Cousin visit

My sister and her family are visiting and I thought I'd post a few pictures of the things we've been doing.

Sammi and Grant checking out a mummy at the Field museum.

All the cousins (minus Paul who was crying) before church.

Paul and Alyssa sitting on a truck. Paul was so cute trying to snuggle with Alyssa, and she wasn't so excited about having his arm around her.

Andrew was trying to get ready for school and make his lunch. Sammi and Paul wouldn't let go of him. It was so funny.

Paul, Sammi and Grant sitting on a coffin by the mummy exhibit in the Field Museum.

Checking out the adobe house.

Paul helping Andrew practice piano.

We went down to the river and the kids found some shells in the water. They were busy using sticks to fish them out. We came home with a bunch of them. (I've been quietly throwing them in the trash-they stink).

Grant at the Children's Museum-air is blowing up in his face. I just love this shot.

Lincoln Park Zoo

My sister, Cory, is in town for 2 weeks with her family and we've been having so much fun. We headed to Lincoln Park Zoo today and thought that I'd quickly post a couple of pictures.

Alyssa is watching the jaguar pace in it's cage. She was totally enthralled. I was ASTOUNDED that she stayed in her stroller for the entire trip. So awesome!

The otters were swimming up on the glass and then doing back flips. Paul was loving them and Grant thought they were cool too.

In every zoo I've gone to, the lions are asleep. Today, we got to see the male lion pacing right in front of us. He looked fairly menacing. We also got to hear him and the female roaring. It was so amazing.

With the Chicago skyline behind us.

Sammi is so funny. She refuses to smile in pictures. So, this was our lunch break and I told her that she had to pay for her lunch by smiling in the picture. This was the result. :)

Isn't he precious? Paul was "sleeping" with this angelic smile on his face. What a cutie.

All Boy!

I bought some groceries and had put them by my stairs so that I could take them downstairs. Later that day, I heard Grant playing by himself and came to check out what he was doing. He had found the ketchup and was pretending they were "guys" and having them bash each other and attack each other. I was fairly disturbed by this, but also realized that I was glad he could use his imagination!

An organizer?

We have been calling Alyssa "the hurricane" because she's at that fun age where she makes a mess and then runs to make the next mess. It's constant destruction. Yesterday, I decided to let her begin to empty my pantry and see what she did. She started lining up the boxes and when I asked her to help me clean up, she put everything back where it belonged. I'm wondering if she is really just an organizer, and not a hurricane??? Or maybe she just knew I needed a break yesterday. :)

Thanks Aunt Stacy!

My sister, Stacy, just sent this cute outfit to Alyssa. She is quite the dancer, so she'll be getting down in it soon.

Daddy Daughter date

Every year, our school puts on a daddy-daughter dance and Hailey is so lucky b/c she doesn't have to share her dad with anyone. This year, the theme was "Under the Sea". The dads were asked to wear a blue shirt so that they were like the water and the girls could dress how they wished. Hailey opted for the casual skirt look, but curled her hair and even put on some lipstick. She was SO excited.

I love this picture b/c it clearly shows how much a dad will do for his little girl. Hailey wanted to do an "octopus pose" and asked Chris to sit down like this. Between the two of them, they had 8 "legs". Chris thought it was so weird, but went along anyway. She totally has him wrapped around her finger. I'm glad that we have another girl coming up so that there is a little more balance.

Getting ready to head out the door.

Blizzard of 2011

With all of the hoopla surrounding the big storm coming to Chicago, I wasn't sure that I actually believed that it would materialize like they said. However, it started to snow on Tuesday afternoon and didn't stop until Wednesday. Overall, it dumped about 21" (although it is hard to tell b/c the wind was HOWLING and created such huge snow drifts). On Tuesday night, I was praying that we wouldn't lose our power as I saw huge flakes coming down, heard the wind roaring through the chimney and experienced lightening and thunder during a snow storm. The whole thing was a little overwhelming. Needless to say, school was cancelled and I've spent a good portion of the day shoveling while the kids played (1/2 of the snow came from the plow that was kind enough to keep shoveling it back on our driveway once I was done shoveling).

Grant "sledding" on his tummy on one of the hills of snow by our driveway. Later on Wednesday, the sun came out and it was beautiful.

Carter's boots sticking out of his fort that he built. He got himself all the way in and is trying to convince me to let him sleep out there tonight (not a chance).

And what snack would you choose while playing outside in the snow? Of course...a popsicle.

Carter emerging from his fort.

Andrew outside with me this morning at 6:30. We were digging out for 2 1/2 hours all the while thinking - "it is still snowing-we're going to be back out here again in an hour!!"

This is on Tuesday when the storm started. They each put on 10 pairs of socks to keep their feet warm and had a blast jumping while the snow came down and the wind whipped them around. Overall the storm was a lot of fun, although I'm a little miffed that school is cancelled again tomorrow. Isn't 1 day enough???