Sam Turns 2!

Our Little Guy turned 2 today!  We hosted a party for both sides of the family at my parents' lakehouse.  It was a blast :)

 After practicing for the last week or so, he can finally get the 2 fingers up and tell you how old he is!

 Auntie Faith came along with Uncle Evan

 Hamming it up for the picture with Bampa and Bamma

 Thumbs up with Papa

 My parents ordered a super cute birthday cake from Dairy Queen

 We had a mess of kids there, relatives and relatives of relatives, etc.  So my mom, Aunt Jo, and I supervised some cake pop making.  It was a big hit.

 Noah went with the spiderman decoration, surprise!

 Sam handled his Mickey Mouse one like a pro.  Until he wielded the stick like sword and flung the cake pop onto the floor for Ellie.  Oh well!

 Francesca went with some pink sprinkles.

 JoJo was there for supervision and decoration suggestion.

 Auntie Kim with the birthday boy!

 Sam got to celebrate with Ella and Dan, who also have July birthdays.  He was so excited to have everyone singing to him, he giggled the whole time.

 So much sugar packed into one night!

 We moved out to the deck to open presents.  Noah's present was first, he got Sam a spiderman squishy ball.  It is (no lie) probably his favorite gift.  It's so cute that Noah knows exactly what he will like.

 That Ironman apron mommy and daddy got for him is a wee big.

 Happiness is Daddy and his boys.  Ask Mike, this was probably the highlight of the evening.  The later hours involved some imbibing that resulted a in major headache and regret today!

 This morning we did one last bday picture with the cousins.  It was a wonderful weekend and we are so happy that so many people came to celebrate with us!  We love you little man!

Cram in that summer fun!

Can't believe we're already mid way through July!  We had another fun week filled with swim lesson and other cool (and hot) activities.  We went to an outdoor kids concert in Schaumburg with several friends which was fun.

 Baby Leo slept through most of it.  I think he likes being out of solitary confinement in the womb.  STRETCH!

 We pushed naptime a bit, can you tell?

 The boys are all about helping me in the kitchen.  This week we made some banana bread.

 The week culminated on Friday with a trip to Pirate's Cove with the Worst brothers.  It started pretty fun, but the heat was intense!

 Fred and Noah waited so patiently in line for the paddle boats!

 You can see the sweatiness didn't slow down Fred and Sam as they took a ride in the caboose of the safari train.  Calvin and Noah took a turn in the engine.

 It was fun to see Noah and Fred running around much more independently.  They did the big slide with burlap sacks all by themselves.

 The carousel was also a big hit.  We did lunch there and then escaped the heat.  Fun times had by all.  Tune in next week for Sam's 2nd birthday!

Happy 4th!

So, you might not consider this first picture all that exciting, but I do.  We got a new fridge!  Woot.  Now our entire kitchen is stainless steel.  We were holding on until the old white fridge died on us. The freezer went out, so then we bought this beauty.  I know, thrilling stuff.

 Also probably considered mundane to most, Noah went to the eye doctor.  He did really well with all the vision tests and charts, etc.  The dilation drops were NOT well received, nor was waiting another 20 minutes (when you are STARVING) for the drops to work.  But we survived unscathed and the end result was good (no eye patch for lazy eye for now), although Noah would tell you it was disappointing that he did not get the Nick Fury look he had been hoping for.

 There was a trip over to see Leo and Evie at home.  Noah is now a professional baby holder.  

 Could it be?!  A picture with all 4 kids, eyes open, somewhat facing the camera!  Wow.

 Perfection.

 We headed up to the lakehouse for the pre-4th weekend of festivities.  The local Amish restaurant that we love was hosting a family night complete with pony rides.

 We got some quality Uncle Josh time, which is always good.

 On Saturday, the Island folk hosted the annual parade.  This year's theme was Star Wars.

 Jedi warriors wear crocs, right Apryl?

 Noah was able to spent the better part of the morning helping construct and paint the rocket ship float. Sammy had to nap, but maybe next year!  The kids all dressed up for the theme or for the 4th, so it was a fun combo of Star Wars meets Space Creatures meets Patriotic.  It all worked.

 Jeaneen walked with the float and reported that Noah repeated "May the force be with you" to all the parade watchers.  And CJ kept saying "I'm your father!"

 The parade always ends with candy and popsicles.  How can you pass that up!?

 Saturday night they had the fireworks.  We made 12 batches of well buttered popcorn and pulled the pontoon boat up to the Benhart dock and got ready.

 Bats or Birds?

 Sibling love and the sun goes down.

 Staying up 2 hours past your usual bedtime makes some people a little manic.

 Noah and CJ sat together on the dock to watch the show.  Too Cute.

 I messed around with my camera settings to try to get some different shots.

 Apryl brought some cool wish lanterns that we released back from the mainland house after the fireworks.  Purple of course!

All in all it was another great weekend.  We were able to come home and spend the actual 3rd/4th with Daddy, which was wonderful, and went over the Papa's pool!  Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday week!