tim and I love getting together with her and telling all of our crazy stories from the past, we always have a ball with Erikka.

This past week hadn't been too crazy until today. I tried to take Morgan to get her 6 month (I know, I am a month late!) picture taken and every time I put her on the floor she would cry! Granted, I had to wait 30 minutes for them to be ready for us since one of their employees called in sick and it was pushing her lunch time, but still, she is usually a very easy-going baby so it was shocking that she wouldn't let them take her picture. I guess 30 minutes too late is a lot for a 7 month old. About 30 minutes later, Addyson had a huge meltdown about some pink crocs so at that point, I was ready to go home and not deal with it anymore, so I guess I am just going to try again a different day when it is just Morgan and I and Addyson is at school. Maybe that will work out better.

Oh, and one last thing for anyone who is wondering....the water has finally started to recede and we are slowly getting our yard back. Most of the grass along the perimeter is dead and has a tan or orange tint to it, but hopefully we can fix that once our sprinkler is finished. We do still have a moat around our yard but the town says they are working on a fix so we are crossing our fingers that this never happens again, but in reality we never thought we would have standing water next to our house nor did we believe that the water would ever go over the road. It just goes to show that you can never be too sure about anything.....things happen and a lot of the time, you have no control over it.

Happy Fourth of July and have a safe weekend!