Dancing Queen

Kelsie has been having a lot of fun dressing her brothers up in her old dress up clothes.  Surprisingly, Brandon agreed to her little idea.  This is probably a once in a lifetime event, and I’m just glad he let me take his picture!

Silver or Gold?

We were watching a jewelry commercial on TV, and you know, since it’s getting close to Christmas, there’s a lot of them going on now.  Anyway, after watching the commercial, Kelsie said (with a totally straight face by the way):

“If I was watching that with my boyfriend, I’d make sure he knows that I like silver more than gold.”

I guess you can’t blame her. 

This girl knows what she wants!

Who Said Science Isn't Cool?!

The Friday before Halloween, we kept the kids home from school in the morning and took them over to the Northwestern Chemistry department for their annual Halloween show. This was a pretty serious thing. The NU marching band, cheerleaders, various dance groups and even a live band was there to help entertain. It was so cool and definitely worth going late to school!

The Sister’s

{I’ve realized how easy it is for me to move on with my life and forget about blogging for a few days and then not want to go back and catch up.  But, I promised a post about our sister’s weekend, so here you go.}

 

I had the honor and privilege to host our sister’s weekend here in Chicago at the beginning of September.  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to show everyone around where I live.  I figured since this would probably be the one and only time (unless we end up living here forever) that they were going to come out to visit, I had to make the most of our time here.  I tried to squeeze everything I could into our 2 1/2 days together and think I did a pretty good job keeping everyone entertained! 

 

After making 3 different trips to the airport to pick everyone up, we started the night off with a few little surprises.  Everyone was staying at our house, so with a lot of thought and preparation, we turned it into the Hotel Paxtonia complete with 24-hour service, transportation, and free entertainment.  We were able to give everyone a brochure about their hotel of choice listing all the detailed information they would need to know about the place, including the Paxton Pizzeria with their “shorter than average serving staff”.  We also opened our surprise package from our parents that was completely filled with snacks and treats for the weekend.  It’s one of the best things for us, since some of us (myself included) don’t function very well without food. 

We had a lot of fun going down into the city one day.  We did as much as we could while we were there (believe me, there really was no rest for the weary!) and enjoyed all the sights and sounds.  We went on an architecture tour, toured Millennium Park, The Chicago Cultural Center, and the John Hancock Building, and did a little shopping and eating as well.  There was so much that we didn’t get to, but I think we hit most of the big stuff.  We also spent some time at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, the beach on Lake Michigan, our own little downtown close to where I live, and more shopping. 

A trip to our house isn’t complete without pizza, so Wally made us some great pizza with the help of Kelsie as our waitress.  It was so fun having everyone come here.  The weekend went by way to fast and it was sad for me to see everyone go so quickly.  We really love seeing each other every year like this and are already looking forward to next year—where ever it may be!

and one more…

Sister's Weekend in Chicago

Yay for Sister's Weekend!

(more to come soon, I promise!)

Nothing But Smiles

 

These goofy kids started school yesterday.  Well, at least two of them.  The other one is happy to be have free reign of the house for the bulk of the day again.  We had a very successful day which made us all happy, especially me!  Teachers were good, friends were good, Fred is still good, and even the desks are good.  Life really couldn’t be any better than it is right now.  Here’s to hoping this euphoria sticks for a little while longer!

The Dunk Tank

This was our last week of summer vacation. It rained for most of the week. And it's only 60 degrees outside. Which, I guess for August, isn't so bad, except I'm not quite ready for fall yet. Anyway, we tried to do some fun things this week like go to the beach on the one day it was dry and warm, play with friends and stay out of the wet weather. We were invited to our friends annual Back to School Carnival one afternoon and had a great time playing games and earning prizes.

The best part of the carnival, though, is the dunk tank. Especially since each kid gets a turn to dunk the hostess' dad. It's great fun had by all. Last year, by the end of the day (and maybe because he was tired of getting wet), he decided to let some of the kids who wanted to cool off give it a try. Kelsie got the courage and was dunked, clothes and all. This year, she came prepared. With her swimming suit under her clothes and a towel in her bag, she confidently (or at least was persuaded) climbed the ladder and sat on the little seat to wait out her fate. Brandon stepped up to the plate to have his sweet revenge, but unfortunately was unsuccessful in his objective. In the end, a much older boy (and one with better aim, I might add) did her in.

And I remembered to bring the camera.

Happy End of Summer and Back to School!