Leo arrives and another busy week!

We had another busy, exciting week!  The boys made Father's Day cards for the grandpas, and they turned out nicely.  Noah's is the first, and daddy drew some spiderman figures and had Noah trace them.  Sam LOVES markers and was happy scribbling on his card for what seemed like hours.

 We went over to Papa's pool again for Father's Day.  The ice cream truck now knows to make frequent stops by papa house, so everyone got a treat.

 Yep, messy is an understatement.

 Aunt Philie introduced us to this new app where you can take pictures with dinosaurs.  It's pretty cool.

 Mike was out of town for a couple days for work and the boys were really missing him.  So we filled the time with some fun.  We went to the Schaumburg Oberweis where you can play in a splash pad right outside the ice cream store!  Noah was all over it.

 Sam declared the water too cold and was happy to watch the older kids and holler at them.

 There was a trip to Abt to find a new fridge.  The older boys found some chairs just their size, too cute!  And we did find a new fridge, excitement!

 The biggest excitement of the week was the arrival of baby Schwantz!  We stopped by the morning of the scheduled c-section for one last visit.  Here's Michelle just a few hours before having a baby!

 And here's big sister Evie, all geared up!

 And voila!  The next day, Noah and I were able to spend some time with Mr. Leo Arthur and he is perfect!  So adorable!

 Noah was so excited to hold him, he pulled the boppy pillow right up in his lap and held out his hands.  He was very gentle and very happy to see the newest buddy!

 He gave Leo the full inspection of fingers and toes and marveled at how little he was and how cute he was.  He did a great job!

 Welcome to the bunch, Leo, you are very loved!

 Friday we hit up the zoo with my girlfriend, Ryane, and her girls Piper and Meryn.  It was fun to have a trip with "big kids" that wanted to walk most of the way and actually kind of posed for pictures.

 The petting zoo is still a favorite of Noah's.  He still loves those goats!

 Sam is warming up to the goats now, previously was not a fan of brushing them.  But was much more interested this time around.  

 A few cookies before lunch while waiting for the dolphin show, why not?!  The kids had a blast and it was great to catch up with Ryane.

 The brothers are now sharing a room beautifully in big boy beds!  They also share the iPod and lots of other fun toys.  Cannot believe how big they are getting and how well the get along (most times!).

Playdate with 8! and other fun adventures

Well, first full week off for me, and we managed to pack in a TON of fun :)  I think this summer I am starting to realize just how precious this time is with my little guys.  And they are wonderful ages where they can entertain themselves and I'm not pregnant or nursing, so I feel more myself too!  So this week, we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the wonderful (albeit hot) weather.  I had two princes over for lunch on the deck one day...

 Then I got really brave and decided to finally do finger painting.  My boys are all about art projects, coloring and cutting etc, so they were thrilled about this.  

 I stole a tip from some school friends and added corn syrup to washable paint.  We had "shiny" paint that was really sticky and fun to use!

 I love this picture of Sam, totally sums up his impish/goofball/cheesy qualities!

 Evelyn joined us as well as we're trying to cram in as much fun as possible before her baby brother shows up on Wednesday.  

 How's that taste Evie?

 After a quick bath to clean up, the little kids watch some TV.  This pose was spontaneous and if you know them, it was pretty miraculous.  They're usually fighting over space.

 The next day, Noah finally got to try out the new soccer set he got for his birthday.  Pretty cool!

 Then on Friday we had quite the "summer party" as Noah called it.  At one point we had 8 kiddos age 4 and under here.  It was awesome!  The little/middle kids munched on some snack before traipsing outside to enjoy some summer fun.

 I believe it was Fred who started it, but the sprinkler part of the slipe n slide made for a perfect water fountain.

 Michelle's girlfriend Erin's oldest, Ari, had to give it a go too.  

 Evelyn fulfilled the role of an 80 year old neighbor lady out mowing her lawn.  The hat really brings the look all together, no?!

 Erin's little guy, Hugo, sits literally on the baby that's about to show up.  Hugo was so happy, so cute, during all the madness.

 All yard toys were fair game for this crew.  Calvin toted around the golf bag calling it his "vacuum" and was vacuuming the grass.

 The silly sprinkler was probably the most popular option of the day.

 Then Erin S, my high school friend, came with Connor.  Connor is 15 months old, Sam is 22 months old.  Connor weighs about 5 pounds more, can you tell?

 Connor's "old man, grumpy" face.  Don't even THINK about that hat mom, no way!

 Someone pointed out that if you just glimpsed over there, you might think the boys were doing something other than sprinkling the fence with water... HA!

 Seriously, Hugo is just about the cutest thing!

 We tried a group picture, I'm pretty sure we all expected failure.  All the moms were shouting, "you will take a picture and you will smile!" through gritted teeth.  Hilarious!

 Yep, there's 8 in there!

 In sum from left: Fred (4), Noah (4), Calvin (2), Sam (almost 2), Hugo (6 mos), Ari (in the back on the grass, 2.5), Evie (almost 2), and Connor (15 mos).  Whew!

 Yes, Calvin, now would totally be a good time to do some ball exercises!  Erin, doncha love this!

 Connor express the drama of the situation.

 We had 6 stay for lunch, with watermelon and portillo's on the deck.  Life is good.

 Connor love the watermelon, and his momma.  Too precious :)

 Then it was back in the pool for one last dip before naps and the heat got to feeling over 100 degrees. It was an awesome day!

 On Saturday we tried out "Funflatables" in our local mall.  Basically a giant room with 6 or so different inflatable bounce houses.  Noah was in heaven!

 Sam wasn't sold on the inflatables, but he was super happy driving the little bus and running around.

 We continue to be amazed by Sammy's hair.  It's lighter than either Mike's or my hair, and getting lighter with all this outside time.  And he has this double cowlick I was trying to capture...

 Seriously love my new camera!

 Here you can kind of see it, two cowlicks meeting together on the crown of his head.  They twirl in opposite directions, so they meet in the middle to make a mini-mohawk.  Not sure how will handle this, either we have to keep it really short or grow it out...

 Happy Father's Day Dad!  Enjoy the nap you can sneak in now, because you know these kids will be pouncing on you soon enough!