Hailey is 7

I can't believe Hailey is 7. She has been talking about her birthday since the first of this month and has been counting down the days. She woke up at 5:30 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep. She climbed into bed with us for a restless 45 minutes. I love her enthusiasm.

I loaded my pictures backwards, but she chose brownie sundaes for dessert. My kind of girl. She loves chocolate.

She was so excited to open gifts. She got tons of crafty stuff as well as tickets to go see the play, Beauty and the Beast in Chicago next Saturday with Chris and I. I'm so excited to spend the day with just the three of us. She is wearing the nightgown that her friend, Jenna, gave her earlier in the day. She chose to go see the movie, Smurfs, with our family and invited Jenna to come with us. The girls were so cute as they each got a Slurpee and watched the show with their heads leaning on each other during part of the movie.

Here is Hailey with her art stuff from my parents. She loves to draw and has already had fun drawing some of the people.

After waiting for what seemed like HOURS (Chris made her wait until 6:30), Hailey and Chris got up to make Sweedish pancakes. She specifically asked Chris to make them and it was sweet to see the two of them cooking together. She is a lucky girl.

We're so glad to have Hailey in our family. She is a sweetheart.

YOU!

This girl absolutely cracks me up. I put this picture up on the computer and Alyssa yells, "YOU!" She hasn't figured out how to say her name, but realizes that everyone always says, "Alyssa, there is a picture of you." She's too funny and I love her smile.

Starved Rock

Not far from our house is a national park called Starved Rock. I'm ashamed to admit that it has taken us 8 years to visit. Unfortunately, we decided to go on one of the hottest days of the summer thus far. We were so hot, but it was beautiful and we've vowed to return in the fall. In fact, when it gets cold enough, the bald eagles come down from Wisconsin to fish, so hopefully we'll see some eagles.

This is a tree stump that is outside of the visitor's center. Part of the stump is inside and it is HUGE. The bisection of the stump shows part of a bullet that was lodged in the trunk some time after the Civil War. Unfortunately the tree died and they had to cut it down, but the kids were fascinated by how big a tree can become.

There are miles of trails that have been planked over which makes the walking very easy (except when you are hiking with a 1 year old who wants to walk every singles step on her own). It was gorgeous and so worth the trip. I wish we had gotten to go further before the first bathroom emergency hit and we had to return to the visitor's center. By the way, I love Alyssa's face. She's figured out how to smile on command and does those goofy smiles.

This is at the top of Starved Rock where the Illinois Indian tribe was starved to death by a rival tribe. There was also a military fort built on top of the rock in the 1600's. Lots of history and a wonderful place.

Independence Day

On the 4th of July, we started out our day by heading to our ward's breakfast. After eating, there is a bike parade and tons of games.

Hailey riding on her bike around the parking lot.

Hailey is such a great big sister to Alyssa. Before she got on her own bike, she pushed Alyssa around the entire parking lot since Alyssa can't go on her own. I hope that they remain friends for a long time.

Andrew and his wonderful group of friends. He is so lucky to have a great group of boys his age.

Grant and his best friend, Jake. These two are the cutest buddies ever.

Andrew (far left) and Hailey (far right) participating in the pie eating contest. Gross, but they had fun. We enjoyed the rest of the day and had dinner and fireworks with some wonderful friends. Summers are the best.

Chris' New Hobby

Chris has always been interested in remote control planes (as well as real ones), but hasn't had one in several years. I decided to get him one for his birthday. Of course, I picked the completely wrong one, but after a trip to the store, the mistake was rectified and he now has a new plane. It's been wrecked and stuck in a tree, but he is having a blast and our kids love to watch him fly it.